Your Style, Their Style, and the Team Style
“I Spec the Way I Want” - Your Style
On the surface, it seems to simple to just get into Arena and grind out a few matches to gain points. One of the major pitfalls most players in Arena is finding the “Ultimate Spec.” It’s that one talent setup that covers all situations, every ability, every team setup, and everything else. It can also be known as the “Jack-Trade Spec.”
What’s wrong with covering all the bases: defensive talents, offensive talents, and utility talents? Everything. It might be nice to be a little unique, but trouble befalls when you get pressed into a situation that requires a focus in a particular talent set. For example, a priest with lots of points in healing, but no utility spells (Mana Burns, Dispels, and etc.) will be more effective when it comes down to healing damage, and definitely more effective than a hybrid healer/utility/dps Priest. Likewise, a priest with points in all utility spells is more effective than the hybrid.
But what if you already have all utility points, and now you want to spec into some healing?
Deciding How to spec Properly - Their Style
This is a point that many people fail to overlook when building a spec for Arena. It’s all about your teammate’s setup and strategy. There is a huge difference in playing 4-DPS, 2345 (Mage/Shaman/Warrior/Paladin/Priest), double healer, triple healer, and beyond. A good example of this is having one teammate play Drain, another teammate play burst, and another team mate playing constant DPS. This is inevitably a clash of styles.
While this works on unorganized teams, you won’t see it last long in higher ratings. This is a lot like putting your car into fifth gear while you’re driving 13 miles per hour: it’s just inefficient. So what do you do?
Harmony - The Team Style
Get with your friends, your buddies, and your teammates and hammer out a strategy. Once you know the playstyle, you can each build your talents accordingly. Remember that any of the “cookie cutter” specs that float around forums are exactly that: cookie cutter. They are cookie cutter because it’s the spec that is widely accepted by people who can’t decide on their own. Take those builds, massage them (lightly), and see if they fit with your strategy.
Some Personal Suggestions:
+ Warlocks
- SL/SL for Drain
-Felguard /Shadowburn for Burst
+ Warriors
- 41 Arms for strong burst
- 33/2X/Y for tank-DPS (better in 2s and 3s)
- MS/Conc. for Anti-Burst (Works well in 3s)
+ Hunters
- BM for Rush DPS
- Marksman for High CC
- Survivalist in 5s for Tank&CC
+ Priest
- Shadow for DPS
- Disc./Shadow for DPS assistance
- Disc./Holy for Heal assistance
The Best Style
WoW is a mathematical game, but there’s enough space to let you toy with the specs to give you certain edges over certain situations. Never be afraid to experiment with non-standard talent points. The worst that could happen is a few lost arena points, but you gain the knowledge of why it worked or didn’t work. Who knows? That one spec that you discover to fit your team best may just become the next cookie-cutter (it always has to come from somewhere).
-ERP-
January 21st, 2008 at 1:26 am
If we can figure out a night to do alt 5’s next week I’ma spec Mute. It would be far superior to SS for 5’s.
I wonder if Outstanding’s tried Demo…
January 21st, 2008 at 9:58 am
No, he should never ever spec demo.
I wouldn’t be opposed to him going back to Felguard spec though … or hybrid shadowburn/Demo.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Yeah, I meant Destro, I dunno why I said Demo.
January 21st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
To be honest, I don’t really know what the standard spec for spriest is. I wouldn’t even really look at other specs, just play around with it until you get something that you like and fits your team.
January 21st, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Also, I like the pictures up top.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
haha I was like O.o felgaurd is a demo spec….then I realized you were talking about destruction.
I don’t know if that is a great idea because our team setup only has one healer, and destruction often requires you to be standing still and casting to take advantage of it making me a sitting duck target with little survivability.
Backlash and Nether protection would help a little bit, but those talents work better when you aren’t focused by 4 players and only have to deal with 1 or 2 at a time >.>
January 21st, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I was just playin around a second ago, and this is the spec I’d first try if I was gonna do Destro in arena and I was worried about survivability.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0000000000000000000002050030033000000000000505500512000513031351
That said, I don’t know jack shit about warlocks or playing them, as I’ve never played a warlock past level 36 (or whatever Flaeli is). However, it seems to me that the 2 talents you mentioned combined with stun capabilities from Shadowfury (jesus christ, 20s CD) and Aftermath (5s duration!) and the heath regen of Soul Leach would combine to give you a good amount of survivability. I also added in demo talents designed to give you more health to work with and put 5 points in Bane since you were worried about standing still for long periods of time to cast.
It seems to me that if used to its utmost potential this spec has a high degree of survivability potential while still retaining its burst damage capabilities.
January 21st, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I also liked the pictures up top.
January 21st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Sorry for the triple post, but it occured to me that you’d have to get entirely different gear for that spec so… that would be crazy.
Narymind.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:02 pm
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0000000000000000000002050030130000000000000055000512020513531351
This would be how I would do it if I was specing destro for 5’s.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Well, if I were to make a destruction spec for PVP…
…I would stay away from the crit talents.
…One major talent that I would pick up would be destructive reach though, the extra 20% casting range can make all the difference when you’re casting on a feared target or a rogue thats running at you imo.
…I may be too attached to affliction, but I would definately reduce the cast time of corruption to 0 with improved corruption, it is to warlocks what tactical mastery is to warriors.
…The daze on aftermath may work well, but it is a daze not a stun, as stated earlier, so they will still be able to move and attack :o
…searing pain improved!! (this talent is nice for knocking off the final bit of health for not a lot of mana, any crits I can squeeze out of it is just a bonus so I picked up that talent.
…IT BURNS. I picked up all the fire talents and plan to use fire spells with this spec due to things like shadow resist buffs and auras that are a lot more common than fire ones.
I picture it something like this: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0500000000000000000002050000000000000000000055500012230503531351
Maybe I’ll try it some day if the mood is right.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Shin– How hard would it be to make an edit post button? I wanted to TINYURL my post QQ
January 21st, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Uh, if you wanted to edit your post, you’d need to have access to do it.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I can see why the crit stuff would be less what you’d want when you don’t have crit gear, but if you got the crit gear I think it would be much better (again, as someone who’s never played a lock past mid 30’s. It just seems to me that a destro lock without crit is kinda like a mage with no crit.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:53 pm
well, even without the crits, the burst is 1000 times better in destruction with shadowfury, conflag, and shadowburn. well really only 3x better!
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:24 am
Cookie cutter destro pvp is the following and I’ll explain why after.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0500000000000000000002050000000000000000000055500012230503531351#none
Cataclysm is horrible. You’re talking 5% on destro spells so lets take shadow bolt rank 12 as an example. 420 mana so you’re talking 21 mana per bolt, at lvl 70 with around 1000 dmg, you’re gonna be life tapping for 1500’s per tap w/o improved life tap, 2 points into this would give you a bonus of 300 mana (20% extra) you’d have to bolt 14 times in order to make the same mana efficiency.
Aftermath as stated before is a daze not a stun and usually procs when you dont need it to proc but I could be biased.
You dont need intensity b/c you’re rarely ever casting a full cast shadowbolt, you’re going to be casting searing pains, immolates and shadowfurys. The only time you’d cast bolts is if you’re totally left alone or backlash procs.
Devestation and ruin are totally needed. Crits help proc improved shadowbolt also, so imagine backlash procing, you instant bolt crit, shadowfury > shadowburn, if immolate is on you conflag. You’re looking at 8-12k dmg within 4.5 seconds.
The downfall to destro is that you’re very squishy and with 2.3 showing everyone’s buffs, they’d be stupid not to target you. Although this guy has had success in 5’s being destro but I believe’s he’s gone back to demo since 2.3.
http://warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=58162
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:25 am
damn i linked the wrong build
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0500200000000000000002050000000000000000000505000510220513531351
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
:o I agree with you about cataclysm.
However…intensity is for all destruction spells, not just shadowbolt. Searing Pain and immolate have cast times too. Even though they are shorter they still experience pushback. With a pally on your team it would be ideal for casting with people on you.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
If you’re not gonna be casting shadowbolt (you won’t be) why get imp shadowbolt? Do we have an spriest? We do not have an spriest. Where’s the shadow damage gonna come from? Shadowburn and Shadowfury ain’t exactly heavy hitters.
Intensity is absolutely necessary if you’re getting hit. I like cataclysm because a destro lock that lifetaps is gonna be a dead lock. That’s also the reason my spec includes fel int. I’ve never really thought the extra 400 (usually 200 because you’re mortally stricken) health from imp healthstone was worth it unless you’re already going demo.
If you want to keep imp corruption http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0500000000000000000001050000000000000000000055000512230513531351 makes the most sense to me.
Also, you can backlash incinerate. More people should do this.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=o
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Synii wins.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Yeah I guess you’re right about intensity, I’ve adapted my game to affliction/demo where I rarely cast bolts unless I’m left free or instant bolt procs, so for me, my nature is to not cast bolts unless I’m free since I’ve never really spec’d into intensity. The build that you linked is actually pretty solid but I think most destro locks are casting searing pain vs shadowbolts, and only bolt when backlash procs.
The reason why you cast bolts vs incin is b/c the coefficient of a 2.5 cast time vs a 3.0 cast time of bolts. IF immolate is up, you should ALWAYS cast incinerate, if it’s not then you should cast a bolt. The reason as you stated for improved shadowbolt is for the sp in the group and a chain of bursts following a crit bolt (shadowburn/shadowfury).
Hey shin, let me spec destro this week!! :P
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Someone actually did some math on this comparing incinerate vs shadowbolts and this is probably why a lot of people get improved SB and bolt on backlashes instead of incinerate.
With Emberstorm and Shadow and Flame
Shadowbolt
(541-603) + (1000*1.06) = 1601-1663 (544 DPS w/o Bane and 653 DPS with Bane)
Incinerate (/w Immol. up)
((555-642) + (1000*0.91)*1.10) = 1611-1707 (664 DPS)
so 653 DPS for bolts vs 664 DPS for incinerate WITH immolate up.
So imagine doing immolate > searing pain > (backlash proc) crit bolt > shadowburn > shadowfury > conflag. All the while shadowweaving is up.
I’m thinking destro locks would be pretty nice in a 4 dps team.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
We don’t have an spriest in our team. That’s the reason you wouldn’t get imp bolt. When would immolate not be up? Right after a conflag is all I can think of.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I think Ug’s thinking more about your 5 than our 5.
September 5th, 2010 at 2:31 am
Buy:Levitra.Cialis Professional.Super Active ED Pack.Maxaman.Cialis.Viagra.Viagra Soft Tabs.Viagra Professional.Viagra Super Force.Tramadol.Soma.Cialis Super Active+.Viagra Super Active+.VPXL.Zithromax.Propecia.Cialis Soft Tabs….
September 5th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Buy:Soma.Zithromax.Tramadol.Super Active ED Pack.Viagra Super Force.Cialis.Viagra Super Active+.Cialis Soft Tabs.Maxaman.Cialis Professional.Propecia.Viagra.VPXL.Viagra Soft Tabs.Viagra Professional.Cialis Super Active+.Levitra….
November 11th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
…
BUY FASHION. TOP BRANDS: GUCCI, DOLCE&GABBANA, BURBERRY, DIESEL, ICEBERG, ROBERTO CAVALLI, EMPORIO ARMANI, VERSACE…