Destruction Warlocks

[Meilin 0]

Hi. Destro locks are really a lot worse than Demo or Affli ones? I've been a destro lock since I created the toon in BC days and I'd hate to respec. Thanks

[Zagam 1,982]

Destruction Warlocks are a poor man's Fire Mage right now. It's not balanced correctly, even with high amounts of crit. You're better off playing Affliction where the rotation is much simpler.

[Boodizz 10]

I am not sure PvE wise, but PvP wise destro seems viable again. Great burst dmg, albeit quite a bit of ramp up time with Incinerate spam.

Affliction is still better imo, but destro is definitely in a better place.

[Morticia 2]

Destruction Warlocks are a poor man's Fire Mage right now. It's not balanced correctly, even with high amounts of crit. You're better off playing Affliction where the rotation is much simpler.

I'm not sure why destro locks are looked down upon on your website. You posted somewhere else that destruction locks were the weakest of the three specs. Well I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. I was just in a 25 man raid with 4 other locks and I was top dps of the five of us. #4 overall, behind a spriest and two hunters, interestingly enough. How about a little destro love for a change? :)

Love the site, you did an excellent job covering all three warlock specs. Cheers.

[Boradan 17]

I'm not sure why destro locks are looked down upon on your website. You posted somewhere else that destruction locks were the weakest of the three specs. Well I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. I was just in a 25 man raid with 4 other locks and I was top dps of the five of us. #4 overall, behind a spriest and two hunters, interestingly enough. How about a little destro love for a change?

Love the site, you did an excellent job covering all three warlock specs. Cheers.

I think that means you are just a better warlock than the others ;)

http://simulationcraft.org/504/Raid_T14H.html

if you check that out, it shows that as of 6 days ago (when it was last updated), Destro locks are 10% behind affliction, with Demo dropping inbetween.

Bear in mind though, that the simcraft results are with T14HC gear on a Patchwerk style boss.

At the minute, I am sitting behind a 407 ilvl SPriest with legendary on my 403 ilvl Affliction lock. Swapping second place most fights with a 406ilvl hunter. (DS10HC)

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-2ee3uh0ur1w6l3u1/

Thats our WoL from tonights run

[Zagam 1,982]

I'm not sure why destro locks are looked down upon on your website. You posted somewhere else that destruction locks were the weakest of the three specs. Well I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. I was just in a 25 man raid with 4 other locks and I was top dps of the five of us. #4 overall, behind a spriest and two hunters, interestingly enough. How about a little destro love for a change?

Love the site, you did an excellent job covering all three warlock specs. Cheers.

Please try not to discredit the work of many theorycrafters and people who actually put time and effort into evaluation of classes and specializations just because you beat other Warlocks in your raid. I can almost guarantee you that if you were to play Affliction with the same level of skill you play Destruction, your numbers would go up. Discrediting a lot of hard work done by people who use theory, math, and proof for classes and specializations shouldn't be done just because you have sub-par Warlocks in your 25 man raid team.

[fordfiesta 1]

I'm a tiny bit skeptical about how the raw numbers turned out for affliction vs destruction as well. I suppose I might not have spent enough time mastering the rotation, though it seemed simple, but I have noticed affliction actually doing less dps than either destruction or demonology in the settings I've used the 3 specs in, and have also noticed aff locks still bottoming out the dps charts. I've only mostly tested them out in ds however, where aff was almost always noticeably lower, if not significantly lower, so my observations are very simple and highly limited.

Destruction is very effective for spine, I don't prefer destruction for any other fights, but affliction still seems highly ineffective for that fight in particular.

It seems like destruction might perform poorly for arena, however it's VERY effective for pvp in larger battles, especially AV, where you can stand back behind melee and safely build up embers, then unload on the healers and wipe them out with burst much faster than they could possibly heal through even with cd's.

[Zagam 1,982]

Affliction doesn't bottom out charts nor is it lacking on Spine due to mechanical changes in DoT application. I have come out on top of my DPS charts numerous times, both on single target fights and multi-target fights. This is against better geared Shadow Priests, Hunters, Rogues with legendary daggers, and Fury Warriors with 2 Heroic Gurts. I've tested out all 3 specs and find all 3 easy to play, but Affliction comes out on top in my person tests as well as Simulationcraft work.

Warlocks are no longer terrible for Heroic Spine at all. With 3 globals, I can apply Curse of Elements, all 3 DoTs, and Haunt before beginning to channel Malefic Grasp. By doing this, my raid team is able to slay all 3 plates in 1 lift each where the only class that beats me out of a Rogue, Hunter, Shadow Priest, and Fury Warrior is the Shadow Priest. In good hands, Affliction will come out on top no matter what the fight.

[Boradan 17]

Nothing wrong with affliction dps: HC Spine tonight

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-nborlodsxeza35yx/sum/damageDone/?s=5293&e=5907

the top 2 in that (warriors) can effectively be ignored as one was the OT on Bloods, and the other warrior was DPSing the bloods. Both were well behind me until the 3rd tendon when their multi-dotting with deep wounds/thunderclap went through the roof Also, due to bad timing I got gripped twice on tendon burst phases.

Also good DPS here: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-nborlodsxeza35yx/sum/damageDone/?s=2346&e=2510

HC Zon'Ozz.... 13 bounces, timewarp and nuke boss. Ignored all the adds and just nuked ;)

[Boradan 17]

Warlocks are no longer terrible for Heroic Spine at all. With 3 globals, I can apply Curse of Elements, all 3 DoTs, and Haunt before beginning to channel Malefic Grasp.

Why waste a global on curse of elements?

You have a rogue in your group and http://mop.wowhead.com/spell=93068/master-poisoner is now passive for all rogues

Edited September 13, 2012 by Boradan

[Zagam 1,982]

Because I didn't know it was passive. I thought only Assassination had that. So yeah, no more global wasting =D