The primary focus of this post is to prepare new Moonkin to the entry level 10-man raiding experiance of Karazhan. Part 2 will focus more on higher level 25-man content once I get to experiance it first hand.
So you've hit 70 and are ready to climb the raiding ladder, eh? Here are 6 pieces of advice that will help prepare you for your Kara experiance.
1 - "Don't be afraid to wear cloth!" & other gear to look out for.
Most of the epic leather gear for Moonkin comes from badge rewards rather than drops in Kara. Outside of the Bracers of the White Stag from Attumen, there are NO other leather drops for you side from off-spec pieces. There are trinkets, weapons, rings, capes and necks to look out for but you'll be collecting badges to get your leather gear in the long run.
Starting off in pre-Kara gear, don't be afraid to wear a lot of cloth. You'll get a lot more spell hit, spell damage and base stats from cloth than most leather gear you'll find out there at this point in the game. Pay attention to cloth pieces that focus on +Int, +Spell Damage and +Spell Hit and snatch them up. A few pieces of the Warlock's Oblivion set has a few good spell hit pieces and the Robe of the Crimson Order (+30 spell hit) usually goes for cheap on the AH.
If you are a Tribal LW, feel free to craft the 3-piece Windhawk Armor set as it should last you quite awhile.
When it comes to gemming gear, it's time to step away from the Potent Flame Spessarites and putting some +spell hit gems in. If you have epics that you think you'll have for a bit, feel free to splurge on the blue quality Veiled Noble Topaz. If the set bonus isn't appealing, feel free to avoid it by packing in Veiled Nobles instead of wasting the slot. Most slot bonuses are blue sockets. For that, I'd just recommend the +stam/+spell damage gems but ONLY if the socket bonus works for you.
When it comes down to accessories, there are a few options for everything except trinkets. If you are Scryer, I would farm rep until Revered for the Scryer's Bloodgem trinket. There is a ton of spell hit on it as well as a push-to-use +spell damage bonus. Hopefully you took the Vengeance of the Illidari trinket from the "Overlord!" quest in Hellfire because it's still valueable at this point in the game. If you're ok with spending money, the Storms deck is pretty nice for Moonkin with it's stacking +spell crit buff but crit isn't your top priority. The Nexus Horn from Skyriss in Arcatraz is really nice with a decent crit rating as is Xi'ri's Gift which is available with revered reputation with Sha'tar.
For everything else just try to get as much +spell hit and +spell damage as possible.
2 - Spell Hit is your best friend.
I can't stress this enough. Yes Moonkin and Elemental Shaman thrive on spell crit.. in PVP. PVE is a different ball game. Later on down the line once you've maxed out your spell hit THEN you can focus on crit, but for now +spell hit is your priority until you have a 16% chance to hit.
Take talents in to consideration. You get +4% chance to hit from the Balance of Power talent and if you spend the 3 points in Improved Faerie Fire thats an additional +3% as long as you keep it up.
Take your group in to consideration. If you run in a set group each and every week you might be lucky. If you have an Elemental Shaman with Totem of Wrath, thats another +3%. That Shaman is also a Draenei which gives off a +1% spell hit aura as part of their racials. With the two above mentioned talents and an Elemental Shaman thats +11% spell hit WITHOUT taking gear in to consideration. This means you only have to gear for +5% spell hit and the rest of your gear and gems can focus on +spell damage and +spell crit. Woot!
The simple rule of thumb is "you can't crit what you can't hit."
3 - Spell rotations.
Spell rotations are very important but differ from trash mobs to raid bosses. The purpose of a spell rotation is to maximize your DPS but certain situations require you to keep an eye on your mana pool. Long fights (i.e. Netherspite, Nightbane, Illhoof) are not our strong points.
The most effective spell rotation for raid bosses is-
Insect Swarm -> Moonfire -> Starfire x3, repeat.
If you have push-to-use spell damage trinkets, you want to use them BEFORE you put up your two DoTs. If you took Improved Faerie Fire you'll want to start with that and refresh it when it falls. If you took Force of Nature, it's best to blow it early so it doesn't disrupt your cast rotations but be smart about it. Don't drop them during heavy mob-AoE encounters (thankfully there aren't a lot of those in Kara) or you'll just be wasting your mana.
For trash pulls, it's probably best just to spam Starfire and use Wrath when thier health drops low enough.
It's best to avoid using Wrath if at all possible. It's way to mana intensive for the amount of damage it puts out. I usually save it until the end when the mob is about to die and I know I don't have 3 seconds to get off another Starfire.
4 - Consumables.
You will go through mana.. a lot. Bring tons of mana pots. Also, during boss fights, use them early on so the cooldown is available when you need it the most - in the end. If you're in a new Kara group and you think you'll be wiping a lot, I advise using flasks over pots and elixirs for spell damage buffs since they persist through death. Flask of Blinding Light is what you want to aim for. The mats can be pricey if you don't have an herbalist but 50g (the average price) is worth 2 hours of a spell damage boost.
Bring a few charges or Wizard and Mana oil. I'd say both because, for some of the fights, mana regeneration is more important than extra spell damage. Nightbane is a good example. He has no enrage timer and a few aggro dumps so there is never a need to go balls to the walls with him. Shade of Aran has no aggro table and needs to drop as fast as possible - this is a good time for Wizard Oil.
I recommend bringing stamina and spell damage buff foods. You'll mostly use the spell damage foods unless you feel that survivability is a must. If you notice yourself dying often or the fight is not a dps race (i.e. Nightbane) I'd go for stamina over damage. Food buffs are very easy to farm for and there is never an excuse to NOT have them on you.
5 - Addons.
Most addons are common sense. Get some sort of Deadly Boss Mods and a Threat meter. For Moonkin, I'd recommend grabbing a DoT timer as well to help you keep track of your Insect Swarm and Moonfire ticks and trinket cooldowns. The rest is just person preference.
6 - Common mistakes. Oops.
Unless you have points in the Resto talent Subtlety, you're going to have to keep a close eye on your aggro. If a Pally is present, request Blessing of Salvation over anything. If a 2nd Pally is available, Blessing of Wisdom is the next best thing, follow by Blessing of Kings.
Give the tank time to gain threat. You aren't a noob and this isn't new information but don't start off with something that can crit (i.e. Starfire, Wrath, Moonfire). Start slow and then lay in to them or just wait a few seconds before spamming Starfire.
Do not Cyclone targets that are not marked for CC unless they're going for a healer. Resto and Balance Druids are notorious for overusing Cyclone. Don't be that guy. Unless the raid leader asks you to back-up someones CC that died, refrain from using Cyclone at all.
Check with other Druids in your party and see if any of them have Improved Mark of the Wild and/or let them know if you do. Those Druids should be buffing the group. Also let the group know if you took the Brambles talent so you can rebuff Thorns on the tank.
Get in the habits of using push-to-use trinkets every cooldown, even on trash. This is an increase in your DPS. You are a DPS class. Make sense?
Hope this helps make Kara a little easier. Once I do more 25-man raids I'll see how different it is and, I'm sure, will post about it.
Showing posts with label strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strategy. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Leveling 101: Shaman
There is no wrong way to eat a Reese's, right? With the Shaman being a hybrid class, there is no wrong spec for them. There are, however, two wrong specs to level as. If you take a look at the loot itemization early on in the game, you'll notice there isn't a lot of caster leather pre-40, nor caster mail post-40 until the late 50's or Outlands. This eliminates Restoration and Elemental as faster specs.
The key to getting your Shammy to 70 as fast as possible is to level Enhancement. I cannot stress this enough. There is a ton of Rogue gear to roll on until you hit mail at 40. At that point, the pieces in Scarlet Monestary will last you until Outlands.. yes.. that long. If you have a main with a few high level enchanting mats, it's worth it to throw on some +STR or +AP enchants to that gear.
The first thing is to not get discouraged early on in the game. You'll be using a 1h + shield until level 20 when you can finally equip a 2h so those are going to be the slowest levels for you. At 20 you want to focus on getting the best 2h Axe or Mace possible and keeping Flametongue weapon on it at all times. The most depressing news is that you do not get Windfury for quite some time so you'll be using Flametongue in it's place until then.
At 40, Dual Weilding becomes available and makes life much easier for you. Pop Windfury on both and go to town.
Before we get a bit more in-depth, lets discuss the races available for Shaman.
Your choice is simple if you plan on rolling Alliance since the Draenei are the only option. Their Gift of the Naaru racial is nice when you're out of mana or in a pinch. It also comes in handy to toss on yourself before pulling multiple mobs.
As a Hordie, you can pick from the Orcs, Trolls and Tauren. The Tauren have War Stomp which is great when you need to pop a quick heal or stop another player from casting in PVP. The Trolls Berserking works great, especially as an Elemental Shaman. The Orc's Bloodrage is a bit too situational for me but still comes in handy. My choice? Troll.
How about professions?
This really depends on how you want to spec your Shaman at 70. If you're in to making your own gear, you can't go wrong with Blacksmithing or Leatherworking (Dragonscale). If you're planning to level and stay Enhancement, Blacksmithing can provide some amazing weapons to deal out DPS. Shaman cannot use swords so going Swordsmithing is out of the question but there are some great 1h maces (i.e. Dragonstrike) that are Black Temple quality. Leatherworking will provide you with some great gear later on and you'll want to go with the Dragonscale specialization. This allows you to create mail gear that fits Elemental and Enhancement pretty well but not so much Restoration. If you're going Restoration I might suggest something like Engineering or Alchemy instead. As always, First Aid is important regardless of class.
Lets look at gear priority.
Since you'll be leveling as Enhancement, you'll want to focus on +STR and +STA gear. STR gives us +AP and scales better than raw +AP gear. STA is important since you'll be soloing as a melee class because you'll be taking a beating. AGI is more a Rogue stat. The common misconception is that Shaman need AGI for the crit % but that only helps our "white damage" crits. Unlike a Rogue or Fury Warrior, white damage is only about 30-40% of our DPS. The rest comes from Windfury and Shock damage which aren't effected by our crit rating.
While you're stuck with a 2h weapon from 20-40 you'll want to aim for about a 3.0 speed. Anything faster is going to lower your DPS but anything higher is for Warriors and Ret Paladins. They have attacks that work off of weapon damage where Shaman do not. 3.0 is the perfect speed because it'll do a decent amount of DPS and you'll have your Flametongue Weapon effect proccing each hit. Once you get Windfury, it has a 3 second internal cooldown so anything faster than 3.0 lowers you chance to proc per swing.
Once you start to dual-weild, stay away from fast weapons. You want both weapons to be at 2.6 speed or slower. This doesn't blow the Windfury internal cooldown as often and deals more damage with Windfury when it procs. Some people use Flametongue on the off-hand since off-hand has a higher miss rate and deals less damage than the main-hand by default. The reasoning behind this is to not waste a Windfury cooldown on a weaker off-hand hit. If you have a faster off-hand weapon than 2.6, I'd always use Flametongue Weapon over Windfury on that weapon to make up for lost DPS. If both weapons are 2.6 or slower, having Windfury on both will increase your DPS.
Shock it to me?
As you level, you'll eventually learn Earth Shock, Flame Shock and Frost Shock. Each serves it's own purpose and should be used in your combat rotation.
Earth Shock - ES deals burst damage and interrupts spell casting. Since it is nature damage, the damage is increased if the Stormstrike debuff is on the target. My advice is to have Rank 1 and your max rank on your bar. If you just need to interrupt a spell cast, Rank 1 does the same thing that the max rank does. Only use the max rank for DPS purposes.
Flame Shock - Flame Shock works like a Warlock's Immolate spell where it deals intial burst damage followed by damage over time. This is the highest DPS shock for a Shaman and is very underestimated. I also recommend having Rank 1 on your bar if you PVP. Hitting a Rogue with a Rank 1 shock will remove their ability to Vanish.
Frost Shock - Frost Shock deals burst damage and adds a slowing effect to the target. The downfall of this shock is that it also deals additional threat, so avoid using anything over Rank 1 in dungeons or you'll wind up tanking the mob. At first, this will deal more damage than Earth Shock but in the end (at 70) Earth Shock will beat it at.
Your shock rotation should be Flame Shock -> Earth Shock when cooldown is over, repeat. Always start with Flame Shock to let it's DoT deal it's damage while piling on Earth Shock as well.
How bout dem totemz?
At first, totems will become a bit overwhelming. You'll get a ton of them very early and I recommend downloading a totem mod to keep track of them for you. I prefer YATA but some people prefer Chaman. Totems are broken down in to 4 categories - Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Only one totem from each element can be dropped at a time. Any totems dropped afterwards will replace the previous one of the same element.
For example - If you drop Strength of Earth and then drop a Tremor Totem, the Tremor Totem will replace the Strength of Earth since both are "earth totems".
Honestly, you'll waste a lot of mana dropping one of each totem. Most are better set for group settings but for soloing I'd only use Strength of Earth and Grace of Air totems. You won't get Grace of Air until after 30 I believe. It's also a good idea to set yourself in the middle of the mobs you'll be killing, dropping your totems and then pulling the mobs to you. If this is the case, feel free to drop a Mana Spring totem as well. If you're going to be killing and moving, Mana Spring will cost more mana than you'll receive in return and will be a waste.
SPECS! SHOW ME SPECS!
The first 5 points don't give you many options. Shield Spec is useless so go 5/5 Ancestral Knowledge for +5% mana. The next 5 should go in to Thundering Strikes to increase your melee crit chance by 5%. Both of these are very self explainitory.
The next point goes in to the new Ancestral Focus which gives you a mana reduction on your next shock whenever you land a critical melee attack. Since shocks are a huge part of your DPS, this is a great idea. Toss the next 2 points in to Enhancing Totems for a 16% boost to Strength of Earth and the drop the final 2 points up in to Improved Ghost Wolf making it an instant cast. Some people laugh at this but it's a great GTFO button and gets you from point A to point B faster.
Tier 4 should have 5/5 Flurry to boost attack speed by 30% whenever you land a melee crit. This is huge when you're stuck using a 2h weapon.
When you reach the Tier 5 level, put the first point in to Spirit Weapons. This is the only way to get Dual Weilding. This is also the only way for Shaman to learn "parry" and it's threat reduction helps a lot in dungeons. Pop 3 points in to Elemental Weapons to increase the damage bonus to your Flametongue and Windfury effect. This is also the only way to learn Stormstrike which will be a great addition to your combat rotation. Now you're stuck with 1 point to throw somewhere to hit Tier 6. My advice is just to throw it in to Improved Lightning Shield to help kill a bit faster or to put a point in Anticipation for +1% to dodge.
Put all 5 points in to Weapon Mastery to increase your overall melee dps. Tier 6 is pretty self explainitory.
Once you ding 40 you have a choice to make. Dual Weilding or Storm Strike first? Personally, I'd go for dual-weilding and pick up Stormstrike at 41. Stormstrike attacks with both weapons dealing their exact weapon damage and applies a debuff which increases the amount of nature damage the target receives by the next 2 sources. This is the reason you want 2.6 speed 1h weapons. Drop the last 3 points in to Dual Weild Specialization for a quick +6% chance to hit in melee.
5/5 Unleashed Rage for Tier 8 and 1/1 Shamanistic Rage for Tier 9 is what you're aiming for.
There is really nothing more to spend points on with Enhancement so you'll want to move over to the Restoration tree from here on out. Rather than give you an order to pick from, here are the talents to place points in and you can decide which are more important to you. Personally, i'd get down to Healing Focus as fast as possible and put 5 points in that. That and 3/3 Natures Guidance are the only reasons to really be in Restoration.
5/5 Improved Healing Wave
2/2 Improved Reincarnation
4/5 Totemic Focus
1/1 Totemic Mastery
5/5 Healing Focus
3/3 Natures Guidance
Thats pretty much the jest of it. One you get in to Resto it's just icing on the cake. You have all the tools you need from Enhance to breeze your way to 70. Just keep Lightning Shield up, drop Strength of Earth & Grace of Air totems, keep Windfury on your weapon and unleash the Shamanistic Fury.
The key to getting your Shammy to 70 as fast as possible is to level Enhancement. I cannot stress this enough. There is a ton of Rogue gear to roll on until you hit mail at 40. At that point, the pieces in Scarlet Monestary will last you until Outlands.. yes.. that long. If you have a main with a few high level enchanting mats, it's worth it to throw on some +STR or +AP enchants to that gear.
The first thing is to not get discouraged early on in the game. You'll be using a 1h + shield until level 20 when you can finally equip a 2h so those are going to be the slowest levels for you. At 20 you want to focus on getting the best 2h Axe or Mace possible and keeping Flametongue weapon on it at all times. The most depressing news is that you do not get Windfury for quite some time so you'll be using Flametongue in it's place until then.
At 40, Dual Weilding becomes available and makes life much easier for you. Pop Windfury on both and go to town.
Before we get a bit more in-depth, lets discuss the races available for Shaman.
Your choice is simple if you plan on rolling Alliance since the Draenei are the only option. Their Gift of the Naaru racial is nice when you're out of mana or in a pinch. It also comes in handy to toss on yourself before pulling multiple mobs.
As a Hordie, you can pick from the Orcs, Trolls and Tauren. The Tauren have War Stomp which is great when you need to pop a quick heal or stop another player from casting in PVP. The Trolls Berserking works great, especially as an Elemental Shaman. The Orc's Bloodrage is a bit too situational for me but still comes in handy. My choice? Troll.
How about professions?
This really depends on how you want to spec your Shaman at 70. If you're in to making your own gear, you can't go wrong with Blacksmithing or Leatherworking (Dragonscale). If you're planning to level and stay Enhancement, Blacksmithing can provide some amazing weapons to deal out DPS. Shaman cannot use swords so going Swordsmithing is out of the question but there are some great 1h maces (i.e. Dragonstrike) that are Black Temple quality. Leatherworking will provide you with some great gear later on and you'll want to go with the Dragonscale specialization. This allows you to create mail gear that fits Elemental and Enhancement pretty well but not so much Restoration. If you're going Restoration I might suggest something like Engineering or Alchemy instead. As always, First Aid is important regardless of class.
Lets look at gear priority.
Since you'll be leveling as Enhancement, you'll want to focus on +STR and +STA gear. STR gives us +AP and scales better than raw +AP gear. STA is important since you'll be soloing as a melee class because you'll be taking a beating. AGI is more a Rogue stat. The common misconception is that Shaman need AGI for the crit % but that only helps our "white damage" crits. Unlike a Rogue or Fury Warrior, white damage is only about 30-40% of our DPS. The rest comes from Windfury and Shock damage which aren't effected by our crit rating.
While you're stuck with a 2h weapon from 20-40 you'll want to aim for about a 3.0 speed. Anything faster is going to lower your DPS but anything higher is for Warriors and Ret Paladins. They have attacks that work off of weapon damage where Shaman do not. 3.0 is the perfect speed because it'll do a decent amount of DPS and you'll have your Flametongue Weapon effect proccing each hit. Once you get Windfury, it has a 3 second internal cooldown so anything faster than 3.0 lowers you chance to proc per swing.
Once you start to dual-weild, stay away from fast weapons. You want both weapons to be at 2.6 speed or slower. This doesn't blow the Windfury internal cooldown as often and deals more damage with Windfury when it procs. Some people use Flametongue on the off-hand since off-hand has a higher miss rate and deals less damage than the main-hand by default. The reasoning behind this is to not waste a Windfury cooldown on a weaker off-hand hit. If you have a faster off-hand weapon than 2.6, I'd always use Flametongue Weapon over Windfury on that weapon to make up for lost DPS. If both weapons are 2.6 or slower, having Windfury on both will increase your DPS.
Shock it to me?
As you level, you'll eventually learn Earth Shock, Flame Shock and Frost Shock. Each serves it's own purpose and should be used in your combat rotation.
Earth Shock - ES deals burst damage and interrupts spell casting. Since it is nature damage, the damage is increased if the Stormstrike debuff is on the target. My advice is to have Rank 1 and your max rank on your bar. If you just need to interrupt a spell cast, Rank 1 does the same thing that the max rank does. Only use the max rank for DPS purposes.
Flame Shock - Flame Shock works like a Warlock's Immolate spell where it deals intial burst damage followed by damage over time. This is the highest DPS shock for a Shaman and is very underestimated. I also recommend having Rank 1 on your bar if you PVP. Hitting a Rogue with a Rank 1 shock will remove their ability to Vanish.
Frost Shock - Frost Shock deals burst damage and adds a slowing effect to the target. The downfall of this shock is that it also deals additional threat, so avoid using anything over Rank 1 in dungeons or you'll wind up tanking the mob. At first, this will deal more damage than Earth Shock but in the end (at 70) Earth Shock will beat it at.
Your shock rotation should be Flame Shock -> Earth Shock when cooldown is over, repeat. Always start with Flame Shock to let it's DoT deal it's damage while piling on Earth Shock as well.
How bout dem totemz?
At first, totems will become a bit overwhelming. You'll get a ton of them very early and I recommend downloading a totem mod to keep track of them for you. I prefer YATA but some people prefer Chaman. Totems are broken down in to 4 categories - Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Only one totem from each element can be dropped at a time. Any totems dropped afterwards will replace the previous one of the same element.
For example - If you drop Strength of Earth and then drop a Tremor Totem, the Tremor Totem will replace the Strength of Earth since both are "earth totems".
Honestly, you'll waste a lot of mana dropping one of each totem. Most are better set for group settings but for soloing I'd only use Strength of Earth and Grace of Air totems. You won't get Grace of Air until after 30 I believe. It's also a good idea to set yourself in the middle of the mobs you'll be killing, dropping your totems and then pulling the mobs to you. If this is the case, feel free to drop a Mana Spring totem as well. If you're going to be killing and moving, Mana Spring will cost more mana than you'll receive in return and will be a waste.
SPECS! SHOW ME SPECS!
The first 5 points don't give you many options. Shield Spec is useless so go 5/5 Ancestral Knowledge for +5% mana. The next 5 should go in to Thundering Strikes to increase your melee crit chance by 5%. Both of these are very self explainitory.
The next point goes in to the new Ancestral Focus which gives you a mana reduction on your next shock whenever you land a critical melee attack. Since shocks are a huge part of your DPS, this is a great idea. Toss the next 2 points in to Enhancing Totems for a 16% boost to Strength of Earth and the drop the final 2 points up in to Improved Ghost Wolf making it an instant cast. Some people laugh at this but it's a great GTFO button and gets you from point A to point B faster.
Tier 4 should have 5/5 Flurry to boost attack speed by 30% whenever you land a melee crit. This is huge when you're stuck using a 2h weapon.
When you reach the Tier 5 level, put the first point in to Spirit Weapons. This is the only way to get Dual Weilding. This is also the only way for Shaman to learn "parry" and it's threat reduction helps a lot in dungeons. Pop 3 points in to Elemental Weapons to increase the damage bonus to your Flametongue and Windfury effect. This is also the only way to learn Stormstrike which will be a great addition to your combat rotation. Now you're stuck with 1 point to throw somewhere to hit Tier 6. My advice is just to throw it in to Improved Lightning Shield to help kill a bit faster or to put a point in Anticipation for +1% to dodge.
Put all 5 points in to Weapon Mastery to increase your overall melee dps. Tier 6 is pretty self explainitory.
Once you ding 40 you have a choice to make. Dual Weilding or Storm Strike first? Personally, I'd go for dual-weilding and pick up Stormstrike at 41. Stormstrike attacks with both weapons dealing their exact weapon damage and applies a debuff which increases the amount of nature damage the target receives by the next 2 sources. This is the reason you want 2.6 speed 1h weapons. Drop the last 3 points in to Dual Weild Specialization for a quick +6% chance to hit in melee.
5/5 Unleashed Rage for Tier 8 and 1/1 Shamanistic Rage for Tier 9 is what you're aiming for.
There is really nothing more to spend points on with Enhancement so you'll want to move over to the Restoration tree from here on out. Rather than give you an order to pick from, here are the talents to place points in and you can decide which are more important to you. Personally, i'd get down to Healing Focus as fast as possible and put 5 points in that. That and 3/3 Natures Guidance are the only reasons to really be in Restoration.
5/5 Improved Healing Wave
2/2 Improved Reincarnation
4/5 Totemic Focus
1/1 Totemic Mastery
5/5 Healing Focus
3/3 Natures Guidance
Thats pretty much the jest of it. One you get in to Resto it's just icing on the cake. You have all the tools you need from Enhance to breeze your way to 70. Just keep Lightning Shield up, drop Strength of Earth & Grace of Air totems, keep Windfury on your weapon and unleash the Shamanistic Fury.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Leveling 101: Warlock
The general rule of thumb while leveling your new Warlock is "stay away from Destruction". While a great instance and end-game raiding spec, it's far from being a quick and efficient solo choice.
Before we get in to specs, lets discuss low level gear. Stamina, stamina, stamina. There. Done. Thats it. Why stamina? Easy.. Lifetap. Our health IS our mana. Stacking Intellect increases your spell crit % but who cares? We aren't Mages and DoTs do NOT crit. Stay away from Spirit as well since mana regeneration is pointless for us. Again, I go back to Lifetap. That is our mana regen. You will not see a lot of +spell damage gear until the late 40's-early 50's so survivablity is priority over anything else.
Now, lets discuss races.
If you're going the Alliance route, you can choose a Gnome or Human. Gnomes get a boost to Intellect while Humans get a boost to Spirit. Both of which are equally useless to us. Consider their other racials. If you'll be focusing on PVP more than PVE, the Gnome has Escape Artist to get out of roots/snares. If you'll be going for PVE the Humans Diplomacy racial will help a ton in Outlands when it comes time to grind rep. My choice? Human.
If you want to roll a Hordie, you can pick from an Undead, Orc or a Blood Elf. The Undead get an amazing racial that works very well with Lifetap in Cannibalize. Kill, eat & repeat will take you a long way as long as you're grinding on Undead or Humanoid mobs. Orcs get Command which increases pet damage by 5% which is a great idea if you plan on going Demonology. Blood Elf racials gear more toward PVP as a Warlock. Mana Tap and Arcane Torrent don't got a long way since Lifetap returns a substantial amount of mana which makes AT nothing more than an AOE silence. My choice? Undead.
How about professions?
Personally, I tend to avoid professions until 35 when you can cap it out at 300 before Outlands BUT they are MUCH easier to level as you go along. If you're dead set on picking something, I'd go for Tailoring EVEN if you have another Tailor. The Shadoweave set is very easy to farm for and will last you a very long time. Just to give you an idea, I have 2 70 Warlocks. One that is at Kara level and the other at BT/Hyjal level. The Kara level Warlock still uses all 3 pieces while the raiding one still uses the Robe. I'd go for a gathering profession as your second choice to help offset the money you'll spend on gear, enchants, spells and pet grimoires. On my server, Mining is the most profitable followed by Herbalism and finally Skinning. The difference is very minimal but I have a 375 level in all 3 and my ore/bars/gems sell faster than my skins and herbs that I might end up having to relist.
Are secondary professions important?
First Aid is mandatory, in my opinion. Unless you are rolling an Undead Warlock, you'll need bandages to offset your Lifetap and minimize downtime. Fishing and Cooking really can be left behind unless you're wanting another toon to do their assigned dailies.
So we've chosen our race and our professions. Lets take a look at the pets you'll be using on your journey to 70.
At level 1 you can pick up your quest to get your Imp. 10 is your Voidwalker, 20 the Succubus, 30 the Felhunter and at 50 the Felguard if you choose Demonology.
The Imp is your pet of choice if you are grouped up for questing or an instance for it's boost to the groups Stamina. It's also ideal to keep his Phase Shift activated and avoid using him for DPS. The Imp is a frail creature and even the slightest AOE damage or Cleave from a mob can send him packing.
The Voidwalker is your solo pet until level 50. At low levels, he provides a competent off-tank in dungeons or for group quests but he's primarily a solo pet. His DPS is bad but his Suffering and Torment taunt spells are his bread and butter. He's not there to kill things for you. He's there to keep things from killing you while your DoTs and wand wear the mobs down.
The Succubus is your crowd control and PVP pet. Early on, you won't be doing any CC with your Succubus but if you choose to PVP after level 26 her Seduce spell makes PVP much easier. Her DPS is decent and if you're grouped in a dungeon with another Warlock using an Imp, this is your second best pet choice.
The Felhunter is your anti-caster PVP pet. You'll rarely, if at all, use your puppy in PVE but in PVP he makes other casters cry. His ability to devour buffs and debuffs and interrupt casting makes him the ideal pet for PVP.
The Felguard is available at level 50 if you decide to spec in to the Demonology tree. He is basically your pocket Arms Warrior with a Taunt, Intercept and Cleave ability but he also gets two passive abilities in Avoidence and Demonic Frenzy. Avoidance reduces the chance he'll be hit by AoE damage by 50% while Demonic Frenzy is a stacking +AP buff every time he lands a hit. At 50, this is the ideal solo pet and if you're group isn't in need of the extra stamina, he can be a great DPS addition and off tank in dungeons.
So what about specs?
My advice is to level as Affliction from 10-50 and then switching over to Demonology from 50-70. At 70, feel free to stick with Demonology or go off in to Affliction or Destruction but this post isn't about 70 specs.
Your first 5 points should go in to Improved Corruption. This reduces the cast time and makes it an instant cast spell. After Imp Corruption, I would put the next 2 in Improved Life Tap since it will become a staple spell. Follow this up with your next point in Improved Drain Soul and the last 2 of the second teir in Soul Siphon. You only want 1 point in Improved Drain Soul for the mix of 5% threat reduction and 7% mana return whenever you make a Soul Shard while soloing.
With your next 5 points going in to Fel Concentration you can now do what we like to refer to as "drain tanking". This refers to DoT'ing up 3 or 4 mobs, AoE fearing them with Howl of Terror and spamming Drain Life until they all die. This ability can also be used to solo heavy hitting mobs that happen to be immune to Fear since you'll have an increased healing effect from Drain Life and a 70% chance to avoid interruption while channeling it. This makes your life much easier.
Pop your next 2 in to Nightfall to get a small chance at an instant cast Shadowbolt every time your Corruption and Drain Life deal damage. The overall % looks low at first but again, you'll be DoT'ing up 3, 4 or 5 mobs at a time so the chance for an instant Shadowbolt increases. Follow this up with 2 points in Grim Reach to increase your casting range. The further you can cast Drain Life, the better. Avoid Empowered Corruption and put your last point up in to Suppression. Why go back to Tier 1? Simple. You're going to start questing in higher zones to get more XP for your quests and a 2% chance to hit is gold.
Your next 5 points are going to look a bit weird but put 1 point in to Siphon Life which will help a TON with drain tanking, and 1 point in to Shadow Embrace. You will not put more than 1 point in to this talent. It's entire purpose is to work with Soul Siphon as an "affliction effect" and increase the effect of Drain Life by an additional 5%. Put 2 in Improved Curse of Agony and your final point in to Suppression giving you 2/5. Why not go for Imp CoA earlier? It's generally not worth it that early as the 10% bonus will give you about an additional 100 damage. Even now it's not THAT big of an upgrade but it's better than wasting points anywhere else.
With your Tier 6 points, all 5 will go in to Shadow Mastery to increase the damage of your shadow spells by 10%. Pretty self explainitory.
Your first Tier 7 point should go in to Dark Pact while will eliminate a lot of your downtime. This works like a Lifetap for your pets but it drains your pets mana and gives it back to you. It also works off of +shadow damage gear just like Life Tap. Put your next 4 in to Contagion to round of this set of points.
2 of your Tier 8 points go in to Improved Howl of Terror to make it an instant cast. Use 1 point to cap out Contagion and the last 2 back up top in Suppression to give you 4/5.
At this point you should be hitting level 50 and this is where you'll want to respec Demonology to get your Felguard.
I recommend putting points in the following -
2/2 Improved Healthstone
1/3 Improved Imp
5/5 Demonic Embrace
3/3 Fel Intellect
2/2 Improved Health Funnel
1/1 Fel Domination
2/2 Master Summoner
3/3 Fel Stamina
5/5 Unholy Power
1/1 Demonic Sacrifice
5/5 Master Demonologist
3/3 Mana Feed
3/3 Demonic Resilience
1/1 Soul Link
3/3 Demonic Knowledge
1/1 Summon Felguard
Now that you've done that, I'll explain why we did this and why we did and did not take certain things.
1/3 Improved Imp - This is a filler point to reach a lower teir of talents without wasting it. Not all groups will want you to use your Felguard so you might as well grab something semi-helpful, right?
2/2 Improved Health Funnel - Most people laugh at this until they spec Felguard. Health Funnel already scales with +shadow damage gear and this increases the amount he'll be healed by an additional 20%. This lets him take a pretty good beating.
0/3 Demonic Aegis - Why no Demonic Aegis? You don't get Fel Armor until after 60 so that's when you'll start putting points in to it. Remember, this is a leveling spec guide, not a level 70 guide.
The rest of the talents are pretty self explainitory in their importance to a Demonology spec. The key things is to make sure Soul Link is always active on your Felguard as well as his Cleave and Anguish ability. Leave his Intercept ability off so you can manually use it to interrupt spell casting and save mana. Mana Feed will help keep his Cleave going off every cooldown and you'll see why you took it after only a few kills. He goes through mana pretty fast.
51-55 put your 5 points in to Demonic Tactics for a 5% chance to crit and that'll finish off Demonology for the moment. The next 5 points should go in to Improved Shadowbolt followed by 5/5 Bane and finish up 66-70 with 5/5 Improved Corruption.
Demonic Aegis is a VERY tempting place to spend 3 points but in all honesty, unless you are going Affliction with Demonology being used as a support portion, you're only getting +30 spell damage from it with a Felguard at 70. It does help your Drain Life but as Demo your spell is going to be a bit weak and has a 100% chance to get interrupted so you won't be using it often.
2 tips that also come in handy - Using Rank 1 Drain Soul is your best bet. It's 55 mana and still returns a soul shard. Since you wont be using this spell for DPS, chances are you'll only use it at the end before the mob dies so why waste mana on max rank? Rank 1 Curse of Recklessness is also the only rank of that curse you'll want to use for now. It's only there for you to pop on humanoid mobs that will eventually run away at low health. This prevents that altogether. No need to waste mana on max rank when Rank 1 provides the same function.
Hopefully this guide helped as I'll be making leveling guides for Moonkin, Shaman and Warriors in the same fashion eventually.
Before we get in to specs, lets discuss low level gear. Stamina, stamina, stamina. There. Done. Thats it. Why stamina? Easy.. Lifetap. Our health IS our mana. Stacking Intellect increases your spell crit % but who cares? We aren't Mages and DoTs do NOT crit. Stay away from Spirit as well since mana regeneration is pointless for us. Again, I go back to Lifetap. That is our mana regen. You will not see a lot of +spell damage gear until the late 40's-early 50's so survivablity is priority over anything else.
Now, lets discuss races.
If you're going the Alliance route, you can choose a Gnome or Human. Gnomes get a boost to Intellect while Humans get a boost to Spirit. Both of which are equally useless to us. Consider their other racials. If you'll be focusing on PVP more than PVE, the Gnome has Escape Artist to get out of roots/snares. If you'll be going for PVE the Humans Diplomacy racial will help a ton in Outlands when it comes time to grind rep. My choice? Human.
If you want to roll a Hordie, you can pick from an Undead, Orc or a Blood Elf. The Undead get an amazing racial that works very well with Lifetap in Cannibalize. Kill, eat & repeat will take you a long way as long as you're grinding on Undead or Humanoid mobs. Orcs get Command which increases pet damage by 5% which is a great idea if you plan on going Demonology. Blood Elf racials gear more toward PVP as a Warlock. Mana Tap and Arcane Torrent don't got a long way since Lifetap returns a substantial amount of mana which makes AT nothing more than an AOE silence. My choice? Undead.
How about professions?
Personally, I tend to avoid professions until 35 when you can cap it out at 300 before Outlands BUT they are MUCH easier to level as you go along. If you're dead set on picking something, I'd go for Tailoring EVEN if you have another Tailor. The Shadoweave set is very easy to farm for and will last you a very long time. Just to give you an idea, I have 2 70 Warlocks. One that is at Kara level and the other at BT/Hyjal level. The Kara level Warlock still uses all 3 pieces while the raiding one still uses the Robe. I'd go for a gathering profession as your second choice to help offset the money you'll spend on gear, enchants, spells and pet grimoires. On my server, Mining is the most profitable followed by Herbalism and finally Skinning. The difference is very minimal but I have a 375 level in all 3 and my ore/bars/gems sell faster than my skins and herbs that I might end up having to relist.
Are secondary professions important?
First Aid is mandatory, in my opinion. Unless you are rolling an Undead Warlock, you'll need bandages to offset your Lifetap and minimize downtime. Fishing and Cooking really can be left behind unless you're wanting another toon to do their assigned dailies.
So we've chosen our race and our professions. Lets take a look at the pets you'll be using on your journey to 70.
At level 1 you can pick up your quest to get your Imp. 10 is your Voidwalker, 20 the Succubus, 30 the Felhunter and at 50 the Felguard if you choose Demonology.
The Imp is your pet of choice if you are grouped up for questing or an instance for it's boost to the groups Stamina. It's also ideal to keep his Phase Shift activated and avoid using him for DPS. The Imp is a frail creature and even the slightest AOE damage or Cleave from a mob can send him packing.
The Voidwalker is your solo pet until level 50. At low levels, he provides a competent off-tank in dungeons or for group quests but he's primarily a solo pet. His DPS is bad but his Suffering and Torment taunt spells are his bread and butter. He's not there to kill things for you. He's there to keep things from killing you while your DoTs and wand wear the mobs down.
The Succubus is your crowd control and PVP pet. Early on, you won't be doing any CC with your Succubus but if you choose to PVP after level 26 her Seduce spell makes PVP much easier. Her DPS is decent and if you're grouped in a dungeon with another Warlock using an Imp, this is your second best pet choice.
The Felhunter is your anti-caster PVP pet. You'll rarely, if at all, use your puppy in PVE but in PVP he makes other casters cry. His ability to devour buffs and debuffs and interrupt casting makes him the ideal pet for PVP.
The Felguard is available at level 50 if you decide to spec in to the Demonology tree. He is basically your pocket Arms Warrior with a Taunt, Intercept and Cleave ability but he also gets two passive abilities in Avoidence and Demonic Frenzy. Avoidance reduces the chance he'll be hit by AoE damage by 50% while Demonic Frenzy is a stacking +AP buff every time he lands a hit. At 50, this is the ideal solo pet and if you're group isn't in need of the extra stamina, he can be a great DPS addition and off tank in dungeons.
So what about specs?
My advice is to level as Affliction from 10-50 and then switching over to Demonology from 50-70. At 70, feel free to stick with Demonology or go off in to Affliction or Destruction but this post isn't about 70 specs.
Your first 5 points should go in to Improved Corruption. This reduces the cast time and makes it an instant cast spell. After Imp Corruption, I would put the next 2 in Improved Life Tap since it will become a staple spell. Follow this up with your next point in Improved Drain Soul and the last 2 of the second teir in Soul Siphon. You only want 1 point in Improved Drain Soul for the mix of 5% threat reduction and 7% mana return whenever you make a Soul Shard while soloing.
With your next 5 points going in to Fel Concentration you can now do what we like to refer to as "drain tanking". This refers to DoT'ing up 3 or 4 mobs, AoE fearing them with Howl of Terror and spamming Drain Life until they all die. This ability can also be used to solo heavy hitting mobs that happen to be immune to Fear since you'll have an increased healing effect from Drain Life and a 70% chance to avoid interruption while channeling it. This makes your life much easier.
Pop your next 2 in to Nightfall to get a small chance at an instant cast Shadowbolt every time your Corruption and Drain Life deal damage. The overall % looks low at first but again, you'll be DoT'ing up 3, 4 or 5 mobs at a time so the chance for an instant Shadowbolt increases. Follow this up with 2 points in Grim Reach to increase your casting range. The further you can cast Drain Life, the better. Avoid Empowered Corruption and put your last point up in to Suppression. Why go back to Tier 1? Simple. You're going to start questing in higher zones to get more XP for your quests and a 2% chance to hit is gold.
Your next 5 points are going to look a bit weird but put 1 point in to Siphon Life which will help a TON with drain tanking, and 1 point in to Shadow Embrace. You will not put more than 1 point in to this talent. It's entire purpose is to work with Soul Siphon as an "affliction effect" and increase the effect of Drain Life by an additional 5%. Put 2 in Improved Curse of Agony and your final point in to Suppression giving you 2/5. Why not go for Imp CoA earlier? It's generally not worth it that early as the 10% bonus will give you about an additional 100 damage. Even now it's not THAT big of an upgrade but it's better than wasting points anywhere else.
With your Tier 6 points, all 5 will go in to Shadow Mastery to increase the damage of your shadow spells by 10%. Pretty self explainitory.
Your first Tier 7 point should go in to Dark Pact while will eliminate a lot of your downtime. This works like a Lifetap for your pets but it drains your pets mana and gives it back to you. It also works off of +shadow damage gear just like Life Tap. Put your next 4 in to Contagion to round of this set of points.
2 of your Tier 8 points go in to Improved Howl of Terror to make it an instant cast. Use 1 point to cap out Contagion and the last 2 back up top in Suppression to give you 4/5.
At this point you should be hitting level 50 and this is where you'll want to respec Demonology to get your Felguard.
I recommend putting points in the following -
2/2 Improved Healthstone
1/3 Improved Imp
5/5 Demonic Embrace
3/3 Fel Intellect
2/2 Improved Health Funnel
1/1 Fel Domination
2/2 Master Summoner
3/3 Fel Stamina
5/5 Unholy Power
1/1 Demonic Sacrifice
5/5 Master Demonologist
3/3 Mana Feed
3/3 Demonic Resilience
1/1 Soul Link
3/3 Demonic Knowledge
1/1 Summon Felguard
Now that you've done that, I'll explain why we did this and why we did and did not take certain things.
1/3 Improved Imp - This is a filler point to reach a lower teir of talents without wasting it. Not all groups will want you to use your Felguard so you might as well grab something semi-helpful, right?
2/2 Improved Health Funnel - Most people laugh at this until they spec Felguard. Health Funnel already scales with +shadow damage gear and this increases the amount he'll be healed by an additional 20%. This lets him take a pretty good beating.
0/3 Demonic Aegis - Why no Demonic Aegis? You don't get Fel Armor until after 60 so that's when you'll start putting points in to it. Remember, this is a leveling spec guide, not a level 70 guide.
The rest of the talents are pretty self explainitory in their importance to a Demonology spec. The key things is to make sure Soul Link is always active on your Felguard as well as his Cleave and Anguish ability. Leave his Intercept ability off so you can manually use it to interrupt spell casting and save mana. Mana Feed will help keep his Cleave going off every cooldown and you'll see why you took it after only a few kills. He goes through mana pretty fast.
51-55 put your 5 points in to Demonic Tactics for a 5% chance to crit and that'll finish off Demonology for the moment. The next 5 points should go in to Improved Shadowbolt followed by 5/5 Bane and finish up 66-70 with 5/5 Improved Corruption.
Demonic Aegis is a VERY tempting place to spend 3 points but in all honesty, unless you are going Affliction with Demonology being used as a support portion, you're only getting +30 spell damage from it with a Felguard at 70. It does help your Drain Life but as Demo your spell is going to be a bit weak and has a 100% chance to get interrupted so you won't be using it often.
2 tips that also come in handy - Using Rank 1 Drain Soul is your best bet. It's 55 mana and still returns a soul shard. Since you wont be using this spell for DPS, chances are you'll only use it at the end before the mob dies so why waste mana on max rank? Rank 1 Curse of Recklessness is also the only rank of that curse you'll want to use for now. It's only there for you to pop on humanoid mobs that will eventually run away at low health. This prevents that altogether. No need to waste mana on max rank when Rank 1 provides the same function.
Hopefully this guide helped as I'll be making leveling guides for Moonkin, Shaman and Warriors in the same fashion eventually.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Arms Tanking Pre-70
I know not everyone levels Fury so I'm going ahead and making another post, much like my previous one, as to how an Arms spec will still do for tanking up until 70.
5/5 Deflection - +5% to parry? Yes pls.
5/5 Iron Will - +15% chance to resist Stun and Charm effects is situational but still helps. I normally skipped this unless I was speccing for PVP but I suppose it could help while tanking.
3/3 Improved Thunder Clap - +100% more damage for Thunder Clap which also causes more threat from Defensive Stance. Not too shabby if you'll be tanking a lot but you wont really use this soloing. If you have it, great, if not, oh well.
1/1 Anger Management - 1 rage per 3 seconds as long as you're in combat. Worth the 1 point.
3/3 Deep Wounds - All melee crits cause your enemy to bleed 60% of your weapons average damage over 12 seconds. Bleed effects are great because they ignore armor and will keep consistant threat on the mob.
5/5 Weapon Specialization - Whichever weapon you specced in to, thats what you want to use while tanking. I prefer sword spec for the additional swing but +5% chance to crit with the others arent bad at all.
2/2 Blood Frenzy - Anytime Rend or the Deep Wounds debuff is on the target they will take an additional 4% physical damage from all sources. More damage = more rage.
1/1 Endless Rage - The amount of rage you obtain from damage delt is increased by 25%.
In my opinion, Arms doesn't offer as much in the ways of tanking as a Fury build does because some of the talents arent taken by players while leveling. Most of the great stuff in the Fury tree is viable while soloing unlike, say, Iron Will or Improved Thunder Clap. Arms also loses one of its best attacks in Mortal Strike since it cannot be used in Defensive Stance.
Either way you spec you'll still be a viable tank as long as you use Sunder Armor, use Revenge whenever it's available and pop Shield Block every cooldown on hard hitting mobs. The rest depends on your healer.
My advice is to warn your group ahead of time that you are not Protection and that you'll require a little extra time to grab aggro before they start to DPS. You shouldn't take much more damage early on in Outlands instances since you'll still be using a shield, it's just your ability to solidify aggro that seperates us. We don't have Devastate, Improved Revenge, Improved Shield Block or Last Stand but we can still hold our own with a patient group and a competent healer.
5/5 Deflection - +5% to parry? Yes pls.
5/5 Iron Will - +15% chance to resist Stun and Charm effects is situational but still helps. I normally skipped this unless I was speccing for PVP but I suppose it could help while tanking.
3/3 Improved Thunder Clap - +100% more damage for Thunder Clap which also causes more threat from Defensive Stance. Not too shabby if you'll be tanking a lot but you wont really use this soloing. If you have it, great, if not, oh well.
1/1 Anger Management - 1 rage per 3 seconds as long as you're in combat. Worth the 1 point.
3/3 Deep Wounds - All melee crits cause your enemy to bleed 60% of your weapons average damage over 12 seconds. Bleed effects are great because they ignore armor and will keep consistant threat on the mob.
5/5 Weapon Specialization - Whichever weapon you specced in to, thats what you want to use while tanking. I prefer sword spec for the additional swing but +5% chance to crit with the others arent bad at all.
2/2 Blood Frenzy - Anytime Rend or the Deep Wounds debuff is on the target they will take an additional 4% physical damage from all sources. More damage = more rage.
1/1 Endless Rage - The amount of rage you obtain from damage delt is increased by 25%.
In my opinion, Arms doesn't offer as much in the ways of tanking as a Fury build does because some of the talents arent taken by players while leveling. Most of the great stuff in the Fury tree is viable while soloing unlike, say, Iron Will or Improved Thunder Clap. Arms also loses one of its best attacks in Mortal Strike since it cannot be used in Defensive Stance.
Either way you spec you'll still be a viable tank as long as you use Sunder Armor, use Revenge whenever it's available and pop Shield Block every cooldown on hard hitting mobs. The rest depends on your healer.
My advice is to warn your group ahead of time that you are not Protection and that you'll require a little extra time to grab aggro before they start to DPS. You shouldn't take much more damage early on in Outlands instances since you'll still be using a shield, it's just your ability to solidify aggro that seperates us. We don't have Devastate, Improved Revenge, Improved Shield Block or Last Stand but we can still hold our own with a patient group and a competent healer.
Fury Tanking Pre-70
Adding on to my post from yesterday, I wanted to point out a few things that the Fury tree has going for it when being put in a tanking position for your group on your way to 70.
5/5 Unbridled Wrath - Gives you a chance to gain 1 rage every time you hit the target with a melee weapon. Since we need rage to hold aggro, this helps a lot.
1/1 Piercing Howl - Dazes all enemies near the Warrior reducing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. Warriors have a harder time than Druids or Pallys holding multiple targets so sometimes healer aggro is a problem. If you get enough rage, pop Thunderclap then Piercing Howl to make it easier to pick up the stragglers. At 10 rage and no cooldown it's a winner.
3/3 Blood Craze - Anytime you are critically hit (melee or spell damage) you regenerate 3% of your total health over the next 6 seconds. Since you'll be taking more punches in the face than anyone in your party (excluding the Mage of course) you'll be getting crit a decent amount pre-70. Any extra healing helps.
5/5 Enrage - Also procs every time you are critically hit and increases all melee damage you deal by 25% for 12 seconds or 12 swings (whichever comes first). More damage = more threat and more rage. More rage = more threat.
5/5 Flurry - Increases attack speed by 30% for 3 swings after you deal a critical strike. This increases rage generation and also has a chance to proc Unbridled Wrath more often.
1/1 Sweeping Strikes - 30 rage gives you 10 swings to hit an additional nearby enemy. This is more rage-efficient than spamming Cleave and also causes your Heroic Strike to hit other targets to cause more aggro.
3/3 Precision - +3% chance to hit with melee weapons. +hit is a given for any melee class, tanking or not.
2/2 Weapon Mastery - You will get disarmed.. a lot.. this reduces the duration of all disarm effects by 50% normally dropping it to about 1 or 2 seconds.
1/1 Bloodthirst - 30 rage to deal X amount of damage (based on attack power) and heals you for X amount for the next 5 swings. Since you'll be taking more damage than a Prot specced Warrior you'll need all the help you can get.
I might make a post later going in to the Arms tree, but we'll see.
5/5 Unbridled Wrath - Gives you a chance to gain 1 rage every time you hit the target with a melee weapon. Since we need rage to hold aggro, this helps a lot.
1/1 Piercing Howl - Dazes all enemies near the Warrior reducing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. Warriors have a harder time than Druids or Pallys holding multiple targets so sometimes healer aggro is a problem. If you get enough rage, pop Thunderclap then Piercing Howl to make it easier to pick up the stragglers. At 10 rage and no cooldown it's a winner.
3/3 Blood Craze - Anytime you are critically hit (melee or spell damage) you regenerate 3% of your total health over the next 6 seconds. Since you'll be taking more punches in the face than anyone in your party (excluding the Mage of course) you'll be getting crit a decent amount pre-70. Any extra healing helps.
5/5 Enrage - Also procs every time you are critically hit and increases all melee damage you deal by 25% for 12 seconds or 12 swings (whichever comes first). More damage = more threat and more rage. More rage = more threat.
5/5 Flurry - Increases attack speed by 30% for 3 swings after you deal a critical strike. This increases rage generation and also has a chance to proc Unbridled Wrath more often.
1/1 Sweeping Strikes - 30 rage gives you 10 swings to hit an additional nearby enemy. This is more rage-efficient than spamming Cleave and also causes your Heroic Strike to hit other targets to cause more aggro.
3/3 Precision - +3% chance to hit with melee weapons. +hit is a given for any melee class, tanking or not.
2/2 Weapon Mastery - You will get disarmed.. a lot.. this reduces the duration of all disarm effects by 50% normally dropping it to about 1 or 2 seconds.
1/1 Bloodthirst - 30 rage to deal X amount of damage (based on attack power) and heals you for X amount for the next 5 swings. Since you'll be taking more damage than a Prot specced Warrior you'll need all the help you can get.
I might make a post later going in to the Arms tree, but we'll see.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Rock out with your Lock out!
I've been on a Warlock blog kick lately and I like what I've read so far. It's good to know that there are smart Locks out there that don't give us a bad name. For the most part we're considered selfish (No CoE for joo magez!) and the Mage class already hates us for having a better AoE in Seed of Corruption but a lot of other players don't see us as a viable CC option.
Srsly?
I'll give you an example.
Our guild has 3 Warlocks. Myself, and 2 Destruction spec cookie-cutter raid Locks. When asked about using your Succubus for CC the other two would respond something like "lolwut? I sac my Succubus for the buff." I, however, am totally comfortable using Seduce in any situation. Most locks are so concerned about their own personal DPS that they'd rather screw the group over for their own personal gain.
CC > DPS
On the Horde side, I normally ran with 2 Rogues as the other DPS which left me as the only viable form of in-combat CC. I got used to chain fearing, banishing, enslaving and, most importantly, seducing.
Seduce is an odd creature that takes some time to master due to it's inability to be reapplied before it breaks (much like all Lock CC). Downloading some form of timer add-on and creating a focus macro helps a ton but it's not required. After awhile you'll start to remember when the CC is about to break by timing it with your cast rotation. Once you seduce, see how many shadowbolts it takes before it breaks and plan accordingly. I'd rather just play it safe and use a timer myself but I know not everyone likes to use addons.
Another issue I have with the Warlock community is the "my spec is better" attitude. Most Warlocks are dead-set in their ways and REFUSE to accept that the other specs are viable at all in PVE regardless of the amount of WWS, math and spreadsheets you put in front of them.
"LOL Fire?"
"Felguard FTL"
"Shadowbolt > DoTs"
I'm sick of it.
Every spec is viable if the person behind the keyboard is not a total douchebag and the raid make-up is there.
Fire can actually pull of better DPS than a Shadowbolt spamming assclown IF (and only IF) you are in a raid with a Fire Mage that is on his A-game and doesn't let his Improved Scorch debuff fall off, you sac your Imp and use Curse of Elements.
Immolate -> Incinerate x6
There is your cast rotation. Run with it.
Demonology can put out more DPS than any spec but is the most gear dependent spec of them all. Having 2 pieces of T5 for the set bonus as well as the Void Star Talisman trinket from Solarian is a MUST. You also need a Shadowpriest in your group for VE/VT. VE is needed to keep your Felguards mana up and keep Cleave going off every cooldown.
If your Felguard dies you lose a huge chunk of your survivability and DPS. Have a "Dismiss pet" macro handy so if he's about to take a dirt nap you can dismiss him fast and save his buffs. If he dies you need to fully rebuff him and will, again, lose a huge chunk of DPS. The general spec is 5/5 Imp Corruption, 5/5 Imp Shadow Bolt, 5/5 Bane, Shadowburn and the rest in Demonology all the way down to the Felguard. Also ask another Warlock to keep CoS up.
CoA -> Immolate -> Corruption -> Shadowbolt x3
Keep the DoTs refreshed between Shadowbolt spams. Run with it.
Affliction is a great support spec and still has potential to close in on the top of the DPS meter due to it's increase in damage for Seed of Corruption. It's a little harder to keep up with higher burst-DPS specs during trash mobs but who cares about trash? A raid full of Ret Paladins can clear trash. It's the boss encounters that count. If you're stuck on CoS/CoE duty, 3/3 Malediction is a must and having Dark Pact is just icing on the cake. Another huge advantage that Affliction Warlocks get is 5/5 Suppression for 10% spell hit on Affliction spells which lets you pack more +damage gems instead of Veiled Noble Topaz. You'll still want some spell hit since you'll be using Shadowbolt in your rotation a bit but not nearly as much as you would need with the other specs.
It's up to you to put that last point in Unstable Affliction or move over to Ruin. Ruin will help with your burst dps but Unstable Affliction will give you 100% consistant DPS instead of relying on lucky crits.
Curse -> Siphon Life -> UA -> Immolate-> Corruption -> Shadowbolt
Refresh DoTs as they fall and spam Shadowbolt anytime you aren't refreshing. For AoE you only want to use Seed of Corruption unless the mobs are immune to shadow. For trash you do not want to waste mana on DoTs.
Curse of Shadow -> Shadowbolt
Thats it. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't matter if you're Affliction, Demo or Destruction. Trash mobs die way to fast for any dot to do much damage at all. The only exception would be if you are Fire specced then always use Immolate. If you can afford the mana, use Conflagrate as a finisher.
So there you have it. How to maximize your DPS through cast rotations. I'll go more in dept with each spec in a later post and maybe have another post about starting a Warlock for you noobsauces.
Srsly?
I'll give you an example.
Our guild has 3 Warlocks. Myself, and 2 Destruction spec cookie-cutter raid Locks. When asked about using your Succubus for CC the other two would respond something like "lolwut? I sac my Succubus for the buff." I, however, am totally comfortable using Seduce in any situation. Most locks are so concerned about their own personal DPS that they'd rather screw the group over for their own personal gain.
CC > DPS
On the Horde side, I normally ran with 2 Rogues as the other DPS which left me as the only viable form of in-combat CC. I got used to chain fearing, banishing, enslaving and, most importantly, seducing.
Seduce is an odd creature that takes some time to master due to it's inability to be reapplied before it breaks (much like all Lock CC). Downloading some form of timer add-on and creating a focus macro helps a ton but it's not required. After awhile you'll start to remember when the CC is about to break by timing it with your cast rotation. Once you seduce, see how many shadowbolts it takes before it breaks and plan accordingly. I'd rather just play it safe and use a timer myself but I know not everyone likes to use addons.
Another issue I have with the Warlock community is the "my spec is better" attitude. Most Warlocks are dead-set in their ways and REFUSE to accept that the other specs are viable at all in PVE regardless of the amount of WWS, math and spreadsheets you put in front of them.
"LOL Fire?"
"Felguard FTL"
"Shadowbolt > DoTs"
I'm sick of it.
Every spec is viable if the person behind the keyboard is not a total douchebag and the raid make-up is there.
Fire can actually pull of better DPS than a Shadowbolt spamming assclown IF (and only IF) you are in a raid with a Fire Mage that is on his A-game and doesn't let his Improved Scorch debuff fall off, you sac your Imp and use Curse of Elements.
Immolate -> Incinerate x6
There is your cast rotation. Run with it.
Demonology can put out more DPS than any spec but is the most gear dependent spec of them all. Having 2 pieces of T5 for the set bonus as well as the Void Star Talisman trinket from Solarian is a MUST. You also need a Shadowpriest in your group for VE/VT. VE is needed to keep your Felguards mana up and keep Cleave going off every cooldown.
If your Felguard dies you lose a huge chunk of your survivability and DPS. Have a "Dismiss pet" macro handy so if he's about to take a dirt nap you can dismiss him fast and save his buffs. If he dies you need to fully rebuff him and will, again, lose a huge chunk of DPS. The general spec is 5/5 Imp Corruption, 5/5 Imp Shadow Bolt, 5/5 Bane, Shadowburn and the rest in Demonology all the way down to the Felguard. Also ask another Warlock to keep CoS up.
CoA -> Immolate -> Corruption -> Shadowbolt x3
Keep the DoTs refreshed between Shadowbolt spams. Run with it.
Affliction is a great support spec and still has potential to close in on the top of the DPS meter due to it's increase in damage for Seed of Corruption. It's a little harder to keep up with higher burst-DPS specs during trash mobs but who cares about trash? A raid full of Ret Paladins can clear trash. It's the boss encounters that count. If you're stuck on CoS/CoE duty, 3/3 Malediction is a must and having Dark Pact is just icing on the cake. Another huge advantage that Affliction Warlocks get is 5/5 Suppression for 10% spell hit on Affliction spells which lets you pack more +damage gems instead of Veiled Noble Topaz. You'll still want some spell hit since you'll be using Shadowbolt in your rotation a bit but not nearly as much as you would need with the other specs.
It's up to you to put that last point in Unstable Affliction or move over to Ruin. Ruin will help with your burst dps but Unstable Affliction will give you 100% consistant DPS instead of relying on lucky crits.
Curse -> Siphon Life -> UA -> Immolate-> Corruption -> Shadowbolt
Refresh DoTs as they fall and spam Shadowbolt anytime you aren't refreshing. For AoE you only want to use Seed of Corruption unless the mobs are immune to shadow. For trash you do not want to waste mana on DoTs.
Curse of Shadow -> Shadowbolt
Thats it. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't matter if you're Affliction, Demo or Destruction. Trash mobs die way to fast for any dot to do much damage at all. The only exception would be if you are Fire specced then always use Immolate. If you can afford the mana, use Conflagrate as a finisher.
So there you have it. How to maximize your DPS through cast rotations. I'll go more in dept with each spec in a later post and maybe have another post about starting a Warlock for you noobsauces.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Magister's Terrace: CC Thoughts.
On one hand, I love the new instance as it's, well, new.. and also provides a nice challenge to geared players in heroic mode. One thing that I do dislike is how heroic mode is way too dependent on CC that non-cc specs have a hard time finding groups for it.
Here is a rundown of each class and what CC is available for them during the course of the instance and primarily the 3rd boss (*shudder*).
Druid
Feral Druid's and Resto Druid's usually come to fill a tank or healing role but some Feral Druid's can be used for DPS as well. If you're in this roll, your best CC is just to assume bear form and OT when needed. Balance Druid's can spam Cyclone but diminishing returns can turn around to bite you in the feathers. Another option for Balance Droods is to spam Cyclone until the mob is immune and then either Panzerkin tank it or assume bear form until it's your mobs turn in the death rotation.
Paladin
Paladins are a lot like Druid's in a sense that if they are Prot or Holy they are there to fill a specific role. A Ret Pally can either use Turn Undead on the Demon mobs (which we all know how well fear works in instances) or just slap on a sword and board and OT until it's his/her mobs turn to die. Just make sure that if you are stuck in this roll to keep Righteous Fury up but to turn it off when you're DPS'ing.
Warrior
Prot Warrior's are there to tank while Arms and Fury are there to spread the pwn sauce. That's a given. Slap on a shield and OT just like Druids or Pallys. It's really all you can do.
Warlock
MrT is pretty Lock-friendly with the amount of demons mobs. The succubus mobs make amazing pets and can take on mobs by themselves. I totally recommend enslaving one each pull, putting it on a mob to OT and then releasing and killing it in the end. You don't want to keep the same succubus each pull in fear of it breaking in combat. The seduce spell they use is brutal and the mob can be DPS'ed without breaking it so spam it! During the Delrissa fight there are 2 possible Demon mini-boss adds that can be banished so keep an eye out for those.
Mage
Nothing new here. Sheep whatever can be sheeped and Frost specced Mages don't be afraid to frost kite mobs when needed. Arcane Mages specced in to Slow will also find a lot of use for it here.
Priest
Holy/Disc priests are here to heal so let the Shadowpriests Mind Control when needed. I'm not sure if Delrissa's adds can be MC'ed so if not be prepared to step out of Shadowform and backup heal if needed. As for CC during this fight, I honestly have no idea but i'll edit this post after I talk to our guilds Shadowpriests to see what they do.
Shaman
Shaman have it rough and need to get creative. Rank 1 Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem is your friend during the Delrissa fight. Pick one of the adds that aren't a caster or a Rogue and keep at it until the rest of your group gets the nasty Priestess down. Also don't be afraid to drop your Fire/Earth Elemental away from the CC'ed mobs if needed and pop Heroism early to help your group down Delrissa.
Rogue
Rogue's have it pretty easy with Sap and being able to blind broken CC'ed mobs but also being able to Evasion tank as a last resort.
Hunter
Also pretty self explanitory being able to keep mobs trapped during the encounter but also Beast Mastery Hunter's can OT with their pet. Even if their pet dies it should give the group enough time to pick it up before the Hunter takes a dirt nap himself.
Here is a rundown of each class and what CC is available for them during the course of the instance and primarily the 3rd boss (*shudder*).
Druid
Feral Druid's and Resto Druid's usually come to fill a tank or healing role but some Feral Druid's can be used for DPS as well. If you're in this roll, your best CC is just to assume bear form and OT when needed. Balance Druid's can spam Cyclone but diminishing returns can turn around to bite you in the feathers. Another option for Balance Droods is to spam Cyclone until the mob is immune and then either Panzerkin tank it or assume bear form until it's your mobs turn in the death rotation.
Paladin
Paladins are a lot like Druid's in a sense that if they are Prot or Holy they are there to fill a specific role. A Ret Pally can either use Turn Undead on the Demon mobs (which we all know how well fear works in instances) or just slap on a sword and board and OT until it's his/her mobs turn to die. Just make sure that if you are stuck in this roll to keep Righteous Fury up but to turn it off when you're DPS'ing.
Warrior
Prot Warrior's are there to tank while Arms and Fury are there to spread the pwn sauce. That's a given. Slap on a shield and OT just like Druids or Pallys. It's really all you can do.
Warlock
MrT is pretty Lock-friendly with the amount of demons mobs. The succubus mobs make amazing pets and can take on mobs by themselves. I totally recommend enslaving one each pull, putting it on a mob to OT and then releasing and killing it in the end. You don't want to keep the same succubus each pull in fear of it breaking in combat. The seduce spell they use is brutal and the mob can be DPS'ed without breaking it so spam it! During the Delrissa fight there are 2 possible Demon mini-boss adds that can be banished so keep an eye out for those.
Mage
Nothing new here. Sheep whatever can be sheeped and Frost specced Mages don't be afraid to frost kite mobs when needed. Arcane Mages specced in to Slow will also find a lot of use for it here.
Priest
Holy/Disc priests are here to heal so let the Shadowpriests Mind Control when needed. I'm not sure if Delrissa's adds can be MC'ed so if not be prepared to step out of Shadowform and backup heal if needed. As for CC during this fight, I honestly have no idea but i'll edit this post after I talk to our guilds Shadowpriests to see what they do.
Shaman
Shaman have it rough and need to get creative. Rank 1 Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem is your friend during the Delrissa fight. Pick one of the adds that aren't a caster or a Rogue and keep at it until the rest of your group gets the nasty Priestess down. Also don't be afraid to drop your Fire/Earth Elemental away from the CC'ed mobs if needed and pop Heroism early to help your group down Delrissa.
Rogue
Rogue's have it pretty easy with Sap and being able to blind broken CC'ed mobs but also being able to Evasion tank as a last resort.
Hunter
Also pretty self explanitory being able to keep mobs trapped during the encounter but also Beast Mastery Hunter's can OT with their pet. Even if their pet dies it should give the group enough time to pick it up before the Hunter takes a dirt nap himself.
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