FreshUser



Newbie

fire's specs are better becouse the improved shadowbolt will take a good dmg but it will drain your mana like hell so the most important think's are the fire specs becouse you will do more over DpS and more dps before your mana's off...That the problem of shadowbolt warlocks their mana waste too fast....

BzerK



Normal

I love fire spec on my lock its insane dps, Sacrifice and Shadow and Flame, the best and funnest raid spec imo.

Hellstabber



Normal

A very common misconception when it comes to a DS destro build is when people use fire. Shadow is superior to fire in every possible aspect and there is absolutely no argument for using Incinerate over SB. That is the first and most important thing one should realize. SB not only that offers more pure dps, but it also boosts raid dps by a significant amount through the Improved SB talent. Incinerate, on that account, does nothing. It is dependent on imp scorch specced mages, which are not always present in end game raids. Plus, there is a slim chance of 5 debuffs being on every trash mob or boss add immediately, which is not the case with shadow vulnerability.

Aquiloni



Newbie

It depends on the number of shadow specced people in our raids...
if there are 2 shadow priests and a bunch of shadow specced warlocks who have imp sb, then 2-3 warlocks are enough to maintain a 50% uptime of the imp sb debuff. the other 2 warlocks can sac their imp an go for fire (thanks hybrid 0/21/40) becoause of the higher personal dps.
on www.leulier.com you get a nice spreadsheet, thanks for developing this one, youre my hero ;)
included a spreadsheet simulation for imp sb uptime

Ganon



Very Old School

you can see here
http://wiki.shadowpriest.com/index.php?title=Caster_DPS_Comparison#Warlocks
A good theorycraft about warlocks and others classes. Maybe it's outdatted (for 2.0.3 I think).
You can't say shadow or destro is better because if you have a "static" with some fire mages destrolock will be better. If you should move every second during your combat and you have a shadowpriest on your group affli ftw!^^.

Ah and of course on trash mobs destro > affli just because the combat is short.

goodluck to your choice:)

Jikam00



Pro

Shadow is better by far, not only the ISB giving 20% more damage (and with 3-4 locks it is up all the time) but also SP giving more bonus to shadow than fire.

capped hit, 20-25+5% crit and a lot of spelldam + haste .. spamming SB + specced immolate meanwhile (for the encounters where you have to move, since it's casttime is 1.5 sec and it doing 2k+2k damage ~~ it is as good as 1 noncrit bolt) is more superior to spamming inci + immolate. Tested on doom and in bt..

Affliction is only good when you are in a starting gear, else destro shadow

BzerK



Normal

Ive never been beatin in dps by a shadow destro lock, fire is to leet, immolate, get your incins in then conflag, not to mention some soul fire crits with coe and scorch, i love it.

Kendien



Newbie

@BzerK
The fact that you use conflag in your rotation tells me that the other locks in your guild are not very good. Conflag lowers your DPS, as opposed to just Imm/Incinerate.
The Truth is the math is to close to call, so it is still better to stick with shadow for higher Raid Dps. Fire was merely changed for bored warlocks, and soloing purposes.

BzerK



Normal

How so? u can get in a conflag right when u get your incin in and immolate is about to run out

Jaxc



Newbie

shadow DOES scale better with gear, but it still uses load of mana compaired to fire.

personally i use fire and love it. im usually top or 2nd. fire to me is just booring since its just to spam shadowbolt and curse

TeeKoo



Newbie

Didn't that imb SB get nerfed? It should only affect your own shadow dmg now, amirite?

Kendien



Newbie

@TeeKoo
No Imp SB did not get touched.
The fact is that when you use conflag you initiate the global cooldown.
In the 1.5 seconds you have to wait after conflag, you could already have another Imm (Which intially hits for about as much as conflag hits for) off and be nuking again.

Basically conflag is a terrible waste of time, and mana. If you don't believe me try it and watch your DPS go up.

Artzu



Newbie

@Hellstabber
It is dependent on imp scorch specced mages, which are not always present in end game raids.

Which endgame mage does not have imp scorch, you made me laugh thanks (:

SK|mekon



Old School

shadow for dps, fire if u have to move a lot or are doing progress where shards may not be easy to come by when doing try after try.

SK|mekon



Old School

i think in the particular movie u are talking about fire was being tested or one guy had low shards or something .. i dont remember but shadow is best on brut