Warlock Right for Raiding Part Three

Caliquey · Caliquey on Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:23 pm

Warlock sets

Tier 4
[Voidheart Crown] - Prince Malchazaar
[Voidheart Mantle] - High King Maulgar
[Voidheart Robe] - Magtheridon
[Voidheart Leggings] - Gruul the Dragonkiller
[Voidheart Gloves] - Curator

2p set bonus reported to have a 10% proc rate and does proc off dots (confirmation needed).
4p set bonus grants both Corruption and Immolate an extra tic, increasing total damage per cast of Corruption by 16% and Immolate by roughly 12%.

Tier 5
[Leggings of the Corruptor] - Fathom-Lord Karathress
[Hood of the Corruptor] - Lady Vashj
[Gloves of the Corruptor] - Leotheras the Blind
[Mantle of the Corruptor] - Void Reaver
[Robe of the Corruptor] - Kael'thas Sunstrider

2p set bonus is incredibly good for demonologists, and useless to everyone else.
4p set bonus is worded strangely, it only applies to the base damage of the spell, and only to your own spells. The exact mechanics are detailed here. It is very weak.

T6
[Leggings of the Malefic] - Illidari Council (BT)
[Hood of the Malefic] - Archimonde (MH)
[Gloves of the Malefic] - Azgalor (MH)
[Mantle of the Malefic] - Mother Shahraz (BT)
[Robe of the Malefic] - Illidan (BT)
[Bracers of the Malefic] - Kalecgos (SWP)
[Belt of the Malefic] - Brutallus (SWP)
[Boots of the Malefic] - Felmyst (SWP)

2p set bonus is nearly useless in raids.
4p set bonus grants 6% to the total damage of Shadowbolt. It is the equivalent of roughly 120-140 spellpower towards shadow bolt at that stage, depending on spec and gear.

Spell power contribution per spell

Every spell does a base amount of damage, and gets a bonus from your +damage items. I use the term "spell power" to refer to the total amount of +damage you have.

Typically, any spell with a cast time of 3.5 seconds gets 100% bonus from your spell power. Shorter spells are scaled down. This table lists all of the warlock spells and how much they gain from spell power. It's mostly here for reference, as I couldn't find a reliable source of it anywhere else.

Regular spells:
- Shadow Bolt: 3s/3.5s = 85.7 + 4% per talent point in SNF (up to 105.7%)
- Incinerate: 2.5/3.5s = 71.4 + 4% per talent point in SNF (up to 91.4%, 100% with emberstorm)
- Shadowburn: 1.5s/3.5s = 42.8%
- Searing Pain: 1.5s/3.5s = 42.8% (Searing pain is double theat, so it gets 84.8% threatwise)
- UA: 18s/15s = 120%

Regular spells that have halved spellpower contribution due to life gain or aoe
- Drain Life: 5s/3.5s /2 = 71.4% total (14.2% per tic)
- Death Coil: 1.5s/3.5s /2 = 21.4%
- Shadowfury: 1.5s/3.5 /2 = 21.4% on all targets
- Siphon Life: 30s/15s /2 = 100%
- Hellfire: 15s/3.5s / 2 = 214.2%. This is 14.2% per tic (note that damage to self is boosted 10s/7s/2 instead)
- Rain of fire: 8s/3.5s /2 = 114.2%. This is 28.6% per tic

Exceptions:
- Corruption: 94% + 12% per talent point in empowered Corruption, over 6 tics.
- CoA: 120% over 12 tics. unsure how it is distributed.
- CoD: 200% (unaffected by Shadow Mastery) (no, it really can't crit)
- Seed (dot): 150% total (30% per tic)
- Seed detonation: 21% on each target (aoe cap applies)
- Immolation: 20% (initial hit), 65% (dot). With imp Immolate it's 25% + 65%, with Emberstorm and Imp Immolate it's 27.5% + 71.5% (99% total)
- Soul Fire: 115%

Obviously, talents that increase total damage will also increase your spellpower contribution.

Any multipliers will apply to the total damage. All individual multipliers are multiplied (i.e. Shadow Weaving is 10%, Curse of Shadows is 10%, together they are 1.1 x 1.1 = 1.21 or 21%).

End game loot choices
There is no definitive lists, it all depends on what gear you already have. Hit rating provides most bang for your buck on bosses until it is capped. Everything else is spec dependent.

For a rough list, you can punch in these numbers in lootzor.com - World of Warcraft search and rate items - profile your wow character :
spell damage = 1, shadow damage = 1, hit = 1
and depending on spec:
Affliction: crit = 0.5
Demonology: crit = 1, sta = 0.1, int = 0.1
Destruction: crit = 1.

Note that Destruction warlocks will want 4p T6 over any other available gear choice, as 6% bonus to shadow bolts worth more than 100 spell power. Demonologists will want 2p T5 over anything else.

There are a few good "end game wish lists" in this thread, if you're looking for one.

Area of effect spells
Seed of Corruption provides the highest dps for any spec and any gear quality, by a large margin. This is of course assuming you're not getting interrupted and hitting more than one target.

Hellfire is a bit lower dps, but a lot more mana efficient (although not health efficient, you will require more healing than with SoC + lifetap). Despite the lower damage throughput it still has its uses, especially for destruction warlocks that benefit from the threat reduction on it. It can also be used to instantly blow up Seed of Corruption.

Rain of Fire has received a boost, and is a low risk, mana efficient, ranged aoe spell now. Unfortunately its damage is nowhere near competitive with either Hellfire or SoC.

Aoe cap: if your seed of corruption detonates for more than 13580 on all targets combined, it will do less damage. When this happens, the detonation damage will be scaled down so that the total is 13580. This reduction is done after calculating +damage gear, talents and buffs so it is the same for every gear and spec.

Example, if you hit 10 targets with SoC detonation, you will hit each for 1358.

Some multipliers (crits, CoS, etc) are not affected and will allow you to hit individual targets for more.

Example: SoC hitting 10 targets will hit each for 1358, but crits will be 1358x1.5.

For completeness: Hellfire caps at 5200 per tic, and RoF at 6710 per tic. You hit this at around 10 targets.

Curse selection

General notes on curses: The first three curses in a raid will typically be CoS, CoE and CoR. With decent gear and decent players, even one player benefiting from CoS/CoE will make it worth it, and unless you didn't bring a single melee class, there should be enough physical dps to warrant CoR. Affliction warlocks will typically spec for Malediction to bring a 13% CoS, mitigating the loss of dps that affliction suffers from.

Curse of Shadow - Scales nicely with increasing number of Shadow Priests, Arcane Mages, and Warlocks (and hunters, to a lesser extent). Usually the default curse to put on an enemy. If you use the level 60 version it will not get knocked off by hitting the debuff cap.

Curse of the Elements - Boosts fire/frost mages, Warlock fire spells. An obvious choice if you have several of these present. As with CoS, if you use the level 60 version it will not get knocked off by hitting the debuff cap.

Curse of Doom - Very high Damage-Per-Casting-Time. Does not get a bonus from Shadow Mastery, for reasons unknown. Demonic Sacrifice with a Succubus will boost the damage by 15%, and ISB will boost it by 20%. Amplify Curse will only boost the base damage of 4200, so it's 2100 extra base damage. Curse of Doom can not crit.

Curse of Agony - Ideal for spamming on tanked trash, regardless of spec. Can also be used as an alternative to Curse of Doom, if that one is not an option. CoA is advisable on bosses that reset aggro (unless you can time CoD well), or on anything that will live 24 seconds but not 60. It can outdamage Curse of Doom on a strict dps basis, but you'll need to refresh it more often, resulting in a lower Damage Per Casting Time.

At around 1250 spellpower, affliction warlocks with imp CoA, and Shadow Mastery will obtain around equal dps with CoA over unamped CoD. More spellpower will favor CoA.

Curse of Recklessness - Stacks with every other armor reducing debuff, and will typically increase melee and hunter damage by around 6% if FF and 5xSunder Armor are present, according to [RAID] Boss armor values. You typically want as many armor reducing debuffs on a boss as possible, since each one adds more (Increasing Returns, as opposed to Diminishing). It will make the enemy hit slightly harder, though. To be avoided when the boss has an ability that is based on his melee attack power, such as Mortal Strike or Cleave. Useful on enemies that don't hit hard enough for a tank to keep aggro, it will help with their threat generation on those by a small amount.

CoD vs CoR: Which one is more profitable depends on the raid setup. More physical dps means CoR becomes better, obviously. Physical Raid Dps needs to exceed (CoD damage / 3.6) for CoR to be the better choice. (CoD dps = CoD damage/60, and CoR dps = Physical dps *0.06). Note however that you need to refresh CoD twice as often. CoR will under almost all normal circumstances create more dps, but the boss will hit slightly harder.

Curse of Exhaustion - Very limited use. Typical use is for Striders during the Vashj fight, and on Mount Hyjal trash.

Curse of Weakness - Reduces attack power, but it doesn't stack with the other ap reducing abilities (Demoralizing Shout/Roar). It will get overwritten by a talented Warrior Demo Shout, which any raid community should have. The only possible use for it is if you are raiding without a Warrior and have a Paladin tanking.

Immolate vs Shadow Bolt (for non-destro's)

Immolate has a much higher base damage then Shadow Bolt, and both have around the same spellpower coefficient (85%). For this reason, at low amounts of spellpower, keeping Immolate up is clearly a better choice. Some well geared warlocks drop this spell in favor of Shadow Bolt due to any combination of these factors:

- Higher hit/crit/haste rating benefits Shadowbolt.
- ISB debuff
- debuffs favoring SB (absence of CoE, Imp Scorch, CoS, ISB)
- More talents into SB (Shadow Mastery, Demonic Sacrifice, Shadow And Flame)
- More items that benefit SB ([Ritssyn's Lost Pendant], [Orb of the Soul-Eater], [Nethervoid Cloak], [Boots of the Shifting Nightmare], FSW and Soulfrost)
- Debuff slot shortage
- Higher mana cost per point of damage, so more life tap down time

Whether it's worth it for you should be checked with the appropriate tools: Leulier's sheet, DrDamage (all linked below). Even a lower damage-per-casting-time, it is worth it occasionally if you don't think you'll have the time to get a SB off or can't risk threat bursts.

Resistances and Spell Penetration
The difference between level 60 and level 70 version of CoE/CoS: level 60 CoS has lower reduction (75 vs 88) but the same damage modifier. The level 60 version has higher priority, meaning it will not be pushed off by other debuffs. This is a relic from times before 40 debuff slots, and that the higher rank has lower priority is considered a bug. If you are having issues with debuffs being lost, use the lower rank.

With a few notable exceptions (Felhunters in Hyjal, Supremus vs Fire, and Illidari Council) enemies have no resistances above 75. Therefore spell penetration is considered useless in PVE in the majority of fights.

All mobs higher level than you an innate resistance, resulting in partial resists that can not be mitigated. Partial resists seem to happen around 15% of the time, resulting in roughly 3% damage mitigation.

Warlock tanking
For Leotheras tanking, there are a few good posts here.

Additional tips and tricks
- Obviously, bring a healthy amount of shards to raids. This is especially important for demo/destro, since they often summon demons that require Soul Shards.

- There is little reason to use anything but Rank 1 of Drain Soul.

- Soulwells are very useful, and it might be convenient to have all three variants in a raid. Healthstones of different qualities (0/2, 1/2 and 2/2 improved) count as different items, meaning everyone can carry up to 3 healthstones this way. They still share the same cooldown of two minutes, though. Healthstones can crit (based on user spell crit chance) and will heal for 150% in that case.

- All spells and talents that drain life do NOT generate healing threat, nor does Life Tap. Dark Pact causes a very low amount of threat, around 75 per Dark Pact.

Caliquey

I Think I have covered everything I wanted to say, chuckles.