Definitive Warlock Guide -Dragons of Nightmare(1.8)

[Sigma]

Imp Drain Soul doesn't seem to be working about half the time, even though I'm 2/2. Any way to fix this, or is this just another Nostalrius bug?

[Numi]

Imp Drain Soul doesn't seem to be working about half the time, even though I'm 2/2. Any way to fix this, or is this just another Nostalrius bug?

It's working exactly as intended, the reason it's not working _for you_ is because the talent specifically says whenever YOU kill a mob, not your pet, YOU have to get the killing blow.

[Xentro]

Hey all,

first of all botmaster, thanks a lot for the guide, it has helped me a lot so far.

However I have some questions (any one feel free to answer). First of all I was wondering for the BiS list why +shadow dmg is so important. I understand we want to boost our damage output as much as possible in PvE but if you wear so many greens with only +shadow dmg, don't you fall a little short on other fronts such as HP/MP/regen? I mean it's cool to get high numbers with a shadow bolt, but it's also cool to cast more. So how is this calculated? Spell dmg adds x amount to shadowbolt while int lets you cast x% of a shadowbolt and then look at the total dmg output per point? If so, does int become more important as you get more spelldmg?

Second on the topic of talents. I understand that atm there are two general ways of speccing you character and DS is the preferred one since it gives more shadow dmg. I am wondering however if your build for levelling is not also preferable in endgame PvE (his build is DS/SM basically) is the Ruin really necessary? Let's say you take SM on top of DS so that's another 10% bonus dmg compared to ruin which is 100% extra dmg on crits, so this would be shadowbolts that do 300% dmg instead of 200%, right? If you have a crit chance of around 5%, that also adds (100*0.95+300*0.05=110) 10% dmg. Now, I don't know what our base crit chance actually is and I understand that the value of Ruin increases with more crit. But if base crit chance is less than 5% you do less dmg in non +crit gear.

Can some one plz enlighten me?

Xentro/Laure

[Botmaster5]

if you wear so many greens with only +shadow dmg, don't you fall a little short on other fronts such as HP/MP/regen?

In PvE raiding enviroment, your regen is not really an issue insofar that your MP is replenished by life tapping, and your HP is replenished by your healers. Sure it is true that if you had more INT you could cast a few more shadowbolts before you go OOM, but then what? You'll be lifetapping. More +shadow/spelldamage gear will allow you to tap for more mana, thus having to reduce the times you have to tap. Tapping for more mana less frequently is also helpful to your healers because your lifetaps will be spaced out. Finally, the less often you tap, the more uptime you have spamming shadow bolts

I am wondering however if your build for levelling is not also preferable in endgame PvE (his build is DS/SM basically) is the Ruin really necessary?

SM/DS would be a viable spec if affliction did not do as horrible as it does now. Also in a 7 debuff environment, there are no room for your DoTs on the mob. No DoTs, no damage. Also, when you loaded up your target with all those DoTs, now what? You'll still be spamming shadow bolts.

SM on top of DS so that's another 10% bonus dmg compared to ruin which is 100% extra dmg on crits, so this would be shadowbolts that do 300% dmg instead of 200%, right?

Crits in vanilla do 150% damage, Ruin makes our crits do 200% damage. Some other points you need to take into consideration about the destro tree. Improved shadow bolt is an overall dps boost that comes from your normal dps cycle when you crit. Devistation gives us a flat 5% bonus to critical stike chance. And the big one, Bane. Taking our shadowbolt cast time from 3 to 2.5 seconds. All those 1/2 seconds add up fast.

The reason that vanilla PvE warlocks focus all our attention on shadow bolt, is because its the most effective damage/mana spell we have that we spam. Its also the one that is effected by the most aspects of our talent trees.

[Soulxlock]

Which spec would you recommend for the PvE server when you just hit 60 and want to run dungeons to gear up for raids?

[Numi]

Which spec would you recommend for the PvE server when you just hit 60 and want to run dungeons to gear up for raids?

Depends on how you play and what you like doing, if you want to PvP and PvE, the only option is SM / Ruin, if you want to PvE only, I'd recommend DS / Ruin, especially since DS / Ruin is the best farm build out of the viable 60 specs.

[Botmaster5]

Which spec would you recommend for the PvE server when you just hit 60 and want to run dungeons to gear up for raids?

i can solo farm mara with my raid spec, 7-21-23, so this is what i usually stick to to keep my respec costs low

[Numi]

Which spec would you recommend for the PvE server when you just hit 60 and want to run dungeons to gear up for raids?

i can solo farm mara with my raid spec, 7-21-23, so this is what i usually stick to to keep my respec costs low

How is Mara treating you for cash? I'm a big fan of DM:e as it provides me with a lot of overpriced dreamfoil, which means a lot of cash on the alliance side, but what kind of gold per hour does Mara give you once you get up to speed? Worth swapping?

[Soulxlock]

Which spec would you recommend for the PvE server when you just hit 60 and want to run dungeons to gear up for raids?

Depends on how you play and what you like doing, if you want to PvP and PvE, the only option is SM / Ruin, if you want to PvE only, I'd recommend DS / Ruin, especially since DS / Ruin is the best farm build out of the viable 60 specs.

I wanna do PvE only, so I guess you mean this spec from the 1st page?

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#Ix0 ... hoZvx0tM0z

I still have a long way to go to lvl 60 but I want to have the best spec for then . Thanks!

[Numi]

I wanna do PvE only, so I guess you mean this spec from the 1st page?

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#Ix0 ... hoZvx0tM0z

I still have a long way to go to lvl 60 but I want to have the best spec for then . Thanks!

I prefer this build, but it comes down to personal preference.