Warlock FAQ [current for 3.3.5]

发布者 asakawa

The content of this thread does NOT apply to the live game and will not cover any mechanics that changed with patch 4.0.1.

Disclaimer

As we approach the end of the current expansion the various options for talents, gear, glyphs, gems and spells are getting much closer with fewer clear answers. The information in this FAQ will always be good advice but at this point I have to settle for providing good general advice at the expense of absolute and irrefutable accuracy for all gear levels. I, therefore, urge those interested in min/maxing their characters to download and use Simulationcraft (I added a brief explanation here) to test the various options available for them, particularly as gear gets better.
To reiterate, the info here is still being constantly updated and if followed will help your character perform well. It is simply becoming impossible to confidently give definitive answers since such massive variation of gear can be achieved and the usable specs are all so close.

Introduction

The aim of this thread is to give visitors a quick reference to answer the most commonly asked questions. The warlock board's stickies contain a wealth of information but it is spread across several threads which vary in how current their information is.

The plan here is not always to give a very in-depth answer to the frequently asked questions but to give a précis of the information given in the pertinent sticky and a link for the reader to find out more on the subject if an up-to-date sticky on the subject exists.

If there are common questions which anyone feels aren't answered in the stickies or not referenced in this thread then let me know and I'll endeavour to keep the thread current, informative and on-topic.

Incoming Changes

Cataclysm BETA - NDA lifted!
Wowhead's main Cataclysm page
Warlock BETA talent calculator

Recent Changes

LATESTPATCH NOTES (3.3.5)

Patch 3.3.5 changes (now live)

Nothing specific to Warlocks in this patch.

Index

Page One - Introduction

Introduction
Recent changes
Index

Page Two - Talent Specs:

What is the best build?
What is the best rotation for my build?
What spells should I use to AoE?

Page Three - Gearing

What are the best glyphs?
What gear should I look for?
What enchants should i be using?
What gems should i be using?

Page Four - Stats:

What stats should I look for on gear?
What is the hit cap?
What DPS should I be getting? What stat weights should I use?

Page Five - Other:

What are the best professions?
What's the best pet for me to use?
What curse should I be using?
Should I use a Spellstone or a Firestone?
What do the various warlock talents do?

Page Six - Macros and addons:

What addons do I need as a Warlock?
Are there any macros I need as a Warlock?

Page Seven:

I think the DPS I'm getting is not as good as my gear should allow. What am I doing wrong?
I've read this whole thread and my question hasn't been answered. What do I do next?
What stats refresh with Corruption and how do I use this mechanic well?

Page Eight:

Miscellaneous Questions and Answers
How does the priority order for spell casting work?
If I gain <buff> does it effect DoTs I've already cast?
Why are bosses always immune to my Conflagrate spell and why does everyone take it if it can't be used on bosses?
Do I use Corruption as a Destruction Warlock?
What is the best way to use Metamorphosis?
How do Warlocks handle specific raid encounters?

Page Nine - Appendix:

Glossary of abbreviations
Change Log

(##RESPBREAK##)16##DELIM##asakawa##DELIM##

发布者 asakawa

Frequently asked questions!

Q: What's the best build?
A: Different builds are tailored to the different areas of game play.

Levelling
PvP
PvE

Levelling:
The 'best' build for levelling is the one you enjoy the most.
Generally speaking:

The affliction tree offers quite fast levelling but relies on a fine balance between health and mana which, if not monitored closely, can lead to deaths when overwhelmed.
Demonology is much safer and can take on elites and higher level mobs more easily but will generally level slower than affliction.
Destruction will level the slowest of all due to its higher downtime for mana breaks but if you don't mind going a little slower and like to see big numbers then it can still be fun, it just wouldn't be recommended if your goals for levelling are speed and efficiency.

Kappajoe's levelling guide has all the information you need to get you into northrend. At level 71 I would suggest trying this build (21/41/0) as it provides the speed of affliction with the safety of demonology. It can chain pull large groups and can solo almost any elite quest in northrend. As you level past 71 put your points into affliction, choosing anything that will increase your DoT damage.

Kaapajoe has also made an excellent guide tailored specifically for Warlocks intending to level purely through dungeons

PvP:
three good starter PvP talent builds are:

54/17/0 - deep affliction.
0/17/54 - deep destruction.
0/20/51 - succubus variant.

More information, including specs, equipment, pets, macros and gameplay tips can be found in Orloxgr's PvP guide for beginners and Infleto's PvP 101, How to get into PvP with Your Warlock.

PvE:
PvE builds are balanced and optimised to be best in raids but they are generally good for any level 80 PvE content (5man, heroic 5man, 10man and 25man).
With the latest expansion we are in an excellent position where several builds, spanning all three talent trees, are viable for every level of end-game content. The 'best' builds are:

55/0/15+1 - Affliction
56/0/15 - Affliction + Dark Pact
0/56/15 - Demonology
0/13/58 - Destruction (hit capped + Replenishment)
018/53 - Destruction (hit capped + no Replenishment)
3/13/55 - Destruction (not capped)

The current 'Top DPS spec' changes from patch to patch but throughout the current expansion the difference between the theoretical best and other specs is so small that players will always get the best results from playing the spec they prefer provided it is a balanced, well-crafted build.

Lots of information on these builds can be found in ~~irharry's Raid Build Compendium~~(not updated) and Blightman's Warlock Guide:Talents and Specs.

Q: What's the rotation for my build?
A: Currently Warlocks do not use "rotations" in the strict sense of the word, they obey priority orders (or algorithms if you like) for their casting throughout the fight.
A more in depth explanation of priority lists and how to use them is given later in this thread.

The priority orders for each talent build are as follows:
Affliction:

Haunt
Life tap
Corruption
Unstable Affliction
Curse of Agony
Drain Soul (if below 25%)
Shadow Bolt

Demonology:

Life Tap
Curse of Doom
Immolate
Corruption
Soul Fire (if Decimation)
Incinerate (if Molten Core)
Shadow Bolt

Destruction:

Curse of Doom
Immolate
Conflagrate
Chaos Bolt
Incinerate

There is an optimal order for casting spells at the start of fights to ensure the best possible application and uptime of the various buffs and debuffs.
For each spec they are:

Affliction = Life Tap (rank1) ► Shadow Bolt ► Haunt ► Unstable Affliction ► Corruption ► Curse of Agony ► (Shadow Bolt filler and refresh DoTs)
Demonology = Life Tap (rank1) ► Curse of Doom ► Corruption ► Immolate ► Shadow bolt (spam and refresh doTs)
Destruction = Immolate ► Curse of Doom ► Conflagrate ► Chaos Bolt ► Incinerate (spam, refresh DoTs and use Conflag and CB on cooldown)

Notes on rotations:

Affliction and Demonology warlock builds currently use the Glyph of Life Tap and should use Life Tap(rank1) as the fight begins and then work life taps (max rank) into the rotation from then on, little and often, to maintain the buff and maintain mana levels.
The above spell lists assume an ideal raid setup with buffs/debuffs applied by the best classes. In all warlock rotations you should swap the damage curse for Curse of Elements if there is no other class in the raid who can apply it.
(See "Q: What Curse should I be using" for more details.)
Some advice on how Demonology Warlocks can best use Metamorphosis can be found on page eight.

Q: What spells should I use against groups?
A: Seed of Corruption is currently the strongest Warlock AoE spell for all specs.

It can safely be continuously cast on just the main ({skull}) target in any group or raid setting where three or more targets are well tanked.

Return to Index

发布者 asakawa

Q: What are the best glyphs?
A: A full list of Warlock major glyphs can be found here
PvE
Affliction 55/0/15 +1
Life Tap, Haunt, Glyph of Quick Decay

Demonology 0/56/15
Life Tap, Felguard, Quick Decay*
*Metamorphosis is a reasonable replacement for GoQD but requires excellent cooldown use.

Destruction All variations
Immolate, Incinerate, Conflagrate
*Moving into T10 gear life tap has become less useful for destruction. Immolate is now a strong choice but other options are Imp and Life Tap. Use Simcraft for confirmation

PvP
Affliction
Fear, Shadowflame, Unstable Affliction

Destruction
Conflagrate, Shadowflame, Soul link

Destruction (succubus)
Conflagrate, Soul link, Immolate

Demonology
Felguard, Metamorphosis, Soul link.

Orloxgr discusses PvP glyph options in his PvP for beginners thread.

Q: What about minor Glyphs?
A: Here is the list of minor Glyphs for Warlocks.
As you can see it is a very uninspiring list of options.

PvPers who take the talent Curse of Exhaustion (in the affliction tree) will want to use the Glyph to augment it.
The Glyph of Drain Soul has some slight usefulness for all Warlock specs.
All other options are unremarkable.

Q: What gear should I look for?
A: Links to gear lists:

For levelling gear see Kappajoe's levelling guide
For PvP gear see Orloxgr's PvP guide
For PvE starter gear see Gyorg's Starter's Kit thread and ganimede's New/Returning 80 Warlock grindable gear guide.
For BiS gear lists look at killo100's BiS gear list for all specs thread.

Q: What enchants should i be using?
A: PvE Enchants
This list of best in slot enchants has been shamelessly ripped from Gorefiend's BiS thread.

Head: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Storm or Master‘s Inscription of the Storm if you are a Scribe
Back: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed or Lightweave Embroidery if you are a Tailor or Springy Arachnoweave if you're an engineer.
Chest: Enchant Chest - Major Spirit or Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
Wrist: Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower or Fur Lining - Spell Power if you are a Leatherworker
Hands: Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower or Enchant Gloves - Precision if you need the extra hit or Hyperspeed Accelerators if you're an engineer.
Legs: Brilliant Spellthread
Feet: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality > Enchant Boots - Icewalker > Enchant Boots - Greater Spirit
Finger: Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower if you are an Enchanter
1 Handed Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower
2 Handed Weapon: Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower

Very well geared Affliction warlocks may find Enchant Weapon - Black Magic slightly better than the spellpower alternative. If you are in Tier 10 gear then refer to Simulationcraft for confirmation before choosing it. This only applies to one handed weapons. +81 spellpower will always be superior for staves.

PvP Enchants

Head: Arcanum of Dominance
Shoulder: Inscription of dominance
Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Spell Piercing
Chest: Echant chest - Exceptional resilience
Wrists: Enchant bracers - Superior spellpower
Hands: Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower
Waist: Eternal belt buckle
Legs: Earthen leg armour
Feet: Enchant boots - Tuskarr's Vitality
Finger: Enchant Ring - Greater spwllpower (if an enchanter)
1 Handed Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower
2 Handed Weapon: Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower

A frequently updated list of PvP gear and enchants can be found at the top of Orloxgr's PvP guide for beginners 3.3.3

Q: What gems should i be using?
A: PvE Gems
The most important thing to understand before gemming your gear is that the socket colours allow you to unlock the socket bonus but they do not have to be adhered to. In most cases there is a big enough difference between the 'best' gem and the one needed for the bonus that it is best to ignore socket colours completely.

The general rule to follow when gemming is to use red gems in all sockets and only break this rule to fulfil the meta-gem requirement. All meta-gems have a requirement such as "Requires 2 blue gems" or "Requires 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 blue gem" and the meta will only become active when the requirement is met (you will be able to see if it is not activated as the text will be greyed out).

Although there are only 3 socket colours (red, blue, yellow), the socket bonuses and meta requirements can be fulfilled by the secondary coloured gems (orange, purple, green).
So Blue sockets can accept a blue, green or purple gem; Red sockets can accept a red, orange or purple gem; and yellow sockets can accept a yellow, orange or green gem.

The gems we use as Warlocks are:

Meta Socket:
Chaotic Skyflare Diamonds are the best meta gem for warlocks.
While Crit is not a stat Warlocks should gem for, the 3% extra crit damage is multiplied by the Destruction talent Ruin to actually give a 9% increased damage when you crit. This is incredibly powerful and makes this meta-gem much stronger than any of the other options.
Red Sockets:
Reds should always be filled with Runed(spellpower) gems.
Yellow Socket:
Yellow sockets should actually be filled with orange gems. If you are not hit-capped then use Veiled(spellpower/hit) gems. If you are hit-capped then use Reckless(spellpower/haste) gems.
Blue Sockets:
Blues should actually be filled with purple gems. The temptation is to use spellpower/stamina gems but a much greater DPS increase is gained by using Purified(spellpower/spirit) gems.

Some socket bonuses are good enough that it is worth gemming for the socket colour. This would typically be a bonus like "+7 spellpower" or maybe hit rating when you are under-capped. If you are in any doubt about which gem to use just follow the general rule of reds in all sockets except for meta requirements and you will do very well. The potential benefits, when trying to choose the correct socket bonus to gem for, are so small that they will only matter to the most ardent min/maxer.
When fulfilling a meta-gem requirement always look for a matching socket to place the non-red gems. Even if the bonus is only something like "+4 crit rating" (usually an almost worthless bonus), it's better to get something than nothing if you're using those gems anyway.

PvP Gems

*Clarification from active PvPers requested*

Return to Index

发布者 asakawa

Q: What stats should I look for on gear?
A: As ever the stats you want are different for levelling, PvE and PvP.

When levelling aim for as much spellpower as possible. Where you can't find spellpower items or to augment the spellpower on an item look for stamina. The order basically goes:
spellpower > stamina >>> everything else.
Int can be useful. Spirit is good after level 62. Crit, hit and haste are fine but shouldn't be sought out.
PvE, broken down by spec:
Affliction: Hit > Spellpower > Haste > Crit > Spirit
Demonology: Hit > Spellpower > Haste > Crit > Spirit
Destruction: Hit > Spellpower > Crit = Haste > Spirit
- PvE gearing is a complicated affair and an in-depth analysis has been done by irharry in his thread The Basics - hit, crit, haste and spelldamage
- Also see the stickied Stat Weighting Presets thread which i keep updated with stat weights for starter and BiS gear sets.
PvP
Resilience is an important PvP stat which is only found on specifically designed PvP gear. As such gear choice for PvP tends to come down to "get the best PvP item you can get for each slot".
There are some 'caps' that are good to hit. 75 spell penetration will counter the most common resistances and 158(6%) hit rating will reduce misses in PvP.
(more detailed information in orloxgr's PvP guide)

Q: What is the hit cap?
A: Quick facts:
26.2 hit rating is required for 1% chance to hit with spells.
The hard spell hit cap for raid bosses is 17% or 446 hit rating.
The hit cap for 5man heroics is 6% or 158 hit rating.

Detailed explanation:
There is a chance that your spells will miss which is based on level difference. The higher your target's level compared to your own, the higher the chance that you will miss them with your spell.
This table shows the chance to hit targets of various levels:
PVE PVP
- 4 100% 100%
- 3 99% 99%
- 2 98% 98%
- 1 97% 97%
0 96% 96%
+ 1 95% 95%
+ 2 94% 94%
+ 3 83% 87%
+ 4 72% 80%
+ 5 61% 73%
The most commonly discussed 'hit cap' is the one for PvE raid content. Raid bosses (who show the level "??") are considered level 83 mobs for the purposes of hit calculations. On the table above you'll see that this gives them an 83% hit chance meaning that you need to gain 17% hit chance to be sure your spells will not miss.
17% hit is 446 hit rating.

However, improved chance to hit can come from a variety of places including gear and food (hit rating), raid buffs (druids and priests) and racial buffs (draenei).
To find out your hit cap you need to consider three things; Do you play an Alliance character and can be sure you will be grouped with a Draenei? Does your talent spec include Suppression? Can you be sure your raid will include a Shadow Priest or a Balance Druid?

You get a 1% buff from the Drainei Racial (alliance only, and only party wide, this is NOT a raid wide buff).
You get a 3% debuff on the mob from either shadow priest's misery, or moomkin's faerie fire (these do NOT stack).
You get a 3% from talents (although you may drop the talents as you get the hit rating on gear).

So the “soft cap” for raiding locks with all available buffs are;
Alliance (talented) = 262 hit rating
Alliance (untalented) = 341 hit rating
Horde (talented) = 289 hit rating
Horde (untalented) = 368 hit rating

Much of the above details were shamelessly ripped from Irharry's stats thread.

Q: What DPS should I be getting? What stat weights should I use?
A: I'm using this question to promote and explain Simulationcraft. Simulationcraft is a tool which models WoW combat in a relatively realistic raid setting, actually running simulated fights to achieve various useful charts and reports. It has received an awful lot of very good work from the warlock community and is the best tool of its type for us Warlocks to use.
It was recently been improved by adding a user interface which allows users to easily upload their own characters, either directly from the armoury or even a custom profile you've made here on wowhead, and run simulations to get accurate figures and stat weights. It even outputs pie charts and I'm a sucker for a graph!

Simulationcraft isn't perfect. It models the ideal raid in an ideal environment. It does have options to more closely model your own raid if you rarely run with a Shaman and don't have access to those buffs, for example, but it will always generally let you see your gear and talent build's potential output and give you a number to strive for rather than a number you should actually be achieving.

One of Simulationcraft's most useful elements for the average raiding Warlock is its ability to give tailored and accurate stat weights for you to use in wowhead's comparison tool, other sites like lootrank or addons like pawn.

Return to Index

发布者 asakawa

Q: What are the best professions?
A:Professions can be chosen for various reasons but the two main ones are; a) to help you main end-game activity, and b) to make money.
I'll only cover the benefits professions give to a raiding/PvP warlock. Advice on the money-making side of things can, I'm sure, be found in Wowhead's professions forum.

The essential benefits of each profession are:

Tailoring's Lightweave enchant for cloaks gives 295 spellpower for 15 seconds with a 45second internal cooldown. This equates to a buff of up to (295 * 15 / 60 =) 74sp, one of the best that is given by any profession for PvE.
Jewelcrafting has the ability to use better gems, notably the Runed Dragon's eye. 3 of these gives 48sp more than using normal gems.
Enchanting allows us to enchant our rings for a total of 46sp
Alchemy receives the passive buff, mixology which increases the effect of a Flask of the Frost Wyrm by 47sp. It also has the extra benefit of doubling its duration, saving you money.
Leatherworking can enchant bracers with Fur Lining - spell power for a 46sp gain over the normal bracer enchant.
Inscription has the Master's Inscription of the storm providing a 46sp gain over the Sons of Hodir exalted enchant.
Blacksmithing can add extra sockets to gloves and bracers. a gain of 46sp when using epic gems.
Engineering most notably provides a Haste enchant for gloves. Like the tailoring enchant this is a large effect for a limited time but works out as a buff of up to (340 x 12 / 60 =) 68Haste. Engineers also have access to a cloak enchant which is better than the normal haste one. Engineers also have access to items and enchants which don't directly increase DPS but have utility.

Skinning is the best of the poorer professions in that at max level it does provide a +40 crit rating buff. This is clearly much weaker than the professions listed above but still provides an actual DPS increase for a PvE Warlock.
Mining gives the passive buff Toughness. Great for tanks. Stam is nice for PvP. Not much use for a raiding lock.
Herbalism has Lifeblood a nice instant cast heal but not much use in end-game PvE.

PvE
The various professions in WoW essentially boil down into two categories, the good and the bad.

Good:
Tailoring, Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, Alchemy, Leatherworking, Inscriptions, Engineering, Blacksmithing
Bad:
Skinning, Mining, Herbalism

PvP
PvPers can make more use of Engineering's long list of toys (such as frag belts and rocket boots). Jewelcrafting is favoured highly and more use is found for Mining's stamina and Herbalism's heal than in PvE.

Q: What's the best pet for me to use?
A: If you are using a build with the summon felguard talent then that is always the best pet to use.
For PvE:
-Affliction uses the Felhunter
-Demonology uses the Felguard.
-Destruction uses the Imp.
For PvP:
Each pet has its own uses and each counters a particular type of opponent but generally, Affliction uses a Felhunter and Destruction uses a Succubus or Voidwalker.

Lots more information on pets can be found in Kangi's Minion Guide

Q: What curse should I be using?
A: Only one curse can be cast by each warlock which basically means that we can either use a damage curse (curse of agony / curse of doom) or a debuff curse (curse of elements / curse of weakness) but we can't do both at the same time. For this reason we have to pay close attention to where the raid is getting their debuffs and adjust our curse use accordingly since the effect of our debuff curses can also be applied by other classes.
Because warlocks have to give up damage in order to apply these debuffs we should always try to use damage curses wherever possible. The damage curse used differs depending on spec.

Kangi's curse guide contains a detailed breakdown of curse use, covering which other class's debuffs don't stack with our own and which damage curse each of our specs should use.

Q: Should I use a Spellstone or a Firestone?
A: Spellstones will provide a noticeably greater benefit for all warlock specs except deep destruction. At higher gear levels (from early Tier9 and above) Destro specced Warlocks will see a greater benefit from a firestone.

Q: What do the various warlock talents do?
A: Blightman has written an incredibly detailed thread on the various talents and their different uses in his Warlock Guide: talents and specs thread. This is a really excellent guide for new and experienced warlocks alike.

Return to Index

发布者 asakawa

Q: What addons do I need as a warlock?
A: Warlocks are a DoT class which means that all specs rely on their damage over time spells have a good uptime. As such dot timer addons are very useful for warlocks.
The best timer addons are:
NeedToKnow(personal favourite)
Buttontimers(personal favourite)
DoTimer.
Forte warlock.
Event horizon.
For more information on warlock addons see Vampyren's addon guide.

Q: Are there any macros I need as a warlock?
A: Warlocks are not particularly macro dependant. But there are a few macros which can be useful for the various areas of play.

A general macro can be made, into which you put any spell that you will cast often. This will trigger any bonuses from trinkets and enchants (engineer's glove enchant), and will also use abilities like demonic empowerment (demo only):
#showtooltip <spell name>
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX", "0")
/use 13
/use 14
/use 10
/cast demonic empowerment
/cast <spell name>
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX", "1")
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

We have various crowd control abilities which are best used with 'focus macros' like:
#showtooltip
/focus
/clearfocus ;
/stopmacro ;
/focus
/cast Fear

This macro will cast fear on your target and make it your focus. Next time you cast fear it will be cast on that same target, even if you are currently targetting a different mob. Holding alt sets your target as your focus without casting. Holding control clears your focus (your focus will also be cleared if your current focus is dead). 'Fear' can be changed to Banish, Seduce and even Spell-lock so this macro works for all your CC.

Return to Index

发布者 asakawa

Q: I think the DPS I'm getting is not as good as my gear should allow. What am I doing wrong?
A: general tips:

Don't clip your DoTs - Get a good DoT timer addon and find a layout that you're comfortable with. This should help you see exactly when your DoTs are coming to an end and help you maintain a better uptime without clipping the end of the timers.
Use your trinkets - The DPS that is attributed to certain trinkets on boards like this or 'elitist jerks' is based on the idea that the trinket's 'on use' effect will be used as often as possible. Trinkets can be powerful if saved for 'burn phases' (generally when the raid uses heroism) but if you're not used to saving them for these moments then it's much better to macro them into an ability and have them trigger whenever they're available.
Enchant all your gear - your gear may be good but enchants and gems are hugely important. The rep enchants for head and shoulder slots are the most often ones to be missed.
Don't match socket colours without good reason - When gemming your gear don't try too hard to match socket colours - Unless it's for a metagem requirement, in almost all cases a straight +23 spellpower gem is the best option.
Cap your Hit Rating - Check the section on stats to find out your hit cap and get that cap. Don't go over. Don't be too far under.
Max your professions - All professions give some benefits at high levels.
Use a proper spec - The talent builds in this (and the other) stickies are carefully planned to provide the best ouput for your points.
Spam that button! - When rotations say things like "spam shadow bolt" they mean it. Get a castbar addon like quartz which shows latency as a red section on your cast bar. As soon as this portion is reached you should spam the button to try to reduce the effect that lag has on your DPS.
Clicking is bad! - Clicking spells on your actionbar with your mouse will reduce your output in raids. Use keybinds even if they are just the default number keys. If you are a "clicker" it is entirely worth the small drop in your performance for a few days while you re-learn playing with keybinds.
Watch this video - Link. This youtube video was made by Kripparrian and gives an excellent explanation of several ways you can increase your output in raids.

Q: I've read this whole thread and my question hasn't been answered. What do I do next?
A: Of course the stickies don't contain the answer to every possible question and query. If you've read through this thread and the stickies then it's time to ask the forum for more help. There are an awful lot of very experienced and intelligent players on this board that will happily help you with your problem.

to help us help you here are some tips for posting your question:

Be specific - Vague questions will never get concise answers
Give as much supporting information as possible - If you're asking about a build, then link it. If you're asking about your gear, link your armoury. World of Logs/WowWebStats/WowMeter links are VERY useful.
Use the best English you can - Of course, English isn't the first language of everyone on the board but to be able to help you we need to understand you. 'Leet' and IM language will generally get a bad reaction.
Keep it short - Walls of text will only receive the response "TL;DR". If you want to post a longer explanation always give a brief list of points first so that people can help you without reading your life story.
Do NOT make "rate my build" threads - if you didn't see your build in the stickies it's not because nobody thought of it. It's because, for one reason or another, it's a poor build.
For PvE, if you think that your build is great and can't see why no one uses it then download simulationcraft (Acabar made a guide on how to use it) and run simulations of your build and the closest cookie-cutter. If your build comes within 10% of the current top builds then make your post about it very thorough and include your simcraft action list and results.

Q: What stats refresh with Corruption and how do I use this mechanic well?
A: The deep Affliction PvE build uses the talent Everlasting Affliction to allow commonly used spells to refresh the currently ticking Corruption (the strongest DoT an Affliction Warlock possesses) on the target.
This "refresh", as opposed to the spell getting recast specifically by the player, is the source of an emergent gameplay mechanic which is not intuitive but is incredibly powerful when mastered.

The important thing to understand about the "rolling Corruption" is that certain stats continue when the spell is refreshed while others are reset to what you character has at the time of the refresh.

The stats that do roll are:

Critical strike chance
Percentage damage modifiers

The stats that do not roll are:

Spellpower
Haste

What this means is that if we can push our Crit chance and damage buffs as high as possible when we cast the initial Corruption on a boss fight, that high chance will continue for the full length of the fight or for as long as we can keep it refreshed.

To achieve this Affliction Warlocks will use a very specific opening spell order and then go to great lengths to make sure that initial Corruption never drops off.

The most notable buffs we should bear in mind are:

Percentage Damage:

This is a sizeable list of buffs and it is not easy to stack them all up for your first corruption (in the case of Death's Embrace it is impossible!).

The Nevermelting Ice Crystal is a relatively weak trinket compared to some of the trinkets gained in current-content raids but the nature of it's proc means that when you first activate it you have a +20% crit chance which only reduces when you crit with a direct-damage spell. If you cast corruption after activating the trinket but before gaining a crit your corruption will keep that 20% crit for it's duration. As such, NMIC is best-in-slot (or close to) for Affliction Warlocks who can use this mechanic well.

Focus Magic gives a 3% crit buff but you only need it in place when you cast your Corruption. the Mage is free to cast it on their normal target after the first 15 seconds of the fight if they wish.

You can "pre-pot" your Potion of Wild Magic. That means using the potion just before entering combat thereby negating the potion sickness that usually allows the use of only one potion per combat phase. this will allow you to use a Potion of Speed toward the end of the fight when you are using Drain Soul as your main nuke and the raid probably uses Heroism/Bloodlust.

Weapons, unlike other gear slots, can be swapped in combat. This allows you to use any high Crit weapon at the start of the fight then swap to your best weapon setup for the rest of the fight.

The percentage damage buffs are a little more difficult to manage. If your tanks don't need Tricks of the Trade from the Rogue then it is very strong when given to you but means you need to be aware of your threat since all the rogue's threat comes with that nice buff.

The 4pcT10 Proc is a random proc. You can cast Unstable Affliction and hope for a proc but that will likely require quite a wait and the chances are good that you would lose your potion buff and certainly the tricks buff. It's nice if you can get it but probably not something you should attempt to get every time.

Death's Embrace is a 12% damage buff that you get once your target reaches 35% health. If you can get the rogue to cast another tricks on you (difficult due to the short range on tricks) then it will likely be best to recast Corruption with both of these buffs and reactivate NMIC at that point too. If you can't reliably stack all these buffs then it is probably best to maintain the initial corruption.

So, what is the best cast order at the start of the fight?

Out of combat: Equip a Crit weapon
Get FM from a mage

Directly before combat:

Tricks from a Rogue
Life Tap(rank1)
Use potion of wild magic

Shadow Bolt
Haunt
Unstable Affliction
Nevermelting Ice Crystal
Corruption
Curse of Agony
Continue using normal spell priorities

The only other tip i would mention is that if your corruption looks like it might fall off before you get the chance to cast a refreshing spell on it you can use Drain Life to refresh it. It only requires you to stand still for one second to get the first tick of damage and achieve the refresh.

I hope this sheds some light on this difficult concept.

Return to Index

发布者 asakawa

Miscellaneous Questions and Answers

Q: How does the priority order for spell casting work?
A: The priority lists that are laid out above in this thread and that get discussed throughout this forum describe the decision process the player goes through to decide what spell to cast at any given point. This can seem like a complicated process at first but once you get a feel for each spell's importance it actually becomes very easy to choose the next spell to be cast.

To use the priority lists you simply go down the list making sure each criteria is met before moving on to the next step. In the case of DoT spells (like Corruption) this means making sure the DoT is on your target, in the case of spells with a cooldown (like Chaos Bolt) this means making sure the spell can't be used yet because it is still on cooldown.

Taking the Affliction list as an example let's look at the decisions being made:

Haunt - Haunt is a debuff that increases the damage done by all your DoTs that are currently ticking. During combat it is important that this never drops so it is at the top of the list. You watch its cooldown, not the duration of its debuff as you would a DoT spell, and cast it as soon as it's available.
Life tap - For this step you are monitoring the buff on yourself given by the Life Tap glyph. You want this buff to be in place before you cast any damaging spells so if it drops off and haunt is in place it is the spell to cast
Corruption - You are monitoring the Corruption debuff (DoT) on your target. Corruption represents a Warlock's highest DPET spell and as such needs to be in place constantly throughout a fight. Corruption's duration is reset by various spells via the talent Everlasting Affliction so it will likely only drop if you are forced to switch targets. if it is not on your target then cast it now
Unstable Affliction - you are monitoring the Unstable Affliction debuff (DoT) on your target. We're now working down the list of spells by how much damage they do. UA is next.
Curse of Agony - Another DoT spell. CoA ticks for less but has a longer duration.
Drain Soul (if below 25%) - Now we're on to what are called "filler spells" or "nukes". When all the other spells are in place, DoTs on the target and spells with a cooldown on cooldown and unavailable, these are the spells you cast repeatedly until there is something else that needs to be done. In the case of Drain Soul you cast it only when your target has less than 25% of their maximum health.
Shadow Bolt - Before 25% health is reached Drain Soul does much less damage and your best filler spell is a Shadow Bolt. Everything else is more important than Shadow Bolt but SBs will make up a considerable percentage of your output.

Q: If I gain <buff> does it effect DoTs I've already cast?
A: The simple rule to follow is:
Buffs on the caster need to be in place before the spell is cast
Debuffs on the mob need to be in place before the damage is done.

An example is the Glyph of Life Tap buff. If you cast your DoTs then use Life Tap you will have higher spellpower on your character sheet but the DoTs already cast will not benefit from that bonus. However, if you use Life Tap (gaining the higher SP) then cast all your DoTs, the DoTs will have the higher spellpower added to all ticks, even after the buff has worn off.

As for debuffs on your target, they work as each damage source is actually calculated. So you could cast corruption, allow it to tick twice then cast Curse of Elements and the remaining ticks will get the 13% added damage.

note: This rule does not work with Direct Damage spells that have a flight time like Shadow Bolt. if you cast CoE while your SB is in flight it will not gain the benefit from the debuff when it hits the target.

Examples of buffs on the player: GoLT, lightweave(tailoring), trinkets, demonic pact, totems, pyroclasm.
examples of debuffs on your target: curse of elements (ebon plague, earth and moon), Improved Shadow Bolt (winter's chill, scorch), improved faerie fire/misery.

Q: Why are bosses always immune to my Conflagrate spell and why does everyone take it if it can't be used on bosses?
A: You're seeing 'Immune' come up when you cast Conflagrate but it is actually the Aftermath daze effect that all bosses are immune to. Since, in PvE, we actually take Aftermath for it's increase to Immolate it's not a problem at all if that daze effect never happens.

Q: Do I use Corruption as a Destruction Warlock?
A: The short answer is No.

The inclusion of any spell in a talent spec's priority list comes down to a simple question. Does it give more damage for the time i use to cast it than that spec's basic nuke. In the case of Destruction Warlocks, their main nuke is Incinerate and without any talents to boost it Corruption will deal considerably less damage even taking into account the lower cast time (Corruption is instant meaning it uses one global cooldown, Incinerate is a 2.25 second cast with talents).

However, Corruption does still have a place on your actionbars as Destruction. Whenever you are forced to move your options for spells to use is quite short and basically consists of:

Curse
Conflagrate
Life Tap
Corruption

This is the new priority list to follow while forced to move by the encounter's mechanics. Basically, if all your core instant abilities are used then corruption allows you to get some damage from otherwise "dead" time.

Q: What is the best way to use Metamorphosis?
A: Metamorphosis is an incredibly important part of a Demonology Warlock's arsenal. It Increases all damage done and allows the use of extra abilities. The only noteworthy ability that it grants, however, is Immolation Aura which requires the caster to be in melee range for it to have effect. Immolation Aura is so strong that it is definitely worth the effort of getting into melee range to use it but that is the only alteration that using Meta should make to your normal spell priority.

Some general "do's and don'ts" for Meta:

DO use it as much as possible
DO use it sensibly, stacking with whatever buffs you can (hero/lust, decimation, trinkets, procs)
DO use Immolation Aura
DO try to cast CoD with meta up
Do NOT use Charge, Cleave or any other demon abilities.
Do NOT waste GCDs during meta on non-damaging abilities (like Life Tap).

Getting the most from Metamorphosis is a fine balancing act but it is the key to high DPS as a demonology Warlock. Ideally you want to use it on cooldown, every cooldown but it is so strong when used with buffs like Heroism/Bloodlust (raid-wide haste buff) and Decimation (Demonology talent active after 35%) that it is worth saving for these times.

Q: How do Warlocks handle specific raid encounters?
A: Fmatt has presented each current content encounter in great depth from a Warlock perspective in this Guide to raiding.

Return to Index

发布者 asakawa

Appendix

Glossary of Abbreviations

DPS - Damage-Per-Second. A measure of damage done, also a term used to describe the act of doing damage and a character who does damage ("doing DPS", "I am a DPSer")
PvE - Player versus Environment. Any area of the game that doesn't involve playing against other players.
PvP - Player versus Player - Playing in direct competition with other players (some consider playing the Auction house to be the ultimate PvP game ^^)
DoT - Damage over Time - lots of warlock spells do damage over time instead of all at once.
DD - Direct Damage - the counter part to DoT.
AoE - Area of Effect - spells that do damage to more than one target.
HoT - Howl of Terror (in other contexts refers to Heal over Time)
SB - Shadow Bolt
SiLi - Siphon Life
SL - Soul Link (sometimes used to describe Siphon Life depending on context)
iSL - (improved) Soul Leech (another "SL". Look for context, this is destro)
i - A lower case 'i' is generally used for talents that start with "improved"
SF - Soul Fire (sometimes used to describe shadowfury depending on context)
LT - Life Tap
DS - Drain Soul
DL - Drain Life
UA - Unstable Affliction
DP - Dark Pact/Demonic Pact depending on context
VW - VoidWalker(pet)
FH - Felhunter(pet)
FG - Felguard(pet)
ISB - Improved Shadow Bolt
CoA - Curse of Agony
CoE - Curse of Elements
CoEx - Curse of Exhaustion
CoW - Curse of Weakness
coD - curse of Doom
MD - Master Demonologist
DT - Demonic Tactics
SnF - Shadow and Fire
FnB - Fire and Brimstone
Meta - Metamorphosis
BD - Backdraft
CB - Chaos Bolt
DPCT/DPET - Damage Per Cast Time / Damage Per Execute Time. This is a measure of the amount of damage a spell does in comparison to the time it takes to make it happen.
CD - Cooldown
GCD - Global Cooldown
MC - Molten Core
RoF - Rain of Fire
SoC - Seed of Corruption
GoX - Glyph of <spell name> (i.e. GoLT = Glyph of LifeTap)

CHANGE LOG

6.1.10 - change log added to prevent endless update posts on the thread
6.1.10 - the word 'rotation' has been expunged from the FAQ. also further clarity on priority and opening spell order.
28.1.10 - incoming changes added (3.3.2 buffs)
19.2.10 - 3.3.3 ptr notes added
23.2.10 - organised the recent/incoming changes better
4.3.10 - cataclysm stat notes added.
6.3.10 - Priority lists edited for clarity. explanation section added for priorities.
17.3.10 - more additions to incoming changes for 3.3.3
25.3.10 - updated incoming/recent changes
25.3.10 - added a disclaimer >.<
5.5.10 - added a generic spammable macro
10.5.10 - added an enchant list (taken from gorefiend's BiS thread (no longer updated) and made some alteration to the gems/enchants section for neatness and clarity.
21.5.10 - a bit of general tidying and updating. also added details on hit rating requirements (taken from irharry's stats thread (no longer updated)
28.5.10 - additions and edits to gear lists and pvp gems/enchants.
29.5.10 - additions/edits to the hit cap section. clarification and extra details added.
10.6.10 - changed the title - the FAQ has lost the "visitor guide" quality since it has become more about presenting the info and less about linking to other stickies.
10.6.10 - added minor glyphs.
11.6.10 - added "Q: Do I use Corruption as a Destruction Warlock?" to the miscellaneous section.
16.6.10 - minor alterations made to the professions section
18.6.10 - links added to the glyph section (at long last)
25.6.10 - "so the different warlock specs have different gear requirements?" question removed. this was a question that was asked a lot coming from tBC but no longer applies. the information in the answer is also covered under "what stats should i look for on gear?" which i also clarified with more accurate info for PvE.
2.7.10 - added "how to use meta" section in miscellaneous.
2.7.10 - added "What stats refresh with Corruption and how do I use this mechanic well?"
29.7.10 - added "how do warlocks handle specific raid encounters?" to link to fmatt's guide.
29.7.10 - added a link to ganimede's gearing guide in the gear section. also cleaned up the reference to gorefiend and killo100's BiS lists.
30.7.10 - clarified the AoE entry and removed the out of date info that had been ~~crossed out~~ for a long time now.

Return to Index

发布者 Nivrax

Well, congrats on this, now just hope that people will not ignore this or, worse, just tl;dr it. The only thing that I would change are rotations of builds using Life Tap glyph, as they should maintain Life Tap buff, which is like additional 20second dot to manage (which is not as obvious as it seems).

Also, I would not generalise Affliction like that, there are quite a bit options going in the Affli tree, similiar with Glyphs (just check top5 arena Locks, each one having slightly different build and glyphs). But I think that belongs to the pvp thread. I just would like to mark it as example instead of "use this build\glyphs only, it is the best possible".

发布者 asakawa

yes, i thought about the life tap for rotations and felt it would make the rotations over complicated for this kind of thread. now you mention it though, i'm sure i can add something so people know to use it without it getting too messy so i'll add that, thanks.

the PvP comment is exactly the kind of thing i'm looking for. i don't know enough about current PvP methods to give very good advice so corrections like this are very important.

发布者 Razmortis

Requested for sticky!

发布者 369601

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

发布者 asakawa

hehe, thanks for that, spell check for the win eh?

i think my pvp section is, perhaps, a little thin but an in-depth explanation like that feels a little beyond the scope of this as an FAQ. if that's something that's lacking from orloxgr's 'pvp for beginners' sticky perhaps we could ask him to make the addition. then i'll refer to it to make sure people reading the FAQ know that that information can be found there.

发布者 304001

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

发布者 asakawa

d'you think?
this is a frequently asked questions thread... i'm not sure that would really qualify as a rarely asked question.

besides, both are trainable now so anyone who doesn't know about the quest-line will still pick it up a level later.

发布者 Sweapt

True. I was just thinking for people who havnt been lock/pala before and therefore havnt had the class specific mount. Ahwell, nvm. will delete posts to make room for others.

发布者 asakawa

no need to delete posts, it just makes me look like i've gone mad and am talking to myself ^_^

发布者 orloxgr

you werent talking to yourself? :P

added a few thinks for pvp glyphs if you wanna check

发布者 asakawa

awesome. i'll update my bit.

** Warlock FAQ ** [current for 3.3.5]

发表回复

Warlock FAQ [current for 3.3.5]