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 specialization 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 iteration of the spec design brings back Unstable Affliction as the dedicated single target spender and puts more emphasis on DoT (Damage over Time) management, especially in multi-target.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is centered around maintaining Agony and Corruption (if not using Absolute Corruption). Additionally Haunt too, which received special attention thanks to the new Apex talents. Affliction can spend shards on dedicated spells such as Unstable Affliction in single target or Seed of Corruption in AoE.

Currently, 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. Warlock utility and survivability have both received welcomed upgrades thus making the class as a whole a lot more appealing.

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, Doomguards, and Demonic Tyrants.

Demonology offers among the highest single target damage profiles across all classes with frequent cooldowns and a talent setup that can also handle cleave at the same time.

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. Warlock's utility and survivability have both received welcomed upgrades, making the class a lot more appealing overall.

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 specialization 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, but still has enough nuances to be "hard-to-master".

Destruction is a very flexible spec able to adapt to any situation, with the second highest Warlock single target damage on Diabolist, and the best scaling AoE potential. Hero Talents are rather balanced among themselves and the return of Shadowburn as an execute ability gives the spec a stronger damage profile and much needed mobility in high stakes situations. It remains one of the strongest funnel potential specs, alongside Affliction, and one of the best with two-targets damage profiles.

In Mythic+ Destruction's main appeal is its high target count with absurd AoE damage potential. This is thanks to using Hellcaller during Malevolence windows and Shadowburn cycling. Warlock's utility and survivability have both received welcomed upgrades, thus making the class as a whole a lot more appealing.