5.4 Destruction Tips and Quirks

[Liquidsteel 279]

4 set is like a 5% (ish) dps increase, it's huge.

 

Definitely use a couple of normal tier pieces over heroic off pieces for it. If the choice is flex vs heroic then it gets iffy and will need to be simmed, probably worth using flex over heroic if it's just the one item.

 

May as well learn to use the 4 set anyway if the dps difference is close, in my opinion.

[Soulzar 42]

I use Glyphaed Havoc on:

 

Dark Shaman:  4 super buffed CB's on the dogs in opener makes me happy.  We use a split strat so my opportunities to Havoc after the dogs die are limited.  Slimes die too fast for me to reliably cleave Shadowburns each time, so I don't worry much about less overall charges and take em where I can.

 

Thok:  Copy two CB's (or CB and a few shadowburns) to Thok off Jailer when Thok is out of casting range.  Copy 6 Shadowburns from bats to Thok in Phase 2. 

 

*BlackFuse:  When I was doing Belts, I would only be on platform for every other time.  For that instance, I found Glyphed havoc nice to copy two CB's to boss while focusing Empowered Mines or one shotting small mines when doing platform duties.  When full time on platform i would not glyph havoc, so you can use it each belt.

 

I did not use Glyphed havoc in any fight Normal mode outside of Thok.   Mechanic wise normal is the same (only cleavable adds spaced more than a minute apart), you just don't have bats for the super Shadowburn cleave cheese.

[Mephistolol 0]

Hey all, 

Once again back after reading pretty much the entire thread and it has answered a ton of questions, but I'm back for specific questions related to my build (M > H > C). 

I haven't had great loot opportunities (I coined my staff/H PBI) and we haven't had much drop in the way of BiS gear, aside from drops that are haste heavy but ilvl upgrades (my HWF Sha-Seared Sandals over Reg 
Toxic Tornado Treads). I've been behind in gear and have taken what I could whenever given the chance, so I've unfortunately ended up extremely haste heavy.

Here is my gear profile & latest parse with most recent upgrades
https://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear/usa/zuluhed/meph%C3%AFsto

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/0yd72zvpu1ouxm3o/sum/damageDone/?s=6636&e=7071

PRE-Haste Heavy build (29% crit, 20% haste -- inverted from current gear)
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/pmpcsofi13jbvwbc/sum/damageDone/

This particular parse I did have more CB damage.

My questions are:
1) In the parse listed, my damage is significantly sourced from Incinerate. I do the same opener as everyone else and micromanage my shards only to use them when procs are up or I have more than 3.5 embers. I find myself casting a LOT of unproc'd >3.5 ember CBs, which is still better than ember capping but my damage still is not primarily from CB. What am I doing wrong? Or is it just that I have so much haste, I'm getting out tons more Incinerates?

2) Being as it is, I try to dump 2-3 shards when I have DS+Bloodfury + PBoI up every 2 minutes and as many embers as possible within my Totem procs. Should I be reserving any shards in anticipation of 2-4+ procs rather than just when I see totem and dumping them all? My concern here is that I try to dump them all and still find myself capped 3.5 for pretty much all stacked procs. I can't see where I'm going wrong and my DPS is beating out 573-575s even so and without padding meters.

Any advice in the logs would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Edited March 29, 2014 by Mephistolol

[Nytemare 2]

Late reply, I went with 30% haste as I felt with my gear that was easy to get, looking ahead to when and if we can down more then one heroic boss, thinking I would end up with lot more haste so trying to figure if I should keep it and do +3-+4 or reforge it.

 

I try to aim for gear that has mastery on it first, then haste, then crit

 

Regarding CB casting - this is what I am doing

 

1) PBI (Expanded Mind) - Spend all embers on CB

2) KTT (Toxic Power) - spend only 1 if I at 3.5 and try to line with others

3) 4pc proc (15% bonus damage) - do 1 cb only if at 3.5 or more

4) Dark Soul (30% bonus damage) - only use when under PBI - see number 1

 

Base off what I just wrote, have I been using CB wrong? I asking because I want to get more dps in, I top now but I have this feeling I can get more in. 563- have macro Eng Gloves to filler to make sure it goes off ever 1min, as before I was only using it every 2 min

Edited March 30, 2014 by Nytemare

[Liquidsteel 279]

Definitely start doing at least 2 chaos bolts under KTT. If you're at 3 embers and PBI+DS is still over 30 seconds away, you can dump 3 embers and still replenish in time.

[Mephistolol 0]

Ok, most of my questions have gone unanswered in groups, so I'll stick to one:

Why is the other warlock in my guild who is pretty damn monster using RoF single target and going Grim of Supremacy? 

It's hard for me to tell if he's buffing himself that way, or nerfing himself since i'm 6 ilvl behind him and didn't have 4set until end of raid. 

I thought Sac was the obvious choice. RoF makes sense if you can weave it in, but Grim of Supr...hmmmm whats the advantage? It seems the 20% hp + regen + 15% damage is well worth it over a pet (seems around 10-15% overall damage on parses

[Zagam 1,982]

Ok, most of my questions have gone unanswered in groups, so I'll stick to one:

Why is the other warlock in my guild who is pretty damn monster using RoF single target and going Grim of Supremacy? 

It's hard for me to tell if he's buffing himself that way, or nerfing himself since i'm 6 ilvl behind him and didn't have 4set until end of raid. 

I thought Sac was the obvious choice. RoF makes sense if you can weave it in, but Grim of Supr...hmmmm whats the advantage? It seems the 20% hp + regen + 15% damage is well worth it over a pet (seems around 10-15% overall damage on parses

He could be more of a monster if he quit using RoF single target without significant Haste procs.  Also, Supremacy and Sacrifice aren't separated by a lot in single target scenarios, but it pulls way ahead when you properly use Shadowburn.  My guess is he's an old school guy who doesn't break habits easily.  He also may feel more comfortable, and thus do more DPS that way.  Removing RoF and going to GoSac would give him a DPS gain, but if you say he's a monster, he's doing fine all other things considered.

[mediocregatsby 18]

so im sure others have noticed by now, but killing something with a havoc shadowburn doesnt return embers sometimes, even though other times it does and killing it with a normal shadowburn always does. i've had this happen the entire expansion but always just chalked it up to blizz's shitty coding but i just got screwed out of a potentially top 5 parse because of this bug. anyone know if there's a way to specifically avoid this?

[Zagam 1,982]

I wouldn't be quick to diagnose it as not returning Embers on 'somethings.'  There are many somethings in the raid that don't give an Ember back such as the adds on Protectors.  Most of them are trash related.

 

If you want to figure it out, make sure you're running logs and note specific time stamps or fights where it happened.  Bring logs and I'll figure it out for you.

[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 1,982]

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 1,982]

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 1,982]

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.