Demonology in 5.4

[Viledead]

This is for the demo locks in the guild - for the aff or destro locks, you don't exist because you suck at picking the best spec!  

 

Right now, LFR lei shen trinket is basically better than almost anything in SoO, even heroic.  Basically, unless you will be downing heroic garrosh anytime soon, you should have ANY version of Lei Shen trinket (UVLS), and the trinket from immersius.

 

Turns out that the proc changes for rppm actually somehow made our life better.  It seems to proc more reliably, and more often. Perhaps it's a bug - and I can't imagine blizz wants lfr gear from previous tier to be better than almost all current tier....but it's true.

 

So if you don't have UVLS you probably shouldn't be demo!

 

What's interesting is that the immersius trinket is a % buff and may value mastery over all else.  It works insanely well with UVLS as the extra crit dmg is amazing for the doom crit ticks.  Also it scales with your gear, so it gets better as your gear improves.

 

On tier 6 talent, there is NO case when you should be keeping KJC anymore.  Default to the new AD for basic single target fights, and honestly MF is freaking amazing now.  If you time it right you can do crazy burst with immo aura.

 

 

So no more casting on the move?  Yep...no problem though because apparently fel flame is almost equal to shadowbolt - in fact it is 3% more dps apparently, but the higher mana cost means it's slightly below.  So fel flame is filler when moving, shadowbolt when standing still.

 

 

[Mastric]

So many changes WHO AM I!

[Viledead]

Well the base issue which is Demo is extremely viable but really requires UVLS micro to be competitive stays the same.

 

The only core changes were tier 6 talents (which are actually better for us), imp swarm glyph not being needed, and corruption not refreshing on fel flame or void ray anymore.

[Mastric]

So I need this trink yo sayin

[Viledead]

You have to have it and you have to create a weakaura or something similar.  On fallen protectors for example, you can get 3 100% crit dooms on all three targets rolling constantly.  And one more strong piece of advice - go MF for T6, save fury and go crazy on add phases with immo aura.  For instance, on sha of pride....even without knowing my trink procs (I had UI problems), I still did 200k.  On dark shaman flex with 25 people, I did 270k on 1st attempt without knowing fight!  Seriously, MF is sick on add fights.  

Edit:  Many warlocks are sticking to KJC because of the comfort of moving while casting - but it's a serious dps loss on most of these fights in SoO.  The 2x DS is nice on single-ish target fights (and allows you to line up procs better), and MF is an absolute requirement for add fights.

 

TL:DR; GET MF FOR ADD FIGHTS!!!!

Edit x2:  Here is a link to my parse on flex 25m dark shaman, keep in mind my UI was effed up and I couldn't track UVLS and procs, so my dps was actually low.....

 

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-n7xgwqnfrtl84pd5/sum/damageDone/?s=4179&e=4524

Note that the other demo lock has the trinket from the 1st boss, which is what every demo warlock needs straight away to work with uvls.  The only reason I beat him was because he didn't go MF...that immersius trinket is freaking OP for demo!

Edited September 19, 2013 by Viledead

[Lyntha]

How is the lock-specific UVLS nerf working out?

[Viledead]

Demo is destroyed. After big 5.4 nerfs we wondered why uvls went untouched. In fact, it felt slightly better post 5.4. OK so theorycrafters still knew uvls had to get changed, so they anticipated and created a crit build.

But then a hotfix went after warlocks only on the trinket AND a big imp dmg nerf.

So now basically demonic fury gen has died and our aoe is much less. The spec is slow, more boring, and well behind aff for basically every fight. I don't like aff though.

It really is bad behaviour by blizz to see them kill a spec that was superbly rewarding for playing well. Now if u play well, you only break even or less.

On top of this remember that t15 was about increasing df and that's out now too.

So yeah demo is gg. I still can't believe it was a hotfix - probably only to avoid hard core guilds racing to world first getting some tiny advantage.