Demonology Warlock DPS Guide — Dragonflight 10.0.7

Last updated on Mar 24, 2023 at 11:26 by Motoko 39 comments
General Information

Welcome to our Demonology Warlock guide for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.7. Here, you will learn how to play as a Demonology Warlock in both raids and Mythic+ dungeons: from the very beginning to maximizing your DPS.

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Demonology Warlock guide.

1.

Demonology Warlock Overview

Demonology Warlock is a versatile specialization centered around summoning waves of expendable minions to do your bidding while you generate resources in between. While the specialization does have some ramp up time, it does feel smooth and fast once it is running at full steam. Demonology Warlocks are especially strong on encounters that have stable mobility, rather than helter-skelter movement.

Like all Warlock specializations, Demonology brings Demonic Gateway Icon Demonic Gateway, a powerful raid cooldown that can transport your entire group 40 yards instantly.

2.

Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
  • +Strong single target cooldowns
  • +Efficient cleave damage
  • +High mobility
  • +Very high AoE burst with enough resources
X Weaknesses
  • -Not the best single target output, especially compared to other Warlock specialisations
  • -Requires time to gain a steady flow of resources
  • -Non-existent spread cleave
  • -Being dependent to pets and guardians their AI can sometimes be problematic
2.1.

Patch 10.0.7 Changes for Demonology Warlock

Demonology Warlock received a minor spec tree update with several changes:

In addition Wild Imp Fel Firebolt Icon Fel Firebolt received a 20% damage increase.

Class tree also received an update aimed at introducing some output nodes, with a resulting shuffle of talent positions.

Last but not least both Summon Soulkeeper Icon Summon Soulkeeper and Inquisitor's Gaze Icon Inquisitor's Gaze received a much needed buff.

For a full list of all Warlock changes in Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7, see our Patch 10.0.0 Warlock Changes page.

3.

Leveling a Demonology Warlock

We have a dedicated leveling guide to help you get your Demonology Warlock to max level, complete with many tips and suggestions.

While playing with the default UI for the leveling is entirely possible, transitioning to a max level rotation with a substantially different UI layout can feel overwhelming and ultimately disorient or frustrate the player. We recommend instead to implement Layout changes gradually in order to allow yourself to acclimate to a more effective and personal UI. The Addon page below offers some recommended options.

4.

Basics of Demonology Warlock Gameplay

Demonology Warlock is a spec designed around continuously summoning temporary demons to do your bidding with relatively short cooldowns, some of them requiring a precise setup, and a good amount of pet management. At its core the gameplay is about generating and spending the Warlock's iconic resource: Soul Shards.

Demonology is the spec that embodies the rule of Always-Be-Casting the most, but is also straightforward and intuitive. Keep generating Soul Shards through Shadow Bolt Icon Shadow Bolt and Demonbolt Icon Demonbolt and spend those resources on Call Dreadstalkers Icon Call Dreadstalkers and Hand of Gul'dan Icon Hand of Gul'dan.

If you are a newcomer to the spec, but would like to learn the basics start browsing the Spell Summary and head over the page linked below.

For those more familiar with Warlocks we invite you to check out the Talents and Rotation pages to have access to more detailed and in depth information.

5.

How to Gear Up as Demonology Warlock

Due the increased number of variables and additional systems, picking gear has become a much less intuitive and immediate process. Nevertheless you can find guidelines in how to best equip your Demonology Warlock in our dedicated gearing page, including the current Best in Slot equipment for the current tier.

Equipping gear is not enough, as you also need to choose the right consumables and gear augments to maximize your character potential. Below is listed a page that can guide you through those choices as well as a page to better understand the implications each stats has on your Warlock.

6.

End-Game as a Demonology Warlock

Being geared and well-equipped is only half of the journey, as the end game activities require each a different approach to the spec. In order to find out more information regarding how to better tackle these challenges check out the pages below.

7.

Improving as a Demonology Warlock

Understanding your errors and refining your performance is a constant exercise, which can be frustrating or confounding at times. Below are listed some pages that offer tools and can point and help correcting those mistakes.

8.

Demonology Warlock Viability in the Current Patch

Demonology Warlock in patch 10.0.7 offers a sense of familiarity with mostly unchanged talents (in regards to how relevant they are at least) with few buffs aimed at bringing up the power of the spec.

While Demonology has been great for progressing through Vault of the Incarnates due to very favourable timings in general, the reality is that the spec outside that specific content has been trailing behind the other 2 Warlock options, in both single target and multitarget output.

At the time of writing Demonology single target is substantially behind the likes of Affliction Warlock and especially Destruction Warlock and the only silver lining is the greater burst capabilities offered by a spec centered around cooldowns.

9.

Changelog

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