Destruction Warlock DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (Legion 7.3)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 5. Strengths
  • 6. Weaknesses
  • 7. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 8. Contents
  • 9. 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. Demonic Summons
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Single Target
      • 2.1.2. 2-3 Targets
      • 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. Roaring Blaze
    • 2.2. Chaos Bolt
    • 2.3. Dimensional Rift
    • 2.4. Soul Shard Generation and Consumption
    • 2.5. Wreak Havoc!
    • 2.6. Doomguard and Infernal
    • 2.7. Unending Resolve
    • 2.8. Pet Choice
    • 2.9. Cataclysm
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Soul Shard Management
    • 3.2. Havoc Usage
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence
    • 4.1. With Roaring Blaze
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. The Nighthold
    • 1.1. Skorpyron
      • 1.1.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.2. Chronomatic Anomaly
      • 1.2.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.3. Trilliax
      • 1.3.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.4. Spellblade Aluriel
      • 1.4.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.5. Tichondrius
      • 1.5.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.6. Star Augur Etraeus
      • 1.6.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.7. Krosus
      • 1.7.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.8. High Botanist Tel'arn
      • 1.8.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.9. Grand Magistrix Elisande
      • 1.9.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.10. Gul'dan
      • 1.10.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
  • 2. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Without Tier 20 4-piece bonus
    • 1.2. With Tier 20 4-piece bonus
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. DeathNote
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Warlock Macros
      • 2.1.1. Pet Macros
      • 2.1.2. Soulstone Mouseover
      • 2.1.3. Demonic Circle
    • 2.2. Destruction Macros
      • 2.2.1. Havoc
      • 2.2.2. Cursor Rain of Fire
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Trinket Discussion
  • 3. Best in Slot List
    • 3.1. Trinket List
  • 4. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 5. Legendaries
    • 5.1. Single Target
    • 5.2. Two Targets
    • 5.3. Three Targets
    • 5.4. Descriptions
  • 6. Loot Competition
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list your Destruction Warlock core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Destruction Warlock.

The other pages of our Destruction 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 Deepshades, a top raider who plays in Method; you can his stream on Twitch and follow him on Twitter.

1. Ability Priority List

Destruction does not follow a strict or reliable rotation, but instead focuses on leveraging opportunities as they arise. A basic priority system is outlined below, with more detail highlighted in the Core Concepts section.

1. Apply Havoc if a secondary target is present.
2. Maintain Immolate on your main target(s).
3. Cast Life Tap to maintain the Empowered Life Tap buff (if talented).
4. Cast Summon Infernal if Lord of Flames is available.
5. Activate Soul Harvest if it is available.
6. Cast Chaos Bolt if you have 5 Soul Shards/50 Fragments.
7. Cast Dimensional Rift if you have 2+ charges, or need to move, and you are not Shard capped.
8. Cast Summon Doomguard/ Summon Infernal on cooldown (depends on number of available targets).
9. Cast Grimoire: Imp on cooldown.
10. Cast Channel Demonfire on cooldown.
11. Cast Rain of Fire on large groups of stacked targets (4+).
12. Cast Conflagrate to generate Soul Shards.
13. Cast Chaos Bolt.
14. Cast Life Tap if you need to move.
15. Cast Incinerate as a filler.

The core component of this specialization is building Soul Shards and unleashing them at the most opportune moments. Immolate is also responsible for an equally high portion of your damage through Roaring Blaze (if talented), so be sure not to let it drop from your primary target(s).

For more information on your opening sequence, please refer to our dedicated section.

2. Important Notes

There are several important nuances that are not common knowledge.

2.1. Roaring Blaze

If you are playing with Roaring Blaze it is important to make near perfect use of it in order for it to be a beneficial choice. You should pool 2 charges of Conflagrate in anticipation of your Immolate refreshes. After applying Immolate, hit Conflagrate twice and use your recharge immediately when it comes off of cooldown (for a triple buffed Immolate total). Once Immolate falls off, reapply a fresh instance of the debuff and wait for your Conflagrate to hit 2 charges again. When it does, reapply Immolate for a full pandemic duration and repeat the process.

2.2. Chaos Bolt

Chaos Bolt costs 2 Soul Shards/20 Soul Shard Fragments to cast. Since we can only have a maximum of 5 Soul Shards/50 Fragments, this means that the maximum number of Chaos Bolts we will be able to reliably cast in a short window of time is Chaos Bolt → Chaos Bolt → Conflagrate → Chaos Bolt. Generating resources is also noticeably slower than in the past, especially with Shadowburn no longer being a part of the specialization for the most part. For these reasons, casting Chaos Bolt during beneficial procs is less of a priority now, as we cannot fit anywhere near the same amount of casts into a small window of time.

Chaos Bolt should now primarily be used to maintain as high an uptime as possible on the Eradication debuff (if talented). This is will noticeably increase your Immolate damage as well as increasing the damage of your next Chaos Bolt. You should still look out for good windows to cast increased numbers of Chaos Bolts. This is your best spell for quickly bursting down high priority targets.

2.3. Dimensional Rift

Treat Dimensional Rift charges as extra Chaos Bolts. You can save up your charges and use them consecutively to push a damage check, or just ensure you always keep them on cooldown. If you have the Dimension Ripper Golden Trait make sure you will always paying attention to your charges so you do not mistakenly cap. Dimensional Rift also generates 3 Soul Shard Fragments since Patch 7.2.5, allowing you to potentially get extra Chaos Bolt casts off during a burst window (such as Soul Harvest).

2.4. Soul Shard Generation and Consumption

You start every fight with 3 Soul Shards/30 Soul Shard Fragments. During combat, Soul Shards are generated through the use of your core abilities.

• Conflagrate generates 6 Soul Shard Fragments on cast.
• Immolate has a 50% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment on normal ticks, and a 100% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment on critical ticks.
• Shadowburn (if talented) replaces Conflagrate and generates 6 Soul Shard Fragments on cast, and an additional 6 Soul Shard Fragments if the target dies within 5 seconds.
• Dimensional Rift generates 3 Soul Shard Fragments on cast.
• Incinerate generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment on normal casts, and 2 Soul Shard Fragments on criticals.
• Fire and Brimstone generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment per target hit.

Soul Shards will mostly be consumed with the following abilities.

• Chaos Bolt consumes 2 Soul Shards/20 Soul Shard Fragments.
• Rain of Fire consumes 3 Soul Shards/30 Soul Shard Fragments.
• Summon Imp consumes 1 Soul Shard/10 Soul Shard Fragments (in combat).
• Summon Doomguard consumes 1 Soul Shard/10 Soul Shard Fragments.
• Summon Infernal consumes 1 Soul Shard/10 Soul Shard Fragments.
• Grimoire: Imp consumes 1 Soul Shard/10 Soul Shard Fragments .

2.5. Wreak Havoc!

Wreak Havoc is one of the most potent cleave talents in the game. It immediately displaces Channel Demonfire as the go-to end tier talent if a second target is present for an extended period. There is no special way to use this talent other than to keep Havoc applied whenever available, as this talent offers a maximum uptime of 50%. This talent is usually the winner on encounters with 2-3 targets of equal/high priority.

2.6. Doomguard and Infernal

Summon Doomguard is your single-target DPS cooldown. It shares a cooldown with Summon Infernal, your AoE DPS cooldown. Infernal is preferred if you can reliably hit 2 or more targets for the majority of its uptime. If you have the Lord of Flames Golden Trait from your Artifact, you should always use Summon Infernal regardless of number of targets if Lord of Flames is off cooldown. Lord of Flames is best combined with Bloodlust for maximum carnage.

2.7. Unending Resolve

As the Eternal Resolve glyph no longer exists, we are back with our active cooldown Unending Resolve. As with most defensive cooldowns, it is best used during periods of high incoming damage where you feel mortally threatened. The one caveat with our cooldown, however, is that it also gives interrupt immunity. Keep this in mind as there are quite a few bosses with interrupting shout style mechanics, and this cooldown allows you to ignore them entirely.

2.8. Pet Choice

Destruction Warlocks always use the Summon Imp and Grimoire: Imp, as they deal increased damage against targets afflicted by your Immolate. This only reinforces the very high priority Immolate has, as your pet deals 50% less damage if it is not active! Also keep in mind that the Imp's Command Demon is Cauterize Master, which heals you for 8% of your maximum health over 12 seconds. While not an overwhelmingly large heal, it can be the difference between life and death during high damage situations, so do not forget about it!

2.9. Cataclysm

Cataclysm can be an extremely potent spell when you can reliably take advantage of it. A great example are fights where adds spawn every 30 seconds, lining up perfectly with the cooldown of Cataclysm.

3. Core Concepts

Destruction Warlock is a specialization that is simple enough to grasp on a single target, but due to the flexibility of your abilities, allows for some of the highest optimization of any specialization in World of Warcraft. There are 3 major concepts that form the central trinity of optimizing for success:

1. Soul Shard management;
2. Havoc usage;
3. movement management.

While managing movement is a fundamental skill shared by all the caster classes in World of Warcraft, the highly immobile nature of Destruction Warlock makes the proper positioning and movement play of particular importance on many encounters.

3.1. Soul Shard Management

Shard management is significantly simpler than managing Embers was, mainly due to the slower pace of the rotation and predictable nature of Conflagrate. Correctly managing Soul Shards now is more of a contextual skill than a static one; that is to say, you should adjust your approach based on the situation. On fights that are purely single target, like Maiden of Vigilance, you will generally be best aiming for the highest uptime of Eradication (if talented) to empower your Immolates. On encounters where add damage is a priority, however, you might be better served to pool your Soul Shards to allow you to burst down an important target. If you are playing with a predictable trinket, like Sandman's Pouch, you should always budget Soul Shards for the proc as it will greatly increase your damage during this time.

There are talents and (in Legion) Artifact traits that affect your ability to recoup Soul Shards. The primary one of note is Soul Conduit. The 12% chance to refund the Soul Shards works at an individual level, meaning that if you cast Rain of Fire (3 Shard cost) there is a chance you could get all 3 Soul Shards back. This makes this talent a little more powerful and reliable than you might otherwise expect.

3.2. Havoc Usage

Havoc is one of your most important spells. Havoc copies any of your direct spells, however, it does not affect the Soul Shard generation of Conflagrate (i.e you still get 1 Shard). In multi-target scenarios this should be used on cooldown, without exception. Now that Havoc copies all spells for an 10-second window without limit, it is a significantly more potent tool for cleaving that it ever was before.

It is best to use Havoc to duplicate spells that are limited by Soul Shards or charges. For example, duplicating Immolate and then immediately empowering both of them with Roaring Blaze via Conflagrate is a great way to start. Follow up by dumping Chaos Bolt casts to debuff each target with Eradication (if talented) and double your Shard efficiency.

Havoc is typically unaffected by range or line of sight requirements. Over time you will develop the knowledge and instinct to take full advantage of the ability. A good way to go about building this experience is by paying close attention to your boss timers. If you know the add on Tyrant Velhari is coming in the next 10 seconds, you should hold on to your Soul Shards and Conflagrate charges for Havoc. If you have 4 Soul Shards ready, you can immediately cast Havoc as soon as the add spawns. Cast Immolate and Conflagrate, dump 2 Chaos Bolts, Conflagrate again to generate a Soul Shard and double empower your Immolate via Roaring Blaze (this combination is only possible with Wreak Havoc). If you are playing without Wreak Havoc, it is usually better to hard Immolate each target before casting Havoc, then apply Havoc and empower both with Conflagrate simultaneously. This is very much a 'feel' ability! When in doubt, however, use Havoc on cooldown when a second target is present.

3.3. Movement Management

While it is difficult to describe the best ways to position and move during a dungeon or raid encounter, it is essential to your success as a Destruction Warlock. Demonic Gateway can be highly effective on many encounters and is under appreciated by many players and raid groups. Think of Demonic Gateway as a raid cooldown that can instantly teleport your entire raid group 40 yards, and the potential this ability holds quickly becomes clear. Ask your group if they want Demonic Gateway anywhere specific; if not used for your strategy, use it instead as a personal cooldown. Finally, always try to position yourself in a location central to fight movement. For example, if the boss is being moved in a circle, try to stay on the inside of the kite path to ensure minimal movement.

3.3.1. Quiet Movement

Many players will unconsciously move during fights, despite it being unnecessary. For example, sometimes the boss or adds will be moved by the tank a couple yards, and though you are still in range to cast, you subconsciously mirror that movement, costing you global cooldowns. Consciously work to "quiet" your movement, and reduce unnecessary movement to a minimum. The best way to see this in action is to take a video of your raid, then watch yourself play. Most players will be surprised by the amount of wasted movement they commit. When you are forced to move, try and cover a global with Conflagrate, and make your path as direct and decisive as possible.

4. Opening Sequence

1. Life Tap at 5 seconds on the counterdown for the Empowered Life Tap buff (if talented).
2. Use Potion of Prolonged Power at 4 seconds on the countdown.
3. Pre-cast Incinerate.
4. Pre-cast Incinerate.
5. Apply Immolate.
6. Cast Conflagrate.
7. Cast Summon Doomguard (or Summon Infernal if you have Lord of Flames and Bloodlust is used on the pull).
8. Cast Grimoire: Imp.
9. If you are wearing Lessons of Space-Time: Cast Dimensional Rift and maintain buff throughout your Soul Harvest.
10. Activate Soul Harvest and any on-use trinkets or racials you have.
11. Cast Dimensional Rift 3 times (if not using Lessons of Space-Time).
12. Cast Conflagrate.
13. Cast Chaos Bolt (when you have Soul Shards).
14. Cast Channel Demonfire.
15. Cast Conflagrate to generate Soul Shards and extend Backdraft.
16. Maintain Immolate.
17. Cast Incinerate as a filler when necessary.
18. Continue with your normal rotation.

4.1. With Roaring Blaze

1. Life Tap for the Empowered Life Tap buff at 4 seconds on countdown.
2. Use Potion of Prolonged Power at 3 seconds on the countdown.
3. Pre-cast Incinerate.
4. Apply Immolate.
5. Cast Summon Doomguard (or Summon Infernal if you have Lord of Flames and Bloodlust is used on the pull).
6. Cast Grimoire: Imp.
7. If you are wearing Lessons of Space-Time: Cast Dimensional Rift and maintain buff throughout your Soul Harvest.
8. Cast Immolate to maximize Pandemic.
9. Activate Soul Harvest and any on-use trinkets or racials you have.
10. Use all Conflagrate charges.
11. Cast Chaos Bolt (when you have Soul Shards).
12. Cast Conflagrate when available for Soul Shards.
13. Cast Channel Demonfire.
14. Cast Dimensional Rift 3 times (if not using Lessons of Space-Time).
15. Continue with your normal rotation.

Do not refresh your fully buffed Immolate until the very last possible moment — ideally, your final refresh at the end of the opener will be applied a fraction of a section after your full power Immolate expires for maximum damage.

5. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 28 Aug. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.3.
• 28 Jun. 2017: Updated openers.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated Soul Shard costs and generation, updated opener, updated several sections specifically pertaining to Shard usage.
• 17 May 2017: Fixed a mention of Shadowburn consuming a Soul Shard.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 13 Feb. 2017: Updated Roaring Blaze opener.
• 30 Jan. 2017: Removed leftover mention of Soul Conduit as the go-to talent in section 3.1.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Updated APL, opener, and various sections for Patch 7.1.5.
• 10 Dec. 2016: Updated Dimensional Rift section.
• 31 Oct. 2016: Fixed some typos.
• 14 Oct. 2016: Minor update to opener to optimize potion uptime.
• 14 Sep. 2016: Updated for clarity and parity with suggested talents.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.