Raiding: T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS

Sashivna · July 02, 2008, 08:01 PM

Character Name: Sashivna
Armory Link: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...and&n=Sashivna
Warcrafter Link: http://silverhand-us.warcrafter.net/Sashivna
Talent Build: Warcrafter link has talent build.

Quick Info
Health:9710
Mana:9595
+Damage:776 shadow/719 rest
+Hit: 121
+Crit: 12%
Have you read the gearing guide? Yes

Items/Slots in need of immediate upgrade:

Trinket -- considering Icon of the Silver Crescent
Hands -- more of a healer's gloves, but hey, it was an upgrade to what I had.

Upgrades you are currently working on:
List any upgrades you are currently working on and where you are at. For example:

Belt of Blasting -- currently having a tailor w/ the pattern making it.
Considering purchasing Icon of Silver Crescent, but looking for advice regarding where to spend my measly 54 badges.
About to replace the +crit enchant on my gloves to +damage (the +crit was cheap at the time and I was hoping to replace them soon).

All about you:
I raid 1-2 nights per week (KZ/some Gruul/Mags/starting ZA and little TK). When I can, I try to farm up the mats for all of my crafting needs -- including using my sister's alchemist mage for my consumables.

Now, after reading so much on these boards I'm scared that I am not where I should be in regards to damage. I'm definitely not topping the charts. For example, I'm linking the WWS report to my last ZA run:

http://wowwebstats.com/nf1o6yzk3fq2u

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's my computer lag. Maybe it's my gear/gems/etc not where they should be. Maybe I'm missing something else. I've tried using the spreadsheet, but I'll be honest -- my degrees are in English, so it pretty much just has me scratching my head.

Thank you all in advance (and for putting up such a kick a$$ site!!!).

-- Mistress Sashivna

Valimir · July 03, 2008, 05:53 AM

I'm useless with the spreadsheet and I actually work with stats

Your gear is good except for the items you noted. In terms of badge gear I think you should pick up the

1. Icon of the Silver Crescent,
2. Fused Nethergon Band
3. Studious Wraps/Enslaved Doomguard Soulgrips,

And get them in that order. With luck you'll get the gloves from Attumen or Maggy though. You could also get the Merciless Gladiator's Felweave Gloves which are about 10k honor and are much better than the ones you have now - 10k is easily farmed.

Enchants: Bracers could use Spellpower but it's expensive and you might not keep those bracers for very long. Again, I'd farm the honor for the Vindicator's Silk Cuffs if they're still available or hope for the Fury of the Ursine to drop. Those definitely need enchanting with Spellpower as they will last a long time. When you get a good cloak get it enchanted with Subtelty - it's an expensive enchant and I wouldn't put it on the cloak you have atm unless you are loaded with gold/time to farm the mats.

Gems: I don't want to be rude but your gemming is terrible. At you stage of raiding the ONLY gems you should use should be +spell damage, +spell hit, or +spell damage/+spell hit orange gems, maybe the +spell damage/+stam hybrid gem if it gets you a useful socket bonus. There is no reason for you to use +12 stamina gems or any Talasite. In fact, you should NEVER use Green or Blue gems in your gear, they are all rubbish for warlocks. And remember there is a difference between +haste and +spell haste. Also ignore socket bonuses unless they give good spell damage or spell hit. You don't need 9.7k unbuffed stamina as a T4/T5 raiding warlock.

Talents: Some wasted talent points there. If you can re-gem to get around 175 Spell Hit then you only need 1 point in suppression (and you shadow bolt will hit more

).

Try this talent build and gem set-up (I've also added in the Icon of the Silver Crescent which you should get straight away). It uses all the gear you have now and with Fel Armor you have stats of 968 Shadow Damage, 174 Spell Hit, and 8.8k Health (buffed with Improved Blood Pact).

http://www.warcrafter.net/sandbox/27750

I will almost guarantee your damage output will fly up and the mages you run with will cry with jealousy (which is our main aim as warlocks

)

Oh, and with this build use Curse of Shadow or Curse of Elements instead of Curse of Agony, it's better for raid dps.

Sashivna · July 03, 2008, 08:05 AM

Thank you, Valimir! You pretty much confirmed what I was going to do first with my badges.

Re: gems -- You're right on with the gemming -- some of those I picked because they were cheaper and I was saving cash for things like my epic mount, mats for my spellstrike hood and most recently my belt of blasting (got it last night, so I know that will help).

One question, though. I know you've said stay away from the +12 stam, but pretty soon I'm going to finish the ZA quest that gives me the Charmed Amani Jewel (+15 stam). It's free, and I'm miserly, so I feel like I need to use it. Was thinking about tossing it into my BoB since there are no base stats there. I also have a dawnstone that I'm going to have cut into a +8 spell hit gem for it.

I think I have some leftover mindset from playing a raiding druid in EQ for so many years. People with lower hitpoints usually needed more attention, taking my attention away from the MT........ so I guess I don't want to be a burden on the healers when I have so much in my arsenal to be self sufficient.

Re: Enchants -- As an enchanter, I always feel like I need to have everything enchanted that I can, so as soon as I got the spell penetration to cloak, I slapped it on.
Also, I just realized that I haven't enchanted my Voidheart robe -- I was debating on the +150 health or +6 stats. Pretty much everything I read says to do one or the other, but I can't recall seeing anyone make a good argument for which is better.

Re: Bracers -- Now, I don't PvP except for the occasional Halaa run. In fact, I'd rather go to Winterspring and fish for cash.

And one more question: I've seen a lot of debates everywhere regarding the Trial-Fire trousers (which I currently have). At my level, it seems to come down to Trial-Fire vs. Spellstrike vs. Voidheart. I am a 375 tailor, so I'd get the bonus on the Spellstrike. I've read what CanadianPimp has said in his gear guide, but I guess I've just seen so many mixed reviews.

Again, thanks everyone for building such a fantastic community!

--Mistress Sashivna

Amsiroth · July 03, 2008, 09:19 AM

Well, the first thing I noticed is that while your gear is by no means bad, it could certainly stand some improvement.

First off, socketing: don't use the +stamina gems for PvE. The only one that is acceptable is the Glowing Nightseye (5 damage, 6 stamina) and even then it isn't that great. If you have a PvP set, that's where you throw those in. For your level of raiding, you need spell hit and damage gems. The ones with Int, mp2, and stamina really aren't needed. Veiled Noble Topaz, the 8 hit gems, and Runed Living Rubies are gonna be your bread and butter for the most part. Obviously hit is the most important stat you want to build at the moment if you are raiding, but don't neglect your damage as well. In regard to your wanting more health for raids, as long as you've got about 9-10k buffed for raids, you're fine (this is t4-early t5 raids I speak of).

I know that what I suggested is expensive, but it will help your performance.

Second, the trial-fire trousers--I'd really suggest replacing those with the Spellstrike pants. You have slightly more raw damage on the TF pants, with an equal number of sockets and more Int/Stam. With Spellstrike, you have hit and crit on your pants as well. The only thing you lose is 3 damage, and some stamina and int. Again, getting those made will increase your DPS. The Spellstrike set bonus is nice as well and it procs fairly often.

Third, your weapon. The Staff of Infinite Mysteries is by no means a bad weapon. However, with Season 4 having launched, the Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade is available for purchase with Honor. That's 225 spelldamage with 15 hit. Enchant it and add an off-hand you've upped your spell damage quite a bit. The Honor Grind can be a pain, I know, but in case you wanted to do this, it is Alterac Valley weekend coming up, which is the best time to grind honor.

Fourth, work on your Sha'tar and Cenarion Expedition rep. You at least need to hit revered with Sha'tar so you can get the Glyph of Power (22 damage, 14 hit). The Glyph of the Gladiator is good for PvP, but pretty much useless for raiding, especially when compared with the Glyph of Power. When you hit Exalted with CE, you can grab Ashyen's Gift (as I'm sure you know, since you read the gearing guide) which will help your spell hit.

Fifth, your gloves. You know need some new ones, so as soon as a new pair comes up, I'd grab those and not worry about doing anything to your current gloves. You can go for the Badge Gloves, the Gloves from Mag, Attumen, or the gloves that drop from Kael'thas in regular MGT. Any of those choices, socketed appropriately along with the 20 damage enchant will again help your DPS to increase.

Sixth, your trinkets--yes they need a little work, but the Scryer's bloodgem isn't bad at all. Quagmirran's Eye (heroic SP), Timbal's Focusing Crystal (heroic MGT), Icon of the Silver Crescent, Darkmoon Card: Crusade, and the Hex Shrunken Head (this is the best of the ones I listed) are all upgrades. Ideally, you want enough spell hit from gear alone that you can take away the Scryer's Bloodgem. Work for that.

Seventh, your bracers could be better. The best for your level of raiding are probably Fury of the Ursine off of Nalorakk. After that, the Vindicator's Silk Cuffs are probably your next best bet, followed by the Bands of Nefarious Deeds off of Maiden in Kara. I'd get the 15 damage enchant done on them as well.

Last, your spec. The affliction side of it looks alright, but I do think you spent too many points in there. However, the biggest error I see is in the destro tree. Cataclysm is for the most part a waste of talent points. DPS wise, you'd be much better served by taking those points out and putting them into Bane. For affliction raiding, a spec like mine or the one Valimir listed would be much better for you.

Hope this helps! Let us know how it goes.

Valimir · July 03, 2008, 02:19 PM

Fair enough on the PVP Sashivna, some people just can't stand it. In that case get the Bands of Nefarious Deeds off Maiden, or add the Runed Spell Cuffs to your badge shopping list (think they're 35 badges so pretty cheap).

I'd probably use that Amani jewel in the BoB too, loads of people gem it with that jewel. I just happened to have a +12 spell damage gem from the MgT attunement quest so used that.

Voidheart trousers don't even come into it for me. I'd have the Spellstrike but if you're short of cash then Trial-Fire are decent. You will get Spellstrike eventually though, they pretty much last until T6. The Spellstrike set is just awesome dps but if you are a nervous type then the lack of stamina might be scary.

Really don't worry about your HP. You need around 8k fully buffed in Kara and that is just to survive Aran's acane missiles. As long as you can move away from Cave-ins and other raid damage you should be all right. Even in early BT you only need 10k health, and that is fully buffed! Just watch your threat and make sure tanks are doing there jobs and you will be fine. Make those healers work! They expect it from warlocks anyway with us lifetapping away.

And got to agree with Amsiroth, Cataclysm is an awful talent. With Dark Pact and Lifetap you don't need to worry about conserving mana.

Sashivna · July 04, 2008, 07:59 AM

Thank you guys for your great advice! I've started regemming (ouch!) and respecced so that I can be more effective. I'll let you guys know how it works out after my next raid.

Sashivna · July 08, 2008, 07:29 AM

Hi folks! I just wanted to give you guys an update. I've done some regemming, although I haven't finished. I've also gotten my BoB and my Icon. I've done some tweaking to my spec as well. Our MT is digging the new imptastic imp.

I can definitely see much improvement. I'm still not topping the damage chart (supermage makes me want to cry :/), but I'm okay with that.

Here's the latest WWS report: WWS Loading...

I've actually had to start watching my threat carefully, so I take that as a sign that I'm doing far more damage than I used to.

Again, thank you Valimir and Amsiroth for your advice.

July 02, 2008, 08:01 PM	#1 (permalink)
Sashivna Registered Character Info Sashivna 70 Human Warlock Silver Hand US RP PvE Guild: Razor's Edge Talent Spec: 42/10/9	T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS *Character Name:* Sashivna *Armory Link:* http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...and&n=Sashivna *Warcrafter Link:* http://silverhand-us.warcrafter.net/Sashivna *Talent Build:* Warcrafter link has talent build. Quick Info Health:9710 Mana:9595 +Damage:776 shadow/719 rest +Hit: 121 +Crit: 12% Have you read the gearing guide? Yes Items/Slots in need of immediate upgrade: Trinket -- considering Icon of the Silver Crescent Hands -- more of a healer's gloves, but hey, it was an upgrade to what I had. Upgrades you are currently working on: List any upgrades you are currently working on and where you are at. For example: Belt of Blasting -- currently having a tailor w/ the pattern making it. Considering purchasing Icon of Silver Crescent, but looking for advice regarding where to spend my measly 54 badges. About to replace the +crit enchant on my gloves to +damage (the +crit was cheap at the time and I was hoping to replace them soon). All about you: I raid 1-2 nights per week (KZ/some Gruul/Mags/starting ZA and little TK). When I can, I try to farm up the mats for all of my crafting needs -- including using my sister's alchemist mage for my consumables. Now, after reading so much on these boards I'm scared that I am not where I should be in regards to damage. I'm definitely not topping the charts. For example, I'm linking the WWS report to my last ZA run: http://wowwebstats.com/nf1o6yzk3fq2u Maybe it's me. Maybe it's my computer lag. Maybe it's my gear/gems/etc not where they should be. Maybe I'm missing something else. I've tried using the spreadsheet, but I'll be honest -- my degrees are in English, so it pretty much just has me scratching my head. Thank you all in advance (and for putting up such a kick a$$ site!!!). -- Mistress Sashivna

July 03, 2008, 05:53 AM	#2 (permalink)
Valimir Member	Re: T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS I'm useless with the spreadsheet and I actually work with stats Your gear is good except for the items you noted. In terms of badge gear I think you should pick up the 1. Icon of the Silver Crescent, 2. Fused Nethergon Band 3. Studious Wraps/Enslaved Doomguard Soulgrips, And get them in that order. With luck you'll get the gloves from Attumen or Maggy though. You could also get the Merciless Gladiator's Felweave Gloves which are about 10k honor and are much better than the ones you have now - 10k is easily farmed. Enchants: Bracers could use Spellpower but it's expensive and you might not keep those bracers for very long. Again, I'd farm the honor for the Vindicator's Silk Cuffs if they're still available or hope for the Fury of the Ursine to drop. Those definitely need enchanting with Spellpower as they will last a long time. When you get a good cloak get it enchanted with Subtelty - it's an expensive enchant and I wouldn't put it on the cloak you have atm unless you are loaded with gold/time to farm the mats. Gems: I don't want to be rude but your gemming is terrible. At you stage of raiding the ONLY gems you should use should be +spell damage, +spell hit, or +spell damage/+spell hit orange gems, maybe the +spell damage/+stam hybrid gem if it gets you a useful socket bonus. There is no reason for you to use +12 stamina gems or any Talasite. In fact, you should NEVER use Green or Blue gems in your gear, they are all rubbish for warlocks. And remember there is a difference between +haste and +spell haste. Also ignore socket bonuses unless they give good spell damage or spell hit. You don't need 9.7k unbuffed stamina as a T4/T5 raiding warlock. Talents: Some wasted talent points there. If you can re-gem to get around 175 Spell Hit then you only need 1 point in suppression (and you shadow bolt will hit more ). Try this talent build and gem set-up (I've also added in the Icon of the Silver Crescent which you should get straight away). It uses all the gear you have now and with Fel Armor you have stats of 968 Shadow Damage, 174 Spell Hit, and 8.8k Health (buffed with Improved Blood Pact). http://www.warcrafter.net/sandbox/27750 I will almost guarantee your damage output will fly up and the mages you run with will cry with jealousy (which is our main aim as warlocks ) Oh, and with this build use Curse of Shadow or Curse of Elements instead of Curse of Agony, it's better for raid dps. Last edited by Valimir; July 03, 2008 at 05:56 AM.

July 03, 2008, 08:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
Sashivna Registered Character Info Sashivna 70 Human Warlock Silver Hand US RP PvE Guild: Razor's Edge Talent Spec: 42/10/9	Re: T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS Thank you, Valimir! You pretty much confirmed what I was going to do first with my badges. Re: gems -- You're right on with the gemming -- some of those I picked because they were cheaper and I was saving cash for things like my epic mount, mats for my spellstrike hood and most recently my belt of blasting (got it last night, so I know that will help). One question, though. I know you've said stay away from the +12 stam, but pretty soon I'm going to finish the ZA quest that gives me the Charmed Amani Jewel (+15 stam). It's free, and I'm miserly, so I feel like I need to use it. Was thinking about tossing it into my BoB since there are no base stats there. I also have a dawnstone that I'm going to have cut into a +8 spell hit gem for it. I think I have some leftover mindset from playing a raiding druid in EQ for so many years. People with lower hitpoints usually needed more attention, taking my attention away from the MT........ so I guess I don't want to be a burden on the healers when I have so much in my arsenal to be self sufficient. Re: Enchants -- As an enchanter, I always feel like I need to have everything enchanted that I can, so as soon as I got the spell penetration to cloak, I slapped it on. Also, I just realized that I haven't enchanted my Voidheart robe -- I was debating on the +150 health or +6 stats. Pretty much everything I read says to do one or the other, but I can't recall seeing anyone make a good argument for which is better. Re: Bracers -- Now, I don't PvP except for the occasional Halaa run. In fact, I'd rather go to Winterspring and fish for cash. And one more question: I've seen a lot of debates everywhere regarding the Trial-Fire trousers (which I currently have). At my level, it seems to come down to Trial-Fire vs. Spellstrike vs. Voidheart. I am a 375 tailor, so I'd get the bonus on the Spellstrike. I've read what CanadianPimp has said in his gear guide, but I guess I've just seen so many mixed reviews. Again, thanks everyone for building such a fantastic community! --Mistress Sashivna

July 03, 2008, 09:19 AM	#4 (permalink)
Amsiroth Member Character Info Amsiroth 70 Human Warlock Malfurion US PvE Guild: Anathema Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 41/0/20	Re: T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS Well, the first thing I noticed is that while your gear is by no means bad, it could certainly stand some improvement. First off, socketing: don't use the +stamina gems for PvE. The only one that is acceptable is the Glowing Nightseye (5 damage, 6 stamina) and even then it isn't that great. If you have a PvP set, that's where you throw those in. For your level of raiding, you need spell hit and damage gems. The ones with Int, mp2, and stamina really aren't needed. Veiled Noble Topaz, the 8 hit gems, and Runed Living Rubies are gonna be your bread and butter for the most part. Obviously hit is the most important stat you want to build at the moment if you are raiding, but don't neglect your damage as well. In regard to your wanting more health for raids, as long as you've got about 9-10k buffed for raids, you're fine (this is t4-early t5 raids I speak of). I know that what I suggested is expensive, but it will help your performance. Second, the trial-fire trousers--I'd really suggest replacing those with the Spellstrike pants. You have slightly more raw damage on the TF pants, with an equal number of sockets and more Int/Stam. With Spellstrike, you have hit and crit on your pants as well. The only thing you lose is 3 damage, and some stamina and int. Again, getting those made will increase your DPS. The Spellstrike set bonus is nice as well and it procs fairly often. Third, your weapon. The Staff of Infinite Mysteries is by no means a bad weapon. However, with Season 4 having launched, the Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade is available for purchase with Honor. That's 225 spelldamage with 15 hit. Enchant it and add an off-hand you've upped your spell damage quite a bit. The Honor Grind can be a pain, I know, but in case you wanted to do this, it is Alterac Valley weekend coming up, which is the best time to grind honor. Fourth, work on your Sha'tar and Cenarion Expedition rep. You at least need to hit revered with Sha'tar so you can get the Glyph of Power (22 damage, 14 hit). The Glyph of the Gladiator is good for PvP, but pretty much useless for raiding, especially when compared with the Glyph of Power. When you hit Exalted with CE, you can grab Ashyen's Gift (as I'm sure you know, since you read the gearing guide) which will help your spell hit. Fifth, your gloves. You know need some new ones, so as soon as a new pair comes up, I'd grab those and not worry about doing anything to your current gloves. You can go for the Badge Gloves, the Gloves from Mag, Attumen, or the gloves that drop from Kael'thas in regular MGT. Any of those choices, socketed appropriately along with the 20 damage enchant will again help your DPS to increase. Sixth, your trinkets--yes they need a little work, but the Scryer's bloodgem isn't bad at all. Quagmirran's Eye (heroic SP), Timbal's Focusing Crystal (heroic MGT), Icon of the Silver Crescent, Darkmoon Card: Crusade, and the Hex Shrunken Head (this is the best of the ones I listed) are all upgrades. Ideally, you want enough spell hit from gear alone that you can take away the Scryer's Bloodgem. Work for that. Seventh, your bracers could be better. The best for your level of raiding are probably Fury of the Ursine off of Nalorakk. After that, the Vindicator's Silk Cuffs are probably your next best bet, followed by the Bands of Nefarious Deeds off of Maiden in Kara. I'd get the 15 damage enchant done on them as well. Last, your spec. The affliction side of it looks alright, but I do think you spent too many points in there. However, the biggest error I see is in the destro tree. Cataclysm is for the most part a waste of talent points. DPS wise, you'd be much better served by taking those points out and putting them into Bane. For affliction raiding, a spec like mine or the one Valimir listed would be much better for you. Hope this helps! Let us know how it goes.

July 03, 2008, 02:19 PM	#5 (permalink)
Valimir Member	Re: T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS Fair enough on the PVP Sashivna, some people just can't stand it. In that case get the Bands of Nefarious Deeds off Maiden, or add the Runed Spell Cuffs to your badge shopping list (think they're 35 badges so pretty cheap). I'd probably use that Amani jewel in the BoB too, loads of people gem it with that jewel. I just happened to have a +12 spell damage gem from the MgT attunement quest so used that. Voidheart trousers don't even come into it for me. I'd have the Spellstrike but if you're short of cash then Trial-Fire are decent. You will get Spellstrike eventually though, they pretty much last until T6. The Spellstrike set is just awesome dps but if you are a nervous type then the lack of stamina might be scary. Really don't worry about your HP. You need around 8k fully buffed in Kara and that is just to survive Aran's acane missiles. As long as you can move away from Cave-ins and other raid damage you should be all right. Even in early BT you only need 10k health, and that is fully buffed! Just watch your threat and make sure tanks are doing there jobs and you will be fine. Make those healers work! They expect it from warlocks anyway with us lifetapping away. And got to agree with Amsiroth, Cataclysm is an awful talent. With Dark Pact and Lifetap you don't need to worry about conserving mana.

July 04, 2008, 07:59 AM	#6 (permalink)
Sashivna Registered Character Info Sashivna 70 Human Warlock Silver Hand US RP PvE Guild: Razor's Edge Talent Spec: 42/10/9	Re: T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS Thank you guys for your great advice! I've started regemming (ouch!) and respecced so that I can be more effective. I'll let you guys know how it works out after my next raid.

July 08, 2008, 07:29 AM	#7 (permalink)
Sashivna Registered Character Info Sashivna 70 Human Warlock Silver Hand US RP PvE Guild: Razor's Edge Talent Spec: 42/10/9	Re: T4 Raiding Affliction Lock looking for advice on Gear/DPS Hi folks! I just wanted to give you guys an update. I've done some regemming, although I haven't finished. I've also gotten my BoB and my Icon. I've done some tweaking to my spec as well. Our MT is digging the new imptastic imp. I can definitely see much improvement. I'm still not topping the damage chart (supermage makes me want to cry :/), but I'm okay with that. Here's the latest WWS report: WWS Loading... I've actually had to start watching my threat carefully, so I take that as a sign that I'm doing far more damage than I used to. Again, thank you Valimir and Amsiroth for your advice.