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Affliction Warlock: Mists of Pandaria Rotation Changes, Talents, and Glyphs (Patch 5.0.4)

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This article is no longer being updated. Please check our Affliction Warlock guide, which is fully compatible with Mists of Pandaria, and is being constantly updated. Thank you.

In preparation for the updates to our guides for Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4, we are releasing articles such as this one, explaining what has changed for a particular class and spec, and what the new rotation is likely to be.

Keep in mind that this is still a work in progress (both from Blizzard's side and from our own) and that this article assumes you are at least somewhat familiar with the Cataclysm version of the Affliction Warlock rotation and playstyle (such as from reading our guide).

We will first list the most important changes to the Affliction Warlock Cataclysm abilities, and then we will proceed to explaining the (likely to be) optimal rotation. Keep in mind that we do not document every single change or new ability, only those that impact the rotation.

Finally, we will give you some information about the most useful talents and glyphs you should choose.

Removed Abilities and Mechanics

Many abilities from the Demonology and Destruction specialisations have been removed or changed, and most of them are no longer available to you; non-exhaustive list of spells you cannot use in Mists of Pandaria: spell_shadow_ragingscream.jpgDemon Armor, ability_warstomp.jpgDemon Leap, spell_fire_incinerate.jpgHellfire, spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate, spell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate, spell_fire_soulburn.jpgSearing Pain, spell_shadow_shadowbolt.jpgShadow Bolt, ability_warlock_shadowflame.jpgShadowflame, and spell_fire_fireball02.jpgSoul Fire.

In addition, many Affliction-specific talents, abilities, and mechanics have been removed: spell_shadow_auraofdarkness.jpgBane of Doom, spell_shadow_curseoftounges.jpgCurse of Tongues, spell_shadow_curseofmannoroth.jpgCurse of Weakness, spell_shadow_deathsembrace.jpgDeath's Embrace, ability_warlock_eradication.jpgEradicationability_warlock_everlastingaffliction.jpEverlasting Affliction, spell_shadow_twilight.jpgNightfall, spell_shadow_lastingaffliction.jpgPandemic, spell_shadow_requiem.jpgSiphon Life, and ability_warlock_soulsiphon.jpgSoul Siphon.

Changed Abilities and Mechanics

There have been a number of minor changes, such as:In addition to these minor changes, some of your important spells have been redesigned:
  • ability_warlock_haunt.jpgHaunt now increases the damage of all your spells on the target for 8 seconds. It still deals damage when cast, but it now requires a Soul Shard (see the Soul Shard section) and will no longer return life at the end of the effect. Also, it no longer has a cooldown.
  • spell_shadow_haunting.jpgDrain Soul now makes your DoTs tick twice stronger when the target is under below 20%. Also, when the target is below 20% (25% in Cataclysm), Drain Soul deals twice as much damage. Every two ticks, Drain Soul will regenerate a Soul Shard (see the Soul Shard section).
  • spell_shadow_curseofsargeras.jpgAgony replaces the old spell_shadow_curseofsargeras.jpgBane of Agony. Its duration is now 24-seconds, with ticks every 2 seconds. In Mists of Pandaria, the damage still increases over time. Every time it ticks, a new stack is of Agony is applied on the target, up to 10 stacks. As the stacks build up, the damage the target takes from Agony increases. When refreshing Agony before it expires, the stacks are kept.
  • spell_shadow_seedofdestruction.jpgSeed of Corruption now always explodes after it expires (previously, it exploded after a fixed amount of damage).

New Abilities

  • ability_warlock_everlastingaffliction.jpMalefic Grasp is the most important of your new abilities. Channeling this ability will deal damage to the target and will make your DoTs tick 50% stronger. It is a core part of your rotation.
  • spell_warlock_demonsoul.jpgDark Soul: Misery is a new DPS cooldown that is specific to Affliction Warlocks and that grants +30% Haste for 20 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. Other Warlock specialisations have their own variant of the spell.
  • spell_shadow_demonictactics.jpgUnending Resolve provides 50% damage reduction for 12 seconds, on a 3-minute cooldown.
  • spell_warlock_demonicportal_green.jpgDemonic Gateway is your level 87 spell. It is an extremely interesting ability, the usefulness of which will soon be very obvious to you. It creates a gateway between your current location and the location that you click (the maximum distance seems to be about 100 yards). The gateway initially has 0 charges and will generate a new charge every 15 seconds, up to a maximum of 5 charges. A charge is consumed every time someone steps in the gateway (on either end). Stepping through the gateway, on either end, will transport you to the other end. It will also apply a buff to you, which prevents you from using the gateway for the next 15 seconds and reduces your threat for 15 seconds.
  • warlock_curse_weakness.jpgCurse of Enfeeblement reduces the physical damage done by your target by 20% and increases the casting time of all its spells by 50%.
  • spell_shadow_painfulafflictions.jpgPandemic is your level 90 ability. It causes the remaining duration of your DoTs to be added to the new duration when you refresh them, up to 50% of the base duration.
In addition, all your talent tiers giving you new abilities, as we describe in the talent section.

Soul Shard and Soulburn

Soul Shards are now an Affliction-only resource. Demonology Warlocks use Demonic Fury and Destruction Warlocks use Burning Embers.

Previously, Soul Shards had limited use because it was hard to regenerate them during combat. Now, Soul Shards are an integral part of the Affliction Warlock play style.

Soul Shards regenerate automatically when you are out of combat, thanks to your ability_mage_potentspirit.jpgSoul Harvest. Previously, Soul Harvest had to be channeled. As before, you can have between 0 and 3 Soul Shards available.

During combat, Soul Shards are generated by channeling spell_shadow_haunting.jpgDrain Soul. You will regain 1 Soul Shard every 2 ticks. Additionally, each time you deal damage, you have a chance to proc Shadow Trance, which removes the Soul Shard cost on all your abilities for 3 seconds. Finally, spell_shadow_abominationexplosion.jpgCorruption has a 10% chance to regenerate 1 Soul Shard.

Your two Soul Shard consuming abilities are ability_warlock_haunt.jpgHaunt and spell_warlock_soulburn.jpgSoulburn, which you will use extensively during fights.

Below, you will find the list of spells that are modified by Soulburn.

  • All your curse spells automatically apply the curse to all enemies within 10 yards of your target.
  • spell_shadow_demoniccircleteleport.jpgDemonic Circle: Teleport increases your movement speed by 50% and makes you immune to snares and roots for 8 seconds.
  • The healing component of spell_shadow_lifedrain02.jpgDrain Life is improved by 50%.
  • The healing component of spell_warlock_harvestoflife.jpgHarvest Life (Tier 1 talent that replaces Drain Life) is improved by 133%.
  • The detonation of spell_shadow_seedofdestruction.jpgSeed of Corruption causes all nearby enemies to become afflicted with spell_shadow_abominationexplosion.jpgCorruption.
  • ability_warlock_soulswap.jpgSoul Swap instantly applies spell_shadow_abominationexplosion.jpgCorruption, spell_shadow_unstableaffliction_3.jpgUnstable Affliction, and spell_shadow_curseofsargeras.jpgAgony on your target.
  • Your demons are summoned instantly.
DPS-wise, using Soulburn on Soul Swap is the most attractive choice.

Demons

By default, you can summon one of four demons to help you fight your foes.
  • The Felhunter will be your demon of choice for raiding. It currently deals the most damage. It will automatically cast the following abilities: spell_nature_purge.jpgDevour Magic and spell_shadow_soulleech_3.jpgShadow Bite. It can also cast spell_shadow_mindrot.jpgSpell Lock if you instruct it to.
  • The Imp may have its uses for raiding, though it does not do as much damage as the Felhunter. It will automatically cast the following abilities: spell_fire_firebolt.jpgFirebolt, spell_fire_elementaldevastation.jpgSinge Magic, and spell_shadow_bloodboil.jpgBlood Pact. It can also cast ability_heroicleap.jpgFlee if you instruct it to.
  • The Succubus may have its uses for raiding, though it does not do as much damage as the Felguard. It will automatically cast the following abilities: spell_shadow_curse.jpgLash of Pain, spell_shadow_mindsteal.jpgSeduction, and spell_magic_lesserinvisibilty.jpgLesser Invisibility. It can also cast ability_warlock_whiplash.jpgWhiplash if you instruct it to.
  • The Voidwalker will be your demon of choice while leveling up. It will automatically cast the following abilities: spell_shadow_antishadow.jpgShadow Bulwark, spell_shadow_blackplague.jpgSuffering, and spell_shadow_gathershadows.jpgTorment. It can also cast ability_warrior_disarm.jpgDisarm if you instruct it to.
As in Cataclysm, you have two demons that you can use as DPS cooldowns: a Doomguard (warlock_summon_doomguard.jpgSummon Doomguard) for single-target damage or an Infernal (spell_shadow_summoninfernal.jpgSummon Infernal) for AoE damage.

Also, you have the ability_warlock_demonicempowerment.jpgCommand Demon ability, which, if put on your action bar, will change with the demon you are using. For the Voidwalker, the Felhunter, and the Succubus, this ability will cast their manual ability. For the Felguard, it will cast ability_warrior_bladestorm.jpgFelstorm. For the Imp, it will cast inv_misc_volatilefire.jpgCauterize Master, which does not seem to be otherwise available.

warlock_grimoireofcommand.jpgGrimoire of Supremacy is a Tier 5 talent that improves your demons with better abilities.

The Observer remains your demon of choice.

Your demon DPS cooldowns are replaced by more powerful versions: a Terrorguard (spell_warlock_summonterrorguard.jpgSummon Terrorguard) for single-target damage or an Abyssal (achievement_boss_lordanthricyst.jpgSummon Abyssal) for AoE damage.

Your ability_warlock_demonicempowerment.jpgCommand Demon ability will cast the manual ability of your demon, except for the Fel Imp, for which it casts inv_misc_volatilefire.jpgCauterize Master (as it does for the Imp).

Rotation

The single-target rotation will be along these lines.When the enemy is below 20% health, spell_shadow_haunting.jpgDrain Soul replaces Malefic Grasp in the rotation. Doing so will grant you more Soul Shards than you can possibly spend. This means that you should always refresh your DoTs by using spell_warlock_soulburn.jpgSoulburn and ability_warlock_soulswap.jpgSoul Swap (this causes Soul Swap to apply all your DoTs on the target).

We still need to properly test whether it is viable to use Drain Soul to regenerate Soul Shards when the target is not below 20% health.

Cooldowns

In Mists of Pandaria, you will gain a number of cooldowns (offensive and defensive), the majority of which are obtained through your choices of talents (as we explain in our talent section).

Your offensive cooldowns should be used as often as possible and combining them will usually grant you an increased effect:

You have a variety of defensive cooldowns, which you should use to help your healers or bypass encounter mechanics:

AoE Rotation

Your AoE rotation is going to be relatively unchanged from Cataclysm.

Against 2 or 3 enemies, use spell_warlock_soulburn.jpgSoulburn and ability_warlock_soulswap.jpgSoul Swap to add your DoTs to all the targets. Then, use a combination of ability_warlock_everlastingaffliction.jpMalefic Grasp and ability_warlock_haunt.jpgHaunt to deal damage, and spell_shadow_haunting.jpgDrain Soul to regenerate Soul Shards. Maintain your DoTs with Soulburn and Soul Swap.

Against 4 or more enemies, you will need to start using spell_warlock_soulburn.jpgSoulburn with spell_shadow_seedofdestruction.jpgSeed of Corruption. While Seed of Corruption is ticking, you can choose to maintain your DoTs on as many targets as possible using Soulburn and Soul Swap (and Drain Soul to regenerate Soul Shards), or to spam spell_shadow_rainoffire.jpgRain of Fire, depending on the number of enemies.

Talents

Tier 1 talents give you the choice between self-healing talents.
  • spell_warlock_darkregeneration.jpgDark Regeneration is a 3-minute cooldown that restores some of your life and increases healing received for 12 seconds.
  • warlock_siphonlife.jpgSoul Leech is a passive ability that grants self-healing capabilities to your three most important offensive abilities.
  • spell_warlock_harvestoflife.jpgHarvest Life is an improvement over spell_shadow_lifedrain02.jpgDrain Life, which it replaces. It deals AoE damage and regenerates more health, between 3% and 4.5% maximum health per second, depending on the number of enemies.
Whichever you will choose will depend on the encounter. Dark Regeneration is ideal for occasionally healing yourself. Soul Leech is best if you need a constant source of self-healing. Harvest Life can only be used if there are enough enemies to attack.

Tier 2 talents offer crowd control abilities.

For this tier of talents, you will base your choice on personal preference or on the type of crowd control your raid will require.

Tier 3 talents offer damage reduction mechanics.

  • ability_warlock_soullink.jpgSoul Link causes the damage you and your demon take to be shared. However, your demon's health is reduced by 50%.
  • warlock_sacrificial_pact.jpgSacrificial Pact is on a 1-minute cooldown and causes your demon to sacrifice half of its current health to give you a shield for 200% of the sacrificed health. If you do not have a demon out, your health is sacrificed instead.
  • ability_deathwing_bloodcorruption_death.Dark Bargain is on a 3-minute cooldown and prevents all damage for 10 seconds. After the 10 seconds are up, the damage prevented is dealt over 20 seconds.
Dark Bargain looks the most attractive to us because it will enable you to bypass encounter mechanics that would otherwise kill most other classes. It can also be used to soften the damage you take at critical times, so that your healers can focus on other raid members. Soul Link and Sacrificial Pact will have more occasional uses.

Tier 4 talents offer crowd control and utility abilities.

  • ability_deathwing_assualtaspects.jpgBlood Fear is an improvement over Fear, which it replaces. It is instant cast and no longer has a mana cost. Instead, it costs 10% of your maximum health.
  • ability_deathwing_sealarmorbreachtga.jpgBurning Rush sacrifices health and increases your movement speed.
  • warlock_spelldrain.jpgUnbound Will removes all magic and movement-impairing effects, as well as effects that cause loss of control of your character. It costs 20% of your health.
These abilities have mostly been tailored for PvP. They might have occasional use in PvE, depending on encounter mechanics.

Tier 5 talents provide various modifications to your demons.

  • warlock_grimoireofcommand.jpgGrimoire of Supremacy replaces your minions by more powerful demons that deal 20% more damage.
  • warlock_grimoireofservice.jpgGrimoire of Service is a 2-minute cooldown that enables you to summon a second demon for 20 seconds.
  • warlock_grimoireofsacrifice.jpgGrimoire of Sacrifice sacrifices your demon to increase spell damage by 30% to 50% (depending on the specialisation) and to regenerate 2% of maximum health every 5 seconds. Resummoning a demon cancels the effect. Finally, you gain one of your demon's abilities:
  • Imp: spell_fire_elementaldevastation.jpgSinge Magic;
  • Voidwalker: spell_shadow_antishadow.jpgShadow Bulwark;
  • Felhunter: spell_shadow_mindrot.jpgSpell Lock;
  • Succubus: spell_shadow_mindsteal.jpgSeduction.
Grimoire of Supremacy and Grimoire of Sacrifice will probably be the preferred choice as they are entirely passive. Grimoire of Service will be useful when you need an additional DPS cooldown.

Tier 6 talents provide various means of increasing your DPS.

  • achievement_boss_archimonde.jpgArchimonde's Vengeance is a 1-minute cooldown that causes the enemy to suffer 50% of all damage you take for 12 seconds. When Archimonde's Vengeance is not on cooldown, enemies who attack you suffer 10% of all damage they deal to you.
  • achievement_boss_kiljaedan.jpgKil'jaeden's Cunning is a 1-minute cooldown that enables you to cast and channel while moving for 6 seconds. When Kil'Jaeden's Cunning is not on cooldown, you can cast and channel while moving, but at the expense of a 50% casting speed reduction and a 20% movement speed reduction.
  • achievement_boss_magtheridon.jpgMannoroth's Fury increases the area of your AoE spells by 500%.
All of these talents have situational use. Archimonde's Vengeance is useful when you take a large amount of damage. We have yet to see how it will interact with ability_deathwing_bloodcorruption_death.Dark Bargain. Kil'Jaeden's Cunning will be preferred in heavy-movement encounters. Mannoroth's Fury will be nigh-mandatory for AoE-heavy fights, where enemies are not clumped together.

Glyphs

The following major glyphs will be come in handy:Your minor glyphs are mostly cosmetic, but we believe that inv_glyph_minorwarlock.jpgGlyph of Nightmares and inv_glyph_minorwarlock.jpgGlyph of Unending Breath will be very useful while leveling up through Pandaria.

This concludes our Affliction Warlock preview for Mists of Pandaria. We hope you have enjoyed reading it and that it proved useful to you. As always, we are looking forward to reading your opinions on the matter!

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Affliction is semi-fun to play...I've never been a big fan, but right now the debate is on Drain Twisting where you alternate between Drain Soul and Malefic Grasp to generate your Soul Shards. Keeping only 3 DoTs up (Agony, Corruption, UA) while keeping a buff up (Haunt) and having a filler makes this spec much simpler to play. The Drain Twisting is for the experienced Warlocks looking to gain that 1-3% extra DPS. Hope writing this guide wasn't too painful since us Warlocks got the complete overhaul this xpac!

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It kind of was, especially since Warlock guides used to be written by Vlad. He's going to be writing the Monk guides, so I'm taking over the Warlock guides and I had to learn a lot and do a sizable amount of research to write this.

Thanks for the comment on Drain Twisting, I didn't know it was called like that. I'll do further testing on whether it is worth doing towards the end of the beta test ;)

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Awesome post, really appreciate it. I don't have the time to play Beta so it's good getting a useful, easy to read post on it.

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Does anyone think Demonic Gateway look cool and OP lol for PVP? Double it up in front of the other factions flags (Warsong) and port their ass 100 yrds away from flag to a set up group to zerg lmao I can't wait to see this lol

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Does anyone think Demonic Gateway look cool and OP lol for PVP? Double it up in front of the other factions flags (Warsong) and port their ass 100 yrds away from flag to a set up group to zerg lmao I can't wait to see this lol

I'd have to test it, but it'd probably drop the flag :P

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In the last beta build, ability_warlock_everlastingaffliction.jpMalefic Grasp and spell_shadow_haunting.jpgDrain Soul have been changed so that they increase the power of your DoTs by respectively 50% and 100% instead of making them tick 100% faster. This does not change anything to the rotation.

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They continue to change Warlocks. I'm half anticipating logging in when I get everything installed and getting a message saying 'your Warlock has been removed from the game. Please select another class and continue enjoying World of Warcraft!'

They have 8 weeks to keep changing things, so I feel like they're 5 year olds before Christmas deciding what they really want. They won't really know until that day and then they'll wish they did something else lol

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The Felhunter now seems to deal a lot more damage than the other demons, so I've updated the article.

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I hope pet priority is this:

Affliction: Felhunter (unless you take Grimore of Supremacy, so the big blob looking thing)

Demonology: Wrathguard (he better be better than anyone else)

Destruction: Imp

We will never have to pet twist again since Demon Soul is based on your spec, not your pet. However, it would be nice for Demonology to get to use their specialization ability like every other spec in the game without biased situations such as AoE heavy situations. Let us listen to him tell us not to summon him again or how paltry of a task what we need him to do is. I love hearing him tell me he plays all of his records backwards, too. Plus, my Felguard's name is Haakakid. Yes, I pronounce it like HACK-A-KID.

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I hope pet priority is this:

Affliction: Felhunter (unless you take Grimore of Supremacy, so the big blob looking thing)

Demonology: Wrathguard (he better be better than anyone else)

Destruction: Imp

We will never have to pet twist again since Demon Soul is based on your spec, not your pet. However, it would be nice for Demonology to get to use their specialization ability like every other spec in the game without biased situations such as AoE heavy situations. Let us listen to him tell us not to summon him again or how paltry of a task what we need him to do is. I love hearing him tell me he plays all of his records backwards, too. Plus, my Felguard's name is Haakakid. Yes, I pronounce it like HACK-A-KID.

As far as I could see last night, the Felhunter still was the best choice for Destruction Warlocks. There's a new beta build that was made available today, so I'll test again once I'm done downloading ;)

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With the last beta build (15961), warlock_grimoireofsacrifice.jpgGrimoire of Sacrifice increases the damage of your single-target spells by 30% to 50%, depending on the spell and your Warlock specialisation and grants you one of your demon's abilities. Also, it no longer increases maximum health and it no longer has a doubled effect for the first 15 seconds.

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I'm not liking Grimoire of Sacrifice for PvE content. The only viable sense I can get from it would be for PvP extreme burst. For PvE, your pet provides too much of a positive effect, especially with Supremacy or Service at your disposal. I believe I read on Elitist Jerks that the talent selection goes as follows:

Affliction: Supremacy

Demonology: Service

Destruction: Supremacy

Of course, I've refused to play with the beta at all just because of how volatile things are and how much I care for the Warlock class, so everything I mention is regurgitated stuff with my own thoughts.

Fun note...I did see a Demo lock with Service...pretty sweet to see two Felguards performing Felstorm. This event should be featured on the miniclips "Will it Blend?"

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I'd make you a video of the two Felguards, if I weren't too busy making one with my cool Serpent Clouds ;)

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Oh I don't need a video. I have a very delightfully talented imagination. Knowing that Hunters, Mages, and DKs claim they can destroy my AoE but lose bets to me every time thanks to one thing...trusty, old Haak, my Felguard. Mastery stacked Demo Warlocks should never even be close to losing to someone in AoE. If I had a 2nd Felguard right now, I'm more than sure I could remove mechanics from fights such as the Black Ooze adds on Yor'sahj or the bloods on Spine/Madness. Oh the possibilities!

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Less than that, my friend. I'm anticipating Patch 5.0 on August 28th. This would give us 2 weeks to get used to talents, class changes, etc. before Theramore goes down (my estimate of 9/11...eerie, right?) which would then give 2 weeks for 9/25, or the proposed release date. I'm anticipating a 2 week PvP season warning coming as soon as tonight/tomorrow indicating the beginning of a new era in WoW!

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A change to inv_glyph_majorwarlock.jpgGlyph of Everlasting Affliction in the latest build (15972), it now increases the duration of Corruption, Agony, and Unstable Affliction by 50% but reduces their damage by 20%. Useful glyph for people newer to the spec and have trouble keeping up their dots.

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A change to inv_glyph_majorwarlock.jpgGlyph of Everlasting Affliction in the latest build (15972), it now increases the duration of Corruption, Agony, and Unstable Affliction by 50% but reduces their damage by 20%. Useful glyph for people newer to the spec and have trouble keeping up their dots.

Thank you, we usually wait for the patch to go live before updating the guides. It seems to be available now, so we will make the changes shortly ;)

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      Actually for Number 4, I prefer to use WeakAuras - I track a lot of information on my Healing Frames and I have to cut something from all this or things get too messy.
       
      You can find the WeakAura for tracking Raidwide CDs in our WA thread.
       
      If you can see what other Healers are doing during the fight, it makes it much easier to choose the ‘right’ targets for your heals and not get into situations when you Riptide somebody who already has a Druid’s HoT and a Priest’s Shield. Same with Raid CDs: if your raid is not too communicative, you don’t want to be in a situation where you drop your HTT while a Holy Priest has already begun to channel Divine Hymn.
       
      If you are still struggling with mana issues, check that you have a Spirit enchant on your weapon (even if it’s 630 ilvl) and the DMF trinket. Remember that you can always chose Elemental Blast in your Talents for help in refilling mana. Bring mana potions with you. I know that it’s obvious, but from my experience of checking logs, a lot of the people complaining about mana issues did not use mana potions during encounters.
       
       
      COMMON TALENTS AND GLYPHS: (top)
       
      TIER 1:
       
      STONE BULWARK TOTEM
       
      Unlike in MoP, I can’t see any appropriate usage for SBT in Highmaul.
       
      How does it work?
       
      When you summon it, it grants you a 10-second Shield that absorbs (Spell power * 0.875 * 4) damage. After that 10-second period is over, it casts a smaller shield of (Spell power * 0.875) on you every 5 seconds (overriding the previous shield, even the large, initial one, if it is still active). This smaller shield absorbs exactly 4 times less damage than the first shield and lasts for 10 seconds.
       
      So for example, for my current Spell Power 4748 (647 ilvl), I will get a shield that absorbs 16618 damage and after the initial 10 seconds, a smaller shield that absorbs 4154 damage 4 times over a 20 second period.
       
      From what it seems, its worth maybe a bit more than one Riptide or one Healing Wave.
      We don’t have spiky damage in WoD that forces us to use every bit of constant damage mitigation because we wouldn’t be able to cast a healing spell in time. So, from my PoV, we should use talents that allow us to mitigate a big amount of unpredictable damage or to ignore predictable damage when we have to continue casting.
       
      NATURE’S GUARDIAN
       
      I would advise taking it for people who get ‘tunnel vision.’
       
      If you always get caught by fire on Twin Ogrons or Suppression Field on Ko’ragh, take NG - it will give you a couple of seconds to run away and heal yourself when you actually might already be dead. Obviously, it’s much better to move out of stuff and avoid unnecessary damage but, well, nobody is perfect! ^^
       
      ASTRAL SHIFT
       
      Perfect talent if you are able to plan your actions.
       
      AS reduces all damage for 40%. You should use it when the raid is taking heavy damage from boss mechanics. Force Novas, Expel Magic: Frost, Cleave… Almost every boss uses abilities that you can mitigate with this talent.
       
      TIER 2:
       
      Actually the only talent in this tier that can help us in Highmaul is WINDWALK TOTEM.
      There are no adds that have to be rooted in any fight here and even on trash most of mobs are casters, so it’s more efficient to CC, stun or interrupt them.
       
      TIER 5:
       
      In my opinion, the only reasonable choice for most of the fights in this tier would be RUSHING STREAMS.
       
      ANCESTRAL GUIDANCE was nerfed so heavily in WoD, that even while having a 2 min CD, as a major raid CD it converts only 20% of your direct healing to healing on up to 3 nearby injured raid members. It’s such a minor amount of healing that I wouldn’t recommend it for any fight.
       
      CONDUCTIVITY is a very situational talent, simply because it demands a big part of the raid to stay in one spot long enough to fully utilise it. The only fight in Highmaul where people are mostly stacked in one spot is The Butcher. I personally think that additional healing from RS is still better than a possibility not to cast HR on CD. But it’s up to you.
       
      TIER 7:
       
      CLOUDBURST TOTEM or HIGH TIDE
      You should choose whatever is more comfortable for your play style. I checked both of talents in all the Highmaul fights and have to say that there is no significant difference in output numbers if you understand these talents mechanic and plan your behaviour in encounters.
       
      There are a couple of encounters where one of the talents may be slightly more beneficial and I mentioned this in Encounter Specifics, but generally, just play with what you are feeling more comfortable.
       
      Remember that while there are talents that seems preferable to take with CBT or HT, they are not mandatory.
      For example, you can take Echo of the Elements with High Tide, because Unleashed Life empowers your Chain Heal too and additional Riptide without CD will help you to manage High Tide usage easier.
      Or, it's not mandatory to take Totemic Persistence with Cloudburst totem if you prefer not to drop Water totems together but one by one.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM - all fights in Highmaul, except for The Butcher and Mar'goc with Arcane spells have a magic damage component that may be reduced with this Glyph. Even in the Kargath fight, where the boss has only physical abilities, the adds and Pillars add a magic damage component.
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE - with the new healing style in WoD, we are using HW a lot. So why not get free self heals?
       
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS - reduces the cooldown of Spiritwalker's Grace by 60 seconds but reduces its duration by 7 seconds. I prefer it above Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace.
      The reason for this is that in almost all the fights in Highmaul, we have ground abilities from which we have to move out or knockbacks after which we have to run back to our spots. Mostly they are short but frequent. I see many situations where 8 seconds casting on the move every 60 seconds can be more beneficial than being able to cast on move every 2 minutes.
       
       
      ENCOUNTER SPECIFICS (top)
       
       
      KARGATH BLADEFIST (top)
       
      This is the fight with very low raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of the Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice. I prefer Totemic Persistence with CBT because it gives you the flexibility to use other Water Totems without ruining your CBT timings.
      You can use Call of Elements in this fight too but there is no specific advantage to it. CoE is very good when you have to use a utility Totem twice in a row due to fight mechanics (Tremor, Windwalk, Capacitor, etc.) or when the overall damage is so high, that even one more HST could help. There’s nothing like this on Kargath.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: we don’t need additional CDs for this fight.
      Ancestral Swiftness: no real need for additional Haste or instant casts.
      Echo of the Elements: I would say that this is our talent of choice on Kargath. A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams. No reason for Conductivity - the raid is never stacked.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury: your choice if you are aiming for single target healing in this fight. Not valuable if you chose High Tide in Tier 7.
      Primal Elementalist: An acceptable choice. There is nothing to heal for most of the fight, so you could use elementals for DPS!
      Elemental Blast: I can’t see any reason for having mana issues in this fight, so I wouldn’t take this talent.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: This is my preferred Talent for this fight. Damage on the Raid is low, so it feels better to single target heal while CBT will redistribute our healing to the raid.
      High Tide: The only reason to take this talent on Kargath, in my opinion, is when you are assigned to go upstairs. It’s problematic enough to time CBT there, people are running all over the place, so it might be easier to Riptide the group and Chain Heal them.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (you can take something else instead but I don’t see anything really useful)
       
       
      THE BUTCHER (top)
       
      This is the fight with very high raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions, especially for soaking groups.
      My guild uses a very specific tactic for this boss:
      We have two healers for 2 soaking groups (5+5 people) - myself (Restoration Shaman) and Disc Priest. Our Restoration Druid stays on the raid full time while our Holy Paladin prioritizes the Tanks. Sub-30%, our Healers come into the soaking groups to help minimise the damage, 2 healers in each group.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I take Nature’s Guardian for accidental (or not accidental Sub-30%) Cleave damage.
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      I prefer High Tide for The Butcher. According to my assignment, I will have at least 5 heavily injured people during the entire fight. It’s clearly worth the constant use of Chain Heal.
      So Call of Elements is my choice here. The overall damage is very high, so even one more HST could help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: I wouldn’t take it. The other two talents are much more useful.
      Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams or Conductivity.
      I prefer Rushing Streams but if you are good in handling Conductivity full time on melee - why not?
      You can find the WeakAura for tracking HR with Conductivity talent in our WA thread.
       
      Tier 6:
      Elemental Blast: I would say that this is our talent of choice for the Butcher. The fight is very intense and we’ll need every possible bit of mana.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. If you are using spells wisely, CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people.
      High Tide: This is a very good talent for this fight. You will always have a lot of injured people and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (for knockbacks)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a Resto Druid in the raid, it can be a possibility. If you can’t manage your High Tide CH targets without blanketing the raid, it’s a possibility too. But frankly, the amount of Riptides you'll have with the EotE talent should be enough to fully utilize High Tide.
       
       
      TECTUS (top)
       
      This is a fight with very intense movement for the entire raid, including healers.
      The tactic that my guild uses for this boss involves the whole raid spreading out in a big circle around the boss, no stacking.
      We have the assignments for raid healing CDs during Tectonic Upheaval for every Healer too.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘standing in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Tectonic Upheavals.
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of constant movement and obstacles that cause loss of LoS for direct target heals.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST in the moments when you have to run from Crystalline Barrage or around Earthen Pillar could definitely help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: You can take it if feeling like one more CD is needed but it will burn your mana really fast.
      Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams is the only choice here really.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      If you are able to cast a lot and burn your mana quickly or if you took Glyph of Riptide for this fight, then take Elemental Blast.
      If you prefer single target spells and CBT, take Unleashed Fury - 50% increased heal is really good - you can cast less and pay more attention to your movement.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. CBT will also nicely redistribute your healing to all injured people when you’re moving around!
      High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning or with Glyph of Riptide. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too.
       
       
      BRACKENSPORE (top)
       
      By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, we have assignment for every healer. On Heroic progression you will need two healers assigned to heal mushrooms (one healer in Normal).
      I have to say that a resto shaman with Cloudburst totem assigned to Mushrooms can do miracles ^^. I was able to pull 11% of total healing from CBT on this fight.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘caught in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Infesting Spores.
       
      Tier 2: doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be a choice too. One more HST on Infesting Spores - why not?
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: no need really and it burns your mana too quick.
      Ancestral Swiftness: if you like to cast faster and to have ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once in 90 sec. - it’s your choice.
      Echo of the Elements: I like it on this fight. More UL for mushrooms!
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here really. Conductivity is very arguable, imo. While there are periods when all the raid is stacked on mushroom, I’m not sure that this time is long enough for using this talent.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would take Unleashed Fury, especially if assigned to mushrooms. 50% increased single heal is really valuable here. If you are healing the raid, Elemental Blast could be your choice too, but frankly, you can refill the mana from blue mushroom.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: best choice for healing mushrooms. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing on mushroom to the raid.
      High Tide: good talent if you are healing the raid.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it’s weak and burns your mana fast.
       
       
      TWIN OGRON (top)
       
      This is the fight with intensive movement for all the raid, including healers.
      By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, the ranged dps and healers are mostly stacked together and move together, except of moving of fire and Pulverize.
      It would be nice if your hunters will cast Aspect of the Fox, so you could cast when moving from the fire.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I would advice Nature’s Guardian here, especially if you are not very good in moving out of fire.
       
      Tier 2: doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of movement it demands.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST for fire times or Pulverize could definitely help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness: don’t think that more Haste could be very useful in this fight.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. I don't think that there is enough time of stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single damage.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: chose it if you move a lot. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people in the time when you are moving around.
      High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning themselves. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too, but remember that it burns your mana!
       
       
      KO’RAGH (top)
       
      This is the fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention.
      One of the fights where you should use shaman utilities.
      Remember that there are two main healing strategies for this encounter regarding dealing with Expel Magic: Frost: you can heal through it or move away if you don’t have enough HPS throughput.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1:
      Nature’s Guardian, if you are not very good in moving out of things.
      Astral Shift if you are able not to forget to use it on Expel Magic: Frost or Expel Magic: Fire.
       
      Tier 2: Windwalk totem! Use it to help the raid to get away from Frost Orbs.
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too to reset the cooldown of Windwalk totem. Especially if you don’t have druids for Stampeding Roar.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness: not sure that more Haste will really shine in this fight, but it worth a shot if you like it.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single person damage.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: chose it if you like it.
      High Tide: just the same.
      Both talents are valuable for this fight.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF PURIFY SPIRIT (Purify Spirit has 2 charges now. Useful for Expel magic: Fire dispels)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts healing output of Riptide!
       
       
      IMPERATOR MAR’GOK (top)
       
      This is a very long fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention. There are many boss abilities that will do a raid-wide damage if people handle them in wrong way.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I would recommend Astral Shift here. Use it on Force Novas or when you are Fixated.
      You can take Nature’s Guardian too, but there’s enough raid damage, so I think it’s better to mitigate.
       
      Tier 2: You can use Windwalk Totem on Slow debuff, but I think that it’s better to just dispel it.
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be good for another HST too. It is a long fight, so you’ll be able to use it at least 3-4 times.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness or Echo of the Elements: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Elemental Blast.
      The encounter is more than 10 min. long. You will definitely run out of mana without this talent.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem or High Tide: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts you healing output of Riptide!
      (top)
    • By tarokor
      Recently looked at starting to tank with my pally again and was looking through your site regarding tanking. On the Paladin protection page one of the Major glyphs you recommend is shield of the righteous however unless i am going blind it is no longer available as a glyph. Was it renamed or removed and if renamed what is it now called.
      Cheers guys
      ps:- apologies if i am blind, have searched the majors 3 times thou and cannot find it lol
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