Sin dorei

This is mostly for Eb, but any feedback would be benefitial. The other day you asked me for the best pve builds for a warlock, and here is my two cents worth (lol, not sure it is worth that much!). I admit, I am biased against destruction for pve, you just have a fair amount of downtime from getting hit so much (drain life isn't an option unless you have fel concentration or a really good tank with you at ALL times) and there is no real mana efficiency down that tree (the focus of the tree is to burn your opponent as soon as possible). In this part, I will discuss an affliction build I really like. I will try to discuss the main highlights of the trees in relation to the different types of battles you will face. For reference, the spec I would choose would be:

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* Note: Dot damage is based upon the conditions WHEN THE DOT IS CAST. Using trinkets like the Icon of the Silver Crescent are amazing for a warlock since they affect the ENTIRE duration of the dot but only need to be boosted when the spell is cast*

For raiding and world pve, it is an amazingly efficient build. This comes from the fact that siphon life coupled with the occasional life tap will keep both your life and mana filled when properly paired during raids and pve you just pick one mob, dot the living crap out of it (using curse of shadows for the improved life gain), fear and commence the life draining. When you combine this with dark pact, you basically will almost NEVER have to drain life to keep yourself topped off (I am not a fan of drain during raids, causes a ton of aggro and actually slows down your dps). To the chagrin of many, I like unstable affliction for raid dps, it does a (1) living ton of damage per mana cost (on Nep I was getting between 3000 and 4000 damage for 400 mana) and (1) since it is a dot you really don't have to worry about the aggro it is drawing. I am also a huge fan of improved soul drain for world pve (for the most mana effiency, always use drain soul rank 1, your other dots will kill the target and this way you will get more mana when the target dies since neither the duration nor the amount of mana gained when the target dies will be any less as the ranks go down). The mana you get when the target dies (15% of your total mana) is huge and normally you don't have to even burn for mana if things are squishy enough.

If you really want to do more damage, put the 11 points into the destruction tree. Shadowburn is amazing for dps (insta-cast shadowbolt basically) but it does require shard management. In addition, the synergy you get from going on the improved shadow bolt, bane, and devastation cannot be overemphasized. In essence, when you crit with a shadowbolt immediately begin refreshing your dots (see note above) to get the most damage then go right back to chucking shadowbolts. Destructive reach (and grim reach for that matter) actually are really good since a lot of bosses have aoe's around them, but it goes no further than 30 yards (example would be the Prince from Kara). This talent (in addition to the aggro reduction) lets you do FULL dps without having to even move (let the volley of shadowbolts never cease!).

The final abillity I would like to talk about is demonic embrace. I ADORE THIS ABILITY! Since for a warlock, mana = life (and vice versa) anything that gives you more life not only makes you less squishy ( a common problem for casters) but also in essence gives you a much bigger mana pool to play with. I cannot stress the usefulness of this talent. Since spirit is a useless point (a good warlock will just life tap when mana is needed), this talent is utterly amazing and in my opinion has no downfall.

Like everything, this spec does have it's downfall. One such problem is that: grinding weak to medium mobs = easy with virtually no downtime, grinding elites and big mobs is bad unless they can be chain feared (even with fel concentration, drain life will only save you to a point, you are still really squishy and are going to get hit alot). Also, since you are a caster you are really easy for melee dps classes to beat. Most rogues will handily beat a warlock and this spec doesn't really tackle that issue. A rogue can be chain feared once the cloak of shadows wears off, but you will probably be either dead or chain stunned by that point. When facing a smart warrior the only thing you can do is death coil/curse of exhaustion/run for you dear life and pray the don't catch you (if a warrior catches you, you are toast!). But as long as the target can be feared you will win (dots will EAT YOUR OPPONENT ALIVE!!!!) so classes like paladins, druids, etc are cake.

In conclusion, this spec does allow for incredible mana efficiency (Nepthys NEVER uses mana potions in Kara and with this spec she never ran out of mana or life even on the Prince fight) and easily maintained high damage output (lol, just refreshing your dots as they fall off causes good damage not to mention the shadowbolts hitting your target). However, you will have problems if your opponent cannot be controlled by fear or howl of terror. There is a way around this, but it requires you to have the voidwalker out and sacrifice him for his power word shield (a.k.a. cheating), and this ONLY WORKS IN DUELS OR ARENA. Most elite mobs will just 2-3 hit the shield away and you can guess what will happen after that (involves a coffin with YOUR name on it).

Next time I will discuss my personal preference (demonology main). It has HUGE survivability (you are nigh invincible), but dps will lack if you are not careful. Thus ends this dissertation (lol @ me for being so long winded).

I hate locks. But he has a point, dots will eat your opponent alive and most can agree. Nepthys very good thread. This should help someone as I might make a lock one day to pvp with.

Personally, in terms of maximizing raid dmg I am a fan of the oldschool SM/ruin builds. There can be a fair amount of variation but I like something like this:

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Ruin is an incredibly powerful ability. No other class has a single talent requiring a single point that will increase your crit bonus dmg by 100% for basically all of your spells that are capable of critting. 5/5 in devastation + ruin + nightfall + shadow mastery (plus the odd shadowburn) = a whole hell of a lot of warlock ouchiness. What you are losing (in terms of raw dmg) is Unstable Affliction, which I am not particularly a fan of. It only really shines when it is dispelled (read: in pvp) and even then is the only dot with a cast time, making you highly vulnerable to being shut down via counter-spell, earthshock, etc. Not having shadow spells is very bad if you are affliction. In the time you are casting an UA you could be most of the way through a much more dangerous SB.

I also am a big fan of demonic embrace and conceivably three points could be siphoned from Affliction and put into this talent. If you wanted you could even take out improved Howl of Terror though this is such a gem in pvp its hard to pass up if you are dipping deep into affliction.

Basically this build still works in the same way Nep describes above (inifinite mana, no down time, etc). It is functional in pvp since you have ruin, can fear bomb like a mad warlock, and can drain tank (but watch out for CS and ES).

A couple things in particular to mention with this build. I prefer 6% bonus to suppression, hence the 3 points. Some prefer more and some less. I also like 1 point in shadow embrace for the extra dmg the dot adds from life drain (though this is highly optional). I also do not have improved life tap which many people often take. It can be useful but with dark pact it is much less useful and arguably not needed.

If you didnt want to do any pvp you could go into affliction and just get SM, leave a few extra points for demo or destruction. Like...

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Anyway just my 2 cents.