Destruction is the peferred raid spec?Follow

On the main wow board someone asked the best warlock spec is. I dont know how to place a link to the thread, however one person said that destruction lock was the way to go to end game PVE. I always thought affliction was the raiding spec of choice. Am I confused or is this just really boil down to "whatever your playstyle is" type answer.

destruction is the prefered max damage spec, it's also prefered as it requires the least number of debuff slots. but afliction is THE raiding spec in terms of utility. demo is generally just laughable as it provides nothing, though some will argue against this.

actually demo, if spec'd for it, is 2% crit ahead of dest. BUT it isn't the prefered spec for T5. we've had this arguement before and the end conclusion is that NO spec if for each tier group. and tier gear with benefits towards certain specs does not mean it's for that spec OR benefits that spec most (T5 4set is better for afliction or dest than demo)
i will agree that it's the best spec for any encounter where a warlock 'tanks', but if you're after providing raid utility or max dps, afliction or dest are better choices.

it is so funny how you guys say demo provides the least damage where I and plenty of other people have shown that is does massive amounts dmg.

Did you know that Corruption and Immolate both are part of the cast-sequence of a demo-lock, or did you just randomly assume what setbonus is good for what specc?

Edited, Jan 18th 2008 12:38am by Oakenwrath

oaken. i've checked your guild. you ARE the best equiped caster in there by miles with only 1 who's remotely close behind you. you could go in spec'd 0/0/0 and still probably come top 5 just 'cos of having a decent spell rotation and 'cos of the gear difference. also T5 4set is also a shadow dest, people seem to forget that if we want to max our dps we do more than just SB.

finally. the comment about needing to be in T6 content for a dest spec to beat the rest is far from true. just simply get to the 'min stats' (i've posted them everywhere, go look for them) then you can spec it and out dps the rest. also you can get these stats with T4 gear, i know this 'cos it's exactly what i've done. my 'trashmob' gear set has a good variety of T5 and T4 gear. my 'boss' gear is almost completely T4 gear with some crafted T5 gear and yet you'll find me at the top / near the top of all dps charts because I KNOW this class better than most and i put my knowledge to the test everyday I play

jenova i have been raiding for a while now and i wish to learn more about about it. (hope u or anyone else ofc can answer a few questions)
Im currently dest. (0/21/40) i noticed allot of your posts and i think u have a nice theory about dest locks.
i have no points to imp. any fire spell got 3/3 backlash and 2/3 in soulleech to save some mana and have the 5% mana reduction for dest. spells

My current raiding stats (unbuffed):
almost 9k health
almost 8k mana
around 1050 shadow dmg (currently have like 940 fire)this is with fel armor
almost 12% hit
little over 20% crit (not counting devastation so 25%+)
and a crappy 35 spell haste

i choose to have hit% not capped atm because im always in a group with a elemental shammy who increases the other 4% hit, and gives 3% crit.
(is this smart or should i have it capped always?)
and have a balance druid who gives another 5% crit
so i think crit is covered most of the fights

wots the best dps cycle for dest locks. (and is it different in fights which require moving or not?)
im currently doing CoD,shadowbolt spam. (havent try immolate or anything with it). Is it better 2 do some dots like immolate/conflagrate with it?
i was keepin in mind that we almost always raid with 3/4 locks which all have the imp. shadowbolt so we almost always have +20% debuff on bosses and with a shadowpriest present i think this CoD,sb spam is the best cycle. (but im not a pro :))


We are currently raiding ssc/tk only vashj and kael b4 we can go mh/bt
im doing quite good on dmg atm but i think i can improve it. my max sb crit has been 9k with 2trinkets on 2/5t4 buff and spellstrike set proc all at once :)

have some extra gear on bank to alter some stats if necessary.

Ty for any replies on this :D

if the ele shammy doesn't die / always has his totems up / you're doing a boss where he can actually always have them up (bosses where you move around alot like VR tend to be ones where you're not in the totem aura alot) then yeah, having about 12% hit is fine. but relying on them to stay alive is never a good idea. if you can get to 16% hit on your own without loosing out on to much of the other stats then i'd reconmend it. otherwise stick with what you're doing

with your current stat levels... chuck corruption into your rotation and also try adding immolate. they'll both increase your dps. play around with each to see which gives you a larger increase and then stick to that one.
in fights where you move alot. keep both dots up, in ones where you can straight nuke stick to just 1.

hope this helps ^^

I believe the stats he meant were:

202 hit rating
+1000 damage
+20% crit rating

By the way, I'm curious on one thing about the destro raiding build....

If you usually have something like this and then sacrifice succi for the +15% shadow damage, isn't any talent on Fire talents a wasted point?

I mean, It would seem more to the point to use a build like this, then use CoS, Corruption and spam SB refreshing DoTs as needed...

Could somebody explain why it is better to cast an Immolate instead of another SB?

Why do most people think that a demonology is bad for raiding? I consistently do over 1k dps in raids specced 6/44/11. If you can keep Mr. big axe under control, you will do just fine. He always attacks from the back now, so let aggro get established and send the big boy in. Its alot of fun and helps save on respecs for arena too. 50 gold a pop is getting expensive!

it is true it provides less raid-utility, but my raid is fine with not having to worry about leotheras and caperninan.
The really awsome thing about this specc is that it benefits of so many debuffs, like sunder armor, shadowüpriest-debuff, firemage-debuff and CoR...heck i think even your felguard takes the benefit of a warriors blood frenzy, but who brings MS warriors anyways, hehe.

Demo specc does by far more damage than any other specc in t5 content.
That is due to some movement being required during bossfights all the time.
This hurts a destro specc alot more than a demo-specc. a resisted spell tears
a large whole into destro-dps, whereas demo-specc still does a fair amout of dmg.

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Edited, Jan 28th 2008 3:36pm by Raglu

sedrix, explain to me what the 'minion-related buffs' are that you get for your GROUP? last i knew, unless you had your imp or felhound out (and why use felhound in raids) you don't give a group wide buff. if you think 'intercept stun' or 'anguish' are viable group wide 'buffs' well you'd be wrong. most mobs in raids can't be stunned and 99% of all bosses definately can't. then there's anguish.. well.. you don't need it as that's why you have tanks PLUS the pet can't tank outside of normal 5man instances due to damage differences and requirement for proper damage mitigation.

being top of damage in BGs just simply requires dotting the most targets and zerging the middle the most, being top in 5mans isn't hard and you can't compare 5mans to raid instances, the +hit requirement difference is to massive

basically. from the sounds of it sedrix you've never really experienced END GAME content to much degree, if you had you'd then realise that felguard spec is inferior. though if you're lucky like oaken, you'll end up in a guild where you heavily outgear everyone else and most likely heavily out-skill them too