Classic Warlock DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Warlock DPS in both single-target and multiple-target PvE situations in WoW Classic. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS.
Single Target Rotation
Warlocks have a few high DPS DoT spells that would normally be worth
casting, but sadly cannot be due to the debuff limit. If you do not have to
worry about the debuff limit, then you can use Curse of Agony,
Corruption,
Siphon Life, and even
Immolate in your
rotation. In raids, however, you will need to limit your debuff usage, meaning
you are limited to using
Shadow Bolt as your main damaging
ability.
- If you are playing DS/Ruin, make sure you use
Demonic Sacrifice to sacrifice your Succubus for the buff before the fight.
- Apply and maintain your assigned curse.
- Apply and maintain
Corruption if allowed.
- Cast
Shadow Bolt.
Whether or not you are allowed to cast Corruption will be up to
your raid group, since debuff slots are limited and usually planned out ahead
of time. If there are more than 3-4 Warlocks in your raid, then chances are
some of you might not be allowed to use it.
The mandatory curses that should be maintained on every boss are
Curse of the Elements,
Curse of Shadow, and
Curse of Recklessness. Occasionally, it is worth having a Warlock use
Curse of Weakness on the boss if paired with
Improved Curse of Weakness and
Amplify Curse, but it is very
situational. You will want to consult with your raid leader and other Warlocks
to determine who will be maintaining each curse.
As a small optimization, if an enemy is going to die before you can get
another Shadow Bolt off, you can instead use
Searing Pain
into a
Shadowburn, or just use
Shadowburn if they are going
to die within the next second.
AoE Rotation
For multiple targets that are not bosses, you can usually just use your DoT
abilities like Corruption on each of them and do your single target
rotation otherwise. However, for mass AoE such as 5+ targets in an area, you
will want to either use
Hellfire or
Rain of Fire. If it is
safe for you to be in melee next to the mobs, and you are not in danger of
dying, then Hellfire is the higher damage choice. But, Rain of Fire is a good
alternative if being in melee is dangerous and you might die from taking the
Hellfire damage. As a small optimization, you will want to use your instant
cast DoT abilities such as
Corruption (with 5/5 in the talent) and
Curse of Agony on the targets while you are moving, specifically while
you are running into melee to get in position for
Hellfire.
Changelog
- 23 Aug. 2019: Page added.
More Classic Warlock Guides
More Classic Guides from Other Classes
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
This guide has been written by Impakt, an Officer in BDGG, the #2 North American guild on retail. In addition to live WoW, he has also been a classic theorycrafter and enthusiast for many years. You can watch him stream on Twitch, or follow him on Twitter.
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