[top]Introduction
The purpose of this thread is to discuss the theory-crafting behind the Destruction 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 |
| 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 |
3/7/31.
Destruction
| Tier | Talent | Notes | Recommendation |
|---|
| 1 | Bane | Reduces cast time on Chaos Bolt and Immolate | Required |
| 1 | Shadow and Flame | Increases Incinerate damage and applies 5% crit debuff | Required |
| 1 | Improved Immolate | Increases Immolate damage | Required |
| 2 | Emberstorm | Reduces cast time of Soul Fire and Incinerate | Required |
| 2 | Improved Searing Pain | Increases Searing Pain crit chance on targets under 25% | Optional |
| 2 | Aftermath | Dazes targets hit by your Conflagrate | Optional |
| 3 | Improved Soul Fire | Provides 8% damage for 20 seconds whenever you cast Soul Fire | Required |
| 3 | Backdraft | Reduces the cast time on your next 3 Incinerates or Chaos Bolts by 30% (Lasts 15 seconds) | Required |
| 3 | Shadowburn | Execute spell, good for regenerating Soul Shard while in combat | Optional |
| 4 | Burning Embers | Places a DoT on the target of your Soul Fire and your Imp's Firebolt | Required |
| 4 | Soul Leech | Mana and health regen from Chaos Bolt, also provides Replenishment to the raid | Required |
| 4 | Backlash | Chance to decrease Incinerate cast time when you are hit with a physical attack | Optional |
| 4 | Nether Ward | Turns Shadow Ward into Nether Ward, protecting you from all magic types | Optional |
| 5 | Fire and Brimstone | Increases Chaos Bolt and Incinerate damage, as well as Conflagrate crit chance | Required |
| 5 | Shadowfury | AoE Stun | Optional |
| 5 | Nether Protection | Damage reduction from 1 magic school, based on magic absorbed through Nether Ward | Optional |
| 6 | Empowered Imp | Chance for your Imp's Firebolt to grant you an Instant Soul Fire | Required |
| 6 | Bane of Havoc | 15% of damage done to a target is also dealt to the baned target | Required |
| 7 | Chaos Bolt | Heavy hitting nuke | Required |
Demonology
| Tier | Talent | Notes | Recommendation |
|---|
| 1 | Demonic Embrace | Increases your stamina | Optional |
| 1 | Dark Arts | Lowers the cast time on your Imp's Firebolt spell | Required |
| 1 | Fel Synergy | Heals your pet when you deal damage | Optional |
| 2 | Mana Feed | Provides you with mana when your Imp crits with Firebolt | Required |
Affliction
| Tier | Talent | Notes | Recommendation |
|---|
| 1 | Improved Corruption | Increase Corruption damage | Required |
Prime Glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
- Individual's Choice
- Individual's Choice
- Individual's Choice
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.
- [Glyph of Life Tap] - Useful for fights where AoE is used heavily and Mana is an issue.
Minor Glyphs:
- Individual's Choice
- Individual's Choice
- Individual's Choice
[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, and the way certain DoTs interact with certain talents and abilities (like Conflagrate), 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 1.35% increase to all fire damage. As 90%+ of Destruction's damage comes from fire spells, mastery is not a bad stat. However the increase per point is low enough that mastery will not be prioritised over crit or haste until much higher gear levels.
[top]Stat Priorities
It is recommended you download the
Simulationcraft tool and base your decisions around your individual character. However, the below order should be correct in most situations.
Item Level 359 - 378:
| Int | > | SP | >> | Hit (to cap) | > | Haste | > | Crit | > | Mastery |
Item Level 391 - 397:
| Int | > | SP | > | Hit (to cap) | > | Haste | > | Mastery | = | Crit |
Item Level 403 - 416:
| Int | = | Hit (to cap) | > | SP | > | Haste (2681 Rating) | > | Mastery | > | Crit | > | Haste |
2681 Haste rating (2527 rating for Goblins) with full raid buffs provides Immolate with an additional 4 ticks (9 total) while under the effect of Heroism/Bloodlust.
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 401 - 416 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 2681 rating, getting as close as possible.
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 30 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 ~2% DPS increase, dependant 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.
**Which you use will depend on how close you are to a haste threshold for an additional tick of Immolate. See Advanced: Haste for more information.
[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
| Spell | Condition |
|---|
| Soul Fire | Improved Soul Fire |
| Soulburn | T13 4pc Set Bonus |
| Demon Soul | - |
| Immolate | - |
| Conflagrate | - |
| Bane of Doom | If target will be alive atleast 15sec |
| Corruption | - |
| Shadowburn | Target HP <20% |
| Shadowflame | Melee Range |
| Soul Fire | Empowered Imp |
| Chaos Bolt | Unless under haste effects |
| Incinerate | - |
Your primary concern will be to get Improved Soul Fire up. You should be keeping this buff up as much as possible, including through hardcasting. 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, together with "On-Use" trinkets.
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.
Conflagrate should be used on cooldown. Chaos Bolt has a DPET equal to that of Incinerate, but is still worth casting on cooldown to proc Soul Leech. It is recommended that chaos bolt is not used while under haste effects such as Heroism/Bloodlust or trinkets that will bring it below a 1 second cast time.
In practice, Empowered Imp procs should generally be used as soon as possible in order to prevent a secondary proc overwriting it, however, this situation will be rare and delaying the use of these procs to maximize Improved Soul Fire uptime would result in more DPS. Ultimately the difference will be minimal, and both cases are acceptable and will net different results on a per fight basis.
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. When the boss reaches 20% HP, begin to use Shadowburn on cooldown.
If all of the above is done, revert to Incinerate until a higher priority option becomes available.
Demon Soul: Imp increases the critical strike chance of your cast time Destruction spells by 30% for 20 sec. 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: Imp only effects Destruction spells with a cast time, therefore Conflagrate is not effected. Soul Fires cast through Empowered Imp and Soulburn still count as having a cast time and are effected.
Summon Doomguard summons a doomguard (guardian pet) to fight alongside you for 45 seconds on a 10 minute cooldown (75 seconds on a 6 minute cooldown with 2pc T13).
The doomguard scales with some of your stats, these being spellpower, 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, haste or Destruction's mastery.
[top]Improved Soul Fire
The change to Improved Soul Fire in 4.0.6 has not made a difference to it's place in the spell priority list and keeping as close to 100% uptime on this buff is still very important. However, the most notable change is the removal of its internal cooldown.
This change doesn't have a big effect on the handling of ISF compared to 4.0.3. The best way to handle this talent is still to line up your Soul Fire to land on the target just as the old ISF ends. This change just allows more room for error if it's cast early. The biggest difference however, is that Empowered Imp procs can be used immediately and will still refresh ISF.
In addition to the above, ISF should now be kept up during Bloodlust/Heroism
[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]Bane of Havoc
This section of the thread will provide details on how Bane of Havoc can be used in current and past content to provide a useful (not simply padding meters) increase to personal DPS.
Coming Soon.
| Shannox |
| Normal: Place BoH on a dog or Shannox, whichever you are not assigned to |
| Heroic: N/A |
| Beth'tilac |
| BoH can be placed on Beth'tilac on the pull and will damage the boss as you DPS the various adds while on the floor |
| Lord Rhyolith |
| BoH can be placed on 1 leg while you DPS the other leg or the various adds. It should not effect steering. |
| Alysrazor |
| BoH can be placed on the boss while you DPS the various adds on the floor. |
| Baleroc |
| N/A |
| Majordomo Staghelm |
| N/A |
| Ragnaros |
| BoH can be placed on Ragnaros or a Lava Scion, whichever you are not assigned to. |
[top]Blackwing Decent
| Omnotron Defense System |
| Place BoH on the old Tron when the new one activates. BoH will not activate the shield mechanics, however, DO NOT apply it to Magmatron when his shield goes up. This will cause it to explode and will likely wipe your raid. |
| Magmaw |
| Place BoH on the body of Magmaw right before he is chained down and his head is exposed, then place BoH on the head when he about to go back up. |
| Chimaeron |
| N/A |
| Maloriak |
| You should really be Demo for this fight, however, if you choose to go destro place BoH on Maloriak before the green phase for when you are about to AoE the abberations. |
| Atramedes |
| N/A |
| Nefarian |
| Phase 1: Place BoH on whichever dragon you are not DPSing (Nef/Ony). |
| Phase 2: Place BoH on either Nef or the Chromatic Prototype, whichever one you have not been assigned to DPS directly. |
| Phase 3: N/A |
[top]Bastion of Twilight
| Halfus Wyrmbreaker |
| Place BoH on Halfus while you DPS down his drakes. |
| Valiona and Theralion |
| Place BoH on whichever dragon is not currently grounded. |
| Ascendant Council |
| Place BoH on whichever Elemental Lord you have not been assigned to DPS directly. |
| Cho'gall |
| Place BoH on Cho'gall when he summons his Corrupting Adherents, provided you are assigned to switch to these. |
| Sinestra |
| Place BoH on Sinestra while you DPS the Pulsing Twilight Eggs and the Twilight Spitecallers. |
[top]Throne of Four Winds
| Concalve of Wind |
| Place BoH on Nezir before you are about to return to your assigned platform. |
| Al'Akir |
| Place BoH on Al'Akir if you are assigned to DPS Stormlings (to be confirmed as an actual DPS increase) |
There seems to be a common misconception within the warlock community that Fel Flame should be used to refresh Immolate. As a basic rule of thumb there are only 2 reason to ever cast Fel Flame, these are:
- During unavoidable movement, and only when Conflag is on CD, Corruption does not require refreshing, the boss is out of range of Shadowflame (or it's on CD), and you do not require mana from Life Tap.
- When the T11 4pc bonus procs.
Outside of these 2 reasons, there really isn't any other situation Fel Flame should be used. Using Fel Flame to refresh the duration of Immolate will result in a DPS loss, due to the number of GCDs required to increase the DoTs duration to its original duration. If we compare this to the time required to simply re-apply the DoT over a 5 minute (300 second) fight:
Assuming a 1 second GCD, over a 300 second fight we will cast Immolate 20 times (20 GCDs). It will require 3 Fel Flames every 15 seconds to achieve the same result. This is a total of 60 GCDs used over the course of the fight, wasting 40 seconds of time during the fight to keep a 100% uptime on Immolate. This is almost 27 Incinerates worth of time spent refreshing Immolate using our lowest DPET spell.
[top]AoE and Multiple Targets
In large AoE situations with 5 or more targets, then Shadowflame (on CD), Rain of Fire and Summon Infernal should all provide an acceptable amount of damage.
For more controlled multiple target damage generally with less than 5 targets, 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. It is also recommended Bane of Havoc be placed on the mob that is expected to live the longest.
For fights consisting of only 2 targets, Bane of Havoc should be placed on 1 target while you proceed with a single target rotation on the non-baned target. In addition it is recommended that Immolate and Corruption be used on both targets. It is important to note that your Imp must be placed on the non-baned target.
[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.
This is important for us as it means we now start to have haste "thresholds" that we should be trying to achieve in order to gain extra ticks on our DoTs. This becomes even more important to Destruction Warlocks, due to the way Conflagrate interacts with the overall damage Immolate does.
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 (5 sec Base Frequency, 3 sec Base Tick Speed), wanting to achieve 2 additional ticks (7), we would do the following:
| Tick.Speed.Required | = | (5 * 3) / (7 - 0.5) = 2.307 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 / (2.307 + 0.00049999)) - 1 = 0.30010835 |
So what haste rating does that translate into?
Well, Immolate gains extra ticks at 9.99908%, 30.00108%, 49.9625% 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 additional ticks (30% haste) is as follows:
| Haste.Rating | = | ((1.300108 / 1.05 / 1.03) - 1) * 12805.716 = 2589 |
Therefore, the haste thresholds for
Immolate are (raid buffed):
| Extra Ticks | % | Rating | Goblin |
|---|
| 1 | 9.9% | 218 | 90 |
| 2 | 30% | 2589 | 2437 |
| 3 | 49.9% | 4951 | 4776 |
| 4 | 70% | 7326 | 7127 |
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:
Immolate (uneffected by haste) has a 15 second duration, dealing damage every 3 seconds (5 ticks). If you refresh Immolate at 13 seconds (2 seconds till the last tick) the new Immolate applied to the target will have a duration of 20 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').
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
BoH: Tier 13
Other: Add-ons
Other: Macros - Suggestions Welcome
[top]PTR/Incoming 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 Destruction 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.
Destruction
- Fire and Brimstone now increases the damage of Incinerate and Chaos Bolt on Immolated targets by 5/10/15%, up from 2/4/6%.
- Burning Embers now deals damage equal to 25/50% of Soul Fire and Imp’s Firebolt, up from 15/30%.
- Burning Embers damage cap has been raised.
- Shadowburn now deals Shadowflame damage, instead of Shadow damage.
- Improved Soul Fire now lasts 20 sec, up from 15sec.
[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.
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.
Bug Fixes
- Imps summoned by Bane of Doom now benefit from the warlock's stats.
[top]Credits 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 21, 2010:
Thread Posted
- January 03, 2011:
Revised Advanced: Haste section with newly discovered information.
- January 8, 2011:
Updated Dark Intent section.
- February 8, 2011:
Updated for 4.0.6.
Added Improved Soul Fire and Bane of Havoc sections.
- April 26, 2011:
Updated for 4.1.
- June 29, 2011:
Updated for 4.2.
- July 16, 2011:
Updated Raid Performance.
Updated Tailoring under 'Professions'.
- November 28, 2011:
Updated for Patch 4.3
Many sections updated.
Improved thread formatting.
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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For any further questions regarding displaying the contents of this article elsewhere, please send me a private message.
12/21/10, 9:43 AM
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