Destruction Warlock PvP Guide in Battle for Azeroth (BfA 8.2)

1. Spec Overview / Place in the Current Meta for Destruction Warlocks

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.

1.1. Strengths of Destruction Warlocks

• Great control
• Strong burst damage
• Multiple interrupts

1.2. Weaknesses of Destruction Warlocks

• Struggle to stay alive against melee teams
• Hard to cast against teams with multiple interrupts
• Very few defensive cooldowns

2. The stat priority for Destruction Warlock in PvP is as follows:

The stat priority for Destruction Warlock in PvP is as follows:

1. Intellect;
2. Mastery;
3. Haste;
4. Versatility;
5. Critical Strike.

Intellect is the best stat in all situations. Mastery is the strongest secondary stat at all times due to it increasing Mastery: Chaotic Energies. This increases the damage of your spells and reduces damage you take. Haste is also a good stat to have, as it reduces the Global Cooldown on abilities and reduces your cast time. This will help you cast your Chaos Bolt and Cataclysm quicker.

3. Azerite Essences for Destruction Warlocks

Essences allow players to customize their characters while adding a new ability to use. This section will cover the best overall Azerite Essences for Destruction Warlocks in PvP. For a general guide to all the essences, as well as how to obtain them and increase their ranks, check out our Essence Guide.

3.1. Major Essences

Conflict and Strife is a great Major Essence to have. Conflict gives you Demon Armor as a baseline ability. Because Demon Armor is used in almost every matchup, this will free up a PvP talent and give you more choices.

The Crucible of Flame is another solid Major Essence. This essence grants the Major Power, Concentrated Flame. Destruction Warlocks have multiple abilities that they have to cast. This gives you strong instant damage you can use very often throughout an arena match.

Memory of Lucid Dreams increases your Soul Shard generation rate by 100%. This will increase your sustained damage output. Both the Major and Minor Powers from this trait are very powerful.

3.2. Minor Essences

In addition to having a Major Essence, you can choose two Minor Essences to place in your neck at Heart of Azeroth Levels 55 and 65.

Memory of Lucid Dreams gives your spells and abilities a chance to refund Soul Shards you used and heal you. This is great for increasing your damage, as you will frequently be refunded Soul Shards throughout a match.

Vision of Perfection reduces the cooldown of Summon Infernal. This trait reduces your primary burst cooldown by a large amount.

4. Azerite Traits for Destruction Warlocks

Azerite traits are unlocked in you helm, shoulders and chest. With each Azerite level in your neck, you get closer to unlocking the center trait in your gear. These traits vary from increasing damage or healing of certain abilities to helping increase your survivability. Depending on what traits you use, it can completely alter your playstyle and what talents you should be using.

4.1. Outer Rings

Below are the best Outer Ring traits.

1. Flashpoint
2. Chaotic Inferno
3. Bursting Flare
4. Crashing Chaos

There is one trait you are going to want in all pieces of your Azerite gear and it should be Flashpoint. You need to maintain Immolate on all enemies and you will have increased Haste for almost the entire game. Chaotic Inferno and Crashing Chaos both improve your Chaos Bolt, but the downside is you will not be able to complete many Chaos Bolt casts in an arena match. Bursting Flare gives you a solid stat increase to your Mastery after using Conflagrate on a target affected by your Immolate.

4.2. Middle Ring

Below are the best Middle Ring traits.

1. Overwhelming Power
2. Elemental Whirl
3. Earthlink
4. Gutripper

The Middle and Inner rings are important for additional damage. Elemental Whirl, Overwhelming Power, and Earthlink give an increase to your stats. These are minor stat boosts, but still increase your damage. Gutripper will help increase both your single target and spread pressure.

4.3. Inner Ring

Below are the best Inner Ring traits.

1. Resounding Protection
2. Gemhide
3. Longstrider
4. Self Reliance

All of these traits give you additional ways of surviving. These are all passive, but are crucial to have.

5. Gear Recommendations

5.1. General Guidelines

In general, Destruction Warlocks want to get trinkets that line up well with Dark Soul: Instability. These trinkets can have a passive or on-use effect. The stat you want to be increasing is Intellect. The reason you want to increase Intellect is because it drastically increases your overall damage output.

To be successful in 3v3 arena, you need to have at least 2 pieces of gear with the Flashpoint trait. You will also want either Overwhelming Power or Heed My Call in the second tier.

Below, we list the items that have these traits.

5.1.1. Helms

• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Cowl;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Cowl;
• Blazewing Hood;
• Battlemage's Collar;
• Battlemage's Collar;
• Horrific Amalgam's Hood.

5.1.2. Shoulders

• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Amice;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Amice;
• Pauldrons of Vile Corruption;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Epaulets;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Epaulets.

5.1.3. Chest

• Divine Fury Raiment;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Robe;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Robe;
• Inmate's Straight Robe;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Chestwrap;
• Notorious Gladiator's Silk Chestwrap.

5.2. Recommended Items

Notorious Gladiator's Maledict is absolutely the best trinket you can have. The on-use damage and healing absorption is capable of forcing defensives by itself. This can be used by itself or while you are using your burst rotation to force multiple cooldowns out of enemy teams.

Notorious Gladiator's Safeguard is a mandatory trinket if you think the enemy team can swap to you and kill you. This provides an additional defensive for when you drop to low health. If you do not think a team will swap to you and kill you, you can use replace this one with any of the trinkets below.

Notorious Gladiator's Badge is strong for the Versatility and the on-use Intellect effect. The 2-minute cooldown lines up well with Dark Soul: Instability.

Notorious Gladiator's Insignia has a good amount of Versatility on it and has a passive effect. This effect increases your Intellect. This increases your sustained damage.

5.3. Weapon Enchant

Enchant Weapon - Quick Navigation is the best weapon enchants. This enchant provides a proc that gives you more Haste. This reduces the cast time of your important spells and results in an increase to your overall damage.

6. Talent Choices for Destruction Warlocks

Level	Choices
15	✔ Flashover	✘ Eradication	✘ Soul Fire
30	✔ Reverse Entropy	✘ Internal Combustion	✘ Shadowburn
45	✔ Demon Skin	✘ Burning Rush	✘ Dark Pact
60	✘ Inferno	✘ Fire and Brimstone	✔ Cataclysm
75	✘ Darkfury	✔ Mortal Coil	✔ Demonic Circle
90	✘ Roaring Blaze	✔ Grimoire of Supremacy	✘ Grimoire of Sacrifice
100	✘ Soul Conduit	✘ Channel Demonfire	✔ Dark Soul: Instability

While the above table provides a generally accurate overview of the viability of talents, some finer points are discussed in the sections that follow, and we recommend you read those for a deeper understanding.

6.1. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents

Flashover is the best choice in this tier. This makes your Conflagrate do much more damage and also gives you an extra charge of Backdraft.

6.2. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents

Reverse Entropy is the best choice in this tier. This is just a passive talent that gives your abilities a chance to give you Haste. This is great for faster Chaos Bolts and strong Immolates.

6.3. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents

Demon Skin is the best choice in this tier. This defensive talent allows you to passively heal throughout an arena match. This is crucial for your survivability against most teams.

6.4. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents

Cataclysm is the best choice in this tier. This is a strong ability that will help you spread Immolate without have to cast it multiple times. Cataclysm can be used on teams that are trying to line of sight your damage. More importantly, you can use it to prevent Rogues and Druids from using Stealth.

6.5. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents

If you are playing against at least one caster, Mortal Coil is the best choice in this tier. This gives you extra control over the enemy caster(s) with instant crowd control.

If you are playing a team with two melee that will be focusing you, Demonic Circle is the best choice in this tier. This will make it easier for you to avoid or get away from teams when using their burst cooldowns.

6.6. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents

Grimoire of Supremacy is the best choice in this tier. This makes your Summon Infernal a burst cooldown and will force teams to play defensively while it is active. While your Infernals are active, you will want to build Soul Shards with Rain of Fire. The goal is to get a stack of 10 and use Chaos Bolt with Dark Soul: Instability.

A quick note on pets: Against a team that has multiple magic crowd control for your healer ( Hammer of Justice, Polymorph, Fear), you should sacrifice your Imp for Singe Magic. Against any other composition, you should sacrifice your Felhunter for Spell Lock.

6.7. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents

Dark Soul: Instability is the best choice in this tier. This talent gives you an additional burst cooldown that will crush teams that stay in your line of sight. Use this ability when you are using your burst rotation.

7. PvP Talents for Destruction Warlocks

The first PvP talent tier will give you a choice between Gladiator's Medallion, Relentless, and Adaptation. Gladiator's Medallion is the best choice in this tier. It is great for removing crowd control on you that your healer cannot dispel. You will normally save your trinket for a stun, followed by Demonic Circle: Teleport.

You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents. Each of them has their uses, but some are better for certain strategies than others. The top three choices are the most useful, but can be replaced with other PvP talents, depending on your team's goal.

Focused Chaos causes Chaos Bolt's damage to be increased by 65%, but no longer strike additional targets afflicted by Havoc. This makes your Chaos Bolt a much more scarier ability. This is also a significant increase to your single target damage.

Demon Armor increases your health and armor by a significant amount. This is a crucial PvP talent when playing against teams with two melee on it because you will likely be the main target for them. If you are using the Conflict and Strife Major Essence, you will have Demon Armor as a basline ability. Continue down the list of PvP talents for more PvP talent options.

Fel Fissure Chaos Bolt creates a 5 yd wide eruption of Felfire under the target, reducing movement speed by 50% and reducing all healing received by 25% on all enemies within the fissure. Lasts 6 sec. This PvP talent is powerful when playing with a teammate that has a stun for your kill target. This will also help you punish players that are out of position or do not notice the Fel Fissure animation.

Nether Ward surrounds the caster with a shield that last 3 sec, reflecting all harmful spells cast on you. This is a crucial talent to take against all casters. You also want to use this talent versus teams with a Shaman, Death Knight or Demon Hunter. This is because their kicks are magical and this will prevent you from being interrupted while it is active. You can replace Fel Fissure with this PvP talent.

Entrenched in Flame causes Conflagrate to root the enemy target for 3 seconds. This effect does not break from damage. This is a crucial talent to help increase your survivability against teams with multiple melee players. You should replace Nether Ward with this PvP talent.

8. Racial Bonuses for Destruction Warlocks

Racial bonuses can provide interesting PvP benefits. Here are the best races to choose for each faction.

8.1. Horde

Orc is the best race for Destruction Warlocks, thanks to the passive Orcs have ( Hardiness) reducing all stuns, thus greatly improving survivability.

8.2. Alliance

The Human bonus ( Every Man for Himself) is a great way to escape stuns. However, because you will the primary target for most people, the racial from Void Elves ( Preternatural Calm) will help you cast your spells without a delay.

If you do not want to play Human or Void Elf, the Iron Dwarf racial ( Fireblood) is a great defensive that can also help increase your burst damage.

9. Playstyle for Destruction Warlocks

The Destruction Warlock has two roles when in an Arena: set up kills with large Chaos Bolts and survive. Destruction Warlocks are powerful because they have strong single target damage and the ability to crowd control enemy teams. Most of your damage and kills will come from your Chaos Bolts. You will survive by using Fears and Mortal Coils on enemies. You can also use your Demonic Gateway to create distance.

9.1. Before Gates Open

Have a plan for who you will be mainly using your crowd control on. Destruction Warlocks are able to use their main crowd control, Fear, along with Mortal Coil. You also have Shadowfury. This has a somewhat short cast time and will AoE stun anyone that is in range for a small period of time.

You should also use Create Soulwell to generate Healthstones for you and your teammates.

You will also want to use Summon Felhunter. This gives you access to the Spell Lock ability.

9.2. Offensive Playstyle

9.2.1. The Opener

The opener refers to your team's opening crowd control chain and damage done as soon as you get out of the gates. The main goal in the opener is to force your enemies to use their cooldowns.

If the enemy healer uses their trinket in the opener, they are in trouble. In the opener, Destruction Warlocks should focus on using Immolate, Incinerate, and Conflagrate to generate Soul Shards.

This is the rotation you should use on your target at the beginning of the game.

1. Cast Demonic Gateway from your pillar to another part of the map.
2. Use Demonic Circle (if talented into it) and place it behind a pillar.
3. Apply and maintain Immolate on all enemies to generate Soul Shards. If the enemy team starts behind a pillar, you can use Cataclysm to put your Immolate on all of them.
4. Cast Incinerate to generate Soul Shards.
   • If you are interrupted on Incinerate, you can still cast Chaos Bolts.
5. Use Conflagrate to slow the enemy player and generate Soul Shards. With the passive Backdraft, Conflagrate will also reduce the cast time of your Chaos Bolts or Incinerates.
6. Once you have at least 4-5 Soul Shards and the enemy healer is in crowd control, you will be able to use your burst rotation.

9.2.2. Burst Damage

1. Make sure you have 2-3 stacks of Backdraft.
2. Use Curse of Fragility (if you have taken this talent).
3. Use Havoc on the enemy you are not targeting.
4. Use Mortal Coil on the enemy you are focusing.
5. Use Summon Infernal if the enemy team is stacked or you need an interrupt.
6. Use Memory of Lucid Dreams if you are using the Major Essence and need to generate Soul Shards.
7. Use Rain of Fire.
8. Use Dark Soul: Instability with 10+ stacks of Grimoire of Supremacy.
9. Cast Chaos Bolt.
10. Cast Chaos Bolt.
11. Use Conflagrate to generate Soul Shards.
12. Cast Chaos Bolt.
13. Use Concentrated Flameif you are using the Major Essence.
14. Cast Immolate if you need to refresh the DoT.
15. Cast Incinerate as a filler.

If you get interrupted when casting Incinerate, you should immediately start casting Chaos Bolt or Cataclysm.

9.2.3. Sustained damage

Sustained damage is damage you do when your burst cooldowns are not available.

1. Apply Havoc and follow it up with a Mortal Coil to prevent enemy players from interrupting your damage.
2. Maintain Immolate on all enemies.
3. Cast Chaos Bolt when you have 4-5 Soul Shards.
4. Use Concentrated Flame if you are using the Major Essence.
5. Use Rain of Fire if multiple targets are stacked and you are about to cap on Soul Shards.
6. Cast Cataclysm if multiple targets are stacked and you need to generate Soul Shards.
7. Use Conflagrate to generate Soul Shards and generate stacks of Backdraft.
8. Cast Incinerate to generate Soul Shards.
9. Use Memory of Lucid Dreams if you are using the Major Essence and need to generate Soul Shards.

9.3. Defensive Techniques

Unending Resolve is your primary defensive ability and should be used if your healer has no defensive cooldowns and you are at high health. You cannot use this when you are stunned. You will not be interrupted while this is active so you can use this time to cast Fear to stay alive or Chaos Bolt for damage.

Demon Armor is an absolutely mandatory PvP talent. This talent is what makes Destruction Warlocks so tanky and should be used against every single team.

Healthstone should be used when you are at very low health and your healer does not have defensive cooldowns to keep you alive.

Demonic Circle, if talented, should be placed away from the enemy team, but close to your healer. Make sure you coordinate when you will be using this so your team can position themselves accordingly. You will want to use this when the enemy team is using their offensive cooldowns and you need to create distance between you and them. Use the same concept when you need to take Demonic Gateway.

Summon Infernal should be used to stun enemies that are trying to chase you. This will typically best used when enemies are using their burst cooldowns and you are close to dying.

10. Best Team Compositions for Destruction Warlocks

Now that you have the correct talents and understand your damage rotation, it is time to step into the arena with your team. The combination of Chaos Bolt damage and crowd control make Destruction Warlocks a very scary caster.

10.1. 2v2 Arena

In 2v2 Arena, there are not many options. Your primary goal is to get a full Fear on the enemy healer while your teammate stuns the kill target and cast multiple Chaos Bolts. If the enemy team is stacked and trying to line of sight your damage, use Cataclysm to generate Soul Shards or Rain of Fire if you have a high amount of Soul Shards. It is important to note that if you are interrupted while casting Fear, you can still cast Chaos Bolt.

Here is a list of the best team compositions for 2v2:

• Destruction Warlock + Holy Paladin;
• Destruction Warlock + Restoration Shaman;
• Destruction Warlock + Restoration Druid;
• Destruction Warlock + Holy Priest.

10.2. 3v3 Arena

Your role in 3v3 is similar to 2v2 Arena. You are trying to find a time to use Mortal Coil on both DPS and cast multiple Chaos Bolts on your kill target. It is best to be playing with another caster so you are not the only person being interrupted. Use Fear on the enemy healer and have one of your teammates stun your kill target. Teams will try to run away from your damage behind a pillar, use Rain of Fire when they do this. It is important to note that Fear should also be used to help your teammates. If you or a teammate is struggling to stay alive, use Fear on an enemy DPS without a trinket. If they both have trinkets, use it on whichever enemy you want.

Here is a list of the best team compositions for 3v3:

• WLS (Destruction Warlock + Arms Warrior + Holy Paladin/Restoration Shaman);
• Shadow Play (Destruction Warlock + Shadow Priest + Restoration Druid/ Holy Paladin);
• Destruction Warlock + Elemental Shaman + Restoration Druid/ Holy Paladin;
• Shadowplay (Destruction Warlock + Shadow Priest + Holy Paladin/Restoration Druid).

11. Useful Macros for Destruction Warlocks

Macros are crucial to be successful in PvP. They allow players to use abilities on enemies without having to target them. This helps increase overall damage/healing and general awareness in the arena. Here are a few macros that all Destruction Warlocks can benefit from.

11.1. Fear 123 Macro

• #showtooltip Fear
• /cast [target=arena1] Fear

Using this macro will cast Fear on arena enemy 1. This makes it easier to crowd control an enemy while staying focused on your target. If you want macros for the second and third enemies, simply change the arena1 to arena2 or arena3.

11.2. Fear Focus Macro

• #showtooltip Fear
• /cast [target=focus] Fear

If you find that you do not have much room on your action bars, you can use a focus macro. This is much simpler to use than the arena123 macro. Put an enemy on focus and this macro will cast Fear on that player while you are still focused on your target.

11.3. Spell Lock Focus Macro

• #showtooltip
• /cast [target=focus] Spell Lock

This macro will use Spell Lock on whichever enemy you have on focus. Because you will be primarily using Spell Lock on the enemy healer, you should only need this focus macro.

11.4. Havoc Focus Macro

• #showtooltip Havoc
• /cast [target=focus] Havoc

This makes it so you can use Havoc on your focus target while still damaging your main target.

11.5. Mouseover Banish Macro

• #showtooltip Banish
• /cast [@mouseover] Banish

This makes it so you can use Banish on another Warlock's demon or an elemental pet while still damaging your main target.

12. Changelog