Warlock Class Changes for Shadowlands (Patch 9.0.2)

Last updated on Nov 16, 2020 at 10:00 by Stan 1 comment

On this page, you will find a list of all Warlock changes coming in Shadowlands.

In addition to the class changes listed here, Warlocks also gain access to class-specific Warlock Covenant Abilities that can be used anywhere in the open world, Legendary Powers obtained through Runecarving, Soulbind Conduits, and Anima Powers that only work in Torghast.

1.

General Changes

  • New Ability: Fel Domination Icon Fel Domination — Your next Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Felhunter, or Felguard Summon spell has its casting time reduced by 5.5 seconds. Fel Domination now also removes the Shard cost to summon your pet.
  • New Ability: Ritual of Doom Icon Ritual of Doom — Begins a ritual that sacrifices a random participant to summon a Doomguard. Requires the caster and 4 additional party members to complete the ritual.
  • Demonic Circle Icon Demonic Circle is no longer a Talent is now learned by all Warlocks at level 41.
  • Demonic Gateway Icon Demonic Gateway no longer despawns when the caster dies. When the gateway is close to despawning, it begins dissolving out of view to warn the caster and allies that they may wish to replace it.
  • Enslave Demon has been renamed to Subjugate Demon Icon Subjugate Demon.
  • Eye of Kilrogg Icon Eye of Kilrogg can now be used in Arenas and Battlegrounds, can be killed by enemy players, and has 1% of the caster's health (was 100%).
  • Summon Imp, Voidwalker, Felhunter, Felguard, and Succubus cast time is now 6 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).
  • All Warlocks can now use the following abilities:
    • Curse of Tongues Icon Curse of Tongues — Forces the target to speak Demonic, increasing the casting time of all spells by 30% for 30 seconds. A warlock can only have one Curse active per target.
    • Curse of Weakness Icon Curse of Weakness — Increases the time between an enemy's attacks by 20% for 2 minutes.
    • Curse of Exhaustion Icon Curse of Exhaustion — Reduces the target's movement speed for 8 seconds.
    • Curse of Exhaustion Icon Curse of Exhaustion duration has been increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
2.

General Warlock Talent Changes

  • New Talent: Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror (replaces Demonic Circle) — Let loose a terifying howl, causing 5 enemies within 10 yards to flee in fear, disorienting them for 20 seconds. Damage may cancel the effect.
  • Dark Pact Icon Dark Pact now also provides additional health over 20 seconds.
  • Darkfury Icon Darkfury now also increases Shadowfury Icon Shadowfury radius by 2 yards.
  • Players and enemies afflicted with Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror can now take more damage before the ability is cancelled.
  • Dark Pact Icon Dark Pact spell power bonus has been increased to 120% (was 40%).
  • New PvP Talent: Amplify Curse Icon Amplify Curse — Your next Curse of Exhaustion Icon Curse of Exhaustion, Curse of Tongues Icon Curse of Tongues, or Curse of Weakness Icon Curse of Weakness is amplified.
    • Curse of Exhaustion: Reduces the target's movement speed by an additional 20%.
    • Curse of Tongues: Increases casting time by an additional 30%.
    • Curse of Weakness: Enemy is unable to critically strike.
  • Gateway Mastery Icon Gateway Mastery is now available for all Warlocks — Increases the range of your Demonic Gateway Icon Demonic Gateway by 20 yards and reduces the cast time by 30%. Reduces the time between how often players can take your Demonic Gateway by 15 seconds.
  • Curse of Tongues Icon Curse of Tongues is reduced to 15% effectiveness in PvP. This can be increased to 30% effectiveness with the Amplify Curse Icon Amplify Curse Talent.
  • Curse of Fragility has been renamed to Bane of Fragility Icon Bane of Fragility.
  • Entrenched in Flame (PvP Talent) has been removed.
3.

General Warlock Abilities Learned Above Level 50

  • Fear Icon Fear (Level 52) — You no longer suffer spell pushback when casting Fear Icon Fear.
4.

Affliction Warlock

Affliction Warlocks have undergone a substantial change moving from Battle for Azeroth into the Shadowlands. Unstable Affliction Icon Unstable Affliction has moved from the default single target Soul Shard spender to the previous iteration of Damage over Time spell with no Soul Shard cost associated, albeit limited to only 1 target this time. In its stead a new more versatile spender has been introduced: Malefic Rapture Icon Malefic Rapture, a spell that hit any target in line of sight, with damage scaling based on the number of periodic effect active on each target.

Another change, result of the "unpruning" is the reintroduction of Curses baseline for all the 3 specs: Curse of Tongues Icon Curse of Tongues, Curse of Weakness Icon Curse of Weakness, Curse of Exhaustion Icon Curse of Exhaustion, which provide additional utility tools without impacting the gameplay much.

Last but not least there has been a talent tree shuffle, which you can view in details in Affliction Talents page, the introduction of Demonic Circle Icon Demonic Circle baseline and the return of Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror as talent option.

  • New Ability: Malefic Rapture Icon Malefic Rapture — Your damaging periodic effects erupt on all targets, causing Shadow damage per effect.
  • Unstable Affliction Icon Unstable Affliction duration is now 16 seconds (was 8 seconds), no longer costs a Soul Shard, and no longer stacks. The damage backlash when dispelled has been increased substantially.
  • Sow the Seeds Icon Sow the Seeds now embeds demon seeds into 2 additional enemies (was 1).
  • Shadow Embrace Icon Shadow Embrace is no longer a Talent and learned by all Affliction Warlocks in Shadowlands.
  • Shadow Bolt Icon Shadow Bolt damage has been increased by 13%.
5.

Affliction Warlock Abilities Learned Above Level 50

  • Corruption Icon Corruption (Level 54) — Corruption Icon Corruption now instantly deals some damage.
  • Unstable Affliction Icon Unstable Affliction (Level 56) — Unstable Affliction Icon Unstable Affliction's duration is increased by 5 seconds.
  • Shadow Embrace Icon Shadow Embrace (Level 58 Passive) — Shadow Bolt Icon Shadow Bolt and Haunt Icon Haunt apply Shadow Embrace Icon Shadow Embrace, increasing your damage dealt to the target by 3% for 12 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
5.1.

Affliction Warlock Talent Changes

  • New Talent Inevitable Demise Icon Inevitable Demise (replaces Deathbolt) — Damaging an enemy with Agony Icon Agony increases the damage of your next Drain Life Icon Drain Life by 15%. This effect stacks up to 50 times and can no longer be dispelled.
  • New Talent: Dark Caller Icon Dark Caller (replaces Shadow Embrace) — Reduces Summon Dargklare's cooldown by 1 minute.
  • Nightfall Icon Nightfall now procs more often as Corruption Icon Corruption spreads to more targets.
  • Writhe in Agony Icon Writhe in Agony now causes Agony Icon Agony's damage to start at 4 stacks and may now ramp up to 18 stacks (was 15).
  • Deathbolt Icon Deathbolt has been removed and is now a PvP Talent.
  • Haunt Icon Haunt duration is now 18 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Dark Soul: Misery Icon Dark Soul: Misery no longer has a global cooldown.
  • New PvP Talent: Rapid Contagion Icon Rapid Contagion — For the next 15 seconds, all of your periodic effects occur 50% more often. Instant cast, costs 3 Soul Shards.
  • New PvP Talent: Rampant Afflictions Icon Rampant Afflictions
  • Unstable Affliction Icon Unstable Affliction can now be applied to up to 3 targets.
  • New PvP Talent: Deathbolt Icon Deathbolt — Launches a bolt of death at the target, dealing 60% of the total remaining damage of your damage over time effects on the target. With Absolute Corruption Icon Absolute Corruption Talent, counts up to 14 seconds of your Corruption Icon Corruption's damage. Costs 3 Soul Shards.
  • Soulshatter Icon Soulshatter (PvP Talent) now consumes all of your Corruption effects on the nearest enemies instead of damage over time effects, and you no longer gain Haste for each enemy hit by Soulshatter.
  • Curse of Shadows has been renamed to Bane of Shadows Icon Bane of Shadows.
  • Demon Armor Icon Demon Armor for Affliction Warlocks now increases armor by 150% (was 90%).
5.2.

Affliction Warlock Talent Tree

Below is the current talent tree for Affliction Warlocks.

  • Level 15 Talents: Nightfall Icon Nightfall / Inevitable Demise Icon Inevitable Demise / Drain Soul Icon Drain Soul;
  • Level 25 Talents: Writhe in Agony Icon Writhe in Agony / Absolute Corruption Icon Absolute Corruption / Siphon Life Icon Siphon Life;
  • Level 30 Talents: Demon Skin Icon Demon Skin / Burning Rush Icon Burning Rush / Dark Pact Icon Dark Pact;
  • Level 35 Talents: Sow the Seeds Icon Sow the Seeds / Phantom Singularity Icon Phantom Singularity / Vile Taint Icon Vile Taint;
  • Level 40 Talents: Darkfury Icon Darkfury / Mortal Coil Icon Mortal Coil / Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror;
  • Level 45 Talents: Dark Caller Icon Dark Caller / Haunt Icon Haunt / Grimoire of Sacrifice Icon Grimoire of Sacrifice;
  • Level 50 Talents: Soul Conduit Icon Soul Conduit / Creeping Death Icon Creeping Death / Dark Soul: Misery Icon Dark Soul: Misery.
5.3.

Affliction Warlock Shadowlands Guide

6.

Demonology Warlock

Demonology Warlocks have transitioned from Battle for Azeroth with very few changes, with the exception of some talent buffs aimed at bringing back to life unused options like Power Siphon Icon Power Siphon and From the Shadows Icon From the Shadows.

In addition, several bugs or unintended behaviours have been fixed, among which the ability to stack Wild Imps on different terrain elevation. Demonic Consumption Icon Demonic Consumption has also been altered to absorb 15% of every Demon HP and return 10% of that value as bonus damage, instead of flat out consuming every single Wild Imp.

Another change, a result of the "unpruning", is the reintroduction of Curses as a baseline for all the 3 specs: Curse of Tongues Icon Curse of Tongues, Curse of Weakness Icon Curse of Weakness, Curse of Exhaustion Icon Curse of Exhaustion. They provide additional utility tools without impacting the gameplay much.

Last but not least Demonic Circle Icon Demonic Circle is now baseline and Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror returns as talent option.

  • Wild Imps now spawn more immediately after Hand of Gul'dan Icon Hand of Gul'dan, and 2-3 imps spawn in faster succession. Additionally, if they path fail, they teleport back to the Warlock.
  • Axe Toss now interrupts stun immune targets, such as dungeon or raid bosses. This does not affect PvP combat. Axe Toss now stuns and interrupts the target.
  • Felguard's Felstorm now capped at 8 targets.
  • Shadow Bolt Icon Shadow Bolt damage has been increased by 13%.
  • Call Dreadstalkers Icon Call Dreadstalkers's attack power has been increased by 20%. Dreadstalker's Dreadbite and Dreadlash damage has been reduced by 10%.
7.

Demonology Warlock Abilities Learned Above Level 50

  • Call Dreadstalkers Icon Call Dreadstalkers (Level 54) — Reduces the cast time of Call Dreadstalkers Icon Call Dreadstalkers how to pursue targets faster.
  • Fel Firebolt Icon Fel Firebolt (Level 56) — Teaches your Wild Imps how to spend 20% less energy when casting Fel Firebolt.
  • Summon Demonic Tyrant Icon Summon Demonic Tyrant (Level 58) — Summoning your Summon Demonic Tyrant Icon Summon Demonic Tyrant instantly generates 5 Soul Shards.
7.1.

Demonology Warlock Talent Changes

  • Power Siphon Icon Power Siphon now also adds 30% damage to your next 2 Demonbolt Icon Demonbolt casts.
  • Demonic Calling Icon Demonic Calling reduces shard cost of Call Dreadstalkers Icon Call Dreadstalkers by 2.
  • Doom Icon Doom no longer has a small chance to summon a Doomguard when it kills the target.
  • From the Shadows Icon From the Shadows is now triggered by Dreadbite (was Call Dreadstalkers Icon Call Dreadstalkers).
  • Inner Demons Icon Inner Demons random demons summoned attack power increased by 21%.
  • Nether Portal Icon Nether Portal demons summoned attack power increased by 21%.
  • Demonic Consumption Icon Demonic Consumption no longer sacrifices imps. Now instead drains 15% health of all active demons, empowering itself based on health consumed.
  • Minions spawned from Nether Portal Icon Nether Portal have had their attack power increased by 15%. Additionally, Vicious Hellhounds, Void Terrors, Wrathguards and Darkhounds spawned from Nether Portal can now charge to enemies.
7.2.

Demonology Warlock Talent Tree

Below is the current talent tree for Demonology Warlocks.

  • Level 15 Talents: Dreadlash Icon Dreadlash / Bilescourge Bombers Icon Bilescourge Bombers / Bilescourge Bombers Icon Bilescourge Bombers;
  • Level 25 Talents: Demonic Calling Icon Demonic Calling / Power Siphon Icon Power Siphon / Doom Icon Doom;
  • Level 30 Talents: Demon Skin Icon Demon Skin / Burning Rush Icon Burning Rush / Dark Pact Icon Dark Pact;
  • Level 35 Talents: From the Shadows Icon From the Shadows / Soul Strike Icon Soul Strike / Summon Vilefiend Icon Summon Vilefiend;
  • Level 40 Talents: Darkfury Icon Darkfury / Mortal Coil Icon Mortal Coil / Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror;
  • Level 45 Talents: Soul Conduit Icon Soul Conduit / Inner Demons Icon Inner Demons / Grimoire: Felguard Icon Grimoire: Felguard;
  • Level 50 Talents: Sacrificed Souls Icon Sacrificed Souls / Demonic Consumption Icon Demonic Consumption / Nether Portal Icon Nether Portal.
7.3.

Demonology Warlock Shadowlands Guide

8.

Destruction Warlock

Transitioning from Battle for Azeroth into the Shadowlands, Destruction Warlocks did not face many changes beside some talents adjustments. In particular, Soul Fire Icon Soul Fire has been reworked into a fixed 45-second cooldown nuke that also applies Immolate Icon Immolate on the target and Rain of Chaos Icon Rain of Chaos has taken the place of the previous Grimoire of Supremacy, shifting towards a more versatile option, scaling better in multi-target situations.

Another change, a result of the "unpruning", is the reintroduction of Curses as baseline for all the 3 specs: Curse of Tongues Icon Curse of Tongues, Curse of Weakness Icon Curse of Weakness, Curse of Exhaustion Icon Curse of Exhaustion, which provide additional utility tools without impacting the gameplay much.

Last but not least Demonic Circle Icon Demonic Circle is now baseline and Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror has replaced it as talent option.

No specialization-specific ability changes are coming for Destruction Warlocks.

9.

Destruction Warlock Abilities Learned Above Level 50

  • Havoc Icon Havoc (Level 54) — Havoc Icon Havoc lasts 2 seconds longer.
  • Rain of Fire Icon Rain of Fire (Level 56) — Rain of Fire Icon Rain of Fire deals 10% additional damage.
  • Summon Infernal Icon Summon Infernal (Level 58) — Your Infernal Awakening delay 100% additional damage on impact.
9.1.

Destruction Warlock Talent Changes

  • Soul Fire Icon Soul Fire now generates 1 Soul Shard (was 4 Soul Shard Fragments), applies Immolate Icon Immolate, has a 3.5-second cast time (was 1.5 seconds), and a 45-second cooldown (was 20 seconds).
  • Shadowburn Icon Shadowburn now costs a Soul Shard, has 50% critical strike chance on targets that have 20% or less health, and its cooldown is now reduced by Haste.
  • Fire and Brimstone Icon Fire and Brimstone now generates 2 Soul Shard Fragments (was 1).
  • Inferno Icon Inferno now also increases Rain of Fire Icon Rain of Fire damage by 20%.
  • Grimoire of Supremacy renamed to Rain of Chaos Icon Rain of Chaos and now every Soul Shard you spend has a 20% chance to summon an additional Infernal that lasts 10 seconds (was increase Chaos Bolt Icon Chaos Bolt damage by 8%).
  • Roaring Blaze Icon Roaring Blaze has been redesigned — Conflagrate Icon Conflagrate increases your Soul Fire Icon Soul Fire, Channel Demonfire Icon Channel Demonfire, Immolate Icon Immolate, Incinerate Icon Incinerate, and Conflagrate Icon Conflagrate damage to the target by 30% for 8 seconds.
  • Channel Demonfire Icon Channel Demonfire primary target damage increased by 10%.
  • Dark Soul: Instability Icon Dark Soul: Instability no longer has a global cooldown.
9.2.

Destruction Warlock Talent Tree

Below is the current talent tree for Destruction Warlocks.

  • Level 15 Talents: Flashover Icon Flashover / Eradication Icon Eradication / Soul Fire Icon Soul Fire;
  • Level 25 Talents: Reverse Entropy Icon Reverse Entropy / Internal Combustion Icon Internal Combustion / Shadowburn Icon Shadowburn;
  • Level 30 Talents: Demon Skin Icon Demon Skin / Burning Rush Icon Burning Rush / Dark Pact Icon Dark Pact;
  • Level 35 Talents: Inferno Icon Inferno / Fire and Brimstone Icon Fire and Brimstone / Cataclysm Icon Cataclysm;
  • Level 40 Talents: Darkfury Icon Darkfury / Mortal Coil Icon Mortal Coil / Howl of Terror Icon Howl of Terror;
  • Level 45 Talents: Roaring Blaze Icon Roaring Blaze / Rain of Chaos Icon Rain of Chaos / Grimoire of Sacrifice Icon Grimoire of Sacrifice;
  • Level 50 Talents: Soul Conduit Icon Soul Conduit / Channel Demonfire Icon Channel Demonfire / Dark Soul: Instability Icon Dark Soul: Instability.
9.3.

Destruction Warlock Shadowlands Guide

10.

More Patch 9.0.1 Class Changes

You can find other Patch 9.0.1 class changes linked below.

11.

Changelog

  • 16 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands release.
  • 12 Oct. 2020: Updated for the Shadowlands Pre-Patch.
  • 06 Sep. 2020: Updated for Beta Build 35755.
  • 01 Aug. 2020: Demonic Circle and Eye of Kilrogg interaction added.
  • 18 Jul. 2020: Updated for Beta Build 35167.
  • 15 Jul. 2020: Updated for Alpha Build 35078.
  • 20 Jun. 2020: Another big overhaul based on Alpha Build 34821.
  • 16 Jun. 2020: Update based on the recent Alpha Build 34714 rework.
  • 09 Jun. 2020: Unstable Affliction now generates a Soul Shard when the target dies.
  • 02 Jun. 2020: Updated intro with links to Anima Powers and Covenant Abilities.
  • 25 May 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34490.
  • 15 May 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34365.
  • 08 May 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34278.
  • 30 Apr. 2020: Amplify Curse added and updated for Alpha Build 34199.
  • 28 Apr. 2020: Updated for Alpha Build 34137.
  • 21 Apr. 2020: Page added.
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