Well I'm making this guide because I tried affliction lately and it's kinda better than destruction in my opinion. (at retail it was better for sure anyway:p) NOTE: it's a PVE guide.
At first it might be confusing for some people, because you have shitload of dots and debuffs. Most of these are refreshed with your spellcasts so it ends up in using even less buttons than in destruction :d kinda weird.
As for talent I use: THIS
Some reasons you may ask for:
-Curse of Agony is better dps than Curse of Doom in affliction, so make sure to use this. When there is another warlock in the group ask him to use Curse of Elements because your CoA does more dmg than his/her. When no other warlocks/balancedruids/unholyDKs there you should sacrifice your CoA for CoE (helps the raid alot).
-The secondary talent tree must be in destruction. The 15 points I spent till Ruin is a MUST for every pve affliction warlock, as your filler spell is Shadow bolt (and in most cases it does the most damage).
-After Ruin I've put points on Intensity and Destructive Reach. Intensity is for pushback. I really don't want to get a 3 sec cast shadow bolt instead of 1.7 sec. A lot DPS waste imo. Destructive Reach is for threat reduction. You spam Shadow bolt anyway. These 3 talent points are really optional. You can put them elsewhere like:
And plenty other options. Still I think Intensity is the best to use here.
About Glyphs:
As for minors, use w/e.
What pet should I use?
-It's obvious to me: Felhunter
He has the most dps in this spec. Shadow bite benefits from your dots on the target making it stronger.
The only problem with it is he is a melee pet. Means he will die easily from flames at Lord for example and such.
Stats:
First of all you need to be hit capped. You need to reach 17% hit rating, which means you need 14% if a shadow priest or balance druid present in your raid, or 11% if you are specced into Supression too.
The main stat you aim for is Spell Power. This makes your spells hit harder, and even increases the mana returned from life tap.
Secondary stat is haste. Your corruption benefits from it greatly, and other spells such as Shadow Bolt. It doesn't have DR unlike crit, and your Drain Soul can't even crit. Going for crit is foolish and ends up in less dps. Thus you should use the Spellstone (the 60 haste one) that adds 1% dot dmg anyway.
If you're happen to be a spirit stacker (aims for gear with spirit on it) you would have more spellpower for sure, but you'll lack in crit or haste (yes crit is important tho till a specific point. Means just don't ever gem it). This is viable, but I personally don't like it. If you'd prefer this, just change your Glyph of Curse of Agony to Glyph of Life Tap.
In gem slots I'd use 23 sp in reds, 12 sp 10 haste in yellows, and fill in 2 blues for meta with 12 sp 10 spirit. When the socket bonus is useless for you (like intellect) just simply use 23 sp.
In meta I use 21 crit, 3% increased crit bonus. This has the most benefits to you.
Rotation:
NO, we don't have a "rotation". It's called priority system.
Well at the start of the encounter make sure to use a trinket with on use spell power, then quickly change back to a trinket that has spellpower proc before you get in combat. (or Reign of the dead if you have it :p) This is like a pre-pot. You start with a great spellpower increase, thus it increases your initial burst. Easy to make this with a macro:
/equip your on use trinket
/use your on use trinket
/equip your original trinket
Remember to hit this macro twice!
First you'll have to start with a Shadow Bolt. This applies the 5% crit effect on your target. Then you use Haunt, and then another Shadow bolt, so now you'll have the 3 stacks of Shadow Embrace (15%), and your Haunt (23%) on the target. Now you can start doting. Start with an Unstable Affliction, then CoA. Corruption is a bit tricky. Try to apply it when you have the most procs on. Refreshing corruption with Everlasting Affliction (aka Haunt or Shadow Bolt) does not reset the spell power (nor the crit/haste) of the dot. So if you apply Corruption with 6k spell power, it will tick for around 8k till it drops.
After having all your dots on the target, start filling the space with Shadow bolt. Remember your Haunt should never fall off, try casting it when it's off the cooldown. In case of UA and CoA you wouldn't clip the last dot, so cast UA when about 1 sec time left from your UA on the target, and cast CoA when it has already faded.
Actually that 3 spells + a filler.I feel like a paladin. Filler is changed under 25% hp. Your drain soul does 4 times it's dmg when hitting a target under 25% hp making it stronger than shadow bolt. Also with death's embrace talent under 35% hp you deal 12% more dmg, but you have to reapply your dots for it. It's not a problem with UA and CoA, but make sure to use a corruption under 35%.
I think I've covered pretty much everything. I may recheck it later when I get back, but I have to go now. Happy doting!
At first it might be confusing for some people, because you have shitload of dots and debuffs. Most of these are refreshed with your spellcasts so it ends up in using even less buttons than in destruction :d kinda weird.
As for talent I use: THIS
Some reasons you may ask for:
-Curse of Agony is better dps than Curse of Doom in affliction, so make sure to use this. When there is another warlock in the group ask him to use Curse of Elements because your CoA does more dmg than his/her. When no other warlocks/balancedruids/unholyDKs there you should sacrifice your CoA for CoE (helps the raid alot).
-The secondary talent tree must be in destruction. The 15 points I spent till Ruin is a MUST for every pve affliction warlock, as your filler spell is Shadow bolt (and in most cases it does the most damage).
-After Ruin I've put points on Intensity and Destructive Reach. Intensity is for pushback. I really don't want to get a 3 sec cast shadow bolt instead of 1.7 sec. A lot DPS waste imo. Destructive Reach is for threat reduction. You spam Shadow bolt anyway. These 3 talent points are really optional. You can put them elsewhere like:
- Suppression if you're lacking hit rating
- Dark pact + Improved felhunter combo is great too if you'd prefer draining your pet's mana instead of your own HP. This isn't really viable tho because of pet bugs, and I don't think Improved felhutner even works.
And plenty other options. Still I think Intensity is the best to use here.
About Glyphs:
- Glyph of Haunt - 3% dmg all bonus. Really worth it.
- Glyph of Quick Decay - You are going to have plenty of haste, and Corruption is one of your main dmg source.
- Glyph of Curse of Agony - Here I took this because it frees 4 sec to me before I need to refresh it. That means at least 2 shadow bolts. Other opportunity would be Glyph of Unstable Affliction but this only lowers it's cast time by 0.2 sec, which makes not even one shadow bolt :d And still you won't need that because you will have enough haste to get it to 1 sec cast.
As for minors, use w/e.
What pet should I use?
-It's obvious to me: Felhunter
He has the most dps in this spec. Shadow bite benefits from your dots on the target making it stronger.
The only problem with it is he is a melee pet. Means he will die easily from flames at Lord for example and such.
Stats:
First of all you need to be hit capped. You need to reach 17% hit rating, which means you need 14% if a shadow priest or balance druid present in your raid, or 11% if you are specced into Supression too.
The main stat you aim for is Spell Power. This makes your spells hit harder, and even increases the mana returned from life tap.
Secondary stat is haste. Your corruption benefits from it greatly, and other spells such as Shadow Bolt. It doesn't have DR unlike crit, and your Drain Soul can't even crit. Going for crit is foolish and ends up in less dps. Thus you should use the Spellstone (the 60 haste one) that adds 1% dot dmg anyway.
If you're happen to be a spirit stacker (aims for gear with spirit on it) you would have more spellpower for sure, but you'll lack in crit or haste (yes crit is important tho till a specific point. Means just don't ever gem it). This is viable, but I personally don't like it. If you'd prefer this, just change your Glyph of Curse of Agony to Glyph of Life Tap.
In gem slots I'd use 23 sp in reds, 12 sp 10 haste in yellows, and fill in 2 blues for meta with 12 sp 10 spirit. When the socket bonus is useless for you (like intellect) just simply use 23 sp.
In meta I use 21 crit, 3% increased crit bonus. This has the most benefits to you.
Rotation:
NO, we don't have a "rotation". It's called priority system.
Well at the start of the encounter make sure to use a trinket with on use spell power, then quickly change back to a trinket that has spellpower proc before you get in combat. (or Reign of the dead if you have it :p) This is like a pre-pot. You start with a great spellpower increase, thus it increases your initial burst. Easy to make this with a macro:
/equip your on use trinket
/use your on use trinket
/equip your original trinket
Remember to hit this macro twice!
First you'll have to start with a Shadow Bolt. This applies the 5% crit effect on your target. Then you use Haunt, and then another Shadow bolt, so now you'll have the 3 stacks of Shadow Embrace (15%), and your Haunt (23%) on the target. Now you can start doting. Start with an Unstable Affliction, then CoA. Corruption is a bit tricky. Try to apply it when you have the most procs on. Refreshing corruption with Everlasting Affliction (aka Haunt or Shadow Bolt) does not reset the spell power (nor the crit/haste) of the dot. So if you apply Corruption with 6k spell power, it will tick for around 8k till it drops.
After having all your dots on the target, start filling the space with Shadow bolt. Remember your Haunt should never fall off, try casting it when it's off the cooldown. In case of UA and CoA you wouldn't clip the last dot, so cast UA when about 1 sec time left from your UA on the target, and cast CoA when it has already faded.
Actually that 3 spells + a filler.
I think I've covered pretty much everything. I may recheck it later when I get back, but I have to go now. Happy doting!
Last edited by Igen on Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:08 am; edited 4 times in total
