Originally in BFA I was under the assumption that all pets were supposed to do the same dps. Is that still the case or should I be raiding with a specific pet?
Pets’ damage is truly normalized since the 8.1 fix so use whatever the situation calls for. However, since Imp does not need to chase the boss around like a Felhunter would it will usually do slightly more DPS, but that is practically insignificant.
And of course, if you are Demo, use Felguard in every situation.
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For demo, always felguard.
For destro and aff: Imp for ST. Voidwalker for AoE. Felhunter if you need an interrupt.
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I love how the spec that’s all about demons is the one where you only use one active demon. Yeah you summon a bunch of others during the course of a dps rotation but you hardly ever use your imp, voidwalker, succubus, or felhunter.
There are situations in m+ where you’ll use felhunter. It sucks but until Blizz gets their S together and gives us a baseline interrupt, occasionally we have to do it.
But doesn’t Felguard hit like a wet noodle or did they buff him somehow
Never use Voidwalker. Just don’t. Good Warlocks don’t let other Warlocks use Voidwalker. I had out an imp against an equally geared affliction warlock on a Zul who lost dps compared to me because of bringing out VW. He thought, “cuz the AoE”. He tried it, reviewed it, and whispered me back saying my imp ST damaged more damage than his VW AoE damaged for the fight. He promptly went back to using imp or felpup as necessary. It was a good experiment to know for certain, so we both learned from the attempt.
Originally in BFA I was under the assumption that all pets were supposed to do the same dps. Is that still the case or should I be raiding with a specific pet?
The good answer here is whichever helps your group out the most. Tonight I brought out a felpup during Zul to dispel the voidling dispel guys. Mythrax it will be felpup again. G’huun will be felpup just incase I get a tentacle beaming me before running.
Imp if you want a self-dispel.
Succy… well her use is for CC and since CC doesn’t exist in this game (in a practical manner it doesn’t) she doesn’t have a use.
Imp if you want to only focus on dps because:
Pets’ damage is truly normalized since the 8.1 fix so use whatever the situation calls for. However, since Imp does not need to chase the boss around like a Felhunter would it will usually do slightly more DPS, but that is practically insignificant.
Void beats Imp once you’re hitting an average (over the full course of combat) of 5+ targets. Even on Zul, that’s unlikely to happen, but I could see it being worthwhile on Teeming weeks if you’re not using much CC.
Worth noting on this, the Imp can dispel others, and having a mouseover macro that does that is pretty handy at times (though note that unlike healer dispels, the Imp one only removes one debuff rather than all of them, and if you have multiple stacks of a debuff, it only removes one stack).
However, the other reason the Imp is a fantastic default pick is because the dispel’s auto-cast AI will automatically and instantly dispel you if you’re hit by a magic CC effect. A good example of this is the trash after the 2nd boss in Motherload. Some of the trash casts a polymorph effect on a random group member. If it targets you, your Imp will instantly remove it, making the polymorph really nothing more than a weird interrupt without the corresponding school lockout.
The other thing the Succubus does well is that she can maintain 100% uptime on a 50% snare on her target. That has uses on Necrotic weeks at times, but the other major use for it is on the 2nd boss (and related trash) in Siege of Boralus. That boss, and the similar trash mobs, randomly leap around if they are not snared or rooted. Warlocks lack another form of snare (unless you count Vile Taint, which I generally don’t), and if your group doesn’t have a convenient source of snares, popping out the temptress can keep the boss/trash locked down and easily killed. Your melee will thank you.
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He got a buff in 8.1 + he always had cleave damage, so best pick for dps for any situation.
Wat. Assuming “he” in this context is the Voidwalker, it definitely is not “best pick for DPS for any situation”. In fact, in the vast majority of situations, the Voidwalker is a terrible pick for DPS, because his single-target DPS is massively lower than the other pets (mine does ~40% the single target DPS that my Imp does).
Also, if you’re referring to the 15% damage buff to the Voidwalker in 8.1, the Felhunter and Succubus also got that same 15% damage buff, and the Imp got a 25% damage buff. So 8.1 actually made the Voidwalker less viable compared to the Imp, and also further cemented the Imp as the de facto choice when you don’t need the utility from the puppy or dominatrix, and you’re not hitting 5+ targets continuously for the Voidwalker cleave.
I’m referring to Felguard lol
Ahhhh, that makes massively more sense. I assumed Void because of the cleave reference and the fact that the last few posts have been addressing the Void vs. Imp choice during AoE. My bad >.<
Realistically, I don’t think anyone contests that Felguard is the only DPS option for Demo. They might (rightfully, in my opinion) bemoan that fact due to the limitation on choice that it causes, but they don’t contest it. But given how much utility is tied to our pets, there are still situations where sacrificing some pet DPS to gain some needed utility (usually the felhunter interrupt and/or purge) is worthwhile.