Classic Warlock DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

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.

1. If you are playing DS/Ruin, make sure you use Demonic Sacrifice to sacrifice your Succubus for the buff before the fight.
2. Apply and maintain your assigned curse.
3. Apply and maintain Corruption if allowed.
4. 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.

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.