Which Warlock Pet To Use And When

tommtomm · 12/05/08, 10:54 AM

I'm actually too stupid and lazy to provide the answers for this, but I thought some of the more edumicated locks out there might provide their knowledge for the rest of us.

I'm thinking to keep the thread in a useful format, the discussion should be done along the lines of a matrix with splits between PVE/PVP and by Spec.

PVE:

1) Affliction
2) Demonology
3) Destruction

PVP:

1) Affliction
2) Demonology
3) Destruction

Please try to provide the special tips/tricks you have found useful in certain situations.

Also, any research about when the doomgaurd and/or infernal are appropriate to use over the standard pets would be much appreciated.

Thanks for any info you may provide.

♦ Blacksen · 12/05/08, 11:01 AM

I'll answer for the PvE:
Affliction:
In terms of raw numbers, your imp will beat your Felhunter. That's not to say "always go with the imp," however.
There are two things to consider here:
1) Do you use dark pact? A lot of warlocks don't due to the fact that at intro-level gear, it gives less mana than an improved Lifetap. If you do use Dark Pact, or maybe you're just using it for a particular fight (Loatheb, for instance), you'll want a Felhunter out. An imp will run OOM quickly if you're stealing from it.

2) Do you have Improved Divine Spirit? If you don't, your Felhunter is going to bring a huge amount of utility and value to the raid. It will also give you more personal dps due to the spirit aura. If you have improved Divine Spirit, you'll want to stick with the imp.

Demonology
This one's easy. Felguard. Higher crit and fast attack speed will yield more dps than any other pet.

Destruction
Also easy. Imp. Improved imp is simply too good to pass up.

turturin · 12/05/08, 11:57 AM

Does this really need its own thread? Pet choices for each tree can be discussed in that tree's thread. Informational requests on the infernal/doomguard can go in the Simple questions/Simple Answers thread.

tommtomm · 12/05/08, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by turturin

Does this really need its own thread? Pet choices for each tree can be discussed in that tree's thread. Informational requests on the infernal/doomguard can go in the Simple questions/Simple Answers thread.

Different strokes for different folks. You may enjoy reading through 20+ pages of a thread to find information on one issue, but myself, and I assume others, enjoy a more distributed format that allows you to go to one small thread to find information on a particular subject

Vux · 12/09/08, 1:59 AM

You may enjoy reading through 20+ pages of a thread to find information on one issue, but myself, and I assume others, enjoy a more distributed format that allows you to go to one small thread to find information on a particular subject.

This would have been fine had you not said...

I'm actually too stupid and lazy

Probably not the best way to start off a thread

In any case, the Imp provides the best PvE dps at the moment, in part due to some bugs with the Felhunter not attacking for extended periods of time. If you look closely at WWS reports, the Shadow Bite frequency is much lower than the time that the Felhunter is in combat. Warlock bugs for the lose. Ah well, time to bust out the Imp for PvE once again just like last expansion.

Jaradakar · 12/09/08, 3:18 PM

What about PvE use of the Infernal and Doom Guard?

Browsing the EJ forums I've seen a few references of some people using them on boss fights.

My question are:

1) What about losing control? Does the DPS boost from using them make up for the time you have to spend recapturing (plus the danger of it attacking/hurting you)?

2) Do you only use them on a few select bosses? If so, which ones?

3) For it to be effective is it required to have the Improved Enslave Demon talent?

4) Glyphs, do you have to Glyph of Enslave Demon for this to be worth while? (Not a huge issue as it's a minor glyph and currently our selection of minor is very narrow imo).

• Nicarras · 12/09/08, 3:20 PM

1. You dont lose control anymore.
2. Stand and pew pew bosses usually. (they have a 20m CD now)
3. No, they are not enslaved anymore.
4. No, they are not enslaved anymore.

People use them so that their duration gets to its full use towards the end of the fight typically.

Go check out the updates to Infernals with the expansion.

Joecool914 · 12/09/08, 3:58 PM

As affliction I have been trying to drop an infernal on boss fights that are DPS races. However since he only has a 60 second lifespan you need to time it so that when you cast it there is about 60 seconds left in the boss fight. If he dies early then that is Damage lost, if he dies after the boss then you didn't use him to his full potential.

I don't have any number's solidified yet, but dropping him mid fight almost seems like a guarenteed DPS increase considering how on Patchwerk this past week he did more damage in his 60 second life than my felpup did for the preceeding 150 seconds.

You should have heard the melee yelling about the infernal the first time I dropped it on their heads!

Ossifrage · 12/09/08, 4:53 PM

Originally Posted by Jaradakar

What about PvE use of the Infernal and Doom Guard?

Browsing the EJ forums I've seen a few references of some people using them on boss fights.

Where did you see Doom Guard? Did I completely miss something?

Lillyanne · 12/09/08, 8:38 PM

I have not seen anyone use the doomguard in any of the WWS reports posted on these forums.

zerdell · 12/09/08, 11:03 PM

Doomguard is now:

* Guaranteed enslaved for 15 minutes.
* Summonable without killing someone.
* Amazing dps (critting for 1800+)

Well worth using on patchwerk, etc as affliction. Not sure it's worth the loss of your pet buffs as demo/destro.

• dragon12 · 12/10/08, 3:19 AM

Originally Posted by zerdell

* Amazing dps (critting for 1800+)

Pet peeve, but what he crits for has no bearing on what dps he outputs.

Splot · 12/10/08, 3:56 AM

For doomguard to really shine you need improved enslave. I've not used it in real anger yet, but running instances with doomguard is very viable. I generally turn off the rain of fire and just let him go. I'm not sure all of the deep demo talents trigger off of doomguard as its an enslaved pet.

torokokill · 12/10/08, 4:29 AM

Originally Posted by Lillyanne

I have not seen anyone use the doomguard in any of the WWS reports posted on these forums.

That is because neither WWS nor StasisCL seem to add Doomguard damage to the respective warlock that summoned it.
Here is a parse from a Patchwerk kill last week when I used a Doomguard: Patchwerk
Ignore the melee damage, one of our tanks disconnected very early in the fight. All our melee got gibbed.
Here is the screenshot of the recount for the fight, which has my Doomguard inlcuded: http://blog.machine-code.com/wp-cont.../patchwerk.jpg

Edit: According to recount, my Doomguard did approximately 650dps. However calculating the difference between Recount and StasisCL, you see a 560dps difference.

Havik0 · 12/10/08, 6:08 AM

Originally Posted by Splot

For doomguard to really shine you need improved enslave. I'm not sure all of the deep demo talents trigger off of doomguard as its an enslaved pet.

imo putting two points into imp ensalve is a huge waste. Considering you don't/can't actually use either the Infernal or Doomguard a considerable amount in or outside of raiding, due to cooldown and uptime. Don't get me wrong, using them is a good idea on bosses for the extra DPS they both can pump out, but the two points in imp enslave = wasted.
That and you are correct, most of the deep demo talents don't effect enslaved pets.

Also, in terms of Aff locks (seem to be the cookie cutter spec for locks now) using them is move than a good idea. With the glitches with your felhunter and the not being able to spec into your imp, they come out being a big help in terms of just raw DPS.