I’m not a great pvper by any means, but I am halfway competent. Was in war mode as affliction in hallow fall when a dk dropped down on me. I had all my CDs, but no portal. Try to run but instantly pulled in. Instant cast gate to try and get distance, but chains makes it impossible to escape. He pops ams early on. Can’t dot, can’t cc, can’t break ams bc you need dots to do damage. He eats through my defensive before I do so much as tickle him.
What counterplay exists in this scenario? Are you supposed to just accept that you lost at character selection? Aff isn’t a great 1v1 class imo but I was queuing for bgs and couldn’t be assed to switch specs, regardless, it felt categorically unfair. I am moderately under geared with only a few honor pieces, but good god it felt like I existed as a free hk, and the dk could’ve been a slobbering ghoul and still won
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Im not an expert either but are you juking casts at all? If youre just trying to cast freely, thats not gonna happen when fighting a dk or most classes, particularly melee. Also, need more honor gear. Lock, from my experience, can be rough when focused if you dont already have a portal and gateway set up beforehand but its not impossible.
DK does counter magic classes pretty well though so its a tough fight, nonetheless.
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Juking didn’t matter because I couldn’t apply dots because of ams. Even if I spammed shadow bolt I doubt I could’ve eaten through it. In a straight up DPS race with cc it’s a tough match up because dks cc is instant, and he has a fear break… but that didn’t matter because of ams
2.3k rated SS lock here. Open World PvP is very situational and can be hit-or-miss with class balance, especially in 1v1 scenarios since DK’s were designed to be anti-caster (plus a well-placed demonic portal is vital for surviving melee)
If a DK gets the first move on you and is semi-competent, it’s probably gg since he’ll AMS at the start and burst you down (unless you outgear him). If you DO get the first cast, immediately drop Amp Curse > Weakness before he can AMS (this will mitigate some damage during his major cooldowns). They key is to kite/survive through AMS while taking minimal damage.
During the AMS window vs DK, you should:
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Apply agony to his minions and pet to gain more shards (to set up a burst window with MR once AMS wears off). The DoT ticks on the pets will also give you the haste proc.
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Use Instant Gateway to create a gap, then IMMEDIATELY drop your demonic portal at the landing location (so you can Soulburn: Port away if he grips you back, and it’ll suppress the icy chains snare). Gateway mastery is also very nice against DKs, since you can gateway 60 yds away where he can’t do anything and will waste his AMS. Netherward works against all their abilities (since they’re magic), so it’s essentially a free casting window without getting stunned, gripped, silence, interrupted.
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Once AMS ends, you can really apply some burst. DKs don’t have a lot of defensive CDs. Once he’s at low HP, use Mortal coil into Shadowfury while refreshing dots and spamming MR. Stuns & Incaps mess up DKs very badly since they can’t use another AMS, Fort, or heal themselves with Death Strike).
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I say you light a cigarette and try to enjoy it, lol.
AMS in my opinion shouldn’t prevent curses, such as Agony. The tooltip states Magic and usually they’re very literal about it. In this case, that would block Corruption, Haunt, and UA. Still powerful as a defensive but at least lets us do something.
And it feels like they cast AMS every 20-30 seconds.
But putting Agony on the pets is a good idea, I often forget about pets.
I play aff full time so ill give you the best explanation i can. its all about preparation because you would need to be prepared to face a DK in the wild and win. This doesnt take into account how broken they currently are and also since we can no longer heal outside of healthstone.
Prepared: no rampant afflictions talent. netherward required. jinx required
pop jinx before AMS to get dots rolling it will help bring down AMS quicker.
pop your netherward right before you gateway so you cant be chained or gripped. put a port there and once AMS goes down you will mortal coil and Unending resolve to get out UA/soul rot and rejinx.
kite DK away from that teleport and pop your darkglare burst. He most likely wasted all his stuns grips interrupts while you were protected so you can follow up with Oblivion if you have it. You can port for distance at this point MR and drain soul him to death
If you are unprepared then you still have a chance if you ask god for help
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