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December 28, 2007, 11:45 AM
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#1 (permalink) |
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How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
I am a 43/7/11 spec. Everything has been rolling along very nicely until the last week or so when I have spent more time in the BGs and more time in Kara. I understand that my gear is not fantastic, but I am working on this. The problem I have found is that I just can't kill as fast as I need to in the BGs and in Kara. Obviously as an affliction specced loc, my dots take time to work. But I often don't have time to let them tick away anymore. In the BGs, I can get a fear or IHOT off or a DC off, but I am having problems getting a shadowbolt off to finish off the opposing player. Or if I do get one off, the other player is about 50% health and is headed back towards me and don't have time to get a nuke off. Perhaps I need to work on searing pain and shadowburn here. Here's another example. In Kara last night, we were fighting Ilhoof and when one of our guildies got shackled, it took me a long time to get shadowbolts off to free the guild member. A guild member or two died while shackled and the thought was that our DPS (this was directed toward me) wasn't good enough to break the shackles. I love the affliciton spec, but I have become frustrated. Maybe it is because I am so used to drain tanking that I am just not used to the speed I need in the BGs or Kara. I know how to play my class. I know how to keep my dots up and nuke, with no down time, when we take on bosses. I read the forums here almost daily. But I cannot keep up with the speed of mages or rogues. I never had this problem in my 40s, 50s or 60s. Can anyone give me a few suggestions on increasing my damage speed? Thanks. |
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December 28, 2007, 12:10 PM
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#2 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Kiralyn 80 Human Warlock Mal'Ganis US PvP Guild: Self Titled Profile: Blizzard Armory |
Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
Simple answer: you don't. Affliction is by definition a damage over time spec, and that is where it shines. Fire DoTs and forget about the target, it will drop eventually. Obviously this is a hard thing to play in PvP, where you need to be concerned primarily with staying alive. It's the nature of the spec, and if that's your big concern, I'd try something out for awhile. On Illhoof specifically, Shadow Bolt isn't the issue. Every 'lock has the same cast time there, so there isn't any effect on that DPS really except for gear. The thing here is, you shouldn't be using shadowbolt. Switch to the shackle, shadowburn, deathcoil if it's up, and spam searing pain. If your group is looking at you, make sure they realize that warlocks are the worst class at handling that type of situation. Rogues, Hunters and Mages are all better at quick burst DPS, and they should be carrying the load on a situation like that.
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Hell, it's about time. -Tychus Findlaw |
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December 28, 2007, 12:13 PM
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#3 (permalink) | |
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Character Info
Emeey 80 Human Warlock Burning Blade US PvP Guild: The Remedial Class Profile: Blizzard Armory |
Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
Quote:
And for Kara (been there more times than I want to count), I have never heard someone complain about the warlock not getting enough DPS on the shackle.... mainly because I have never seen one put on the shackle. Different strokes for different folks, but definately not your fault since, as said above, the burst DPS should be taking the brunt of that. |
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December 28, 2007, 12:18 PM
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#4 (permalink) | |
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Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
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December 28, 2007, 12:37 PM
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#5 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Dalnaresh 70 Undead Warlock Earthen Ring Euro RP Guild: TheDarkEmpire Profile: Blizzard Armory |
Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
The answer for Illhoof (as mentioned above) is searing pain. Even if you're the lucky lock on Seed duty, given that SP has a 1.5 second cast time you should be able to get at least one shot off. My raid have everybody but MT and healers on chains when they pop up - thats how seriously the threat has to be taken. In fact, as far as I recall, death coil and shadowburn don't even work on the Demon Chains (or totems) for that matter. I'll have to check that tonight. As for other stuff, I'm guessing that you are mainly having problems with trash dps? The simple fact is here that dots are bad for trash (unless it's the "mini-boss" trash that you sometimes get ie 80k health or above). For low health trash (35k or below) just spam shadow bolt, for 35k-80k I use corruption + UA plus shadowbolt, and above 80k I use a full dot rotation. Use Shadowburn to deliver killing blows if you can, if you run low on shards just drain soul (rank 1). |
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December 28, 2007, 12:40 PM
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#6 (permalink) | |
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Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
Quote:
I am getting better at not dotting trash and just using shadowbolts. I guess my brain is just hardwired to dot then nuke. I'm working on this. Thanks. |
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December 28, 2007, 12:44 PM
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#7 (permalink) | |
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Character Info
Emeey 80 Human Warlock Burning Blade US PvP Guild: The Remedial Class Profile: Blizzard Armory |
Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
Quote:
 Bust out searing pain and let those big burst DPSers do the rest. I guess I have always gone with melee heavy raids, never really had chains be a problem. (And maybe because I haven't been to Kara in months, slightly rusty ^^) But it's a group effort. Take Dalnaresh's advice for trash tho for sure!
Last edited by maiko; December 28, 2007 at 12:46 PM.. Reason: spelllllllling |
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December 29, 2007, 07:10 AM
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#8 (permalink) |
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Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
Affictionlocks don't finish off enemies, they dot everyone and stay out of reach... if a healer comes you dot him too, pvp as affiction lock is not about Shadowbolts... actually SB is a weakness since you need to stand still to cast it... cast running makes you strong ;) |
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December 29, 2007, 09:03 AM
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#9 (permalink) |
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Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
Yeah, I have to agree with what everyone else has said regarding Illhoof and PvP. Have all dps (except the seed lock) create a macro /target demon (even the guy tanking the big imp) and you will find the chains don't take that long to burn down. They definitely should not be pointing the finger at a non-burster though (yourself). As far as pvp goes, you just have to get used to it. I have tried FG, SL/SL, and my regular UA raid spec for pvp and I usually stick with UA. My arena rating blows (probably because I'm too cheap to spec into SL/SL every week), but I usually do fine in WSG,AB,EoTS (the ones where you actually have to kill people). Keep your felhunter out, develop a reflex for hitting ctrl-1, and try to focus on targets that you are meant to kill: spriests, mages, priests, some druids, shamans. Not a free kill by any means, but you stand a fair shot of burning them down before they can kill you. When you get a BM hunter or a rogue with all his cooldowns then just do what you can before they kill you. Non BM hunters are usually 50/50 depending on how long you have to dot them up before they notice you. Rogues with burnt cooldowns are actually very manageable. Plus you might have some bad habits you aren't aware of (I know I did and still have some): always run with the pack, don't be the first guy to burst into their flag room, stay at max range as you can to get your dots off, take advantage of obstacles that don't cause LOS problems to get your dots off. Little things like that can keep you alive longer. I dunno, i'm just rambling now. Hope you got an idea or two out of it though. |
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December 29, 2007, 11:50 PM
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#10 (permalink) |
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Re: How can an affliction lock speed up damage?
In raiding: UA/Corruption/Shadowbolt spam on squishy trash, make sure to throw up the appropriate curse if needed. On Illhoof in particular: Make a macro like this.. /tar dem /cast Shadowbolt (rank 11) In battlegrounds: UA->Corruption, run away as you cast siphon and the appropriate curse, then turn around and drain tank them as they run in. iHoT, drain life, searing pain->shadowburn. Pray a little, refresh dots and keep trucking.
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I'd mana tap that. |
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