Destruction Warlock DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.2)
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Destruction Warlock in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.2). We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Destruction Warlock talents.
Talent Cheat Sheets for Destruction Warlock
With the introduction of the new talents system and the ability to freely change points and share/import builds free of consumable costs while out of combat, it is highly advised to adapt the build based on the type of situation at hand.
Best Talents for Destruction Warlock
Single-Target Talents for Destruction Warlock
Single target-oriented setup which uses a single value point
in Shadowburn over
Burn to Ashes to offer a higher degree
of mobility.
To import the build directly in-game, click on the export button at the bottom of the calculator
Diabolist AoE Talents for Destruction Warlock
Setup for dungeons tailored towards priority damage and
burst; Chaos Bolt is the only shard spender, regardless of target
count.
Rain of Fire is not being used at all, relying
on
Warlock Diabolist 11.2 Class Set 2pc,
Ruination and the
various Demonic Art demons for AoE, while maximising
Immolate
uptime with
Cataclysm and
Channel Demonfire on multiple
targets.
Mayhem (or
Havoc if you prefer) both offer
additional damage and especially Shard generation (duplicating the likes
of
Decimation
Soul Fire) necessary to sustain what is
essentially
Chaos Bolt machine gun.
To import the build directly in-game, click on the export button at the bottom of the calculator
Hellcaller AoE Talents for Destruction Warlock
Hellcaller focus on
Wither makes
Cataclysm
and
Channel Demonfire extremely important for uptime, especially as
the target count increases.
Decimation proc still retain enormous
value in generating shards and providing direct damage, especially if
duplicated. This specific variant scales extremely well at high target
count.
To import the build directly in-game, click on the export button at the bottom of the calculator
Best Delves Talents for Destruction Warlock
Diabolist has stronger burst and can trivialise some otherwise
difficult situations.
Demonic Circle and
Shadowfury are
flexible points that can be reallocated on
Amplify Curse nodes if
needed.
Mythic+
For specific Mythic+ advice, which typically involves having a setup that can perform both in single-target and AoE situations, and this set-up can also be influenced by affixes and other things like party composition and pull layout. Check out our dedicated M+ page below.
How To Use Destruction Warlock Talents
Since several talent choices have an effect on your gameplay, we recommend reading our rotation page linked below to find out how to adapt your playstyle and priority based on your selected talents.
Picking Warlock Class Talents
Other than a handful of DPS increase nodes, the path progression is generally flexible and allows one to opt in or out of specific utilities that may not be relevant in a specific situation. The following sections will highlight the key talents while also making suggestions for what to pick to progress down the tree.
For detailed information about each individual talent, follow the link to the Spell Summary page:
Hero Tree Talents
One of the highlights of the new expansion is the Hero Talent Tree system, which further enhances specialisation with a unique twist both in visual and, to a lesser degree, in playstyle.
Destruction Warlock gets to choose between Diabolist
and
Hellcaller.
For an overview of both trees and their use case, follow the link below:
PvP Talents (War Mode)
Under our Talents section, there is the option to enter "War Mode." Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:
- PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world;
- 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level;
- 10% more experience gained while leveling;
- Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.
With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended you enable the feature. In most situations, this will allow for the maximum returns despite the risks. You will make yourself available for open-world PvP and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.
Destruction Warlock War Mode Talents
In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Destruction Warlock-specific PvE talents.
Warlock generic PvP Talents
Bonds of Fel allows to burst targets by dragging them away from the marked location.
Gateway Mastery increases your gateway's range by 20 yards and reduces the duration of the debuff placed on players using it by 15 seconds, making it a good choice when increased mobility is needed.
Nether Ward summons a shield lasting 3 seconds and reflecting back all harmful spells targeted at you.
Call Observer is only relevant when dealing with a lot of casting mobs.
Destruction Warlock PvP Talents
Fel Fissure causes
Chaos Bolt to create a 5 yard Felfire pool under the target, reducing movement speed by 50% and reducing healing received on all enemies by 25%. This talent seems great in all situations, but particularly when you are dealing with multiple enemies at once.
Bane of Havoc causes
Havoc to become a ground-targeted spell. Everything inside will be treated as it was debuffed by
Havoc.
Changelog
- 04 Aug. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.2.
- 15 Jun. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.7.
- 21 Apr. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.5.
- 19 Mar. 2025: Updated single target setup.
- 06 Mar. 2025: Updated dungeon talents reccomendations.
- 24 Feb. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.0.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
- 30 Oct. 2024: Updated Single Target talent after hotfix.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 25 Sep. 2024: Added a Shadowburn variant to Diabolist build.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated talents recommendation for Season 1.
- 26 Aug. 2024: Added a Delve talents reccomendation.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated recommendations to feature Hero Trees.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 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: Talents updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.1.5.
- 01 May 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated talent selection for single target and 2 targets for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Dec. 2022: Updated talent selection for single target.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated 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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