6.1 Destruction Guide

[Zagam 1,982]

Same.  Was disappointed with any type of movement, but having Hunters' Aspect of the Fox and KJC saved some misery.  Went Affliction for Siegecrafter burst - got good RNG (sustained 50k for a good period) but other than that, Destruction felt fine.  I wasn't top 3 as Destruction because I have a really good Fire Mage, Locky playing Affliction, a beast Fury Warrior, and 2 of the US's best Hunters in my group who really came to play.  Tough to gauge DPS within a group on individual parses because of RNG, assignments, etc. but the good thing to take away is Destruction is fine.

[Gruxa 1]

Same.  Was disappointed with any type of movement, but having Hunters' Aspect of the Fox and KJC saved some misery.  Went Affliction for Siegecrafter burst - got good RNG (sustained 50k for a good period) but other than that, Destruction felt fine.  I wasn't top 3 as Destruction because I have a really good Fire Mage, Locky playing Affliction, a beast Fury Warrior, and 2 of the US's best Hunters in my group who really came to play.  Tough to gauge DPS within a group on individual parses because of RNG, assignments, etc. but the good thing to take away is Destruction is fine.

 

I wasn't aware that affliction was King since the nerfs on single target :O was there alot of difference between you & locky on those fights?

[Zagam 1,982]

On SC, he and I were separated by 7k (I was at 37k, he was at 30k) purely based on the fact I got 6 Nightfall procs in first 30 seconds while he got 1.  When a fight lasts 50 seconds and you get that many Nightfall procs, it gives you 100% coverage on Haunt - so yeah, it'll be king.  It's not a "single target king" moreso than the fact we killed it under a minute.

[Liquidsteel 279]

Last night was hilarious. We tried for fastest kill times.

37s on Blackfuse (20 dps no belt) and rank 1 on Garrosh with 4 minutes 36 or 46 I can't recall. Most people will still be boosting but impressive nontheless.

It was fun but I cant help but feel they've made a total joke out of the raid. I wonder how people still progressing feel.

[Mero 0]

But the mage fire was not nerfed? I made a challenge at dummy level 85 with him (he at 585 iLVL and me at 584, so the same) and I sucked hard as destro in multitarget fight with 4 dummies (don't remember the true damage, but something like 30% more than me). And I never sucked hard in AoE with destro. Never.

[Zagam 1,982]

Last night was hilarious. We tried for fastest kill times.

37s on Blackfuse (20 dps no belt) and rank 1 on Garrosh with 4 minutes 36 or 46 I can't recall. Most people will still be boosting but impressive nontheless.

It was fun but I cant help but feel they've made a total joke out of the raid. I wonder how people still progressing feel.

For the next two lockouts, my gang is selling two spots for 200k a piece for the full 14/14M clear.  That's 800k to go into the guild bank for WoD which should buy enough pots, flasks, and BoE gear to last us the expansion.  Once new Challenge Modes are conquered and learned how to be manipulated, we plan on getting in on that early.  With how nerfed SoO is, the best thing to get out of there is gold, not loot it seems.

 

But the mage fire was not nerfed? I made a challenge at dummy level 85 with him (he at 585 iLVL and me at 584, so the same) and I sucked hard as destro in multitarget fight with 4 dummies (don't remember the true damage, but something like 30% more than me). And I never sucked hard in AoE with destro. Never.

Irrelevant on a level 85 dummy.  Also, you're not really talking about length of time of the fight or situational buffs which will play a big part in this at level 90. 

[Liquidsteel 279]

Yeah I don't disagree. We've been selling clears for a while now and just fancied something different for a change.

[Lockybalboa 618]

 

I wasn't aware that affliction was King since the nerfs on single target  was there alot of difference between you & locky on those fights?

 

The sign of a strong DPS core is that from top to bottom on nearly every fight, the #1 DPS and the last place DPS was normally a difference of 1.5% total damage.

 

On about 10 of 14 fights I was in the top three, more twos then threes more threes then ones. The only ones I wasn't in the top three for was because it was a mechanic fight that there is just no way for Aff to do well on (Galk, Spoils. Adds that died before Agony gets to 5 stacks...) or where I died mid fight because raids happen (IJ) 

 

I was also going 110% to prove a point. Skill will always beat spec. Aff on a "real" fight would be total trash right now. There are 91-100 perks that are REQUIRED to make Aff viable in a "real" raid environment. 

 

Right now with content so nerfed fight times are so short that the short comings of the spec made by not having the 91-100 leveling perks are mostly neutralized. If you're good, know how to manipulate mechanics, and understand what it is Aff can do then it is rather simple to bring the pain.

 

 

 

Logs of that night http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/wTmrKjapqxRnQ3b6#type=damage-done&fight=9

[Gnar 26]

100% uptime on Heroism (Affs best stat), no AoE, and starting with 100% of your secondary resource. Aff should clobber quick fights just like it had before.

Also 4 targets is borderline cleave, which Fire is still great at while Destro can run dry on 4. Also dummies are dumb and so is attacking a level 85 one.

[Furyio 3]

Are the stat priorities on the first page still relevant, or have they changed since the post was made? 

[Liquidsteel 279]

More or less accurate from what I can tell, however I was set back massively by the log in queues, and only dinged 100 a few hours ago.

 

I am still expecting changes before we hit Heroic Highmaul, however for the time being the general consensus is that single target you want to be running GoSup + Servitude with a focus on Crit and Haste, whilst multi target scenarios lend themselves to Crit and Mastery.

 

Personally I'll be running Crit = Mastery for both my Destruction and Demonology specs, with enough haste to feel comfortable. This is personal preference.

 

You can't REALLY go wrong with stats for Demonology, so Crit = Mastery should do nicely for both specs.

[Hybrex 1]

GoSup + Serv = Terrorguard doing top of my damage at ~30% damage on a heroic boss fight. Ilvl 617. 

[Liquidsteel 279]

How long is that fight though, 1 minute? Service will pull ahead there. 

 

On a 300 second simulation with 20% variance, Supremacy comes out almost 750 DPS ahead for me, though your results may obviously vary.

[Hybrex 1]

Pug heroic dungeons take more than 1 minute per boss. 

[Furyio 3]

Cheers for the info, levelled as Demo, intended to play Demo, but its performing horribly in 5mans from what I can see, Destro operating much better 

[vladMTL 1]

aoe feels so gimped compared to what it used to be ... getting owned pretty much by all that are melee on multi target ... might be too soon to judge but warlock isn't doing so great atm imo

[Liquidsteel 279]

I've found AoE to still be excellent for Destruction. Cataclysm + MF + FnB spam is great, and these low ilvls mean getting off 3x Havoc Shadowburns is a piece of cake.

 

Tanks are doing stupid amounts of damage (Brewmasters on single target make bosses vanish at 5% too...) but Destruction is still extremely strong in 5 mans.

[striderZA 0]

I've found AoE to still be excellent for Destruction. Cataclysm + MF + FnB spam is great, and these low ilvls mean getting off 3x Havoc Shadowburns is a piece of cake.

 

Tanks are doing stupid amounts of damage (Brewmasters on single target make bosses vanish at 5% too...) but Destruction is still extremely strong in 5 mans.

 

Cataclysm is actually good for Destruction?

[Furee 0]

Cataclysm is actually good for Destruction?

 

YES! It's by far my favorite of the three 100 talents for 5-mans. I expect that Servitude will win out for bosses in raids, but Cataclysm for AoE pulls does ridiculous damage.

[Liquidsteel 279]

Cataclysm is actually good for Destruction?

Yeah I've been using it in dungeons when there are lots of 5+ add packs. I think this is when Cataclysm becomes better.

 

Do note that come raiding, even on fights with lots of adds, it may be preferable to stick with Servitude just to push more boss damage. Say on Beastlord Darmac, sure you will lose a lot of damage from not casting Cata on all those adds, but at the same time it may be that boss damage is too low. The same idea applies to the process of choosing whether to all out AoE, or keep up Immolate / RoF for embers and just pump Chaos Bolts into the boss.

[striderZA 0]

Yeah I've been using it in dungeons when there are lots of 5+ add packs. I think this is when Cataclysm becomes better.

 

Do note that come raiding, even on fights with lots of adds, it may be preferable to stick with Servitude just to push more boss damage. Say on Beastlord Darmac, sure you will lose a lot of damage from not casting Cata on all those adds, but at the same time it may be that boss damage is too low. The same idea applies to the process of choosing whether to all out AoE, or keep up Immolate / RoF for embers and just pump Chaos Bolts into the boss.

 

Interesting. My original thought was that FnB Immolate does almost exactly what Cataclysm does, at the cost of an ember. What I didn't take into account though is how low ember regeneration at this gear level actually is. The Doomguard CD does quite a bit of damage now, which made me hesitant to take DS. Thanks for the advice though, I'll try it out tonight sometime.

 

I'm a bit disappointed that you can't switch talents in challenge modes though, would have liked to switch between DS and others.

[Soulzar 42]

Interesting. My original thought was that FnB Immolate does almost exactly what Cataclysm does, at the cost of an ember. What I didn't take into account though is how low ember regeneration at this gear level actually is. The Doomguard CD does quite a bit of damage now, which made me hesitant to take DS. Thanks for the advice though, I'll try it out tonight sometime.

 

I'm a bit disappointed that you can't switch talents in challenge modes though, would have liked to switch between DS and others.

 

Also keep in mind that F&B Immolate dmg is reduced by the F&B modifier, so the AoE immolates from Cata are much stronger.

[striderZA 0]

Also keep in mind that F&B Immolate dmg is reduced by the F&B modifier, so the AoE immolates from Cata are much stronger.

Mind blow, thank you.

[Liquidsteel 279]

If you need the AoE damage, then yes by all means take Cataclysm! But my point was that in fights where you have non priority adds to pad on, the damage lost on the boss by taking Cataclysm over Servitude will not be worth it.

[Lockybalboa 618]

I've been doing destro with cata for CM trash and Aff with DS for bosses.