Destruction Warlock PvP Guide in Battle for Azeroth (BfA 8.3)
General Information
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.
PvP Warlock Guides
1.
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.
2.
Strengths of Destruction Warlocks
- Great control
- Strong burst damage
- Extremely difficult to kill without Dampening
3.
Weaknesses of Destruction Warlocks
- Struggle to stay alive against melee teams
- Hard to cast against teams with multiple interrupts
- Very few defensive cooldowns
4.
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 Azerite Traits and Essences page, you will find advice on choosing the best essence powers and the best azerite traits.
- 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 and Azerite gear.
- 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.
5.
Changelog
- 16 Jan. 2020: This page was checked for patch 8.3 and no updates were necessary.
- 09 Dec. 2019: Reorganized the guide in 7 different pages.
- 23 Sep. 2019: Updated Defensive Techniques section.
- 24 Aug. 2019: Updated Horde races.
- 16 Aug. 2019: updated Alliance races.
- 07 Jul. 2019: Updated Guide for Patch 8.2.
- Updated Stat Priority.
- Added Azerite Essence section.
- Added Major and Minor Essences sections.
- Updated Gear section.
- Updated Talent Table.
- Updated Tier 6 regular talent.
- Updated PvP talents section.
- Updated Burst and Sustained damage rotations.
- 28 Apr. 2019: Made several changes to the guide.
- Updated Azerite Traits.
- Updated Gear section.
- 08 Apr. 2019: Made several changes to the guide.
- Updated Talent Table.
- Updated Tier 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 regular talents.
- Updated Burst Damage rotation.
- Updated Sustained Damage rotation.
- Updated best 3v3 team compositions.
- 14 Mar. 2019: No major changes needed for Patch 8.1.5.
- 31 Jan. 2019: Updated Gear Recommendations.
- 12 Dec. 2018: Minor changes made for Patch 8.1.
- Updated PvP talents section.
- 23 Nov. 2018: Added Gear Recommendations section.
- 08 Oct. 2018: Added Azerite traits section and talent table.
- 02 Oct. 2018: Removed PvP Gear and War Mode sections.
- 01 Sep. 2018: Updated guide for Patch 8.0.1.
- Updated Introduction and spec overview.
- Added Stat priority.
- Updated tier 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 talent sections.
- Added PvP (War Mode) talents and gear sections for the new BfA system.
- Updated Racial Bonuses section.
- Updated Burst Damage and Sustained Damage sections.
- Updated Defensive section.
- Updated Macros section.
- Removed Gear section.
- Removed Artifact Traits and Relics sections.
- 02 Jun. 2018: Added an Arena Compositions section.
- 19 Apr. 2018: Made several updates to the guide and its structure.
- Added sections for Macros, Strengths, and Weaknesses.
- Moved Gear, Artifact Traits, and Relics sections to the end, since they are not that important.
- 21 Jan. 2018: No major changes needed for Patch 7.3.5.
- 08 Dec. 2017: No major changes needed for Patch 7.3.2. Updated "About the Author".
- 18 Sep. 2017: Made multiple changes for Patch 7.3
- Updated recommended tier 5 and 7 regular talents.
- Updated recommended tier 6 honor talents.
- Updated sustained and burst damage rotations.
- 22 Jul. 2017: Guide created.
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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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