6.1 Demonology Guide

[Soulzar 42]

And I am pretty sure this was a band-aid just for the next few weeks at 90.

 

Kinda sad that we need 20% nerfdaids for 30s-90s parses .. for 3 weeks...

[gahhda 95]

False alarm bros. Apparently the EFFECTIVE DPS of the PET is calculated elsewhere. It was reporting half the # of executes of firebolt, but because the pets dps was actually correct nothing changed, just fixed a reporting bug :). # of firebolt casts from wild imp bros should match now.

[Zagam 1,982]

 wild imp bros

Ugh, never going to get this out of my head now.  "C'mon, need more Imp bros!"

[Bombsauce 3]

I'm interested to see what happens tonight after the 'nerfs' are applied. I'm still getting used to Demo but i've been practicing.  The one thing that is confusing to me is the Chaos Wave/HoG charges. If i'm aoeing adds is it worth popping out of demo and HoG'ing them for shadowflame, or should I just chaos wave? Also, for single target, if I am in Meta, and I have Chaos Wave/HoG charges, is it worth spending them? I'm getting anywhere from 60k to 90k crits with it depending on procs......Anyways, thanks for all the work yall have done. I have been mostly lurking and haven't been posting much. Going to try and change that.

[Eddie 16]

Depends on the adds. If they will die from Chaos Waves, or shortly after, go for it, because the demonic fury refund will be huge.

[Sabertorous 0]

Something to remember for all the nerf worry warts, Warlocks have 3 raid viable specs, who else can say that. I'm excited that I will be able to switch between destro and demo one fight to the next. Also, no matter what blizz will never be able to nerf the Warlock community, so we will always be at or near the top. Best class guides, we had the best class raid guides, strong class with the best support.

Back to guide questions please, like hand of guldan use during build phase, do you always wait till you have 2 stacks, or use one at a time and try to time 2 stacks for burst phase? And what proc do you always try to line dark soul up with, or just with at least 2 other procs?

[Furee 0]

Back to guide questions please, like hand of guldan use during build phase, do you always wait till you have 2 stacks, or use one at a time and try to time 2 stacks for burst phase? 

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding re: HoG is that you should NEVER let it hit 2 stacks because of the t16 4pc. The goal is, without procs, to cast a 2nd HoG 4 seconds after the 1st. So...You should be able to cast your 1 charge when the 2nd charge has <4 sec left on the charge.

 

I believe you don't wait on 2 stacks; instead, it's a nice bonus if you have the Chaos Wave stacks during Burst phase. I find that I usually have a stack on the enemy from the t16 4pc, so all I need is the one CW charge to get the 2 stack damage.

[gahhda 95]

Btw celery says that soul fire is double nerfed in meta, rip soul fire.

 

https://twitter.com/Celestalon/status/524608243004239872

Edited October 21, 2014 by gahhda

[Lockybalboa 618]

Oh good god...

[Eddie 16]

Glad I use Soul Fire for building instead of dumping right now, given that wonderful bug.

[Furee 0]

Glad I use Soul Fire for building instead of dumping right now, given that wonderful bug.

 

Yeah, looks like Zagam's ToC spam will have to do tonight while they fix this bug.

 

On that note, do you use Soul Fire whenever you get a Molten Core stack if you're not saving for burn phase?

 

EDIT: yep. Should have re-read the guide, says exactly that if you're not burning with SF.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Furee

[Gnar 26]

My 2 button is gonna get a workout tonight then spamming ToC.  RIP SF...

 

Second thought, maybe I'll just give Affliction a go. Nothing like playing a bare bones spec...

[Lockybalboa 618]

Fight times are so short, I think you could just not pick a spec and do fine.

[Bombsauce 3]

So it seems like we should be using soulfire only outside of Meta, only spamming ToC while in meta? Sounds good.

[Liquidsteel 279]

Sounds boring tbh. I just messed around with it and hated it.

 

I have a lot of grievances with my Warlock at the moment. I don't like using ToC as main Fury dump. I don't like using Rain of Fire for Destruction single target. I don't like the removal of Fel Flame, or how talents such as GoSac and Servitude are a trap, or Demonbolt and Mannoroth's Fury.

 

Mage is feeling pretty slick right now, very well polished.

[Doonga 0]

That tweet also said it's a bug. Hopefully they don't make us wait a week for the fix.

[Zagam 1,982]

I'm very sad with Warlocks.  If we're not a top tier DPS, it'll be tough to justify having 3 on our roster.  We were looking solid - next week, it'll be Destruction nerfs after everyone reverts. 

[Gnar 26]

next week, it'll be Destruction nerfs after everyone reverts. 

 

Exactly.

 

Blizz has said it themselves, the best players in the game tend to play the best specs.

 

Let's think of it this way:

 

Were Demo's nerfed abilities actually 20% overpowered or were the people playing Demo 20% better with those abilities than the rest of the classes were?

 

Obviously Demo was a little broken and the former has some truth to it, but the best players exploited this OPness and made it even more OP than anyone thought it could be making the latter have some truth. Blizzard will never see the latter as the reason the spec did so well during this time period, they will only see the former and they will nerf accordingly. They don't balance around how their playerbase plays, they balance around numbers and it's the numbers we provide.  My recommendation to the better players of WoW, play some shit ass class you couldn't give two fucks about, do really well with it like you would any class, and get it nerfed instead.

 

My QQ for the day. Sad time for locks but we will bounce back.

[Gruxa 1]

I'm very sad with Warlocks.  If we're not a top tier DPS, it'll be tough to justify having 3 on our roster.  We were looking solid - next week, it'll be Destruction nerfs after everyone reverts. 

 

I was thinking these recent nerfs were kinda "temporary" because of SOO. let's hope it isn't permanent ..

[KoragonArt 0]

So far my extremely rudimentary tests (read: self buffed target dummy sessions comparing pre and post nerf) make me think demo will still be pretty good.  Not a big difference.  Destro will probably be better, but of course, less fun.

 

I mean, we can still insult our raid members in demonic with them non the wiser.  What else matters?

[Adrammalech 2]

So far my extremely rudimentary tests (read: self buffed target dummy sessions comparing pre and post nerf) make me think demo will still be pretty good.  Not a big difference.  Destro will probably be better, but of course, less fun.

 

At level 90 we should still be viable. The problem comes with them balancing around lvl 90. Warlocks have always scaled extremely well with gear which is why they usually have to nerf locks going into a new tier. Us being balanced in SoO most likely means us being under powered at level 100 due to the lack of high percentages on our secondary stats. It is what the sims are showing and while I agree that sims can't be used to accurately compare different classes, warlocks scaling well with gear has been a trend for as long as I can remember. Even when we are doing bad dps, we are still scaling better with gear than most other classes. I really don't care if I hit like a wet noodle for the next month, but when it comes to raiding next tier I want to be balance which won't be the case at level 100 in its current state.

 

On the other hand you have classes that don't scale as well with gear getting very large buffs (i.e. hunters) to be balanced in SoO. Hunter were weak at level 100 but they weren't that weak. This is going to make them and a few others very strong compared to most other classes going into the next expac unless they are toned down. 

 

This whole balancing around level 90 thing is just frustrating to me. Was demo OP at 90 yes. Was it at OP at level 100, probably yes. Was it that OP level 100, no.

[Drafty53 17]

Obviously the Sims are limited in terms of predicting dps to numerous different fight style's but the T17M Patchwerk 100 sims have Demo pretty far down now after the nerf.  Whats worse is that all three specs are in the bottom half of dps.  I know we still have a ways to go and in all probably, there will be further damage tuning #'s, but as of right now, it's going to be hard to get excited about maining a pure dps class when all three of its specs are simming at the lower tier of damage. At least hybrids can heal or tank when their dps specs stink 

[Liquidsteel 279]

First of all, Celestalon has said (i cba finding the tweet, it was linked on MMO-C) that these hotfixes were to address lvl 90 disparity. Whilst this is decent news, it's also worrying because Blizzard are never quick to buff anything. It could mean Demo is not rebalanced until 3-4 weeks in Highmaul. It also shows how retarded they are for wasting their time on 90 balance when they still have tons of bugs and lvl 100 shit to do...

 

Similarly, PLEASE don't get too hung up on simcraft single target numbers. It's a great tool, but stuff is constantly changing and not all of the APL's for every class are 100% done. Mages have a HUGE community working on their APL's and so naturally they are more refined and fine tuned. Similarly, these numbers speak nothing for cleave and multi target, and do not factor in how quickly your spec can switch to a new target that needs bursting down, for example.

 

Warlock WILL be fine in WoD, it just depends on if you find the new mechanics FUN and engaging, which at the moment I feel less sure about. Affliction feels meh, Demonology isn't finished, and overall I'm tired of Destruction because I played it for 90% of progression and for 3-4 months after.

[Furyio 3]

What is this talk about a temp rotation? Must have glanced over a post on it?

Is it being advantageous with a bug?

[Gnar 26]

Is it being advantageous with a bug?

It is more like making the most of a shit situation. Just ToC to fill in meta this week. SF got double nerfed and isn't worth the cast time or cost.

Played Demo on most fights last night that weren't better suited for Destro so about 9/14. We are fine even without regular SF. After the fix should get even better. We are still in a good spot and it's good to hear these are only 90 balances.