Affliction Warlock PvP - Crit > Mastery

[Nadorb-outland]

Continuing the discussion from Afflock pvp - crit?:

@Jaimme-sylvanas

hi, noob question, im doing afflock with soul harvester build. Crit sims realy high, almoust as int for me…so im stacking crit. (spam bolts and free MR from nighfall crits). I know im probably totaly doing it wrong as most builds seem to be haste. i know my fear will take longer, and that my shard generation is bad. But, crit sims 50% higher then haste. Am i totaly wrong?

@Jaimme I have to say. Your post, Chanimal’s PvP guide and Cataclysm actually inspired me to try Crit over Mastery.

So firstly I recently played more Cata than Retail and all my friends who played Affli complained about it. How impossible to play it is. I decided to help them and did some research. I found this:

https://www.icy-veins.com/wow/affliction-warlock-pvp-stat-priority-gear-and-trinkets

And it blew my mind because that’s the way you gear your Affli in Cata. There were also these 2 talents that made your dot Crits hit harder and one that gave you 10% more Crit chance on them. There is also a talent in Warlock tree that you get 5% more Crit + 10% more Crit from items. Then I checked Hellcaller tree and there are so many talents that increase your Crit chance.

I decided I have to try it. I also went on Chan’s stream and asked him why he prefers Crit over Mastery. And he said that dots don’t kill people but Shadow Bolts and Malefic Raptures do and Mastery doesn’t increase Shadow Bolts damage but Crit has a chance for it. I tried both specs Hellcaller with the talents, without and the build Chan recommended with Soul Harvester and my verdict is. Crit is indeed better and Soul Harvester pumps then. Dot Crits also do some good damage so it’s not that suddenly your dot damage is gone. I think though that once we will have enough stats (3rd - 4th season) Hellcaller with Haste/Versa/Crit might be insane. With huge amount of Haste you will get more Shards so you don’t need Soulrot giving you shards on go. Your Crescendo will proc more often from bigger amount of Haste and dot pressure might finally get nasty.

[Mòve-kazzak]

Haste is by far the best stat for all warlock specs on retail.

[Nadorb-outland]

It is but Crit is definetely better than Mastery and you have to take 2 offpieces that either have a lot of mastery or crit.

[Mòve-kazzak]

Not really.
You can craft gear and put vers/haste on it, like most Warlocks.

You may get some weird offstat from tier pieces, but you can’t really decide the stats there.

[Nadorb-outland]

If you could read that was my point. 4 set is too good not to play it and you either need to take pieces with Mastery or Crit and Crit > Mastery. And by stacking only Haste you’re not going to kill too much. Crit gives you more burst becauses your Shadow Bolts have chance to Crit. I didn’t take it out of nowhere.

https://www.icy-veins.com/wow/affliction-warlock-pvp-stat-priority-gear-and-trinkets

This is Chanimal’s guide and Chanimal is probably the best Warlock player overall.