Demonology Warlock Mythic+ Guide
Demonology Warlock Mythic+ Guide
11.0.5 - The War Within
Welcome to the Demonology Warlock Mythic+ guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0.5! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Demonology Warlock
Demonology WarlockMythic+
Hero Talents
Demonology Warlock
- Diabolist and Soul Harvester perform similarly in both single-target and AoE. With Diabolist your burst damage through Summon Demonic Tyrant becomes a lot stronger and Soul Harvester emphasizes Implosion and AoE damage.
- Since both Hero Talents are extremely close in performance Diabolist is the recommended pick as it has a lot less variance in damage and is less punishing if you make mistakes.
Diabolist
Soul Harvester
- Spending a Soul Shard starts a cycle of one of 3 different Diabolic Rituals.
- Diabolic Ritual: Overlord
- Diabolic Ritual: Mother of Chaos
- Diabolic Ritual: Pit Lord
- Starts on 1. again.
- Only 1 Diabolic Ritual can be up at a time and each turns into their respective Demonic Art after it expires which is triggered after you spend your next Soul Shard:
- Demonic Art: Overlord
- A Fel Lord jumps at your target and applies Cloven Soul for 15 seconds.
- Demonic Art:Mother of Chaos
- Deals damage to your target and turns your next Shadow Bolt into Infernal Bolt which generates 3 Soul Shards.
- Demonic Art: Pit Lord
- Summons a Pit Lord that attacks your target with Felseeker and turns your next Hand of Gul'dan into Ruination which summons 3 Wild Imps at a 0 Soul Shard cost.
- Demonic Art: Overlord
- Your Summon Demonic Tyrant windows become a lot more important with Abyssal Dominion.
- Succulent Souls empower your Hand of Gul'dan and makes it apply Soul Anathema.
- Succulent Soul
- Every time you generate a Soul Shard it has a chance to give you a Succulent Soul.
- Summon Demonic Tyrant grants you 3 Soul Shards and 3 Succulent Souls.
- Soul Anathema
- Hand of Gul'dan applies Soul Anathema to all targets hit.
- Consuming a Demonic Core applies Soul Anathema to your current target.
- Shared Fate
- When you consume a Demonic Core your target gets afflicted by Shared Fate.
- During AoE scenarios it's important to never cast Demonbolts on targets that are too far away to benefit from Shared Fate AoE damage.
- Sataiel's Volition
- Combined with Demoniac you now have a 15% chance per Wild Imp to receive Demonic Core after casting Implosion.
- Make sure to be on a low amount of Demonic Core stacks before casting Implosion.
- Succulent Soul
Talents
Demonology Warlock
Diabolist Mythic+ Build
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Call Dreadstalkers
- One of your key abilities which is enhanced by a multitude of talents.
- Dreadlash makes your Call Dreadstalkers deal AoE damage.
- Wicked Maw empowers other damaging spells like Implosion.
- Carnivorous Stalkers significantly increases the uptime of Wicked Maw.
- Demonic Calling allows you to cast Call Dreadstalkers for free and without a cast time.
- Implosion
- One of the main tools to deal AoE damage, it does increased damage scaling linearly with the amount of Wild Imps.
- The main difference between single-target & AoE rotation is Implosion usage.
- Demonic Strength
- Strong AoE burst cooldown which requires no setup time unlike Implosion and Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Power Siphon
- Significantly boosts your influx of Demonic Cores.
- Make sure to always have 2+ Wild Imp before you use it.
- Fel Invocation
- Makes your Soul Strike generate 1 Soul Shard, keep this in mind to prevent overcapping.
- Summon Demonic Tyrant
- Main cooldown for Demonology, synergizes with the majority of spells within the spec.
- Reign of Tyranny enables you to empower 5 additional Wild Imps.
- Summon Vilefiend
- One of your key demons to empower with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Mark of F'harg makes your Summon Vilefiend deal very high AoE damage in addition to the already great single-target.
- Doom
- Demonbolt leaves a strong DoT which also spawns a Wild Imp when it expires.
- This talent emphasizes swapping targets between each Demonbolt.
Class Tree
- Curses of Enfeeblement
- Gives you access to Curse of Tongues and Curse of Exhaustion which both have many different use cases.
- Get in the habit of applying curses when you are forced to move without any Demonic Cores available.
- Soulburn
- Enhances multiple utility spells, mainly used together with Demonic Circle: Teleport, Healthstone, Demonic Gateway and Drain Life.
- Sweet Souls
- Only works if other people use the Healthstones that you created.
- Soul Conduit
- Sometimes alters your cast sequence by refunding Soul Shards.
- Pact of Gluttony
- Massive for survivability since it alters your Demonic Healthstone to be usable multiple times per combat.
Hero Talents
- Soul-Etched Circles
- Your default pick since you rarely use Howl of Terror.
- Cruelty of Kerxan
- Outperforms Infernal Machine.
- Infernal Bulwark
- An additional absorb is usually better in most scenarios.
- Good to pair with Dark Accord and Resolute Barrier for more frequent uses.
Rotation
Demonology Warlock
Tier Set
- 2-Set: Your primary demon deals 5% increased damage, and your Shadow Bolt damage is increased by 50%.
- 4-Set: Shadow Bolt has a chance to enrage your primary Felguard, increasing the damage of their next Legion Strike by 300%.
Single-Target
Diabolist
Soul Harvester
Opener
Soul Strike and Felstorm are assumed to be on autocast and are therefore not included in any Openers & Priority Lists.
- The goal of your opener is to empower and extend Call Dreadstalkers, Summon Vilefiend and as many Wild Imps as possible with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks like using the recommended Diabolist Mythic+ Build and depending on the number of Soul Conduit procs, among other factors.
- Pre-cast Power Siphon when you have 2 Wild Imps ideally with 8-10 seconds left on the pull timer / until combat.
- Use your active trinkets, Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking in combination with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Cast Summon Vilefiend and Call Dreadstalkers before Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Cast Summon Vilefiend on cooldown.
- Cast Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown.
- Cast Demonic Strength after Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Cast Power Siphon when you have 2 or less Demonic Core stacks and 2+ Wild Imps.
- Cast Ruination if Ruination is up.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan if you are about to overcap on Soul Shards.
- Cast Infernal Bolt if you are below 3 Soul Shards and Infernal Bolt is up.
- Cast Demonbolt if you have 2+ stacks of Demonic Core.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan with 3 Soul Shards.
- Cast Shadow Bolt to generate Soul Shards.
Opener
Soul Strike and Felstorm are assumed to be on autocast and are therefore not included in any Openers & Priority Lists.
- The goal of your opener is to empower and extend Call Dreadstalkers, Summon Vilefiend and as many Wild Imps as possible with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks like using the recommended Diabolist Mythic+ Build and depending on the number of Soul Conduit procs, among other factors.
- Pre-cast Power Siphon when you have 2 Wild Imps ideally with 8-10 seconds left on the pull timer / until combat.
- Use your active trinkets, Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking in combination with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Cast Summon Vilefiend and Call Dreadstalkers before Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Cast Summon Vilefiend on cooldown.
- Cast Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown.
- Cast Demonic Strength after Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Cast Power Siphon when you have 2 or less Demonic Core stacks and 2+ Wild Imps.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan if you are about to overcap on Soul Shards.
- Cast Demonbolt if you have 2+ stacks of Demonic Core.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan with 3 Soul Shards.
- Cast Shadow Bolt to generate Soul Shards.
AoE
Diabolist
Soul Harvester
Opener
- Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks like using the recommended Diabolist Mythic+ Build and depending on the number of Soul Conduit procs, among other factors.
- Pre-cast Power Siphon when you have 2 Wild Imps and ideally 8-10 seconds left on the pulltimer / until combat.
- Use your active trinkets, Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking in combination with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
Priority List
- Cast Summon Vilefiend and Call Dreadstalkers before Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Cast Summon Vilefiend on cooldown.
- Cast Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown.
- Cast Demonic Strength on cooldown.
- Cast Power Siphon when you have 2 or less Demonic Core stacks and 2+ Wild Imps.
- Cast Ruination if Ruination is up.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan if you are about to overcap on Soul Shards.
- Cast Infernal Bolt if you are below 3 Soul Shards and Infernal Bolt is up.
- Cast Demonbolt if you have 2+ stacks of Demonic Core.
- Cast Implosion on 2+ targets with 6+ Wild Imps.
- Cast Power Siphon when you have 2 or less Demonic Core stacks.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan with 3 Soul Shards.
- Cast Shadow Bolt to generate Soul Shards.
Opener
- Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks like using the recommended Diabolist Mythic+ Build and depending on the number of Soul Conduit procs, among other factors.
- Pre-cast Power Siphon when you have 2 Wild Imps and ideally 8-10 seconds left on the pulltimer / until combat.
- Use your active trinkets, Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking in combination with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
Priority List
- Cast Summon Vilefiend and Call Dreadstalkers before Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- Cast Summon Vilefiend on cooldown.
- Cast Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown.
- Cast Demonic Strength on cooldown.
- Cast Power Siphon when you have 2 or less Demonic Core stacks and 2+ Wild Imps.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan if you are about to overcap on Soul Shards.
- Cast Demonbolt if you have 2+ stacks of Demonic Core.
- Cast Implosion on 2+ targets with 6+ Wild Imps.
- Cast Power Siphon when you have 2 or less Demonic Core stacks.
- Cast Hand of Gul'dan with 3 Soul Shards.
- Cast Shadow Bolt to generate Soul Shards.
Deep Dive
Demonology Warlock
Implosion Cycles
Implosion is a unique spell, making it potentially confusing. Here are some tips and tricks:
- Best Usage:
- For maximum damage use Implosion with at least 6 Wild Imps.
- Always use Implosion when targets have the Wicked Maw debuff.
- You sometimes need to use Implosion without this debuff due to low amount of Carnivorous Stalkers procs.
- During Demonic Tyrant:
- For maximum uptime of empowered Wild Imps you should avoid using Implosion until the end of Demonic Tyrants duration.
- If most targets die before Demonic Tyrant expires, use Implosion earlier.
- If you have 10+ Wild Imps that expire soon, use Implosion earlier.
Execution
For an ideal Implosion cycle, ensure you have at least 2 Demonic Cores. After casting the last Hand of Gul'dan, wait for the Wild Imps to spawn or use a filler global before casting Implosion.
When you don't have the luxury of having 2+ Demonic Cores you have to settle for 2 Hand of Gul'dans between each Implosion.
Felguard Priority List
Your Felguard has these four key spells:
- Demonic Strength
- Felstorm
- Guillotine
- Soul Strike
When your Felguard is casting Felstorm, Demonic Strength, or Guillotine, it cannot cast the other two until the current spell's duration ends. This creates a priority list for these three spells to optimize damage, applicable in both single and multi-target scenarios:
- Cast Felstorm
- Cast Demonic Strength
- Cast Guillotine
Soul Strike is not included in this list because it can be cast during the effects of the other spells. Note that Soul Strike generates 1 Soul Shard, so plan accordingly to avoid overcapping.
Minmaxing Doom and Pact of the Ered'ruin
When Doom expires you have a chance to spawn a Doomguard. This talent combination gives you a few important things to keep in mind to maximize your damage output.
- Single-target
- To ensure maximum uptime of Doom it is beneficial to keep at least 1 Demonic Core in the backpocket to avoid periods of downtime on Doom.
- While doing this it's important to not overcap on Demonic Cores as the maximum amount of charges is 4.
- Multi-target
- When facing multiple targets, prioritize applying Doom to different targets for a higher chance of spawning a Doomguard. During large pulls, tab between each Demonbolt to cycle through targets.
- Even if a target dies before Doom expires, it can still spawn a Doomguard, which is beneficial for boss damage in add-heavy fights.
Demonic Tyrant Mechanics
Your Demonic Tyrant is a so called Guardian pet that works a bit differently compared to your primary pet called Felguard that is a combat pet. Demonic Tyrant targets whatever your Felguard targets.
Guardian Pet Stat Update
Demonic Tyrant like many other Guardians does update dynamically with stat increases such as haste but sometimes does so very slowly.
Time Warp is cast at 0:02 but your Demonic Tyrant doesn't update his haste until 0:04. The same applies to all stats and damage increases.
This is just an example of an inconsistent mechanic and might not be accurate in every scenario!
Extending Duration of Wild Imps
- Whenever you cast Demonic Tyrant it extends the duration of any active demon by 15 seconds. This does not work for Diabolist demons or Doomguard.
- However, Wild Imps that are spawned after Demonic Tyrant still get their duration extended for as long as your Demonic Tyrant is up for. This works for a maximum of 10 Wild Imps, 15 with Reign of Tyranny.
- Technically Wild Imps don't get extended, they just don't consume their Energy.
Reign of Tyranny Snapshot
The amount of % damage increase your Demonic Tyrant gets from Reign of Tyranny is calculated when your Demonic Tyrant spawns and does not change for the entirety of its duration even if you spawn more demons.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Dungeons
Demonology Warlock
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Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
City of Threads
The Stonevault
The Dawnbreaker
Mists of Tirna Scithe
The Necrotic Wake
Siege of Boralus
Grim Batol
Boss Tips
Avanoxx
- Use Dark Pact on Alerting Shrill.
- This mechanic has around a 40-second cooldown which means that you can pre-use Dark Pact by a few seconds and cover almost all of them thanks to Frequent Donor.
- Avoid kiting Starved Crawlers into the boss else the boss receives Insatiable.
- Use Shadowfury to keep them stacked.
- Make sure to press pet attack on them instantly when they spawn.
- You can freely use Axe Toss on them as there's nothing to interrupt during this boss.
- Utilize Demonic Gateway or Demonic Circle to bait Gossamer Onslaught on the edge of the platform or a pre-determined stack up location.
Anub'zekt
- Pre-place Demonic Circle to quickly teleport away when you're targeted by Burrow Charge.
- Kill Bloodstained Webmages fast and interrupt Silken Restraints.
- Use pet attack on these adds to ensure that you cleave both the boss and the adds as their hitbox is very small.
Ki'katal the Harvester
- Use defensive while you're affected by Cultivated Poisons since it hits like a truck!
- When you're affected by Grasping Blood you can use any form of crowd control instead of killing it to cancel your root.
- Axe Toss is the recommended spell to use to save a GCD.
- Cosmic Singularity can also be avoided by utilizing a pre-placed Demonic Circle and using it at the last 0.7 seconds of the cast.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Trilling Attendant - Resonant Barrage
- Ixin - Horrifying Shrill
- Bloodstained Webmage - Revolting Volley
- Blood Overseer - Venom Volley
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Sentry Stagshell - Alarm Shrill
- A really long cast that needs to get disrupted.
- Nerubian Hauler and Hulking Bloodguard - Massive Slam
- A short stun that ramps in damage done per cast.
- Sentry Stagshell - Alarm Shrill
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Boss Tips
Orator Krix'vizk
- Use your defensives during Vociferous Indoctrination.
- You have Dark Pact for every 2nd one.
- Burning Rush helps you dodge Terrorize.
Fangs of the Queen
- Watch out for Knife Throw. Use defensives if you're targeted by this ability.
- You can dispel Ice Sickles with Soulburn: Demonic Circle.
- Make sure to position close to the boss at all times to maximize cleave uptime, the bosses jump around a lot based on player positions with Shadow Shunpo and Synergic Step.
- Be careful of Dark Paranoia while stacking with the group.
The Coaglamation
- Start the fight at max range and move forward after soaking Black Blood.
- Use Unending Resolve for Dark Pulse. This happens at 100 boss energy.
- Use Dark Pact for as many Viscous Darkness casts as possible.
Izo, the Grand Splicer
- It is recommended to play this fight somewhat stacked as a group to easier handle the Shifting Anomalies relocations.
- Umbral Weave lines up well with Summon Vilefiend which enables you to break everyone out quickly.
- Very important to stay somewhat stacked with the group for this mechanic.
- Use your defensives for Splice since it's the highest damage event during this fight.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Sureki Silkbinder - Silk Binding
- Herald of Ansurek - Twist Thoughts
- Casts quite frequently, good target for Curse of Tongues.
- Covert Webmancer - Mending Web
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Royal Venomshell - Venomous Spray
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Boss Tips
E.D.N.A.
- Always stack up to spawn Volatile Spikes close together to ensure you can detonate them all with 1 Refracting Beam.
- Use Dark Pact whenever it's ready for this ability.
- Use Unending Resolve for Earth Shatterer.
Skarmorak
- Use your defensives before Unstable Crash happens.
- You can pick up one stack of Unstable Energy on the first wave and then extend it on the next wave.
- Warlock's strong passive sustain comes in handy for this mechanic allowing you to hold multiple stacks with ease.
Master Machinists Brokk and Dorlita
- If you have no other range kick you should pet attack on Speaker Brokk to quickly interrupt Molten Metal with Axe Toss whenever he jumps away.
- Use your defensive during Exhaust Vents and Blazing Crescendo.
- There is a dangerous overlap later into the fight where Exhaust Vents and Blazing Crescendo are cast in quick succession.
- Having a pre-placed Demonic Circle on the opposite side of the room can be life saving for this overlap.
Void Speaker Eirich
- Place your Demonic Circle in the middle of the room to quickly teleport back after dropping Entropy from Entropic Reckoning.
- Use your defensive on Entropic Reckoning.
- Sometimes one player has to wait for new Void Rifts to spawn before they can clear Void Corruption, Warlock is a good candidate for this as you are quite tanky.
- Keep in mind that Void Corruption damage ramps up over time.
- Unbridled Void becomes very hard to dodge if you are far away from the boss, this is another great use-case for Demonic Circle.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Ghastly Voidsoul - Howling Fear
- Turned Speaker - Censoring Gear
- Void Bound Howler - Piercing Wail
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Void Bound Despoiler - Void Storm
- Forge Loader - Molten Mortar
- Rock Smasher - Smash Rock
- Very dangerous to pull more than one of these mobs at the time as the debuffs stacks up damage.
- Cursedforge Honor Guard - Shield Stampede
- Cursedforge Stoneshaper - Earth Burst Totem
- Earth Burst Totem casts Earth Burst which needs to be killed before it goes off.
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Boss Tips
Speaker Shadowcrown
- Do not try to Demonic Circle: Teleport over a Obsidian Beam. It still applies the dot to you which deals a ton of damage.
- Consider using a defensive if you're affected by Collapsing Night. Getting out of this quickly is important since it deals a lot of damage every 0.5 seconds.
- Highly recommended to pre-move slightly before the debuff expires as this mechanic is very deadly.
- Curse of Tongues is great on this boss to reduce the amount of Shadow Bolt casts.
- Summon Vilefiend is currently bugged on this boss and gets instantly killed by Obsidian Beam, try to use it whenever this mechanic doesn't happen.
Anub'ikkaj
- Prepare a Demonic Circle to quickly teleport back after moving out to position the Dark Orb path.
- Stun Animate Shadows with Shadowfury.
- Use defensives when you are affected by Shadowy Decay.
- Extra dangerous if Dark Orb explodes during the debuff.
Rasha'nan
- Pre-place a Demonic Circle close to the boss to quickly deliver Arathi Bombs.
- Be aware of Erosive Spray. It applies Lingering Erosion which is dangerous when combined with other damage events.
- During Phase 2 you can mitigate a lot of damage by pre-placing a Demonic Circle in the middle of your playing area to quickly teleport after dropping your Spinneret's Strands.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Nightfall Shadowmage - Night Bolt
- Nightfall Shadowmage - Ensnaring Shadows
- Nightfall Darkcaster - Tormenting Beam
- Nightfall Commander - Abyssal Howl
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Nightfall Dark Architect - Usher Reinforcements
- Anub'ikkaj and Deathscreamer Iken'tak - Dark Orb
- Anub'ikkaj and Ascendant Vis'coxria - Shadowy Decay
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Boss Tips
Ingra Maloch
- Interrupt Spirit Bolt every time a non-tank player is targeted. Because you can interrupt with your pet while crowd-controlled, you should hold your Axe Toss for whenever everybody is affected by Repulsive Visage.
- Apply Curse of Tongues to Ingra Maloch if you don't have enough interrupts or the coordination is lacking.
- Make sure that there are no Tears of the Forest behind you when Repulsive Visage is about to happen as you might get feared through them.
- Try to line up your cooldowns with Droman Oulfarran's Droman's Wrath to gain a huge DPS boost. This happens when Droman Oulfarran reaches 20% health.
Mistcaller
- Fear the Illusionary Vulpins to prevent them from reaching their target.
- If your group is not crowd-controlling the Illusionary Vulpins use Axe Toss on them.
- Use your defensives during the Guessing Game.
Tred'ova
- Demonic Gateway and Demonic Circle help you and your group break Mind Link quickly.
- Use pet attack on the Glooming Larvas that spawn from Accelerated Incubation when they are close to melee to ensure that they are getting cleaved.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Drust Harvester - Spirit Bolt
- Drust Harvester - Harvest Essence
- Mistveil Tender - Nourish the Forest
- Mistveil Shaper - Bramblethorn Coat
- If you don't have enough interrupts you can let this cast go off and then purge it fast before the absorb gets consumed.
- Spinemaw Staghorn - Stimulate Resistance
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Drust Spiteclaw - Dying Breath
- This debuffs enemies as well as players.
- Tirnenn Villager - Overgrowth
- Good cast to Shadowmeld to avoid the stun.
- Drust Boughbreaker - Furious Thrashing
- Triggers at 50% HP of the Drust Boughbreaker.
- Mistveil Defender - Mist Ward
- Big zone to move the enemies out of.
- Mistveil Stalker - Mistveil Bite
- Dangerous to pull multiple of these mobs as they can combo one person.
- Mistveil Stinger - Anima Injection
- Potential combo with Acid Nova.
- Spinemaw Staghorn - Acid Nova
- Very dangerous to pull multiple Spinemaw Staghorn at the same time as multiple stacks of Acid Nova is a death sentence.
- Drust Spiteclaw - Dying Breath
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Boss Tips
Blightbone
- Dark Pact if you're targeted by Heaving Retch.
- Always use Shadowfury on Carrion Worms.
- Make sure to pet attack the Carrion Worms to ensure they are getting cleaved.
- Freely use Axe Toss on any Carrion Worms as there's nothing to interrupt on this boss.
Amarth, The Harvester
- Cast Curse of Tongues on the boss to relieve the pressure from Necrotic Bolts. These are cast very frequently and some interrupts might be needed for Reanimated Mages.
- Fear either the Reanimated Crossbowman or Reanimated Mage if you're not planning on killing them quickly.
- If any adds are still alive during Final Harvest, use Shadowfury, Axe Toss, or Mortal Coil to crowd-control them. With them crowd-controlled, the boss doesn't cast Final Harvest even though an add is alive.
Surgeon Stitchflesh
- Place Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway towards Surgeon Stitchflesh's platform to easily line up Meat Hooks throughout the fight.
- Use your defensives when you get affected by Stitchneedle.
Nalthor the Rimebinder
- Using Soulburn: Demonic Circle or Demonic Circle: Teleport while talented into Soul-Etched Circles allows you to immune the Frozen Binds.
- Set up a Demonic Gateway for players to use right before they get hit by the Dark Exile projectile.
- Do note that you still die after 50 seconds after doing this. It's a gain if the boss has low health or you have multiple combat resurrections to spare.
- Don't do it if you have 0 combat resurrections ready!
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Corpse Harvester and Corpse Collector - Drain Fluids
- Skeletal Marauder - Rasping Scream.
- Reanimted Mage - Frostbolt Volley.
- Corpse Collector - Goresplatter.
- Flesh Crafter - Repair Flesh.
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Zolramus Necromancer - Grim Fate
- Skeletal Marauder - Gruesome Cleave
- Fast frontal cast.
- Zolramus Sorcerer - Shadow Well
- Placed under a random player, very hard to see and quite deadly.
- Flesh Crafter - Throw Cleaver
- This spell also does damage to enemies and should be aimed at any enemy to deal extra damage.
- Help with this by positioning the mobs in front of the Flesh Crafter.
- This spell also does damage to enemies and should be aimed at any enemy to deal extra damage.
- Loyal Creation - Spine Crush
- A big circle cast that can't be disrupted as it recasts until the cast is finished once.
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Boss Tips
Chopper Redhook
- Line up your cooldowns with the boss walking over Bombs which afflict him with Heavy Ordnance.
- Demonic Circle helps you kite the boss into Bombs.
Dread Captain Lockwood
- Focus down the Ashvane Cannoneer during the phase change to quickly use Unstable Ordnance to get the boss down from the ship.
- If your group has no other slow for Evasive then you can use Curse of Exhaustion.
Hadal Darkfathom
- If you can't find a safe spot for Tidal Surge you can also use Demonic Circle to jump over the waves.
- Pre-placing a Demonic Circle on the statue in the middle can help you get out of tricky situations.
Viq'Goth
- Always send your pets to attack the Demolishing Terrors if they are up.
- If your tank gets knocked away by Putrid Waters then your pets prevent Hull Cracker from being cast.
- You can utilize Demonic Gateway to cross the water faster between the phases.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Irontide Waveshaper - Brackish Bolt
- Irontide Waveshaper - Watertight Shell
- Can also be purged before the absorb gets consumed.
- Bilge Rat Tempest - Water Bolt
- Ashvane Commander - Bolstering Shout
- Bilge Rat Tempest - Choking Waters
- Bilge Rat Pillager - Stinky Vomit
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Scrimshaw Enforcer - Slobber Knocker
- Casted frontal cone that is hard to see.
- Irontide Raider - Iron Hook into Savage Tempest
- Blacktar Bomber - Fire Bomb
- Ashvane Commander - Azerite Charge
- Irontide Powdershot - Molten Slug
- Ashvane Spotter - Sighted Artillery
- Bilge Rat Demolisher - Crushing Slam
- Scrimshaw Enforcer - Slobber Knocker
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Boss Tips
General Umbriss
- Demonic Circle and Burning Rush help you dodge Shadowflame Breath from Commanding Roar.
- Use Dark Pact before Commanding Roar.
- Try to place Rumbling Earth on the edges of the room.
Forgemaster Throngus
- Use Dark Pact during Blistering Heat.
- Move with the boss as much as possible whenever you're using a Demonic Core to not fall behind when the boss covers the room with Molten Pools.
Drahga Shadowburner
- Use Dark Pact during Twilight Buffet.
- Use Axe Toss on Shadowflame Spirits to prevent them from reaching the player who is fixated.
Erudax, the Duke of Below
- Use defensives during Abyssal Corruption and Void Surge.
Dark Pact usage:
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Twilight Earthcaller - Mass Tremor
- Twilight Beguiler - Sear Mind
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Twilight Destroyer - Umbral Wind
- You can LoS this cast.
- Twilight Overseer - Reckless Tactic
- Purge it if needed.
- Molten Giant - Molten Wake
- Twilight Lavabender - Ascension and Dark Eruption
- Ascension triggers at 50% HP and starts pulsing Scorching Heat group damage.
- Faceless Corruptor - Corrupt and Mind Piercer
- Twilight Destroyer - Umbral Wind
Pre Dungeon Start
- Always use Soulstone on the tank/healer before the key starts since it stays active and might come in handy.
- Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affixes
The Affix system got revamped going into The War Within Season 1 retiring most Affixes as well as introducing new kiss-curse ones while also changing on which key level these appear.
- +2 Affixes -- Rotates on a weekly basis
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- +4 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +7 Affix
- Challenger's Peril
- +10 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis, is always the opposite of the +4 Affix
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +12 Affix
- Xal'atath's Guile -- Replaces the +2 Affix
Following you get some useful tips for handling different Mythic+ Affixes as a Demonology Warlock.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Cast Shadowfury on any large stack.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- Make sure to instantly swap all your pets to the Void Emissary when it spawns as the other mobs take reduced damage while it's up.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Burning Rush
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- Consider using Dark Pact so that other people can be prioritized to be dispelled first.
Stat Priority
Demonology Warlock
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Mythic+ dungeons as a Demonology Warlock. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing. The damage of your pets does not heal you thus Leech is a bad tertiary for you since most of your damage is from your pets.
- Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. Makes playing certain mechanics a lot easier.
Gear
Demonology Warlock
Best in Slot
Farmable Alternatives
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Devotee's Discarded Headdress | Rasha'nan |
| Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia | Sikran |
| Shoulder | Hexflame Coven's Altar | Catalyst |
| Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow | Rasha'nan |
| Chest | Hexflame Coven's Ritual Harness | Catalyst |
| Wrist | Consecrated Cuffs | Crafting |
| Gloves | Hexflame Coven's Sleeves | Catalyst |
| Belt | Hexflame Coven's Dormant Eye | Catalyst |
| Legs | Hexflame Coven's Leggings | Catalyst |
| Boots | Tainted Earthshard Walkers | The Stonevault |
| Ring 1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact | Queen Ansurek |
| Ring 2 | Key to the Unseeming | Bloodbound Horror |
| Trinket 1 | Spymaster's Web | The Silken Court |
| Trinket 2 | Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Weapon | Sovereign's Disdain | City of Threads |
| Offhand | Vagabond's Torch | Crafting |
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Intertwiner's Shadowcowl | City of Threads |
| Neck | "Emergency Stop" Keychain | The Stonevault |
| Shoulder | Reanimator's Mantle | The Necrotic Wake |
| Cloak | Swarmcaller's Shroud | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Chest | Arachnofrost Vest | City of Threads |
| Wrist | Vitriolic Veinwoven Wraps | City of Threads |
| Gloves | Tricksprite Gloves | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Belt | Burrower's Cinch | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Legs | Archaic Venomancer's Footwraps | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Boots | Tainted Earthshard Walkers | The Stonevault |
| Ring 1 | Experiment 08752's Band | City of Threads |
| Ring 2 | Devout Zealot's Ring | The Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket 1 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Trinket 2 | Unbound Changeling | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Weapon | Krix'vizk's Speech Rod | City of Threads |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the mythic+ dungeon.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Treacherous Transmitter
- Strong on-use trinket but doesn't line up well with your cooldowns.
- Requires you to jump 3 times, chase an orb or go pick up a transmitter on the ground to receive the buff.
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- On-use damage trinket, this type of trinket usually perform worse during AoE scenarios.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Unbound Changeling
- Great passive stat proc trinket, good in both AoE and single-target.
- Satchel of Misbegotten Minions
- Strong damage proc trinket, good on both AoE and single-target.
Embellishments
- Writhing Armor Banding
- Empowers any Nerubian embellishment by 100%.
- Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension
- Gain a random secondary stat stacking up over time.
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 639 on max item level therefore it's not beneficial to equip crafted items outside of your 2x embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Consumables
Demonology Warlock
- Phials
- Flask of Tempered Swiftness -- maximum DPS.
- Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but more survivability.
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion -- a big burst of healing
- Weapon Oil
- Algari Mana Oil -- default
- Oil of Deep Toxins
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Versatile Ruby
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem color to enhance your Culminating Blasphemite.
- Quick Sapphire
- Deadly Emerald
- Quick Onyx
Enchantments
| Head | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Waist | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Legs | Sunset Spellthread |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Scout's March |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists & Waist.
Races
Demonology Warlock
For min-maxing a Demonology Warlock in Mythic+, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your character. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Stoneform -- Dwarf
- One of the most potent racials in Mythic+ currently and historically.
- Dispels Magic and Bleed debuffs.
- Use-cases:
- Cultivated Poisons, Ki'katal the Harvester (Ara-Kara, City of Echoes)
- Putrid Waters, Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
- Curse of Entropy, Drahga Shadowburner (Grim Batol)
- Shadowmeld -- Night Elf
- Also one of the most potent racials in Mythic+ historically.
- Run past basically any mob and then cast Shadowmeld to make them reset. Even works on mobs that have stealth detection if you get enough distance before you Shadowmeld.
- Blood Fury -- Orc
- Strong racial for damage both because of Command and Blood Fury which lines up with Summon Demonic Tyrant.
- 20% reduced Stun duration on you which can be useful in some Mythic+ dungeons.
- Escape Artist -- Gnome
- Free yourself from roots.
- Rocket Jump -- Goblin
- Do a small jump in the direction your character is facing.
- While you're in the Rocket Jump animation you are placed on a global cooldown until your character lands.
Recommendation
Dwarf and Night Elf abilities have such a big impact on your Mythic+ experience that you need to use either of them if you're serious about pushing keys with your Demonology Warlock.
Macros
Demonology Warlock
Discover recommended macros for Demonology Warlocks during Mythic+ dungeons and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Cursor Macros
Guillotine -- Casts Guillotine on your cursor without confirmation.
#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] GuillotineDemonic Strength / Bilescourge Bombers -- simple macro to have both Demonic Strength & Bilescourge Bombers on the same keybind while also casting Bilescourge Bombers on your cursor without confirmation.
#showtooltip
/cast [known: 267171] Demonic Strength
/cast [@cursor][known: 267211] Bilescourge BombersShadowfury -- Casts Shadowfury on your cursor without confirmation.
#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] ShadowfuryMouseover Macros
Pet Macros
Utility Macros
Addons
Demonology Warlock
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Demonology Warlock, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Mythic+ dungeons to make your life easier.
Addons
WeakAuras
Changes this Patch
Demonology Warlock
Patch 11.0.5
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0
FAQ
Demonology Warlock
Q: Why can't I cast Demonic Strength sometimes?
Credits
Written By: Wolfdisco
Reviewed By: Xerwo