[Raiding] 0/21/40 Shadow/Fire Builds

TheEye · April 25, 2008, 12:14 PM

Eventually, when I replace my remaining +shadow damage gear with standard +damage, I'd like to try out fire destruction for a change of pace (now that fire is viable with the Emberstorm change). So, I recently came up with a few different builds:

1. Shadow Destruction

2. Fire Destruction

3. Shadow/Fire Hybrid Destruction

The one I was originally thinking of trying out is the hybrid one, the large benefit being that I could switch between shadow and fire based on raid composition, without having to respec. However, when using this build for shadow, one would miss out on what I find to be extremely useful talents (Nether Protection, Soul Leech, and Cataclysm, though I'm not sure quite how much difference Cataclysm makes in your average fight).
When using the hybrid build for fire, there's not as much difference, but again one would miss out on Cataclysm.

(I don't think I need to explain how Soul Leech is useful, but if you're wondering about Nether Protection, I run ZA whenever it resets, and it seems incredibly helpful for the Hex Lord fight, among others. Again, I'm not entirely sure about Cataclysm.)

So, the discussion I'm looking for is whether this hybrid build is good enough to use on a regular basis, allowing a warlock to switch between shadow and fire at will. Or, if it is instead worth the respec fees whenever necessary, in order to get the increased survivability of Nether Protection and Soul Leech, and/or the increased dps of Cataclysm. Also, if anyone has a different preferred destruction build, please feel free to suggest it instead.

April 25, 2008, 12:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
TheEye Registered Character Info Bloodyeye 70 Blood Elf Warlock Gul'dan US PvP Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/21/40	[Raiding] 0/21/40 Shadow/Fire Builds Eventually, when I replace my remaining +shadow damage gear with standard +damage, I'd like to try out fire destruction for a change of pace (now that fire is viable with the Emberstorm change). So, I recently came up with a few different builds: 1. Shadow Destruction 2. Fire Destruction 3. Shadow/Fire Hybrid Destruction The one I was originally thinking of trying out is the hybrid one, the large benefit being that I could switch between shadow and fire based on raid composition, without having to respec. However, when using this build for shadow, one would miss out on what I find to be extremely useful talents (Nether Protection, Soul Leech, and Cataclysm, though I'm not sure quite how much difference Cataclysm makes in your average fight). When using the hybrid build for fire, there's not as much difference, but again one would miss out on Cataclysm. (I don't think I need to explain how Soul Leech is useful, but if you're wondering about Nether Protection, I run ZA whenever it resets, and it seems incredibly helpful for the Hex Lord fight, among others. Again, I'm not entirely sure about Cataclysm.) So, the discussion I'm looking for is whether this hybrid build is good enough to use on a regular basis, allowing a warlock to switch between shadow and fire at will. Or, if it is instead worth the respec fees whenever necessary, in order to get the increased survivability of Nether Protection and Soul Leech, and/or the increased dps of Cataclysm. Also, if anyone has a different preferred destruction build, please feel free to suggest it instead.