Ideal trait combos in 8.1?

I read somewhere for Warlocks in general, but that fifth ring will shake everything up.

Probably 1x Chaotic Transformation, 3x Revolving Blades, 2x Eyes of Rage, 2x Furious Gaze (Class-only, don’t know how BFDA/BDA traits affect sims yet)?

I’d sim with Raidbots, but 8.1 isn’t out yet.

That’s 7 traits, we only get access to 6. And I seriously doubt if Eyes of Rage is going to be on that list, it’s simply too weak. Unless Chaotic Transformation is balanced really high on the damage part, I’d wager that the optimal is going to be 3x Revolving Blades 3x Furious Gaze, with maybe one of those being dropped for a Chaotic Transformation. But to be honest, the CD reset isn’t exactly gamebreaking, so perhaps not. Again, though, depends on the final tuning.

It also, incidentally, depends on whether it’s even possible to get that. Remember that Azerite traits are fixed on the items they drop on, so if there isn’t an item for each slot that has the specific trait combo we’re looking for on it, we’re out of luck.

Titan Residuum can fix the ability to target pieces, but it’s what we do with the pieces. You are right, I thought there were 8 when we have 6.

Right, but my point is, Azerite traits aren’t randomized like the Netherlight Crucible ones were. There’s a fixed set of Azerite items in the game, and every single one of them has a specific fixed set of traits. If there’s no chest in the game that has, say, Revolving Blades + Furious Gaze, then having 3 of each slotted simply isn’t an option.

Xaedys I believe meant whether or not a combo of those traits will appear on the pieces, doesn’t matter if you can target them if those said pieces can’t roll with those traits in the order we need

Edit: And he beat me to it

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On YouTube, I read a comment saying what traits are ideal for a Warlock realistically after 8.1/BFDA launches. That had the six traits they were going for.

I think I wanted to figure out a more realistic approach.

Just going by the new raid azerite pieces there is only one piece that has both revolving and furious gaze. So it comes down to whether or not the dungeon ones will have that.

From the dungeon azerite pieces assuming that its just an added ring on top of existing traits and not a complete change of all traits it comes down to this as the possibilities.

  • 2 possible pieces from Atal (Chest/Shoulder)
  • None from Freehold (assuming you use the raid head piece)
  • None from Kings’ Rest
  • 1 possible piece from Shrine (Shoulder)
  • 1 possible piece from Siege (Chest)
  • None from Temple
  • None from Motherlode (assuming you use the raid head piece)
  • None from Underrot
  • None from Tol Dagor
  • None from Waycrest

So I worked it out on the PTR via WoWhead, and not a lot of fifth rings have Furious Gaze, rather it’s Chaotic Transformation, the new trait.

Went through and tallied it up on the PTR itself:

  • Helm (Champion): Eyes of Rage or Revolving Blades + Chaotic Transformation
  • Helm (Opulence): Furious Gaze or Seething Power + Eyes of Rage
  • Helm (Blockade): Chaotic Transformation or Furious Gaze + Revolving Blades
  • Shoulders (Jaina): Thirsting Blades or Eyes of Rage + Seething Power
  • Shoulders (Jadefire): Revolving Blades or Chaotic Transformation + Thirsting Blades
  • Shoulders (Rastakhan): Seething Power or Thirsting Blades + Furious Gaze
  • Chest (Grong): Revolving Blades or Eyes of Rage + Seething Power
  • Chest (Mekkatorque): Seething Power or Chaotic Transformation + Revolving blades
  • Chest (Conclave): Furious Gaze or Thirsting Blades + Eyes of Rage

So of those, if we assume that Furious Gaze and Revolving Blades are still on top, then obviously the helm off Blockade wins, since it has both. For shoulders, most likely the Jadefire or Rastakhan ones win, depending on whether Revolving + Thirsting or Thirsting + Furious ends up being better. For chests, most likely the Mekkatorque one with Chaotic Transformation + Revolving Blades.

So in total, that would net us 2 or 3 Revolving Blades, 1 or 2 Furious Gaze, 1 Thirsting, and 1 Chaotic Transformation.

Flaskzertauren also has 415 versions of each of the M+ Azerite items on the PTR. None of the helms have the combo we’re looking for (but the raid does, so w/e). The chestpiece from Siege (Cephalohide Jacket) has Revolving + Furious. Unfortunately, the only shoulders with that combo (Deathshambler’s Shoulderpads) are from a world boss and thus will not scale to the level we need them to. The best ones are likely to be the shoulders from Shrine of the Storm, which have Revolving Blades + Chaotic Transformation.

So that combo would give us 3x Revolving Blades, 2x Furious Gaze, and 1x Chaotic Transformation.

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Don’t we get a trait similar to Uldir’s Archive of the Titans and Laser Matrix? Something similar to Re-origination Array? If so, when in raids we need to switch one of those out. I haven’t checked the PTR, so I don’t really know.

And I’ve seen on mmo-champion that Chaotic Transformation changed from Eye Beam to Demon Blades(?) damage increase. What? So it may not be as strong anymore, at least for AoE.

  • [Chaotic Transformation] Eye Beam deals an additional 240 Demon Blades deals 53 additional damage. When you activate Metamorphosis, the cooldown of Eye Beam and Blade Dance is immediately reset.

Chaotic Transformation is BfAs version of Legion’s Demon Reborn (kinda). I don’t really like the idea of bringing something we used to have (even if just as a talent option) as an azerite trait option, but that might just be me.

Also, I just kind of wish they change the cooldown reduction of Eyes of Rage from 0.7s to a higher number. As it is, it’s just there for Eye Beam damage. This is also a nerfed version of one of our Artifact traits.

I’ve yet to see one. Checking across the ones in the raid, I’m seeing these possible generic traits:

  • Treacherous Covenant: Your primary stat is increased by X while you are above 50% health. You take 15% increased damage while below 20% health.
  • Seductive Power: Your spells and abilities have a chance to conjure Bwonsamdi’s spectral visage, beckoning you closer. If you approach him, gain X to all stats for 5 minutes, stacking up to 5 times. If you fail to heed his call, lose 1 stack.
  • Bonded Souls: Your spells and abilities have a chance to trigger a Soulbond for 15 sec. During Soulbond, every 5 sec you and your nearest ally are both healed for X and gain Y Haste for 5 sec.

Well, I thought we would have one for every raid with a slightly different variation. Well, maybe it’s for the best? Who knows.

Probably for the best. The system they used was flawed and a straight across the board health/dmg reduction system like previous raids would’ve been better. With the way they did it you were forced to take a trait that was otherwise not spectacular by itself, if you missed a week of killing 3 bosses you ended up being behind in the buff and there was no catch up system of say just keep killing 3 bosses to catch up to highest possible. So it hurt those who switched classes halfway through or still hurts anyone just starting back.

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