Destruction Warlock PvP Guide (Shadowlands 9.0.5)
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to play in a PvP environment. The guide will cover everything from talent choices, PvP talents, gameplay and rotation, and useful racial bonuses. It is most applicable to Arena content, but most talents and racial bonuses will work in Rated Battlegrounds and skirmishes.
If you were looking for WoW Classic content, please refer to our Classic Warlock PvP guide.
Destruction Warlocks in the Current Meta
Destruction Warlocks are capable of some of the strongest single target
damage in the game. 
Chaos Bolt is one of the most feared spells in the
game, and for good reason. If you give a Destruction Warlock a chance to chain
together multiple Chaos Bolts, the game will surely be over.
Strengths of Destruction Warlocks
- Great control
- Strong burst damage
- Extremely difficult to kill without Dampening
Weaknesses of Destruction Warlocks
- Struggle to stay alive against melee teams
- Hard to cast against teams with multiple interrupts
- Very few defensive cooldowns
Content of the Guide
This guide ended up being very long, so we decided to split it in different pages.
- On the Destruction Warlock PvP Talents page, you will find an analysis of each PvE talent row to help you decide which talent to pick on each row, as well as an overview of the PvP talents, which advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
- On the Destruction Warlock PvP Rotation and Playstyle page, you will learn how to use your spells, depending on the situation (opener, burst damage, surviving, controlling enemy players, etc.), and what is generally expected of your class and spec in PvP.
- On the Destruction Warlock PvP Covenants and Legendary Powers page, you will find advice on choosing the best Covenant, Soulbind, and Conduits as well as the best PvP Legendary Powers.
- On the Destruction Warlock PvP Stat Priority and Gear page, you will find the stat priority to follow in PvP, as well as advice for choosing your gear, particularly trinkets.
- On the Destruction Warlock PvP Best Races page, you will find lists of the Alliance and Horde races, ranked by how good they are for Destruction Warlocks in PvP, as well as explanations regarding why and how their racials benefit you.
- On the Destruction Warlock PvP Useful Macros page, you will find a collection of useful macros for PvP for Destruction Warlocks.
- On the Destruction Warlock Arena Composition page, you will find the list of the most powerful Arena compositions featuring Destruction Warlocks, in both 2v2 and 3v3 modes.
Changelog
- 08 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 01 Dec. 2020: Added Covenant page.
- 29 Nov. 2020: Guide updated for Shadowlands. Still missing Covenants page.
Other PvP Guides
Destruction Warlock PvE Guides
BfA Guides
Patch 8.3 Profession Changes
This guide has been written by Mysticall, a seasoned PvP player who has repeatedly achieved Arena Master and 2500 rating. You can watch his stream on Twitch, and you can also check out his YouTube channel.
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