Destruction haste PvP issue in Shadowlands

[Gruggenbach-twisting-nether]

Hey All,

I have been thinking of commenting on this topic the whole Shadowlands.

I see arenas developing very fast. Most combinations in 3s go for instant CC and burst immediately in the first 3 sec when contact happens and I notice that as a destruction warlock 80% of the games I am always falling behind in setting up before I can actually burst.

The average for my set up to burst is 5 sec (Immolate → Conflagrate → Infernal → Bane of Havoc → Mortal Coil) and that is falling behind almost every game which leads to the enemy team getting the upper hand in 3v3. After that it turns out it is too late and the game is predetermined because our team’s cooldowns are forced. Most times Global Cooldown is not fast enough (unless I am in melee range of enemy players) to apply Bane of Havoc and double Mortal Coil to create a win condition. Bane of Havoc gets countered by pre-reflect, pre-ward, pre-grounding, instant dispel and that is the most reliable window for damage for destruction warlock.

With the current arena game speed and line of sighting of enemy teams I see that if I successfully manage to land double Mortal Coil I can cast and land 2 Chaos Bolts (4 with ‘Bane of Havoc’ dublicated) and in the gap of 45 sec when Mortal Coil is recharging I can generate max 2 more Chaos Bolts with all the stuns, kicks, line of sight going on. If the 2 generated Chaos Bolts are used before Bane of Havoc and Mortal Coil gets ready then I do not have shards when the 45 sec of Mortal Coil recharges. Then the double Mortal Coil set up falls behind greatly compared to the enemy offensive cooldowns.

In 2v2 most combinations line of sight me and if the game develops to a pillar play I can not even apply ‘Immolate’ with so many slows, instant DOTs, Bleeds, Instant casts that are coming from behind the pillar almost, although I keep them slowed. Double Mortal Coil becomes a ‘mirage in a desert’ from all the pre-counters mentioned above. I know arena is a 2v2 or 3v3 and I am supposed to get help in theory to set up for a go from my teammates but in practice the incoming damage and speed of enemy teams clearly dominates.

From my experience as a destruction warlock for now 5 years I think haste is falling behind compared to the overall game speed in arenas.

I do not see damage in PvP for destruction warlocks being an issue right now and for the whole of Shadowlands but if we consider mobility, speed and instant CC of most classes haste is falling behind.

I am sure the Developers and the Blizzard teams who work day and night have seen that haste for destruction warlocks is okay on the spreadsheet with all the maths going on and it is equal and fair to other classes but in practice, arena matches do not turn out that way.

I also know that priority for the development of the classes and specs is PvE, however I kindly ask for an improvement of 4.5% - 8% haste in PvP for destruction warlocks in order to make them competitive and not rejected in LFG in 2v2 and 3v3.

I deeply hope I managed to contribute with a description of how most arena matches go for a destruction warlock.

To all who share the same experience and trouble in PvP, please /Like, /Promote, /Vote, /Comment on this topic so we can enjoy a great spec and class in World of Warcraft.

Best Regards,
Gruggenbach, the Undying

[Inagony-twisting-nether (Inagony)]

For 2v2; it is usually the case that you play with either Hpriest or Rdruid for stuns. Druid will rake stun into maim or bash to let you get 1 or 2 bolts off. Or you can always go for the classic fear into chaos bolt.

For 3v3 its always the case that Dest Lock plays with another strong caster; such as Frost Mage, who can do alot of damage if opponent focuses on the Warlock.

Now, about the points you made on Dest Locks being too slow for the meta. Unfortunately such is the case, yes. If you look at the top tier specs they have one of these;

1. Instant, easy to do burst,
2. Short defensive CDs,
3. Strong / unrelenting ST pressure,

1: Fire Mages, SPs,
2: SPs, Fire Mages,
3: Almost all the melees,

You simply can’t put Dest Lock anywhere on those. Especially if the Lock is the one being focussed.

Thats why Dest Lock will either be a stupidly tanky turret like it was in BfA or a B tier, meh caster.

I would say the tier set bonus of “1 instant CB after 10 shards spent” should be a baseline for the spec or perhaps a PvP talent. CB hits 10 to 12k in arena naked and even if someone were to get 1 casted and 1 instant CB off; it wouldn’t be a “oh sh1t” moment for the opponent.

I don’t know if my suggestion is better or if yours is better but i’d say a change is def. needed for this spec to be S tier. Locks have 3 DPS specs and unfortunately none of them are S tier as it is.

[Fushu-drakthul]

Destro lock feeling really bad in the arenas at state where they are.

For sure their setups are pretty hard to achiev almost impossible in 3s because there is so many addons and weak auras at this point that when you don’t have insta CC or really huge haste is almost impossible to play classes like this on competetive level, atm destrolock lacking versatility of comps, he can play just 1-2 comps which is really sad.

For example why destro locks were really good at BFA was their turret play style where they been able to kill anything that comes to their range and had much more defenses as they have now, ofcourse mobility is really nice for locks which they have now but still its not class that can really kite or buy 45 sec for his next burst.

[Garek-emeriss]

I absolutely agree with the comments analysis above. I could add something about the defensive point of view of the destro locks. To put it simple, they just don’t have the defensive capabilities to play their turret style successfully. Unending resolve on 3 min cd is the only major defensive cd. As a holy priest ( a meta healer at the moment) i could honestly say i feel like healing a busted punching bag. Mortal coil and the sacrificial pact aren’t enough. And sometimes the coil puts the target out of line of sight of the lock and the whole point of having the stupid coil is gone.
The game design of destro is awesome, the mechanics and lore as well, but please figure a way to put this class among the S tier again.

[Whas-zuljin]

And the Damage? I have always said the same thing,there are classes that with an instant or a casting of less than 1.5 seconds you get 22k-32k (more if is hunter). Why me that I have to cast for 2.5+ seconds in which they can cut me 20 times or just do LOS,I do 14k-18k? It doesn’t make sense.

[Naze-aegwynn (Naze)]

I hope blizzard is redesigning Chaos Bolt for 10.0, I think it should be a big hit. Maybe give decimating Bolt the effect also for CB.