Been levelling a lock and been switching between specs, it seems that affliction is more popular but demonology to me seems more fun, i seem to be dealing similar dps on both specs which i know doesnt mean much when levelling but it seems that possibly when i get to mythics that affliction has a hard time with mobs and getting enough damage out to do something but demonology seems to pump more and i feel like im more useful as demonology so far, i do hope to see how far i can go in keys as well and also plan to try out PvP too
Demonology is an apex predator while leveling, its damage profile on low level dungeons tends to dwarf the other specs.
Ok so by the numbers Aff is better than demo in…
Most damage profiles actually atm.
Caveats.
- demo requires less ramp up, especially the dl build so may perform better when mob health pools are lower and they can get dmg on the ground faster than Aff
- You having fun will 90% of the time produce better results than math…until you get to at least mythic level raiding, 15+ keys or so, and I don’t know the border for pvp.
Tldr the differences are there and important but playing what is fun to you and practicing will be your best bet nearly always so enjoy what you enjoy and enjoy doing it at an increasingly high level
i’ll probably make leggos for both specs and try both out and see what i can be best as
Lostlegion beat me to the point of play what you have fun with. Unless you’re pushing high end content Demonology does fine. If you want to try both with a legendary I’d recommend demonic synergy. It works well with both specs and can give you a good baseline. Have fun
i would recommend demo for a new warlock, especially if they enjoy it.
Aff is…really bad until you get to like +10 on fortified. I did a M0 a few months ago and we pugged an aff lock…he did less than 1k dps whereas the other two dps were very bursty specs that did like 3-4k on trash. He did fine on boss, but because he was playing a M0, with two very bursty specs, there was literally nothing he could do on trash.
Demo on the other hand, has a very consistent damage profile. Doesnt matter what key level, what affix, or what the other dps are, your damage remains consistent. Aff on the other hand, is either near the top, or less than the healer on trash with virtually nothing inbetween for lower level keys.
Aff got gutted on PTR. Skip it unless there are changes.
9.1 aff is garbage. It was completely demolished. Go demo.