Destruction for PvP and raids? Possible?Follow

Hi

Because my guild does quite a few raids once in a while I would like to be more than just a freeloader, so I guees i should spec destruction. But when Im not raiding i play ALOT of pvp and some Arena.

Here is my thoughts on a destruction warlock for both types of gaming:

Is soullink still vital for me? Should i throw that many points in Demo., just so that I have a bit more survivability in PVP?

Should I go for fire or shadow damage in destro?

Won't I get pwned BIG TIME by melee classes?

Is it more fun that affliction? :P

And could you perhaps link a build suggestion? :)

Thanks in advance!

/Frederik

Edited, Jun 6th 2008 4:41am by fredesuperman

Hmm but is this effective in PvP? And you are more a affliction warlock than destro?

The only reason for me to choose SoulLink would be for the higher surv. in pvp? But can't i get ALOT more dps by spending the points othervise?

Well that looks very nice :-)

But how is the surviavability in that build? Experience with it?

a good friend of mine has a build thats almost identical to the destro one linked above. the only difference is life tap is swapped for (yes, thats right) pyroclasm. he knows that, technically, improved life tap would be better, but he gets a kick out of soul fire critting people for OMGWTFMYFACE and then watching them keel over a half second later, stunned, with an expression of utter pain on their faces.

destro can be quite viable in pvp, and youll completely tear certain classes to pieces without even really trying. nether protection can be so unbelievably hax at times its not even funny. shadow priests, fire mages and pretty much all locks are easy prey for you. theyll all proc nether protection quite often, giving you complete immunity to their main school of damage for a few seconds, which is ample time to completely pwn them. other destro locks that are smart can be a challenge, but its definetely intense as you see who has the faster reaction times.

melee can be a problem, even if you use a succubus (and you should) because most melee can kill a succy pretty quickly. but even then if you can get a few incinerates or shadow bolts off you can usually bring them down before they kill you. shadowfury offers great pvp CC, and the combination of a few seeds + shadowfury + howl of terror can sow discord amongst the enemy ranks like nothing else.

the major weakness of destro, from what ive seen, is its somewhat group dependent. you need to find either a healer to keep your *** alive, or some other class to run interference for you while you kill stuff (healers can double as lifegiver and interferer, but having a third class interfere is generally easier on your healer). my friend and i will go into bg's with a priest buddy (war/disc priest/destro lock) and have a ball.

for lawls, grab zerking, have one friend distract an opponent, hit all your trinkets, and soul fire your friends target. back before they changed PI into what it is now, my friend was able to get some monstrous soul fire crits, on the order of 7k+ on high-resilience targets with zerking and PI up. he once procced cheat death on a rogue at 68%. im sitting there hitting this rogue, wondering why i all of a sudden started critting for 18 instead of 1800, and my friend goes "oh, damn, sorry man, i procced cheat death". needless to say, that rogue was surprised when i executed him moments later and (gasp!) cheat death didnt go off.

destro is great fun in pvp, but it needs support so shine. thankfully, with this destro pvp build you can put out respectable damage in a raid. not as much as the 021/40 shadow destro lock can, but still pretty good. whether its good enough to justify a raid spot i cant say, but if youre raiders are all big on min/maxing then chances are theyd want you to be 0/21/40. you can still pvp as 0/21/40, you just lack shadowfury as a defense or crowd control mechanism. all that means is you require more support to do your thang and youre a little less dangerous to large groups of people.

0/40/21 Is a pretty good balance between arena/BG and raiding. In raids, you play like a destro lock, but instead of sac'ing succy, you let it live. With soul link and MD you'll get +5% and +10% damage done, which matches the amount gained from demonic sacrifice. Plus you'll get damage from Demonic aegis and demonic knowledge. The major destro talents you miss out on are backlash for 3% crit and shadow&flame for the shadowbolt modifier. This modifier will be made up at least partially by the DK & DA spell damage. This build actually ends up with 2% more crit rate than 0/21/40. Also, in AOE light fights, you can send in your succubus to melee for a very nice damage that is on a different threat line from you, so it is effectively free threat-less damage.

In BGs with good gear, I use this build, put on my PVE gear and 2-3 shot scrubs. a shdowbolt->seduce(which finishes casting right after SB hits)->shadowbolt->shadowburn will generally kill lower geared people. Vs higer geared people/arenas PVP gear and Soul link will help you fend off assist trains, and this build has enough punch to finish someone while their healer is feared.