WoW 10.1.5 Demonology Warlock Guide

Last modified 2 months ago
Tier Sets
2-Piece
(2) Demonbolt damage increased 15%. Consuming a Demonic Core reduces the cooldown of Grimoire: Felguard by 1 second.
Raiding: A
Mythic +: A
4-Piece
(4) Grimoire: Felguard deals 40% additional damage and empowers your active demons, increasing their damage done by 20% while active.
Raiding: A
Mythic +: A
Talent Builds



Currently, it appears that you will likely want to play RoT in settings that are more Single Target based and Grand Warlock's Design in AOE/Hybrid settings, like M+. For a more detailed explanation/builds, check the Mythic + and Vault sections.
Trinkets



Neltharion's Call to Dominance
A "rare" equip based trinket that grants you a large amount of Intellect whenever you cast your Demonic Tyrant. This is your best equip based trinket option by a wide margin.
Irideus Fragment
3 minute on use trinket that provides a large amount of Intellect,. which decays over the trinkets duration. Pairs very well with your Nether Portal/Pit Lord and is you best on-use option.
Ominous Chromatic Essence
Strong equip based trinket that provides passive Intellect and a secondary shat of your choosing. Also gains shared value from raid members who are using different secondary stats.
Stat Weights
Intellect>Haste>Mastery>Critical Strike=Versatility
It is VERY important to note that this is a rough outline of desired secondary stats. Stat weights will vary from player to player due to varying gear sets and other external factors. The best way to tell what your own stat weights are is a raidbots.com Top Gear sim with Gems and Enchants taken into account. If you don't want to do that then you can just follow this.
Gear, Consumables and Enchants
Consumables




Personal - Timely Demise
Raid - Grand Banquet of the Kalu'ak
While Feasts are better in every sense they are also very expensive to craft and typically not used outside of raiding.
Potion - Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power
This is your best option however each potion costs 1 Primal Chaos.
Weapon - Howling Rune
Howling Runes grant you Haste when consumed, similar to Weapons Oils from Shadowlands.
Enchants and Gems



Weapon - Sophic Devotion
Cloak - Graceful Avoidance
Chest - Waking Stats
Bracers - Devotion of Avoidance
Legs - Frozen Spellthread
Boots - Plainsrunner's Breeze
Rings - Devotion of Haste
Quick Ysemerald - Pure Haste
Keen Ysemerald - Major Haste/Minor Mastery
Rotation
The openers and rotations listed below are what you want to follow in a normal opener and setting. At times these may change due to fight mechanics or needing to hold CDs.
Single Target Nether Portal Opener
1. Precast Power Siphon (if playing Inner Demons)
2. Shadowbolt x2
3. Nether Portal
4. Soulburn
5. Grimoire: Felguard
6. Summon Vilefiend (If talented)
7. Demonbolt (Demonic Core)
8. Call Dreadstalkers
9. Hand of Guldan
10. Demonbolt
11. Hand of Guldan (Trinkets, Potions and Racials)
12. Summon Demonic Tyrant
13. Hand of Guldan
14. Hand of Guldan
15. Demonic Strength
Resume normal maintenance rotation
AOE/Mythic +
1. Build to 5 shards
2. Grimoire: Felguard
3. Shadowbolt/Soul Strike
4. Call Dreadstalkers
5. Build to 5 shards
6. Hand of Guldan
7. Shadowbolt
8. Hand of Guldan
9. Hand of Guldan (if shards remaining)
10. Summon Demonic Tyrant
11. Demonic Strength
*Number of Imps will vary based off Demonic Core and Calling procs. For a more detailed breakdown see below. A video guide is also provided.
It is important to react to Demonic Calling or Demonic Core procs in your setup properly (in place of 2x Shadow Bolts for example) which net you more imps. Depending on Haste levels and procs you are often able to squeeze in more than 6 imps in your Tyrant setup. You mid-combat Tyrants will also have more than 6 imps due to banking Demonic Core procs and at times Demonic Calling.
Single Target No Nether Portal Opener
1. Precast Power Siphon (if playing Inner Demons)
2. Shadowbolt x2
3. Grimoire: Felguard
4. Shadowbolt
5. Summon Vilefiend
6. Shadow Bolt
7. Call Dreadstalkers
8. Demonbolt (Demonic Core)
9. Hand of Guldan
10. Demonbolt (Demonic Core)
11. Hand of Guldan
12. Potential Hand of Guldan
13. Summon Demonic Tyrant
14. Demonic Strength
Filler Rotation and Implosion
Outside of your Nether Portal/Tyrant setup, Demonology's rotation is very simple. You want to cast Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown 3 shard Hand of Gul'dan's. You will never hard cast Demonbolt outside of your opener. All other Demonbolt casts will be through Demonic Core procs.
1. While playing grand Warlocks Design, you will hold every Vilefiend for every Tyrant cast.
2. Every other Tyrant cast will also have Grimoire: Felguard accompanying your Vilefiend.
When it comes to Implosion, it is a DPS gain in 2+ stacked targets. Due the the new talent Imp-Gang Boss, your cue to implode is based on when your Imp Gang boss Imps are about to expire. A Weak Aura that tracks then is recommended for this purpose if you aren't familiar with the flow of Demonology. One can be found in my Wago which was designed by Rhaki! https://wago.io/dYFizjF17