Destruction Vs Affliction

Classes Warlock
1

I got my first character to max level a few weeks ago. I’m SUPER new to “end game” stuff. I’ve been doing heroic dungeons, questing and Torghast but I want to try mythic dungeons and raiding eventually.

According to my damage meter I’m usually the lowest dps during dungeons (including tank). I’ve been destruction the whole time so far but would going affliction be likely to increase my dps a lot?

I hear people debating and stuff but never really get an answer. I won’t ever TRULY know this game so I would rather just pick one spec and learn that one. But if I can’t do that then I guess I would just get used to swapping

2

Here’s the situation: at your current point, you’re suffering from three situations here:

One is that you’re playing what is currently not a super-strong spec (and I feel you, I main Destro myself). That hurts performance.

The second is gear. A lot of what you’re suffering will resolve as you gear up.

The third is, based entirely on how you’re talking in the original post, skill.

At the low end, you would probably suffer just as much as affliction or demonology as you do with destruction…until you build up skill and gear.

At the high end, affliction is miles ahead of destruction in capability, but that’s assuming you have the gear and skill for it (and it’s not the same skill as needed for destruction). For example, I can do moderately well with destruction, and I’m not the top in the meters…and do worse with affliction, because I don’t have that muscle memory for the spec and I’d have to relearn the intricacies specific to affliction.

All specs, yes, all, even destruction warlock, can do the content that most people are interested in. Normal raids, I’m personally 10/10 CN as Destruction. Heroic raids I’m currently 2/10 CN (just started dabbling in it this week, and the raid team I’m running with is adjusting to the changes on Hungering Destroyer), but will finish before the tier is over. Mythic raids…Destro suffers…but for me, I’m not super-concerned, that’s not my forte anyhow.

The big issue that comes up with playing a “weak” spec is more one of perception. People see a destruction warlock and assume that must mean too much weakness in content that spec literally doesn’t matter for (which is up to Heroic raids, again)…or they just want a free carry (and you don’t want to be in that group anyhow).

TL;DR: Play what you enjoy. Odds are that by the time you’re at content where spec matters, the whole paradigm could shift, so enjoy the game.

P.S. You’re off to a great start with a damage meter to check your own DPS. I personally pair that with some weakauras and boss mods to help me focus in. Keep at it, and have fun!

13 Likes
3

Currently Destruction needs a lot of work, and also suffers from something demolocks do as well; HASTE. Currently there isnt a whole lot of way to bump up haste, and thats where affliction shines.

4

Galbsadi summed it up pretty well - a lot of your choice will really come down to what content you wish to push in the endgame. I can’t speak to PvP much since I don’t do it…

If you plan to raid, it depends on difficulty. If you want to be running mostly LFR and normal raids to just experience the content, then pick whatever you find most fun. As someone starting out, destruction is by far the easiest of the three warlock specs and the most forgiving, but it is currently undertuned quite a bit. If your ultimate plan is to do heroic raiding or higher, you will be hard-pressed to find a group that will take you as destruction because affliction is so strong right now. People will see your damage on a boss and kick you because they are expecting you to top the meters. Now that said, if you have a group of friends you will raid with, you may well be able to get a spot and perform well enough to earn it.

For mythic + it’s a bit more of a challenge because warlocks across the board aren’t THAT strong. Affliction is a nice balance because it does decent AoE spread damage in higher keys and has very strong single target. Destruction can do really strong burst AoE with their cooldowns for AoE, but it’s only available every 3-4 packs and ST damage is poor. If a M+ group is bringing a warlock, they are expecting the warlock to carry the boss fights (especially tyrannical) and will bring moonkin, monks, rogues, or fire mages to carry the AoE. If you can’t do the ST damage, you will likely not earn your place in M+, again, unless you’re doing low keys or running with friends.

5

Play what feels good to you. Also try ALL THREE SPECS. Affliction is top, yet most difficult to grasp and some find it boring but the damage is really good if you learn it well.

Destruction is somewhere on the lower half of the DPS rankings. Far easier to play, and I personally find it way more fun. I’ve raided as both and will choose destro 7/10 times on the fights in CN. Am currently 9/10H in CN.

Dare I go against the grain here and suggest you also try Demonology? Absolutely I will. Demonology can be quite good in M+ and Torghast. It is also pretty fun to play, but it is more difficult than destro. So I’ll leave you with some extremely simple rankings below based on warcraft logs stats, and personal opinion.

Hardest to Easiest Spec:
Aff > Demo > Destro

Highest Raid Damage (opinion):
Aff > Destro => Demo

Highest M+ Damage:
Aff > Demo > Destro

6

I’ll echo what others have said. Play the spec you want. Every spec will eventually become viable unless you’re doing world first. It may take longer, but you bang your head against that wall, eventually it’s going to crack. My raid team used to have a demo because he couldn’t wrap his head around aff. His damage suffered, but we don’t do mythic so we didn’t care.

M+ is a slightly different story. PUGs don’t want warlocks (YMMV). Low keys we don’t offer more than ST, and high keys required you to manage your dots effectively. But that’s where a guild comes in handy. A decent guild doesn’t care about the spec but the player. They’ll work with you as you build up your skill in the game.

7

Every single spec in the game has done +15 keys at least. Frost DK has the lowest ranked best player of all specs, and he still has 1498 io with all keys timed at +16 or higher. So really, for anyone doing low-mid tier content, class/spec does not matter.

So unless you want to do high end Mythic raiding or ultra high M+, any spec is fine. Pick the spec that suits your playstyle better and gives you the most fun, because chances are you are more willing to improve if you enjoy playing it. For 90% of the playerbase (maybe even higher), skill > meta no matter how they like to think the opposite, and also most of the advantage you could gain by playing an optimal spec/build is nullified if you execute it badly.

I am generally at either the top or second in the meters when i do M+, granted i havent done super high keys yet, highest was a 7. I love the Kyrian ability of giving 5 soul shards upon killing something with it, it comes handy on trash packs as you can throw it on the lowest hp enemy and then use the extra shards to decimate the rest of the pack. It is also affected by Havoc, if you time it well you can have a big supply of soul shards with it.

8

Thank you all for your thoughts. I haven’t even tried aff so I might as well give it a go. But I’ll stick with destruction if I don’t like it.

9

I agree with the above posters. I’ve been lazy about switching to aff. A reason being that I’m just good at destro. But also because even though everyone says I COULD be doing more dps as aff, I just haven’t faced any issues as destro. I’m just at 5/10 heroic and doing +10’s, but at that level my damage is good both single target and AOE. Just got a weapon to replace my 184 so I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to do well & push further with this setup. TLDR, as a non-pro sticking with one spec and learning how to play it well will serve you better than constantly switching.

1 Like
10

go affliction, forget destruction at all. Check some rotations, guides, streamers etc, people use to be very kind and patient with new players in this situations. Welcome and please do a favor to your sanity, don’t play destruction, its awfull and will make you sad.