Destruction Warlock Guide - Talents, Rotations, Races & More

Before combat, it's highly suggested to make sure your Demon is summoned, we recommend Summon Succubus. Make sure you have Demon Armor on and that you have a Create Healthstone in your bag just in case you need a heal. Create Soulstone should be on a healer, so if they die they can resurrecf in combat, or if everyone dies in the raid they can resurrect instantly and start reviving the team.

Follow the priority list below:

1. Make sure your Summon Succubus is attacking. Make sure to pay attention and move her if she is standing in AoE. Your demon is a large part of your damage, so you must ensure it stays alive.
2. Cast Bane of Doom if the target will be alive for over 60 seconds. Cast Bane of Agony otherwise
3. Cast either Curse of the Elements or Curse of Recklessness
4. Cast Immolate
5. Cast Corruption. This has a cast time unless you have five points in Improved Corruption.
6. Cast Conflagrate on cooldown. Immolate must be on the target.
7. Cast Shadowburn on cooldown. Costs a Soul Shard, but is refunded due to Shadow and Flame.
8. Cast Incinerate
9. Cast Life Tap when you need mana. Try to end the fight with zero mana

Your main goal is to keep Shadowburn and Conflagrate on cooldown, so you can permanently have a 20% Shadow and Fire buff from Shadow and Flame. This will both buff your DoT with the Shadow damage, as well as the Fire damage from Incinerate and Immolate.

Other than that, keep all of your Damage over Times (DoTs) on Target, with as close to 100% uptime as you can: Immolate and Corruption. You should use Bane of Doom unless the target will be dead before 60 Seconds. If the target will die before 60 seconds, then you should use Bane of Agony instead. Try not to clip your DoTs, meaning don't reapply them until they are finished with their current duration.

It's important to keep 100% uptime on either Curse of the Elements or Curse of Recklessness. Default to Curse of the Elements unless your Raid Leader says otherwise. Curse of Recklessness shares with Faerie Fire from a Druid, as well as a Dust Cloud from Hunter's Tallstrider Pet, so you shouldn't have to cast this much. Only Warlocks can bring Curse of the Elements.

• Create Soulstone This is a buff that can be put on yourself or any other player from the same faction. When the buffed player dies, they will have the option to resurrect immediately. This works in combat.
• Howl of Terror: This is a melee range AoE fear. When in trouble, run to melee range and use this.
• Curse of Recklessness A curse that debuffs the enemy, making them take more melee damage. This is also used to stop a target from being feared. If you Fear something and it starts running into another group of enemies, you can put Curse of Recklessness on it and it will run back to you. You can also immediately cast Curse of the Elements to put the enemy back into a feared state and redirect it away from the group of enemies. This is known as "Fear Juggling" or "Babysitting Fears".
• Create Healthstone: Stones that you can make for yourself and others. It will heal when you use it.
• Curse of the Elements A curse that debuffs the enemy, making them take more spell damage.
• Fear: Causes the enemy to run around in fear, unable to attack. All damage has a chance to break the fear.
• Create Healthstone: Stones that you can make for yourself and others. It will heal when you use it.
• Underwater Breathing Allows you or whoever you put it on breathe underwater.

Demons are a massive part of an all Warlock gameplay. You’ll unlock each of them through Warlock quests as you level, giving you access to several different options depending on whether you want more damage, survivability, or utility. Destruction doesn’t invest heavily into Demon talents, but your pet is still incredibly important and makes both leveling and difficult solo content MUCH easier.

Best Demon for Destruction Warlock

The Summon Succubus / Summon Incubus is currently your strongest option for damage as a Destruction Warlock and is what you should use when you’re trying to do the most DPS. The Summon Felhunter isn’t too far behind though and can easily be worth using when its utility is more valuable.

The Summon Voidwalker is your best defensive option and can be lifesaving while leveling and soloing difficult enemies. Its ability to hold threat lets you safely spread DoTs across several targets without everything immediately running toward you.

The Summon Imp is currently the worst option for damage and isn’t worth using when the other Demons are available.

Warlock Demon Abilities

Imp

It shoots Firebolt and give you stamina from Blood Pact. Summon Imp is your first Demon and is only helpful at the early levels until y4ou unlock the Summon Voidwalker.

Voidwalker

Summon Voidwalker Voidwalker becomes available at Level 10 and quickly becomes one of your most useful leveling Demons.

It has Torment for single target threat and Suffering for AoE threat, allowing it to control multiple enemies while you spread your DoTs. It also has Sacrifice, which gives you a large absorb shield, and Consume Shadows, which allows the Voidwalker to restore its own Health while you’re out of combat.

The Voidwalker currently generates a TON of threat. This makes it especially strong for Affliction because you can send it into a pack of three or four enemies, use Suffering to grab everything initially, then taunt help maintain individual targets while you apply all of your other DoTs like Corruption and Immolate.

Succubus and Incubus

Both the Summon Succubus and Summon Incubus unlock at Level 20 and are currently do the most damage our of the other Demons. There is no difference between them besides Summon Succubus is female, Summon Incubus is male. Lash of Pain doesnt' do much damage, but it's better than nothing. Seduction gives you some extremely useful crowd control by charming an enemy.

Felhunter

Summon Felhunter unlocks at Level 30 and currently has really high damage as well, slightly less damage than Summon Succubus, but it also comes with utility like Spell Lock, which gives you an interrupt and Devour Magic which can either remove a Magic effect from an enemy or dispel one from you. It also has Paranoia to help detect stealthed enemies.

Demon Ability Control

Remember that you can and should right click your Demon’s abilities to toggle off their automatic casting. Most abilities work fine on automatic, but some are much better when controlled manually.Summon Voidwalker Torment is a great example. I prefer keeping it off automatic so I can decide exactly which enemy I want the Voidwalker to taunt.

1. Spell Power: This is our strongest stat. Spell Power increases the damage of all of your spells.
2. Hit Chance: Reduces the chance for your spells to miss. Suppression in the Affliction can give you 5%.
3. Critical Strike Chance: This gives you a higher chance to Crit. Since our DoTs and Hellfire can Crit, we love Critical Strike Chance.
4. Intellect: Our main Primary Stat. This should be on every piece of gear.
5. Spirit: Life Tap scales off Spirit, so we like it!
6. Stamina: This gives you Health. This will naturally be on most of your gear, so you shouldn't ever have to focus on finding it.
7. Haste: There is no haste to get yet. Once more is in the game, it will be a higher priority.

Spell Power is one of the most important stats for Warlock, but not every spell benefits from it equally. Some abilities receive a percentage of your Spell Power on the initial hit, while others benefit from it on every single tick.

Warlock Spell Coefficients

Spell Power is incredibly important for Destruction Warlocks, especially since so much of your damage comes from direct damage abilities like Incinerate, Shadow Boltt, and Conflagrate.

However, not every ability scales equally. Some spells benefit from a larger percentage of your Spell Power, while others distribute that bonus damage over multiple ticks.

The tables below show the recorded Spell Power coefficients from WoW Forever beta data.

Direct Damage Spell Coefficients

DoT and AoE Spell Coefficients

Keep in mind: These totals assume every tick lands. @Rain of Fire and @Hellfire have additional effect records, so their coefficients should be considered provisional until combat testing confirms their actual scaling.

What Does This Mean for Destruction?

One of the biggest takeaways is how differently your direct damage abilities scale.

For example, Incinerate receives approximately 71 additional damage from 100 Spell Power, compared to roughly 49 damage for the recorded Shadow Bolt rank.

However, this doesn't automatically make Incinerate the stronger spell. You still need to consider base damage, cast times, talents, critical strikes, and any additional effects modifying your damage.

Immolate is also worth mentioning because it benefits from Spell Power twice. Its initial hit receives 20%, while the DoT portion receives another 65% over its full duration.

This is why looking at total damage rather than just the initial hit is so important when comparing spells.

Important: These coefficients come from specific beta spell records, often Rank 1. Higher ranks can have different coefficients, and the values shouldn't be treated as universal across all levels.

Alliance: Human or Gnome

Horde: Troll or Orc

Warlock have five playable races in WoW Forever. Human and Gnome remain available on the Alliance while Orc and Undead return on the Horde alongside the newly added Troll Warlock. Every race also received major racial changes, including several new active abilities that can directly affect Warlock gameplay. The racial decision is much closer than it's ever been in Classic.

It's too early to tell which race will end up being the most powerful based on our current Beta testing. The Gnome racial Expansive Mind now grants 5% Mana instead of Intellect and Gnomes also bring the new Eureka! racial, making the two races much closer than before. The racial changes give Humans 2% Spell Crit Chance while using a sword, but you must keep a sword equipped for the racial to provide any benefit. Humans also give 5% Spirit, which scales our Life Tap

Horde is also up in the air, with Undead, Orc, and Troll all bringing very strong racials. Blood Fury remains a very strong choice for damage, and the new racial Shatter Curse brings some Curse and magic protection. Undead get the very powerful racial Touch of the Grave, giving your spells and attacks a 10% chance to drain Health from the target, up to 5% of your maximum Health. Troll brings the infamous Berserking, which is very strong for hard casting, although as of right now DoTs, Drains, and channeled spells aren't affected by the additional cast speed. This makes Berserking significantly more appealing to Destruction than Affliction and Demonology.

Human: Human receives some substantial racial changes in WoW Forever. The new Will to Survive racial instantly removes all Stun effects on a two minute cooldown.Perception retains its familiar ability to dramatically increase stealth detection for 20 seconds. Sword Specialization is particularly interesting for Warlock, granting 2% Spell Crit Chance while using a sword. The Human Spirit continues to increase Spirit by 5%. Human is considerably more competitive for Warlock than it was in the original Classic, especially if the Best in Slot weapon is a sword.

Available Racial Options Warlock

Human: Human receives some substantial racial changes in WoW Forever. The new Will to Survive racial instantly removes all Stun effects on a two minute cooldown.Perception retains its familiar ability to dramatically increase stealth detection for 20 seconds. Sword Specialization is particularly interesting for Warlock, granting 2% Spell Crit Chance while using a sword. The Human Spirit continues to increase Spirit by 5%. Human is considerably more competitive for Warlock than it was in the original Classic, especially if the Best in Slot weapon is a sword.

Gnome: Gnomes still have their life saving Escape Artist, which removes all movement impairing effects and now also grants immunity to them for 3 seconds. The biggest addition is Eureka!, a new two minute cooldown that causes your next three damaging abilities to cost 10% less Mana and deal 10% increased damage. Expansive Mind has also been redesigned to increase your maximum Mana by 5% rather than Intellect. Engineering Specialization continues to improve the reliability of all Engineering Devices.

Orc: Blood Fury increases your Spell Power by 10% for 15 seconds, finally giving Warlock a massive buff from the racial. Shatter Curse is also a powerful new defensive, removing all Curses and Banes, granting immunity to them, and reducing all Magical damage taken by 15% for 8 seconds. Axe Specialization grants 1% Crit Chance with all spells and abilities while wielding an axe. The problem is that Warlock can't use axes of any kind. Hardiness now reduces the duration of Stun effects by 20% instead of providing the massive Stun resist chance seen in the original Classic, which is a significant reduction to its PvP strength.

Troll: Troll is an entirely new Warlock race in WoW Forever. Berserking increases spellcasting speed by 10% for 10 seconds, making it a potentially strong offensive cooldown for Destruction builds, whereas it's not as strong for the other two builds and is particularly weak for Affliction since it relies on Drains, channels, and DoTs. Rapid Regeneration is a channeled racial that restores 50% of maximum Health over 6 seconds, although moving, taking another action, or taking any damage cancels it. Trolls also gain Beast Slaying, increasing damage against Beasts by 5%, and Regeneration which allowing 10% of normal Health regeneration to continue during combat.

Undead: Undead retains much of its familiar PvP identity, although several racials have changed. Will of the Forsaken still removes Charm, Fear, and Sleep effects, but no longer provides immunity afterward. Cannibalize now regenerates 7% of total Health and 7% of total Mana every 2 seconds for 10 seconds while consuming a nearby Humanoid or Undead corpse. Underwater Breathing allows you to remain underwater 300% longer, while the new Touch of the Grave gives spells and attacks a 10% chance to drain Health from the target, up to 5% of your maximum Health.

For every race's complete ability list, see our racial abilities guide.

Tailoring and Enchanting are a really strong combo for Warlock while leveling. You’re going to pick up a TON of cloth naturally, so Tailoring gives you an easy way to turn all of that into useful armor, bags, and some extremely strong crafted pieces.

Enchanting works perfectly alongside it since you can disenchant gear you don’t need instead of just vendoring everything. You can also make Lesser Magic Wand and Greater Magic Wand, which are both REALLY good while leveling. Watch your Gold though. Warlocks already spend more than most classes because you’re constantly buying new spells and Grimoires for your Demons. I personally had to stop and farm extra Silver a few times just to keep everything leveled.

First Aid is also VERY worth picking up since it doesn’t take one of your two primary profession slots. Bandages are great for Warlocks because they give you another way to recover Health after using Life Tap without spending any Mana. WoW Forever also lets First Aid craft healing potions now, which makes it even more useful while leveling.

The main bandages you should keep on you are:

• Heavy Silk Bandage
• Mageweave Bandage
• Heavy Mageweave Bandage

• Lesser Spellblasting Potion: This increases your Spell Power by 11 for 30 Seconds.
• Lesser Arcane Elixir: This gives you 15 Spell Power for 30 minutes.
• Lesser Trollsblood Elixir: This lets you regenerate 6 Health every 5 seconds for 60 minutes.
• Elixir of Lesser Fortitude: This increases your Health by 120 for 60 minutes.
• Lesser Mageblood Elixir: This lets you regenerate 6 Mana every 5 seconds for 30 minutes.
• Elixir of Fire Power: This gives you 10 Fire damage for 30 minutes.
• Elixir of Wisdom: This gives you 6 Intellect for 60 minutes.
• Elixir of Lesser Spirit: This gives you 6 Spirit for 30 minutes.
• Elixir of Defense: This gives you 250 Armor for 60 minutes.

• Faction Banner comes from Tailoring and gives you spirit which greatly buffs your Life Tap. It shares with Divine Spirit.
• Camp Chair comes from Skinning and gives 2%. Critical Strikes for spells and attacks. Since our DoTs can critically strike, this is useful for Warlock. It shares with Moonkin Form
• Mana Well comes from Alchemy and give you Mana regeneration every 5 seconds. It gives you another way to recover Mana along side your drains and Life Tap. It shares with Blessing of Wisdom.
• Fish Bowl comes from Fishing and gives you 8% to all stats. This is very helpful while leveling. It shares with Blessing of Kings.
• Incense Candle comes from Herbalism and gives you Intellect, giving you a larger Mana pool. It shares with Arcane Intellect.
• Camp Tent is the best one you can get. This comes from Leatherworking and give you rested experience up to 5% of a level. It has no effect if you already have more than that amount stored.