Demonic Snapshot is a term used by warlocks in World of Warcraft to describe the process of maximizing the spell power buff from their Demonic Pact talent. Demonic Pact is a passive ability that grants the warlock and their party or raid members 10% of the warlock’s spell power for 45 seconds whenever their summoned demon critically hits with its spells. However, the spell power value is not updated dynamically, but rather “snapshotted” at the moment of the critical hit. This means that the warlock can temporarily increase their spell power with various buffs, procs, or consumables, and then cancel their Demonic Pact buff to trigger a new one with a higher value. This can result in a significant boost to the warlock’s and their allies’ damage output.
Demonic Snapshotting requires careful timing, coordination, and awareness of the warlock’s available spell power sources. Some of the common factors that warlocks use to snapshot their Demonic Pact are:
– Trinket procs: Many trinkets in the game have a chance to grant a large amount of spell power for a short duration when the warlock casts a spell. Warlocks can monitor their trinket procs with addons or weak auras, and cancel their Demonic Pact buff when they have one or more active.
– Potion of Wild Magic: This is a consumable item that grants 200 spell power and 10% critical strike chance for 15 seconds. Warlocks can use this potion before or during a boss fight, and snapshot their Demonic Pact buff while it is active.
– Bloodlust/Heroism: This is a powerful raid-wide buff that increases haste by 30% for 40 seconds. It is usually cast by shamans at the start or during a crucial phase of a boss fight. Warlocks can benefit from the increased haste to cast more spells and trigger more trinket procs, and then snapshot their Demonic Pact buff with the highest possible spell power.
– Totem of Wrath/Flametongue Totem: These are totems that shamans can place on the ground to grant spell power and critical strike chance to their party members. Warlocks can snapshot their Demonic Pact buff when they are in range of these totems, or when they switch from one totem to another.
– Darkmoon Card: Illusion: This is a rare and expensive trinket that grants a stacking buff of 8 spell power per stack, up to 10 stacks, whenever the warlock casts a spell. The buff lasts for 10 seconds and refreshes with each spell cast. Warlocks can snapshot their Demonic Pact buff when they have 10 stacks of this buff, or when they are about to lose it.
Demonic Snapshotting is a complex and rewarding technique that can greatly enhance the war