Cataclysm Classic Demonology Warlock Rotation and Cooldowns

This page contains all relevant information needed for Demonology Warlocks before the release of Cataclysm Classic. We will be updating this with all the latest information as soon as more is discovered, so make sure to check back.

A massive change coming into Cataclysm is how DoTs work. In the past you used to want to let them run their entire duration to get full value of it. This is no longer an issue in Cataclysm. Now you can clip your last tick of the DoT and the remainder will carry over into the new refreshed DoT, giving you an extra tick of that DoT, which can be further improved depending on your Haste rating. Check out the Stats page for more in depth information about Haste breakpoints for each DoT. This also ensures that you can have 100% uptime on most encounters.

The job of an Demonology Warlock is to deal as much damage as you can. Demonology Warlocks shine in single target and AoE damage, boasting some of the highest in the game for the entire expansion. Something MASSIVE with Demonology specific, is two terms that you should get used to in order to maximize your damage as Demonology. Mastery swap is the first one. With the way Metamorphosis works, it snapshots all the Mastery you have on you when you press Metamorphosis and you keep that Mastery while in Metamorphosis until it ends, even after you take off the Mastery gear. This means that you can keep an additional set of gear on you that has as much Mastery as you can possibly get, then before the boss is pulled, you equip this gear, then cast Metamorphosis, then swap your normal gear back on and go about your rotation. If you choose to not do this, then you can skip the gear swap in the rotation. Addons like Itemrack will help you make a gearset and you can even set it to a keybind, so you can very easily press one keybind to put your Mastery gear on and another keybind to equip your normal gear back on. You can also set this up with the in game gear manager as well.

The next thing to talk about is something we call Pet Twisting. This is a really simple concept that has you start the fight with your Summon Felguard out, then cast Demon Soul, then pull your Summon Felhunter out. While that looks and sounds annoying, it's pretty simple thanks to the spell Soulburn. When you Soulburn this makes your next summon demon spell instant cast. The reason main reason we do this is that Demon Soul gives you a powerful buff, depending on which demon you have out. If your Summon Felguard is out when you cast Demon Soul, you get 15% Haste and 10% damage. If your Summon Felhunter is out when you cast Demon Soul, you only get 20% increases DoT damage, meaning the Felhunters buff is very lacklust, so you want the Demon Soul buff from your Felguard, then use your Felhunter, since it does EXTRAORDINARILY more single target damage than your Felguard does. This means that you want to use your Felhunter as much as you can, but you also want to get the Demon Soul buff from your Felguard. If you choose not to Pet Twist, then you can skip that part of the rotation.

1. (Prepull) Make sure your Mastery gear is on.(If you choose to Mastery swap)
2. (Prepull) Make sure your Summon Felguard is out.
3. (Prepull) Make sure both Fel Armor and Soul Link are on.
4. (Prepull) Don't be max ranged due to wanting to run in to Immolation Aura and Shadowflame. I prefer 10-15 yards if boss allows.
5. (Prepull) Cast Soulburn — This is a buff that it gives you that will last 20 seconds. So as long as you use this within that window, it will save you a global once the fight starts. This also allows you to Soul Harvest before the boss pull to ensure that you have all three of your Soul Shards available for you.
6. (Prepull) Cast Metamorphosis with roughly 2 seconds left on the pull timer. — This will snapshot your Mastery from your Mastery gear and allow you to keep it until Metamorphosis ends, even after you swap your gear off.
7. (Prepull) Equip your normal raid gear.(If you choose to Mastery swap)
8. (Prepull) Prepot your Volcanic Potion unless the fight is less than two minutes, then it's often better to hold that potion for whenever your raid lusts.
9. Precast Shadow Bolt so that it lands on the boss right when the pull timer hits zero seconds. Also send your Felguard in to attack.
10. Cast Curse of the Elements if no other member is putting up the debuff. Assassination Rogues, Balance Druids and Unholy Death Knights also apply this debuff.
11. Cast Demon Soul
12. Summon your Felhunter and make sure he's attacking the target. This should be instant cast, thanks to the Soulburn that you casted right before the fight started.
13. Cast Bane of Doom — Only Bane of Agony if the boss won't live for 30 seconds.
14. Pop your cooldowns like Blood Fury, Trinkets and whatever else you have.
15. Cast Summon Doomguard — He cannot be lusted, but snaps your spell power, so pop this when you have as much spell power as possible. Hold this until you have your Spell Power procs up. It will attack whatever has your Bane of Doom or Bane of Agony on it.
16. Cast Hand of Gul'dan — Keep this up on cooldown at all times. This does decent damage, but most importantly buffs your Felhunters crit by 10%.
17. Cast Immolate — Keep this up at all times. Hand of Gul'dan refreshes this, so you only need to put this up one time.
18. Cast Corruption — Keep this up at all times.
19. Cast Demon Leap to move in closer to the boss. Alternatively you can run into melee while casting all of your instant cast DoT's mentioned above.
20. Cast Immolation Aura once in melee range
21. Cast Shadowflame while in melee and try to keep this on cooldown as often as you can. If you are worried about dying while in melee, then disregard this and sit at ranged.
22. Fill with Shadow Bolt — This is your main filler.
23. Cast Incinerate three times whenever you get Molten Core procs. This is important to do, so make sure to keep track of these procs.
24. Once you are in execute range (-25% Boss Health) fill with Soul Fire while continuing to keep your DoTs up. Continue to cast Incinerate whenever Molten Core procs even in execute phase.
25. IF YOU HAVE YOUR 4 SET TIER 11 SET BONUS!! Make sure to cast Fel Flame twice to take advantage of your 4 set bonus. If you can use them while moving then great, otherwise just use them as you get procs.

1. Make sure you send your Summon Felguard in.
2. Cast Hand of Gul'dan to give your demon 10% Crit.
3. Cast Felstorm — Keep this on cooldown as much as you can.
4. Cast Metamorphosis
5. Cast Demon Leap if you're not in melee range.
6. Cast Immolation Aura
7. Cast Shadowflame and keep this on cooldown as much as you can.
8. Cast Hellfire — You can move around while Hellfire is channeling.