6.1 Affliction Guide

[Zagam 1,982]

When you run Destruction/Affliction, it's tough to go and respec for one fight.  Maybe for Mythic...

[Liquidsteel 279]

Mythic not even a maybe, Demonology is just hands down the best spec. A bit like Affliction was on protectors, or Destruction on Garrosh.

[Strife 6]

I mean I guess it's fine on progression since we're gonna have a ton of pulls on Tectus first kill, but I'm not gonna port out and respec once every week...

 

The dream is dropping destro, but it's too good on specific fights right now with havoc cleaving and ability to burn priority targets.

[Gnar 26]

Edit: not relevant 

Edited December 21, 2014 by Gnar

[KoragonArt 0]

I think Demo is far too strong on Tectus to pass up.

 

Cataclysm, GoServ, Infernal, 2x Chaos Wave and you do almost 40k DPS.

god damn I'm a moron. Never thought to use the infernal and save it for the motes phase. Just so used to popping doomy at the start. Awesome tip.

[Cardio33 3]

Which fights are you guys using demonic serv and soulburn:haunt in? I know single target sim shows servitude winning out but any multitarget I outperform with soulburn:haunt. (Twins and brackenspore)

[Liquidsteel 279]

Spore Shooter damage has necessitated me playing Destruction on Brackenspore so far, but initial pulls had SB:Haunt performing very well. I use it on both those fights you mentioned.

[spikeysquad 50]

Apologies in advance for the silly post but..... Soulburn: Haunt applies the 30 seconds Haunting Spirits buff and a regular Haunt as well? I only just noticed the second part...

[Liquidsteel 279]

Yes.

[spikeysquad 50]

Ok thanks Liquidsteel. I have read guides but that somehow escaped my notice. Well now I know I can try to make sure both are within pandemic range not to waste anything.

 

I have a few more questions if ok... Trying to avoid picking up too many bad habits.

 

1. As long as the DoTs/debuffs/buffs are within pandemic range am I correct in thinking it doesn't mater if I reapply them at say 5 seconds or 1 second to expiry? The former would have more time added and therefore no loss in time dpsing with Drain Soul still?

 

2. With the occasional strange extra shards is it actually better to stay at 2 shards? At least until they fix it if it is not meant to be happening though not sure if that is considered an exploit! 

 

3. How long do adds need to live in order for any of the DoTs to be worth it? I normally also use Destro for Brackenspore but last time I didn't have it and with Aff add damage was about 20% less than normal.

 

Thanks again for the help. Trying to be the best warlock I can be. 

[Liquidsteel 279]

Correct, it doesn't matter, as long as you don't let them fall off. On the other end of the spectrum, if you have to move and have nothing to cast (can't life tap, all DoT's outside Pandemic) it's ok to just refresh your DoT's again. On Twin Ogron Mythic I was casting my DoT's at like 50% duration all the time purely because of the amount of movement.

 

I think yes, sticking to 2 shards is the optimal way to manage the weird nightfall issue we are seeing.

 

Brackenspore is a bit shit for Affliction (in terms of meaningful add damage). I switched to Destruction to deal with Spore Shooters and Mind Fungus better because of it. I'd say just cast UA on them and be done with it. Corruption damage isn't that great (and doesn't proc additional nightfall) and Agony takes too long to ramp up.

 

On Normal/Heroic I wouldn't even waste a global applying DoT's to be honest, unless there's one way in the back which will get ignored.

[spikeysquad 50]

Thanks again Liquidsteel. Yeah I have been in the position too with not having anything to cast and hence doing an "unnecessary" DoT refresh.

 

Speaking of Twins; Why is I can OOM on a ST fight yet never seem to have to life tap on a double/multi target fight? Yes I can see that Drain Soul takes a lot more mana than the DoT applictions so for say the Butcher (heroic) there will be more Drain Souls. With say the Twins there is more DoTs to do and more movement so less Drain Souls again but I personally find that mechanism back to front. Oh well shouldn't complain, less life tapping!

 

Thanks for the add advice. Normally I would have Destro as my OS and for Brackenspore but I was doing Demo practice and didn't switch back before a pug raid so Affliction had a whirl and though my overall damage was good my add damage was much lower. 

[Paracel 165]

Guys, I have an issue.

I'm afraid I'm in love  Looks like Affliction is working for me. 

It's just...fine. Somehow, much finer than other two specs.

I'm not an oldschool hardcore Godlock Jedi, like some of us here at IcyVeins, neither a young prodigy of DPS art. I'm not even an Asian, for God's sake! I'm really far from perfect.

But I'm topping people 5 GS more than me. On Butcher.
I'm topping people killing adds on Koragh, while I have 100% boss damage, running around with shield.
I'm fine with this RNG Nightfall, or my Sandman's working really weird.

All of you have rights to say something like "logs of gtfo" or "your guildies/pugs are scrubs", and I'm OK with that.
Just wanted to share what I feel about Affli.

And I feel really strong, for some reason. Sky has stopped falling for me :)

[Liquidsteel 279]

Sky was never falling, however with respect, anecdotal evidence means fuck all. I can beat people in LFR with 40 ilvl difference because they are idiots and I am not.

Regardless, Affliction does extremely well on short fights like Butcher anyway, so that comes as no surprise.

[yibsu 1]

For Butcher since it is basically a stand still fight, am I correct in assuming the Observer is the best way to go? And if so should I cast his interrupt on CD for the damage or will that run him out of energy?

[Lockybalboa 618]

For Butcher since it is basically a stand still fight, am I correct in assuming the Observer is the best way to go? And if so should I cast his interrupt on CD for the damage or will that run him out of energy?

 

 

Pet doesn't matter. At all. In any way. The DPS from top to bottom for pets is almost nothing. Use what is useful to the fight.

 

I would still use my imp for the heal.

 

Only the Fel Guard's on use ability is of any DPS value.

[Virzaol 0]

For Butcher since it is basically a stand still fight, am I correct in assuming the Observer is the best way to go? And if so should I cast his interrupt on CD for the damage or will that run him out of energy?

I presume you're asking about mythic? If not, ideally, you'd be running servitude and a doomguard/terrorguard for single target.

[Liquidsteel 279]

I presume you're asking about mythic? If not, ideally, you'd be running servitude and a doomguard/terrorguard for single target.

Nah not really. On such a short fight (4 minutes) the value of the 10 minute Terrorguard is quite high, and add to that the fact that you can Drain Soul snipe the cadavers for shards, means you can sustain 100% Haunting Spirits uptime and over 80% regular Haunt uptime.

 

Personally I use the Shivarra because she's badass.

 

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/pfrLWd3cBbTj9Vhk#fight=28&type=damage-done&source=48

[Drkdragon 9]

That log is sexy Liquid

[Middari 0]

Nah not really. On such a short fight (4 minutes) the value of the 10 minute Terrorguard is quite high, and add to that the fact that you can Drain Soul snipe the cadavers for shards, means you can sustain 100% Haunting Spirits uptime and over 80% regular Haunt uptime.

 

 

 

 

How does this work? I was unaware that Drain Soul provided shards.

[Drkdragon 9]

How does this work? I was unaware that Drain Soul provided shards.

 

I am going to treat this question seriously in hopes that it is not a troll attempt, but if an enemy dies while while drain soul is channeling you get a soul shard.

[Middari 0]

I am going to treat this question seriously in hopes that it is not a troll attempt, but if an enemy dies while while drain soul is channeling you get a soul shard.

 

 

I am not sure why I thought that function was removed from the ability, but I did. Guess I should L2Read ability tooltips. Thanks for the info.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Middari

[Paracel 165]

That log is sexy Liquid

I doubt he is human.

We can print this log as posters and stick'em everywhere as a message of hope to our kin.

[Jazii 0]

On a fight like twins mythic and if you're using sb haunt how do you treat using regular haunt? Wouldn't be enough shards to go around to really keep it up long right? 

[Liquidsteel 279]

Make sure you bank charges for Dark Soul to keep up the buff throughout the duration. If you can also maintain regular haunt during this time (pray for RNG) you'll be on to a winner.