Warlock Guide

Warlocks are the dark arts casters of World of Warcraft, embodying the desire to reach new highs, through the use of demonic powers and summoning demonic minions to aid in their quest for dominance.

Perhaps one of the most iconic specialisation in the game, Affliction is the facet focused around whittling down foes with debuffs and damage over time effects, while still sharing the Warlock design tenet of building resources (Soul Shards) in order to spend them with powerful spells.

The current evolution of the spec design makes use of DoT (Damage over Time) as both a mean to deal damage and a buffer for an all purpose spender. As such the playstyle is centered around maintaining several damage over time effects and debuffs such as Corruption, Unstable Affliction and Agony in order to deal damage and buff each cast of Malefic Rapture.

In Season 3 Affliction single target is on the higher end, while retaining better mobility with Hellcaller, very powerful funnel and a talent setup that scales into additional targets without sacrificing much single target compared to other alternatives. It is one of the stronger damage dealers options at the time of writing.

In Mythic+ Affliction has the tools to deal exceptional AoE damage, especially at higher target count, and retain a somewhat flexible damage profile, able to handle both bosses and trash in a versatile setup. What generally holds Warlocks back is their utility, which is mostly comprised of Curses and Healthstones or the occasional Demonic Gateway skip.

Warlocks are the dark arts casters of World of Warcraft, embodying the desire to reach new highs, through the use of demonic powers and summoning demonic minions to aid in their quest for dominance.

Demonology fully embraces the summoning aspect, offering the fantasy of a commander who chooses to command a Demonic Army to do their bidding.

Demonology has a fast paced and deterministic gameplay built around cycles of demonic summons in order to damage their foes. Shadow Bolt and Demonbolt are used to generate Soul Shards to then spend and summon a vast array of demons, comprised of Wild Imps, Dreadstalkers, Vilefiends, Felguards and Demonic Tyrants.

Season 3 Demonology offers among the highest single target damage profiles across all classes with frequent cooldowns and powerful set bonuses. The drawback is that due changes that affected talent setups, getting additional AoE comes at the expense of single target, unlike previously.

In Mythic+ Demonology offers better damage at lower target count at the expense of higher AoE past 8 targets and the ability to funnel that level of damage on priority targets. What generally holds Warlocks back is their utility, which is mostly comprised of Curses and Healthstones or the occasional Demonic Gateway skip.

Warlocks are the dark arts casters of World of Warcraft, embodying the desire to reach new highs, through the use of demonic powers and summoning demonic minions to aid in their quest for dominance.

Destruction embraces the chaotic side of Warlocks, raining down Fel Fire to burn and annihilate enemies. Demonic (Fel) Fire is the theme around the specialisation which features an arsenal of direct damage spells, such as Chaos Bolt and Incinerate to use in conjunction with Immolate.

Destruction as a Warlock specialisation retain the design philosophy of generating resources (Soul Shards) in order to spend them on powerful spells such as Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire, and plays in a rather straightforward but satisfying fashion. In its current iteration it is an easy to pick up spec with enough nuances to be hard to master.

Destruction, is perhaps the least flexible spec of the three, suffering the most from Hero Tree balance, with the second highest Warlock single target damage on Diabolist but the worst of Warlock in terms of AoE potential, and Hellcaller being very mediocre at lower target count but scaling extremely well at high target amount. The previous mobility associated with Shadowburn is still present. It retains one of the strongest funnel potential, alongside Affliction and one of the best two-targets damage profile.

In Mythic+ Destruction main appeal is high target count absurd AoE damage potential, with Hellcaller during Malevolence windows and Shadowburn cycling. The loss of Inferno mainly hurt Diabolist at lower target count, making that choice even less appealing, especially compared to other Warlock specs. What generally holds Warlocks back is their utility, which is mostly comprised of Curses and Healthstones or the occasional Demonic Gateway skip.