Assistance on choosing spec and improving dps.

[Jarik]

First of all , thanks a lot for reading my topic!
This is my armory link : http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/s ... rik/simple
Outside of this I have the Necromantic Focus trinket.
I'm currently advancing in heroic firelands( Rhyolith -> Alysrazor etc)
I have no WoL sadly and I'm aware of the fact that this is making things harder.

What I basically want to ask is :
Judging by my gear and stats . Would I do better as affliction or as demonology?
I am currently reforged and specced as affli as I intend to try it at the next raid.
I have been raiding as demonology so far ( using necromantic focus instead of zerth) and I was getting outdps-ed by
ilvl 360 affliction warlock.
I'm following Elitist Jerks currently and I can't figure out what am I doing wrong :(
Because I do not have a WoL I will try to roughly explain my demonology rotation and affliction rotation.
As demonology it s mostly
Curse of Elements - >Bane of Doom -> Corruption -> Hand of Gul'dan -> Immolate -> Shadowbolt filler untill I get Molten Core.
I am using felhunter pet, I m never switching to Felguard.
At 25% I replace Shadowbolt with Soulfire.

Cooldowns : The Metamorphosis and Demon soul I m mostly using in the same time and I usually use one at the opening or at critical situations , and after, I save it for the burn phase ( Rhyolith heroic , Beth'ilac and so forth). I also use the Doomguard at burnphases or at start at Majordomo etc.

Regarding Demonology, I m not sure , should I use shadowflame aswell , or not ? I find it difficult to keep high dps at fights where I have to move .

I haven't done much with affliction yet. I ve only raided a BH and achieved ~ 21k dps without aoe'ing adds.

If you have further questions needed in order to help me , please ask .

I really hope I ll solve this matter and I ll be able to increase my damage dealing.
Thank you,
Andrew

[Hermanni]

I'd honestly recommend Demo as it suits all of Firelands nicely, but if you're having trouble Affli is both easier to manage and brings more consistent results. You'll have to accept that in this patch you'll never do great DPS as Demo if don't have Doomguard up when you need it.

For your gear you have some awkward things like the int/mastery gem in boots. Necromantic isn't very good for any spec, but if you're going to play Demo you really, really want to get Moonwell Chalice from the MF dailies.

How you open matters a lot with Demo because on a boss like Baleroc you'll spend the first minute or so doing a cockton of damage and the rest of the fight hoping the boss dies before others catch up. I haven't really got solid simcraft to back myself up in here but I recommend you do something like this: Pester your RL/tank do a countdown from 5+ seconds before the pull (preferably with a bossmod but by voice works too.) Start out with Felguard and some 4 seconds before pull pop Volcanic Potion and start casting Shadow Bolt. Follow up with Immolate that lands right when boss is pulled, follow up with CoE if nobody else in your raid buffs it. Flip into Meta and Demonsoul and hit Felstorm and Doom followed by Corruption followed by Hand of Gul'dan followed by Shadowflame followed by Immolation. Switch to Felhunter as soon as your Felstorm ends and stick to it, pop Doomguard when your major procs + Volcanic Potion are up. When your Doom ticks for second time (30 second mark) hard-clip it and hard-clip Corruption right when Meta is about to drop.

Shadowflame is great for all specs whenever it's usable. It not only does great damage to even a single target but also boosts your Shadow Bites.

[Jarik]

I thank you for the answer.
I appologise , but your answer rised more questions to me.
I have the Chalice, I did not find it better than the Necromantic focus at that time( I believed it helps getting huge dps spikes but not the dps overall), I do believe you are right since your gear is BiS and you're using it.
Regarding Shadowflame , should I stay in melee range on bosses in order to use it ( For example at Shannox) or should I use it only when I can ( Majordomo, Beth'ilac etc)?
Regarding the boots I intend to change them with some BoE's. Should I go for Boots of the black flame , or Shannox boe's?

About Doomguard situations, I realise there isn't any pattern on poping this, but is there a general rule or so? I usually pop it in Burn-phases..

Thank you for your help!

[Riccardino]

About Doomguard situations, I realise there isn't any pattern on poping this, but is there a general rule or so? I usually pop it in Burn-phases..

Doomguard benefits from your mastery and your current spell power; and remember it does NOT take any benefit from bloodlust. So: pop mwc and volcanic potion, pop meta and check your hidden cd of trinket and power torrent (usually they pop together). When everything is up use your Doomguard and you will see a huge dps increase, with your current gear the average doomguard shadowbolt you should see at max potential is around 40k i think.

I personally don't recomend to use it at inc on domo and baleroc if you are hard progressing them, because this means you will use doomguard once every three try.

[Xayide]

I have the Chalice, I did not find it better than the Necromantic focus at that time( I believed it helps getting huge dps spikes but not the dps overall), I do believe you are right since your gear is BiS and you're using it.

It helps both, but it has to be used correctly. It has to be popped BEFORE every Meta, not after. And you should call your DG only when it is up, too.

Regarding Shadowflame , should I stay in melee range on bosses in order to use it ( For example at Shannox) or should I use it only when I can ( Majordomo, Beth'ilac etc)?

Stay in range whenever you can and as much as you can, but if you have to move a lot to do it, don't. What I usually do is move only during GCDs caused by instants and also when I have Demon Leap available. In Shannox, only worry about Shadowflame when you can do what I said above. It's nice to be in melee range to use Immolation Aura, too, so try to plan your movement before popping Meta.

About Doomguard situations, I realise there isn't any pattern on poping this, but is there a general rule or so? I usually pop it in Burn-phases..

Pop it when you have MWC, Volcanic Pot and as many SP procs up as you can. That usually means at the start of the fight, but if there's an important burn phase, save it so you can use there. Even in burn phases, make sure you have all those things up if possible.

[Jarik]

I thank you all for the swift replies. Goodluck everyone!