Demonology Warlock DPS Spell Summary (Legion 7.3)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• ×Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Basic Abilities
    • 3.1. Spell Casts
    • 3.2. Your Personal Demon Horde
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Single Target
      • 2.1.2. 2 Targets/Light Cleave
      • 2.1.3. Heavy Cleave/AoE
    • 2.2. For General Use
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. The Importance of AddOns
    • 2.2. Soul Shards
    • 2.3. Demonic Empowerment
      • 2.3.1. Empowerment Overlap
    • 2.4. An In-Depth Look at AoE
    • 2.5. Demon Choice
    • 2.6. Darkglare and Hand of Doom
    • 2.7. Tier 1 Talents
      • 2.7.1. Shadowflame Usage
    • 2.8. Tier 2 Talents
    • 2.9. Implosion Usage
    • 2.10. Defensive Utility
    • 2.11. Doomguard and Infernal
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Cooldown Management
    • 3.2. Spooky Skull: Thal'kiel's Consumption
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Stat Weights
  • 3. Statistics Explanations
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. Generic Addons for Warlocks
    • 1.2. ElvUI
    • 1.3. Weak Auras
    • 1.4. Boss Mods
      • 1.4.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.4.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.5. Name Plates
      • 1.5.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.5.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.6. Damage Meters
      • 1.6.1. Skada
      • 1.6.2. Details
    • 1.7. Extra AddOns
      • 1.7.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.7.2. DeathNote
      • 1.7.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.7.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Warlock Macros
      • 2.1.1. Pet Macros
      • 2.1.2. Soulstone Mouseover
      • 2.1.3. Demonic Circle
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Best in Slot List
  • 3. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 4. Legendaries
    • 4.1. Top Tier
    • 4.2. Mid Tier
    • 4.3. Bottom Tier
    • 4.4. Descriptions
  • 5. Loot Competition
  • 6. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list the spells that you will often use as a Demonology Warlock.

The other pages of our Demonology Warlock guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Not, one of the best Demonology Warlocks and a respected theorycrafter. He raids in Strawberry Puppy Kisses. You can watch him on Twitch or YouTube and you can follow him on Twitter. He is also the owner and editor of Lock One Stop Shop, a website dedicated to Warlocks.

1. Spell Summary

If you are new to Demonology, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2. Main Resources

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 another primary resource of Demonology Warlocks. Most of your spells cost Mana, which can be periodically restored through Life Tap. Mana is not very essential to your rotation, so long as you have enough to continue to cast spells.

3. Basic Abilities

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

3.1. Spell Casts

Shadow Bolt is your Soul Shard generator and filler spell. It has a slow travel time and no cooldown.

Demonic Empowerment increases the damage, health, and haste of your active demons for 12 seconds. You should cast this every time you Call Dreadstalkers and cast Hand of Gul'dan.

Doom is a damage over time effect that lasts 20 seconds, and only ticks once (at the end). It generates 1 Soul Shard when it deals damage. You should always keep Doom applied if it will deal damage before the target dies.

Demonwrath is a channelled spell that causes your demons to deal AoE damage to any targets within 10 yards of them. It is castable while moving and has a 15% chance to generate a Soul Shard when dealing damage. You should only cast this while moving, or to quickly generate shards on mass AoE.

Life Tap restores 30% of your maximum Mana in exchange for 10% of your maximum health. Cast this to restore Mana.

3.2. Your Personal Demon Horde

Call Dreadstalkers is one of your main sources of damage. It costs 2 Soul Shards to cast, and has a 15-second cooldown. You should Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown for maximum damage. You should always follow this cast with Demonic Empowerment.

Hand of Gul'dan is your main Soul Shard dump. It uses 1-4 Soul Shards, consuming as many as are available. It also summons 1 Wild Imp per Soul Shard consumed. You should only cast this when you have 4+ Soul Shards and Call Dreadstalkers is not available. You should always follow this cast with Demonic Empowerment unless Call Dreadstalkers is about to come off of cooldown.

Summon Doomguard is your main DPS cooldown. It costs 1 Soul Shard to summon and lasts 25 seconds. Remember to use Demonic Empowerment to keep it buffed at all times. If you are talented into Grimoire of Supremacy, your Doomguard will instead become your permanent pet.

Summon Felguard should always be your permanent pet. It does high damage, cleaves, and can put out strong burst AoE with Felstorm.

Command Demon orders your permanent demon to use its unique ability. For Felguard, this is Felstorm. This should be used on cooldown when the Felguard is active.

4. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.