Pyroclasm
From WoWWiki
| Pyroclasm | |
|---|---|
| |
| Usable by | |
| Class | Warlock |
| Properties | |
| Location | Destruction, Tier 5 |
| Affects | Soul Fire, Rain of Fire, Hellfire |
| Ranks | 2 |
| Requirements | |
| Points required | 20 |
| Talent required | Intensity |
Pyroclasm is a warlock talent which gives some fire spells a chance to stun the target.
Rank table
| Rank | Stun chance |
|---|---|
| 1 | 13% |
| 2 | 26% |
Notes
Since Rain of Fire and Hellfire do damage over time, the chance to stun is distributed over all the ticks of the spell, not 13%/26% per tick.
Due to its shorter duration, Rain of Fire has a higher chance to stun per second (3.25%) than Hellfire (1.733%). So, for stuns use Rain of Fire, and for more damage use Hellfire (around twice as much damage).
Stunning a target is obviously of great interest to a PvPer. Unfortunately, Pyroclasm procs mostly off spells which aren't frequently used in many PvP situations. The one real exception is Conflagrate which is a bread & butter destruction spell. In terms of mathematical probability, this talent when maxed out will make it so that one in four Conflagarate hits will stun the target. Normally Conflagrate consumes Immolate and Shadowflame so assuming the lock casts Conflagrate towards the end of the duration of Immolate if pyroclasm procs, it's likely that the lock will cast Immolate again and go from there thus mitigating the usefullness of Pyroclasm in the first place. For this reason, Pyroclasm is often considered a weak talent.
Interestingly, Glyph of Conflagrate allows a lock to cast Conflagrate without consuming the Immolate or Shadowflame spell. I.e., the possibility exists to have a spell rotation of Immolate and Shadowflame interspersed with Conflagrate. This potentially increases the likelihood of Pyroclasm proccing. A rotation to consider is Shadowflame (instant cast triggering the 1.5 sec GCD), Conflagrate (15 sec cooldown and possibly triggering Pyroclasm), Fear (1.5 second base cast time), followed by Immolate (2 sec cast time assuming Bane is maxed. That chain takes 6.5 seconds to cast leaving 8.5 seconds remaining on the Conflagrate cooldown. So in slightly over 15 seconds, Conflagrate can conceivably be cast twice all the while having an active DoT tick. This is a significant change from the typical use of Conflagrate which a lock might prefer to save until the end of Immolate. Moreover, this sequence can be even further improved considering that Backdraft reduces the GCD and cast time of destruction spells following Conflagrate.
Patch changes
- Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): Re-designed: Now increases your Shadow and Fire spell power by 2/4/6% when you critically hit with Searing Pain or Conflagrate. Lasts 10 sec. Also moved down to tier 7, down from tier-5.
- Patch 2.4.0 (2008-03-25): "This talent now works correctly again with Rain of Fire."
- Patch 1.8 (2005-10-10): "Now gives a chance to stun when Rain of Fire, Hellfire, and Soul Fire spells damage the target."
- Patch 1.9 (2006-01-03): "The stun effect's duration no longer diminishes or is diminished by controlled stun abilities and spells (e.g. Cheap Shot, Hammer of Justice, Charge, etc)."
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