5.4 Destruction Tips and Quirks

[mediocregatsby 18]

obviously at this point i've completely memorized every mob in SOO that can return embers/shards. i'm talking about mobs like malkorok blobs and garrosh adds that are supposed to return embers but SOMETIMES do not, specifically when havoc is involved.

 

here's evidence from our latest garrosh kill

 

my shadowburn hits:

http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/xVknF4cGQ2fRYWPz#source=2&type=damage-done&by=source&ability=17877&view=events

20:30:03.785  Vexyl Shadowburn Kor'kron Warbringer 12 *1061301*

20:30:03.785  Vexyl Shadowburn Garrosh Hellscream *1062067*

20:30:05.844  Vexyl Shadowburn Kor'kron Warbringer 12 *1434457*

20:30:05.844  Vexyl Shadowburn Garrosh Hellscream 721339

 

havoc casts http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/xVknF4cGQ2fRYWPz#source=2&type=casts&ability=80240&view=events

20:30:02.676  Vexyl casts Havoc on Kor'kron Warbringer 12

 

when the warbringer died 

20:30:05.844 Environment Iron Star Impact Kor'kron Warbringer 12 24143833 (O: 4560855)

 

shadowburn debuff applications http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/xVknF4cGQ2fRYWPz#source=2&type=auras&spells=debuffs&by=target&ability=29341&view=events

20:29:56.560 Garrosh Hellscream's Shadowburn is refreshed by  Vexyl

20:30:00.998 Garrosh Hellscream's Shadowburn is refreshed by  Vexyl

20:30:03.785 Garrosh Hellscream's Shadowburn is refreshed by  Vexyl

20:30:05.844 Garrosh Hellscream's Shadowburn is refreshed by  Vexyl

20:30:10.827  Vexyl's Shadowburn fades from Garrosh Hellscream

 

 

so basically what happened is:

- i cast havoc on warbringer #12

- i shadowburn garrosh, dmg is copied to warbringer but no shadowburn debuff is applied

- i shadowburn garrosh, dmg is copied to warbringer but no shadowburn debuff is applied

- warbringer dies to iron star impact

- ember returns arent in the combat log so you kinda just have to take my word for it but i specifically remember not receiving embers when the warbringer died since i was like "oh great i have to build embers for transition #1 real quick"

 

 

so here's my theory:

- if you havoc target B and shadowburn target A, the shadowburn DEBUFF is only applied to target B if target B is below 20% HP. so even though you can damage target B with shadowburn, if he goes straight from hp>20% to dead without a shadowburn in between, you don't get ember returns.

 

i have noticed this with:

- immerseus blobs

- norushen adds (all types)

- sha self-reflections

- galakras adds (all types, but usually only occurs with the low maxhp archers)

- dark shaman blobs

- nazgrim adds

- siegecrafter small mines

- garrosh adds

each at some point in the tier.

Edited April 25, 2014 by mediocregatsby

[Soulzar 42]

I was under the impression that you never got embers from Havoc SB's, only the primary target.

 

You could test your theory regarding the Debuff that is responsible for returning the ember by havoc on the 20% vs 100% training dummies.

[mediocregatsby 18]

I was under the impression that you never got embers from Havoc SB's, only the primary target.

 

You could test your theory regarding the Debuff that is responsible for returning the ember by havoc on the 20% vs 100% training dummies.

 

i've already tested it a million times in raids. 

 

on malkorok, i havoc a blob and if one of the cleaved shadowburns hits the blob while it's below 20%, i get 2 embers back without changing targets from malkorok, leading to 6 straight shadowburns on malkorok which is how i rank high on that fight

 

on garrosh, i havoc a warbringer and SB garrosh twice. usually the iron star doesnt kill the warbringer but just brings it to 5% hp so i do one more SB after the impact and get 2 embers back

 

etc etc on every boss with adds that give embers

Edited April 25, 2014 by mediocregatsby

[gabrieloceano 1]

Hello guys!!!

I've got a question about Heroic Purified Bindings of Immerseus on destro locks: Does it change any priority on reforging?

After I got it, ask mr robot is telling me to reforge everyhing to haste, gaoing against everything I've heard on detro's guides...

 

Thanks!!!!!

[Lockybalboa 618]

AMR does that and its wrong-ish. You CAN go full haste, but you will run in to GCD issues at anything over about 10k haste.

 

PBI doesn't change your reforging priority at all. AMR just over values haste if you have PBI.

[gabrieloceano 1]

Thanks =)

[Liquidsteel 279]

I found 10.4k haste to be the sweetspot. It gives an extra tick under 30% haste (Lust/Meta), and is only 300 haste above the non buffed breakpoint at 10.1k.

 

Really sweet for ember generation, and also means your immolate (most of the time) is applied at its max duration, giving you a longer window in which to maintain the 4pc snapshot, which equals more GCD's spent doing other stuff.

 

I'm in Affliction gear at the moment, but a couple weeks ago I had 21k Mastery, 10.4k haste, and 7.5k crit. Really smooth to play and still retains a decent amount of crit.

[Alvaronbg 0]

Hi guys, I really need your help. Im 556ivl (without cloak) and I think my dps isnt good, I do on average 150-170k dps.

My rotation is : Curse of Elements, Inmolate, Conflagrate X2, Incinerate x6. When I have trinkets procs I use DIS and Chaos Bolt x2, by the way, sometimes I use doomguard at the begin of the fight and in this case, my opener dps is like 300k but after that its decrease to 150k-170k.

 

this is my armory

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/ragnaros/zakjin/simple

I hope you can see my pve set, cause I have PVP and PVE sets.

TY :)

[Zagam 1,983]

Post logs, not your "rotation" based on what you think you're doing.  Also, your armory means nothing without logs. 

 

Post logs.

[Lockybalboa 618]

Missing two enchants.

 

Post logs and we can help, like Zag said.

[Stunlocked 8]

Hello, I have a follow-up question regarding this post from Zagram:

 

Use Chaos Bolt with any of the following procs (DO NOT WAIT FOR MORE AND WASTE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES)

 

1) PBI (Expanded Mind)

2) KTT (Toxic Power)

3) 4pc proc (15% bonus damage)

4) Dark Soul (30% bonus damage)

 

 

I understand that you should cast Chaos Bolt whenever one of these comes up, regardless of any other procs.

 

However, what about the Intellect procs that come from the Weapon enchant or the Tailoring cloak enchant?  I didn't see those on the list - if one of those procs by itself do you wait for something else to proc?  If so, does that mean you just let it fall off if nothing procs - or do you see how close it is to expiring? 

 

I.e, if Lightweave has 10 seconds left and nothing else procs you don't cast Chaos Bolt, but if Lightweave has 3 seconds left and nothing else has popped up you then cast Chaos Bolt?

I suspect it's the latter, but I'd be curious to see your answers.

[Zagam 1,983]

Trinkets are a huge Intellect proc ranging from 10k to 15k.  BBoY almost goes to 30k.  The 4pc is a direct 15% modifier and Dark Soul is a 30% modifier.  These are the big four procs.

 

Lightweave is 2000 Intellect.  This is 10-20% of a trinket proc.  Jade Spirit is 1650 Intellect.  See the difference?

 

I still to this day have no clue why people track Jade Serpent and Lightweave as procs.  They're so insignificant that they hardly warrant spots on your screen as WeakAuras.  They also do not warrant special attention when it comes to Chaos Bolt.  What would you do if you just fire off a Chaos Bolt with Lightweave and then your KTT proc'd?  It'd be a huge DPS loss.

[Stunlocked 8]

Trinkets are a huge Intellect proc ranging from 10k to 15k.  BBoY almost goes to 30k.  The 4pc is a direct 15% modifier and Dark Soul is a 30% modifier.  These are the big four procs.

 

Lightweave is 2000 Intellect.  This is 10-20% of a trinket proc.  Jade Spirit is 1650 Intellect.  See the difference?

 

I still to this day have no clue why people track Jade Serpent and Lightweave as procs.  They're so insignificant that they hardly warrant spots on your screen as WeakAuras.  They also do not warrant special attention when it comes to Chaos Bolt.  What would you do if you just fire off a Chaos Bolt with Lightweave and then your KTT proc'd?  It'd be a huge DPS loss.

 

Thanks Zagram.  I'll turn them off in Raven and see how it goes. 

 

But since Skull Banner would be a 20% modifier (less than Dark Soul, more than 4pc) I'll continue to have my WA track for that...

Edited May 6, 2014 by Stunlocked

[Zagam 1,983]

Yeah, SB is a good one to track. 

[Soulzar 42]

Yeah I track my Jade Spirit proc....But only because I never think to delete that WA. lol

[Phenax 12]

The way I see it is Jade Spirit and Lightweave combined is more than a stack of BBoY- I do not think they should take a large part of ones screen but they are still *something*.

 

I do see some people having problems with it, but my UI tracks synapse/JS in a way that I can notice them while paying more attention to more important procs. In my opinion this is more important for affli, in which I feel like anything you can do for the opener counts.

 

Just my two cents.

[Zagam 1,983]

Sure - they're all important, but in regards to what you need to focus on, the big 4 are the important.  The rest is residue.  I'd still rather sit on my Embers and time them with the 15% 4pc proc than use them with Lightweave or Jade Spirit.  That might be a personal preference even if one is better than the other mathematically.  The real point is that the difference is negligible.

[Scaran 0]

First off, good on the warlock community for having high end warlocks willing to help others.

 

Ok, so I'm trying to get to the point where I can absolutely crush the other DPS in my raid. Sure, sure, I want to progress too, but mostly I want to shame my friends with my warlock awesomeness. However, in my view, I'm not good enough to truly embarrass them just yet. We're a super casual raid, so my gear isn't awesome. Fair warning.

 

So, I need help.

 

What are the top 5 things I can improve. Talents, glyphs, mechanical failures, spell priorities etc. Mostly I play destro...and a really bad affliction from time to time. 

 

Here's some data to work with:

 

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/gorgonnash/Scaron/simple

 

And a few weeks worth of logs:

 

http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/7Mb3PtG2Y4xkFqhw

http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/n2JTwRaB9CrXVhgj

http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/mvJpR98APfHh2WYC

http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/y74cgqMvZfXhGK8B

 

 

[Scaran 0]

Thanks, Zagam.

 

You're right, my shadowburn usage sucked on the reflection adds on Sha. I find myself having a hard time getting a SB in after they've gone sub 20% (they die quickly). Nonetheless, I've got to do better at that. A specific encounter question, is it worth it to havoc onto Sha and then wait until adds are low to get off havoc'd SBs, or continue with the AoE rotation for them?

 

And, to be honest, I do have trouble sometimes with paying attention to burning embers and capping them. There's not much more to say about that than me learning to suck less at this. The fights you looked at were pre-my heroic warforged shoulders / bracers / and 4pc so, that's helped my dps some (as seen on the first parse posted--which was actually the most recent parse).

 

So, gearwise, never use the cleave trink and always KTT? Makes sense, I'll do that.

[Soulzar 42]

Thanks, Zagam.

 

You're right, my shadowburn usage sucked on the reflection adds on Sha. I find myself having a hard time getting a SB in after they've gone sub 20% (they die quickly). Nonetheless, I've got to do better at that. A specific encounter question, is it worth it to havoc onto Sha and then wait until adds are low to get off havoc'd SBs, or continue with the AoE rotation for them?

 

And, to be honest, I do have trouble sometimes with paying attention to burning embers and capping them. There's not much more to say about that than me learning to suck less at this. The fights you looked at were pre-my heroic warforged shoulders / bracers / and 4pc so, that's helped my dps some (as seen on the first parse posted--which was actually the most recent parse).

 

So, gearwise, never use the cleave trink and always KTT? Makes sense, I'll do that.

 

Pre drop RoF, As they are spawning charge up a F&B incin, then double F&B conflag, Havoc and snipe as many shadowburns.  I know at least with my guilds burst if I try to hard cast incin a second time I don't get any SB cleave.  I don't start with F&B conflag since the adds don't all spawn at once, the cast time of Incin lets a few more spawn before your first cast finishes.  Even if you don't manage to get all 3 Sburns off, one or two will leave you ember capped to funnel some CB's into boss/fragment after AoE wave.

 

Focus boss and use a havoc macro so getting havoc on boss is mindless and doesnt waste any time.  Your havoc will be up to use every add in back, and every wave of reflections.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Soulzar

[Nytemare 2]

So here is my 25 man normal log from Wed - would love to see if I could do better and get higher dps (toon Nÿtemare)

 

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/nxs0hifhqa7ftu5h/rankinfo/ - dps was high on all fights, but feel I could do higher

[Desos 18]

I looked closer on IJ and Shamans.

Try harder to spend Embers during major procs/DS. Your average Chaos Bolt hits not as hard as it could.

Try to apply Immolate while your 4pc procs. This way you can get the most out if it in terms of ember generation. While it seems you tried to do this, you have to do it more thoroughly.I found this easily trainable by training at a raid dummy, while setting my favourite damage meter to something like debuff uptimes and another window to damage by me to see live damage breakdowns. In this way you can develop a feeling for different scenarios and how to react to them.

 

Use Havoc more often, especially on fights like Shamans LFR, where both Shamans should be attackable by you for the whole fight duration.

For me some kind of rule of thumb is:

Is there a proc or am I about to cap on ember: Havoc CB(in case of capping try to game for 4pc) ;

Do I have low ember and/or need to reapply Immolate: Havoc and Cast ember generating spells in a order to apply Immolate under 4 pc. 

 

Quick and dirty analysis, maybe someone else can pick up.

[Nytemare 2]

I looked closer on IJ and Shamans.

Try harder to spend Embers during major procs/DS. Your average Chaos Bolt hits not as hard as it could.

Try to apply Immolate while your 4pc procs. This way you can get the most out if it in terms of ember generation. While it seems you tried to do this, you have to do it more thoroughly.I found this easily trainable by training at a raid dummy, while setting my favourite damage meter to something like debuff uptimes and another window to damage by me to see live damage breakdowns. In this way you can develop a feeling for different scenarios and how to react to them.

 

Use Havoc more often, especially on fights like Shamans LFR, where both Shamans should be attackable by you for the whole fight duration.

For me some kind of rule of thumb is:

Is there a proc or am I about to cap on ember: Havoc CB(in case of capping try to game for 4pc) ;

Do I have low ember and/or need to reapply Immolate: Havoc and Cast ember generating spells in a order to apply Immolate under 4 pc. 

 

Quick and dirty analysis, maybe someone else can pick up.

 

both IJ and DS were pulled early so both of them I was off my game - we used the 3 tank so never get to use havoc cb on them. I do get to use Havoc + 3x SB on dogs, and aim to do it on slimes

 

Beside those 2 fights anything else? feel my gal was weak due to being on tower and how we do it, but think I can push more dps on all the fights. I am already top dog on all if not most fights, but want to do more lol.

 

For 4pc I do aim to do immolate. When it procs I do CB - Immolate as that best. However if immolate has over 7 sec left I don't refresh as I will be clipping it then. Or should I always clip it and always refresh dot with 4pc? so that be refreshing it every 10 sec or so.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Nytemare

[Berlinia 168]

Hello have a fast question.
Is it worth snapshotting imolate with your major DPS cooldown? (the one that gives 30% Crit Chance).
As said recently boosted my warlock and trying to get the hang of it :P

Is this a good practise? Or should I only reserve it for when there is no time to cast CB during the last few seconds
Cheers
Berlinia

[Oldtrout 7]

Hello have a fast answer.

Yes.

Edited May 24, 2014 by Oldtrout