I may head out later tonight and do my own testing WRT shadow embrace and soul siphon. I can't think what else that patch note could be referring to, and all the testing I've found people talking about took place on the test server before 2.3 went life.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I may head out later tonight and do my own testing WRT shadow embrace and soul siphon. I can't think what else that patch note could be referring to, and all the testing I've found people talking about took place on the test server before 2.3 went life.
I think placing the shadow embrace effect on a target was counting as a spellcast for procs.
Thanks guys, appreciate the help. I think I have my build pretty much hammered out.
So couple other questions, what kind of tactics do you use for solo PvE with your pet? Right now I use CoA after my imp gains aggro, then Shadowbolt until dead. Are there better strategies to use, like maybe using all DoT's instead of instants?
Statwise, what are the most desireable stats?
In addition to base stats, what kind of bonuses are most sought after? Spell Crit? Spell Hit? Spell Damage?
I pretty much never used my imp for damage, I wanted his mana for dark pact. It's been a while, but I think depending on how tough the mob will be or how many, I would either start with UA>corruption>CoEX>fear>siphon>then shadowbolt or drain. If it'll be a shorter fight I start with immolate and do the same sequence, possibly without siphon.
Your choice of stats will suck and I'd say don't worry about it, but in Outland, start with lots and lots of damage, maybe a bit of hit but not too much, then more damage, and then some stamina.
Really, in the earliest levels, there's not real strat. Just kill stuff as fast as you can.
Eventually you'll have your void walker. (level 10 i think?) Send him in, and DoT up the mob, life tap. And drain your cares away. The VW will hold aggro until you drain. Never use immolate first, has burst damage and will rip aggro off your demon.
Stats... Stam is real important. Obviosly you'll want intellect. Spirit doesn't matter. More life = more mana. Spell damage is real good but you wont be getting it really until outland. Hit is good too, but suppression helps with that. Spell crit isn't really a big deal unless you're destro.
All right, so... Is Chaotic Skyfire Diamond worth losing 12 spell damage and 5 crit rating plus breaking Spellstrike set bonus (~19 spell power equivalent, IIRC)? I suddenly face the possibility of tier 5 helm (or Cowl for that matter) since we need to do SSC/TK to key replacements for a few bastards who decided to quit raiding all at once. I had written off tier 5 content so was assuming my next helm would be tier 6, a clear upgrade. But now I don't know if it's worth it. Probably is, but ugh math.
Hmm, take your WWS logs, look at total crits and multiply by 1.015? I seem to hear that these 3% increased crit damage gems are very nice, but then I'm normally looking at melee damage which generally gets more crits.
I wish there were a better metagem for affliction. I never did use an MSD, and right now I'm just using a spirit shard gem because the alternatives seem so useless.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
All right, so... Is Chaotic Skyfire Diamond worth losing 12 spell damage and 5 crit rating plus breaking Spellstrike set bonus (~19 spell power equivalent, IIRC)? I suddenly face the possibility of tier 5 helm (or Cowl for that matter) since we need to do SSC/TK to key replacements for a few bastards who decided to quit raiding all at once. I had written off tier 5 content so was assuming my next helm would be tier 6, a clear upgrade. But now I don't know if it's worth it. Probably is, but ugh math.
Isn't there some sort of weird voodoo math that makes the Chaotic Skyfire/Relentless Earthstorm effect do much more than the listed percent increase when you have talents that increase the amount of damage your criticals do (like Ruin)?
I kind of wish I could get a hat with a meta slot that didn't suck. I've got my T4 helm, but I've never seriously worn that thing, it's mostly in my bank for...hell, I'm not sure why I still have it.
All right, so... Is Chaotic Skyfire Diamond worth losing 12 spell damage and 5 crit rating plus breaking Spellstrike set bonus (~19 spell power equivalent, IIRC)? I suddenly face the possibility of tier 5 helm (or Cowl for that matter) since we need to do SSC/TK to key replacements for a few bastards who decided to quit raiding all at once. I had written off tier 5 content so was assuming my next helm would be tier 6, a clear upgrade. But now I don't know if it's worth it. Probably is, but ugh math.
If you're only losing 31ish damage and 5 crit, then yes.
If you crit for about 7.5k that's 225 extra damage. Your crit is probably around 25% ish or more as destro so it's kinda like 56.25 extra damage on average.
Plus you get the +12 crit. And the requirement is pretty easy if you use both multi-colour blue hit gems.
I wish I had a meta gem slot for PvE instead of my dumb void reaver hat...
I wish there were a better metagem for affliction. I never did use an MSD, and right now I'm just using a spirit shard gem because the alternatives seem so useless.
Same here. I used to use a MSD, but the metagem requirements were impossible to keep up when you're socketing mostly noble topazes & living rubies.
I can't wait to get a helm that doesn't require a meta.
Being as Im only lvl 63, I have, in the past few nights had group members ask why I didnt have this or that spec'd (For instance, was asked why I didnt spec improved voidwalker, I said since I never use it, why waste points)
I am interested in staying demonology at least until 70, as it is the way I know best and helps me quest grind. So if any of you have any suggestions, please post them. Thanks!
Ruzan on
If you say "plz" because it is shorter than "please" then I'll say "no" because it is shorter than "yes".
I don't know why you'd take Imp. VW. I drain tank, and use my VW for it. (technically I should be using my succy or some such, but whatever) I only need him to hold their attention until I've got all my dots up and start draining. And if you're demo, you should be using your Fel Guard almost exclusively, right? So I wouldn't have picked it up either.
EDIT:: Any PvP gear (like s1 pieces) that I should pick up as soon as I hit 70? I'm assuming FSW/Spellstrike will be taking up most of my gear slots. So wondering what I should use to fill in the rest.
Also, as a tailor/enchanter, what Reps should I be grinding?
I actually don't think imp. VW is a terrible talent, if you're willing to micromanage him while you're grinding. He can take some hits for you, and he can be helpful for managing adds/chainpulling instead of using fear. If you're going aff, it's a decent option for grinding once you've filled out the affliction tree (bane/imp SB not being super necessary for leveling.)
@ Ruzan: that build's not horrible, but I have no damned idea why you took imp. health funnel. That's a terrible talent. When the felguard gets low on health, don't health funnel, just resummon him. Particularly with Master Summoner.
You'll want to find a way to get at least one point into mana feed. It'll help keep the big guy cleaving, which adds a lot of damage.
Lastly, Imp. CoA is fairly useless, since it only modifies the spell's base damage. You're better off filling out soul siphon or starting in on fel concentration.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Spellstrike/FSW only accounts for your robe, boots, shoulders, pants and helm, remember. Plenty of spots that need filled in with pvp gear.
The S1 weapons are nice; the dagger especially lasts a long time if you can get it right at 70. Also, I seem to remember it being really hard to find good belts, so you might go with that.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Heh so after my helm question I ended up getting two new helms this weekend, the one off Malacrass and t5. I kept the former in the bank as I knew we were doing Vashj to key some recruits on Sunday, and lo two Hero tokens dropped, and me and another lock were the only ones who didn't have t5, so I took it. I was hoping that the CSD I've had in the bank for a month would go into t6 but I think this is an upgrade regardless, we'll see. Time to make another CSD and wait. At least I only have one piece of icky tailoring gear left (I don't count Boots and Belt of Blasting since they're technically raid drops >.>).
Uh, quite awhile, it's comparable tier 5 at least, and I wouldn't wear t5 pants if it meant breaking the Spellstrike bonus as a tailor without a helm upgrade too. Depends how quickly you'll have access to the similar items. And even then, the DKP/whatever you'll save can go towards other significant upgrades.
So after months of riding around the basic epic mount, I'm thinking about doing the Dreadsteed quest finally with my warlock.
I know I'm going to have to get a group for DM (which will be hell), but is soloing the Scholomance portion of the quest possible for an affliction lock?
Edit: Possible as in feasible for a regular player, not "possible for the sort of people who would solo Wyrmthalak with their lvl 60 hunter." I'm a lvl 70 warlock, fwiw.
If you're 70, yeah. I went at 60 and there was no way I could have done it solo.
PierceNeck on
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
edited January 2008
I took a warlock on a Kara run trial to see if he was good enough for my raid
I don't have a WWS, but he was in 3 piece Tier 4 with other Karazhan loot and being beaten on damage by a mage in dungeon blues and a couple greens.
He's affliction.
What's he doing wrong? His gear is awesome so I definitely want to see if he can learn to play well but I don't play a warlock, and I have no others in my raid so I have no one to compare him to.
Pop your trinkets, amplify curse, and lay down your curse of doom, your roll of dots and then shadowbolt. Make sure your dots are always up.
i have no idea if he was using curse of doom.
I'm just asking if anyone knows what he COULD have been doing wrong, and more a guide on what he should have been doing, so that I can keep an eye on him and reasonably know what he should be doing.
Anyway yeah he might have been using curse of shadows or curse of elements which you shouldn't really be doing in a 10 men unless your raid is stacked heavily for it. Pay attention to what you're parsing for damage too, because affliction shines in some situations (long boss fights, multiple tanked mobs, AoE) and sucks in others (single target trash, burst fights)
But realisticly if you're staring at the boss mob his dots should be up pretty much all the time. He might be draining too, which is lower dps than shadowbolt spam. You should only drain to lessen the pressure on healers during a tough fight.
I took a warlock on a Kara run trial to see if he was good enough for my raid
I don't have a WWS, but he was in 3 piece Tier 4 with other Karazhan loot and being beaten on damage by a mage in dungeon blues and a couple greens.
He's affliction.
What's he doing wrong? His gear is awesome so I definitely want to see if he can learn to play well but I don't play a warlock, and I have no others in my raid so I have no one to compare him to.
I'll second Jim and say that Affliction blows on trash. Mobs are half dead by the time you start doing damage to them, you get terrible return on your time and mana investment if you try dotting things up, and if you need to farm shards you're often coasting the last 5-10 seconds of the fight to make sure you've got drain soul going.
However, there's a few playstyle questions that can be asked to suss out what the problem is (some of these aren't going to be obvious unless you are parsing a WWS, you might want to keep a log next week for your own reference).
-Is he casting Immolate? In the context of 10-mans and T4 level gear, Immolate is ALWAYS a DPS increase.
-Does he have the talents Improved Shadowbolt and Bane? Those two talents there are the foundation of every Warlock raiding build.
-What percentage of his damage is due to Shadowbolt? I forget what percentage it ought to be for Affliction, but if it's either very high or very low, he needs to work on his dots. If his shadowbolt damage is very low, he's probably refreshing dots too early and missing opportunities to cast Shadowbolts. If it's too high, he's waiting too long to refresh his dots and is casting lower dps spells (shadowbolts) when he could be casting higher dps spells (any of his dots).
To clarify this point, Affliction warlocks don't have a "dps rotation" like you might find on a Hunter, Rogue, or Mage. Maximizing dps for an Affliction warlock is about striving to keep all of your dots up as much as possible without refreshing any of them early, and using any free time between refreshes to shadowbolt. Since almost every dot has a different duration from every other dot, this has to be done manually, and any affliction warlock trying to dps from a cast sequence macro is going to do fuck-all dps.
-Which curse is he using on boss fights? If he's, for example, casting Elements, that's really doing nothing for his own dps, while boosting the dps of any mages in the raid relative to him. By itself it shouldn't be enough to account for a large gap in gear, but it would explain some of it.
-Are there any caster group buffs that he isn't getting that other casters are? The applicable ones would be a Wrath of Air totem, Moonkin aura, or Ferocious Inspiration. Like the curse issue, it won't explain anything by itself, but getting stuck giving an imp buff to a group of tanks and healers that don't do anything for you while group 2 has formed Caster DPS Voltron makes a noticeable impact.
-Are there any spells besides Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Curse of Agony/Doom, Immolate, Siphon Life, and Shadowbolt that seem to constitute a large fraction of his DPS? If Incinerate shows up at all on a parse, or if Drain Life seems to take up a large chunk of his damage done (especially if Shadowbolt damage is low or nil), he's using the wrong filler spell to cast between dots. It's also easy to pick these spells out when he's casting them, Incinerate is the wavy fire clump, and Drain Life is the green laser beam; if you see either of these a lot (or incinerate at all), he's not doing it right.
I'm sort of in the same boat with a warlock that comes to my alt druid's karazhan. He's afflictionn, and wants to be good at it, but isn't there yet.
A lot of things could be going wrong. Make sure he's got a good dotimer and knows how to use it. Make sure his spec isn't too ridiculous; a lot of the most useful talents for warlocks sound nice to the layman, and wind up not doing much, and a lot of the terribad ones manage to sound pretty good.
What I did is make the dude my focus, and just watched what he cast for a while. You should see UA and immloate being cast fairly frequently, shadowbolts being cast in bunches, and sporadic instant casts.
Also: how's his spellhit? If the supposedly "lesser geared" mage has mage really smart choices, he could be rocking a fair amount of spellhit more than the warlock.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Whats generally the best order for initial dot application? I usually put up UA -> immolate -> SL -> curse -> corruption, but thats just because thats the order I use when I'm soloing. It works out decently for the most part, but does lead to some unideal situations like two dots running out concurrently.
Also, I bought the mats for my spellstrike pants and I'm having them crafted tonight, and then saving up money for the hood mats and trying to win a nether in a heroic to get that also. I am incredibly thankful for the FSW set though, because the pants look like ass
Doesn't really matter. You can try and align the timers such that you have 9-10 seconds to chain cast shadowbolts (i.e., siphon > UA > Corruption > Immolate > SB SB SB > etc.), but you can't run that as a consistent cycle.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Whats generally the best order for initial dot application? I usually put up UA -> immolate -> SL -> curse -> corruption, but thats just because thats the order I use when I'm soloing. It works out decently for the most part, but does lead to some unideal situations like two dots running out concurrently.
Also, I bought the mats for my spellstrike pants and I'm having them crafted tonight, and then saving up money for the hood mats and trying to win a nether in a heroic to get that also. I am incredibly thankful for the FSW set though, because the pants look like ass
As long as you never lead off UA->Corruption->Immolate, you're good. Starting off like that will really screw up your Immolate uptime, because it will always expire at the same time as UA and Corruption, and you'll waste 1.5 seconds of uptime on Immolate every time that sequence comes up.
I'm looking to go support affliction for raiding for my guild. We're currently at the end of T5 content, just finishing up on Kael. I don't have full gear to actually raid just quite yet (still have a blue cloak, neck and green ring), but on our Kael attempts the other night I was typically in top 5 damage done (even first a few times).
This is what I'm thinking as a build as of right now.
I'm looking to go support affliction for raiding for my guild. We're currently at the end of T5 content, just finishing up on Kael. I don't have full gear to actually raid just quite yet (still have a blue cloak, neck and green ring), but on our Kael attempts the other night I was typically in top 5 damage done (even first a few times).
This is what I'm thinking as a build as of right now.
I don't think Imp Imp is worth putting those points in over Destructive Reach and the last point of SM. I don't know about most guilds but we often don't even bother putting an imp in the tank group, if anything the mages/priests get an imp during really rough fights for low-HP clothies, like Naj'entus. A lot of fights are so mobile it's not even worth it, and the tank group already has a lot of buffs going on.
I'm looking to go support affliction for raiding for my guild. We're currently at the end of T5 content, just finishing up on Kael. I don't have full gear to actually raid just quite yet (still have a blue cloak, neck and green ring), but on our Kael attempts the other night I was typically in top 5 damage done (even first a few times).
This is what I'm thinking as a build as of right now.
I don't think Imp Imp is worth putting those points in over Destructive Reach and the last point of SM. I don't know about most guilds but we often don't even bother putting an imp in the tank group, if anything the mages/priests get an imp during really rough fights for low-HP clothies, like Naj'entus. A lot of fights are so mobile it's not even worth it, and the tank group already has a lot of buffs going on.
Honestly, we just throw the aff lock in there. Destro >>> Aff for raid dps, so he may as well be useful. 700hp for the tank isn't anything to laugh at either.
Affliction still does competitive DPS if the player isn't retarded, and Malediction/Shadow Embrace are the main "be useful" things for bringing an affliction lock. But I mean, even if you decide to imp the tank, Imp Imp adds how much extra stam? For the amount of fights it'd be useful, it's not worth it over two talents that will increase his personal DPS on every fight...
Affliction still does competitive DPS if the player isn't retarded, and Malediction/Shadow Embrace are the main "be useful" things for bringing an affliction lock. But I mean, even if you decide to imp the tank, Imp Imp adds how much extra stam? For the amount of fights it'd be useful, it's not worth it over two talents that will increase his personal DPS on every fight...
Oh, fuck imp imp. That's not worth losing the destro points for as an affliction lock.
Honestly, we have/did have good affliction locks. It just doesn't hold a candle to destro on most fights though. Our destro locks are putting out 1300+ dps, while our aff lock is around 900-1000. Admittedly, our current aff lock is pretty heavily outgeared, but that's been the general theme throughout our raids.
From what I've observed it depends on the fight, there's a lot of movement stuff where affliction has an advantage, but then on stuff where you can mostly stand still and spam bolts, destro just scales way better.
Then again I think our main affliction lock outgears the rest of us by a bit, so it might be skewed for us the opposite of how it's skewed for your guy.
Posts
I may head out later tonight and do my own testing WRT shadow embrace and soul siphon. I can't think what else that patch note could be referring to, and all the testing I've found people talking about took place on the test server before 2.3 went life.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I think placing the shadow embrace effect on a target was counting as a spellcast for procs.
So couple other questions, what kind of tactics do you use for solo PvE with your pet? Right now I use CoA after my imp gains aggro, then Shadowbolt until dead. Are there better strategies to use, like maybe using all DoT's instead of instants?
Statwise, what are the most desireable stats?
In addition to base stats, what kind of bonuses are most sought after? Spell Crit? Spell Hit? Spell Damage?
Your choice of stats will suck and I'd say don't worry about it, but in Outland, start with lots and lots of damage, maybe a bit of hit but not too much, then more damage, and then some stamina.
Eventually you'll have your void walker. (level 10 i think?) Send him in, and DoT up the mob, life tap. And drain your cares away. The VW will hold aggro until you drain. Never use immolate first, has burst damage and will rip aggro off your demon.
Stats... Stam is real important. Obviosly you'll want intellect. Spirit doesn't matter. More life = more mana. Spell damage is real good but you wont be getting it really until outland. Hit is good too, but suppression helps with that. Spell crit isn't really a big deal unless you're destro.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Isn't there some sort of weird voodoo math that makes the Chaotic Skyfire/Relentless Earthstorm effect do much more than the listed percent increase when you have talents that increase the amount of damage your criticals do (like Ruin)?
I kind of wish I could get a hat with a meta slot that didn't suck. I've got my T4 helm, but I've never seriously worn that thing, it's mostly in my bank for...hell, I'm not sure why I still have it.
If you crit for about 7.5k that's 225 extra damage. Your crit is probably around 25% ish or more as destro so it's kinda like 56.25 extra damage on average.
Plus you get the +12 crit. And the requirement is pretty easy if you use both multi-colour blue hit gems.
I wish I had a meta gem slot for PvE instead of my dumb void reaver hat...
I'm stuck with the uni mind headress from stupid old netherspite.
Isn't Spellstrike better.
Same here. I used to use a MSD, but the metagem requirements were impossible to keep up when you're socketing mostly noble topazes & living rubies.
I can't wait to get a helm that doesn't require a meta.
Being as Im only lvl 63, I have, in the past few nights had group members ask why I didnt have this or that spec'd (For instance, was asked why I didnt spec improved voidwalker, I said since I never use it, why waste points)
I am interested in staying demonology at least until 70, as it is the way I know best and helps me quest grind. So if any of you have any suggestions, please post them. Thanks!
EDIT:: Any PvP gear (like s1 pieces) that I should pick up as soon as I hit 70? I'm assuming FSW/Spellstrike will be taking up most of my gear slots. So wondering what I should use to fill in the rest.
Also, as a tailor/enchanter, what Reps should I be grinding?
@ Ruzan: that build's not horrible, but I have no damned idea why you took imp. health funnel. That's a terrible talent. When the felguard gets low on health, don't health funnel, just resummon him. Particularly with Master Summoner.
You'll want to find a way to get at least one point into mana feed. It'll help keep the big guy cleaving, which adds a lot of damage.
Lastly, Imp. CoA is fairly useless, since it only modifies the spell's base damage. You're better off filling out soul siphon or starting in on fel concentration.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
The S1 weapons are nice; the dagger especially lasts a long time if you can get it right at 70. Also, I seem to remember it being really hard to find good belts, so you might go with that.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I know I'm going to have to get a group for DM (which will be hell), but is soloing the Scholomance portion of the quest possible for an affliction lock?
Edit: Possible as in feasible for a regular player, not "possible for the sort of people who would solo Wyrmthalak with their lvl 60 hunter." I'm a lvl 70 warlock, fwiw.
I don't have a WWS, but he was in 3 piece Tier 4 with other Karazhan loot and being beaten on damage by a mage in dungeon blues and a couple greens.
He's affliction.
What's he doing wrong? His gear is awesome so I definitely want to see if he can learn to play well but I don't play a warlock, and I have no others in my raid so I have no one to compare him to.
because affliction is generally considered a pretty awful trash build
but a really good boss build
Pop your trinkets, amplify curse, and lay down your curse of doom, your roll of dots and then shadowbolt. Make sure your dots are always up.
i have no idea if he was using curse of doom.
I'm just asking if anyone knows what he COULD have been doing wrong, and more a guide on what he should have been doing, so that I can keep an eye on him and reasonably know what he should be doing.
Anyway yeah he might have been using curse of shadows or curse of elements which you shouldn't really be doing in a 10 men unless your raid is stacked heavily for it. Pay attention to what you're parsing for damage too, because affliction shines in some situations (long boss fights, multiple tanked mobs, AoE) and sucks in others (single target trash, burst fights)
But realisticly if you're staring at the boss mob his dots should be up pretty much all the time. He might be draining too, which is lower dps than shadowbolt spam. You should only drain to lessen the pressure on healers during a tough fight.
I'll second Jim and say that Affliction blows on trash. Mobs are half dead by the time you start doing damage to them, you get terrible return on your time and mana investment if you try dotting things up, and if you need to farm shards you're often coasting the last 5-10 seconds of the fight to make sure you've got drain soul going.
However, there's a few playstyle questions that can be asked to suss out what the problem is (some of these aren't going to be obvious unless you are parsing a WWS, you might want to keep a log next week for your own reference).
-Is he casting Immolate? In the context of 10-mans and T4 level gear, Immolate is ALWAYS a DPS increase.
-Does he have the talents Improved Shadowbolt and Bane? Those two talents there are the foundation of every Warlock raiding build.
-What percentage of his damage is due to Shadowbolt? I forget what percentage it ought to be for Affliction, but if it's either very high or very low, he needs to work on his dots. If his shadowbolt damage is very low, he's probably refreshing dots too early and missing opportunities to cast Shadowbolts. If it's too high, he's waiting too long to refresh his dots and is casting lower dps spells (shadowbolts) when he could be casting higher dps spells (any of his dots).
To clarify this point, Affliction warlocks don't have a "dps rotation" like you might find on a Hunter, Rogue, or Mage. Maximizing dps for an Affliction warlock is about striving to keep all of your dots up as much as possible without refreshing any of them early, and using any free time between refreshes to shadowbolt. Since almost every dot has a different duration from every other dot, this has to be done manually, and any affliction warlock trying to dps from a cast sequence macro is going to do fuck-all dps.
-Which curse is he using on boss fights? If he's, for example, casting Elements, that's really doing nothing for his own dps, while boosting the dps of any mages in the raid relative to him. By itself it shouldn't be enough to account for a large gap in gear, but it would explain some of it.
-Are there any caster group buffs that he isn't getting that other casters are? The applicable ones would be a Wrath of Air totem, Moonkin aura, or Ferocious Inspiration. Like the curse issue, it won't explain anything by itself, but getting stuck giving an imp buff to a group of tanks and healers that don't do anything for you while group 2 has formed Caster DPS Voltron makes a noticeable impact.
-Are there any spells besides Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Curse of Agony/Doom, Immolate, Siphon Life, and Shadowbolt that seem to constitute a large fraction of his DPS? If Incinerate shows up at all on a parse, or if Drain Life seems to take up a large chunk of his damage done (especially if Shadowbolt damage is low or nil), he's using the wrong filler spell to cast between dots. It's also easy to pick these spells out when he's casting them, Incinerate is the wavy fire clump, and Drain Life is the green laser beam; if you see either of these a lot (or incinerate at all), he's not doing it right.
A lot of things could be going wrong. Make sure he's got a good dotimer and knows how to use it. Make sure his spec isn't too ridiculous; a lot of the most useful talents for warlocks sound nice to the layman, and wind up not doing much, and a lot of the terribad ones manage to sound pretty good.
What I did is make the dude my focus, and just watched what he cast for a while. You should see UA and immloate being cast fairly frequently, shadowbolts being cast in bunches, and sporadic instant casts.
Also: how's his spellhit? If the supposedly "lesser geared" mage has mage really smart choices, he could be rocking a fair amount of spellhit more than the warlock.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Also, I bought the mats for my spellstrike pants and I'm having them crafted tonight, and then saving up money for the hood mats and trying to win a nether in a heroic to get that also. I am incredibly thankful for the FSW set though, because the pants look like ass
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
As long as you never lead off UA->Corruption->Immolate, you're good. Starting off like that will really screw up your Immolate uptime, because it will always expire at the same time as UA and Corruption, and you'll waste 1.5 seconds of uptime on Immolate every time that sequence comes up.
This is what I'm thinking as a build as of right now.
I don't think Imp Imp is worth putting those points in over Destructive Reach and the last point of SM. I don't know about most guilds but we often don't even bother putting an imp in the tank group, if anything the mages/priests get an imp during really rough fights for low-HP clothies, like Naj'entus. A lot of fights are so mobile it's not even worth it, and the tank group already has a lot of buffs going on.
Honestly, we just throw the aff lock in there. Destro >>> Aff for raid dps, so he may as well be useful. 700hp for the tank isn't anything to laugh at either.
Oh, fuck imp imp. That's not worth losing the destro points for as an affliction lock.
Honestly, we have/did have good affliction locks. It just doesn't hold a candle to destro on most fights though. Our destro locks are putting out 1300+ dps, while our aff lock is around 900-1000. Admittedly, our current aff lock is pretty heavily outgeared, but that's been the general theme throughout our raids.
Then again I think our main affliction lock outgears the rest of us by a bit, so it might be skewed for us the opposite of how it's skewed for your guy.