Destruction Warlock DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Shadowlands Pre-Patch 9.0.1

Welcome to our Gearing Page for Destruction Warlock, this section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

If you have a new piece of gear that you need gems and enchants advice for, you can find everything you need on our dedicated page below.

Due to the simplicity of determining upgrades with a simulation in the current era of the game, we recommend using the popular Raidbots tool to determine which pieces of gear offer the most potential for your character. The main reason why this is a huge advantage is due to the huge number of variables that differ from character to character, such as Azerite Traits, Stat Quotients, and Scale Factors.

The Top Gear function can be especially useful, as it allows you to compare multiple items and item types to find the best combination of upgrades.

Learning to use the tools available will allow you to reach the most accurate conclusions with the least effort. It is highly recommended you avail yourself of these tools, and they will serve you well when evaluating items.

Patch 8.3 added the Gouged Eye of N'Zoth as a reward from Corrupted Mementos. In order to maximize the upgrade value, the best approach is to socket a corrupted item of the highest item level available, with possibly the best corrupted roll, to ensure the greatest longevity. For more information, you can read our guide on Horrific Visions.

When identifying what gear you should be aiming after, we recommend using RaidBots' Droptimizer feature. It requires the SimulationCraft Addon. Once you have the addon installed, write "/simc" into the chat in-game, and copy-pasting the contents into the RaidBots Droptimizer.

Simply select the raid and difficulty you are interested in, and RaidBots will take a while to figure out where you should spend your bonus rolls, and more.

Here we have provided a list of the best available items from Ny'alotha, which may be advantageous for players who have little interest in Mythic+ dungeons or PvP.

When considering the usage of Seals of Wartorn Fate, it is often best to roll bosses that can provide Azerite Armor.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Visage of Nightmarish Machinations	N'Zoth the Corruptor in Ny'alotha
Shoulder	Spaulders of Miasmic Mycelia	Carapace of N'Zoth in Ny'alotha
Cloak	Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve	Legendary Cloak quest line
Chest	Robe of the Fallen Keeper	Ra-den the Despoiled in Ny'alotha
Wrists	Void-Drenched Wristwraps	The Hivemind in Ny'alotha
Gloves	Emberscale Gloves	Wrathion, the Black Emperor in Ny'alotha
Belt	Binding of Dark Heresies	Dark Inquisitor Xanesh in Ny'alotha
Legs	Corporeal Supplicant's Trousers	Carapace of N'Zoth in Ny'alotha
Boots	Psychic's Subtle Slippers	The Prophet Skitra in Ny'alotha
Ring #1	Logic Loop of Division	Mechagon Mythic+ chest, Mechagon Junkyard.
Ring #2	Overclocking Bit Band	Mechagon Mythic+ chest, Mechagon Workshop.
Main-hand	Shgla'yos, Astral Malignity	Carapace of N'Zoth in Ny'alotha
Off-hand	Uhnish Vwah	Dark Inquisitor Xanesh in Ny'alotha
Trinket 1	Azshara's Font of Power Manifesto of Madness	Queen Azshara in Eternal Palace N'Zoth the Corruptor in Ny'alotha
Trinket 2	Psyche Shredder	The Prophet Skitra in Ny'alotha

This list illustrates some of the best available dungeon items for the Destruction Warlock specialization.

Bear in mind that this list is a template rather than an end point. We recommend simming using the Top Gear function to find the best setup for your character, which can depend on factors such as Talents, Azerite Traits, and Stat Distribution.

Many of these items can actually out-perform their "Raid Best in Slot" counterparts, particularly at extremely high item levels or if you are lucky enough to receive a Titanforged version of one of them.

Please refer to the Trinket Simulation section below for details on Trinkets.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Grasping Crown of the Deep	Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
Shoulders	Pauldrons of Vile Corruption	Unbound Abomination (The Underrot)
Cloak	Turncoat's Cape	Jes Howlis (Tol Dagor)
Chest	Inmate's Straight Robe	Overseer Korgus (Tol Dagor)
Wrists	Iron-Kelp Wristwraps	Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
Gloves	Mine Rat's Handwarmers	Azerokk (The MOTHERLODE!!)
Belt	Ouroborial Sash	Merektha (Temple of Sethraliss)
Legs	Bloodstained Sous Chef Pants	Raal the Gluttonous (Waycrest Manor)
Boots	Deranged Alchemist's Slippers	Rixxa Fluxflame (The MOTHERLODE!!)
Ring #1	Footbomb Championship Ring	Coin-Operated Crowd Pummeler (The MOTHERLODE!!)
Ring #2	Seal of the City Watch	Sergeant Bainbridge (Siege of Boralus)
Weapon	Staff of the Lightning Serpent	Aspix & Adderix (Temple of Sethraliss)

For information about what Azerite traits to choose and what the best items are, see our Azerite page.

Assuming normal item level drops and no Corruption effect on trinkets, the best combination in Patch 8.3 is going to be Psyche Shredder and Azshara's Font of Power which remains an exceptional trinket that lines up perfectly with infernal uptime. A replacement worth mentioning is Manifesto of Madness, which has positional requirements similar to Incandescent Sliver, so it may not be as effective in practice as it is on paper, depending on the situation.

Due to the removal of Titanforging and the addition of corrupted effects on trinkets, lower item level trinkets are generally obsolete and Corruption rolls on gear is best simmed individually, assuming the Corruption amount is affordable with a given loadout.