Esfernum

I'm really annoyed with the lack of management we Warlocks have with our pets. Last weeks, we've been on Sartha 3D training. I know now how to manage to keep the imp alive through the lava waves, but it always dies shortly after the first-second drake, because of all the environment damage. This fight is clearly the example of how hard it is for a Warlock to keep it alive, compared to hunters. And yes, any small dps you can grab is pure win there.
Now my question is when do you get out your Infernal on this very fight? Straight as the first drake lands, for burst on the global three drakes? Or to finish Sartha?

 

• Murkle

It dies shortly after the first drake because of Twilight Torment - Spell - World of Warcraft when Vesperon's disciple is up. If you want your pet to survive, you have to stop it from attacking whilst this disciple is up.

 

Farlox

Don't forget about situational uses for Infernal as well - summoning is an AoE stun which is perfect for encounters like Gluth. I summon the infernal on the last decimate to stun/ae the zombies down so we can concentrate dps on Gluth instead.

 

oresteez

Maybe someone will beat me to it, because I do not have time right now at work...but here's an excellent idea for this thread:

List all of the bosses in Naxx, and state which pet is best, and which ones will usually survive (and die)

A good example would be:

Thaddius:
melee pets will stand in the middle and not get hit with polarity shifts, so you don't have to worry about their positioning.

Sapphiron:
Kiss your pet goodbye during phase 2 (unless you want to risk your own life to make them stand behind the ice block..)

 

Delc

I'm pretty sure pets cannot be affected by polarity shift, at least I have never seen it happen anyway. On Sapphiron just calling your pet to your side will keep it alive. I have more trouble keeping them alive in the ground phase due to blizzard and lack of heals for them than during the air phase.

 

oresteez

I've only attempted Sapph as affliction with a phased imp...I was afraid to let him fight cause I figured he'd die...
As for phase 2...pets usually stand a few feet away from the player....that's close enough to be behind the ice block?

In any case, don't nitpick my examples haha, just use it as a basis to start a list..

 

nexatis

In Phase 2 of Sapphiron my Imp can happily continue dpsing. Suprisingly it doesn't seem to get any damage at all :-)

 

Naforce

Should and 0/41/30 lock ever use the doomguard/infernal? Well infernal can be used in tight spots, like if your pet dies near the end of the fight. But otherwise?

 

Lominen

Really cant figure out what would be the best way to distribute 3 points between Demonic Power and Imp. Imp. Any1 did some math or got some thoughts on this?

 

Weerea

If you can swing it, getting the infernal out for the last minute of the fight is a dps increase - also of note - if you sac your felguard prior to summoning the infernal/doomguard you keep the buff while the infernal/doomguard is up.

 

• Zakalwe

No, infernal is not a DPS increase for felguard builds. The DPS of the infernal is lower than that of the felguard, and even if you do sacrifice the felguard first, you lose both the MD buff and the DK buff. The DS buff for felguard is slightly better than the MD one, but it's not worth it for losing DK.

 

Weerea

I'm gonna have to look at the numbers again, but I'm not sure if this is correct or not - the flat damage increase from the buffs goes from 5% to 7% while losing DK when you sac and summon the infernal, but at higher gear levels the % increase in spellpower is rather small from DK. The infernal seems to do significantly more dps than the felguard (like 2-2.5 times more for me) but not all parts of this equation scale the same way. It seems to me that for some gear levels the infernal for the last minute of the fight would be a dps increase (possiblely the doomguard as well for some fights if the doomguard gets raid buffed) but I will hold off on recommending it until I have the numbers to prove it.

Meandering a bit - if you are using the doomguard with the buff from sacing the felguard, you also get a nice mana regen bonus as well - if you don't have the 4pc t7 bonus (I don't yet) saving on lifetaping is nice as well.

 

• Zakalwe

I'd love to see WWS of that, because my felguard routinely does 1k+ DPS over the course of a 3-minute patchwerk kill, while the highest I've seen for an infernal was 1104, and that was from someone who outgeared me significantly. Not to mention that infernal had heroism for 40 of the 60 seconds it was up.

 

NinjaSquirrel

With the following: warriors keeping up commanding shout and the inclusion of a disp priest or another lock with improved fel hunter, would it be safe to assume (post 3.0.8) that the doomguard will be the top selection for an affliction warlock in most cases? Or would it still be better to have your imp out with occasional summon of infernals? And if you do use a doomguard, would it be safe to assume that you would not be using an infernal unless the doomguard died for some strange reason?

 

Lominen

Yes, no, no.

Makes it alot easier to separate the questions if you dont make them all into one big block of text btw

In terms of dps use pets like this: Infernal -> (Felguard) -> Doomguard -> Imp -> Puppy -> Succubus -> VW.

Should answer your question about how to fit them together

Then ofc there are values of the different pets that you should take into consideration. Like Infernal if there are more targets than one, thanks to aura, Doomguard if you don't have a warrior keeping TC up, Puppy without DS Priest etc.

 

• Zakalwe

Some simple tests on the PTR shows the doomguard now not only scales with our gear (as mentioned in patch notes) but also inherits our hit rating. This is great news, and is sure to make doomguards an even more mandatory part of affliction raiding.

 

• Zakalwe

After updating Simulationcraft with the new doomguard stats, I'm showing almost zero benefit from replacing the doomguard with an infernal for the last minute of the fight. Considering it's so hard to time inferno correctly, plus the potential for the doomguard being useful for another ten minutes after the fight, I'd be inclined to advise against using both a doomguard and an infernal in the same fight.

 

Naforce

Speaking of the doomguard, is there any change in using CoD and then enslaving the spawned doomguard and using the ritual of doom? Do you haev to enslave the doomguard that spawns with ritual of doom aswell? Otherwise, you'd not have the debuff from enslave demon I guess?

 

• Zakalwe

The doomguard from the ritual comes with no debuff, lasts for 15 minutes, and despawns at the end of the duration. The doomguard that spawns from CoD needs to be enslaved, and thus gets the debuff, and can break at any time.

 

Naforce

I really need to get that ritual of doom right away if I'm respeccing from 0/41/30 next patch. How much average dps does he do live?

 

Lominen

Mine did ~550 dps completely unbuffed in a 10man run.

 

Neqael

Regarding this above quote, I only do 10man atm (with some 25man pugs when they come around) and we don't have a disc priest and I'm also the only (affliction) Warlock. I'm seeing the advantage of having the Felhunter out for both own dps and raid buffs, would it be an idea to get 2/2 Imp felhunter in my build, or do I sacrifice more useful talents to achieve that in relation to the buff you get from 2/2 IF?

edit; typo

 

Issa

Improved Felhunter is only needed if you also have Dark Pact and even then I don't think it is that useful. Unless you want to get it to improve the buffs, but I am pretty sure you can use those talents elsewhere. As long as you have a mage you would only be spending 2 points to increase a spirit buff with 10%.

 

Neqael

A mage is a class we're lacking in our raids as well. There is one, but that's a no-show most of the time. You're probably right about the talens being of more use elsewhere though. Thanks for the answer

 

nuibank

2/2 Demonic power yields 5% more increased imp damage that 2/2 Improved Imp, however it will also cause your imp to use mana faster.

I'm not sure thats even an issue, though. 2/2 Demonic Power 1/3 Imp Imp is the best damage increase. Personally i would just do 3/3 Imp Imp for the buff to bloodpact as well and not have to worry about the imp running out of mana.

Anyone with 2/2 DP ever have imp mana issues?