Warlock 3.0 Impressions

Alright, had some time to test out my new 3.0 Affliction build this weekend. Took him to Quel'Danas for some daily action. Tons of fun. Seems way overpowered, if you ask me, but of course, everything's balanced for level 80, so we'll see how it works out.

Cast rotation was as follows:
Curse of Elements -> Corruption -> Unstable Affliction -> Haunt -> Drain Life
That's it. Only one DL before the mob dies. No time for Nightfall procs or even a Drain Soul to finish it off. Enemies were half dead before I even started draining.

The boosts to Fel Concentration make this cast rotation very easy to pull off. Normally, I would start with the cast-time spells before the instants, but now, the ablity to put Curse of Elements up first is very handy.

Here's some quick numbers:
Self-buffed bonus spell damage is at 808 with untalented Fel Armor. Used to be quite a bit higher, but the Spellpower change nerfed all the Shadow-specific damage on my gear.

Corruption: 669/tick
Unstable Affliction: 609/tick
Drain Life: 358/tick
Haunt: 1104

Haunt gives 20% increased damage to all DoTs on the target, plus an additional 5% with the Shadow Embrace talent. Fitting it in to your cast rotation is a must. Gaining over 1k health back at the end of each fight is a nice bonus, as well, especially since Fel Armor no longer grants extra healing. That effect has been moved over to Demon Armor, although Fel Armor got the health regen from Demon Armor to make up for it.

Mana efficiency is insane. Drain Soul at the end of every mob was not necessary. Good thing, too, since I'm hopeless at managing shards without Necrosis. (UPDATE: Necrosis 3.0 wentlive late Saturday)

Now for the best part of 3.0 Affliction leveling: the Felhunter. Previously, Affliction 'Locks would use Imp as a mana battery or Succubus for damage. There's also the ones who didn't know any better and rocked a Voidwalker. Those poor lost souls.

However, we now have a dedicated Affliction pet thanks to the Improved Felhunter talent. Fel Intelligence is a great buff, since Fel Armor now grants a percentage of your Spirit as Spellpower. And Shadow Bite. Holy Crap, Shadow Bite. Extra damage for DoTs on the target... nice. Netting 5% base mana each time it's used... amazing. This will keep your Felpup topped off at all times for Dark Pacting.

Once all the post-patch insanity dies down, I'll run some damage meter tests with the Training Dummies.

Initially, though, I must say I'm very happy with the new Affliction tree.