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Old July 17, 2007, 05:51 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

Ok, so in the continued effort to ease the 3001 daily "rate my build" threads, I'm putting it out to all the talent build experts to collate and gather information on the best RAIDING builds. Going to start with this category as it seems to be the topic of the week in terms of builds lately.

The general idea behind this thread is to have people contribute and discuss raiding builds that we think should be listed as optimal builds to go to. If there appears to be certain builds that are classed as "best" for raiding, they will be worked into content pages to be linked in with the front page.

Below is a very rough guideline for the sort of information I'm looking for from those who want to contribute. There is no requirement to follow this layout, it's simply me thinking out loud. Feel free to customise is to suit you.

Quote:
Talent numbers : 40 / 21 / 0
Talent link : Provide link to wowhead talent layout

Information / Explanation about the talent build in general.

Must have talents:
Talent Name (x Points) - Explanation on why this is a must talent to include
Optional changes:
Comment on any talents you could swap for alternatives. Example might be swapping out Imp Healthstone for something else because you might already have Warlocks in the raid with points there. If you're feeling really generous, perhaps provide alternative build links:

Any information you want to provide to back up / show why the build is good for raiding.

Anything else you want to include in general.
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Old July 17, 2007, 06:12 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Character Info
Koniman
70 Human Warlock
Steamwheedle Cartel Euro RP Guild: House of Elements
Profile: Blizzard Armory
Talent Spec: 41/0/20
Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

Talent numbers : 41 / 0 / 20
Talent link : http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=AEMrbRfzVtboZxx0tr

This is my current build, probably the 4th version of a UA/Shadowbolt build. With this style of build Shadowbolts equal 40% of your damage and the rest is from DoTs.

Must have talents:
Affliction
Improved Corruption (5 Points) - Instant Corruption, its the most basic and most important thing in the affliction tree, saves a lot of time in your spell rotation.

Improved Drain Soul (2 Points) - 10% threat reduction. The less threat the better!

Grim Reach (2 Points) - Extends your range making it a lot easier to reach targets and stay well clear of AoE.

Shadow Mastery (5 Points) - 10% more damage to shadow, absolutely awsome.

Unstable Affliction (1 Point) - Extra dot that is almost as powerful as corruption. A great extra source of damage, on average better than ruin.

Destruction
Improved Shadow Bolt (5 Points) - A massive damage increase for shadowbolts.

Bane (5 Points) - Saves time and therefore more dps.

Destructive Reach (2 Points) - Reduces threat, less threat the better. And increases range, so you can be at the same max range as on affliction.

Optional changes:
You can change things around here, So long as you go as deep on affliction to UA and destruction to Destructive reach. you have some freedom. Imp healthstone instead of intensity is a good one if your a generous person.
Instant Howl is good for heroics and solo and pvp, but has less use in larger raids. So some points in fel concentration instead is good if you solo quite a bit, or feel you take damage and drain at the same time during raids.

Any information you want to provide to back up / show why the build is good for raiding:

UA/Shadow bolt build is simply the best build for raiding for many reasons. It is not very gear dependant unlike destruction. And it fully utilises all the DoTs a warlock has and adds to that the power of shadow bolts. It is steadily the top dps build for all warlocks.
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Old July 17, 2007, 06:50 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Conchrot
70 Undead Warlock
Anub'arak US PvP
Guild: Revolving Door
Profile: Blizzard Armory

Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

Affliction based Raid Build

Talent numbers : 41-44 / 0-2 / 17-20
Talent link : example build is 43/0/18

Affliction is not as cookie cutter as most raid specs. It is a very popular raid spec and a single Affliction Lock cannot do everything, so it is best to coordinate with other Locks in your guild to provide the most to your raid group. This is why there is no set number of points for each tree. Sometimes you will want to be 41/0/20, other times 42/1/18 would be best. The example build I have linked is meant for a Lock just entering Karazhan, and assumes only one Lock in the party.

Running this build requires a certian amount of "on-the-fly" thinking regarding spell cast sequences. On trash, you will have to judge how long your DoTs will be able to tick, and whether you will be better off spending your time casting Shadow Bolts. On boss fights, a typical DoT rotation would be UA > Corr > Immo > SL. Remember to only reapply DoTs after they have expired or else you will lose the last tick of damage. The exception to that rule is situations where you will be stunned/silenced/whatever'd for a period of time and want your DoTs ticking during that time. In most cases, CoS/CoE/CoW or other curses will be needed for the betterment of the raid as a group, but in cases where you are allowed to use damaging curses stick to the rule of Curse of Agony on trash and CoD on bosses.


Must have talents for EVERY Affliction Lock in your guild:
Improved Corruption (5 Points) - Improves DoTs
Improved Drain Soul (2 points) - Threat reduction
Amplify Curse (1 point) - Key for situations where you use CoD
Grim Reach (2 points) - Range is needed for raiding
Empowered Corruption (3 points) - Improves DoTs
Siphon Life (1 point) - Extra DoT
Shadow Mastery (5 points) - Improves almost all your damage
Contagion (5 points) - Improves DoTs and pre-req for UA
Dark Pact (1 point) - Best available talent for mana efficieny
Unstable Affliction (1 point) - Extra DoT
Improved Shadow Bolt (5 points) - SB Crits will buff ALL shadow damage (including DoTs and damage from other raid members)
Bane (5 points) - Improves SB and Immo
Shadowburn (1 point) - Burst damage for a burst damage light build
Devastation (5 points) - Greater chance to proc Imp SB
Destructive Reach (2 points) - Range and threat reduction
Must have talents for AT LEAST ONE Affliction Lock in your guild:
Improved Curse of Weakness (2 points) - It's better for a Lock to take this than to have a Warrior take Improved Demo Shout (don't take Malediction if you take this)
Shadow Embrace (5 points) - Again this helps the tanks, but only one Lock should have points in this since it doesn't stack.
Malediction (3 points) - Two Locks should have this to be putting up CoS and CoE (don't take Imp CoW if you take this)
Improved Healthstone (0, 1, and 2 points) - You should have three Locks with different ranks in this to provde 3 HS's to your tanks
Optional Talents:
Suppression (5 points) - Suppression is a great talent when you first start to raid and don't have much +spell hit gear, but it is limited to only affected Affliction spells. Shadow Bolt, Immolate, Soulshatter, Banish, and Enslave Demon are all abilities used frequently in raids that do not benefit from this talent. Drop Suppression once you get the required gear.
Improved Life Tap (2 points) - Usually included, but points can be taken from here if needed in other areas since Dark Pact provides very nice mana efficiency.
Soul Siphon (2 points) / Fel Concentration (5 points) - These will provide very little raiding benefit but will be useful if you plan on farming/PvPing.
Nightfall (2 points) - This is usually included since it is a small increase in DPS, but can be passed over if other talents are necessary.
Intensity (2 points) - Useful in some situations (like Hellfire tanking on Illhoof), but those situations can be worked around without this talent.
Howl of Terror (2 points) / Curse of Exhaustion (1 point) - Very nice talents that have limited usefulness in raids. Fit them into your build if you like to PvP or run heroics.

Last edited by NewfieDave; July 17, 2007 at 07:03 AM..
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Old July 17, 2007, 06:54 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Character Info
RooM
70 Gnome Warlock
Korgath US PvP
Guild: Death and Taxes

Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

Type: Full Support
Talent numbers: 45 / 5 / 11
Talent link: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=AEMr0RftVtcofZxx0z

Information:
This build maximizes all of the warlocks potential for raid support, while having staple talents that allow you to do great damage.

Talent Breakdown:
Affliction (45)

Suppression: 5/5 - With raiding it is important to reach the hit cap which is 16%. If you reach the hit cap with gear keep in mind there are some encounters that will require you to change your gear such as resist fights.

Improved Corruption: 5/5 - Instant corruption is a must have. There is no chance for it to be interrupted or be affected by pushback and you can cast it on the move.

Improved Drain Soul: 2/2 - The 10% affliction threat reduction this talent gives makes it a must have.

Soul Siphon: 2/2 - This talent is very useful since it will boost the amount of health you gain from the spell. This is not "needed", but it can very well save your life.

Amplify Curse: 1/1 - With the way the points are arranged in this build, this is most likely the best place to dump a single talent.

Grim Reach: 2/2 - The 20% extended reach with affliction you gain from this talent is great. It allows you to better position yourself and get out of harms way while still being able to attack.

Nightfall: 2/2 - Instant shadow bolts. Enough said!

Empowered Corruption: 3/3 - Allows your corruption to do 36% more damage based on your spell damage. You will always have corruption on your target so this is a guaranteed dps boost.

Shadow Embrace
: 5/5 - Reduces 5% physical damage your target causes. Based on your tanks gear this may not even give you a full 5%, but although the number is small it will prevent wipes. I have seen tanks get in the double digits and live because of this talent, every little bit helps. Also some bosses have AoE type abilities that are counted as physical damage and this will reduce that as well.

Siphon Life*: 1/1 - This is a nifty talent that will give you back health in one little talent point. It heals you, and does damage.*Needed for Shadow Mastery.

Shadow Mastery: 5/5 - This boosts all of your shadow damage in any tree by 10%. This is a must have talent and will increase your dps substantially.

Contagion*: 5/5 - This will increase the damage of your Corruption, Seed of Corruption, and Curse of Agony spells by 5%.*Needed for Unstable Affliction.

Dark Pact: 1/1 - This will transfer your pets mana to you, which is great since unlike lifetap you do not lose any health. There are some fights where you may be taking a good deal of damage or might not get heals, so having a way to get mana without losing your health is amazing.

Malediction: 3/3 - This will increase the damage bonus of your Curse of Shadows and Curse of Elements spell by 3%. This is a numbers game and every little bit helps, if you are going to be using one of these curses anyways, you should boost its damage. Especially if you have shadow priests, since more damage they do benefits the raid more in terms of health and mana.

Unstable Affliction
: 1/1 - This is a great spell and dot, which will yield very much damage. it should be always used and is very much a staple of this build.

Demonology (5)

Improved Healthstone: 2/2 - This will increase the amount your healthstones will heal for by 20% This works for you and for the people you give it to. Healthstones are amazing and should always be used by everyone, so having it heal more is better all around. Please note that you can have more then one healthstone have it be they are different ranks, so coordinate with the other warlocks so you get as many as possible.

Improved Imp: 3/3 - This will increase your imps blood pact ability by 30% which is an amazing talent to have. Blood pact will boost your entire parties hit points, and will no doubt save lives. This is especially useful if you are in the tank group, and there should be someone with this talent in that group.

Destruction (11)

Improved Shadow Bolt: 5/5 - Your critical strikes will increase the amount of shadow damage dealt to the target by 20% until four direct damage spells remove the effect, it can be refreshed by another critical hit by you. This is a good talent to have since it will boost damage by you and others.

Bane: 5/5 - Reduces the cast time of your Shadow bolt, Immolate and Soulfire spells. Faster cast times will equal more spells going off in a given time which correlates directly with your dps. A great talent to have by any means and is more of a dps boost then demonic aegis would be in the demonology tree.

Shadowburn: 1/1 - A powerful and instant direct damage spell. It is great all around, and is a wonderful finisher move. It has a cool down and requires a soulshard to use. If the target dies and yields experience within five seconds of the initial use you will be awarded back your shard.

Last edited by RooM; July 17, 2007 at 07:18 AM..
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Old July 17, 2007, 07:00 AM   #5 (permalink)
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Josslyn
70 Human Warlock
Hydraxis US PvE
Guild: Core
Profile: Blizzard Armory
Talent Spec: 31/9/21
Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=AEMdV0fzVtcocxZxx0z

Description to follow
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Old July 17, 2007, 07:02 AM   #6 (permalink)
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RooM
70 Gnome Warlock
Korgath US PvP
Guild: Death and Taxes

Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

While I think this thread is a great idea I can foresee it becoming something bad. With just a couple of responses there has already been bad information given, and if that is left out there then someone who does not know any better may fall victim to it. I mean no offense to the others who are trying to contribute but the thread explicitly says RAIDING builds, by "experts" and just skimming through what some of the others have posted it is clear that they are not following these guidelines.

Last edited by RooM; July 17, 2007 at 07:04 AM..
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Old July 17, 2007, 07:16 AM   #7 (permalink)
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Conchrot
70 Undead Warlock
Anub'arak US PvP
Guild: Revolving Door
Profile: Blizzard Armory

Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by RooM View Post
While I think this thread is a great idea I can foresee it becoming something bad. With just a couple of responses there has already been bad information given, and if that is left out there then someone who does not know any better may fall victim to it. I mean no offense to the others who are trying to contribute but the thread explicitly says RAIDING builds, by "experts" and just skimming through what some of the others have posted it is clear that they are not following these guidelines.
What do you have a problem with and how do you define "expert"?

There is no reason why bad information can't be corrected

Last edited by NewfieDave; July 17, 2007 at 07:19 AM..
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Old July 17, 2007, 07:22 AM   #8 (permalink)
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Character Info
Rizob
70 Gnome Warlock
US PvE
Profile: Blizzard Armory
Talent Spec: 0/21/40
Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by RooM View Post
While I think this thread is a great idea I can foresee it becoming something bad. With just a couple of responses there has already been bad information given, and if that is left out there then someone who does not know any better may fall victim to it. I mean no offense to the others who are trying to contribute but the thread explicitly says RAIDING builds, by "experts" and just skimming through what some of the others have posted it is clear that they are not following these guidelines.
There will likely be a distribution of good/bad raiding builds and explanations posted here. Akasha did claim that the posted builds with a general consensus of being "the best" will be given their own content pages. I imagine this content will be subject to feedback and hopefully the bad information will be weeded out at that time. This seems to be more of a 'brainstorming' type thread to just get a list of popular builds and explanations.

edit: Honestly, probably just going to have just a small set of talent builds with variations of about 10talents points between them. So far, it's mostly been UA/Bane + extra talents. Other than that, you've got 0/21/40 as the popular destro raiding build.

Can probably throw in 30/21/10, heavy destro (shadowfury+), and heavy demo 0/40/21 (or felguard for that matter) as some of the lesser used but viable raiding builds. Not experienced with these builds but I've known locks to use them.

Last edited by Rizob; July 17, 2007 at 07:33 AM..
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Old July 17, 2007, 07:55 AM   #9 (permalink)
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Kiralyn
80 Human Warlock
Mal'Ganis US PvP
Guild: Self Titled
Profile: Blizzard Armory
Talent Spec: ??.??.??
Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

We really only need to cover the big builds. 41/0/13 +x, 0/21/40, 0/40/21. I think those are really about it as far as pure raiding builds. Most of the hybrid specs are suited to arena. I'm currently debating as weather my spec (0/14/47) is viable enough in a raid to warrant a post. DPS is fine, but i generally don't recommend a fire'lock as a serious raider. I get away with it, but that in no way makes it optimal.

What do you guys think? Is fire-based destro popular enough these days to get a post? I know I've been having to reply to a lot of posts with bad information lately. I hit two this morning that were touting cast sequences with Conflag. Maybe we do need one up here...
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Old July 17, 2007, 08:04 AM   #10 (permalink)
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Conchrot
70 Undead Warlock
Anub'arak US PvP
Guild: Revolving Door
Profile: Blizzard Armory

Re: Raiding Builds - Collecting all info!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiralyn View Post
What do you guys think? Is fire-based destro popular enough these days to get a post?
Fire Locks can be a decent choice if your guild is heavy on Fire Mages, but most guilds seem to be stacking a whole lot of shadow based damage these days. There is more group synergy between shadow casters than fire casters, and our guild is usually most successful when we cater to the shadow DPS.
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