What spell line-up should I use for PvE at level 41? (drain tanking?)

[sofakng]

I've just hit level 41 and am purely Affliction specced with Dark Pact.

Should I start drain tanking?

I've tried doing this and it seems to work very well but I seem to kill mobs before my dots can do their full damage.

Here is what I'm doing:

1) Send in Succubus
2) Siphon Life
3) Curse of Agony
4) Corruption
5) Life Tap (once or twice)
<< Mob is next to me by this point >>
6) Drain Life
7) Drain Soul (right before it dies, but sometimes I cast it too late)

Does that sound right? I need to cast Drain Life as soon as possible because the mob immediately aggros me after I cast Corruption (and the succubus is weak so I don't wait her tanking for very long at all). I'm just afraid that my mana is being wasted on the dots, but I don't know.

Also, should I be drain tanking two mobs at a time or just stick to one?

Here is my profile: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...omaggus&n=Sayk

Thanks for any help!

[0ni]

Well, why dont you user VW? I think He is really better by not let you take the aggro..
Just my thought i never used succubus anyway.

[sofakng]

Unless I'm mistaken, the succubus does considerably more damage and has slightly higher mana regeneration than the voidwalker...

[Erlo]

your spell rotation is ok, but the vw holds aggro much better than succy. seeing that the vw has taunt unlike succy

[Zarage]

I will make this very clear:

"You're supposed to be getting hit in the conventional "Drain Tanking" method."

And here is a link for a guide explaining, why YOU are the tank, and not your pet. We are talking affliction spec here, not demonology

A Guide to "Drain Tanking" (Draft 3)

[Devetaki]

Yea, the succubus does a lot more damage, though I was also a scerred warlock and didn't want to get hit either. I used my VW for most of my drain tanking, though my little Hesanda would out DPS him and thus kill the mob faster and let me move on. I would might consider using CoS. It will up your shadow damage and thus give you more life back because of the +damage to SL and drain life and might actually add more DPS overall than Curse of Agony.

[Umbralpuff]

If you're taking on just the one mob, then I'm guessing that you are wasting a little bit of mana. That depends on the mob, of course.

It seems like Curse of Agony is probably not maximizing its potential. And honestly, I know I drain tanked at that level and liked it, but I can't for the life of me remember exactly what I did..nevertheless I have some suggestions. I aslo welcome criticism of my methods

For single targets:

create a macro that will cast the first spell in your spellsequence and send in the pet at the same time. (if you haven't already done so)

1)try opening with Corr and sending in succy at max range. The health you'd gain by opening siphon doesn't do you much good until the mob gets to you. I'm assuming you start the fight at max health there. If that's not the case, by all means, start with siphon

2) Corr/siphon as appropriate

3)if you really want to curse, try CoS, but you could probably skip cursing altogether, the GCD seems more of a pain than the curse is worth

4) Try to get off a SB before the mob gets to you

5) life tap

6)drain life until draining it's soul is necessary.

In regard to pet choice, in my humble and non-extensive experience, the vw is only useful in very specific situations and can't hold aggro for crackers so you might as well use the succy. Unless you go demo and get a Felguard, if you're drain tanking and going at a good clip, there isn't a pet who's going to be able to keep aggro off you. That's kind of the point of being able to drain.

For multiple targets, DoT up, Fear, and drain life as much as you can handle while getting some drain souls at the right time for mana recovery.

[Caniki]

I used my imp when I was drain tanking. Kept him phase-shifted the whole time. The Succubus didn't contribute enough damage to make her worth using over having the constant mana battery that is the Imp (not to mention, she didn't come with Blood Pact).

[Thralock]

I level to 58 as affliction. Some tips:
1) Open with Immolate or Unstable Affliction (when you get it) - By opening I mean you are not in combat yet. You WILL get aggro but you ARE drain tanking after all! Once tanking don't bother with
2) Then Siphon Life, Curse of Agony (CoT casters), Corr (NOTE: the 4% extra drain life for each affliction effect - so that is a total of 12% (or 16% when you get UA)) and mean that your dots aren't always a waste.
3) LT if your hp is >90%, otherwise Drain Life - rinse repeat step 3, renew Corruption maybe if a tough mob.
4) Drain Soul (RANK 1) before mob dies to reap the mana refund (get a macro/mod to delete excess shards).

Whether you have Succubus or Imp matters little for a single target - since you're on a PVP server succubus might be handy for gankers (however my experience on PVP server is that ganking is done by high level characters and most people on Azeroth don't bother you). Don't use VW. FH is ok for groups of casters but I rarely bothered. Imp is best in my opinion particularly if your trying for a multi mob pulling or kiting an elite (i.e. fire shield & extra stam or stam & mana regen). His mana regen is simply the best.

RE: "kill mobs before my dots can do their full damage."
Is this efficiency really a problem? What is your objective? If it's leveling/grinding, then the measure of efficiency you should be using is more aligned to XP/hour or measures that help your XP/Hour such as how much mana/health you have left after a pull or are you IMMEDIATELY ready for the next mob - and you should be ready as affliction is extremely efficient for leveling.

RE: "should I be drain tanking two mobs at a time or just stick to one?"
Without fear or iHoT, I found multiple mob drain tanking difficult. Best way is to try 2, then try 3. Again XP/hour is really your only efficient metric whilst leveling.

[amiddleona]

your sequence sounds fine. You can do pulls of 2 at a time if they are below your level. mob 1 is the first guy and 2 is the second
SL (1)/succy (1) same time
SL (2)
Curse of Agony (2)
Corruption (2)
Curse of Agony (1)
Corruption (1)
DL (1)
DL (2) when it dies
that is what I would do.
Also you can use fear but I find it takes longer to go loot the guys if you use fear and there for just tank both of them.
Once you get Imp. HoT you can pull them 3 at a time and dot dot dot fear dot dot dot tank 1