Demonology Warlock DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within (11.1.7)

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 Addon 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 and 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.
Health Funnel	-	This initially sacrifices player health to heal their current pet over time; it is generally used to extend the survivability of the minion while under pressure.
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 Soul Shard cost.
Demonic Circle	TP	Allows you to place a rune for 15 minutes and to teleport to that location while removing movement-slowing effects.
Burning Rush	BR	Toggled ability that provides a movement speed bonus and a minimum speed of 100% at the expense of your health as long as it is active.
Curses of Enfeeblement	CoT/CoEx	grant access to both Curse of Tongues and Curse of Exhaustion.
Howl of Terror	HoT	A disorient ability that can affect up to 5 targets within 10 yards of you. 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 you for 20% of your total health. Extremely valuable both in PvP and PvE.
Amplify Curse	-	Empowers the next curse application. Abilities that apply a curse to multiple targets will also benefit from this active.
Banish	-	Allows you to phase a Demon or Aberration out, preventing any of their actions and making them immune.
Demonic Gateway	Gate, Gateway	creates two points which players can travel between by interacting with. Players may only use the gateway once every 90 seconds.
Dark Pact	DP	Sacrifices a portion of your current health to provide a much greater shield. It can be used while crowd-controlled. Due its low cooldown and strength of the shield it is one of the main reason Warlocks are considered very durable and survivable.
Shadowfury	SF	The only AoE stun Warlocks have access to, valuable in dungeons and PvP alike.
Shadowflame	-	Offers a very strong slow in a cone in front of you.
Soulburn	Sburn	consumes a Soul Shard to enhance the next selected spell. The Drain Life and Healthstone interactions are arguably the strongest defensive options while also being the ones with the highest usability across various situations. The other choices can be equally powerful but they are answers to very specific scenarios.

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.
Abyss Walker	-	Offers a very moderate damage reduction after using either Demonic Gateway or Demonic Circle.
Demonic Embrace	-	increases stamina.
Demonic Inspiration	-	Increases pet attack speed each time the Warlock generates a full shard.
Wrathful Minion	-	Provides a pet damage boost whenever the Warlock generates a full shard.
Demonic Fortitude	-	Increases the Warlock and their pet's maximum health.
Teachings of the Satyr	-	Reduces Amplify Curse cooldown.
Accrued Vitality	-	Adds a healing over time component to Drain Life.
Sweet Souls	-	Increase Healthstone heal and makes it so any party/raid member that uses one of the warlock healthstones also heals the Warlock themselves for the same amount.
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.
Lifeblood	-	Grants the caster leech after using a healthstone.
Strength of Will	-	Increases the damage reduction component of Unending Resolve
Dark Accord	-	Reduces the cooldown of Unending Resolve.
Ichor of Devils	-	Reduces the amount of health sacrificed for the same shield value.
Frequent Donor	-	Reduces Dark Pact cooldown.
Socrethar's Guile	-	Increases Wild Imps damage.
Sargerei Technique	-	Increases Shadow Bolt damage.
Dark Fury	-	Increases Shadowfury range by 2 yards and reduces its cooldown.
Swift Artifice	-	Cast time reduction on Soulstone and Create Healthstone.
Demonic Tactics	-	Passive critical strike chance and additional critical strike chance from gear rating.
Teachings of the Black Harvest	-	Enhance the pet's utility ability with a corresponding minor bonus effect.
Resolute Barrier	-	Provide cooldown reduction on Unending Resolve whenever the caster suffers damage instances greater than a percentage of their maximum health.
Fel Synergy	-	Provides constant background healing for the Warlock and their pet.
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.
Demonic Resilience	-	Reduces the chance the Warlock will be critically hit and also reduces the damage their pet takes.
Pact of Gluttony	PoG	Warlock Healthstones can be used by the caster every minute without being limited to one per combat.
Soul Conduit	SC	Gives a chance for every Shard spent to be refunded.

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.
Implosion	-	Sacrifices all of your active Wild Imps, flinging them towards a target and dealing AoE damage to all targets within 8 yards.
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.
Bilescourge Bombers	BB	Ground-targeted AoE spell that costs 2 Soul Shards and deals damage in 8 yards over 6 seconds.
Demonic Strength	DStr	A 1-minute cooldown Felstorm that does 4 times the damage. Cannot be used if the Felguard is already performing a Felstorm.
Power Siphon	PS	Sacrifices 2 Wild Imps to grant 2 Demonic Cores and 30% additional damage on the 2 Demonbolts.
Summon Demonic Tyrant	tyrant	Extends the duration of all the non-Wild Imps existing demons by 15 seconds, freeze the energy consumption of up to 10 Wild Imps, and increases the damage of all active demons by 15%.
Grimoire: Felguard	GF	Summons a temporary second Felguard, which will charge and stun the target before dealing increased damage for a limited duration.
Summon Vilefiend	VF	Single-target damaging demon with a cooldown; very efficient for its shard cost.
Guillotine	-	Creates a ground-targeted AoE damage pulse and makes your Felguard's auto attacks cleave. During this duration, Felguard will not cast Felstorm.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Imp Gang Boss	IGB	Gives each Wild Imp summoned a chance to become an Imp Gang Boss which deals more damage, even when imploded.
Spiteful Reconstitution	BbI	Implosion deals 10% additional damage and consuming a Demonic Core has a chance to summon a Wild Imp.
Dreadlash	DdL	Turns Call Dreadstalkers Dreadbite into an AoE ability while also increasing the damage.
Carnivorous Stalkers	CaS	Gives Call Dreadstalkers melee a chance to cast additional Dread Bites.
Inner Demons	ID	Spawns a Wild Imp every 12 seconds with a chance for an additional random demon spawn while in combat.
Soul Strike	SS	Short cooldown instant ability that makes Felguard charge an enemy, dealing damage.
Sacrificed Souls	SaS, sacsouls	Increases Demonbolt and Shadow Bolt damage for each active demon.
Rune of Shadows	RoS	Increases the damage done by your pet and reduces Shadow Bolt cast time while increasing its damage.
Imp-erator	Ie	Increases the Critical Strike chance of Wild Imps Fel Firebolt.
Fel Invocation	FI	Soul Strike now deals 20% increased damage and generates a shard. Summon Vilefiend cast time is reduced, and now pulses AoE damage while active.
Annihilan Training	-	Increases Summon Felguard damage while also reducing the damage it takes.
Shadow Invocation	SI	Bilescourge Bombers now deal 20% additional damage and each spell cast has a chance to summon a Bilescourge Bomber.
Wicked Maw	WM	Applies a debuff to all targets hit by Dreadbite, which increases the Shadowflame damage received.
The Expendables	TE	When Wild Imps expire, the damage of current demons is increased up to a given value.
Blood Invocation	BI	Increases the damage bonus of Power Siphon.
Umbral Blaze	HoW	Gives Hand of Gul'dan a chance to burn the target for additional Shadowflame damage.
Reign of Tyranny	RoT	Summon Demonic Tyrant now can affect 5 more Wild Imps, and deals 10% increased damage for each empowered demon.
Demonic Calling	DC	Gives Demonbolt and Shadow Bolt a chance to make the next Call Dreadstalkers instant-cast and cost no shards.
Fiendish Oblation	FO	Increases the damage of Grimoire: Felguard and grants a Demonic Core at the end.
Fel Sunder	FeS	Makes Felstorm apply a debuff, which increases the damage taken from you and your demons. Works with both Demonic Strength and Grimoire: Felguard.
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.
Pact of the Imp Mother	PotIM	Gives Hand of Gul'dan a chance to replicate itself at no additional cost.
Dread Calling	DrC, inq	Increases the damage of the next Call Dreadstalkers for each Soul Shard spent before.
Antoran Armaments	AnA	Increases Summon Felguard damage and makes Soul Strike cleave nearby targets.
Doom Eternal	DE	Doom has a chance to generate Demonic Core when expiring.
Impending Doom	ID	Doom deals increased damage and summons a Wild Imp after expiring.
Foul Mouth	FoMo	Summon Vilefiend deals increased damage, and its spit cast will apply Wicked Maw
The Houndmaster's Gambit	HG	Increases the damage of Dreadstalkers while Summon Vilefiend is active
Improved Demonic Tactics	IDT	Primary Felguard receives a portion of the Warlock Critical Strike chance as a bonus.
Demonic Brutality	DBr	Passive critical strike damage increase.
Pact of the Ered'ruin	PotEr, Ered	Each time Doom expires, there is a chance for a Doomguard to spawn and cast Doom Bolts at the target.
Shadowtouched	Sht	Wicked Maw increases the damage targets take from the Warlock Shadow spells.
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.
Flametouched	Ft	Increases both attack speed and critical strike chance of Call Dreadstalkers.
Immutable Hatred	IH	When consuming a Demonic Core your Felguard will attack the target, dealing additional damage.