Death Jesters

Hello everyone and welcome to my 5.4 Guide to Siege of Orgrimmar(Normal). I will be working on a heroic guide soon, mostly after this guide is completed. It’s still in its working stages. Any fight with (Updated) has been updated. I may make some adjustments to this as the tier goes on. I am 14/14 and I have done every fight a couple on different warlocks at different stages of gear, but I might not have written the guide for it yet. This guide also assumes you have a decent understanding of the boss fight and should not be used in lieu of a boss guide. Thanks!

If you have any questions feel free to come ask me on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/hipsterlock
Or Twitter: http://twitter.com/hipsterlock
Or PM me on DJ forums.
For those of you who don’t know who I am (doubtful)…I’m a Warlock in <Death Jesters> and I pretty much exclusively play the warlock class. That being said I am not the biggest expert on Warlock, but I have a pretty good idea.

UPDATE - Destruction isn't viable at all. Until I see really good rankings I don't plan to recommend it for any fight. For now, it is removed from every fight. "This spec sucks" will get repetitive by Sha of Pride.

IMMERSEUS (Updated)
Recommended Specs: Demonology, Affliction
NOT Recommended: None

General overview:
Destruction didn't work out well at all. While adds are up for a while, Destruction's damage is just so inferior. DoTs did stay on Immerseus from phase to phase, so it absolutely makes sense to play a dot spec. I did this fight on my alt warlock, and can safely say the adds are a joke to kill. It really doesn't matter what spec you are for the adds on normal, assuming your group is around 520 ilevel and is capable of following the mechanics, this should be an easy joke of a kill.

DEMONOLOGY:
Follow normal single target Demonology mechanics. Your DoTs will stay on the target through the intermission phase, so definitely keep your Dooms up before transitioning. For killing adds I just spammed Touch of Chaos for that burst. The adds can be knocked back with Carrion Swarm, and don't forget that Chaos Wave slows as well. I would try to save HoG/Chaos Wave for the boss, but if there's a few bunched together, CW can be worth it imo. I usually pool fury for more ToCs in transition, but i wouldn't say it's necessary. Depending on your group KJC may or may not be worth it. Only because if you're killing Immerseus super quickly you won't have that much to dodge.

AFFLICTION:
Obviously if you're playing affliction on this, its going to be a single target burn fest. Your only option for the adds is to Fel Flame...which isn't a horrible idea, but again this is a joke fight I don't think you should really even care about your dps. Definitely go for Kil'Jaedan's Cunning as affliction.


THE FALLEN PROTECTORS (Updated)
Recommended Specs: Demonology(Recommended), Affliction
General Overview:
Demonology and Affliction are both great for this fight. I think for most lower ilevels, Demonology will be a better choice with UVLS. At higher ilevels, with Garrosh and Immerseus trinket Affliction will probably be better. This is still speculation and anyone with both those items won't be doing normal. I'd recommend Demo at lower ilevels, but keep in mind affliction is completely an option. Play whichever you'll do better dps on this fight as.

DEMONOLOGY:
I love Council fights. I played demonology the first week and did decent dps. Not as much as I did on Elders, but thats mostly because I didn't use GoSac the first week. You should absolutely use GoSac if you have good gear(and UVLS). If you don't you should probably stick to GoServ. If you have UVLS on this fight, use GoSac. KJC and Arch are both the choices for this fight, and I'd say they're pretty close to even.

AFFLICTION:
This is a good fight for affliction. Completely viable, and it is probably better at high ilevels without UVLS. DoT all the things. There's enough movement that I would say use KJC on this fight over Archimondes, but Arch probably isn't that terrible of a choice.


NORUSHEN (Updated)
Recommended: Affliction(Optimal), Demonology
General Overview:
Adds, Adds everywhere! What spec to play on this fight will be really dependent on how long things take to die, raid comp, what your specific role is, etc. That being said, I think Affliction is the spec to go for this fight.

AFFLICTION:
After doing this fight I can say that my predictions were definitely correct. Affliction is the optimal spec for this fight hands down for a few reasons, but I would say the most important one is the fact that purifying yourself is a lot easier as affliction. Put your DoTs on the big target. Then DoT each individual add with the shield. Make sure to Malefic once or twice to power up your agony. After the first attempt you should know how much time you have to spend on each add to make sure they die efficiently. You don’t want all 4 to die at once, but you don’t want to stand there and single target them dead from 100->0. This is in my opinion one of the best reasons to play Affliction over Demonology. KJC is mandatory for this fight.

DEMONOLOGY:
Demonology is viable, but I wouldn’t call it optimal for this fight at all. It’s mostly straight-forward single target and add damage. I haven’t played it for this fight and I wouldn’t recommend it, but some people love demo. Your add damage will be pretty bad, and if you’re not purified quickly you’re gonna have a bad time. You’re going to want to go GoServ as well as KJC for this fight…they’re pretty much mandatory.


SHA OF PRIDE (Updated)
Recommended: Demonology(OPTIMAL)
Not Recommended: Affliction

General Overview:
Be prepared to be on Prison duty with gateway(especially in 25 man). Here’s how DJ does their 25 man Portal Placements: http://imgur.com/RCSR0Y7 (I’m really good at paint). I would compare this to p2 Lei Shen. Get your AoE rotations ready. Also be sure to keep in mind that after 30% adds continue to spawn and its an all out arms race against the boss for dps.

DEMONOLOGY:
You should play this exactly like p2 H Lei Shen. Get in Meta when the small adds spawn: Meta -> Imo Aura -> Chaos Wave x2 -> Carrion Swarm. If they’re living longer, try a HoG before Meta and then 1 Chaos Wave. If your dps is godawful go with 2 HoG with a Hellfire filler. Mannoroth’s Fury is definitely the way to go for this fight, along with Grimoire of Service, for more burst add damage.
Depending on the boss’ hitbox, it might be worth it to move your felguard to the adds so that you can get a proper felstorm off. Definitely save your GoServ for the adds though. In p3 more and more will be spawning and you will need more AoE.
(This isn’t updated, but this is exactly the way to do it).

AFFLICTION:
I don’t really have any recommendations for this fight as Affliction at this time. I’m going to try to see if I can get one of my affliction friends to write this section, as I know a few who played affliction on it this week, and I don’t have access to their logs. KJC vs Mannoroth’s would be interesting for affliction on this.

GALAKRAS (Updated)
Recommended: Demonology, Affliction

General Overview:
This fight is spent mostly attacking adds. Galakras damage isn’t really super important, unless the dps of your raid group is that bad. Given that, you should be setting up to focus on add damage and single-target damage should take a backseat. Side Tip: you can use your gateway for dropping agro on the adds. That being said, it doesn’t matter where you place it. Just be sure it’s not in anyone’s way, and you can easily get to it. Most people place it from one side of the road to the other.

DEMONOLOGY:
GoServ and Mannoroth’s are the way to go. I didn’t go Mannoroth’s on our first week because I didn’t realize how awesome it is. That being said, I would save Mannoroth’s for the opportunities that you’re in Meta form with passive Immolation Aura up. From what I recall there weren’t many good opportunities where you would want to Hellfire > Single-target/cleave damage out of meta. The really nice thing about this fight is the timing on the waves. When I did it on my main in DJs pretty much all my half cooldowns were coming up in time for the next set of waves(HoG, etc). I’d recommend Curse of Elements Glyph for this fight as well, but I wouldn’t put too much effort into making sure CoE is up on every mob unless you’re on a gimp character being carried and your group is struggling.

AFFLICTION:
I would say Demonology and Affliction are a toss up on this fight. I’d say play whatever you’re most comfortable with. I don’t think KJC is super necessary for this fight, but there are things to avoid. I don’t think you will spend much time casting Seed of Corruption either. The benefit of Archimonde’s isn’t that great, so I would probably stick with KJC along with Supremacy(obviously). The adds are definitely alive long enough to make this a viable spec for this fight…I wouldn’t be surprised to see Affliction reign supreme on this.


IRON JUGGERNAUT (Updated)
Recommended: Demonology(Preferred), Affliction

General Overview:
This is as close to a Patchwerk fight as you’re probably going to get. Just play whatever spec you’re going to do the most single-target damage with.

DEMONOLOGY:
I personally prefer demonology on this fight because of Demonic Leap. But you should play whatever you’re most comfortable with and are able to do the most amount of damage with. I would say KJC is the best talent choice for this fight. I’m curious to know if it’d be better to play GoSac or GoServ, but probably GoServ. Until I see people rolling with GoSac I’m not going to play it.

AFFLICTION:
KJC is definitely needed for this fight to compete with the amount of movement involved. I would recommend finding a spot where you’re not going to get knocked back very far and are able to have 100% uptime on boss. Supremacy should be used again with the Observer because of no target switching.


KOR'KRON DARK SHAMAN (Updated)
Recommended: Demonology
Not Recommended: Affliction

General Overview:
There are 2 targets up the entirety of the fight and some Slimes that spawn which require burst AoE. Whether you choose to play Demo or Affliction will entirely depend on whether your guild needs you to burst the adds or not.

DEMONOLOGY:
Queue the Doom song (if you watch my stream you know what I’m talking about). Doom dot both the bosses, use all the cooldowns on the beginning of the fight when there’s 4 targets up and get your AoE burst dps ready to destroy the oozes. Mannoroth’s is definitely a nice boost on this fight. I didn’t use it this last week, but I really wish I had. GoServ is definitely better for dps on this fight. If you can use it with the oozes go for it, but the initial burst is where the extra felguard will shine. Remember that a dead dps does 0 dps, so if you can’t avoid mechanics and properly dps without KJC then KJC is the better choice for you.

AFFLICTION:
When I did this on PTR I couldn’t make affliction work on ooze damage, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there are people who can’t or haven’t. I personally haven’t seen it. That being said if you don’ t have to worry about ooze adds, affliction isn’t a bad choice at all. DoT the bosses and derp out with Malefic. You’re probably thinking Inb4 Supremacy with Observer. So: use Supremacy with Observer. KJC is definitely the talent of choice on this fight. There’s a lot of bad to avoid.


GENERAL NAZGRIM (Updated)
Recommended: Demonology, Affliction

General Overview: Don’t attack him during Defensive Stance. Yeah that’s going to go over well… DoT’s don’t trigger Defensive stance, making dot specs even more viable for this.

DEMONOLOGY:
The initial AoE burst when you pull this boss is great for demonology and fury generation. The adds should be up long enough for at least one or two doom ticks. Doom doesn’t cause Nazgrim to generate rage during Defensive Stance. I would say really work on optimizing your pull burst when learning this fight for some really good damage. The downfalls of playing demo on this fight are you do not have an interrupt for the casters. You will however have two stuns (Shadowfury and Felguard’s Axe Toss) for the Assassins. For talents, you will definitely want to go with Service. Mannoroth’s isn’t worth going for on this fight. Sure you’ll have hella AoE dps off the bat but there’s really no other spots where you’re going to be doing any AoE unless you scumbag AoE during the last bit of the fight where he just spawns a million adds.

AFFLICTION:
Affliction is good for this fight. I haven’t looked at any logs of people playing it, but it’s a good choice. There are plenty of things to multidot and dps on this fight. For talents you’re going to want Supremacy and KJC. There are plenty of abilities to avoid on this fight. You’re really shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t use KJC. I wouldn’t worry about the initial AoE as affliction on this fight, but it might not be a bad idea to AoE with Seed on the pull. That being said, don’t go Mannoroth’s for this.

MALKOROK

Recommended: ALL
Not Recommended:

General Overview: I feel like we’ve seen these mechanics before…You’re going to want defensive cooldowns for this. Most abilities on this fight appear to be shadow damage. Twilight Ward should pretty much be used during p2. Unfortunately your personal damage cooldowns are at a minimum (see below). I’m going to spec into Dark Regeneration and stagger my Dark Regen and Unending Resolve every p2.
The only way Dark Bargain can be viable is if you plan on using it during the last 8 seconds. This will be intense damage, and I don’t recommend it unless you’re working on progression and can afford to possibly die. Keep in mind once this phase ends you’re looking at taking a lot of damage and being unhealable. Healers will need to be aware of this so they can stack a shield on you as soon as possible. Otherwise you might be SoL. I said earlier that personal damage cooldowns are at a minimum because Unending Resolve sits on a 3 minute c/d timer.



I hate to beat the dead horse here, but this is a single target fight and should be treated as such. Use whatever spec will provide the best single target damage.



SPOILS OF PANDARIA
***Coming Soon!***

THOK THE BLOODTHIRSTY

General Overview:
This seems like a fairly straight forward fight. Until I really get to see it in person I don’t really have any tips, other than play what you will do the most single target damage as. The adds don’t seems to be dying supremely quickly in all the videos I’ve watched, so I think you’d be safe playing any spec. The ice tombs also don’t feel like they will present much of a problem in the fight, and likely won’t dictate what spec is best. This fight’s guide along with many others in this thread will be improved upon after a couple weeks of killing this.

SIEGECRAFTER BLACKFUSE
Recommended: Demonology(Optimal), Affliction
Not Recommended: Destruction

General Overview:
This is one of the few fights that I got to experience on the PTR. I don’t see there being much mechanic specifically that will dictate the optimal spec on this fight. I can say with 5.3 mechanics and UVLS that demo would be quite strong with Doom crits on the shredders. Crawler Mines will be fun!

DEMONOLOGY:
I think Demonology will likely be the spec to go on this fight, pending any future nerfs, etc. As previously mentioned you should be dooming the shit out of the shredder to get as many imp procs as possible. Demonology will also be nice for this fight because of the mobility that is brought along with the spec in dealing with Crawler Mines and being able to burst them. The mobility of Demonic Leap and the burst of Touch of Chaos should be a nice combination for dealing with the mines.

AFFLICTION:
I think affliction will also be a viable option for this fight. Unfortunately shredder damage won’t be as scumbag-able, but my main idea was surrounding mines and being able to dot them all and run away a la Primordius style. With the buffs to DoTs in 5.4 I can’t wait to see if this is a viable option for this fight. That being said, I don’t think Affliction will be optimal, but we’ll have to wait and see.

DESTRUCTION:
I don’t think Destruction will be super viable on this, and I think it will be extremely clunky. The burst on the Crawler Mines may very well be good, but will you be able to move around efficiently enough to hit them?


PARAGONS OF THE KLAXXI
General Overview:
This fight is definitely a multi dot fight. As with any other multidot fight, Affliction and Demonology are going to be top dogs.

DEMONOLOGY:
You’ll want to Doom everything, scumbag your Hand of Guldan’s and just do your normal Demo asshattery. Service will be the talent of choice per usual.

AFFLICTION:
Uh…this is getting really repetitive. DoTs DoTs DoTs DoTs, DoTs DoTs DoTs DoTs….EVERYBODY.


GARROSH HELLSCREAM
***Coming Soon!***

CHANGELOG:

9/5: Thread Created - First 7 bosses added for Normal Mode Speculation Prior to 5.4's release.

9/8: Nazgrim and Malkorok Added - Made it to Spoils of Pandaria but I'm too tired to continue. I'll be finishing this up the rest of the pre-5.4 guides tomorrow afternoon immediately after class.

9/16: The first 8 bosses have been updated to include all relevant information for Normal/Flex.
Added that there will be a different guide for Heroics.
Came up with a new plan to update each wing as they become available on Flex, and minor changes as information becomes available.
Small reminder that I need to find someone to write affliction for Sha of Pride and fact-check all of my affliction analysis.

<reserved>

For spoils, I think it is going to depend on how many adds you break out, but I think Demo is going to fall a bit because you aren't going to be able to roll dooms for long enough and trinket procs aren't going to get a million imps!

I would say Affliction is going to be king with multi dotting if 3 or more adds, if only 2 adds at a time destro might win out, just by simple havoc/cleaving. 270 seconds means 10 havocs (if you make it to max, if you can shadow burn 2/3 of the charges 20 havoce shadowburns is going to be 2mil extra damage) in first door, 300 seconds on 2nd door so 12 havoc casts, etc. Glyphed seems to be the way to go however, since you will get 7 havocs vs 10 on door 1 but 42 vs 30 charges.

With the change to nightfall, you will have to make sure to drain kill every 4th add. which should not be a problem.

For Immerseus, I rolled demo last night, and I agree it wasn't the best but with the cleaving from Chaos wave and felguard ww the adds died instantly on my side (I had a rogue or mage depending on wherer the adds were) You don't get thuge benefit from rolling doom, more so later in the fight, but the burst from the two CW and Immo if I needed it (3 or more) and they fell over.

I think once UVLS (if it ever) becomes obsolete just do to gearing that Aff will become top over Demo.

Almont wrote:For Immerseus, I rolled demo last night, and I agree it wasn't the best but with the cleaving from Chaos wave and felguard ww the adds died instantly on my side (I had a rogue or mage depending on wherer the adds were) You don't get thuge benefit from rolling doom, more so later in the fight, but the burst from the two CW and Immo if I needed it (3 or more) and they fell over.

I think once UVLS (if it ever) becomes obsolete just do to gearing that Aff will become top over Demo.

Warlock agree Demo is best for Immerseus atm we will see what HM will bring and Most of us also believe at top gear aff will prob be best spec

Bumping for Update. I am planning on pretty much updating this every weekend before the Flex version comes out. Obviously I'm a little late this week because of the massive amounts of school stuff I had to do. Destro not viable at all.

I will be making a heroic thread separate from this.

For Kor'kron - demo AoE is tough because you don't want to be in melee with slimes and the spawn too often for MF's CD.

I am going to test out aff on this tonight, but I am feeling that might corruption dots might be too slow so I think it really depends on raid comp.

Destro's range AE might be the best way if you don't have other classes that can burn slimes quickly then you can also Havoc spam the bosses and clip shadowburns on slimes against the bosses. Recommending running the havoc glyph for 6 shadowburns.

Although I do feel your boss damage and overall damage is higher on demo, might need to be destro to help the raid.

my slime damage was just fine last week as demo. In fact it was really good. I didn't have a problem avoiding mechanics, but maybe others will? Maybe in 25 man I had a better time than others.

Again I think it is comp specific. The adds staying up for 5 seconds or 10.

Also depends on the tank. When im gettn the geyser on me i like to run out away from the other tank butt still in range of all the range dps and sit there for a couple of seconds tthen hit ursols vortex and run in a small circle which makes every slime within a 4 yrd radius of each other. Boom Boom AOE! Oh and ofcourse i cant resist popping barkskin and hitting tthrash and swipe on all of them

Oh man ursol's vortex. We need to make this a reality this week. Although I think we were doing it last week...maybe not