World of Warcraft: Forever Destruction Warlock - Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

Destruction spends much of a fight casting Incinerate between DoT refreshes and instant spells. Keeping Immolate on the target increases Incinerate's damage, while Conflagrate and Shadowburn provide damage buffs through Shadow and Flame. Your Shadow spells still matter, even with Incinerate as your main cast.

The priority below keeps those effects active while leaving as much time as possible for your main casts. Mana comes from Life Tap, so plan your taps around how much Mana you need, how long the fight has left, and whether you can afford to spend the health.

Before the pull, use Demonic Sacrifice on a Succubus for the Fire damage bonus, apply your Create Firestone weapon enchant, and have a Soul Shard available for Shadowburn. Keep your Demon Armor active and prepare a Healthstone before combat.

Work down this priority list whenever you're ready to cast, skipping effects that are already active or won't have enough time to deal their damage.

1. Maintain Buffs and Debuffs
   • Bane of Doom: Apply it when ready if the target will live for at least another 60 seconds. Otherwise, use Bane of Agony if you don't already have a Bane on the target and it will live long enough for the full DoT duration.
   • Apply your assigned Curse, if any, when it's missing: Curse of the Elements, Curse of Recklessness, Curse of Tongues, or Curse of Weakness.
2. Immolate: Apply it if missing, or time your next cast to land as the existing effect expires.
3. Corruption: Apply it if missing, or refresh it as the existing effect expires.
4. Conflagrate
   • Use it on cooldown while your Immolate is on the target.
5. Shadowburn
   • Use it only when the Fire damage buff from Shadow and Flame is missing or has 3 seconds or less remaining.
6. Incinerate
   • Cast it when the higher priorities are covered.
7. Life Tap
   • Use it when you need Mana to keep casting, provided you have enough health to tap safely.

In cleave and AoE scenarios, there is a slight difference between priorities depending on the amount of enemies you are fighting.

1. Secondary Target:
   • Apply Bane of Havoc to copy damage from your main target.
   • If the second enemy will live long enough, apply your assigned Curse and maintain Corruption and Immolate, refreshing them as they expire.
   • Don't apply Bane of Agony or Bane of Doom to this enemy, since they would replace Bane of Havoc.
2. Main Target:
   • Follow the single-target rotation above, refreshing DoTs on the second target as needed.

Apply your assigned Curse or Banes to a few enemies while your tank gathers the pack, giving them a few globals to build threat before you start channeling Hellfire or Rain of Fire.

• Hellfire
  • Stand on top of the pack and channel while you can safely remain in melee range.
• Rain of Fire
  • Use it instead if you cannot get into melee range or it is too dangerous to stand in the pack.

• Incinerate
  • Is your main cast between DoT refreshes and your instant spells. It deals Fire damage and gains 25% additional damage against a target with Immolate, while Bane shortens its cast time. Most of your time against a stationary target goes into casting this spell, so plan movement around the spells you can use without stopping to cast.
• Immolate
  • Deals an initial Fire hit followed by 15 seconds of damage over time. Keeping it active gives Incinerate its 25% damage bonus and lets you use Conflagrate, so losing means losing out on more than just the DoT damage. Bane shortens its cast time, while Aftermath increases the initial hit.
  • Time the next cast so it lands near the end of the existing effect. Refreshing far too early throws away remaining ticks, while waiting until it has been missing for several seconds costs you damage on your other Fire spells.
• Corruption
  • Deals Shadow damage over 18 seconds and remains worth maintaining alongside your Fire spells. Improved Corruption shortens its cast time and can make it instant, but check your actual cast time when planning a refresh or trying to use it while moving. Let the existing DoT finish instead of repeatedly replacing its final ticks.
• Conflagrate
  • Is an instant Fire attack with a 10-second cooldown that requires your Immolate on the target. Shadow and Flame can stop it from consuming Immolate and grants up to 20% increased Shadow damage for 20 seconds. Using Conflagrate on cooldown keeps that bonus active for Corruption, your Bane, and your other Shadow damage.
  • Fire and Brimstone increases its Critical Strike Chance, and Ruin increases the damage of your Destruction spell critical strikes. Aftermath can also make it Daze susceptible enemies, which is useful when slowing an enemy that's trying to reach you.

• Shadowburn
  • Is an instant Shadow attack with a 15-second cooldown. Shadow and Flame makes it grant up to 20% increased Fire damage for 20 seconds, which is why it belongs in an Incinerate rotation. Refresh that buff when it has 3 seconds or less remaining instead of automatically casting Shadowburn whenever its cooldown ends.
  • Shadow and Flame can immediately refund its Soul Shard, but you still need a shard in your bags to cast Shadowburn in the first place. Keep one available even when you're playing without a demon.
• Hellfire
  • Channels Fire damage around you for up to 15 seconds, damaging you as well as nearby enemies each second. It requires you to stand close to the pack, so watch your health and the enemies' position throughout the channel. Don't combine repeated Life Tap casts with Hellfire when you don't have enough health to pay for both.
• Rain of Fire
  • Channels damage into a targeted area for 8 seconds, with damage every 2 seconds. It lets you stay away from the pack, but enemies need to remain inside the area to keep taking damage. Wait until the tank has positioned them before committing to a channel.

For the single target priority above, use your first racial damage cooldown when the first Bane of Doom deals damage, then use it again when ready. If you aren't casting Doom, use it on the pull instead. Coordinate Power Infusion with your Priest around the same timing.

• Bane of Doom and Bane of Agony
  • Bane of Doom deals its damage after 60 seconds and has a 1-minute cooldown. It needs the target to survive until that damage lands, so stop applying it once there isn't enough time left in the fight.
  • Bane of Agony deals damage over 24 seconds, with its later ticks dealing more damage than the early ones. Let it finish before reapplying it so you don't lose those stronger ticks. Its damage updates with your current stats, so you don't need to restart it when a temporary damage buff appears.
• Bane of Havoc
  • Marks one enemy for 5 minutes, causing it to take 15% of the damage you deal to other targets. Choose an enemy that will stay alive while you attack something else, such as a boss you're leaving to kill adds. Only one enemy can be marked at a time.
• Curse of the Elements
  • Reduces magic resistances and increases magic damage taken, helping both your Fire and Shadow spells as well as the other casters in your group. Coordinate Curse assignments when several Warlocks are present so you cover the debuffs the group needs without overwriting your own assigned Curse.
• Curse of Recklessness
  • Reduces an enemy's Armor and prevents it from fleeing, making it useful for supporting physical damage or stopping a runner from pulling another pack. It also prevents Fear and Horror, so replace it with another Curse before trying to use those effects on that enemy.
• Curse of Tongues
  • Slows enemy spellcasting, giving your group more time to interrupt dangerous casts. Use it when assigned or when controlling a caster is more useful than your normal Curse.
• Curse of Weakness
  • Reduces the target's Physical damage. It can help against a hard hitting enemy when you're responsible for that debuff.

• Life Tap
  • Trades health for mana, with Spirit increasing both the health converted and mana restored. Use it before you're completely out of mana when the fight is long enough to spend what you gain, without tapping so low that the next boss ability could kill you.
• Drain Soul
  • Can generate Soul Shards while dealing damage to nontrivial enemies. Use it to replenish your supply when needed, rather than treating it as an execute spell in the Incinerate priority. Prepare shards before a raid so you don't need to spend boss casting time replacing them.
• Demonic Sacrifice
  • Sacrifice a Succubus or Incubus before combat for 15% increased Fire damage for 2 hours. Summoning another demon removes the buff, so bringing out a Felhunter for its utility means giving up that damage bonus.
• Demon Armor
  • Provides Armor, Shadow Resistance, and health regeneration. Keep it active before pulls so you don't need to spend a cast refreshing it during combat.

• Create Healthstone
  • Creates a healing item to prepare before combat, with a 2-minute cooldown when used. Keep it accessible for a dangerous hit or a period of heavy group damage, and give stones to other group members before the pull.
• Shadow Ward
  • Absorbs Shadow damage for up to 30 seconds and has a 30-second cooldown. Use it before incoming Shadow damage; it won't absorb damage from other schools.
• Death Coil
  • Deals instant Shadow damage, heals you for the damage dealt, and causes 3 seconds of Horror against susceptible enemies, with a 2 minute cooldown. In the damage priority, save it for a final instant cast when another Incinerate won't land before the target dies. You can also use it earlier when the healing or Horror will help you survive.
• Fear
  • Controls an enemy by sending it fleeing, though damage can break the effect and its movement can carry it into another pack. Check the space around the enemy before using it in a dungeon.
• Howl of Terror
  • Fears up to five nearby enemies after a cast, with a 40-second cooldown. It can buy time when a pull gets out of control, but the same risks from fleeing enemies and damage breaking Fear apply.
• Banish
  • Removes a Demon or Elemental from the fight, making it unable to act or take damage. Use it to control an extra enemy while the group deals with the rest of a pull, and be ready to reapply it when the effect ends.
• Subjugate Demon
  • Uses a Soul Shard to take control of a suitable enemy Demon, replacing your normal pet while it lasts. Control can break early, so watch the Demon and be ready to deal with it when it becomes hostile.

• Create Soulstone
  • Creates a stone that lets you prepare yourself or an ally to resurrect after death. Coordinate the target before a pull, and keep the effect active on the assigned player.
• Ritual of Summoning
  • Uses a Soul Shard and help from two other group members to summon a group member to your location. You will want to have shards ready before traveling to a dungeon or raid.

The demon abilities below are available when you bring out a pet for utility. Summoning it removes your Demonic Sacrifice buff, so only take that trade when the group needs it, and keep Pet Attack and Pet Follow on accessible keybinds.

• Spell Lock
  • Your Felhunter's interrupt. Keep it on an accessible keybind when you're responsible for stopping a dangerous cast.
• Devour Magic
  • Lets your Felhunter remove a Magic debuff from an ally or a Magic buff from an enemy. Use it on the assigned target when a dispel is needed.
• Seduction
  • Lets your Succubus control a Humanoid. Keep damage off the target so the group can deal with other enemies while it's controlled.
• Health Funnel
  • Channels your own health into healing your demon. Watch your health as well as the pet's, especially after using Life Tap.

Plan movement around Conflagrate, a needed Shadowburn, or Life Tap when you can. Your DoTs keep dealing damage while you move, but refreshing them early or tapping for mana you won't use just to fill a global cooldown can still waste damage or health. Move when the encounter requires it, then settle down somewhere so you can finish your next casts.

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