Affliction Dps

[grimm 0]

Hello,

 

         First time posting here so bare with me.

 

My main spec is Affliction and I feel my dps should be alot higher. I recently started messing with sims as well and based on that my dps should be higher for my ilvl.

 

Here is my armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/sargeras/Grimk/simple

 

For my opener I precast haunt-SB:SS-Mg Until procs then refresh dots-MG

 

Here are some logs

 

Fallen Protectors: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/mv3xivxh5kl9cxa1/dashboard/?s=605&e=1044

Norushen: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/mv3xivxh5kl9cxa1/dashboard/?s=2723&e=3112

Sha of Pride: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/mv3xivxh5kl9cxa1/dashboard/?s=4223&e=4664

Iron Juggernaut: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/mksk8mot0ti0m0rg/dashboard/?s=7295&e=7698

 

Any and all help will be appreciated . TY

[Omaric 246]

I'm not the best Affliction critiquer, but I would definitely stop with the Haunt pre-casting.  You only get so many Soul Shards each fight, and you don't want to waste any of their uptime on unbuffed DoT's.  I start the fight hard casting my DoT's until I get my procs, then I SB:SS to max their duration, followed by Haunt.

[Furyx 1]

First of all I'd like to say you have pretty good gear, arguably better than mine. I've provided my armory below and WoL.

 

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/area-52/Furyx/simple

 

http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/207021/

 

^I raided last week (17th - 19th) and I wasn't able to raid this week (24th-25th). I'd also check out the dates from 10th to 12, but I didn't have legendary cape til Wed or Thur of first week.

 

I noticed you're haste is under the CoA Haste cap (9778). I would recommend forging up to 9778, but if you want to be a bauss I'd even go up to 13737 (this is where i'm at).

 

 

Precast haunt is one of the worst things i heard ever, and what makes matters even worse is when everyone just parrots to "precast haunt because it's in a guide".

 

As for an opener you should:

 

• If possible Soulburn 20 seconds before fight starts
• at 10 seconds before pull you should be roughly 20s out of 30s left on soulburn buff, which would esentially give you 5/4 Shards at the start of the fight (one burned, and the last shard should be restored a second before pull)

 

^This takes some practice with tanks to line up for the beginning of fights, if you guys agree to do it - I greatly recommend it. If not possible, just continue with rotation below.

 

• Pre Pot
• At pull start with Soulburned Soul Swap (Gets dots rolling, proccing buffs, and starts COA buildup to 10)
• MG x 2 [MEANING 2 CHANNELING TICS, NOT 2 FULL MG CHANNELS - Get Quartz if you're cast bar doesn't show channeling itterations] (Gets additional buffs up and pushes COA to 10x stack faster)

• If using 2P T15 still: DS+Racial+any other on use buffs (engineering) and Haunt -> SB:SS
• If no 2P T15: Haunt -> DS+Racial+on use -> SB:SS (this will get Pandemic Rolling)
• MG + Haunt as necessary

I'll be glad to answer any further questions.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Furyx

[grimm 0]

First of all I'd like to say you have pretty good gear, arguably better than mine. I've provided my armory below and WoL.

 

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/area-52/Furyx/simple

 

http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/207021/

 

^I raided last week (17th - 19th) and I wasn't able to raid this week (24th-25th). I'd also check out the dates from 10th to 12, but I didn't have legendary cape til Wed or Thur of first week.

 

I noticed you're haste is under the CoA Haste cap (9778). I would recommend forging up to 9778, but if you want to be a bauss I'd even go up to 13737 (this is where i'm at).

 

 

Precast haunt is one of the worst things i heard ever, and what makes matters even worse is when everyone just parrots to "precast haunt because it's in a guide".

 

As for an opener you should:

 

• If possible Soulburn 20 seconds before fight starts
• at 10 seconds before pull you should be roughly 20s out of 30s left on soulburn buff, which would esentially give you 5/4 Shards at the start of the fight (one burned, and the last shard should be restored a second before pull)

 

^This takes some practice with tanks to line up for the beginning of fights, if you guys agree to do it - I greatly recommend it. If not possible, just continue with rotation below.

 

• Pre Pot
• At pull start with Soulburned Soul Swap (Gets dots rolling, proccing buffs, and starts COA buildup to 10)
• MG x 2 [MEANING 2 CHANNELING TICS, NOT 2 FULL MG CHANNELS - Get Quartz if you're cast bar doesn't show channeling itterations] (Gets additional buffs up and pushes COA to 10x stack faster)

• If using 2P T15 still: DS+Racial+any other on use buffs (engineering) and Haunt -> SB:SS
• If no 2P T15: Haunt -> DS+Racial+on use -> SB:SS (this will get Pandemic Rolling)
• MG + Haunt as necessary

I'll be glad to answer any further questions.

Okay ive been switchign my stats back and fourth trying to see wat work but I will get back to the 9778 haste break point. However wouldnt goin for the 13737 sacrifice to much mastery? ALso looking at my logs do u see anything that I am doing wrong? Thanks about the haunt thing I have been precasting it for awhile now lol I'll def change that.

[Furyx 1]

13737 will start to shine once you have 2p T16 (extra UA tic is great). In my opinion, people overexaggerate how much of a "loss" it will be by not going mastery, from my own experiments in raiding, this isn't the case. In 25 man, any adds on fight die extremely fast, arguably only Protectors would see (theoretically) an increase of DPS going on a heavier mastery build. I been sitting at 13737 since 5.3, when I was rolling in 530~ ilvl.

 

I will check your logs in a few minutes, I'm currently at work and gonna grab lunch ;P. However, I'll have time to take a look as....I had my work complete since 12 and need to burn 5 hours, while getting payed.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Furyx

[grimm 0]

13737 will start to shine once you have 2p T16 (extra UA tic is great). In my opinion, people overexaggerate how much of a "loss" it will be by not going mastery, from my own experiments in raiding, this isn't the case. In 25 man, any adds on fight die extremely fast, arguably only Protectors would see (theoretically) an increase of DPS going on a heavier mastery build. I been sitting at 13737 since 5.3, when I was rolling in 530~ ilvl.

 

I will check your logs in a few minutes, I'm currently at work and gonna grab lunch ;P. However, I'll have time to take a look as....I had my work complete since 12 and need to burn 5 hours, while getting payed.

I have the 2p TT16 already. That does sound about right I will fo for the 13737 cap n see hwo tht works for me. Thanks for the help btw.

[Kazistrasz 216]

Okay a few things here.

 

Stats: Everyone looks here first, myself included. Are they going to make or break you? No. Are your stats even close to where your damage is missing? No. But, they're the quickest fix to get maybe a tiny bit out that you're missing. You're not going to really notice it unless you're doing something really, really wrong (e.g., stacking crit over all else for Affliction, 3% over hit cap, etc.). That said, there's probably a way to get your hit a little closer than 15.25%, and you're currently sitting at 12512 haste. There's a balance between haste and mastery, yes. I try to keep them within 1k of each other. In doing so, though, I account for the 3k mastery buff. You can most likely push the 13737 breakpoint without your buffed mastery going under 13k by much. Your gear is fine (better than mine, I'm only 547 and just got there in the last two days).

 

Playstyle: Here's the core of where you're missing DPS, and the best I can understand it from your logs you gave us.

 

Fallen Protectors:

Here's the numbers I'm looking at: Shadow Trance, 28 procs. With your starting 4, you had 32 available shards. Haunts: 16 hits and 1 crit, so you spent 17 shards on Haunt. The other 15 shards for the fight would have gone to SB:SS, or possibly SB:CoE if you use that. Your uptimes on your Agony, UA, and Corruption are 95.8%, 94.3%, and 94.1%, respectively.

 

What I'm getting out of these numbers: You're using too many shards on SB:SS instead of Haunt. What this really means is you're not using the new Soul Swap mechanic effectively (if at all). Being that you don't have Wush or BBoY, you're not going to have as many "last chance" moments to get your beefy DoTs up with SB:SS, so you really shouldn't be using SB:SS almost at all after the pull.

 

Point of comparison: here's my log for patch day (I forgot to log the fight thereafter, but my numbers have only gone up as I've gotten used to it): http://worldoflogs.com/reports/qylfgmy08tw4y9o3/details/9/?s=3042&e=3529 Notice my Haunt uptime is over 42% with my DoT uptimes all at 98% or better. Now, I only had 25 Haunts cast, but I also only had 23 Shadow Trance procs, meaning 27 total available. I only had 2 unaccounted for.

 

How I'm approaching the fight as Affliction: 

First, for my pull, I follow Zagam's opener in the Affliction Tips & Tricks method: that is, I pre-pot, CoE, DS, Haunt, SB:SS. Some people don't, and that works for them, too.  Once I get that first Haunt and my DoTs up, I immediately swap them around. Now, I've only cast CoE once, on the first boss (in this case, Rook). For this fight, I glyph CoE to hit 2 additional targets. 3 bosses with 3 targets hit. It just works out well. By the I've Inhaled from Rook, Exhaled to He, Inhaled from He, and Exhaled to Sun, most of my procs are up along with hero (I have Wush, so I'm generally waiting on that 10-stack). Once I have this 10-stack, I've also almost always got Tempus Repit, Dark Soul, Heroism, Lightweave, Jade Spirit, Potion, and now Bindings Proc (for the log I linked I was using UVLS meaning I had to go early because it usually proc'd around 3-5 stacks). I SB:SS that 10-stack to get nice and big DoTs, swap it around, and Haunt Rook again (I may also Haunt He if I have the shard for it). Once I've got it swapped around and I'm out of shards, I start channeling. Doing so, I generally approach 700k on Skada. The log above shows me breaking 950k on the pull (you got to 820k), and I get even higher now with more gear and more familiarity.

 

For the rest of the fight, I am just reapplying (mostly manually, especially without UVLS now) my DoTs and then swapping the buffed DoTs around. Try to catch the end of the adds' lives with Drain Soul for more shards. Unfortunately, with the powerful executes of my guildies, it's very hard for me to do this, but it gets you extra shards for more Haunts (and, occasionally, more SB:SS if you REALLY need them as I do getting the 10-stacks of Wush).

 

Norushen:

This one is a hard fight to look at a log for, usually, because of the way the test realm separates people, but it looks like you're the one actually taking the log. This looks like you were the... second person in the test realm?

I'm looking at basically the same numbers. 30 Shadow Trance procs + 4 to start = 34 shards with 26 spent on Haunt for 60% uptime. Your DoT uptimes are 97.5%, 92.3%, and 94.9% for Agony, UA, and Corruption. 

 

What I'm getting out of this is that you're again using SB:SS too much when you can simply swap your DoTs around onto all of the adds and replenish your shards from them with Drain Soul.

 

This is mine from last week: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/a71i9dwbkd28381g/details/5/?s=58&e=464 Our numbers are similar. I've got slightly higher uptime on DoTs with a slightly lower Haunt uptime. The big difference in why I have 13million more damage than you (for reference, at this point I had a 538 item level) is going to come from swapping around and getting a bigger use of Drain Soul. Whereas you have 26 Haunts out of 34 available shards, I have 34 Haunts out of 29 available Shards (25 Shadow Trance + starting 4). To be fair, I also go in the test realm first in my guild, so I start the fight by pre-pot > CoE > DS > Haunt> SB:SS on boss then click the portal, and by the time I'm in the test realm and the big add spawns, I've hit the fully-proc'd DoTs that I SB:SS onto the big add as I pop Burning Rush and run around the little adds swapping from big to little to next little to next little, then catch the last little add as it dies with Drain Soul to replenish shards.

 

Of the 13 million damage difference between our two logs, 10 million comes from DoTs. This is for two big reasons. 1: When you Soul Swap:Inhale off the boss and Soul Swap: Exhale onto the adds, you're preserving the procs you snapshotted from those DoTs. If you SB:SS to put DoTs on the adds, you do not get this. You get whatever buffs you have currently. When your shaman kills his first add and it spawns for you to kill in the normal realm, you should have fully-proc'd DoTs on the boss to swap to it. Not doing this is going to cause you a lot of lots damage there. 2: When you SS:Inhale and SS:Exhale, you're also copying the the charge/stack of Agony. When you SB:SS, you're starting a whole new Agony on the add. So, not only are you losing the procs, you're losing even more damage on Agony due to ramp time.

 

One last way you could get more damage out of this: AD is a great talent, but as often as you'll have to run around in the test realm or running around from the beam, you could get more DoT damage out of channeling MG while you run around if you take KJC vs. casting Fel Flame which isn't going to give you that extra DoT damage. Though, you can also avoid running from the beam a lot if you set up your gateway a short distance on either side of where you stand (my guild actually stacks up for normal mode when we don't have to move form the beam to take advantage of AoE healing). Then, when the beam is coming to you, run to the further gate. Once it passes the other gate, you can just poof across without having to do a lot of running.

 

I'm going to stop there, because I don't have an Affliction log for Sha or IJ to compare to, but I'm sensing a trend:

 

Use the new Soul Swap mechanic for adds and additional targets, use your newly free shards for more Haunts, and get extra shards from catching the end of adds with Drain Soul.

 

Edit: I lied when I sad "a few" things. Also, if Zagam looks at this, he'll probably find something else here or possibly correct me if I'm way off.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Kazistrasza

[grimm 0]

Thanks for tht reply it helps alot n I'm going to work on using less sb:as n more haunts. I also have wusholays I swapped it out while playing destro earlier. What I'm most confused about Is my single target dmg. I raid tonight n I'm going to make those changes.

[Kazistrasz 216]

For affliction, the keys for purely single target situations (like Iron Juggernaut) are much the same: don't waste shards on SB:SS if you can help it. Also, try to use Haunt only when you've got beefy DoTs up. If you know you only have your weapon enchant on them, or nothing on them, don't use haunt. But, as often as Wush procs it should be pretty easy to almost never have unbuffed DoTs.