I think common wisdom has been to Life Tap every 20 seconds to refresh the buff from the glyph (every 10 seconds, if you still have T7, blows through too many global cooldowns). As with all over-time effects, clipping isn't going to improve your effectiveness. The time when you need to refresh Life Tap, then, is very predictable (20 seconds minus your global cooldown time), so learn how long this is and have it refreshed at the 20 second mark.
In the 4 second case, Haunt would be the better option because of its relatively slow travel time (compared to Unstable Affliction's instant hit) and the damage increase of each effect being on the target; the loss of the (glyphed) Haunt effect is roughly a 19% damage loss from all your dots, not counting the chance of Shadow Embrace dropping off. I would say that Unstable Affliction does not do enough damage to ever make it a priority over Haunt.
The problem with the "cast haunt, else cast sbolt" macro, is that to maximize DPS, you don't want to cast haunt immediately. The spell's CD is shorter than the duration, so you should be able to get off 1 or so more shadowbolts per haunt rotation by not casting haunt immediately upon CD.
However, if you would like to create said macro, its as simple as
This will cast haunt when off CD, otherwise it will cast sbolt. The sound enabling 0 and 1 turn off and on (respectively) the sound for a brief second, disabling the "You can't do that" sound from your character, and the UIErrorsFrame command removes the big red text that says "spell not ready yet". Those 3 lines are merely "clean up" commands and do not affect what the macro actually DOES.
Last edited by tuberqlosis : 04/29/09 at 11:40 AM.
The problem with the "cast haunt, else cast sbolt" macro, is that to maximize DPS, you don't want to cast haunt immediately. The spell's CD is shorter than the duration, so you should be able to get off 1 or so more shadowbolts per haunt rotation by not casting haunt immediately upon CD.
However, if you would like to create said macro, its as simple as
This will cast haunt when off CD, otherwise it will cast sbolt. The sound enabling 0 and 1 turn off and on (respectively) the sound for a brief second, disabling the "You can't do that" sound from your character, and the UIErrorsFrame command removes the big red text that says "spell not ready yet". Those 3 lines are merely "clean up" commands and do not affect what the macro actually DOES.
That actually doesn't work anymore. If your first spell triggers the GCD upon successful cast, no matter if it actually casts or not, the second spell won't cast.
I don't quite agree. There seems to be a free point in the ideal aff build that most put in Cataclysm but I would personally put into Fel Synergy since you are probably life tapping anyway to keep up the buff.
While it is agreed that the point in Cataclysm is easily moved elsewhere, I think it is better placed in Improved Drain Soul or even Destructive Reach. While threat reduction isn't required as it once was, during fights which require the tank to break their normal rotation of max threat it does help a lot. Again, while I do agree with you that the point in Fel Synergy could help, I choose better pet management over spending talent points (especially when those talent points can help me in areas over which I have no direct control).
Edit: Leaving the point in Cataclysm can be argued as it only requires Life Tap(Rank 1) to keep up the buff. In heavy raid damage fights this still may be slightly useful although definietly not required.
In my experience that last point is best put into fel synergy. Succubus obviously is my highest dps demon now when the doomguard is on cooldown. Stuff like Council, Mimiron, Vezax, Ignis & co kept killing her until I finally went for 53/1/17, which basically sorted this out.
While it is agreed that the point in Cataclysm is easily moved elsewhere, I think it is better placed in Improved Drain Soul or even Destructive Reach. While threat reduction isn't required as it once was, during fights which require the tank to break their normal rotation of max threat it does help a lot. Again, while I do agree with you that the point in Fel Synergy could help, I choose better pet management over spending talent points (especially when those talent points can help me in areas over which I have no direct control).
Edit: Leaving the point in Cataclysm can be argued as it only requires Life Tap(Rank 1) to keep up the buff. In heavy raid damage fights this still may be slightly useful although definietly not required.
I agree that pet management should be a priority skill for locks these days. Just havig pet passive and pet defensive hotkeyed solved that whole issue for me. But for others managing threat is easier (bash soul shatter) and weaker pets like the imp and succy sometimes struggle with even moderate raid damage. And threat is less of an issue since I learned to shout for Salv Either way, it's a free point and I'd use it in the place that your playstyle demands it most. The only thing I would say with near certainty is that Cataclysm is not the best use of that leftover point.
I thought downranking on spells was abolished for Wrath? Am I wrong on this? Even so, I would still be casting highest rank Life Tap anyway as I want the mana as well as the buff.
My understanding is that Glyph of Unstable Affliction shortens the cast time by 0.2sec, but my question is if they have changed the glyph to also include a shortened GCD with it? Wowhead commenter says they do, but I can't find any verification.
Even if it were to lower the GCD by 0.2 on UA, wouldn't CoA glyph result on more net gained dps on single target and far greater on multiple targets?
I thought downranking on spells was abolished for Wrath? Am I wrong on this? Even so, I would still be casting highest rank Life Tap anyway as I want the mana as well as the buff.
It was. In BC all lower rank spells cost significantly less mana but still did the job. As an example, priests would typically spam Greater Heal(Rank 1). Now it's basically the opposite. Lower rank spells cost more mana which deem them useless...save for Life Tap. Rank 1 converts a base 272 while Rank 8 converts 2084 base. Very useful while raid damage is high. Seeing as mana is the least of our problems as affliction, I tend to do a 1:1 ratio. This keeps my buff up at all times and I never come close to low mana. This really helps the healers keep focused on the tank rather then looking to waste cast time + GCD on a lock that just wants to keep his buff up.
[top]I could cast a Shadow Bolt, but UA has only 1s left, what to do?
I think UA should be replaced with CoA in this example.
In the situation explained in your example you should cast UA because very high haste is need to make UA a <1 sec cast.
It would perfectly reapply UA exept heroism/bloodlust is up.
So CoA would be better to show that "Not casting anything for one second will reduce your damage".
I think UA should be replaced with CoA in this example.
In the situation explained in your example you should cast UA because very high haste is need to make UA a <1 sec cast.
It would perfectly reapply UA exept heroism/bloodlust is up.
So CoA would be better to show that "Not casting anything for one second will reduce your damage".
Getting it to cast in <1 sec would also be pointless as the GCD hasting is capped at 1sec anyway.
Originally Posted by Soleus
A previous poster brought this question up but its sorta fell through the cracks? All things being equal (lets say Naxx 25 gear), which provides higher dps - the 4piece T7 bonus or the 2piece t8 bonus (Valourous deathbringer, not conquerers)?
I can't remember exactly where these were worked out but assuming entry level ulduar gear I think it was shown that the 4pc T7 is slightly over 100dps and the 2pc T8 is slightly over 150dps (This is for affliction spec, I haven't seen the numbers worked anywhere else for other specs). I think these values are in the OP of this thread.
The problem with the "cast haunt, else cast sbolt" macro, is that to maximize DPS, you don't want to cast haunt immediately. The spell's CD is shorter than the duration, so you should be able to get off 1 or so more shadowbolts per haunt rotation by not casting haunt immediately upon CD.
However, if you would like to create said macro, its as simple as
This will cast haunt when off CD, otherwise it will cast sbolt. The sound enabling 0 and 1 turn off and on (respectively) the sound for a brief second, disabling the "You can't do that" sound from your character, and the UIErrorsFrame command removes the big red text that says "spell not ready yet". Those 3 lines are merely "clean up" commands and do not affect what the macro actually DOES.
Originally Posted by rutiene
That actually doesn't work anymore. If your first spell triggers the GCD upon successful cast, no matter if it actually casts or not, the second spell won't cast.
There are options one is /castrandom Haunt, Shadow Bolt
The downside ofcourse it could be several shadowbolts before it tries to cast a Haunt.
The other is setting up multiple action bars and a couple macros under the same "number" so when you spam them it switches between bars. You are going to be pressing the button quite a bit. With this set up it toggles between bars as you spam your 1 button. It is interesting to try this out, but ultimately not utilizing macros for haunt / shadow bolt is going to yield the best dps.
ACTIONBAR #1 MACRO
/cast Haunt
/changeactionbar 2
ACTIONBAR #2 MACRO
/cast Shadow Bolt
/changeactionbar 1
This works because the spells have a cast time greater than the global cool down. I would like to point out that /changeactionbar macro with several action bars doesn't work particularly well when you use instant cast spells and then change bar after the cast. This is because the macro switches to the next bar before the global cool down is up and ready to cast then next spell. With instant cast spells it would skip action bars during the global cool down if you pressed the button rapidly.
Since 3.1 came out, I've been a bit confused about gear. I've seen the numbers about how point for point haste is still more valuable than crit, but my question is at what point does it become important to work on crit as opposed to haste (if there is a point)?
My current stats (from armory, so no buffs or spellstone/fel armor)
SP: 2083
Hit: 11.25%
Crit: 10.5%
Haste: 18.39%
I know that there are a lot of crit raid buffs, but my crit just seems really low. I don't have Excel 2007 so the spreadsheets don't work for me, and I've never been very good at figuring out the math. Should I start working on raising crit now that dots can crit? Or is it safe to still assume haste is always more valuable than crit point for point? Please note that I am not asking if haste is better point for point, I have seen the numbers, I'm asking if, given a certain balance of haste and crit (for example, my reasonable haste but very low crit), this rule holds true.
A previous poster brought this question up but its sorta fell through the cracks? All things being equal (lets say Naxx 25 gear), which provides higher dps - the 4piece T7 bonus or the 2piece t8 bonus (Valourous deathbringer, not conquerers)?
Anyone have any input on this? I have 5/5 7.5 and i have 1 piece of conquerer and 1 piece of valourous t8. not sure which is best.
lots of silly macros on here hehe. First of all you do not want haunt in yer macro ever have it set to a single button to cast it individually make a macro like this for your dots.
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=5/target [mod:alt] Unstable Affliction; Curse of Agony, Corruption
basic idea is to start with life tap (rank 1) while getting into position, shadow bolt, haunt, then however you want yer modifier on the macro is up to you i personally prefer alt and have this macro bound to X. So I would Alt-X then tap X twice, on to sb spam makes things alot quicker if all of that is bound to one key. With this you can keep everything up and not skip a beat coa runnin out just tap x again. Makes it pretty simple for me, now if you can't stand not to have yer haunt in macro try somethin like this
Again just switch your modifier to whatever you want alt,ctrl, or shift. Just make sure you have nothing bound to the key you have it set to or the modifier+key and your golden. With this one with modifier it'll cast haunt without it it's yer sb spam key.
any idea where I can find the BIS items past v3.1 based on affliction?
Chardev hasn't been fully updated with gear yet, so most people are holding off from BiS gearset compilations.
However, I've got a set I generated using an app I wrote prior to 3.1. It is for an affliction lock aiming for 289hit, using the stat weights found in the math part of the second post in this thread.
One important point to note though, is that I have no trinket value calculations to rely on at this point. I have run the optimisation under the assumption that the BiS set will be Living Flame + 1 other. This may well not turn out to be the case, and until some serious trinket math is compiled I won't know for sure, but it's the most reasonable assumption I can make at present.
Another limitation is that this was generated from Wowhead's database about a week ago. Any items not present at the time will not have been included.
You should have the boot enchant be Tuskarr's Vitality. Movement speed is an important enchant for a min/max warlock, and does in fact increase dps as it saves you time when you have to move, since you can start casting again sooner.
The optimisation is for pure static dps according to the weights given in this thread. Any other tradeoffs are subjective and up to the player. That is one that you'd most likely want to make.
The "Haunt else Shadow Bolt" is the exact same as the Rogue issue from way back "Riposte else Sinister Strike"
The best you can do is /castrandom Haunt, Shadow Bolt
When haunt is available, you have a 50% chance to cast it. You can increase this with /castrandom Haunt, Haunt, Shadow Bolt and poof, 66%.
No. It's because the original app didn't look at meta requirements since you would never fail to meet them on Ember Skyflare Diamond. Thanks for pointing out this oversight.
For this gear set you would need to put a Purified Twilight Opal on the Mageblade and the Hood. I've updated the post accordingly.
04/29/09, 10:15 AM
Either way, it's a free point and I'd use it in the place that your playstyle demands it most. The only thing I would say with near certainty is that Cataclysm is not the best use of that leftover point.
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