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Destruction Warlock Guide for WoW Forever

How to play Destruction Warlock in WoW Forever, with Conflagrate leveling, an Incinerate raid build, a Molten Skin PvP build and the rotation.

WarlockDestructionLevelingPvEPvPRaidsDungeonsDPS

By stillsixty staffUpdated

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Variants

Overview

Destruction is the Warlock's burst spec, and in WoW Forever it is a Fire spec first. The tree now ends in Incinerate, a 2.5-second Fire nuke that deals 25% more damage to a target with your Immolate on it. Conflagrate sits in tier 4 and hits an Immolated target for instant Fire damage every 10 seconds. At 5/5, Shadow and Flame stops Conflagrate from consuming Immolate and turns Conflagrate and Shadowburn into two 10% damage buffs that you keep up all fight.

The raid build pairs that with a cheaper Demonic Sacrifice. It sits at 10 points in Demonology now, and sacrificing a Succubus or Incubus gives +15% Fire damage for 2 hours. Seven more points buy Decimation, which turns Soul Fire into a free execute spell below 35% health.

At 30 you level with Immolate, Conflagrate and Shadow Bolt behind a Voidwalker. At 60 you raid with Incinerate, or you take Molten Skin and a Felhunter into PvP for a build that bursts and survives.

Strengths

  • High burst. Conflagrate is instant, Shadowburn is instant, and Ruin doubles the crit bonus of every Destruction spell.
  • A clean raid rotation: keep Immolate up, press Conflagrate and Shadowburn on cooldown, fill with Incinerate.
  • A real execute phase. Decimation makes Soul Fire 40% faster, free of Soul Shards and ready every 6 seconds.
  • A built-in slow. At 5/5 Aftermath, every Conflagrate dazes its target by 50% for 5 seconds.
  • Molten Skin: 10% less damage taken from every hit, in the same tree as your damage.

Weaknesses

  • Most of your damage is cast time. Movement and interrupts hurt more than they hurt Affliction.
  • The raid build has no pet. The sacrifice ends the moment you summon any demon.
  • Threat. Big crits pull aggro, and this spec has no threat reduction talent.
  • Your build depends on Immolate staying up. A dispelled or expired Immolate costs Conflagrate and Incinerate damage at once.
  • Weak before 25. Conflagrate is your first big talent, and Incinerate waits until 40.

What's new in Forever

New in Forever
  • Conflagrate is a new tier 4 talent. It deals Fire damage to a target with your Immolate on it and consumes the Immolate. Trainers teach new ranks at 32, 40, 48, 54 and 60.
  • Fire and Brimstone (tier 5): +25% critical strike chance for Conflagrate at 3/3.
  • Shadow and Flame (tier 6): Conflagrate raises your Shadow damage by 10% and Shadowburn raises your Fire damage by 10%, each for 20 seconds. At 5/5, Conflagrate never consumes Immolate and Shadowburn always refunds its Soul Shard.
  • Incinerate (tier 7): a 2.5-second Fire nuke that deals 25% more damage to a target with your Immolate. New ranks at 50 and 60.
  • Bane of Havoc (tier 5): for 5 minutes, 15% of the damage you deal to other targets is also dealt to the target with the Bane.
  • Molten Skin (tier 2): 10% less damage taken at 5/5.
  • Bane now also speeds up Incinerate. Aftermath raises Immolate's initial damage by 50% and gives Conflagrate a 100% chance to daze. Ruin has 5 ranks up to +100% crit bonus. Agonizing Flames adds 10% damage to all Destruction spells. Intensity gives a 70% chance to keep casting any Destruction spell through damage.
  • Shadowburn gives you a Soul Shard if the target dies within 8 seconds, up from 5.
  • Demonic Sacrifice moved to tier 3 of Demonology and lasts 2 hours. The Fire buff now comes from the Succubus or Incubus, and the Imp gives Shadow damage.
  • Firestone is a weapon enchant now: up to +21 Fire damage and +2% spell crit at rank 4.

Talents

The leveling build. Bane speeds up Shadow Bolt and Immolate, Aftermath makes Immolate's first hit 50% bigger, and Ruin doubles your crit bonus by 24. At 25 you take Conflagrate, which turns every Immolate into an instant second hit and a 50% daze.

Split 0/0/21 · 21 points at level 30 · Open in calculator

Affliction

0 points

Demonology

0 points

Destruction

21 points

Talent order

  1. Levels 10–14: 5/5 Bane. Shadow Bolt and Immolate cast 0.5 seconds faster.
  2. Levels 15–19: 5/5 Aftermath. Immolate's initial hit deals 50% more. From 25, every Conflagrate dazes its target for 5 seconds.
  3. Levels 20–24: 5/5 Ruin. +100% crit damage bonus on every Destruction spell.
  4. Level 25: 1/1 Conflagrate. Instant Fire damage on an Immolated target every 10 seconds, and a 50% slow with Aftermath.
  5. Levels 26–28: 3/3 Agonizing Flames. +10% damage for all Destruction spells, and +10% crit chance for Searing Pain.
  6. Level 29: 1/3 Cataclysm. Destruction spells cost 3% less mana.
  7. Level 30: 1/3 Fire and Brimstone. +8% crit chance for Conflagrate.

Flexible points

  • Taking too much damage when a pull goes wrong? Put Cataclysm and Fire and Brimstone into 2/5 Molten Skin for 4% less damage taken.
  • Kiting more than you tank? Move the Cataclysm point into 1/2 Destructive Reach for 10% more range on every damage spell, so the mob starts further away.

Races

Best races

Horde: Orc. Blood Fury gives 10% Spell Power for 15 seconds every 2 minutes, enough for a Conflagrate, a Shadowburn and several Incinerates. Shatter Curse removes and blocks Curses and Banes for 8 seconds and cuts magic damage taken by 15%, and Hardiness shortens stuns by 20%.

Horde alternative: Troll. Troll Warlocks are new in Forever. Berserking gives 10% casting speed for 10 seconds every 3 minutes, which is pure damage for a cast-time spec. Beast Slaying adds 5% damage against Beasts.

Alliance: Human. Sword Specialization gives +2% critical strike chance with every spell while you hold a one-handed sword, and each of those crits hits harder: Ruin doubles your critical strike damage bonus. The Human Spirit adds 5% Spirit for bigger Life Taps, and Will to Survive breaks a stun every 3 minutes.

Alliance PvP: Gnome. Eureka! makes your next three damaging spells cost 10% less mana and deal 10% more damage every 2 minutes: spend it on Conflagrate, Shadowburn and Incinerate. Escape Artist breaks roots and snares, and Expansive Mind adds 5% maximum mana.

All playable races

  • Human: Sword Specialization, The Human Spirit, Will to Survive, Perception.
  • Gnome: Expansive Mind, Eureka!, Escape Artist, Engineering Specialization.
  • Orc: Blood Fury, Shatter Curse, Hardiness. Axe Specialization does nothing for you, since Warlocks can't equip axes.
  • Undead: Will of the Forsaken removes Charm, Fear and Sleep; Touch of the Grave gives your spells a 10% chance to drain health; Cannibalize restores health and mana from a corpse.
  • Troll (new for Warlocks): Berserking, Beast Slaying, Regeneration, Rapid Regeneration.

Rotation

Single pull

  1. Send your Summon Voidwalker in and let it land Torment.
  2. Immolate. Aftermath makes the first hit 50% bigger.
  3. Corruption and Bane of Agony on mobs with a lot of health. Skip them on mobs that die in three spells.
  4. Conflagrate. It consumes your Immolate at this level, so cast it once Immolate has ticked a few times, or when the mob is low.
  5. Shadow Bolt to finish. Searing Pain is faster and cheaper, and with Agonizing Flames it crits often: use it when the mob is almost dead.

Kiting

Conflagrate dazes for 5 seconds at 5/5 Aftermath. If the Voidwalker dies, Immolate the mob, Conflagrate it and walk out of melee range while it crawls, then Shadow Bolt. Fear buys another 10 seconds at rank 1, but your damage over time effects break it, so fear before you dot.

Mana and downtime

  • Life Tap to full mana, then eat back your health. Casting every point of your damage costs more mana than letting it tick.
  • Keep Demon Armor up from 20.
  • Wand low mobs. Every Shadow Bolt you don't cast is mana you don't tap back.

Stat priority

Leveling

  1. Spell Power
  2. Intellect
  3. Stamina
  4. Spirit

Destruction kills with cast spells instead of damage over time, so it burns through mana faster and Intellect ranks higher here. Stamina and Spirit both feed Life Tap: every point of Spirit adds a point of mana to each tap.

Gear

Wands

In Forever, wands don't scale with Spell Power, so buy on damage per second alone. Enchanters craft four you want:

Armor

Cloth with Spell Power first, then Intellect. Quest rewards beat vendor gear at every level.

Professions

Tailoring and Enchanting is the Warlock pair. Tailoring makes your cloth from 1 to 60 and the Robe of the Void at the end. Enchanting makes every leveling wand from the Lesser Magic Wand at 5 to the Greater Mystic Wand at 30, and Brilliant Wizard Oil at the top of the skill.

For gold, level with Herbalism and Mining or Herbalism and Skinning, then switch at 60 once your gathering has paid for the materials.

Group play and dungeons

  • Curse of the Elements on the boss. If another Warlock has it, use Curse of Recklessness for 505 less armor.
  • Watch threat. Destruction has no threat reduction. Let the tank get a few seconds ahead before your first Conflagrate, and stop casting when you're close to pulling.
  • Area damage: Rain of Fire for packs. Hellfire burns you every second for as much as it deals to each enemy, so use it only when a healer is watching.
  • Bane of Havoc on a second target in two-mob pulls. Your single-target damage cleaves for 15%.
  • Crowd control: Banish on a Demon or Elemental, Fear on anything else. Banish makes its target immune to damage, so it holds through your area spells. Fear breaks on damage, so keep Rain of Fire away from the feared mob.
  • Healthstones, a Soulstone and summons before the first pull, as every Warlock does.

PvP

Destruction plays like a burst caster that doesn't fold. Molten Skin cuts every hit by 10%, Intensity keeps your casts going, and Conflagrate slows whoever you're burning.

  • Open from range. Immolate and Conflagrate are one cast and one instant, and the daze makes melee chase you for 5 seconds.
  • Shadowburn refunds its shard. It needs a shard to cast, and Shadow and Flame refunds it every time, so use it on cooldown for the 10% Fire buff and as your finisher.
  • Spell Lock the healer before you burst their target.
  • In Darkspear Island, the new 15-player battleground, stay behind your front line and use Bane of Havoc on the enemy healer while you burn the player they're healing.

Tips

Immolate is your whole rotation

Conflagrate needs Immolate, and Incinerate deals 25% more with it. At 5/5 Shadow and Flame, Conflagrate leaves Immolate in place, so refresh it only when it runs out.

Your pet cancels your sacrifice

Without Demonic Pact, summoning any demon cancels Demonic Sacrifice. After a wipe, resummon the Sayaad and sacrifice it again before the pull. Fel Domination makes that fast.

Train Conflagrate and Incinerate. The talents give rank 1. Trainers teach Conflagrate at 32, 40, 48, 54 and 60, and Incinerate at 50 and 60.

Shadowburn needs a shard to cast. Shadow and Flame refunds it at once, but you need one in your bags to press the button.

Searing Pain is your Decimation key. In the raid build, a single Searing Pain on a target below 35% health opens 10 seconds of fast, free Soul Fires.

Firestone and Spellstone are weapon enchants now. Each costs a Soul Shard to create, and goes on your weapon the way an oil does, so pick a stone or an oil for each fight.

Macros

Immolate on the first press, Conflagrate on the second. It starts over when you change target.

Immolate into Conflagrate
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=target Immolate, Conflagrate

Wand macro that never cancels itself.

Wand
#showtooltip Shoot
/cast !Shoot

Bane of Havoc on your focus target, so you can keep your target on the boss.

Focus Havoc
#showtooltip Bane of Havoc
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Bane of Havoc

Spell Lock your focus, or your target, stopping your own cast first.

Stop and Spell Lock
#showtooltip Spell Lock
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Spell Lock

Death Coil that stops your current cast, for the moment a Rogue opens on you.

Stop and Death Coil
#showtooltip Death Coil
/stopcasting
/cast Death Coil

Changelog

  • Guide published with Level 30, Level 60 Raid and Level 60 PvP builds.
  • Corrected the Darkspear Island battleground name; refreshed the page summary.

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