World of Warcraft: Forever Demonology Warlock Guide

Demonology has a busy rotation, with Searing Pain keeping Demonic Brand active while you fit Shadow Bolt between DoT refreshes and keep your Succubus attacking. When you change targets, you also need to send the demon to the new enemy and apply Brand there.

Having a strong Succubus alongside your own casts gives Demonology good sustained damage, while Soul Link makes you harder to kill by sharing incoming damage with the demon. Your spell damage also helps heal it, and Life Tap restores its mana, letting you handle much of its upkeep while continuing to cast your main rotation.

Fights that let your Succubus stay in melee should suit Demonology well, while frequent target changes or time spent running between enemies cost you pet damage and opportunities to benefit from Demonic Brand. Demonic Energies helps with routine healing, but it won't keep the demon alive through every dangerous boss ability. Master Summoner makes replacing it faster, though summoning another pet still takes time away from dealing damage.

Mana pays for most of your spells, and Life Tap lets you trade health for more mana during a fight, with Spirit increasing both the health converted and mana gained. Movement or a break in incoming damage can be a useful time to tap, leaving you ready to cast when you can stand still again.

Drain Life deals damage while restoring your health, helping you recover what you've spent on Life Tap. You still need enough health to survive the next hit, particularly when the group is taking damage and your healer has other players to look after.

Soul Shards are a separate resource used for most demon summons, creating Healthstones and Soulstones, and Ritual of Summoning. Drain Soul can generate them while damaging nontrivial enemies, so keep a supply ready before a dungeon or raid.

Demonic Energies heals your demon for a portion of the spell damage you deal and restores its mana when you gain mana through Life Tap.

Curses provide utility debuffs, such as Curse of the Elements to support magic damage or Curse of Recklessness to support physical damage. Banes such as Bane of Agony and Bane of Doom provide damage, and you can keep one Curse and one Bane of your own on the same enemy at the same time.

Coordinate your Curse with the group so the debuffs it needs are covered. Casting a different Curse replaces your previous one on that enemy, and the same restriction applies to your Banes, so switching between Bane of Agony and Bane of Doom removes the previous Bane.

Your demon adds damage or utility depending on which one you summon, with different choices suited to questing, group damage, and fighting casters.

• Imp provides ranged Fire damage and Stamina through Blood Pact.
• Voidwalker is the defensive option and can tank enemies while questing.
• Succubus is a melee damage pet with Seduction for controlling Humanoids.
• Felhunter provides caster utility through Spell Lock and Devour Magic.

Keep Pet Attack and Pet Follow on accessible keybinds so you can send your demon to a target or call it back as the group moves. Health Funnel lets you spend your own health to heal it, and watching its position helps you keep it attacking without pulling nearby enemies.

Our recommended Demonology build uses a Succubus for damage, with a Felhunter as an option when your group needs an interrupt or dispel.

Searing Pain applies Demonic Brand, which adds damage to a limited number of your demon's attacks against that enemy. The Brand ends when its charges are used or the effect expires, so watch the target your demon is attacking and refresh it as needed.

Immolate, Corruption, and either Bane of Agony or Bane of Doom provide ongoing damage alongside Shadow Bolt and your demon. Refreshing a DoT early can throw away its remaining damage, especially the stronger final ticks of Agony.

Demonic Sacrifice turns a demon into a personal buff, and Demonic Pact lets you keep that buff while using a different demon. For the recommended setup, sacrifice an Imp for 15% increased Shadow damage, then summon your Succubus. Summoning another Imp removes the sacrifice bonus, even with Pact.

Soul Link transfers part of your incoming damage to your active demon and increases the damage you both deal. This makes the pet's health important for your own survival as well as your damage, especially when you and the demon are both taking hits.

Create Healthstone makes an emergency healing item you can give to party members, while Create Soulstone lets you prepare yourself or an ally to resurrect after death. Ritual of Summoning brings a group member to your location with help from two other group members and a Soul Shard.

Fear can take an enemy out of the fight, but its movement can carry it into another pack. Banish controls Demons and Elementals without sending them running, though the target is immune to damage while banished. Death Coil gives you a short Horror effect and restores health, making it useful when an enemy reaches you.

Curse of Tongues slows enemy spellcasting, while a Felhunter's Spell Lock can interrupt a dangerous cast.