Demonology Warlock DPS Easy Mode — Season 4
On this page, we explain how to easily play Demonology Warlock in World of Warcraft — Season 4, using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of a Demonology Warlock
Demonology focuses on maintaining a small army of demons at all times, which will deal most of your damage. This specialization can be very effective, particularly on single targets and burst AoE.
In this section, we will be focusing on a setup that minimizes the amount of buttons, AddOns, and reactivity necessary without compromising overall damage output.
For newcomers, it is advisable to browse the Spell Summary page first, in order to learn more about the abilities available and to familiarise yourself with.
Talent Choice for Demonology Warlock
These Talent recommendations are optimized for ease of use. If a talent requires significant optimization to provide DPS gains, we will instead recommend a competitive talent that requires less knowledge to make use of. See the Talents page for a full and objective evaluation of the Talent tree. These talents aim to present a strong build that has very little punishment for unfamiliarity or mistakes.
To import the build directly in-game, click on the export button in the top-right of the calculator
If you are looking to maximize your output as Demonology Warlock instead of simplicity and ease of use, you can find a more in-depth analysis and rationale on our talent page as follows:
Stat Priority for Demonology Warlock
Currently, you will want to prioritize secondary stats as follows:
- Haste
- Mastery ≅ Critical Strike
- Versatility.
In general, Intellect is more important than secondaries, about 2 if not 3 times better, depending on the secondary stat.
While stats priority is a general guideline, there might be situations where the lists differ. If you are interested in a detailed explanation of Stats with the effects and implications each one of those provides, head to the page below.
Single Target Rotation for Demonology Warlock
- Cast Demonic Strength on cooldown.
- Cast Call Dreadstalkers whenever available.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan if you have 4-5 Soul Shards.
- Cast Demonbolt if you have 2+ stacks of Demonic Core.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan with 3 Soul Shards.
- Cast Shadow Bolt to generate Soul Shards.
Multiple Target Rotation for Demonology Warlock
Save Demonic Strength for when more targets can be hit, but do not delay it by more than a few seconds, but otherwise, the rotation is identical to a single target as the vast majority of your damage also cleaves around the main target.
For a more comprehensive explanation of the priority list, including openers, check out the rotation page.
Changelog
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.1.5.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 23 Dec. 2022: Updated talent tree.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Warlock Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Motoko, Warlock main since The Burning Crusade, co-admin in the Warlock Discord, and theorycrafter and contributor for LockOneStopShop.
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