WoW 10.1 Destruction Warlock Guide

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Last modified 25 days ago

Tier Sets

2-Piece

(2) Channel Demonfire bolts, Immolate, and Incinerate have a 20% chance to fire an additional Channel Demonfire bolt. 


Raiding: B-

Mythic +: C



4-Piece

(4) Demonfire bolts increase your Fire damage by 1% for 13 sec, stacking up to 8 times. Gaining a stack does not refresh the duration. Casting Channel Demonfire resets this effect.


Raiding: B

Mythic +: C



Talent Builds

Trinkets

irid b
ominous b
nelths b

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 Infernal and is you best on-use option.

Ominous Chromatic Essence


Strong equip based trinket that provides passive Intellect and a secondary that of your "choosing". Your best equip based trinket option as Destruction.

Neltharion's Call to Dominance


A "rare" equip based trinket that grants you a large amount of Intellect whenever you cast your main, Demon based CD. Not very strong for Destro with Infernal being a 3 minute cooldown. 

Stat Weights

Intellect>Haste>Mastery>=Critical Strike>Versatility


It is VERY important to note that this is a rough outline of desired secondary stats. Your stat weights will be different than others 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

Banquet
Elem chaos
ultiamte power png
Howling Rune

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. 

PhialPhial of Elemental Chaos


This is your best, all around option outside of niche settings.


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.ath.

Enchants and Gems

Enchant
Keen Ysemerald
Fierce Illimited Diamiond

Quick Ysemerald - Pure Haste

Keen Ysemerald - Major Haste/Minor Mastery

Fierce Illimited Diamond - Primary Stat and Haste (1)

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

1. Precast Soulfire (if talented)

2. Summon Infernal (Trinkets, Potions and Racials)

3. Channel Demonfire (if talented)

4. Conflagrate

5. Chaos Bolt

6. Incinerate

7. Chaos Bolt

8. Conflagrate

Resume normal/Madness rotation

*Cast Soulfire/CDF on CD (if talented)

Soulfire applies Immolate and will also have its CD reduced when you are attacking targets below 50% health. Be sure to cast in on CD when in these "execute" settings. 

AOE/Mythic +

1. Cataclysm (if not talented, apply Immolates)

2. Channel Demonfire (if talented)

3. Summon Infernal (Trinkets, Potions and Racials)

4. Rain of Fire

5. Havoc

6. Conflagrate

7. Chaos Bolt/Rain of Fire Spam


Rain of Fire is a DPS gain at 3 or more targets outside of Havoc. It is a DPS gain at 5 or more targets inside a Havoc window. This will determine whether your Havoc is used to build shards via Conflagrate and Incinerate, or to cast Chaos Bolts.


Certain builds will opt for Cataclysm over Inferno and the same can be said for Cry Havoc and Pandemonium. Your shard spending spell will vary in AOE based on the build you have chosen. 

Filler Rotation and Madness of the Az'Aqir Windows

Outside of major CD's Destructions rotation is very simple. You want to maintain Immolate while filling with Conflagrate/Incinerate casts to generate Soul Shards and Chaos Bolt to spend them. A few important things to remember are...


If playing a Madness build


1. Be sure to not overcap on shards, which can be challenging at times during your Infernal window.

2. You want to cast Chaos Bolts in mini "dump windows" which could look something along the lines of


Conflagrate

Chaos Bolt

Incinerate

Chaos Bolt


or 


Chaos Bolt

Channel Demonfire

Chaos Bolt


This ensures you get both the CDR from Madness as well as the damage increase it brings. You typically approach said window by building to 3.5+ shards and then dumping based on Soul Conduit refunds and shard generation. You do not want to Madness buff to drop until you are finished casting Chaos Bolts, and begin building shards once more. 


3. During periods of excessive shard generation or Soul Conduit refunds it is fine to cast multiple Chaos Bolts back to back, to avoid overcapping on shards. 

Havoc Usage

There are a couple different ways to use your Havoc window which depends on the setting you are in. At times it will be used for shard generation to fuel more Rain of Fire casts. If you are looking to use Havoc in a setting where there are two targets, there are a few general guidelines you can follow. 


1. Try to enter the Havoc window with 2.5-3.5 Soul Shards.

2. Apply Immolate to both targets as long as they are going to live for 6+ seconds.

3. Be sure to apply Roaring Blaze (if talented) by Casting Conflagrate ASAP.

4. Be sure to not shard cap and be mindful of shard generation with Conflagrate/Incinerate casts.

10.1 Destruction Video Guide

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