Demonology Warlock DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. Talent Choices for Demonology Warlock

Level	Choices
15	✗ Dreadlash	? Demonic Strength	✓ Bilescourge Bombers
30	✓ Demonic Calling	? Power Siphon	✓ Doom
45	? Demon Skin	✓ Burning Rush	✓ Dark Pact
60	✗ From the Shadows	✓ Soul Strike	✓ Summon Vilefiend
75	✓ Darkfury	? Mortal Coil	✓ Demonic Circle
90	? Soul Conduit	? Inner Demons	✓ Grimoire: Felguard
100	? Sacrificed Souls	? Demonic Consumption	✓ Nether Portal

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Single Target

1. Level 15: Bilescourge Bombers
2. Level 30: Doom
3. Level 45: Player's Preference
4. Level 60: Summon Vilefiend
5. Level 75: Demonic Circle
6. Level 90: Grimoire: Felguard
7. Level 100:: Nether Portal

3. Cleave

1. Level 15: Bilescourge Bombers
2. Level 30: Doom if it can tick, otherwise Demonic Calling
3. Level 45: Player's Preference
4. Level 60: Soul Strike
5. Level 75: Demonic Circle
6. Level 90: Grimoire: Felguard
7. Level 100:: Sacrificed Souls

4. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Demonology Warlock

✘ Dreadlash

? Demonic Strength

✔ Bilescourge Bombers

• Dreadlash causes your Call Dreadstalkers Dreadbite to hit all targets with 8 yards, and deal 25% more damage.
• Demonic Strength infuses your Felguard with demonic strength, commanding it to attack the current target and Felstorm for 400% increased damage, on a 60-second cooldown.
• Bilescourge Bombers opens a portal which will bombard a location over 6 seconds, dealing Shadow damage to targets within 8 yards. It has a 30-second cooldown.

Bilescourge Bombers is the default choice for single target and cleave, assuming the targets stay stacked on the main one.

Dreadlash is a viable alternative when you are dealing sustained damage to 2+ targets, it is however the weakest option in this row.

Demonic Strength can be a good option for dealing bursts of AoE every minute or in conjunction with Demonic Consumption.

5. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Demonology Warlock

✔ Demonic Calling

? Power Siphon

✔ Doom

• Demonic Calling causes Shadow Bolt and Demonbolt to have a 20% chance to make your next Call Dreadstalkers cost 1 less Soul Shard and have no cast time.
• Power Siphon instantly sacrifices (up to) 2 Wild Imps to generate 2 charges of Demonic Core.
• Doom grants access to a DoT, dealing a large amount of damage after 30 seconds have elapsed. If Doom kills the target, there is a 5% chance to summon a Doomguard to fight for you for 25 seconds. It generates a Soul Shard when damage is dealt.

Demonic Calling is a good option, slightly worse than Doom at providing a steady and reliable damage increase in any situation.

Power Siphon allows for a lot of on-demand resource generation, Wild Imp creation, and burst. This talent is a great option for high movement fights, or when you need to serve up a little more burst damage (Vectis Mythic).

Doom is the best choice for single target and sustained AoE damage, assuming targets will live at least 30 seconds. It is Demonology's only tool to deal with distant targets, so if the situation calls for it, consider talenting Doom.

6. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Demonology Warlock

? Demon Skin

✔ Burning Rush

✔ Dark Pact

• Demon Skin grants Soul Leech a passive recharge rate of 0.5% of maximum health per second, and may now absorb 15% of maximum health.
• Burning Rush grants 50% movement speed in exchange for 4% maximum health per second, and prevents you from being reduced below base movement speed.
• Dark Pact grants a large shield on demand; 20% of your current health is sacrificed to shield you for 250% of the amount lost.

Burning Rush remains the most versatile option, as Warlocks have little base mobility. Burning Rush functions both as a means to stay in range and position aggressively, but also as a means of dodging mechanics. It is my opinion that movement speed offers the greatest defensive benefit in most situations, and you should default to this talent.

Dark Pact is a good option for encounters where you need to soak a mechanic or survive a telegraphed amount of high damage. It is important to note that the damage absorb is based on current health, rendering this ability useless as a reactive cooldown. For Dark Pact to be effective, it needs to be used while you are close to full health to mitigate a future amount of damage.

Demon Skin is a good choice for encounters with low movement and consistent damage intake, such as Mythrax or Vectis.

7. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Demonology Warlock

✘ From the Shadows

✔ Soul Strike

✔ Summon Vilefiend

• From the Shadows causes Call Dreadstalkers casts to cause the target to take 20% additional Shadowflame damage from you for 12 seconds.
• Soul Strike commands your Felguard to deal Shadow damage and generate 1 Soul Shard.
• Summon Vilefiend summons a demon to fight for you for 15 seconds, on a 45 second cooldown.

Summon Vilefiend is the default choice for single-target and 2-target situations, as it provides an additional demon that does significant damage and lines up naturally with Summon Demonic Tyrant.

Soul Strike is the best choice for situations with at least 3 targets, as the extra resources translate into a lot more damage. It also offers an extra degree of mobility.

From the Shadows is currently not a competitive option, and despite popular opinion, the debuff is not tied to Dreadstalkers' Shadow Bite, thus making it a single target option.

8. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Demonology Warlock

✔ Darkfury

? Mortal Coil

✔ Demonic Circle

• Darkfury reduces the cooldown of Shadowfury by 15 seconds.
• Mortal Coil allows you to horrify an enemy and heal for 20% of your maximum health once every 45 seconds.
• Demonic Circle allows you to place a portal and teleport to it once every 30 seconds.

Demonic Circle remains the default option for raids, as it greatly enhances our mobility, particularly for mechanics that need to be kited away from the raid group. This button offers a lot of flexibility and creative use, so be sure to give it good thought before each pull.

Mortal Coil is a strong choice whenever you do not need the mobility given by Demonic Circle. It offers a noticeable heal on top of an additional form of Crowd Control, which can prevent a wipe, especially in mythic dungeons.

Darkfury is the standard option for dungeons and Mythic+, allowing you to Crowd Control groups of enemies far more often.

9. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Demonology Warlock

? Soul Conduit

? Inner Demons

✔ Grimoire: Felguard

• Soul Conduit grants each Soul Shard spent a 15% chance to refund itself.
• Inner Demons passively summons a Wild Imp for you every 10 seconds, and additionally has a 10% chance to summon an additional Demon to fight for you for 15 seconds.
• Grimoire: Felguard summons a Felguard who attacks the target for 15 seconds and deals 50% increased damage, on a 2-minute cooldown.

Inner Demons provides some extra Imps with the chance at extra demons, which is a consistent damage increase in any scenario.

Soul Conduit is a jack of all trades talent, slightly behind Grimoire: Felguard.

Grimoire: Felguard deals a lot of burst damage, and is a particularly powerful cooldown for both single target and cleave. Grimoire Felguard is the best option in any situation, allowing for considerable burst damage.

10. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Demonology Warlock

? Sacrificed Souls

? Demonic Consumption

✔ Nether Portal

• Sacrificed Souls grant Shadow Bolt and Demonbolt 5% additional damage per demon you have currently summoned.
• Demonic Consumption causes your Demonic Tyrant to destroy and absorb the remaining power of all your Wild Imps to empower himself.
• Nether Portal opens a rift for 15 seconds that summons additional demons each time you spend a Soul Shard.

Sacrificed Souls is the best option for multitargets situations right now. It is a versatile choice behind Nether Portal in single target.

Nether Portal summons a variety of powerful demons that provide high amounts of damage for their Soul Shard efficiency. This talent is the best choice for single target fights, beating Sacrificed Souls in damage output.

Demonic Consumption gives Demonology a stronger cooldown for burst phases and is recommended on fights such as Fetid Devourer. In Patch 8.1, it has been buffed and is now a viable choice if the situation calls for it.

11. PvP Talents (War Mode)

Under our Talents section, there is the option to enter "War Mode". Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world;
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level;
• 10% more experience gained while leveling;
• Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended you enable the feature. In most situations, this will allow for the maximum returns despite the risks. You will make yourself available for open world PvP, and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

11.1. Demonology Warlock War Mode Talents

In this section we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Demonology Warlock-specific PvE talents.

11.1.1. General PvP Talents

• Relentless is a passive ability but it does not automatically remove crowd control abilities, but instead reduces the duration.
• Gladiator's Medallion is an on-use ability that removes all movement impairing effects and all loss of control effects.
• Adaptation automatically removes any loss of control effects that last 5+ seconds, a maximum of once per minute.

Adaptation is recommended for most players, as it is automatic and on a relatively short cooldown. This makes it the overall best choice with PvE in mind.

11.1.2. Demonology Warlock PvP Talents

1. Call Felhunter allows you to interrupt once every 24 seconds. This talent has exceptional and flexible use and feels really good in all situations.
2. Call Fel Lord guards a location for 15 seconds; any enemies that come within range take up to 5% of maximum Health as damage. This can be used very strategically in certain situations and is capable of dealing some nice burst damage.
3. Curse of Fragility reduces the target's maximum health by up to 15%.
4. Call Observer guards a location for 20 seconds; any enemies that cast spells in the radius will take up to 5% of maximum Health as damage. This has a lot more limited use, but can have absurd value in specific situations.
5. Master Summoner makes Call Dreadstalkers an instant cast. Since we are often using Demonic Calling, the quality of life of this talent is diminished. It can be used if you prefer the consistency, but there are generally better choices.

The curses can have exceptional use in very specific situations, but do not make for exceptional default picks. Curse of Fragility is the most used and generally most powerful of the three, and has a wide variety of niche applications.

12. Changelog