Class Comparison: Shadow Priest vs. Affliction Warlock

[Rekuul']

I noticed a lot of similarities between these two class/builds so I decided id try and figure out just how similar they are. Im going to break it down into 3 groups. Damage, Defense, and Utility.

Spells listed are for maximum damage output over a period of 30 seconds.

Priest can use these spells offensively:

Shadow Word: Pain (Rank 8)
Shadow Magic 470 Mana
Instant cast
30 yd range
A word of darkness that causes 852 damage over 18 sec. Adjusted /w Talents: 1704 dmg over 24 sec. 10% chance for 3 second stun.

Mind Blast (Rank 9)
Shadow Magic 350 Mana
1.5 sec cast 8 sec cooldown
30 yd range
Blasts the target for 503 to 531 shadow damage, but causes a high amount of threat. Adjusted /w Talents: 754 to 796. 10% chance for 3 second stun. 1.5 sec reduced cooldown.

Mind Flay (Rank 6)
Shadow Magic 205 Mana
Instant cast
20 yd range
Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 426 damage over 3 sec and slowing the target to 50% of their movement speed.Adjusted /w Talents: 639. 10% chance for 3 second stun.

Assuming 30 seconds of combat. SW: Pain, Mind Blast, Mind flay, Mind flay, Mind Blast, Mind flay, Mind flay, Mind Blast, Mind flay, Mind flay, Mind Blast, Mindflay. (cast times and refresh has been factored in. )

Mana cost: 3305

Pain: 1704.
MB: 3080. (average of 770 dmg assumed)
MF: 4473.

Total: 9257 damage over 30 seconds.

Effect: Vampiric Embrace will give: 1851 hp.

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For maximum damage ouptut Warlock would use these spells:

Curse of Agony (Rank 6)
Affliction 215 Mana
Instant cast
30 yd range
Curses the target with agony, causing 1035 damage over 30 sec. This damage is dealt slowly at first, and builds up as the Curse reaches its full duration. Only one Curse per Warlock can be active on any one target.Adjusted with talents + amplify curse: 1656.

Shadow Bolt (Rank 9)
Destruction 370 Mana
3 sec cast
30 yd range
Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing 455 to 507 shadow damage.Adjusted with talents: 505 to 557. 2.5 second cast

Corruption (Rank 6)
Affliction 290 Mana
2 sec cast
30 yd range
Corrupts the target, causing 666 damage over 27 sec.Adjusted with talents: 732. Instant cast.

Immolate (Rank 7)
Destruction 370 Mana
2 sec cast
30 yd range
Burns the enemy for 258 damage and then an additional 485 damage over 15 sec. Adjusted with talents: 1.5 second cast

Death Coil (Rank 3)
Affliction 350 Mana
Instant cast 10 min cooldown
30 yd range
Drains 470 of the enemy target's health, returning 100% to the caster.Adjusted with talents: 517

Shadowburn (Rank 6)
Destruction 365 Mana
Instant cast 15 sec cooldown
20 yd range
Reagents: Soul Shard
Instantly blasts the target with 450 to 502 Shadow damage. Requires 1 Soul Shard. If the target dies from Shadowburn, and yields experience, the caster gains a Soul Shard.Adjusted with talents: 495 to 552

Now, even if you include the proc of Nightfall if your going for raw damage its going to be better to just spam SB rather than life drain. Im not saying its better to actually play this way, but this is just a simple dmg comparison:

Amplified Curse of Agony, Corrupt, Immolate, Shadowburn, Death Coil, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Immolate, Shadowburn, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadowbolt.

Mana Cost: 5655Adjusted with talents: 5372

Curse:1656
Immolate: 1540 (-97 excluding last tick that would be after 30 seconds)
Death Coil: 517
ShadowBurn: 1060 (avg. 530)
Shadow Bolt: 4230 (avg 470)

Total: 8906 damage over 30 seconds.

Pet: Imp, add:

Firebolt (Rank 7)
115 Mana
2 sec cast
30 yd range
Deals 83 to 93 damage to a target.

113 damage X 20 = 2260. This figure was altered by Improved Imp/Firebolt

Alternate Dmg Total: 11,166

Effects: Lose two soul shards, 2.5 minutes until next amplify, 9.5 minutes until next death coil. Gain 517 hp.

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I wasnt sure what to expect when I started this, and to be fair I have to say that the effect of Shadoweaving is exaggerated here and the quality of Drain life, absent:

Drain Life (Rank 6)
Affliction 300 Mana
Instant cast
20 yd range
Transfers 71 health every second from the target to the caster. Lasts 5 sec. Adjusted with talents: 497 over 5 seconds. Chance to proc Nightfall.

The imp is of course the great equalizer. Still, I am amazed at the damage and mana efficiency of the Shadow Priest.

I was going to complete the write up with a detailed overview of each classes defensive abilities as well as utilities but the fact is that the Warlock "stone" line is pretty critical to it and its hard to compare that system to other classes defense.

As for utilities... dispel magic beats anything the warlock has to offer unless you can equip items while feared (Spellstone would remove fear, etc. I think this would be a great thing to /suggest if it is not currently possible) . Underwater breathing is nice, detect greater invis... I have no idea if it even works, I havent noticed any difference with it on, but that doesnt mean much.

Anyway, feel free to draw your own conclusions... I just thought it would be interesting to see some hard #'s.

-Rek

[Nisstyr]

thanks for doing that, interesting to see the effective DPS of my class i'm too lazy to actually do it. One thing to remember is a warlock effectively has infinte mana with an affliction spec so while shadow priests have similar dps and better utility the warlock sustained DPS is far far better, during long fights i use the succubus as she can keep her sustained DPS up without the use of mana with hits of 100 and crits of 200 where the imp runs out of mana very very fast. Dark pact our ultimate in the affliction branch which steals 250 mana from our pet instant cast instant refresh and seeing as our pets regen 200 mana a tick, thats basicly an additional 200 mana every 2 seconds for the warlock, so in a long fight, the warlocks DPS stays constant where the shadow priest will hit a plateau like all other casters. For example when we do fights like the beast, if indal dies, i'm the next target to die as my sustained DPS is higher then almost any of the other people there. (it may go after the priests but they fade it onto me) .

P.S. nerf shadow word pain

[Jumai]

my condensed thoughts from chat:

This is a burst dps comparison, not sustained. This gives the warlock an edge, as they have frontloading spells (coil) where the priest does not.

Dark pact for the win.

Shadow damage calculation is slightly inaccurate, it should be about 6% higher due to the way Rekuul calculate the talents.

I know I sound like a broken record on these forums but mind flay range of 20, 24 talented, is very constraining. Not that range matters in pve, or sustained single target damage matters in pvp. (edit: range does matter in pve of coarse, but it's a binary melee/not melee sort of thing generally. You're out of aoe range with flay).

The warlock definitely has the staying power that a shadow priest should envy. So, if we're gonna talk SUSTAINED damage, as in being the dps caster on Archaedus when 3 group members are handling adds, warlock is just better at it.

[Rekuul']

Absolutely. I get dark pact next lvl and cant wait to use it.

Sadly, I agree about shadow word pain. The dmg it does is ridiculous. A shadow spec priest can do more dmg with SW: pain than a warlock can with CoA + Corruption. Something is wrong there =(.

-Rek

[Nisstyr]

agreed! nerf shadow word pain!

[KingHillBilly]

No! wtf? =[

[Nisstyr]

nope, nerf it

[BrandX]

Incomplete picture... the voidwalker gives a warlock a lot more time to fight than a priest, allowing you to take on multiple mobs. Warlocks can solo as well as a shadow priest.

[Sintor]

Indeed! Nerf it hard!

[Nisstyr]

voidwalker sucks, worst pet we have... only time i summoned it this whole beta is to sac it so i can hellfire in peoples face... its DPS is terrible doesn't matter if he can keep agro when it comes to soloing raw DPS is all that matters, kill rate kill rate kill rate, in a game like WOW where you can drink / eat to full health and mana so quickly it doens' t matter how "efficient" you kill it just matters how fast and the succubus and imp do that 10x better.

[Sintor]

Yeah right, lol. Drink to full mana post 50.

Edit: Nerf the lack of post 50 drinks :(

[Nisstyr]

why arnt we just talking in irc....
nah lets keep spamming the forums!

[Rekuul']

Come to IRC Nissyty! I luff j00!

-Rek

[KingHillBilly]

no irc at work:o

[Sintor]

No IRC allowed here either.

[Setzar]

voidwalker sucks, worst pet we have... only time i summoned it this whole beta is to sac it so i can hellfire in peoples face... its DPS is terrible doesn't matter if he can keep agro when it comes to soloing raw DPS is all that matters, kill rate kill rate kill rate, in a game like WOW where you can drink / eat to full health and mana so quickly it doens' t matter how "efficient" you kill it just matters how fast and the succubus and imp do that 10x better.

Actually, I find the VW being my pet of choice most of the time.

Soloing he is the meat shield with no regard for his own life. 2 taunts and I can spam my DoTs. If we pick up an add, he usually has no trouble taking that too whilest I add my DoTs. If we pick up a third wanderer, sometimes I can take the pain, sometimes I use him to get attention whilest I get away/sacrifice. He recovers HP almost instantly out of battle thanks to consume shadow. Playing slow and smart I can get away with no downtime with Drain Life/Life Tap.

Grouping he takes on a much the same role. As far as CC goes, I'll take him of Succubus anyday. Not only does he deal damage while keeping agro, he lets me pile on a few (not all) DoTs and turn back to main battle. If he dies, I'll inherent the agro usually, but he's tough enough to last most of the fight.

PvP... well, he doesn't do much in PvP... Blocks the view?

[Jumai]

setzar: nisstyr's arguement is that while the VW keeps aggro fine, you end up with more kills in an hour (thus, level faster) using the imp or succubus. Sure a pet tank is conveniant but it's a novelty, you solo better not using him.

[JonChron]

Voidwalker is a waste of soulshards. Only time I pull one out is for shields, like Nisstyr mentioned.

I stuck with the imp, he's cheap, awesome buffage, and decent damage from a safe distance.

Still anticipating the infernal, would be neat to have all the warlocks summon these up and throw em on a softy. :twisted:

[Setzar]

I guess its just a matter of solo playstyles. VW is kinda a saftey net the Succubus doesn't provide (I hardly ever use the Imp because of his issues of running and attracting agro). I usually x2 taunt, Corrupt, CoA, Immoloate, Drain life OR Drain Soul and wait for Nightfall proc, finish with Shadowburn.

I have been using the Succubus more recently that I have picked up Illusionary Rod since I can do 70+ damage a swing against equal level mobs. I find myself getting in more trouble though.

Guess it the risk vs reward thing

[Hybby]

Errr, Rekuul, you're missing some valuable things.

Factor in shadow weaving, shadow form and darkness.


Shadow weaving 5/5 = 100% chance to increase shadow damage done to the target 4%. Stacks 5 times.

Darkness = 10% added shadow damage

Shadow form = 20% added shadow damage

Now here are a few numbers I've been seeing.

Mind flay rank 4
Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 261 damage over 3 sec and slowing the target to 50% of their movement speed.

With shadow weaving up to 20% + darkness + shadow form, I'm seeing 138 DPS. That's JUST mind flay.

Mind blast rank 7
Blasts the target for 346 to 366 shadow damage, but causes a high amount of threat.

I'm seeing regular hits of 500 or so. Non crit.

I've critted over 800 with rank 7. Take that to heart.

I'm level 47 btw. ^^

SWP rank 6
A word of darkness that causes 510 damage over 18 sec.

Seeing regular amounts of right around 120+ damage per tick, and I have the added few seconds of swp.

If I'd have more time, I would like to see what damage I can do at 60, but I'll be going disc/holy from now on and come retail. I was really interested in those numbers.

True that the warlock has near infinite mana, you've failed to add a certain talent in.

Spirit tap -> 5/5

Gives you a 100% chance to get a 100% bonus to mana regen for 15 seconds. 50% mana regen rate during cast.

Now given that, if there are critters around, while we're swp'ing, or flaying or whatnot, you can wand a critter to kill it, gain spi tap, and continue to regen mana as you're killing off your target. Given enough critters, this is almost infinite.

[Nisstyr]

go back to spaming irc hybby