Forever Destruction Warlock Ranged DPS Guide

Destruction is for players who want to hit enemies with powerful direct damage spells rather than waiting for several DoTs to slowly finish the job. You still have access to the Warlock's demons, curses, drains, and damage over time spells, but Destruction puts much more emphasis on hard casting spells such as Shadow Bolt and Immolate before finishing enemies with the powerful Shadowburn.

WoW Forever expands Destruction into a specialization that eventually mixes Fire and Shadow spells together through talents such as Conflagrate, Shadowburn, Incinerate, and Shadow and Flame. Most of those interactions are still beyond the opening Level 20 cap, so the early Beta version is much simpler and focuses heavily on faster casts, Mana efficiency, range, and Shadowburn.

Beta information: This page covers the opening Level 20 cap using our extensive BlizzCon demo testing, the current talent calculator, and information discovered from the Beta. This guide will be updated frequently as the Beta changes and level caps rise.

Send your demon into the enemy first and begin casting from range. Destruction benefits heavily from having enough distance to try finish casts before an enemy reaches you or atleast get them low, and Destructive Reach makes that even easier. You should only try to fight one enemy at a time because you get spell knockback if an enemy is hitting you while you're casting.

Your early damage comes primarily from Shadow Bolt, Immolate, early Corruption, and your wand. At Level 18 you gain Searing Pain, which gives you a faster direct damage option, and at Level 20 this build gains Shadowburn for powerful instant finishing damage. Unlike Affliction, Corruption still has a cast time in this build, so applying it to every enemy is not always worth the time or Mana.

Destruction becomes much easier once you learn when a hard cast is actually worth using. The following tips will help you avoid wasting Mana and make the journey to Level 20 much smoother.

• Keep your spells trained! — Rank upgrades matter a ton, so visit your Warlock trainer regularly every two levels. Check your spellbook and action bars afterward to make sure you are using the newest rank.
• Complete your demon quests. — Unlock your Summon Imp at Level 2, Summon Voidwalker at Level 10, and Summon Succubus at Level 20. Your demon continues contributing damage while you are hard casting.
• Use your range. — Destructive Reach increases the range of your damaging spells. Start attacking from as far away as possible so you can finish more casts before the enemy reaches you.
• Keep your armor buff active. — Use Demon Skin early on and switch to Demon Armor once you train it at Level 20. These cannot be active at the same time.
• Use a wand. — Wand attacks are extremely strong at these lower levels. They let you finish weakened enemies without spending Mana on another Shadow Bolt. Lesser Magic Wand and Greater Magic Wand are both strong early options.
• Do not overcast. — A large part of efficient Destruction leveling is knowing when another Shadow Bolt is unnecessary. If your demon and existing damage will finish the enemy, stop spending Mana and move toward the next target.
• Use Shadowburn to finish enemies. — Shadowburn costs a Soul Shard, but if a non trivial enemy dies within 8 seconds of being hit by it you gain a Soul Shard. Use it when you are confident the enemy is about to die.
• Keep a few Soul Shards available. — — Use Drain Soul to maintain your supply. Destruction needs Soul Shards for normal Warlock utility and for Shadowburn.
• Leave yourself some Health. — Use Life Tap when you have enough Health to do so safely. Destruction can burn through Mana quickly when repeatedly hard casting, but starting the next pull nearly dead is rarely worth the extra Mana.
• Bring food and water. — You still have Warlock recovery tools, but Destruction does not have Affliction's early resource talents. Stopping to recover can sometimes be faster than forcing another pull with low Health and Mana.

Tailoring and Enchanting is a popular starting pair for a Warlock. Tailoring gives you a use for all the cloth you will find while leveling, including useful armor and bags. Enchanting lets you turn unwanted equipment into materials that you can then use to enchant your gear. Enchanting is also able to craft both Lesser Magic Wand and Greater Magic Wand. Check what the Beta trainers actually offer before spending too much gold on a specific crafting plan.

First Aid is another popular option because it is a secondary profession, meaning you can train First Aid and still have your two primary professions. Bandages give you an easy way to recover the Health you spend on Life Tap without using more Mana.

Cooking is a great option to add to your secondary professions now that the buff gives you 5% increased experience while active. Food also helps recover the Health you regularly convert into Mana.

Alliance: Gnome — Expansive Mind increases your maximum Mana, while Escape Artist helps you escape slows and other movement impairing effects. Eureka gives you a cooldown that reduces the Mana cost of your next three damaging spells by 50% and increases their damage by 10%. Destruction benefits directly from both the additional Mana and a cooldown built around empowering damaging casts.

Horde: Troll — Berserking increases your spellcasting speed by 10% for 10 seconds, making it particularly useful for a specialization built around hard casting Shadow Bolt and Immolate. Rapid Regeneration also gives you a way to restore a large amount of Health after using Life Tap, as long as you can safely complete the channel.

These are our suggested starting choices for ease of leveling and early Destruction gameplay. If you prefer another race, then choose it! Racials are close enough that you should not abandon the race you want to play over an early Beta ranking.

This build puts all 11 talent points into the Destruction tree. It takes five points in Bane, two points in Destructive Reach, three points in Cataclysm, and one point in Shadowburn. The build focuses on making your primary casts faster, cheaper, and easier to use from range before giving you a powerful instant spell at Level 20.

Five points in Bane reduce the casting time of Shadow Bolt and Immolate by 0.5 seconds. These are two of your most commonly used spells at this level, so the reduced cast time makes Destruction feel significantly faster while questing and in dungeons.

Two points in Destructive Reach increase the range of your damaging spells by 20%. Extra range gives you more time to cast before a quest enemy reaches you and makes positioning easier in dungeons. It does not directly increase your damage, but the additional distance is extremely comfortable while leveling.

Three points in Cataclysm reduce the Mana cost of your Destruction spells by 9%. Destruction relies heavily on repeatedly casting direct damage spells, so reducing their cost helps you fight longer before needing to Life Tap or stop to recover.

The final point goes into Shadowburn. Shadowburn is an instant Shadow damage spell with a 15 second cooldown that costs one Soul Shard. If a non trivial target dies within 8 seconds of being hit by Shadowburn, you gain a Soul Shard. This makes it an excellent finishing spell because properly timing it allows you to recover the resource you spent.

Improved Shadow Bolt and Aftermath are both strong alternatives, but this build prioritizes reliable leveling benefits that do not depend on Critical Strike since we won't have much at this level or a longer Immolate duration. These choices can change once we have more Level 20 Beta testing and gear available.

Destruction focuses more heavily on direct damage than the other Warlock specializations. Send your demon into the target first, then begin casting from range with Immolate and Shadow Bolt. Your faster cast times from Bane allow you to deal a large amount of damage before many quest enemies can even reach you.

You still have access to Corruption and Bane of Agony, but you do not need to apply every DoT to every enemy. Weak enemies may die before the Mana and cast time spent applying them pays off. Use more of your full toolkit against elites, dungeon bosses, and anything else that will survive long enough.

At Level 20, Shadowburn gives you your first major instant Destruction attack. Try to use it when the enemy is close enough to death that you can trigger its Soul Shard return. Throwing it randomly into healthy enemies can quickly burn through your Shard supply.

Life Tap converts some of your Health into Mana. Destruction can spend Mana quickly because much of your damage comes from repeated direct casts, so Life Tap remains an important part of keeping yourself moving between pulls.

Unlike the Affliction build, you do not have Improved Life Tap or Soul Harvesting at Level 20. Cataclysm helps a little by reducing the Mana cost of your Destruction spells, but you still need to pay attention to how much Mana you spend on each enemy.

Drain Life can recover Health while dealing damage when necessary. Do not be afraid to use it simply because you are playing Destruction. Staying alive and converting recovered Health back into Mana is more useful than forcing another spell while nearly dead.

1. Send your demon into the target first.
2. Apply either Curse of Recklessness or Curse of the Elements on dungeon bosses depending on your group. If your group has more magic damage use Curse of the Elements. If your group has more physical damage use Curse of Recklessness.
3. Cast Immolate.
4. Apply Corruption when the enemy will live long enough for the DoT to be worthwhile.
5. Apply Bane of Agony on tougher enemies that will survive long enough for its later ticks to deal meaningful damage.
6. Cast Shadow Bolt as your primary direct damage filler.
7. Use Searing Pain when you need a faster direct damage cast, but be careful with the additional threat it generates in dungeons.
8. Use Drain Life when you need Health.
9. Use your wand when the target is already low enough that spending Mana on another spell is unnecessary.
10. Use Shadowburn when the enemy is close to dying so you can finish it and recover the Soul Shard.
11. Use Drain Soul instead when you need to generate additional Soul Shards.

Destruction does not need to fully set up every enemy. Against ordinary quest mobs, Immolate followed by a few Shadow Bolt casts, your demon, and a finishing attack may be enough. Save the full DoT setup for enemies with enough Health to justify it.

You can still spread Corruption and Bane of Agony across multiple enemies, but both setup time and Mana need to be considered. This build does not make Corruption instant, so individually applying several DoTs can take longer than simply killing weaker targets with direct damage.

Rain of Fire becomes available at Level 20 and gives you a dedicated AoE option for groups of stacked enemies. In dungeons, let the tank establish threat before channeling it. If the enemies are dying quickly, Rain of Fire can provide damage immediately without requiring you to fully set up every target first.

Your demon can continue attacking one target while you cast into the group. Keep an eye on its position and threat, especially when using a Voidwalker in a dungeon.

Immolate is one of your most important Destruction spells. It deals Fire damage when the spell lands and then continues dealing Fire damage over time. Bane reduces its cast time, making it much easier to work into your normal rotation.

At higher levels, Immolate becomes even more important because Conflagrate requires it on the target and Incinerate deals additional damage against enemies affected by it. Those interactions are not available in the opening Level 20 build, but learning to keep Immolate active on durable enemies now prepares you for the later Destruction rotation.

Shadowburn is the main Destruction specific ability available in this Level 20 build. It instantly deals Shadow damage at the cost of one Soul Shard and has a 15 second cooldown. If a non trivial enemy dies within 8 seconds of being hit by Shadowburn, you gain a Soul Shard.

This means Shadowburn should usually be treated as a finishing spell rather than something you press immediately at the start of a fight. If you time it correctly, you gain the damage without permanently losing the Shard. If the enemy survives too long, you have spent a Shard that must be replaced with Drain Soul.

Keep several Soul Shards available before entering a dungeon or difficult quest area. Destruction uses the same Shards for normal Warlock utility, so using every Shard on Shadowburn can leave you unable to summon another demon or create something important when you need it.

At Level 20, your main choices are Summon Imp, Summon Voidwalker, and Summon Succubus. Destruction does not have the pet bonuses available to Demonology, but your demon still provides a significant amount of free damage or survivability while you cast.

Summon Imp attacks from range and can contribute damage without standing beside the enemy. During our BlizzCon testing it was fragile and could run out of Mana quickly, so keep an eye on its resources during longer fights.

Summon Voidwalker is the safest option while leveling because it can hold enemies away from you while you hard cast. During our BlizzCon testing it generated an extremely high amount of threat. Send it in first and allow it to establish threat before beginning your casts.

Summon Succubus becomes available at Level 20 and was the strongest damage demon during our BlizzCon testing. Use it when you are comfortable handling enemies without the Voidwalker tanking them for you. Its high damage makes it especially attractive in dungeons where another player is already holding threat.

• Bind Pet Attack and Pet Follow. You should be able to immediately send your demon into an enemy or call it back without clicking through the pet bar. Mouse wheel up and down are easy keybind options.
• Watch autocast abilities. Pay attention to which abilities your demon is automatically using. Turn off unwanted threat abilities in dungeons so your pet does not fight the tank for enemies.
• Use Move To for positioning. WoW Forever gives demons a Move To command that allows you to manually position them. Use it to keep your demon away from nearby packs and dangerous ground effects.
• Watch the route your demon takes. Your demon may not follow the exact same route you do when jumping from ledges or moving around enemies. Call it back when necessary so it does not pull another group.
• Use Health Funnel when needed. Destruction does not have Demonology's passive pet healing, so Health Funnel is your primary way to quickly restore your demon's Health during combat.

• Create Healthstone: — Creates a Healthstone that can be used to restore Health. Keep one available while questing and before dungeon runs. Give one to your party members whenever possible.
• Create Soulstone: — Creates a Soulstone that can be placed on yourself or an ally and allows that player to resurrect after death. It must be applied before the target dies.
• Ritual of Summoning: — Allows you and two other party members to summon another member of your group to your location. It becomes available at Level 20 and requires a Soul Shard for each summon.
• Health Funnel: — Transfers your Health to your active demon. Use it when your demon is taking heavy damage and you need to keep it alive.
• Fear: — Forces an enemy to flee and temporarily removes it from the fight. Be careful when using Fear around additional enemies because the target can run into another pack.
• Unending Breath: — Allows the target to breathe underwater. It is situational, but extremely useful during underwater quests and exploration.
• Demon Skin and Demon Armor: — These are your personal armor buffs. Keep Demon Skin active until Demon Armor becomes available at Level 20, then replace Demon Skin with Demon Armor.
• Searing Pain: — A fast direct Fire damage spell available at Level 18. It generates a large amount of threat, making it useful when you need fast damage but dangerous to spam immediately after a tank pulls.

The opening Level 20 cap does not yet include several of the talents that define WoW Forever Destruction at higher levels. Conflagrate, Agonizing Flames, Bane of Havoc, Fire and Brimstone, Shadow and Flame, and Incinerate all sit deeper in the tree.

As the Beta level cap increases, Destruction will gain much stronger interaction between Fire and Shadow spells. Conflagrate eventually supports your Shadow damage, Shadowburn supports your Fire damage through Shadow and Flame, and Incinerate rewards keeping Immolate active. The Level 20 build should therefore be treated as the beginning of the specialization rather than its finished rotation.

Gear recommendations are pending Beta testing. WoW Forever has reworked itemization, so old Classic item lists cannot establish your best Level 20 equipment. We will add specific quest, crafting, and dungeon pieces after checking their current stats, effects, requirements, and availability.

For now, compare the actual item tooltips. Look for useful Spell Power, enough Intellect to support repeated casting, and enough Stamina to safely use Life Tap. Keep your wand upgraded as well, since it lets you finish enemies without spending additional Mana.

The following is our provisional Level 20 stat priority. Destruction is much more dependent on hard casting than the other Warlock specializations, making stats that improve the reliability and speed of those casts especially useful. Exact values will be updated as Level 20 gear becomes available for testing.

• Spell Power: — Your strongest general offensive stat. Spell Power increases the damage of spells that scale with it, helping Shadow Bolt, Immolate, Searing Pain, Shadowburn, and your other damaging spells. Pay attention to whether an item provides general Spell Power or damage for a specific spell school. Fire damage will not increase Shadow Bolt or Shadowburn, while Shadow damage will not increase your Fire spells.
• Hit: — Reduces the chance for your spells to miss. Destruction does not take Suppression at this level, so you receive no Hit from your talent build. Missing a long cast wastes both time and Mana, making available Hit particularly useful against enemies above your level.
• Haste: — Reduces normal spell cast times. Destruction relies heavily on hard casts, so Haste benefits spells such as Shadow Bolt and Immolate. During our BlizzCon testing, Haste did not make DoTs or Drain channels tick faster, so its value is concentrated more heavily on your direct casting.
• Critical Strike: — Gives your direct damage spells a chance to deal additional damage. Critical Strike becomes even more important deeper into the Destruction tree through talents such as Improved Shadow Bolt, Ruin, Agonizing Flames, and Fire and Brimstone. Its exact value at Level 20 still needs additional Beta testing.
• Intellect: — Increases your maximum Mana, allowing you to cast more spells before needing to recover or use Life Tap. Destruction spends a large amount of time actively casting, so a comfortable Mana pool remains valuable even with Cataclysm reducing spell costs.
• Stamina: — Increases your maximum Health, giving you more room to survive difficult pulls and safely use Life Tap. More maximum Health does not directly increase the amount of Mana gained from each Life Tap.
• Spirit: — Improves your natural Health and Mana regeneration. It can reduce downtime between pulls, but active damage stats and a comfortable Health and Mana pool are generally more important for Destruction.

Carry a Healthstone, food, water, and usable healing potions. Destruction regularly converts Health into Mana through Life Tap, so having an emergency way to restore Health can save a pull that goes wrong. Bandages are also useful whenever you can safely use one.

Named consumables are pending confirmation. We still need to verify which potions, elixirs and scrolls are obtainable and usable at Level 20, along with their effects and buffs. We will add the exact items and sources after checking them in the Beta.

Do not plan around the Warlock weapon oils at this cap. The recorded trainer places Create Firestone at Level 28 and Create Spellstone at Level 36. Other oils and temporary weapon effects will be added here if suitable Level 20 options are confirmed.

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Affliction Warlock Ranged DPS GuideDemonology Warlock Ranged DPS Guide

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