Aff Warlock - Low Dps

[Zandare 0]

Hi,

Currently I am 955 equipped.

I have around 27% haste and around 115% mastery.

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/outland/zandare (I am not sure why the stats are so different here)

While on a single target fight normally I can get to around 1.1 1.2m dps but I see warlocks with around the same iLvl getting to 300-400k more dps higher.

Do you always use reap before using UA or do you still pump UAs even when you do not have reap?

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/eu/outland/zandare

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[spikeysquad 50]

On 5/23/2018 at 10:46 AM, Zandare said:

Hi,

Currently I am 955 equipped.

I have around 27% haste and around 115% mastery.

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/outland/zandare (I am not sure why the stats are so different here)

While on a single target fight normally I can get to around 1.1 1.2m dps but I see warlocks with around the same iLvl getting to 300-400k more dps higher.

Do you always use reap before using UA or do you still pump UAs even when you do not have reap?

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/eu/outland/zandare

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Check out LOSS rotation stuff if you haven't yet. It explains the drain cycles and Affy rotations much better than I can. http://lockonestopshop.com/#!/Affliction/Introduction 

You could also join the warlock discord for other views/advice/chat. 

So from reading that you should see that at a very basic level a MG drain cycle is refresh DoTs, UA 1-3 (usually), Reap, drain, drain, drain, drain, drain (got the idea yet?), drain, drain, drain until it's time to refresh DoTs.

That way you should get a lot more UA ticks drained and in Reap which is the main goal of MG. We don't care about UA or 4 set uptime with this build as if you play correctly it will take care of itself. So you shouldn't be doing the extra single drain within refreshing DoTs as you have been. 

Reap after UAs (which you have been doing) though sometimes there seems to be a too long gap in between. I personally still cycle UAs if I have no reap but some others do not. 

Pay a little more attention to SH timing and getting the most out of it and draining off all UA ticks.

Good luck. 

Disclaimer: Always may be errors. 

[Zandare 0]

Thanks for the reply.

Quote

So you shouldn't be doing the extra single drain within refreshing DoTs as you have been. 

I don't really understand what this meant.

One issue which I noticed I have been doing is, casting UA when pandemic timers are about to hit so I have to lose the MG dps to refresh dots which I think hurts the dps a lot considering the loss of dps on UA and all the dots.

Is it worth to use reap even with 1 stack when casting a UA? I have asked a couple of people and the replies varies from one person to the other.

[spikeysquad 50]

23 minutes ago, Zandare said:

Thanks for the reply.

I don't really understand what this meant.

One issue which I noticed I have been doing is, casting UA when pandemic timers are about to hit so I have to lose the MG dps to refresh dots which I think hurts the dps a lot considering the loss of dps on UA and all the dots.

Is it worth to use reap even with 1 stack when casting a UA? I have asked a couple of people and the replies varies from one person to the other.

I meant exactly you said.

You often did something like refresh DoTs, UAs, drained once or so but sometimes even before they had dropped you put more UAs up and then like you said it was time to refresh dots so you didnt drain those UAs off either.

Does that make more sense? You want to be refreshing DoTs before you start a new cycle. Bear in mind though you don't want to be over refreshing DoTs too much when you could be draining and getting buffed maintenance DoT damage. So just drain away until the DoTs are in pandemic.

If you have to move for a little while and don't need to lifetap it can be good to refresh DoTs so you are ready to start a new cycle when you land.  

I believe it is worth using Reap on one stack assuming you will actually drain the UAs.

That's the thing with Affy it's not always obvious/clear cut like a lot of specs and hence listening to just one person (myself included) could be telling you something that's not optimal and hence places like the Lock Discord can be more helpful.  

[Zandare 0]

Thanks for your reply once again.

 

The tips which you have said make a lot of sense I will be testing them tonight.

 

[Brutalbob90 0]

Also for being 955 you should have more mastery in my opinion. 

[spikeysquad 50]

15 hours ago, Brutalbob90 said:

Also for being 955 you should have more mastery in my opinion. 

Maybe, maybe not. Will only find out by simming.

In general they just need more stats as all of those are on the low side as they have been unlucky in the pieces that WF/TF. 

[Demonpuke 48]

Ok first thing you should do is go watch Yipzarena's youtube videos; he is a warlock expert and he's not a complete douche like the majority of wow youtubers. He explains single target rotation, as well as tons of other warlock info, in a very clear, concise manner that is easy to understand and the videos are pleasant to watch. 

Now for your question about using 1 reap with 1 UA....No. Affliction goes through cycles. The damage cycle, with SH+Reap, then the buildup cycle where you save up Reap stacks and only dump shards to prevent capping. Save your Reap stacks for Soul Harvest windows. Even if you get procs and you have to dump 2 or 3 shards at a time to prevent capping during the build up cycle, you should not waste your Reap stacks. Reap should only be used during Soul Harvest buff. Affliction lives and dies by stacking damage modifiers. 

This is true only for pure single target raid bosses where there are no shard snipes available.

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2018 by Demonpuke
edited to cut down on some of my rambling

[spikeysquad 50]

1 hour ago, Demonpuke said:

Ok first thing you should do is go watch Yipzarena's youtube videos; he is a warlock expert and he's not a complete douche like the majority of wow youtubers. He explains single target rotation, as well as tons of other warlock info, in a very clear, concise manner that is easy to understand and the videos are pleasant to watch. 

Now for your question about using 1 reap with 1 UA....No. Affliction goes through cycles. The damage cycle, with SH+Reap, then the buildup cycle where you save up Reap stacks and only dump shards to prevent capping. Save your Reap stacks for Soul Harvest windows. Even if you get procs and you have to dump 2 or 3 shards at a time to prevent capping during the build up cycle, you should not waste your Reap stacks. Reap should only be used during Soul Harvest buff. Affliction lives and dies by stacking damage modifiers. 

This is true only for pure single target raid bosses where there are no shard snipes available.

Cheers.

I like Yipzarena's stuff but this is Affy and there is always controversy over how to play. 

While you should save some Reap for SH it is only once every 2 mins. You would have to be incredibly unlucky to not get enough souls from RPPM and Rend by then. In theory, with average RNG, you should be full in that time. 

You said MG it's all about drain cycles so do you really think saving 12 souls and using all at once is getting the most out of Reap? 

[Demonpuke 48]

Ive never gotten 12 reap stacks on single target raid bosses in between SH uses. Unless you are incredibly, lottery-winning lucky, no one will get 12 stacks in the 90-100 seconds it takes to recharge SH. Not sure where you are getting your information from, the rppm of reap is not that high.

Aff does have variance, and people will disagree. I take my knowledge from the world's best players, and they say to stack damage modifiers as I stated originally. 

Also, I never said anything about Malefic Grasp, nor did I say anything about saving a full 12 souls before using them. Either you are having a hard time reading English or you are simply looking for a fight. Either way, Im not interested. 

[spikeysquad 50]

1 hour ago, Demonpuke said:

Ive never gotten 12 reap stacks on single target raid bosses in between SH uses. Unless you are incredibly, lottery-winning lucky, no one will get 12 stacks in the 90-100 seconds it takes to recharge SH. Not sure where you are getting your information from, the rppm of reap is not that high.

Aff does have variance, and people will disagree. I take my knowledge from the world's best players, and they say to stack damage modifiers as I stated originally. 

Also, I never said anything about Malefic Grasp, nor did I say anything about saving a full 12 souls before using them. Either you are having a hard time reading English or you are simply looking for a fight. Either way, Im not interested. 

The whole thread has been about MG and single target so I assumed that was what you were referring to. Very few people play WiA on single target type fights though it's more than viable and better for some people. 

At least on Discord when people mention cycles they tend to be referring to MG drain cycles as there are not clear defined ones with a WiA build. 

If you meant WiA then yes enjoy stacking your modifiers. However, a lot of people who play MG ignore procs and Contagion uptime (which takes care of itself) and focus on clear cycles and draining and buffing UAs with Reap. I am aware though that Yipzarena has a a somewhat different approach and hey if that works for them great. 

If I remember correctly the RPPM of Reap is 4.5 though of course there is a lot of variance. Then it's incredibly rare to not get at least one Rend proc per minute on a fight with decent drain uptime.

If you check out the sims then average Reap uptime is over 70% for a 5 minute fight (though you course you start with 3 souls) so yes it is very possible to get more than 12 souls in 2 minutes. Though 70% this is on the high side compared to most of my average parses as I have to move, don't play like a robot and so on.

The time is still 120 seconds between recharges as I believe most people, with MG anyhow, would not press Reap a second time after SH. If they did then Soul Harvest lasts 16 seconds (on single target) so even if you did Reap half way then  it's still at least 110 seconds to get a bunch more souls which gives you a bit more leeway than 90.  

Sometimes luck will be against you and you will not get that much. However, I personally would still advise against holding a lot of souls as then you cannot use them as well in my experience. 

I took what you wrote "Reap should only be used during Soul Harvest buff."  to only use Reap when SH is up, did I read that wrong then? As it honestly is not clear if you had another intention and no, I am not looking for a fight. 

However, if you are not interested in discussing this that is your choice but I am struggling to understand your point of view as very high majority of the Locks I talk to and guides I read say use Reap regularly.  

Edited June 11, 2018 by spikeysquad

[Valks 2,373]

On 6/11/2018 at 10:16 AM, Demonpuke said:

Either you are having a hard time reading English or you are simply looking for a fight. Either way, Im not interested. 

Just dropping in to say that this last part is completely unnecessary. I see nothing wrong with what Spike said in any post and there is no hint of him looking for a fight in any sense of the word.

I would agree that I got the same impression that he did from your post concerning SH, as well as understanding that you would be speaking about Malefic Grasp in a thread where each post is discussing an OP that uses MG.

Nonetheless, continue the conversation as you wish, but just wanted to say that this last sentence was somewhat unwarranted.