How I did that much DPS

So before I did any amount of DPS with my warlock on Dr. Boom, I projected to myself that I would really love to break 500 DPS. This is not only because this is how much you should have to be able to beat Gruul, but because it just seemed like it shouldn't be able to happen.

I look at combat logs every time we run Karazhan and Gruul's Lair. I can see exactly what everyone's performance in there was. For the most part, new people in Karazhan are doing around 300-350 DPS. By the time 2-3 weeks go by, I've talked to them about their specs, and they've gotten some brand new shiny epics. Their DPS usually goes up to around 400 once they do that.

Finally, once I talk to them about spell rotation. Now THAT's when they start hitting around 500ish DPS, which is enough for Gruul.

So you're telling me that with greens and quest item blues I can do over 500 DPS? Can I get a starting position in Gruul? Hold your horses. There's a lot to take into account.

1. My hit rating is 22. I missed on Dr. Boom around....once. Maybe twice. My miss rate on Dr. Boom would be close to 15%. Goodbye 15% of that 563. That means 478 DPS.

2. Then you have to take into account the periods of silences. On average, I've seen a mage be hitting him 75% - 80% of the time. Now warlocks would have more of that time casting, since we could be casting DOTs. However, I'm going to go with a loss of another 20%, simply because while you're being ground slammed, you can still be dotting him up. Loss of 20% means 383 DPS. Ewww.

But wait you say. What about shadow priests? What about curse of shadows? Hmm. Misery = 5% increase. Shadow weaving = 10% increase. Curse of Shadows = 10% increase. 25% increase worst case if a shadow priest and another warlock is there. So we're back to around 478 DPS.

Now guaranteed, I'm missing something. It's quite likely that with only 490 spell damage, I shouldn't be able to do that kinda of damage on Gruul. However, it's fun to speculate. :-D

So how did I figure out my spell rotation for my warlock? I'm going to explain my method here tomorrow, which also applied to hunters as well. So if you're a lock or a hunter, you'd best listen up. This will help you immensely (just ask Pat).