Demonology Warlock Leveling Guide from 1 to 80 — The War Within (11.2.5)

Demonology Warlock relies on Felguard to do the heavy lifting during leveling, being equally durable and powerful on its own. While it does not have many ways of tagging mobs, primarily using pets or Demonic Core Demonbolts, its strength lies in very high aoe burst potential and a low threat generating player spells in comparison to other specialisations.

Curses, crowd controls, and pet off-tanking can substantially reduce the amount of incoming damage, promoting aggressive play, while all the personal defensive cooldowns offer a degree of safety even when overpulling.

For bigger enemies, such as Elites or Rares, Demonology's damage profile is centered around several separate demons and guardians that allow us to use all cooldowns with the safety of a Felguard able to maintain aggro, although some Health Funnel may be required for the harder hitting enemies.

When leveling up, you should always choose the piece of loot with the highest item level. If the item levels are equal, you should choose the piece with stats that are most favorable to your specialization. If your current item is an Heirloom, it should not be replaced.

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Below, you can see the suggested levelling talent build and the order in which to pick the talents while levelling.

Starting at Level 1, you only have one main attack ability: Shadow Bolt.

1. Level 2 — Cast Corruption to tag and soften up multiple enemies whenever spamming a few shadowbolts will not kill them quicker.
2. Level 45 — Cast Summon Demonic Tyrant with at least Call Dreadstalkers and 2 sets of Wild Imps to get the most out of its extension.
3. Level 55 — Cast Summon Vilefiend on cooldown, making sure to extend every other cast with Tyrant.
4. Level 31 — Use Power Siphon on cooldown when having at least 2 Wild Imps.
5. Level 27 — Use Demonic Strength on cooldown.
6. Level 13 — cast Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown, regardless of the number of targets.
7. Level 1 — Hand of Gul'dan is the first shard spender, and the only one without cooldown. Cast it whenever you have no other spenders and you have 5 shards.
8. Level 11 — Demonbolt is unlocked, use it whenever a Demonic Core proc happens.
9. Level 21 — Implosion should be used whenever there are 3 or more targets stacked.

1. Call Fel Lord can be useful mostly when engaging with other players in PvP, as it offers a moment of respite from melee that is focusing you.
2. Call Felhunter offers an interrupt every 24 seconds, provided your active pet is not the Felhunter.
3. Call Observer summons a demon that will zap any enemy casting harmful spells within 20 yards for 5% of their maximum health.
4. Master Summoner is passable at best, considering we take Demonic Calling.
5. Gateway Mastery should always be considered to expedite your whereabouts in a closed space where mounts are not usable.
6. Bonds of Fel can offer further AoE burst when kiting targets around.

Summon Imp is your first available demon. This pet is not particularly useful for leveling, but you have no choice for the early levels.

If you are leveling alone, Summon Voidwalker can be a helpful choice while leveling up, as it takes a lot of the pressure off you. Avoiding casting pushback can also increase leveling speed.

Summon Felguard is the default choice for the vast majority of content, leveling included, as demonology, due to a combination of hard Crowd Control, Damage, Cleave, and tanking potential.

Summon Felhunter can be a good choice if you are leveling in a group or venturing into dungeons. The extra interrupt is helpful for dealing with troublesome caster mobs.