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6.1 Destruction Guide

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6.1 Destruction Guide by Shizwix

 

A very general overview of the Destruction spec in 6.1 ^^

 

Fast TL;DR:

 

Stats - Stack Mastery as most fights have cleave / AoE.

Talents - With 4pc and good gear, GoSac + Charred Remains. Demonic Servitude best for encounters with high movement.

Glyphs - Glyph of Dark Soul is viable option with Charred Remains.

BiS Gear - Either Gruul or Blackhand Staff is fine. Get 4 set with Oregorger Gloves or Iron Maidens Legs as offpiece. Best trinkets are likely GRS (Crit) and BMC (Multistrike), but DUT (Haste) isn't terrible and is very easy to obtain on Mythic anyway.

Concerns - Destruction still remains highly immobile. Permanent Doomguard alleviates some of these concerns but Demonology can run circles around the boss and not lose any DPS. If Destruction has to do the same you may as well catch the next train home. Bonus is that Destruction sustained AoE is one of the best in the game, but AoE is never really a requirement to killing a boss.

 

 

1.  Talents & Glyphs Explained

 

 

Tier 1 - Defensive Tier

 

warlock_siphonlife.jpgSoul Leech is going to be very strong for encounters with residual, constant raid damage.  

inv_ember.jpgSearing Flames requires dropping from your optimal DPS rotation to heal which will likely not be worth it, but we will have to see how punishing the Mythic encounters are in terms of healing.

spell_warlock_darkregeneration.jpgDark Regeneration has a very potent heal, but its long cooldown makes it a choice for when burst damage comes less often.

 

As a default, use warlock_siphonlife.jpgSoul Leech.  Exceptions can be made for the other two talents, but those will be unique situations.

 

 

Tier 2 - The CC Tier

 

ability_warlock_howlofterror.jpgHowl of Terror is somewhat useful against a pack of mobs but usually has limited usefulness in raids due to the scattering of mobs. 

ability_warlock_mortalcoil.jpgMortal Coil provides a very helpful heal on a 45 second cooldown which could prove to be very useful during periodic bursts of damage. 

ability_warlock_shadowfurytga.jpgShadowfury is very useful when stunning adds.  For fights without adds or the need for stuns, Mortal Coil will be the default selection. 

 

For PvE, default to ability_warlock_mortalcoil.jpgMortal Coil unless stunning adds is beneficial to your raid group through ability_warlock_shadowfurytga.jpgShadowfury.

 

 

Tier 3 - The Mitigation Tier

 

ability_warlock_soullink.jpgSoul Link proves to be very valuable as Destruction due to your pet being a reliable 20% damage reducing shield that works well in synergy with warlock_siphonlife.jpgSoul Leech.  On top of the damage reducing mechanic, you are also healed for 3% of the total damage done which is a great passive healing tool. Speccing into warlock_grimoireofsacrifice.jpgGrimoire of Sacrifice provides different benefits, which will be outlined below. 

warlock_sacrificial_pact.jpgSacrificial Pact is superior for massive damage bursts that Soul Link can't mitigate as well. 

ability_deathwing_bloodcorruption_death.Dark Bargain usually has some unique places that it can be used, but the long cooldown makes Soul Link and warlock_sacrificial_pact.jpgSacrificial Pact more valuable as a defensive survival talent.

 

For low to gradual raid damage, take ability_warlock_soullink.jpgSoul Link.  For predictable spike damage, take warlock_sacrificial_pact.jpgSacrificial Pact

 

 

Tier 4 - The Utility Tier

 

ability_deathwing_bloodcorruption_earth.Blood Horror has very little PvE implications since it requires a target to melee you.  If adds are hitting you, something isn't going right with the encounter.  If a boss is hitting you, something REALLY isn't going right with the encounter. 

ability_deathwing_sealarmorbreachtga.jpgBurning Rush is a very useful toggle ability that increases your speed by a whopping 50% at the cost of 4% of your HP per second.  Use this sparingly but always when quick movement is called for.  ability_deathwing_sealarmorbreachtga.jpgBurning Rush has been altered slightly from it's 5.4 version to where it will now go through absorption effects before consuming your HP which further values absorption effects. 

warlock_spelldrain.jpgUnbound Will is useful in encounters where a Magic debuff will be applied to you and others putting a dispelling bind on healers. More often than not, your healers will handle dispels. 

 

ability_deathwing_sealarmorbreachtga.jpgBurning Rush will be your default choice unless a unique situation calls for warlock_spelldrain.jpgUnbound Will.

 

 

Tier 5 - Pet Tier

 

warlock_grimoireofcommand.jpgGrimoire of Supremacy will improve your pet of choice and supercharge him/her to do 20% more damage.

warlock_grimoireofservice.jpgGrimoire of Service will grant the Warlock a cooldown with the ability to summon an Imp, Felhunter, Succubus or Voidwalker who will instantly use his or her signature attack and remain attacking its target for 20 seconds. 

warlock_grimoireofsacrifice.jpgGrimoire of Sacrifice allows you to kill your summoned pet in order to absorb some of their powers, granting you a 20% damage bonus to your Incinerate, Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn, as well as causing you to regenerate 2% of your maximum health every 8 seconds. Pairing this Talent with ability_warlock_soullink.jpgSoul Link will cause you to also increase your maximum health by 20% when this is active. 

 

6.1 has changed things up a bit. Charred Remains and GoSac both got buffed, meaning at high gear levels it becomes the superior talent combination in all situations. Destruction still sucks ass on movement, but all three Grimoires now have their uses. 

 

 

 

Tier 6 - The Enhancement Tier

 

achievement_boss_archimonde-.jpgArchimonde's Darkness grants an additional charge of spell_warlock_demonsoul.jpgDark Soul: Instability.  For Destruction Warlocks, this means an extra use of a 30% bonus to Critical Strike, which provides a solid boost to damage and ember generation alike.  However, the charge system works like spell_fire_fireball.jpgConflagrate where each charge does not recharge independently.  This means that you get 1 additional use of spell_warlock_demonsoul.jpgDark Soul: Instability per fight meaning the longer the fight lasts, the lesser the value of achievement_boss_archimonde-.jpgArchimonde's Darkness

achievement_boss_kiljaedan.jpgKil'jaeden's Cunning grants full mobility while casting for 8 seconds on a 35 second cooldown.  This ability has been nerfed significantly from its 5.4 cousin, but still could provide some useful DPS while moving on an encounter that has strict movement requirements. The recent buff to a 35s cooldown make this even more of a viable option, especially if you're playing CR + GoSac with Glyph of Dark Soul and want to guarantee some movement DPS when you have all procs and cooldowns up.

achievement_boss_magtheridon.jpgMannoroth's Fury increases the radius and damage of Rain of Fire by a significant amount.  The radius is increased by 500% and the damage is increased by 100%.  This effect lasts for 10 seconds on a 60 second cooldown. Unfortunately, Blizzard's questionable nerf to Rain of Fire early in WoD release means this talent is all but useless. Avoid at all costs!

 

 

 

Tier 7 - The Destruction Tier

 

The level 100 talents provide a DPS boost to Destruction Warlocks in 3 different flavors. warlock_charredremains.jpgCharred Remains reduces the damage of your filler spells in favour of increasing their ember generation, whilst also allowing Chaos Bolt to benefit from the ability_warlock_fireandbrimstone.jpgFire and Brimstone modifier. It certainly makes the spec feel more fluid in early gear levels, however the damage increase is rather small; the main benefit of this talent right now is greater sustained AoE damage, and it is rather potent in that regard! In high gear levels when stacking Mastery, this talent actually overtakes the others due to how it scales with our own damage and not that of a pet, but it does suffer MASSIVELY from movement.

achievement_zone_cataclysm.jpgCataclysm is a large AoE ability that deals significant damage and applies spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate to all targets hit on a 60 second cooldown. It's ok, however I'm not the biggest fan of it for Destruction due to Charred Remains providing just as much AoE without being tied to a cooldown.

spell_warlock_demonicservitude.jpgDemonic Servitude makes your Doomguard, Terrorguard, Infernal, and Abyssal summonable as permanent pets, and currently sims out at close to a 6% damage increase for Single Target.

 

Currently, spell_warlock_demonicservitude.jpgDemonic Servitude  is the clear winning talent in terms of additional DPS gained at level 100.  This spell also acts as a crutch for Destruction's low mobility, in that it shifts a greater percentage of your damage into passive sources.

 

For predictable, burst AoE, Catalcysm is your friend, however for something more sustained like Kromog's Grasping Hands you will want to use Charred Remains, assuming your guild requires additional AoE, that is!

 

Overall, Talent selection is by and large a fight-by-fight decision, but Demonic Servitude will end up as your staple talent this tier as you gear up, with Charred Remains edging out as you grab 4 set and decent trinkets / Mastery rating.

 

 

 

 

2.  Stat Analysis

 

In 6.0, Hit and Expertise were removed leaving only Mastery, Crit, and Haste from 5.4.  However, two new stats were added in 6.0 called Versatility and Multistrike.  There have also been extra stats called Tertiary Stats that can be found on gear with similar frequency as seeing Warforged gear in 5.4.  In 6.0, Destruction Warlocks also gain the passive ability spell_fire_flameshock.jpgDevastation which is an attunement statistic added which gives 5% more Critical Strike from all sources.

 

 

Haste

 

Haste is the secondary that that makes everything go faster, namely spell casts and DoT tick speeds.  For Destruction, Haste decreases the cast time of spell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate, spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate and ability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Boltwhilst increasing the DoT tick speed of  spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate. Haste also decreases the global cooldown (GCD) as well as increasing the attack speed of your pets. 

 

 

Critical Strike

 

Critical Strike (Crit) is the stat that gives you a percentage chance to deal 100% bonus damage to your target.  All damage done by Destruction Warlocks is capable of dealing a Critical Strike, with ability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Bolt (which always Crits) having its damage increased instead.  When either Incinerate, Conflagrate or Immolate Crit, they will generate an additional Burning Ember. 

 

 

Mastery

 

spell_fire_moltenblood.jpgMastery: Emberstorm is the stat that gives you a flat bonus damage percentage to your abilities.

 

 

Multistrike

 

Multistrike is a new stat in 6.0 that gives you and your pet a percentage chance to deal 1 to 2 additional strikes that deal 30% of the original damage dealt.  For example, if your spell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate hits for 10,000 damage, a Multistrike spell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate will hit for 3,000 additional damage.  For each spell hit, your Multistrike chance is used to calculate whether or not a Multistrike hit is delivered.  This happens twice per cast.  Multistrike hits are capable of Critical Strikes even if the original ability did not Critically Strike.  Similarly, Critical Strikes of the original spell do not guarantee Critical Strikes of the Multistrike hits. Unlike Crit, Multistrike has no interaction with your resource generation.

 

 

Versatility

 

Versatility is a new stat in 6.0 that gives you bonus damage and bonus damage mitigation.  Point for point, it's a relatively weak stat compared to the rest, but it still has value as it's a flat DPS gain and a flat damage taken reduction. 

 

Overall, the secondary stats in WoD are much closer in value to each other than they have ever been before.  The balance between secondary stats has been a goal of Blizzard's and it's been done well.  Simulationcraft shows that when using GoSup with Mannoroth's Fury and Servitude, the priority is:

 

Crit > Mult ~= Mastery ~= Vers > Haste

 

When taking GoSac with Charred Remains, we get:

 

Mastery > Crit ~= Haste ~= Mult > Versatility.

 

I think it's also worth pointing out that a clever player who maximises his ember consuming abiltities will see Mastery gain in value, which leads me to conclude (for now) that we want to be focusing primarily on Mastery and Crit from gear at level 100.

 

 

 

 

3.  Gear Acquisition and Tier 17 Bonuses

 

Gear acquisition will come at the speed of content you and your guild are able to clear.  There are many ways to collect gear and with secondary stats being moderately close in value, you'll traditionally want anything that is higher item level due to the higher amount of stats on the piece of gear.  Warlock's Tier 17 gear is called Shadow Council.

 

Helm - inv_cloth_raidwarlock_o_01helm.jpgShadow Council's Hood

Shoulders - inv_cloth_raidwarlock_o_01shoulder.jpgShadow Council's Mantle

Chest - inv_cloth_raidwarlock_o_01robe.jpgShadow Council's Robes

Legs - inv_cloth_raidwarlock_o_01pants.jpgShadow Council's Leggings

Gloves - inv_cloth_raidwarlock_o_01gloves.jpgShadow Council's Gloves

 

 

T17 2pc Bonus

 

The trade_engineering.jpgItem - Warlock T17 Destruction 2P Bonus states that whenever spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate deals damage, it has a 4% chance to generate a Burning Ember. With warlock_charredremains.jpgCharred Remains, this set bonus can prove problematic because it makes it very difficult for you to hover at the sweet-spot of 3 embers without risking capping. Considering that Servitude is currently simming out as our highest lvl 100 Talent however, this set bonus will likely be a welcome addition to what would otherwise feel like a very slow rate of resource generation in low gear levels.

 

 

T17 4pc Bonus

 

The trade_engineering.jpgItem - Warlock T17 Destruction 4P Bonus states that whenever a Burning Ember is filled up, there is a chance for your next Chaos Bolt to multistrike 3 additional times. This has nice synergy with the 2pc, however without Charred Remains our ember generation is extremely limited in entry level gear. This will likely feel better once we are geared up in full Heroic/Mythic. The proc is RPPM, and thus has no ICD for you to track.

 

All in all, for now, it is recommended to acquire both the 2pc and 4pc bonuses.

 

 

4.  Trinket Breakdown

 

As we are still in Highmaul, the best trinkets we currently have are 665 ilvl Copeland's Clarity and 670 ilvl Sandman's Pouch. Both of these trinkets can be aligned with Dark Soul and Grimoire: Doomguard for huge 2 minute burst windows. As Copeland's is so good, I would avoid Shards of Nothing as it offers no real additional burst, although the passive Intellect bonus is huge, and I believe a build using Charred Remains would profit from the passive nature of this trinket. The Quiescent Runestone from Imperator Margok isn't terrible, however I still believe 3/3 Sandman's will trump it. As we look to Blackrock Foundry opening, the increased item level and RPPM nature of the trinkets should see them win out comfortably.

 

Simulated Trinket Values

 

In this section we'll take a quick look at how the T17 trinkets rank up alongside each other, before pairing the top choices off to see which come out ahead. Please note that the current APL for level 90 trinkets has not been completed yet, and so this is all subject to change. For now though we may as well go with what we have...

 

5piCoT5.png

 

Above we see the results when only one trinket is equipped. The image is pretty self explanatory. Interesting to note that the on use intellect trinket is so low. I believe that with a proper APL this will improve thanks to its synergy with Dark Soul.

 

Here's how the trinkets look when paired together, using the most logical choices for Destruction.

 

U4xY95T.png

 

 

The first thing that should jump off the page of these numbers is how close they are. Ultimately, my advice is to always use the highest item level of these three trinkets that you have.  If you use inv_misc_trinket6oih_lanterna2.jpgGoren Soul Repository, you'll have lots of Crit damage.  If you use inv_misc_trinket6oih_orb2.jpgDarmac's Unstable Talisman, you'll have some Haste procs that will help you build and spend Burning Embers.  As a rule of thumb, always use the two highest item level trinkets you have, regardless of what they are.  Even inv_misc_trinket6oog_isoceles1.jpgShards of Nothing isn't that far behind, but the value of the trinket is a bit lower because of the lower item level.

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5. Gameplay Tricks and Tips

 

The above sections should fill in the intricate details of what goes on behind the Desruction specialization.  This is the section that explains the details of what each ability does, what impact it has, and how to best use it.

 

A. DoTs - spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate.

 

With the removeal of snapshotting and Haste breakpoints, the only thing to worry about with this spell is keeping it at 100% uptime and on as many targets as possible. Always. Minor notes below.

 

  • spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate ticks over 15 seconds with a 3 second base interval.
  • Critical Hits generate one Burning Ember.
  • Safe to reapply at 4.5s remaining thanks to Pandemic.

 

B. Building ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Embersspell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolatespell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate, spell_fire_fireball.jpgConflagrate and spell_shadow_rainoffire.jpgRain of Fire.

 

Destruction revolves around the building and spending of its primary resource, ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Embers. In this section, we will analyse the optimal way to generate them.

 

spell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate - this spell is your bread and butter ember generator. Each time a cast completes, you generate one ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Ember. Should that spell Crit (you won't know until it reaches the target), you will generate an additional ember. 

 

spell_fire_fireball.jpgConflagrate - similar to spell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate, this spell generates 1 ember per hit, or 2 embers for each successful Crit. spell_fire_fireball.jpgConflagrate has an additional benefit in that it also grants you 3 charges of ability_warlock_backdraft.jpgBackdraft when cast, reducing the cast time and mana cost of your next 3 spell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerates by 30%. You will want to keep at least one charge on cooldown at all times to avoid capping. Keeping 1 stack available at all times can allow for small adjustments to your positioning without suffering from loss of DPS.

 

spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate - as mentioned above, successful Crits grant you 1 ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Ember each. Maintaining this on as many targets as you can with 100% uptime will result in a hefty increase to your resource generation. Not to be overlooked!

 

spell_shadow_rainoffire.jpgRain of Fire - has gone through many different iterations over the course of MoP and into 6.0. For Destruction, it is an instant cast spell that is ground targeted, and causes meteors to rain down on the selected area for 6 seconds. 

 

Note that this ability was heavily nerfed in the November 2014 hotfixes. It now no longer generates any embers AT ALL, and doesn't really do any damage either. I believe it's only worth casting at 5+ targets.

 

C. Spending ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Embersability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Bolt and spell_shadow_scourgebuild.jpgShadowburn.

 

Spending your ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Embers correctly is the key to maximising Destruction DPS, and in this section we take a look at the options available to us.

 

ability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Bolt - this spell is perhaps the most iconic Destruction spell of them all. A large green lump of Dragon Snot that hurtles towards its target at about the same speed as a nasty smell permeates through a room (quote courtesy of Zagam). It looks good, and it does a shit load of damage, but you need to be careful and methodical in how you deploy them. It is worth noting that this spell always Crits.

 

spell_shadow_scourgebuild.jpgShadowburn - is our main execute mechanic. It is only available once your target dips below 20% health, and is an instant cast high damage nuke akin to ability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Bolt. This is your staple Ember consuming ability sub 20%, however it does not always Crit. Furthermore, should your target die within 5 seconds of being hit by this spell, not only will you be refunded one ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Ember for a successful kill, but Blizzard will personally gift wrap and deliver an additional one to you in recognition of your badassery. I think it's pretty self explanatory that you will want to 'snipe' every single boss/add/minion/mindcontrolled ally that you think will die within this period.

 

Generally, the crux of ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Ember management has been to hover at around 3.5 embers in anticipation of cooldowns/trinket procs, being careful to never cap at 4.0 embers, and never leave yourself in a position where you have spent them all on nothing right before spell_warlock_demonsoul.jpgDark Soul: Instability comes off cooldown.

 

Embers are a precious resource, especially at the start of an expansion, so don't be too perturbed if you find yourself casting far fewer ability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Bolts at level 100 than you were in heroic SoO gear, this is normal. If you choose to take warlock_charredremains.jpgCharred Remains as your level 100 Talent, then things will feel a bit smoother, however you will still want to stick to the rule of hovering around 3 embers in anticipation of procs.

 

Please Note! Currently level 100 sims are showing Shadowburn to be a DPS LOSS on Single Target, due in part to the removal of the mana regeneration mechanic, as well as perhaps not having high enough crit levels to match the consistent output of Chaos Bolt. As such, you will only want to use Shadowburn as an ember generation tool for sniping low HP adds, or copying across 3x Shadowburn via Havoc. 

 

D. ability_warlock_baneofhavoc.jpgHavoc cleave and AoE!

 

In MoP, Destruction gained a reputation as being the king of AoE. So let's take a look at how we go about maintaining this title in WoD.

 

ability_warlock_baneofhavoc.jpgHavoc - Whilst technically not an AoE ability, it does allow for a large increase in damage whenever a second target comes into play. ability_warlock_baneofhavoc.jpgHavoc is perhaps my favourite spell in the Destruction arsenal, and has many different ways in which it can be utilised. The first, and lesser known/used method, is that of an Ember generation tool. Casting it on a secondary target causes your next 3 spells to be duplicated onto the afflicted target, and for ember generation you can use this effect to copy spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolatespell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate or spell_fire_fireball.jpgConflagrate. This method is generally best used when your secondary target does not need to die (such as council type fights where bosses heal) where maximising your Single Target output is the main priority.

 

The second method is to use ability_warlock_baneofhavoc.jpgHavoc to maximise your damage output across the board. Here you would want to copy across a ability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Bolt if the target is above 20%, or spell_shadow_scourgebuild.jpgShadowburn if below. Note that spell_shadow_scourgebuild.jpgShadowburn only actually consumes 1 charge of Havoc per cast, and so to get the most out of this spell, you will want to aim to always use it to copy 3x spell_shadow_scourgebuild.jpgShadowburn where possible. In fights with lots of adds, you can actually Havoc your main target, and use spell_shadow_scourgebuild.jpgShadowburn on surrounding low health adds to really mark yourself out as a competent player.

 

In terms of actual AoE, we have already discussed spell_shadow_rainoffire.jpgRain of Fire, however this is only a small portion of the Destruction AoE contribution. Your bread and butter here is ability_warlock_fireandbrimstone.jpgFire and Brimstone, and oh my god is it potent. Turning this on (it's a toggle) causes your spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolatespell_fire_burnout.jpgIncinerate and spell_fire_fireball.jpgConflagrate to consume a ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Ember, and hit all enemies within 10 yards of the target for 35% damage, increased by Mastery. 

 

If you can sustain this on 3+ targets, it becomes a DPS increase, however without  warlock_charredremains.jpgCharred Remains or high levels of Crit, you likely won't be able to sustain it on less than 5 targets.

 

Regardless, this level of AoE is just insane on multiple targets. You can do it from ranged, you only need to toggle one ability, and it even uses your normal rotational abilities. Simple, yet effective.

 

The only tricky aspect is getting started. If you try to immediately open with ability_warlock_fireandbrimstone.jpgFire and Brimstone  spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate with only 1 ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Ember, you will drop out of the toggle and find yourself stuck. Instead, you want to build up for a few seconds first with a couple of Single Target spells before launching into your AoE rotation.

 

With achievement_zone_cataclysm.jpgCataclysm this becomes a non factor, as it applies spell_fire_immolation.jpgImmolate for you and doesn't cost any embers in the process. 

 

With  warlock_charredremains.jpgCharred Remains, you will want to weave FnB Chaos Bolts (which cost 2 full embers) with regular fillers to avoid dropping out of the AoE rotation, as well as never casting FnB Chaos Bolt with less than 3 embers.

 

Finally, unless you're AoEing like 20 targets at a time (Immerseus Heroic), you will want to continue to spell_shadow_scourgebuild.jpgShadowburn snipe in conjunction with ability_warlock_baneofhavoc.jpgHavoc for maximum carnage.

 

E. The Opener and Spell Priority

 

So perhaps the bit you all skipped to... but you'll be glad to hear that really nothing has changed at all. The opener is largely the same, as is the spell priority, with the only difference being if you took achievement_zone_cataclysm.jpgCataclysm. For the most part, we will assume the maximum DPS set up of GoSup + Archimonde's Darkness + Servitude with the Glyph of Dark Soul.

 

 

After this, you would revert to building and spending embers as outlined in the earlier sections. Your aim is to enter each burn phase with as close to 4 ability_warlock_burningembers.jpgBurning Embers as possible, with the intention that you get off 4-6 ability_warlock_chaosbolt.jpgChaos Bolts within the 10 (using  spell_warlock_demonsoul.jpgGlyph of Dark Soul) or 20 second duration of spell_warlock_demonsoul.jpgDark Soul: Instability. If using the Glyph, in contrast to the normal 'rules' of Destruction, it is likely worth it to allow yourself to cap embers for a few seconds in order to guarantee this situation.

 

 

With this in mind, the general priority is as follows, replacing Chaos Bolt with Shadowburn where appropriate:

 

Do note that with the T17 2 pc bonus, you will always run the risk of having a burning ember randomly fill up on Immolate ticks. As such, it is advised to rarely go over 3 embers unless you are preparing for a large burst phase, as you risk capping embers and wasting damage.

 

The 4pc bonus can mostly be treated as a passive damage source, especially when specced into Charred Remains; the amount of embers you generate means you 1) risk wasting a proc from filling another ember and 2) risk capping embers anyway if you don't cast a Chaos Bolt soon enough. The only time I would hold is if an AoE phase is about to occur in the next 5 seconds and I want to guarantee a huge FnB Chaos Bolt volley on a bunch of adds.

 

 

 

6. Change Log and Notes

 

06/12/2014 - Updated stat weights, Rain of Fire hotfix.

17/01/2015 - Removed large chunks of text; trimmed the guide down.

01/03/2015 - Minor changes to reflect changed in 6.1 patch; Charred Remains + GoSac now a viable option on many fights.

 

Notes:

 

Special thanks to Zagam for providing the frame work of the Warlock guides and for many of the cross-spec information. Also thanks to Locky for valuable proof reading and error checking, and Gahhda for his work on Simcraft.

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I've read some complaints that mana becomes an issue during execute phase if you use Shadowburn (as you should) over Chaos Bolt.  Is this still a problem, particularly at 90?

 

Great guide btw!

Edited by taliesin52

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I've read some complaints that mana becomes an issue during execute phase if you use Shadowburn (as you should) over Chaos Bolt.  Is this still a problem, particularly at 90?

 

Great guide btw!

Thanks.

 

To answer your question, Gahhda has been doing a lot of testing with simcraft, and at level 90 this isn't an issue thanks to how inflated our secondary stats are.

 

At level 100 however, Shadowburn becomes a DPS LOSS to use on Single Target. You basically use it to snipe adds for embers or for Havoc, but on single target you want to stick to Chaos Bolt.

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Its funny looking at the movement side compared to Aff or Demo. Aff and Demo are like, "We can do this, this, and this, so its not a big deal". Destro is like "This sucks so much, you guys aren't even prepared to handle how much this sucks."

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Great guide Liquid. Not sure yet which spec I'm taking for mythic SoO this week. Likely Demonology or Destruction. 

 

I never take KJC as talent so I think I'm good with the lack of movement damage as destruction. I'm just sad that I always end up with the worst race choice for warlocks in terms of DPS, I used to be BE, now I'm Undead.... thank god the diference is very minor cause I really enjoy being a badass forsaken.

 

I'm just curious about something.... Even though you said we should go for Demonic Servitude at lvl 100, does it really leave orcs behind trolls?? You know, Blood Fury + 1% pet damage seems much better than a 15% haste buff every 3 minutes o_o''

 

Anyway, thanks for the guide :D

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As mentioned Skrum, your choice of Race in the upcoming expansion is much more about Utility or Cosmetics than DPS. In T17 Mythic gear, Undead is less than 1% away from Blood Elf.

 

Also note that the APL is constantly being tweaked. I'll redo the races etc a few days before T17 Heroic opens its doors and we can see if anything has changed.

 

I can say for certainty that I'm going to pick the race that looks the best in our new Mythic set.

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Great writeup.

 

Now that dot snapshotting is removed, do you think it would be worth dropping t16 4p for a normal -> heroic upgrade?

In my case it would be normal t16 leggings to heroic Leggings of Furious Flame.

 

If I did that I could also drop by normal t16 head for Damien's Ice-Vein Mask (WF from Ordos)

Edited by Futa

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Ran a little tonight and seeing better numbers with supremacy imp than sacrifice. Looking at meters at end of fights my imp was doing close to same dps as my immolate. Not sure if that's bad or good just my 2 cents

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Supremacy and Sacrifice are very close at the moment. Sacrifice does lend itself to the nature of SoO a bit more, especially with a Mastery heavy build.

It's close enough not to matter tbh.

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WHERE IS MY FEL FLAME?!?!?!!  Mythic Garrosh has lots of spots where you're running - without Aspect of the Fox, it is awful.

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I must have been off on my rotation a bit then because when I switch I was seeing 4-5k more dps. I guess I was getting used to things at that point. Should have ran logs. Also at one point I went to hit my twilight ward key bind only to be disappointed

Edited by Cedrin

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WHERE IS MY FEL FLAME?!?!?!!  Mythic Garrosh has lots of spots where you're running - without Aspect of the Fox, it is awful.

 

Replace these gcds with:

 

RoF > Conflagrate > ALL YOUR TEAR ARE BELONG TO US

 

Also, is the t16m profile using mannoroth's? if so...that's totally not supposed to happen. Last I checked AD was still SLIGHTLY better, just SLIGHTLY. MF is just too good for literally anything other than patchwerk. It's useful for movement, cleave, aoe, target swapping, blah blah.

 

All around, I think MF becomes default for destruction right now at both 90 and 100. If you really need movement KJC will shine, and AD will only really be useful for patchwerk.

 

-edit- oh the t17m one is, yea I think I did that intentionally to try to piss people off so they fix RoF smile.png.

 

AAAAAAAAAAALSO...it appears there's some bug with mana regen for destruction at 90, it's not really worth the effort to fix it...

 

BUT it's safe to say that if you ever oom for any reason, stop using shadowburn. That might also flip it in favor of backdraft incinerate > rof > incinerate. Not sure, if someone else wants to figure out why mana is literally infinite at 90 for destro feel free, I'm going back to hitting fire nova on my shaman :D

Edited by gahhda

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Single target are Rof worth anything keeping up or just with MF?
Gosac in ST have any worth? Looks in shadowburncleave fights stlls king but ST gosup pulls ahead, right?

BTW, ROF ~snapshot~ with MF and keep it bigger and harder :lennyface:  even without the buff up?

Edited by JvChequer

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At 90 or 100?

 

I think Rain of Fire is worth it single target in both situations. At 90 I'm running GoSac as it's pretty close to GoSup and obviously better in most SoO encounters anyway, at 100 I'll be running Supremacy+Servitude but still need to see how things pan out with GoSac. There will likely be encounters that warrant it.

 

I don't know if MF snapshots anymore. I'm fairly certain Immolation Aura no longer does (I'm not seeing things right? It definitely did used to snapshot).

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I apply RoF every time I have to move.  It's my movement filler now -_- ...MF does NOT snapshot.  Once MF wears off, your RoF instantly downsizes and decreases in damage.  Same as it does with Immolation Aura for Demonology.

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Im still happy with Destro. I just joined a new guild after basically trying to find a good weekend morning guild for 10 years lol. I think they were 11/14H and my old guild was only 1/14H, so i had no Heroic pieces (mythic after patch). There are two other locks in the guild and one was aff, one was demo, and i was destro. both are fully mythic/mythic wf and for the most part i was right on their tails. A couple of attempts on Garrosh i spiked up to 2nd (damn fury warriors) but usually leveled off 5th or so. I guess RNG wasnt in my favor since on our kill i was 10th sad.png ended around 12k. It doesnt seem to sustain as well over a long period. Had not known about the RoF thing and how it should be used again for +2 mobs. 

 

oh well, got my staff and a bunch of mythic gear this weekend so im happy about that.

Edited by vaeevictiss

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Reluctantly went Destro this week for our Mythic clear...It is still very very effective.  I was top 3 on every fight and tops on some add cleave fights (We only have 1 Fury Warrior atm rolleyes.gif ).  I basically just did exactly what I did in 5.4 with the exception of using AD or MF instead of KJC. I didn't use KJC on a single fight and that's really the only place I felt weak and the nerf to our damage was noticeable (if you can call it a nerf).  But then again, other ranged are feeling the movement effects too (Side note...Would love if KJC became a charge system like Mages Icy Flows...then I would use it a lot more on a fight by fight basis) so I'm not too worried about it.  Aside from the KJC nerf it's a very viable spec still during this pre-patch period even though it is terribly boring to play since it's a pretty simple spec AND we have basically been pigeon-holed into it since SoO came out (With the exception of Aff at high ilvls on some fights).

 

Bottom line, if your still raiding weekly in Mythic SoO and looking to perform at a high level and even get some kills you have yet to get (Mythic Siege-Garrosh) Destro is an extremely potent option still and its changes from a play-style perspective from 5.4 are so similar.  Just fill movement with a RoF cast and keep a Conflag charge saved...Those 2 GCD's should provide enough movement to your next pre-planned spot of nuking ph34r.png

Edited by Drafty53

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