When to use Doomguard????

[Anel 0]

Hi, I am new to these forums and I have spent about an hour or so going over a few of the threads trying to solidify my knowledge on affliction lock rotation, etc. I was reading a topic about someone lacking in the DPS department and their comment caught my eye:

"I am aware I made some mistakes on Feng such as:

1) Popping DOOMGUARD at the beginning of the fight"

I then started thinking when it would be optimal to summon your doomguard, i.e. when he'd prove to maximize your DPS. I couldn't find ANY answers online, nor throughout the warlock forums here so I was wondering if someone could help me out and tell me when it would be most optimal to summon your doomguard in all of the Mogu'shan Vault encounters. I used to summon him at the beginning of most fights however now I don't feel as confident in when to summon him.

Thanks in advance!!

[Guttersnipe 0]

The Doomguard does 20% additional damage to targets below 20% health (states this info on the Doomguard tooltip), and since it is only summonable once every 10 mins (which is usually once per boss encounter attempt), the optimal time on a "non-gimmick" style fight would be during execute phase, or 20 percent and below.

If there is a gimmick-type fight such as Magmaw's "head on the ground" phase, or other types of encounters when you gain a ridiculous bonus to damage, that would be the exception to summoning the Doomguard when a boss is below 20% health.

I am sure others have additional insight on this topic as well.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Guttersnipe

[Anel 0]

To be honest I never read the tooltip, that would have given me a big idea on how to use him lol. Since he lasts for 1 minute, should I summon him right before the 20% mark hits? or right as it hits? I haven't really gotten into a non LFR raid as of right now so I'm unaware of how long fights last during the execute phase.

[Zauxst 1]

The Doomguard is best used during BL or at the start if you pop all cooldowns

[Zagam 1,982]

Your Doomguard doesn't do enough DPS to heavily influence this decision. You want to use him with the best possible stats during the encounter OR a phase that your raid is having difficulty getting through. If there is a phase with extra DPS buffs, you'd want to use him here. If you're having issues getting through a phase because of slightly less raid DPS than required, use him then. Otherwise, he's best used about 6 seconds into the fight as you'll always receive the maximum benefit from all of your procs. This will push your DPS higher than his 20% buff in execute phase. It's also to note that he lasts for 60 seconds, and if you wait until something is at 20% to use him, he may be wasted if the boss dies before his duration run its course.

[JvChequer 43]

The Doomguard is best used during BL or at the start if you pop all cooldowns

This.