Let’s discuss warlocks please

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
105

DS/Ruin will NEVER compete with SM/Ruin due to not having nightfall. It also sacrifices everything else just to gain that mere +5%. That “litany of reasons” is basically just an extra 5% (trading the pet for it), and another stackable healthstone (whoopty do). Corruption with nightfall is simply better than just bolt spamming without it. This is why every warlock runs the build. You’d be the only warlock not to.

There’s only 2 ways DS/Ruin is valuable in a raid. The first is if there aren’t enough debuff slots (already moot if limit is 16). The second is if you bring a shadow and trade corruption slots for them. But good luck finding a shadow willing to burn major mana/dark runes by the bag full. That’s what it takes to play that slot effectively. It really helps if you have someone that can make major rejuv, because this allows them to gain mana without having to be without health, when it’s needed. But good luck getting that recipe. There will be like 1-5 people on the whole realm with it.

106

Like I said sm/ruin was best until 1.11 nightfall got nerfed and dots don’t stack properly with spell power. SM is just more versatile, but not optimal. 1.12 is ds/ruin, this has been discussed on countless forums do some research. 1.11 patch notes for lock

[Shadow Ward] now has a new rank (Rank 4) available as item loot in dungeons. The amount of damage absorbed by this ward was increased substantially on all ranks.
[Soul Link]: If your pet is banished, Soul Link will stop functioning until [Banish] wears off. In addition, Soul Link’s tooltip has been clarified to indicate it only works with your imp, voidwalker, succubus, or felhunter.
Curse of Agony: The damage from this spell will now continue even if the caster dies or leaves the area.
Emberstorm: This talent will now correctly increase the damage the Warlock takes from Hellfire.
[Hellfire]: [Aftermath] can now be triggered by this spell.
Improved Shadow Bolt: Periodic damage spells and non-damaging spells will no longer consume charges of Shadow Vulnerability.
[Shadowburn]: If you cast Drain Soul while this aura is on the victim, you will no longer receive two soul shards upon the victim’s death.
The imp sb nerf made sm obsolete along with 1.12s causing lifetap to benefit from spell damage.

Hands down sm/riun was king early vanilla but it dropped off to we need bloodpact run sm. To make it simple with night fall gave 4% every 3 seconds to have an instant sb, still added to gcd, where ds is just more efficient and sends 15% more sb’s. While SM is life tapping ill still be casting.

107

I plan on making one as a farming alt(then again, I plan on making at least one of every class as they’re all so unique.) After all, farming is part of warlock class design: may as well kill 2 birds with one shadowbolt. Also, class mounts like paladins makes them less expensive in that regard.

Probably going to have them with double gathering professions, or tailoring and enchanting depending on when I make them. Bag space is always a delightful luxury to have, as are enchants.

108

Well i’ve taken 2 warlocks to AQ… 1 in retail vanilla and 1 private and you are wrong.

You spend several hours a week farming demonic runes and other mats and that’s not the farming rotation.

You have to aoe trash in dungeons and imp packs in MC and that’s not the rotation. On trash after Magmadar you are banishing, as well as on Garr. Summarizing a class with a patchwerk raid boss is very BFA.

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109

What? Improved shadow bolt wasn’t nerfed, it was buffed. They still benefit from it, they just don’t remove the charges. So your corruptions, CoAs, and life drains are still improved, but won’t remove charges.

The shadow burn nerf was silly though. Really isn’t a reason for it because shadow burn uses soul shards as a reagent. I guess they got tired of destro using soul fire on cooldown.

110

SM/Ruin is a better pvp spec than DS/Ruin which is what makes it more desirable and there is hardly a drop off in damage.

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111

Here, let me help you understand my original post:

Joke (Noun)

-Something that is amusing or ridiculous, especially because of being ludicrously inadequate or a sham; a thing, situation, or person laughed at rather than taken seriously; farce:
-Their pretense of generosity is a joke. An officer with no ability to command is a joke.

112

It should be pointed out that humor and nuance do not always translate well in a text based medium. Your original post could be taken as both a joke that ‘hur hur, Warlocks only do a two-button rotation, same as in BFA’ or a joke that ‘heh, being totally sarcastic, but here’s a joke rotation for warlocks’. The way you followed it up was with visible snark, which lends itself to the reading that your original post was derogatory in tone.

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113

So assuming I’d want to go sm/ruin how do you all think the best way to get down to sm is? Obviously nightfall, grim reach, suppression, improved corruption, improved life tap, and siphon life are all givens. That accounts for 17 points total but where is it best to spend the other 8?

5 points into fel concentration and then 3 into either improved curse of agony or improved drain life seems like it would be the best for solo grinding. Or is picking up amplify curse, curse of exhaustion, and improved curse of exhaustion the better route then dropping the remaining 2 into improved curse of agony?

Thanks guys!

114

You’d have to be a next-level galaxy brain to think my post was anything but a joke.

115

You should try reading what I said. There’s two different ways that joke could be read. Without clues from body language, pitch and tone of voice, and so on, it can easily be read as two different styles of joke, one derogatory, and one more sarcastic. The followup didn’t help, either.

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117

iceblock ftw

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118

I read it. There are two ways my post could be read: The stupid way where you assume someone is trying to start an argument, and the way where you see that it is a joke.

Again:

119

Have you been on these forums at all, ever? Or on the internet in general?

120

How is it better in pvp? ds/ruin has imp void walker aka fatty shields.

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121

The dropdown bullet points were a nice touch. 10/10.

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122

Yeah it’s hard to figure out the talents for sm ruin, especially when agony and siphon life wont be in your rotation for anything other than solo content beause of their low damage. That’s why it’s a dead spec after 1.11. SM/DS and DS/Ruin are both better.

123

I’ll go 5 points on corruption then des till i get conflag. I’ll respec to SM/ruin at 60 but conflag is so much fun i’m not going to miss out on it while levelling and wait till 60 to get SM

124

I believe this is the cookie-cutter SM/Ruin:

125

This is the 1.12 dps spec, best for raids, imp vw makes it better for solo content and pvp. It also boasts more HP and a 20% stronger HS. SM Ruin Is so Pre-naxx talents.

Affliction (7 points)

Suppression - Rank 5/5
Reduces the chance for enemies to resist your Affliction spells by 10%.

Improved Life Tap - Rank 2/2
Increases the amount of Mana awarded by your Life Tap spell by 20%.

Demonology (21 points)

Improved Healthstone - Rank 2/2
Increases the amount of Health restored by your Healthstone by 20%.

Demonic Embrace - Rank 5/5
Increases your total Stamina by 15% but reduces your total Spirit by 5%.

Improved Voidwalker - Rank 3/3
Increases the effectiveness of your Voidwalker’s Torment, Consume Shadows, Sacrifice and Suffering spells by 30%.

Fel Intellect - Rank 2/5
Increases the maximum Mana of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter by 6%.

Fel Domination - Rank 1/1
Your next Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, or Felhunter Summon spell has its casting time reduced by 5.5 sec and its Mana cost reduced by 50%.

Fel Stamina - Rank 5/5
Increases the maximum Health of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter by 15%.

Master Summoner - Rank 2/2
Reduces the casting time of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter Summoning spells by 4 sec and the Mana cost by 40%.

Demonic Sacrifice - Rank 1/1
When activated, sacrifices your summoned demon to grant you an effect that lasts 30 min. The effect is canceled if any Demon is summoned.

Imp: Increases your Fire damage by 15%.

Voidwalker: Restores 3% of total Health every 4 sec.

Succubus: Increases your Shadow damage by 15%.

Felhunter: Restores 2% of total Mana every 4 sec.

Destruction (23 points)

Improved Shadow Bolt - Rank 5/5
Your Shadow Bolt critical strikes increase Shadow damage dealt to the target by 20% until 4 non-periodic damage sources are applied. Effect lasts a maximum of 12 sec.

Cataclysm - Rank 4/5
Reduces the Mana cost of your Destruction spells by 4%.

Bane - Rank 5/5
Reduces the casting time of your Shadow Bolt and Immolate spells by 0.5 sec and your Soul Fire spell by 2 sec.

Devastation - Rank 5/5
Increases the critical strike chance of your Destruction spells by 5%.

Shadowburn - Rank 1/1
Instantly blasts the target for 87 to 100 Shadow damage. If the target dies within 5 sec of Shadowburn, and yields experience or honor, the caster gains a Soul Shard.

Destructive Reach - Rank 2/2
Increases the range of your Destruction spells by 20%.

Ruin - Rank 1/1
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Destruction spells by 100%.

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