Demonology Warlock Talent Breakdown

[Lockdupagain 9]

My name is Lockdupagain, I love playing a lock, and I love PVP.

Before I get started I would like to say that this is my first guide like this so if I put something on here you disagree with comment and let me know, I have come to my opinions through experience and watching others succeed and fail. I want to help any other locks out there, there seems to be fewer and fewer of us, so I want all of us to represent well. I feel that Demonology is atm an underrated/underappreciated spec. I say this because, while many are playing it, I see more destro locks in arena because of CB and SB. Burst is a big deal right now with everyone killing each other in a few globals. With that being said here we go…

First, we are going to go over talents and glyphs. The beauty of this xpac is that we have the ability to change this prior to a fight (keeping tomes on you is a must these days).

Level 15 talents:

Dark Regeneration- This is a no brainer for me, as it restores 30% of you and your pets max health, and increases all healing by 25% over 12 sec. When used in conjunction with Glyph of Healthstone (we’ll talk about this later) this is pro. It also helps your healer, who will thank you later.

Soul Leech- This a passive heal for a % of the damage done, this feels like a PVE talent and I have not found use for it, as control over your heals in PVP is almost a must.

Harvest Life- This is situational and can be used against certain teams; mainly ones containing a BM hunter. Harvest life is like Drain life, but AOE style. It generates Demonic Fury as well as heals for a decent amount when there are a lot of targets. When a Hunter pops Zoo (Stampede) it summons more pets, meaning at that time there can be 8 or so targets, pop Harvest life, and you can survive the damage, and come out with plenty of Dfury to return in kind.

Conclusion: Dark Regen should be your go to talent, unless the situation dictates Harvest Life.

The level 30 talents are not as clear cut. This one is VERY situational and I will not go into great detail here just the basics, if you have more questions on this tier PM me and I’ll gladly explain further.

Howl of Terror- This is a good talent for team without the capability to immune your fears. i.e., Warrior/Priest/Shaman. With that being said, Melee teams that jump on you will be sent in all directions, stacking on your healer and poping this is great. The CD is 40 sec, but when you are hit by a damaging attack the CD is decreased by 1 sec. making this very valuable when you are being trained.

Mortal Coil- When MoP first dropped I thought this was a great talent, but it is actually the worst of the 3. The heal is ok, but it’s just not enough with a 45 sec CD.

Shadowfury- This is an AOE stun (3 sec) and is best when you are running against Fear immune classes. It is a great peel for your healer, or a good interrupt. With a 30 sec CD it is the shortest of the 3 (base CD), but be careful if you are running with a stun heavy class as you could DR their stuns.

Conclusion: HoT and Sf are the only two you should be using, given the proper situation, of course.

The Level 45 talents are easy for Demo. Sacrificial Pact is the only one under any circumstance. I'll explain why:

Soul Link- Shares the damage and healing between you and your demon. This is terrible, because melee teams can focus your pet if they cannot get to you and still hurt you.

Sacrificial Pact- As Demo your demon does a good percentage of your dmg so you ALWAYS want your demons out (Don’t Sac!!), but we will get to that in a bit. Sac Pact gives you a bubble for 10 sec of that’s half your pets current health, and when used with glyph of Demon Training, this is very powerful. You can also use this while cc’d (Mage stun, survive the shatter combo.) This is the only talent you need from this tier.

Dark Bargain- This prevents all dmg for 8 sec... Sounds good right? Keep reading. When the bubble fades you take half that dmg as an 8 sec DoT. This means when you survive the initial burst from that BM Hunter or Warrior then you take that dmg and the dmg that they are putting out post DB. This can easily backfire.

Conclusion: As Demo, Sac Pact is my only choice.

Tier 60 Talents have some debate as well, but the advantages of Blood Fear, I believe, out shines the other two.

Blood Fear- Replaces fear with an instant cast fear. That’s seriously OP.

Burning Rush- Increases movement speed by 50% at cost of your HP; this is not a good PVP talent, that’s about it.

Unbound Will- Purges all magic effects, and movement impairing effects. This is essentially a second trinket, which can be useful, but I feel like an instant fear is far superior in terms of viability. I know a lot of people are using this, but I think you lose out on too much cc ability.

Conclusion: My recommendation is Blood Fear, you do not have to worry about your CC being interrupted, no juking your cc cast, and personally I have only been in one situation in which I needed unbound will warrior at 4k HP and healer cc’d, and I got cc’d. Other than that I cannot tell you how many times my instant fear saved my butt, or my healers butt, with a clutch interrupt or cc.

Tier 75 Talents, this is the source of my arguing with other Locks. Two are good, one is eh, and everyone has an opinion, so here is mine.

Grimoire of Supremacy- Your Demons become upgraded, and deal 20% more damage. The Wrathguard is sweet, just saying. In all seriousness, if you are demonology then you obviously rely on your demons. This to me is a no brainer, but there is argument for others. Mastery makes your pets hit harder, and you hit harder in and out of demon form. The wrathguard hurts peoples feelings.

Grimoire of Service- Bring out a second demon for 20 sec. It’s a nice dps burst, but only 20 sec on a 2 min CD it doesn’t offer many advantages in comparison.

Grimoire of Sacrifice- Sac your demon and gain a passive heal and increase the power of some of your single target spells. This argument holds weight, but it does not make sense to me being Demo, Destro GET IT!! WE will talk about that later though.

Conclusion: While the argument for GoSac has some weight, I feel that the pets are too strong with Supremacy, thus making it the best choice.

Tier 90 Talents are fun and offer some interesting options, so without further adoo...

Archimonde’s Vengeance- Cause an enemy to take 25% of all damage you take for 8 sec. Also 5% passively. This is nice against KFC and high burst dmg teams where you can make the healer or your target take 25% of the dmg that you are being hit with, essentially making their teammates (or them) DPS their teammate. I love this talent, but it is situational. I’ll get into that in the conclusion.

Kil’jaeden’s Cunning- You can cast and channel while moving for 6 sec. Passively, you can cast on the run with a 50% increase in cast time. Super OP, if you have hard casts… As Demo we use instant casts so this is unnecessary.

Mannoroth’s Fury- This is great when you are running against Rogue, Druid, Mage, or any other class blizz lets have vanish/invis/camo (hunters) smoking a rogue out of stealth from half the map away if fun especially when you can literally see them piss themselves out in the open. I run this in RBGs to keep people off the flag.

Conclusion: Take AV when not running against stealth, otherwise take MF.

That is the talent section, I wanted to put the tooltips in, but i was getting errors every time I tried, so for that I apologize. I will have the glyph section following quickly, if you have any comments, questions, or complaints let me know. This is my first guide, but not my first xpac. Myself and GammO want the PVP Locks to get a good representation so we are putting in some work to help you guys. Feel free to PM us.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Lockdupagain

[Stoove 347]

I just wanted to say - I have no enthusiasm for PvP, nor any experience with Locks. Nevertheless, I'm happy to see someone enthusiastic for it. Please do keep writing :)

[beatmebashme 0]

Very nice start to what would be a complete guide to Demo PvP . I'm Destro and may be inspired to follow your example sometime and write a Destro PvP guide.

How do you find Demo against those nasty clothie killing classes? (Warrior, Rogue)

[Lockdupagain 9]

Great I actually think that demo locks are the best equipped to take down rogue/warrior its all about situational awareness, and using your terrain to your advantage. I have been contemplating postin links I vids, but idk yet. Also, the destro guide will be up soon. My only regret is that I can't put tool tips up due to icy veins restrictions. If you want the vids let me know.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Lockdupagain

[Stoove 347]

Also, the destro guide will be up soon. My only regret is that I can't put tool tips up due to icy veins restrictions. If you want the vids let me know.

I seem to remember Damien telling me that it auto-tooltips when you link to WoWhead. That may have changed, I don't know for sure.

Edit: I just tested this; you just have to link to the relevant WoWhead page for the item or whatever. Use the "Link" tool in the options at the top. Example:

Masterwork Ghost Shard

[Lockdupagain 9]

Ah noted, Thank you, I will definitely be doing that next time. Much appreciated!