A Warlock cure for the 3.3.2 downtime

3.3.2 hits tonight (Tues, Feb 2nd) and that means servers are down I often try to keep myself busy with work, but that doesn’t keep me as busy as procrastinating does so we will be working on that today. I’m sure everyone has read the patch notes and really only one thing has changed since then regarding warlocks. That is of course of the change to Shadow Embrace. It was incorrectly listed as being changed from 5 talents to 4, which normally would be interpreted as an error (which it was) however no one was %100 sure. It has since then been corrected and is still a 5pt talent. Also included in this post is a brief (and I mean brief  ) talent guide for 3.3.2 for anyone wanting to jump right into the Frozen Throne the right way.

Patch 3.3.2 Notes Recap

Quote from: Blizzard Staff

Warlock
Affliction

• Shadow Embrace: This effect can now stack up to 3 times, up from 2. However, the periodic healing reduction effect has been reduced from 3/6/9/12/15% to 2/4/6/8/10% per application.

Demonology

• Demonic Pact: The damage bonus granted the warlock by this talent has been increased from 1/2/3/4/5% to 2/4/6/8/10%. The buff granted to a raid or party by this talent remains unchanged.

Destruction

• Conflagrate: The damage-over-time effect of Conflagrate has been increased to 40% of the spell’s total damage, up from 20%.
• Empowered Imp: The pet bonus damage provided by this talent has been increased to 10/20/30%, up from 5/10/15%.
• Improved Shadow Bolt: Damage done by Shadow Bolt increased by 2/4/6/8/10%, up from 1/2/3/4/5%.

I have a more detailed description of the changes here on my “More Warlock Buffs” post. In summary, all the changes are completely buffs and that makes this Warlock is happeh ]

Top Builds for 3.3.2

If you are looking to top the meters, but don’t want to spend hours searching for builds and theory crafting, below I have assembled the top dps’ing builds for 3.3.2.

#1 Affliction (55/0/16)

Affliction is on top as always . This build requires a felhunter, but is overall the highest dps build there is. The downside to this build is that you are locked to the felhunter, which means bringing out an imp lowers your dps and renders talents useless. Otherwise this build is top notch, and will most likely continue to be the flavor of the month for Locks until next patch. Get [Nevermelting Ice Crystal]. Depending on the fight, this trinket can out-perform Icecrown Citadel 25 man heroic trinkets; You can get it in Pit of Saron Heroic. This is pretty big deal.

#2 Demonology (0/56/15)

Demo came out #2, which is cool to hear. I like demonol0gy and would love to see more locks go Demo. You will be buffing you and your raid with Demonic Pact (Which is now a bit stronger for yourself) This build is obviously very proficient during execute stages where your dps will shoot through the roof with Decimation. oh and….

#3 Destruction (0/13/58/)

Destro comes in third for dps (Though only by about 300 dps) The strength of this build is in its burst, and replenishment. I still think that this build would be the best out of the three for running heroics due to the extra stam with Blood Pact, and the awesome replenishment from Improved Soul Leech.

As with all specs/gear/theorycrafting etc.. There is more to just having a top dps spec, you have to have the right stats for it, and since this is more of a simple post than a detailed talent guide, I’ll leave most of that to the pros at Elitistjerks.com. Esssentialy though, Stack more crit for the affliction build, otherwise let Haste be your primary stat for the other specs (Not to exceed  609 haste)

In other news…

We are getting our Season 8 Gear as well in this patch, you will find me standing next to an arena organizer for the next few months untill I have this entire set.

WoW.com has a couple of dauntingly long posts in the Blood Pact column, Blood Pact: Using Simulationcraft for Gear Selection and Blood Pact: Mistakes other people make. They go in depth into areas that I would rarely highlight, and they are fairly complicated, so if that is your thing check em out.

If you feel like reading something much more lighthearted, Cynwise wrote a beautiful article called “The Warlock Way” which I highly recommend reading.

For even lighter-hearted’ed reading, (Its a word!! Shatup!) a good friend of my who also plays a warlock has decided to start leveling a mage… someone talk her out of it (The Lazy Sniper)

Other than that, I don’t have much else to talk about. I have another Addons, Media and Macros post lined up with some great music; If you missed the last one, check it out here (Addons, Media and Macros)

I am practically up to my knees in requests for custom wallpapers hehe, I guess this was all my doing anyway :p.

Also, Lock tanks rejoice… we haven’t died yet!!