Demonology Warlock DPS Spell List and Glossary — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0.1)

If you are new to the Demonology Specialization, this is a great place to start reading and begin breaking down the key spells that hold together this specialization. On this page, we will discuss what abilities your specialization uses, how they influence gameplay and resource generation, and the ways they interact with each other and your cooldowns. If you have some experience with Demonology already, it is recommended you skip over this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

In order to utilize abilities more efficiently, check out the Macros section on the Add-on page.

Soul Shards are the main resource of Demonology Warlocks. Soul Shards are generated by your filler spells, and they can be spent on summoning powerful demons. You can have a maximum of 5 Soul Shards.

Mana is a secondary resource for Demonology Warlocks. Your main spells do not cost very much Mana to cast and will never threaten your Mana pool. Utility spells, such as Demonic Gateway, and Crowd Control abilities, such as Fear, cost relatively more Mana than ever before, so be wary about using them too liberally.

This page lists all the different abilities available after reaching the max level. If you are still in the process of leveling, check out the Warlock Leveling page, which offers detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

These abilities are available no matter what talents you choose. They form the bread and butter of this specialization.

For more information on how to use these abilities together in your rotation, please read our rotation page.

Shadow Bolt is your main filler spell. It generates 1 Soul Shard, has a slow travel time, and no cooldown.

Corruption is a medium-strength DoT. As Demonology Warlock, this is a dps neutral ability that is often ignored as it does not generate soul shards, its damage contribution is marginal.

Hand of Gul'dan costs 1-3 Soul Shards and summons Wild Imps, with the number summoned corresponding directly to Soul Shards spent.

Demonic Core is your main proc, and it has a 10% chance (per Imp) to trigger when your Wild Imps expire or implode. Demonic Core makes the next Demonbolt cast instant, and has a maximum of 4 stacks.

While leveling, Warlocks will learn to summon different demons, each one offering a unique set of abilities and, therefore, better suited for specific situations.

Demonology Warlocks have access to a unique demon, Summon Felguard which should be considered the default choice as it offers an interrupt that doubles down as a stun, serious damage, cleave, mobility, and durability. Worth noting multiple Spec Talents can enhance the pet, making it an even more compelling choice.

Summon Imp is the first demon available, offering ranged attacks and a defensive dispel. It is better suited for scenarios where having an additional defensive dispel that does not come from a player is valuable and when there are frequent target swaps and a melee demon without a charge would waste precious seconds.

Summon Voidwalker is the second demon and the first melee. Sporting high armor, Taunt, and AoE is the better option to tank damage or deal AoE.

Summon Sayaad offers the unique debuff that increases the damage taken from the demon by up to 10% and slows the target by 50% while also offering Seduction as an additional form of crowd control. It is best suited for PvP and for pure single-target damage.

Summon Felhunter is the only baseline pet with an interrupt and an offensive purge, making it desirable in those situations.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Unending Resolve	UR	A baseline defensive cooldown, combining damage reduction along with interrupt and silence immunity.
Fear	-	An iconic Warlock ability that allows you to disorient a target for the duration, or until they suffer enough damage to snap out of it. It has no cooldown but is limited to 1 target at any time and has a relatively high mana cost.
Curse of Weakness	CoW	Slows the target's attack speed; it is mostly useful against enemies (or classes) that hit hard with their auto attacks.
Healthstone	HS	These are unique consumables created by Warlocks that restore 25% of a target's total health with 3 charges, made using Create Healthstone or later Create Soulwell.
Drain Life	DL	Channeled spell that transfers health from the target to the player; it is, first and foremost, a defensive tool to recover health points at the expense of lower damage output.
Eye of Kilrogg	-	Summon a separate entity which the player controls instead of themselves, allowing you to remotely scout locations without putting yourself in danger.
Unending Breath	UB	Enables underwater breathing and, most importantly, increases swim speed.
Subjugate Demon	-	Take control of any non-boss Demon and use it as your main pet for its duration.
Soul Leech	-	Passive that grants an absorption shield for 8% of all single target damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of maximum player health.
Soulstone	SS	Powerful utility that can be used both preemptively and reactively to resurrect a player in combat.
Command Demon	-	Condense, in a single keybind, your demon's most relevant active abilities: Imp: Singe Magic; Voidwalker: Shadow Bulwark; Sayaad: Seduction; Felhunter: Devour Magic.
Ritual of Doom	-	Allows you to summon a Doomguard with the aid of 4 more players.
Ritual of Summoning	-	Allows you to create a summoning stone and summon party/raid members.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Fel Domination	FelDom	Reduces the next Demon summon cast time by 6 seconds and removes the Shard cost.
Demonic Circle	TP	Allows to place a rune for 15 minutes and to teleport to that location while removing movement slowing effects.
Burning Rush	BR	Toggle ability that provides movement speed bonus and a minimum speed of 100% at the expense of Warlock health as long as it is active.
Curse of Exhaustion	CoEx	Reduces target movement speed.
Curse of Tongues	CoT	Reduces target cast speed.
Howl of Terror	HoT	A disorient ability that can affect up to 5 targets within 10 yards of the Warlock. It works similarly to Fear but can hit multiple targets and is instant cast, making it valuable in PvP.
Mortal Coil	Coil	Horrify effect that incapacitates a target for 3 seconds but, above all, heals the Warlock for 20% of their total health. Extremely valuable both in PvP and PvE.
Banish	-	Allows for phasing a Demon or Aberration out, preventing any actions and making them immune.
Demonic Gateway	Gate, Gateway	Creates two points which players can travel between by interacting. Players may only use the gateway once every 90 seconds.
Dark Pact	DP	Sacrifices a portion of the caster's current health to provide a much greater shield. It can be used while crowd-controlled. Its low cooldown and strength of the shield is one of the main reasons warlocks are considered very durable and survivable.
Shadowfury	SF	The only AoE stun Warlocks have access to. Valuable in dungeons and PvP alike.
Soulburn	Sburn	Consumes a shard to enhance the next selected spell. The Drain Life and Healthstone is the strongest defensive option while being the one with the highest usability across all the various situations. The other choices can be equally powerful but are answers to particular scenarios.
Blight of Weakness	BoW	A stronger AoE Curse of Weakness with a much shorter duration and a cooldown.
Blight of Tongues	BoT	A stronger AoE Curse of Tongues with a much shorter duration and a cooldown.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Fel Pact	-	Reduces the cooldown of Fel Domination, increasing the frequency of use.
Demon Skin	-	Empowers the Soul Leech class trait offering passive generation while in combat and a maximum total shield possible.
Fel Armor	-	Empowers Soul Leech by staggering a portion of the damage received and offering passive damage reduction.
Fiendish Stride	-	Reduces the health cost of Burning Rush while also increasing the bonus movement speed.
Demonic Embrace	-	increases stamina.
Nightmare	-	Increase the amount of damage the targets will suffer before breaking from a Feared effect.
Horrify		Fear causes targets to tremble in place instead of fleeing.
Demonic Fortitude	-	Increases the Warlock and their pet's maximum health.
Infernal Beneficiary	IB	Healing done with Drain Life also affects primary demon at a larger rate.
Pact of the Annihilan	PoA	Increases Critical Strike chance.
Pact of the Satyr	PotS	Increases Haste.
Improved Mortal Coil	-	Increases cast range and healing done by Mortal Coil.
Foul Mouth	FM	Allows curses to affect all enemies within 10 yards of the target.
Empowered Healthstone	EHS	Increase the healing done by Healthstone
Abyss Walker	-	Offers a very moderate damage reduction after using either Demonic Gateway or Demonic Circle.
Fortified Soul	FS	Increase Soul Leech shield.
Teachings of the Black Harvest	-	Enhance pet's utility ability with a corresponding minor bonus effect.
Gorefiend's Avarice	GA	Fasten both channeling and healing done by Drain Life.
Ichor of Devils	-	Reduces the amount of health sacrificed for the same shield value.
Frequent Donor	-	Reduces Dark Pact cooldown.
Pact of the Eredar	-	Increases Intellect
Pact of the Nathrezim	-	Increases Leech
Demonic Resilience	-	Reduces the chance the Warlock will be critically hit and also reduces the damage their pet takes.
Empowered Drain Life	EDL	Increases the amount of heal granted by Drain Life and allows the spell to contribute towards Soul Leech shield.
Strength of Will	-	Increases the damage reduction component of Unending Resolve
Dark Accord	-	Reduces the cooldown of Unending Resolve.
Swift Artifice	-	Cast time reduction on Soulstone and Create Healthstone.
Soul Link	sl, link	Transfer a percentage of the damage taken by the Warlock to their pet instead. When using Grimoire of Sacrifice, it provides extra stamina.
Frequent Traveler	FT	Reduces the cast time and allows a second use of Demonic Gateway before incurring in its cooldown.
Fel Synergy	-	Provides constant background healing for the Warlock and their pet.
Oppressive Darkness	OD	Reduces cooldown and increases radius of Shadowfury, Reduces cooldown and increase target count to 10 for Howl of Terror.
Pact of Gluttony	PoG	Warlock Healthstones can be used by the caster every minute, without being limited to one per combat.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Demoniac	DB	Grant access to both Demonbolt and Demonic Core. The first is an active ability that generates 2 Soul Shards with a long cast time. Instant-cast when used to consume a stack of Demonic Core.
Call Dreadstalkers	CDs, doggos	One of your main sources of damage, with a 2 Soul Shard cost and 20-second cooldown. After Dreadstalkers expire, they have a chance to grant Demonic Core.
Implosion	-	Sacrifices 6 active Wild Imps, flinging them towards a target and dealing AoE damage to all targets within 8 yards.
Power Siphon	PS	Sacrifices 2 Wild Imps to grant 2 Demonic Cores and 30% additional damage on the 2 Demonbolts.
Summon Demonic Tyrant	tyrant	Single target cooldown that deals damage based on the numbers of Dreadstalkers and Wild Imps active. Damage is dynamically calculated each cast.
Grimoire: Imp Lord	GIL	Summons a temporary Imp Lord, which will attempt to use Singe Magic on Summon and deal damage for a duration. While the spell is on cooldown players get access to Singe Magic.
Grimoire: Fel Ravager	GFR	Summons a temporary Fel Ravager, which will attempt to use Spell Lock on Summon and deal damage for a duration. While the spell is on cooldown players get access to Spell Lock.
Summon Doomguard	DG	Summon a temporary Doomguard that will cast Doom Bolt Volley at up to 5 targets. Primary target takes increase damage.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Dominant Hand	-	Increase Hand of Gul'dan damage on the primary target.
Fel Intellect	-	Increase Intellect.
Practiced Rituals	-	Increase Mastery.
Dreadlash	Dl	Turns Call Dreadstalkers Dreadbite into an AoE ability while also increasing the damage.
Infernal Rapidity	IR	Wild Imps Fel Firebolt have a chance to cast another at a higher effectiveness.
Imp-erator	Ie	Increases the Critical Strike chance of Wild Imps Fel Firebolt.
Rune of Shadows	RoS	Reduces Shadow Bolt cast time while increasing its damage.
Carnivorous Stalkers	CaS	Gives Call Dreadstalkers melee a chance to cast additional Dread Bites.
Fel Armaments	FA	Reduce Felguard Felstorm cooldown and damage taken.
Imp Gang Boss	IGB	Gives each Wild Imp summoned a chance to become an Imp Gang Boss which deals more damage, even when imploded.
Demonic Brutality	DBr	Passive critical strike damage increase.
Inner Demons	ID	Spawns a Wild Imp every 12 seconds with a chance for an additional random demon spawn while in combat.
Blighted Maw	BM	Cause Dreadbite to deal additional damage.
Improved Demonic Tactics	IDT	Primary Felguard receives a portion of the Warlock Critical Strike chance as a bonus.
Empowered Felstorm	-	Increases duration and damage of Felstorm.
Spiteful Reconstitution	SR	Increases Demonbolt damage and consuming a Demonic Core has a chance to summon a Wild Imp.
Tyrant's Oblation	TO	Tyrants grants Haste while active.
Antoran Armaments	AnA	Turn Tyrant in a melee cleaving cooldown.
Flametouched	Ft	Increases both attack speed and critical strike chance of Call Dreadstalkers.
Demonic Knowledge	DK	Hand of Gul'dan has a chance to generate a Demonic Core charge.
Sacrificed Souls	SaS, sacsouls	Increases Demonbolt and Shadow Bolt damage for each active demon.
Reign of Tyranny	RoT	Summon Demonic Tyrant last longer and now extend Call Dreadstalkers duration.
Master Summoner	MS	Increases Mastery by a flat amount of points and reduces the cast time for Summon Felguard and Summon Demonic Tyrant.
Demonic Calling	DC	Reduces Call Dreadstalkers cast time and shard cost.
Doom	-	Demonic Core Demonbolts apply a debuff that deals high damage in an area if the target dies or the debuff expires. Debuff duration is reduced for every Soul Shard spent.
Hellbent Commander	HbC	Demons deal more damage for each active demon.
Summon Vilefiend	VF	Adds a Vilefiend when casting Summon Dreadstalkers.
To Hell and Back	-	Implosion and Power Siphon resummon a part of Imps sacrificed. Those Imps deal increase damage and cleave up to 5 targets.
Stabilized Portals	SP	Increase the duration on Grimoires and Vilefiend summons.
Mark of Shatug	MoS, gloom	Summon Vilefiend becomes a Gloomhound that applies a shadow damage over time effect with its melee attacks.
Mark of F'harg	MoF, char	Summon Vilefiend becomes a Charhound, dealing constant Fire damage around for its duration.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Diabolic Ritual	-	Spending Shards grants a buff which duration is reduced for every shard spent afterwards. Once expired the next Hand of Gul'dan will summon a Overlord, a Mother of Chaos and a Pit Lord in this sequence.
Cloven Souls	-	Enemies attacked by Overlord will receive increased damage for a period.
Touch of Rancora	ToR	Increase the damage and reduce the cast time of the Hand of Gul'dan that summon one of the demons.
Secrets of the Coven	-	Mother of Chaos empowers your next Shadow Bolt to Infernal Bolt.
Diabolic Oculi	-	Reducing Diabolic Ritual summons a Diabolic Oculi up to 3. When summoning one of the demons Diabolic Oculi will detonate for AoE damage.
Soul-Etched Circles	-	Demonic Circle: Teleport always have the Soulburn effect.
Annihilan's Bellow	-	Reduces cooldown on Howl of Terror.
Cruelty of Kerxan	-	Summon Demonic Tyrant grants Diabolic Ritual at a reduced duration.
Infernal Machine	IM	Spending shards during Tyrant reduce Diabolic Ritual buff by 1 additional second.
Infernal Vitality	-	Unending Resolve also heals you.
Infernal Bulwark	-	Unending Resolve grants a bigger Soul Leech maximum shield.
Looks That Kill	-	Diabolic Oculi will continuously damage the primary target.
Flames of Xoroth	-	Fire and Demons damage increased.
Abyssal Dominion	-	Summon Demonic Tyrant deals more damage and empower other demons.
Gloom of Nathreza	-	Hand of Gul'dan deals more damage for each shard spent.
Mind's Eye	-	Grant a stacking Intelligence buff for a period when Diabolic Oculi explode.
Ruination	-	Summoning a Pit Lord cause the next Hand of Gul'dan to become Ruination instead.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Demonic Soul	-	Enables the generation of Succulent Soul which will invoke a Demonic Entity for some damage when used.
Necrolyte Teachings		Increases the damage of Shadow Bolt and Demonbolt.
Soul Anathema	-	Demonic Soul triggers an additional damage over time effect.
Demoniac's Fervor	-	Demonic Soul deals more damage on the main target of by Hand of Gul'dan.
Manifested Avarice	-	Each Demonic Soul has an increased chance to trigger another damage effect.
Gorebound Fortitude	-	Healthstone always have the Soulburn effect.
Friends In Dark Places	-	Increase Dark Pact shield.
Shared Fate	sf	Killing an enemy trigger an AoE pulse effect that last few seconds.
Feast of Souls	FoS	Killing an enemy guarantees the next Shard to be a Succulent Shard.
Eternal Servitude	-	Reduces the cooldown on Fel Domination.
Gorefiend's Resolve	-	Soulstone resurrect targets with more Health and Mana.
Shared Vessel	-	Increase Mastery, doubled when a Demonic Entity is active.
Wicked Reaping	-	Increase Demonic Soul damage. Consuming Demonic Core triggers another damage event.
Quietus	-	Increase Soul Anathema damage and consuming Demonic Core will trigger Shared Fate or Feast of Souls.
Sataiel's Volition	-	Wild Imps deal more damage, and Wild Imps imploded will have a higher chance to generate a Demonic Core.
Eternal Hunger	-	Increase the duration and damage of Manifested Avarice
Shadow of Death	-	Summon Demonic Tyrant grants 3 Succulent Soul shards.