When it comes to the raid utility of Warlocks, one thing that often gets overlooked is the debuff that goes up when an Improved Shadowbolt crits. A Destro lock specced for high crit can keep this up almost constantly. If there are at least 3 shadow damage classes in the raid (say, 2 locks and a spriest) then raid dps take a nice jump. The debuff also affects dots - which a lot of people don't know.

Another thing to be mentioned about lock raid utility IS their DEbuffs. It always gets mentioned about how they can move around a lot and just let their dots tick away, but the smart lock who is concerned about the raid dps instead of their own personal dps always puts the correct curse up depending on the raid makeup. CoS if 4+ shadow classes, CoE if 4+ fire/frost specced, and of course probably the best and most underused Curse of Recklessness. Any raid leader not requiring one of their locks to keep CoR up for boss fights needs to do a little research.

I am biased but I consider Lock raid utility to be better than that of the Mage - but it is a close call. At this point in the game (2.3) Warlocks get the nod in raids.

Reply