The warlock is ranged damage built on Soul Shards and demons, with the best survivability among casters. All three specializations play differently: DoTs and multi-dotting for Affliction, an army of pets for Demonology, heavy casts for Destruction.
Specializations
| Spec | Role | Artifact | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affliction | Ranged, damage | Ulthalesh, the Deadwind Harvester | Intellect → mastery → haste → crit → versatility |
| Demonology | Ranged, damage | Skull of the Man'ari | Intellect → haste → crit → mastery → versatility |
| Destruction | Ranged, damage | Scepter of Sargeras | Intellect → crit → mastery → haste → versatility |
The stat priority is a guideline for 7.3.5. The exact order depends on your talents and legendaries, so check the final answer with a sim.
Affliction
- Damage comes from DoTs: first you blanket the targets, then you only maintain them and finish things off.
- Key buttons: Agony and Corruption stay up at all times, Unstable Affliction spends shards, Drain Soul is the filler.
- Watch your Soul Shards: Agony generates them, and a target without Agony is literally lost resources.
- Reap Souls from the artifact is your main burst — bank soul stacks and press it for a phase with a vulnerability window.
Demonology
- You don't so much cast as command an army: the damage comes from the Wild Imps and Dreadstalkers you summon.
- Key buttons: Call Dreadstalkers, Hand of Gul'dan for imps, Demonic Empowerment right after a summon.
- Watch your demons' timers: you have to get the empowerment on them while they are alive, otherwise the summon was wasted.
- Doom stays on the target at all times and gets noticeably stronger the more demons you have active.
Destruction
- The easiest spec to pick up: heavy casts, a clear rotation, plenty of damage on several targets.
- Key buttons: Immolate always on the target, Incinerate as the filler, Conflagrate on charges, Chaos Bolt for shards.
- Watch Havoc: it copies your damage onto a second target, and all your strong casts should land inside that window.
- On big packs the bulk of your damage comes from Rain of Fire, not from single-target casts.
Legendary items
- Hood of Eternal Disdain — the Affliction helm: Agony deals all of its damage 10% faster.
- Power Cord of Lethtendris — the Affliction belt: a chance to refund shards for Unstable Affliction on a new target.
- Kazzak's Final Curse — the Demonology belt: Doom hits 5% harder for every active demon.
- Alythess's Pyrogenics — the Destruction ring: targets standing in Rain of Fire take 10% more damage from your fire.
- Odr, Shawl of the Ymirjar — the Destruction cloak: the target under Havoc takes more damage from single-target spells.
The all-purpose Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus and Sephuz's Secret suit every spec and are perfectly fine to wear until the spec pieces drop.
Class Order Hall
The warlock order hall is Dreadscar Rift, a captured shard of a world in the Twisting Nether; you get there by the class call at level 98. Inside there is the artifact forge, the champion mission table, Artifact Power turn-ins and a portal master to the zones of the Broken Isles.
Tips for a beginner
- Start with Destruction: it has the clearest rotation and it doesn't fall apart when you switch targets.
- Keep Unending Resolve ready and don't forget to hand out Healthstones to the group before a boss.
- Level one artifact all the way: on 7.3.5 Artifact Knowledge is so high that a second spec catches up in one evening.