5.4 Warlock

[Zagam 1,982]

Every time you exhale, your DoTs resnapshot.  So no, you can't carry mega DoTs all throughout an encounter.  That would be morbidly overpowered.

 

Fel Flame is decent while moving, but I just took KJC last night in order to worry more about mechanics and less about positioning.  KJC affords you that luxury.

[Omaric 246]

Every time you exhale, your DoTs resnapshot.  So no, you can't carry mega DoTs all throughout an encounter.  That would be morbidly overpowered.

 

Fel Flame is decent while moving, but I just took KJC last night in order to worry more about mechanics and less about positioning.  KJC affords you that luxury.

 

Are you sure?

 

 

Soul Swap no longer does any damage, and now copies damage-over-time effects instead of just moving them without needing a glyph. Copied effects now once again preserve their power and duration. Duration has been reduced to 3 seconds (down from 20 seconds).

 

I read that as all the buffs are intact with what you're snapshotting from.  The caveat here is that you *can't* actually keep moving super powered DoT's around because the *duration* is preserved.  That's their fall back.

[Zagam 1,982]

Hmm, I missed that note.  They musta remixed the ignition.  Good catch.  Great, more theorycrafting.  It'll be a decision on whether it's better to reapply DoTs to something with no buffs to Exhale to a 5th or 6th target where UA would only have 4 seconds left lol...

 

I guess the way to go with Affliction AoE is if you get a proc, drop what you're doing, Soulburn:Soul Swap onto something when you have maximum power (Wush or BB), then start Exhaling and Inhaling as fast as you can until the duration left reaches some point...the question is, at what point do you stop?  To hell with min/maxing thinking to that idea. 

[Omaric 246]

Hmm, I missed that note.  They musta remixed the ignition.  Good catch.  Great, more theorycrafting.  It'll be a decision on whether it's better to reapply DoTs to something with no buffs to Exhale to a 5th or 6th target where UA would only have 4 seconds left lol...

 

I guess the way to go with Affliction AoE is if you get a proc, drop what you're doing, Soulburn:Soul Swap onto something when you have maximum power (Wush or BB), then start Exhaling and Inhaling as fast as you can until the duration left reaches some point...the question is, at what point do you stop?  To hell with min/maxing thinking to that idea. 

 

Or another blip: SB:SS^2 with buffs, *then* inhaling/exhaling onto multiple targets to take advantage of Pandemic.

[Zagam 1,982]

STAHP

[Omaric 246]

ERMAHGERD NERMBERS!!!

 

I would also like to label this new playstyle "Hyper-DoT-ilating".

[mcg05d 1]

Does the 15% crit chance applied when we fill a burning ember with the 4 piece as destro affect chaos bolt damage?

[Omaric 246]

Yes.  It's 15% crit, straight up.  Crit has always affected Chaos Bolt this expansion.

[Zagam 1,982]

Gahhda and I talked about how that set bonus might make you always cast CB after filling an ember.  Unsure as to the effects when you Shadowburn and fill two embers.  It's highly likely the bonus overwrites itself, but it's pretty neat to notice you'd have a really high uptime of this with AoE situations and Shadowburn situations.

[mcg05d 1]

Yes.  It's 15% crit, straight up.  Crit has always affected Chaos Bolt this expansion.

 

UVLS didn't increase CB damage though, right?  I remember testing back right after first clear of ToT right before I switched out of destro for Demo/aff.

[Omaric 246]

UVLS didn't increase CB damage though, right?  I remember testing back right after first clear of ToT right before I switched out of destro for Demo/aff.

 

Mmmm, pretty sure it did, although the timing was a pain in the ass.

[Khaos 5]

It did but between travel time and all that it rarely got the effect.

[Omaric 246]

Travel time has nothing to do with it.  It's all about what you have going for you when you release. (lol)

[zombiecurse 0]

I actually found UVLS to be really good for mega chaos bolts. Just needed to set up a weak auras icon for it and train yourself to start casting as soon as you saw it. If you get lucky, you'll have a legendary metagem proc going and the cast will be very fast. I will also admit to sometimes using three backdrafts to make sure I got CB off in time. I don't know if that makes me a baddy, but it felt better to take advantage of the UVLS proc on a chaos bolt than on incinerates. Even in LFR stuff, I was getting Chaos Bolts in the 500 - 700K range, depending on what other procs were up with UVLS when I cast.

[Omaric 246]

I actually found UVLS to be really good for mega chaos bolts. Just needed to set up a weak auras icon for it and train yourself to start casting as soon as you saw it. If you get lucky, you'll have a legendary metagem proc going and the cast will be very fast. I will also admit to sometimes using three backdrafts to make sure I got CB off in time. I don't know if that makes me a baddy, but it felt better to take advantage of the UVLS proc on a chaos bolt than on incinerates. Even in LFR stuff, I was getting Chaos Bolts in the 500 - 700K range, depending on what other procs were up with UVLS when I cast.

 

Overall, I don't know if I like UVLS as Destruction.  The best thing I can do with a proc is in an AoE situation. Just get off a FnB Immolate and RoF.

[zombiecurse 0]

Overall, I don't know if I like UVLS as Destruction.  The best thing I can do with a proc is in an AoE situation. Just get off a FnB Immolate and RoF.

 

I think aoe like that is a little harder to plan for/react to than firing off a chaos bolt on single target. For me (again, I'm just talking from LFR experience) it was just something that happened anyways while I was doing aoe. It was always sweet when it did happen, but since you'd be using DS on aoe fights anyways, you were already getting a lot of crits in there.

 

Going back to single target, I found UVLS and Wushoolay's helpful with chaos bolts between DS cooldowns. If a UVLS proc came up, I'd cast immediately. If a Wushoolay's proc came up, I would wait until around the six or seven mark and then start casting it like crazy. Could usually get three or four off (depending on other procs) before the proc was over. Would also try and get a buffed immolate in on the nine or ten, if I had time.

 

Doing this also made me a little less paranoid about capping on burning embers.

Edited September 12, 2013 by zombiecurse

[Zagam 1,982]

Travel time has nothing to do with it.  It's all about what you have going for you when you release. (lol)

This.  The procs live when a Chaos Bolt is executed is how damage is calculated.  UVLS for Destro is a poor decision when you have other viable options.  If you do use it, it's often much better to get a guaranteed Conflagrate off as well as a super charged Immolate that generates Embers rather than one Chaos Bolt. 

[Zagam 1,982]

I think aoe like that is a little harder to plan for/react to than firing off a chaos bolt on single target. For me (again, I'm just talking from LFR experience) it was just something that happened anyways while I was doing aoe. It was always sweet when it did happen, but since you'd be using DS on aoe fights anyways, you were already getting a lot of crits in there.

 

Going back to single target, I found UVLS and Wushoolay's helpful with chaos bolts between DS cooldowns. If a UVLS proc came up, I'd cast immediately. If a Wushoolay's proc came up, I would wait until around the six or seven mark and then start casting it like crazy. Could usually get three or four off (depending on other procs) before the proc was over. Would also try and get a buffed immolate in on the nine or ten, if I had time.

 

Doing this also made me a little less paranoid about capping on burning embers.

Can't do this with Wush anymore.  It's rapid increase to 10 stacks means if you start casting with 7 stacks, you get a 10 stack CB off and nothing else.  The Bindings, KTT, or Cleave trinket would be much more suitable to Destruction's playstyle than the ramp up type trinkets like Wush and Black Blood.

[zombiecurse 0]

Can't do this with Wush anymore.  It's rapid increase to 10 stacks means if you start casting with 7 stacks, you get a 10 stack CB off and nothing else.  The Bindings, KTT, or Cleave trinket would be much more suitable to Destruction's playstyle than the ramp up type trinkets like Wush and Black Blood.

 

Yeah, you're right. I noticed this as affliction last night that Wush was stacking faster. Didn't see that one in the patch notes.