Destruction Warlock DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Shadowlands 9.2.5
On this page, you will find the best gear and best in slot items for your Destruction Warlock in World of Warcraft Shadowlands 9.2.5.
If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Destruction Warlock gear and best in slot.
Gearing a Destruction Warlock
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.
How To Effectively Compare Upgrades as an Destruction Warlock
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 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.
Droptimizer
The Droptimizer feature from Raidbots lets you identify which dungeons and Raid Bosses you should spend your Bonus Rolls on. It simulates all of the potential upgrades in a raid or a dungeon, and lists the bosses/dungeons by rank order of how much DPS you can expect to gain from bonus rolling on it. We have a guide for it that you can access using the link below.
Tier Set for Destruction Warlock
Patch 9.2 reintroduces Tier Sets in the game providing unique bonuses tailored for each specialisation. For Destruction these bonuses are the following:
Destruction Warlock 2-Piece — Every 10 Soul Shards spent makes your next
Chaos Bolt or
Rain of Fire free to cast.
Destruction Warlock 4-Piece — When
Rain of Fire or
Chaos Bolt is freely cast, you summon a Blasphemy for 8 sec.
After obtaining Destruction Warlock 4-Piece Destruction massively
gains in damage output both in single target and even more in AoE scenarios.
Because how the tier set accelerates the shard generation/expenditure,
talents and legendaries choices are affected, producing a shift from a rather
flat and monotonous gameplay to an explosive damage profile curve with
frequent burst windows.
There are different methods of acquisition for Tier Pieces: the usual Sepulcher of the First Ones bosses alongside the Great Vault weekly reward. A new option is the Creation Catalyst which allows to change a non tier piece into the correspective tier item in the appropriate slot.
What slots to equip the Tier Set in For Destruction Warlock
Of the 5 different slots the Tier set pieces will be available in, only 4 are needed to activate the last set bonus, meaning there is some flexibility in how to optimise the gear and what piece to replace with possibly better statted or higher item level options.
Destruction Warlocks in raid will use the Head slot with
either Madness of the Azj'Aqir and
Unity on belt, or
with
Embers of the Diabolic Raiment on back and
Unity on
Head.
Legendaries for Destruction Warlock
Madness of the Azj'Aqir(Head) and
Embers of the Diabolic Raiment
(Back) to a lesser extent are paramount to craft once acquired 4 pieces of
the tier set. Because of the shift in stats priority it is advisable to craft
them with
Missive of Critical Strike and
Missive of Haste.
For multitarget situations Wilfred's Sigil of Superior Summoning
(Finger) is the best choice and can be crafted anew
with
Missive of Critical Strike and
Missive of Haste. However if
you do possess one already with
Missive of Mastery
and
Missive of Haste there is no need to craft a new one, since
Mastery has much higher value in multi target situations.
If you are looking for in-depth explanation on what Legendary to pick for what situation and how to obtain them, read our Legendary page below.
Conduits for Destruction Warlock
Best Single-Target Potency Conduits for Destruction Warlock
Ashen Remains
Fatal Decimation as Necrolord
Infernal Brand
Combusting Engine
Best Cleave / AoE Potency Conduits for Destruction Warlock
For more info regarding which Conduits to pick for which situations, check our full Covenants, Soulbinds & Conduits page.
Best in Slot Items for Destruction Warlock
Sanctum of Domination Best in Slot
Here we have provided a list of the best available items from Sanctum of Domination, which may be advantageous for players who have little interest in Mythic+ dungeons or PvP.
Dungeons Best in Slot
Slot | Item | Source |
---|---|---|
Helm | ![]() |
Plaguefall |
Neck | ![]() |
Halls of Atonement |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Creation Catalyst conversion of another item in this slot |
Cloak | ![]() |
Spires of Ascension |
Chest | ![]() |
Creation Catalyst conversion of another item in this slot |
Wrists | ![]() |
Theater of Pain |
Gloves | ![]() |
Creation Catalyst conversion of another item in this slot |
Belt | ![]() |
Spires of Ascension |
Legs | ![]() |
Creation Catalyst conversion of another item in this slot |
Boots | ![]() |
Spires of Ascension |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
De Other Side |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Plaguefall |
Main-hand + Off-hand | ![]() |
Halls of Atonement |
Trinket 1 | ![]() |
Theater of Pain |
Trinket 2 | ![]() |
Mists of Tirna Scithe |
Trinkets for Destruction Warlock
Due to the prevalence of high item level trinkets via Mythic+, raiding, and PvP, there are a variety of suitable options when it comes to trinkets. It is always best to use Raidbots Top Gear to determine what your optimal trinkets are.
In Sepulcher of the First Ones there is only one stand-out
option: The First Sigil offers a tremendous burst potential and can be
considered in situations where a stronger burst phase is needed.
From dungeons, Inscrutable Quantum Device is by far the most potent
trinket for non-
Wilfred's Sigil of Superior Summoning builds, but becomes
somewhat inconsistent in the latter part of a fight due to its stat increase
effect being on a lower priority than other
triggers.
So'leah's Secret Technique and
Unbound Changeling are the 2 best passive trinkets.
Soulletting Ruby works well when paired with
Wilfred's Sigil of Superior Summoning and
Rain of Chaos.
Trinket Simulations for Destruction Warlock
Single Target
Cleave
Changelog
- 31 May 2022: Page reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 28 Apr. 2022: Updated trinket recommendations.
- 10 Mar. 2022: Updated trinket section.
- 22 Feb. 2022: Added tier section and created BiS list for Patch 9.2.
- 01 Nov. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.5.
- 08 Sep. 2021: Updated trinket section following Forbidden Necromantic Tome change.
- 26 Aug. 2021: Removed Castle Nathria BiS list, as it is not relevant anymore.
- 30 Jun. 2021: Added Sanctum of Domination bis list, updated trinket section and shard recommendations.
- 28 Jun. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.
- 21 Mar. 2021: Updated trinket recommendations.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Added Valor Upgrade section for Patch 9.0.5.
- 28 Dec. 2020: Added Sun King Salvation as another source of drop for the Abominable Anima Spherule weapon token.
- 04 Dec. 2020: Updated Castle Nathria BiS list, added dungeons BiS list, and updated trinket recommendations.
- 24 Nov. 2020: Added disclaimer about Bloodmallet sims.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Page updated for Shadowlands release, added Legendary and Conduits sections, and Castle Nathria BiS list
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Warlock Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Motoko, Warlock main since The Burning Crusade, co-admin in the Warlock Discord, and theorycrafter and contributor for LockOneStopShop.
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