Changes: Heal over time

Revision as of 08:48, 22 May 2011

Main article: Warlock talents#Destruction

Destruction is the third of the Warlock's talent trees. This tree's emphasis is to improve the Warlock's ability to do direct damage as opposed to damage over time and greatly enhances their ability to do burst damage. It mainly affects Fire spells, but is not restricted to them.

This tree provides the warlock with four spells that are exclusive to it: [Chaos Bolt], [Conflagrate], [Shadowburn] and [Shadowfury]. The last 3 are instant cast direct damage spells; Chaos Bolt on the other hand has a cast time, but has the advantage of piercing absorption effects. With the inclusion of [Death Coil] and Shadowflame, Destruction warlocks end up with five instant cast spells. This makes them quite versatile when dealing with foes.

The warlock who chooses the path of Destruction becomes an instrument of heavy artillery. Capable of dealing massive amounts of damage over a very short period of time, their role in a battle is to either stand back and help finish off enemies one at a time before they can be healed, or charge into a melee and completely disrupt a battle, usually at the expense of their own life.

Destruction is often the spec of choice for Warlocks that would rather do heavy direct damage themselves. It is often perceived as the best spec for PvP as it gives you the tools to quickly finish off a foe. However, its usefulness in arena play, especially in 2v2, is debated. Unlike the Affliction and Demonology trees, Destruction offers very little in terms of survivability or damage mitigation — two valuable assets in arena. The tree is clearly focused on damage. The introduction of resilience took quite a bit of punch out of Destruction's PvP appeal. Moreover, many of its spells have longer cast times than the DoTs of Affliction which gives opponents the opportunity to interrupt your spellcasting.

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+{{main|Warlock talents#Destruction}}
-'''Heal over time''' (generally abbreviated as '''HoT''') refers to a type of healing ability. A HoT does not immediately heal a target; a HoT instead heals the target for a certain amount over regular intervals. In [[World of Warcraft]], the healing is typically applied every X seconds (X varies between different HoTs). A HoT may be applied using a variety of methods - from a spell, a bandage (see [[First Aid]]), eating food, a potion or some other form. Most HoTs are target specific, though there are also [[Area of Effect]] (AoE) HoT's such as the [[Druid]] spell [[Tranquility]].
-A HoT is in principle a [[Buff]], but usually with a much shorter duration than "normal" buffs. HoTs can usually be removed or dispelled, just like Buffs.
+'''Destruction''' is the third of the [[Warlock|Warlock's]] [[talent]] trees. This tree's emphasis is to improve the Warlock's ability to do [[direct damage]] as opposed to [[damage over time]] and greatly enhances their ability to do [[burst damage]]. It mainly affects [[Fire]] spells, but is not restricted to them.
-The [[Druid]] is the most well-known class for using HoT spells, probably followed by the [[Priest]]. [[Shaman]] and [[Paladin]]s have spells which heal over time but the methods are different from the simple buffs of priests and druids.  [[Warlock]]s and [[Hunter]]s also have HoTs, although they are not often seen since they are limited to themselves or their pets.
+This tree provides the warlock with four spells that are exclusive to it: [[Chaos Bolt]], [[Conflagrate]], [[Shadowburn]] and [[Shadowfury]]. The last 3 are instant cast direct damage spells; Chaos Bolt on the other hand has a cast time, but has the advantage of piercing absorption effects. With the inclusion of [[Death Coil]] and [[Shadowflame]], Destruction warlocks end up with five instant cast spells. This makes them quite versatile when dealing with foes.
-==Examples==
-*[[Priest]]: [[Renew]], [[Penance]] (with talents, [[Channeling|channeled]]), [[Holy Word: Sanctuary]], [[Blessed Recovery]] (with talents, self only)
-*[[Druid]]s: [[Rejuvenation]], [[Regrowth]], [[Tranquility]] (channeled, AoE), [[Lifebloom]], and [[Wild Growth]]
-*[[Shaman]]: [[Healing Stream Totem]], [[Earthliving Weapon]], and [[Riptide]] (with talents)
-*[[Paladin]]: [[Holy Radiance]]
-*[[Warlock]]: [[Drain Life]] (self only, channeled), [[Health Funnel]] (channeled, pet only)
-*[[Hunter]]: [[Mend Pet]] (pet only)
+The warlock who chooses the path of Destruction becomes an instrument of heavy artillery. Capable of dealing massive amounts of damage over a very short period of time, their role in a battle is to either stand back and help finish off enemies one at a time before they can be healed, or charge into a melee and completely disrupt a battle, usually at the expense of their own life.
-==Limitations==
-*It is not possible to stack the same HoT from a single healer, but the same HoT from different healers can stack on one target. The exception is [[Lifebloom]], which can be stacked 3 times by the same druid.
-*Bandage HoTs are interrupted when the "caster" or the target take any form of damage.
+Destruction is often the spec of choice for Warlocks that would rather do heavy direct damage themselves. It is often perceived as the best spec for PvP as it gives you the tools to quickly finish off a foe. However, its usefulness in arena play, especially in 2v2, is debated.  Unlike the Affliction and Demonology trees, Destruction offers very little in terms of survivability or damage mitigation — two valuable assets in arena. The tree is clearly focused on damage. The introduction of [[resilience]] took quite a bit of punch out of Destruction's PvP appeal. Moreover, many of its spells have longer cast times than the DoTs of Affliction which gives opponents the opportunity to interrupt your spellcasting.
-==Tips==
-* Don't waste mana by putting a HoT on someone who is *not* going to take damage.
-* Exception to the above rule: Feel free to give out HoTs to [[Warlocks]]. They "damage" ([[Life Tap]]) themselves frequently to make mana. Apply an occasional HoT and you will quickly become their new best friend! And you will be helping, in a very simple way, to maximize the DPS of your party or raid. (Especially if your Warlock buddy is [[Demonology]]-specced, as they have the least self-healing of the warlock specs)
-* Each tick of a HoT can cause [[aggro]], but it's spread out over time allowing the tank to build up aggro to counteract it.  The difference between HoT and direct heal aggro is consistently gaining small amounts of hate versus gaining no hate for a period of time followed by a sudden large spike in hate.  As with all healing, however, the threat generated is split among all targets in combat, and overhealing generates zero threat.
-* Some people like to put a HoT on their [[tank]] as soon as they start taking damage, though this may not be advisable if the tank does not generate aggro well.  Make sure your tank can at least grab as much aggro per [[tick]] as your HoT.  This is usually not a worry since a good tank can generate far more aggro per tick than a HoT.
-* Whether a HoT generates aggro depends on whether the healer is in combat with the mob. If the healer isn't in combat with the mob, no threat is generated. In a 5 man instance, it is usually safe to HoT the tank before the pull; the healer won't be put in combat immediately and therefore won't get any aggro. In raid encounters, every raid member enters combat once the boss is pulled. It is therefore only advisable to HoT a tank who is pulling a raid boss if the tank has Hunters or Rogues helping him out with [[Misdirection]]/[[Tricks of the Trade]] or if the tank can securely establish threat on the pull with a high-threat ranged ability such as [[Heroic Throw]] or [[Avenger's Shield]].
+==See also==
-See also: [[Buff]], [[DoT]], [[Healing]], [[DH]].
+[[Affliction]] | [[Demonology (talent tree)|Demonology]] | [[Destruction]]
-[[Category:Game terms]]
+[[Category:Warlocks]]
+[[Category:Warlock talents| ]]