Hey new warlock here, just getting geared up for 9.1. Currently playing demo, and honestly having a blast in M+ and normal raids (apart from demo not working properly on Sire, but that is another post).
I find I often forget that I have curse of weakness/tongues. They are on my hotbars, but I find it hard to justify spending a global on them (even if I remember I have them). Any suggestions for good ways to use them? Do they even work on raid bosses?
Weakness is great for raid bosses and tyrannical week bosses. Outside of that don’t waste the gcd.
Nope.
Waste of gcd in an already gcd capped rotation. You loose too much dps for a curse that is not at all meaningful.
100% agree with weakness at a minimum in raid. Less damage to the tanks for the cost of one drain soul tick. We can absolutely afford that.
Drain soul? They play demo.
I mean the point remains but I gotta give ya a tiny bit of sh!t for it.
Weakness on raid bosses is fine but curses are more of a pvp thing atm. It was a very valuable unpruning for warlock
In progression, yes.
In farm kills, nah.
May as well apply them during movement when instant rotational abilities are unavailable, no?
Not a bad time to use them, no
Tongues definitely is valuable in PvE when doing higher M+ keys. Weakness needs to be applied by 1 lock in a raid group (only on the big autoattackers). Exhaustion doesn’t see much use outside of certain M+ affixes, like Spiteful.
As a whole, you should be using curses in PvE, but understand the scenarios in which it’s worth using them.
They’re also a great way to snipe mobs in Torghast.
I apply/refresh when moving (Destro).
If you’re not doing content where mobs are threatening (LFR-normal modes or heroic for BIS geared players), then don’t bother applying curses.
But in mythic content, they’re very useful for preventing deaths and giving healers more time to catch up or put in some DPS themselves. If you look at Damage Taken By Spell and melee attacks are high on that list, you can make a noticeable difference reducing that damage by 20% with a curse application. Sludgefist, Generals, and Sire especially hit hard with auto attacks. (Put the curse on Remornia too!)
Start out by putting Weakness on raid bosses that melee and big adds that hit the tanks hard. In Castle Nathria, that would be the Goliaths summoned by the Stone Legion Generals and the gargoyles summoned by Niklaus in the Council of Blood. Put Tongues on bosses and mobs that cast spicy spells that need to be kicked, such as Frieda in the Council and even her ghosts on mythic progression if you’re ever wiping to missed kicks. Tongues does not work on spells that players cannot interrupt even if they seem like magical casts.
These are all examples of course since the new raid is coming out in a week.
In mythic+, you often can spare the GCD to apply a curse or two while you run to the next pack, and you’ll learn with time which mobs are dangerous to tanks or need to be interrupted to avoid a wipe. Always put Tongues on things like Goliaths in Spires in a PUG if you’re doing the key at a level where you can wipe from that. If you’re playing with good players that are proactive about calling kicks and following a rotation, then you don’t need to bother with that unless a monk wants to solo kick with Tongues up or something.
Curse of Exhaustion works for slowing mobs the tank is kiting, and for getting away from spiteful shades or the fox add in Mists. Preventing a wipe is always more important than squeezing out a few more globals of DPS.