WoW 10.2 Demonology Warlock Guide
Last modified 4 months ago
Tier Sets
2-Piece
(2) Demonbolt applies a Doom Brand that explodes after 20 seconds, dealing (107 percent Spell Power) Shadow damage to nearby enemies. Hand of Gul’dan reduces the duration of your Doom Brands by 1 second per Soul Shard.
4-Piece
(4) When Doom Brand explodes, you have a chance to summon a Doomfiend that casts 5 Doom Bolt Volleys before departing. Each Doom Bolt Volley deals Shadow damage to up to 4 enemies. When Doom Brand explodes, you have a chance to summon a Doomfiend that casts 5 Doom Bolt Volleys before departing. Each Doom Bolt Volley deals Shadow damage to up to 4 enemies.
Talent Builds
Trinkets
Belor'relos, the Suncaller
Best in Slot Trinket. Does a large amount of damage when used and is worthwhile on both Single Target and AOE.
Nymue's Unraveling Spindle
Other Best in Slot Trinket. Hybrid Stat and Damage based effect which should be paired with your cooldown, whenever possible.
Balefire Branch
A strong, stat based on-use trinket that drops from Waycrest Manor. While not as good as Nymue's, it is a decent alternative.
Mirror of Fractured Tomorrows
Another strong, stat based on-use trinket that drops from Dawn of the Infinite. While not as good as Nymue's, it is a decent alternative.
Stat Weights
Intellect>Versatility=Critical Strike>Haste>Mastery
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.
Phial - Corrupting Rage
This is your best, all around option outside of niche settings.
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 - Watcher's Loam
Rings - Devotion of Versatility
Radiant Malygite - Versatility/Critical Strike
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 Opener
1. Precast Power Siphon
2. Shadowbolt
3. Belor'relos (if playing Trinket, may vary based on kill time)
4. Grimoire: Felguard
5. Call Dreadstalkers
6. Demonbolt
7. Hand of Guldan
8. Demonbolt
9. Hand of Guldan
10. Shadowbolt x2
11. Hand of Guldan
12. Summon Demonic Tyrant
13. 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.
Filler Rotation and Implosion
Outside of your Tyrant setup, Demonology's rotation is very simple. You want to cast Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown while also casting 3 shard Hand of Gul'dan's in the meantime. You will never hard cast Demonbolt outside of your opener. All other Demonbolt casts will be through Demonic Core procs.
1. Playing the "Naked" version of Demonology, you typically hold every Demonic Tyrant for your Grimoire: Felguard cooldown, which is two minutes.
2. Leave Soul Strike on auto-cast.
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