WotLK Classic Destruction Warlock Stat Priority
On this page, you will find out the optimal PvE stat priority for your Destruction Warlock in WotLK Classic. We first present the stat priority, before delving into more complex explanations.
Stat Priority for Destruction Warlocks
- Hit Rating (to cap);
- Spell Power;
- Haste
- Critical Strike Rating;
- Spirit
- Intellect.
Stats Explained for Destruction Warlocks
Hit Rating
Hit Rating is massively important for all Warlock specs as it increases your chance to hit with your spells, up until it caps. In wrath you no longer have the innate 1% chance to miss, so if you are hit capped, you will never ever miss a spell. Your first goal as a lock is to make sure that you are Hit-capped.
The Hit cap is 17%, which sounds like a lot, but you get a little bit of help. You get 3% hit from a Balance Druid's Improved Faerie Fire OR Misery from a Shadow Priest Your 25-mans should pretty much always have either a Boomkin or a Shadow Priest in your raid, so this means you now need 14% hit. This becomes much more achievable on your gear if you want. However you can put points into Suppression to lower the hit even more. Each point is 1%, so if you put 3 points into Suppression, you will only need 11% hit; if you are Alliance with a Draenei in your party, you get an additional 1% Hit Rating from their racial, but only if they are in your party. This means that if you are Horde, you need 11% and if you are Alliance, you need 10%.
If there happens to be a time when you do need hit, it is suggested that you put a point or two into Suppression, rather than use hit gems as you can get more value out of better gems, while allowing Suppression to cover what you’re missing. Unless you need less than 1%, then just use a gem if you want.
Spell Power
Spell Power increases the damage of all offensive spells that the Warlock casts. Destruction Warlocks love Spell Power as it largely increases how much damage you do. You want spell power right after Hit.
Haste
Haste is the next stat you want as Destruction. Haste reduces the cast time of all your spells. This is huge for Destruction as you are hardcasting 90% of your abilities. The faster the casts, the more damage you do in the long run.
Spirit
Spirit is the next stat and its really nice because Fel Armor now converts 30% of your Spirit into Spell Power.
Critical Strike Chance
Critical Strike Chance gives your spells a chance to critically strike for more damage, which also couples with Ruin for bigger crits.
Changelog
- 26 Jun. 2023: Updated to Phase 3.
- 18 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 19 Oct. 2022: General guide updates.
- 25 Sep. 2022: Page added.
This guide has been written by Abide, TBC and WotLK veteran for nearly a decade. Abide is a Warrior tank and multi-class expert currently playing on Faerlina Horde. You can find him in the Icy Veins Discord if you have any questions or concerns.
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