[top]Introduction
The purpose of this thread is to discuss the theory-crafting behind the Demonology warlock. This thread is targeted at serious raiders. If you've got interesting/complex questions regarding Destruction, please ask them here. If you have very basic questions or alike, please use the "Simple Questions/Answers" thread in the stickies instead.
[top]Raid Performance
With the release of Patch 4.3 the warlock class sees a number of changes, in particular the Destruction spec, along with a few changes to the Demonology spec. Following these changes we see that all 3 specs are quite close, and all have something to bring to the table. For single target DPS, the following should be true at all gear levels:
| Demonology | > | Destruction | >= | Affliction |
While Demonology does pull ahead in single target DPS by ~2k DPS, this is only in close to perfect conditions where there is minimal to no movement and the player is able to stand in melee range. This means that in most situations Destruction and Affliction will perform better than Demonology.
On multi-target fights with strictly 2 DPS targets Affliction and Destruction should be quite even. However once any additional targets are introduced Affliction will perform considerably better than Destruction. Heavy AoE fights are where Demonology really begins to shine, followed respectably by Affliction and then Destruction behind by a considerable margin.
Q: Is there a haste cap?
A: Technically, there are multiple. See the Mechanics: Haste section of this guide for more information.
Q: Should I use the Infernal or Doomguard?
A: Doomguard for Single Target, Infernal for AoE.
Q: I changed my spec, and on a training dummy my new spec gives me more DPS!
A: What you do on a training dummy is irrelevant. Not only is your sample data far too small to rule out RNG, you're also missing lots of buffs/target debuffs that will change the way certain talents perform.
Q: I asked a question / Made a suggestion, why didn't you answer or respond to it?
A: On ElitistJerks it is policy that people who respond to stupid or very basic questions receive infractions along with the person who received the initial infraction. If you had a question and I didn't respond to it, I was probably avoiding infraction points.
[top]Abbreviations
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|
| Afflic | Affliction |
| AoE | Area of Effect |
| BiS | Best in Slot |
| BoA | Bane of Agony |
| BoD | Bane of Doom |
| BoH | Bane of Havoc |
| CD | Cooldown |
| CoE | Curse of the Elements |
| Corr | Corruption |
| Crit | Critical Strike Rating |
| Demo | Demonology |
| Destro | Destruction |
| DPET | Damage per execute time |
| FG | Felguard |
| GCD | Global Cooldown |
| HoG | Hand of Gul'dan |
| ICD | Internal Cooldown |
| Immo | Immolate |
| Imp SF | Improved Soul Fire |
| Incin | Incinerate |
| Int | Intellect |
| LT | Lifetap |
| Meta | Metamorphosis |
| RNG | Random Number Generator |
| SB | Shadow Bolt |
| SP | Spellpower |
Demonology has 2 possible specs:
3/31/7
This spec is designed for purely single target fights. Information in this thread that is labelled "Single Target" is used alongside this spec.
0/31/10
This spec is designed for fights with multiple targets, where multi-dotting is required. Information in this thread that is labelled "Multi-target" is used alongside this spec.
Demonology
| Tier | Talent | Notes | Recommendation |
|---|
| 1 | Demonic Embrace | Additional stamina | Optional |
| 1 | Dark Arts | Increases Felguard damage | Required |
| 1 | Fel Synergy | Passively heals demon | Optional |
| 2 | Demonic Rebirth | Demon "battle rez" | Optional |
| 2 | Mana Feed | Provides significant mana regen | Required |
| 2 | Demonic Aegis | Increase self healing | Optional |
| 2 | Master Summoner | Reduces demon cast time and mana cost | Optional |
| 3 | Impending Doom | Chance to reduce Meta CD and increase chance to summon a Ebon Imp with BoD | Required |
| 3 | Demonic Empowerment | Demon "Trinket" | Optional |
| 3 | Improved Health Funnel | Increases demon healing with health funnel | Optional |
| 4 | Molten Core | Chance to gain 3 Incinerates at 30% reduced cast time | Required |
| 4 | Hand of Gul'dan | Hard nuke and increases demon crit strike | Required |
| 4 | Aura of Foreboding | Stuns enemies hit by HoG | Optional |
| 5 | Ancient Grimlore | Increases guardian duration | Required |
| 5 | Inferno | Allows Hellfire to be channelled while moving and increase Immolate duration by 6 seconds | Required |
| 5 | Decimation | Reduces cast time on soul fire by 40% on targets below or at 25% HP | Required |
| 6 | Cremation | Increases Hellfire damage and allows HoG to refresh Immolate | Required |
| 6 | Demonic Pact | Increase raid/party member’s spellpower by 10% | Required |
| 7 | Metamorphosis | Huge DPS cooldown, transforms you into a demon | Required |
Destruction
| Tier | Talent | Notes | Recommendation |
|---|
| 1 | Bane | Reduces cast time on Shadow Bolt and Immolate | Required (Multi-target) |
| 1 | Shadow and Flame | Increases Shadow Bolt damage and allows you to inflict the 5% crit debuff | Required |
| 1 | Improved Immolate | Significant increase to Immolates damage | Required |
| 2 | Emberstorm | Reduces Soul Fire and Incinerate cast time | Required |
Affliction
| Tier | Talent | Notes | Recommendation |
|---|
| 1 | Improved Corruption | Increase Corruption damage | Required (Single Target) |
Prime Glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
Recommendations:
- [Glyph of Soul Link] - 5% increased damage reduction through Soul Link.
- [Glyph of Soulstone] - Since the change to Soulstone, making it a Battle Rez, this glyph will resurrect the targets of your soulstone with a total of 70% HP.
Minor Glyphs:
- Individual's Choice
- Individual's Choice
- Individual's Choice
[top]Demon Choice
Single Target
Currently, the Felhunter is the highest single target DPS demon.
AoE
The Felguard should still be used in AoE situations.
[top]Stats & Gearing
Intellect:
Intellect now converts to Spell Damage, which makes all spells stronger. A number of factors determine how much benefit they receive, such as the spell co-efficients and talents. However, all spells benefit in some way.
1 Intellect provides 1 spellpower (before bonuses) and 0.00154% crit, as well as 17.53 mana.
Hit Rating:
102.45 hit rating increase your chance to hit with spells by 1% until Hit Cap (17% or 1742 Rating). Once the cap has been reached Hit becomes useless.
Haste Rating:
128.05 haste rating gives 1% spell haste. Haste rating scales multiplicatively with other sources of haste. Haste cannot reduce the duration of the global cooldown below 1.0 second.
To calculate the 'new' cast time of a spell, use the following formula:
| New.Cast.Time | = | Normal.Cast.Time / ((1 + (Haste.Rating / 12805)) * 5%.Aura * Dark.Intent) |
Where 5%.Aura = 1.05 and Dark.Intent = 1.03.
Example, if we take a 2.5 second Normal.Cast.Time and a 950 Haste.Rating, we will get the following:
| New.Cast.Time | = | 2.5 / ((1 + (950 / 12805)) * 1.05 * 1.03) = 2.152 sec |
Due to the changes to DoTs introduced in 4.0.1 haste has become a much more advanced stat. See the Mechanics: Haste section for more information.
Critical Strike Rating:
179.28 crit rating gives 1% to crit. With a Burning Shadowspirit Diamond, crits will do 2.06 times the damage of normal hits. Due to changes made to DoTs in 4.0.1, all DoTs can now crit innately.
Mastery Rating:
179.28 mastery provides a 2.3% increase to the damage our demons do, as well as the damage we do while under the effect of Metamorphosis.
[top]Stat Priorities
It is recommended you download the
Simulationcraft tool and base your decisions around your individual character. For example if you are using
[Moonwell Chalice] with heroic Firelands gear, it's quite likely Haste will be lower than Crit. However, the below order should be correct in most situations.
Lower (iLvl 359 - 378) Gear Levels
| Int | = | Hit (to cap) | > | SP | > | Haste (1007 Rating) | > | Mastery | > | Haste | >= | Crit |
Mid (iLvl 378 - 397) Gear Levels
| Int | = | Hit (to cap) | > | SP | > | Haste (1573 Rating) | > | Mastery | > | Haste | >= | Crit |
Higher (iLvl 397+) Gear levels
| Int | = | Hit (to cap) | > | SP | > | Haste (1993 Rating) | > | Mastery | > | Haste | >= | Crit |
Some notes on stat weights:
The importance of haste thresholds is much lower (almost negligible) on single target fights. Instead these thresholds are much more important in situations with 2 or more targets and you can multi-dot.
In most cases you will begin to reach these thresholds automatically as you gear up (in full BiS 410 gear you will have over 2000 unreforgable haste). In a Patchwerk encounter my recommendation would be to reforge for full mastery and ignore these thresholds, and as always, sim your specific gear config using simulationcraft!
Reforging allows you to exchange 40% of a combat rating already on an item and converts it into a combat rating not already on an item. Example: If an item has Crit, you cannot add more Crit. If it has no Crit then you could reforge 40% of another rating (Haste, Hit, or Mastery) into Crit. An item with 100 Hit and no Crit could be reforged to 60 Hit and 40 Crit.
Reforging is essentially following the stat priority rules above to reach certain caps and maximize the benefit we recieve from secondary stats. For example, for the stat priorities in iLvl 378+ gear, we do the following (in order):
1. Reforge crit then mastery to hit until cap, getting as close to 1742 as possible.
2. Reforge crit then mastery to haste until 1993 rating, getting as close as possible without going under.
3. Reforge left over stats to mastery, including any hit or haste over the mentioned caps.
It is important to note that optimizing your reforging may involve reforging away from haste or hit on gear to get as close as possible to the cap (without going under). It is recommended you use a tools such as
WoWReforge to assist you.
When to ignore the socket bonus
As a general rule of thumb, if the socket bonus is less than 20 Int or 30 of any rating stat, then it would be better to ignore the bonus and gem
[Brilliant Inferno Ruby]/
[Brilliant Queen's Garnet]. However, to be more accurate you would need to find the relevant scale factors for your individual gear setup (Using Simulationcraft) and multiply those scale factors by the stats you would gain with either gem.
[top]Set Bonuses
| Bonus | Description |
|---|
| 2pc | The duration of your Doomguard and Infernal summons is increased by 20 sec and the cooldown of those spells is reduced by 4 min. |
| 4pc | Soulburn grants a 10% increase to your spell power for 10 sec, and Soul Fire cast with Soulburn active now grants a Soul Shard. |
2pc - The 2 peice bonus is a ~4% DPS increase, dependent on fight time.
4pc - The 4 piece bonus is a ~2.5% DPS increase if used on CD.
[top]Best in Slot
Normal BiS No Legendary
Normal BiS with Legendary
Heroic BiS No Legendary
Heroic BiS with Legendary
Coming Soon.
[top]Professions
| Name | Benefit |
|---|
| Engineering | Since patch 4.0.1, tinkers now stack with normal enchants. Synapse Springs tinker to gloves provides 480 Int for 10 seconds with a 60 second CD. This averages to an 80 Int bonus. Engineering also provides further perks such as [Flexweave Underlay]. [Nitro Boosts] and Grounded Plasma Shield have a chance to fail and cause serious adverse effects, and are not reliable in a raid situation. |
| Leatherworking | 130 Int to bracers in place of 50 Int, giving an 80 Int bonus. |
| Jewelcrafting | 3 [Brilliant Chimera's Eye] in place of 3 [Brilliant Inferno Ruby] or [Brilliant Queen's Garnet] gives 81 Int (51 Int over Epic Gems). |
| Blacksmithing | Extra sockets into wrists and gloves provides 2 additional Brilliant Inferno Ruby's or 2 Brilliant Queen's Garnet's, providing an 80/100 Int bonus. |
| Alchemy | Mixology, combined with [Flask of the Draconic Mind] provides an 80 Int bonus. |
| Enchanting | 40 Int to each ring provides an 80 Int bonus. |
| Inscription | 130 Int/25 haste shoulder enchant is an 80 Int bonus over the regular enchant. |
| Tailoring | Lightweave Embroidery gives 580 Int for 15 seconds on a 64 second ICD. This averages to 135.9 Int, which replaces the normal 50 Int enchant, providing only a 85.9 Int bonus. Tailoring currently gives the greatest DPS increase of all the professions. |
| Herbalism | Lifeblood is now a DPS cooldown providing 480 haste for 20 seconds on a 2 minute CD. This averages to an 80 haste bonus. |
| Skinning | 80 crit. |
| Mining | Stam, useless from a DPS perspective. |
[top]Consumables
In order of DPS increase.
| Worgen |
| Viciousness - Passive 1% crit. |
| Darkflight - 40% speed sprint for 10 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. |
| Gnome |
| Expansive Mind - Increase mana pool by 5%. |
| Escape Artist - Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect. 1.5 minute cooldown. |
| Human |
| Every Man for Himself - Removes all movement impairing effects and all effect which cause loss of control of your character. 2 minute cooldown. |
| Dwarf |
| Stoneform - Removes all poison, disease and bleed effects and reduces all damage taken by 10% for 8 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. |
| Orc |
| Blood Fury - Increases spellpower by 584. Lasts 15 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. |
| Command - Damage done by pets increased by 5%. |
| Hardiness - Reduces duration of stun effects by 15%. |
| Goblin |
| Time is Money - Passive 1% spell haste. |
| Rocket Jump - Activates your rocket belt to jump forward. 2 minute cooldown. Shares cooldown with Rocket Barrage. |
| Rocket Barrage - Launches your belt rockets at an enemy. 2 minute cooldown. Shares cooldown with Rocket Jump. |
| Troll |
| Berserking - Increases your casting speed by 20% for 10 seconds. 3 minute cooldown. |
| Da Voodoo Shuffle - Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%. |
| Blood Elf |
| Arcane Torrent - Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds and restores 6% mana. 2 minute cooldown. |
| Forsaken |
| Will of the Forsaken - Removes any Charm, Fear and Sleep effect. 2 minute cooldown. |
[top]Spell Rotations
[top]Spell Priority
Single Target Spec
| Spell | Condition |
|---|
| Soulburn | T13 4pc Set Bonus |
| Metamorphosis | - |
| Demon Soul | - |
| Immolation Aura | Metamorphosis |
| Immolate | - |
| Bane of Doom | If target will be alive atleast 15sec |
| Corruption | - |
| Shadowflame | Melee Range |
| Hand of Gul'dan | - |
| Incinerate | Molten Core |
| Soul Fire | Decimation |
| Incinerate | - |
Multi-target Spec
| Spell | Condition |
|---|
| Soulburn | T13 4pc Set Bonus |
| Metamorphosis | - |
| Demon Soul | Felguard |
| Immolation Aura | Metamorphosis |
| Immolate | - |
| Demon Soul | Felhunter |
| Bane of Doom | If target will be alive atleast 15sec |
| Corruption | - |
| Shadowflame | Melee Range |
| Hand of Gul'dan | - |
| Incinerate | Molten Core |
| Soul Fire | Decimation |
| Shadow Bolt | - |
The first thing to note is that when you enter an encounter you will want to have your Felguard out. Once the encounter begins and your Felguard is attacking the boss use Felstorm and Demon Soul. Once Felstorm has ended you will want to summon a Felhunter using Soulburn, unless the fight is an AoE heavy fight.
Demonology's primary concern is Metamorphosis. Generally Metamorphosis should be used on CD, unless you are delaying it so it can be used alongside trinkets such as
[Moonwell Chalice]. If you have the T13 set bonus Soulburn should be cast on cooldown, along with Soul Fire so the shard is replenished. Demon Soul should be used on cooldown.
Immolate and Corruption should have as close to 100% uptime as possible. This is also true for Bane of Doom, however this should only be cast if the target is going to live for more than 15 seconds.
Hand of Gul'dan should be used on cooldown. Incinerate should be used when Molten Core procs, even during Decimation. When the target reaches 25% HP Decimation will proc, Soul Fire will then become the filler spell.
If safe, Shadowflame should be used on cooldown while in melee range. However it is not worth running a long distance into melee range to do so. In addition Metamorphosis: Immolaton Aura should be used in melee wherever possible.
If all of the above is done, revert to Incinerate (Single Target) or Shadow Bolt (Multi-target) until a higher priority option becomes available.
[top]Metamorphosis
One of the changes made to Metamorphosis since 4.0.1 is the introduction of the Impending Doom talent. This means that our Metamorphosis ability will have an ever changing cooldown that will need to be closely monitored.
Currently, Sims are showing the possibility of this cooldown being as low as 85 seconds (Heroic T13). However the actual number will vary quite a bit depending on RNG, cast times (gear) and movement.
As a general rule, you want to be using this as often as possible (ie. on cooldown) to guarantee potential uptime isn't wasted. However, with good encounter knowledge, if you are safely able to line this up with important events such as bloodlust/heroism and Decimation then I would suggest doing so.
There are rare situations where Metamorphosis should be delayed, the most common of these being when used alongside the trinket
[Moonwell Chalice].
[top]Meta and Mastery
Mastery values are 'snapshotted' when Metamorphosis is cast, meaning that the damage increase provided by mastery does not change during Metamorphosis even if temporary mastery buffs wear off. This makes temporary mastery buffs provided through trinkets and items very powerful if they can be lined up with Metamorphosis. This is however, not always the case, so these trinkets/items should be tested and valued on an individual basis.
Demon Soul: Felguard increases your spell haste by 15% and fire and shadow damage done by 10% for 20 seconds. This spell should generally be used on cooldown, and should be lined up with "On-Use" trinkets, trinket procs, bloodlust/heroism and potions as often as possible.
Demon Soul: Felhunter increases periodic shadow damage dealt by 20% for 20 seconds. As this spell only effects Bane of Doom and Corruption it's priority is much lower than that of the Felguard's Demon Soul. It is still recommended you stack this effect with that of trinkets/potion/bloodlust/heroism where possible.
Summon Doomguard summons a doomguard (guardian pet) to fight alongside you for 65 seconds on a 10 minute cooldown (95 seconds on a 6 minute cooldown with 2pc T13).
The doomguard scales with some of your stats, these being spellpower, mastery, hit and crit. Therefore timing your doomguard summon with trinket procs, enchant procs and potions is essential for maximizing its DPS. In most cases the best way to achieve this is to simply summon your doomguard ~10-12 seconds into the fight as all procs are off cooldown and available before the pull.
The doomguard does not scale with percentage based damage increases or haste.
[top]Dark Intent
First and foremost, you should gauge the needs of your group. When learning raid fights or playing with undergeared healers, they should always come first. When you hit enrage timers or wipe because the boss has a burn phase you didn't complete, you should consider applying it to DPS classes. I'll leave this up to you.
[top]Healer Rankings
| Rank | Class | Condition |
|---|
| 1 | Restoration Druid | - |
| 2 | Holy Priest | Raid Healing |
| 3 | Restoration Shaman | - |
| 4 | Holy Priest | Tank Healing |
| 5 | Discipline Priest | - |
| 6 | Holy Paladin | Glyph of the Long Word |
[top]DPS Rankings
| Rank | Class |
|---|
| 1 | Shadow Priest |
| 2 | Fire Mage |
| 3 | Balance Druid |
| 4 | Elemental Shaman |
| 5 | Frost Mage |
| 6 | Arcane Mage |
| 7 | Feral Druid |
| 8 | Feral Druid (Hit Cap) |
| 9 | Survival Hunter |
| 10 | Retribution Paladin |
| 11 | Combat Rogue |
| 12 | Unholy DK (2H) |
| 13 | Assassination Rogue |
| 14 | Frost DK (2H) |
| 15 | Marksman Hunter |
| 16 | Beast Mastery Hunter |
| 17 | Enhancement Shaman |
| 18 | Frost DK (1H) |
| 19 | Unholy DK (1H) |
[top]Personal Rankings
| Rank | Class | Uptime |
|---|
| 1 | Balance Druid | 99% |
| 2 | Shadow Priest | 98% |
| 3 | Survival Hunter | 98% |
| 4 | Feral Druid | 95% |
| 5 | Feral Druid (Hit Cap) | 93% |
| 6 | Fire Mage | 88% |
| 7 | Frost Mage | 82% |
| 8 | Assassination Rogue | 76% |
| 9 | Elemental Shaman | 74% |
| 10 | Unholy DK (1H) | 72% |
| 11 | Beast Mastery Hunter | 69% |
| 12 | Combat Rogue | 66% |
| 13 | Arcane Mage | 62% |
| 14 | Unholy DK (2H) | 60% |
| 15 | Marksman Hunter | 57% |
| 16 | Enhancement Shaman | 55% |
| 17 | Retribution Paladin | 46% |
| 18 | Frost DK (2H) | 41% |
| 19 | Frost DK (1H) | 40% |
[top]AoE and Multiple Targets
The strong point for Demonology. In almost every AoE situation you will want to use Felguard Felstorm and Shadowflame. In situations where that is 6 or more targets then you will achieve the best results through channeling Hellfire. In situations with 5 or less targets then muti-dotting with Immolate and Corruption before channeling hellfire will yield greater results.
For more controlled multiple target damage, tab targeting non-cc'd mobs with Immolate and Corruption and then proceeding with a single target rotation on each mob until it is dead will be the most optimal way of dealing damage.
[top]Haste and DoTs
With patch 4.0.1 the way DoTs work has changed. In addition to all DoTs now benefiting from haste innately, haste now reduces the time between ticks. Haste only reduces the DoTs duration until an extra tick is received.
As of 4.0.6, and the change to the Inferno talent reaching the haste "thresholds" for Immolate is no longer important. Attempting to achieve any of these thresholds will not provide any significant increase in DPS, however these values and how to calculate them are still good to know. Reaching the haste thresholds for Corru[tion does provide an increase and should generally be achieved.
This applies to all of our DoTs except BoD, however, the haste required to achieve this extra tick will differ between DoTs. To calculate the required haste to achieve an additional tick, we would need to calculate the time between ticks, specific to 3 decimal places.
| Tick.Speed.Required | = | (Base.Frequency * Base.Tick.Speed) / (No.of.Ticks - 0.5) |
Where No.Of.Ticks is the number of ticks you would like to achieve. For example, if we wanted to apply this to Immolate (With Inferno, 7 sec Base Frequency, 3 sec Base Tick Speed), wanting to achieve 2 additional tick (9), we would do the following:
| Tick.Speed.Required | = | (7 * 3) / (9 - 0.5) = 2.471 seconds |
From here, we can calculate the percentage of haste required to achieve this tick speed, using the following formula:
| Haste.Percent | = | (Base.Tick.Speed / (Tick.Speed.Required + 0.00049999)) - 1 |
Therefore:
| Haste.Percent | = | (3 / (2.471 + 0.00049999)) - 1 = 0.21432909 |
So what haste rating should you be aiming for?
Well, Immolate (with Inferno) gains extra ticks at 7.161994%, 21.432909%, 35.715902% etc. So to determine the haste required in a raid situation, with all raid buffs including Dark Intent, we will use this formula:
| Haste.Rating | = | ((Haste.Percent / 5%.Aura / Dark.Intent) - 1) * 12805.716 |
For example, the haste required to gain 2 addition ticks (21.4% haste) is as follows:
| Haste.Rating | = | ((1.21432909 / 1.05 / 1.03) - 1) * 12805.716 = 1573 rating |
Therefore, the haste thresholds are (raid buffed):
| Extra Ticks | % | Rating | Goblin |
|---|
| 1 | 7.2% | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 21.4% | 1573 | 1431 |
| 3 | 35.7% | 3264 | 3105 |
| 4 | 49.9% | 4951 | 4776 |
Our other DoTs also benefit from gaining extra ticks. The haste thresholds for our other DoTs are below:
Corruption
| Extra Ticks | % | Rating | Goblin |
|---|
| 1 | 8.3% | 21 | 0 |
| 2 | 25% | 1993 | 1846 |
| 3 | 41.7% | 3970 | 3804 |
| 4 | 58.4% | 5945 | 5745 |
Shadowflame
| Extra Ticks | % | Rating | Goblin |
|---|
| 1 | 16.7% | 1007 | 870 |
| 2 | 50% | 4954 | 4778 |
| 3 | 83.4% | 8911 | 8696 |
| 4 | 116.6% | 12838 | 12584 |
[top]Other DoT Mechanics
[top]DoTs, Buff and Debuffs
Since 4.0 the basic rules for DoT behavior has changed. When a DoT is applied, the following rules are applied:
- All player stats are "snapshotted," including all bonuses received through buffs and procs, and any losses to stats from debuffs. This means that the DoT will not benefit from any procs unless it is recast.
- The DoTs damage will update with boss debuffs on a per tick basis. For example, if a DoT was applied to a boss before the 8% Spell Damage debuff was applied, and the 8% Spell Damage debuff was applied between the 2nd and 3rd tick, the 3rd tick will begin to benefit from the debuff immediately.
The only known case where the above is not true is with the 5% Crit Debuff (Shadow and Flame/Critical Mass). This debuff follows similar rules to that of player buffs.
As a general rule of thumb it is not recommended you recast a DoT early (i.e. clipping, with the exception of the information provided in the 'DoT Refreshing' section of this thread), even when you have additional procs that weren't present on the original cast. What this will effectively do is lower that DoTs overall DPET for that encounter despite the additional damage done due to the proc.
[top]DoT Refreshing
Another change made to DoTs in 4.0 is how DoTs behave when being reapplied or refreshed. Basically if a DoT is refreshed between the 2nd last and last tick, the DoTs duration will be extended to include the last tick. For example:
Corruption (uneffected by haste) has a 18 second duration, dealing damage every 3 seconds (6 ticks). If you refresh Corruption at 16 seconds (2 seconds till the last tick) the new Corruption applied to the target will have a duration of 23 seconds and will tick 6 times.
What this means is that you can 'clip' a DoT without losing the last tick of that DoT (and the damage that last tick provides), making it much easier to have a 100% uptime on all DoTs. One thing to note is that if a DoT is refreshed using this method then the last tick inherits the stats of the new DoT (See 'DoTs, Buffs and Debuffs').
[top]Pet Twisting
Under certain circumstances it is beneficial to routinely change your demon throughout the course of an encounter. This is called Pet Twisting. The only current circumstance is when you are using the trinket
[Moonwell Chalice] and delaying Metamorphosis to line up with this trinket.
The basic idea of this is as follows:
- Open the fight with the Felguard and use it's Demon Soul + Felstorm, along with [Moonwell Chalice] and Metamorphosis.
- Soulburn a Felhunter once Felstorm has completed.
- When [Moonwell Chalice] has ~6 seconds left on it's cooldown begin to hard summon a Felguard.
- Use the Felguard's Demon Soul and Felstorm, along with [Moonwell Chalice] and Metamorphosis.
- Soulburn a Felhunter once Felstorm has completed.
This continues until the fight is over, or until you have no soulshards left, in which case you will want to continue to use your Felhunter.
The reason we do this is because of the way the Felguard's Demon Soul stacks with Metamorphosis and
[Moonwell Chalice].
Suggestions Welcome.
Simulation Craft
An advanced raid simulator that can provide you with tons of valuable information, such as scale factors, damage per execution, uptime of procs, etc. You can change the spell priority system to see what works best, however by importing your character simulationcraft should have an optimized priority list ready for you (not always!).
World of Logs
World of Logs is a combat log analyzer which allows gamers to save, share and analyze their raiding experiences in World of Warcraft conveniently and thoroughly.
WoW Reforge
An easy to use reforge calculator designed to assist you in maximizing your stats through reforging. The calculator can work around hit caps, haste caps and can be editted with custom stat weights for your individual character.
DoT Haste Calculations Spreadsheet
A comprehensive spreadsheet detailing all DoT tick breakpoints. Provides numbers for every classes DoTs, includes breakpoints with Bloodlust/Heroism and as a Goblin.
DoTHaste Program by Acrimony
An easy to use program used to calculate DoT tick breakpoints. Provides numbers for every classes DoTs, includes breakpoints with Bloodlust/Heroism and as a Goblin.
Coming Soon.
[top]To Be Completed
Gear: Best in Slot
Gear: Trinkets
Other: Add-ons
Other: Macros - Suggestions Welcome
[top]PTR/Imcoming Patch Changes
Please do not post in this thread regarding PTR/Incoming Patch changes. The purpose of this thread is to discuss live mechanics only. Be assured that no incoming changes will be missed, and they will be heavily researched before going live. Should there be any relevant changes made, this thread will be updated the night of the patch, and not before.
Below are changes relevant to Demonology for all cataclysm major patches.
[top]Patch 4.3 Changes
General
- Shadow Bolt has a new spell effect.
- Soul Fire now scales with 72.6% of spell power, up from 62.5%.
- The Voidwalker ability Suffering now works like the hunter pet talent Taunt.
Demonology
- Master Demonologist now grants a base bonus of 18.4% and 2.3% per mastery, up from 16% and 2% per mastery.
- Impending Doom is now also activated by Soul Fire
Bug Fixes- Fixed a bug that caused Doomguard and Infernal to benefit dramatically more than intended from Demonology Mastery.
[top]Patch 4.2 Changes
General
- Soul Fire is now available at level 20, down from level 54.
- Soul Harvest has a new spell effect.
- It is no longer possible to leave combat while channeling Drain Soul.
[top]Patch 4.1 Changes
General
- Dark Intent: The friendly target of this ability now receives 1% (stacking 3 times to 3%) periodic spell damage and healing bonus instead of 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%). The casting Warlock still receives 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%).
- Rain of Fire damage has been increased by 25%.
- Seed of Corruption damage has been increased by 20%.
- Soulstone can now be used in combat to resurrect a targeted dead player.
Demonology
- Mana Feed now restores more mana (four times as much) when the warlock is using a Felguard or Felhunter.
Pets
- Doomguard's damage has been increased by 50%. The Doomguard is intended to be the best guardian for single-target damage, and the Infernal the best when there are multiple targets.
- Shadow Bite (Felhunter) damage and effect has doubled, and is now available at level 30, down from 42.
Bug Fixes
- Imps summoned by Bane of Doom now benefit from the warlock's stats.
[top]Credit and Special Thanks
| Name | Reason |
|---|
| Keldion | For his work on the DOT haste calculations spreadsheet. |
| The Simcraft Team | For their continuing hard work in creating such an excellent tool |
| Zakalwe | For his invaluable contribution to the warlock community |
| The EJ Warlock Community | For their contribution towards keeping the information in this thread as accurate as possible through intelligent discussion |
| Ushio | For being a sexy beast |
| Kitzie | For being awesome |
- December 07, 2010:
Thread Posted
- December 11/12, 2010:
Fixed a few things
- December 21, 2010:
Added "Demon Choice" section, detailing the use of the Succubus.
- January 03, 2011:
Revised Advanced: Haste section with newly discovered information.
- January 8, 2011:
Updated Dark Intent section.
- January 23, 2011:
Demon of choice is once again the Felguard.
- February 8, 2011:
Updated for 4.0.6.
- Febuary 9, 2011:
Succubus crit issue fixed. Succubus confirmed as best Single Target pet.
- March 17, 2011:
Updated stat priorities.
- April 26, 2011:
Updated for 4.1.
- June 29, 2011:
Updated for 4.2
- July 16, 2011:
Updated Raid Performance
Updated Tailoring under 'Professions'
Glyph of Corruption over Glyph of Incinerate
- July 30, 2011:
Updated Metamorphosis section
Added WoWReforge to Tools section
- December 3, 2011:
Updated for 4.3
Added a number of new sections
Updated formatting
- December 4, 2001:
Added BiS Gear
Feedback to this thread is appreciated. There is still much I would like to add (more than just what is in the "To be completed" section) and clarify and there might be a lot more that I have not thought of yet. Generally feedback should be posted within this thread (however please try keep posts in this thread discussion related), however if you feel that the feedback you have would be best suited for a private message, please do not hesitate to send me one.
If I have made a mistake, then a PM would be preferred over posting in this thread.
This article is the original work of Jmickey (Caelestrasz-US) aided by contributors of the Elitist Jerks forums. Re-posting this article in full or in part is permitted under the following conditions:
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12/07/10, 2:46 AM
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