Blacksen

I also want to just give some general advice on warlock DoT's and such, and a good way to view them, since a lot of people have trouble understanding the concept of clipping DoT's.


Another way of looking at Damage-Over-Time Spells...
Direct Damage with a cooldown


Instead of viewing our damage-over-time spells as actually dealing damage-over-time, you should view them as very high damage spells with an "invisible" cooldown. For example, you can view Unstable Affliction as a spell that deals 1.7k dmg every 3 seconds for 18 seconds, or you can view it as a spell that deals 10.2k dmg with an 18 second cooldown. Obviously, these spells are somewhat special: they can't really crit (pandemic is a different story), and the cooldown isn't actually physical. But it's a good idea to think that there IS a cooldown.

Now, Unstable Affliction deals about 10k-ish damage over an 18-second interval. Curse of Agony also deals about 10k-ish damage, over a 24-second interval. Corruption deals about 13k dmg over an 18-second interval. Immolate deals about 9.5k-ish dmg over an 18-second interval. Siphon Life deals about 10k-ish dmg over a 30-second interval. For practical purposes all of these spells have the same cast time. These are just my numbers from Wow Web Stats . Your numbers may vary.

Now, like I said, this "cooldown" doesn't actually exist. However, whenever you cast it BEFORE the cooldown is up, it DECREASES the damage of the cast before it. So, for instance, if I cast Unstable Affliction and then cast it again 16 seconds later, the first Unstable Affliction only ticks 5 times, and the second cast 6 times. The total is 11 ticks over a 34 second period. Had I waited 2 more seconds to recast UA, it would have been 12 ticks over a 36 second period.

This is also where damage-per-cast-time comes in. DPCT is essentially the priority system whenever two spells come into conflict. It's the reason that Shadow Bolt is so rarely cast. However, warlocks who don't like grouping CoA and SL together, or who find UA/Immolate conflicting with CoA or something else like that... You simply cast the spell that has the highest DPCT. That's because it does the most damage at that moment. Again, this is still assuming you're looking at DoT's not as damage-over-time, but as Direct Damage with cooldowns.

So, it's just another interesting way to think about it.

 

krilz

Totally agree on everything here. If you get to decide between for example whether to recast UA or SL first, UA should go first as an example.
One thing you missed: Haunt takes priority over anything. Not only does it refresh your Corruption but it also adds the 20% debuff AND deals damage. That's not to say you should cast it as often as you can because it's DPCT on it's own is still horrible but you should keep the debuff up at all times as your number one priority (and by keeping the debuff up at all times, you subsequently keep Corruption up all the time).

 

Blacksen

Haunt should NOT take priority over everything... Haunt has an 8 second cooldown and a 12 second buff time. I usually aim for casting an extra shadow bolt OR another DoT before casting Haunt.

Remember that letting Haunt fall off for 1-2 seconds will miss, at most, 1-2 DoT ticks getting 20% more damage. Worst case, every DoT ticks once, but that's still only about 1.2k dmg missed. Usually re-applying a DoT is more worth it.

Anyways, I generally try to cast one more spell whenever I see Haunt come off cooldown. Aiming to cast Haunt once ever 10 seconds is highly advisable, since Shadowbolt technically has a higher DPCT than Haunt.

 

krilz

Please read what I write.

 

Phrequency

I know that the felhunter was bugged recently causing less than optimal dps. I feel that it has optimal synthesis with affliction, but from what i've heard/ read the imp is currently superior for affliction raiding. Does anyone have a complete answer to as what pet to use?
Also, some WWS Parses of affliction on Patchwerk with an imp, and then also a Felhunter would be helpful!

 

trismegistus

I haven't played Affliction yet in 3.0, but from everything I have read on these forums, I am pretty sure that 2/3 Eradication is better than 3/3 Cataclysm.

In other words, I will suggest (54/0/17) as an improvement over your 56/0/15.

For sure, I think Dark Pact is a wasted talent in 25-man content, and even in 5-man and 10-man I don't see it saving your healers that much grief when you need to Life Tap. Warlocks are a pure dps class and we should spend every point on a talent that will increase our dps if at all possible.

Also, I think the point in Amplify Curse is wasted and should be spent for 1/2 Imp DS. As an Affliction Warlock spec'd into Malediction, you will only cast one curse per fight, so why worry about reducing the GCD? Better to reduce your threat and prolong the possible need for Soulshatter.

 

Liania

2 words: Moonkins, Deathknights

 

Sinstrad

Looks great, I am not yet at hit cap so I won't be dropping points from those two talents yet, but I could drop Dark Pact and pickup a point in Fel Concentration which I see value in, or that extra point could move to ISB which would be better use then in Dark Pact. It does look like ISB does make a difference so putting extra points into it makes sense.

 

trismegistus

Your post makes no sense and tells me and the other readers absolutely nothing.

 

Nnayr

Moonkins and deathknights both have spells that increases spell damage by 13%.

 

trismegistus

Ok, but how does that have anything to do with lowering the GCD on Curses only?

 

Juised

It affects curses because you will be using a damage curse (CoA) instead of a buff curse (CoE). The points in Malediction are spent purely for the 3% extra damage. The Balance Druid or Deathknight can maintain the 13% damage increase that CoE would normally provide without losing DPS, allowing the warlock to cast damage spells. This will therefore cause you to cast alot more than 1 curse, and so Amplify Curse will affect much more than just one cast. It's still a poor talent though.

 

trismegistus

So what you are saying is that CoE, EaM and EP don't stack? Sorry if this is old news, but I don't see why they don't stack because they don't do the same thing.

Even if they don't stack, 0.5GCD every 168sec is hardly worth a talent point in my opinion.

 

valheran

What he means, in optimal setting you should be casting CoA. Theorycrafting for million non-optimal setups is futile.

While 0,5 sec every 24 is nothing amazing, it will still produce more dps than Imp. DS, in optimal setting.

 

• Zakalwe

Yes, they don't stack. And where did you get 168 seconds from?

 

marano

Hey guys,

Isn't this Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft the spec with highest damage potential for the hitcapped Warlock?

From what I've tested it is; MC provided better DPS than ISB, the Imp is superior in damage output than the FH and 1 point in Eradication should be more than enough for a consistent uptime.

What I'm slightly unsure about it demonic power. Is decreasing the Imp's casting time by .5 seconds worth 2 talent points? If not, maybe one could fullup Eradication or ISB completely, depending on which talent provides the best damage per tp.

 

Liania

I would still put my points in improved drain soul or supression instead of fel concetration, just for the fact that supression still gives you more dps compared to fel concentration since it lowers the mana cost of your dots by a bit.

 

marano

Hm, I guess so. Allthough DS being broken by splash damage is even worse.

Anyway, I still wonder whether it's best to fill out 5/5 ISB and completely leave out demonic power, or go with 3/5 ISB and 2/2 demo power

 

◊ Melbuframa

I’ve been thinking about this and IMO this would prob be the best way to go along the lines of the spec you posted

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

You can move 1 out of Imp DS into Fel Conc for 3/3 if you want, I don’t have mana issues without it currently and IMO Amp Curse is a waste of a point.

 

Pach

I don't understand why we would even bother with specing out of Suppression. You should not gear for it, period. The lower aff tree is very limited in the amount of useful talents given you MUST put 15 talent points to advance past it. It takes 79 hit to account for the 3% hit you are losing(26.2x3= 78.6). Gearing for that seems excessive since your only reward would be 2/2 DS + 2/3 Fel Conc or 1/2 DS + 3/3 Fel Conc. 2/2 DS is a nonissue on bosses and Fel Conc can't begin to measure up to Suppression.

TL;DR
Suppression's DPS > any alternative given you must spend 15 points in the 1st 3 tiers of Aff

 

Liania

Amp curse might be a very little of use talent, but compared to one point in Fel Conc, amp curse would be a hole lot better tbh. Its not like your tanking while in raids.

Honestly dont know why so many people put 2 or 3 points into it, when they can be used for imp DS or suppression and gear more for spellpower instead of +hit that way.

 

◊ Melbuframa

Because you can get the Hit needed for 14% without gemming for it very eaisily without sacing much at all.

 

Aedius

Except you are sacrificing something for practictly nothing. Fel concentration is very situation and in current content there is little reason to bother getting it. Amplify curse and suppression are both much better choices. Perhaps in future content there will be a reason to get it but I don't see it right now.

 

Syrrah

with the pushback change, i don't really see a reason for it to ever to really be needed honestly

 

marano

How is amp curse better than anything really?

Like a previous poster said, you don't need to sacrifice anything to get hitcapped when you're at a certain gear level. Fel concentration is a better filler in that case. I don't have mana issues and if you don't need the hit from talents, putting points in sup is wasted, just like putting points in Cataclysm.

Honestly I'd rather have our spell range increased/talent moved up. The short range of our magical spells without destructive reach and grim reach is annoying.