Warlock Talent Points

Affliction Builds

The DoTs Curse of Agony and Corruption are some of the most mana-effective spells available for the Warlock. That is, the amount of damage per mana is higher compared to Direct Damage spells like Shadow Bolt. The Affliction talent tree can improve on these even more.

There is always the issue of the mob dying killed before the full completion of a DoT. This is especially bad for Curse of Agony, that causes more of its damage in the last third of its duration (and is often omitted or Curse of Elements used instead for this reason). If this happens, some mana will be wasted. With practice and depending on conditions, players can decided whether to use fewer DoT's for more mana efficiency or sacrifice some mana to kill enemies faster.

There are also some issues with using DoTs in parties and raids. In particular, many Crowd Control abilities break if the affected creature takes any damage. A mob affected by a DoT spell essentially becomes immune to a significant number of CC measures.

• Generic Affliction (53/0/18)

  • The general deep affliction raiding build. 3 points in suppression and cataclysm to lower the hit needed from items. Only 1 point in eradication because the other 2 points are better spent elsewhere, see explanation here. Spell rotation will be: keep all dots on the target and refresh them just after they have run out, cast haunt whenever it's off cooldwon, cast shadowbolt in between while target is over 25% health, drain soul when target is below 25% health (if all dots are on the target, this will tick for upwards of 9000 damage every 3 sections). If there is no moonkin or unholy death knight in the raid, put up curse of elements, otherwise curse of agony.
  • To adapt this build for normal and heroic instances the points from suppression and cataclysm should be spent somewhere else.
  • Pros: Great damage (on bosses) if played right. Use infernal/doomguard on bossfights for maximum dps.
  • Cons: Damage on trash mobs will be very low. Spell rotation is very complex and hard to keep up if the fights involve more than just standing around. Very little raid support.

• SL-SL with Nether Protection (25/17/29)

  • A flexible PvP build that combines strong DoTs with Dark Pact for mana and Soul Link and Nether Protection for survivability. With the Felhunter Master Demonologist buff nerfed, Nether Protection (now applying to all schools) provides protection from casters. Once the enemy is dotted and feared, watch Molten Core proc and finish with a few Searing Pain crits.

• Heavy Affliction with SL (57/14/0)

  • This build has all the atributes of SL/SL and a lot more damage. This build is specced to put as many affliction effects on the target as possible to give your drain life the maximum possible health gain.

Demonology Builds

The Demonology talent tree and the use of summoned demons are what mainly distinguishes a Warlock from a Mage.

With patch 3.0.2, Demonology became a far more viable building for PvE and PvP. Though, it will still not top the damage meters in a group of even geared players, you most likely will not be the bottom anymore. With the new talents added we are also able buff fellow casting allies the same way a Hunter buffs Melee based allies. In 2v2 Demonology is far more viable as well. With the addition of Metamorphasis and the spells that come with it, you are a force to be reckoned with.

• Metamorphosis/Ruin Raid (0/55/16)

  • This build is based off the damage boost from the Metamorphosis and the typical Shadowbolt spam of a raid lock, the crit bonus from Ruin, and a Felguard or a Succubus for the increased damage from Master Demonologist. You should also opt to have Glyph of Corruption for a Nightfall proc, since there is no better 3rd option.
  • Your spell rotation is going to be CoE, Corruption, Shadowbolt, Shadowbolt, (with optional use of immolate, which helps a lot if you have the tier 7, 2 piece set bonus) etc. Pop Demonic Empowerment whenever you can, as well as using Metamorphosis whenever possible. Time this with +spell damage trinkets if possible. The way Blizzard redesigned the destruction tree you can get all the talents that made shadow locks good in raids early on, except for Devastation. With the spell power bonuses from Demonic Knowledge and Demonic Pact, and damage bonuses from Demonic Empathy, Master Demonologist, and Imp. Shadowbolt, you can hit much harder than a regular pre-WotLK Destro Lock could. And even without all the procs you’ll be able to hit just as hard, with more raid utility since Imp. SB is now a self buff, whereas Demonic Pact is not and is a VERY useful raid buff. It may be worth switching two points from Improved Healthstone to Master Conjourer to gain maximum DPS. Recommended to use Glyph of Felguard, Corruption, and Shadowbolt.

• Fel Guard/Emberstorm (0/41/30)

  • This build is a basic build for PvE or PvP with survivability and Felguard pet for damage and fire/shadow damage from destruction.
  • Fel Guard/Emberstorm RAID (0/41/30)
  • This build is for undergeared players who are beginning heroics and naxx. This build can be used for light pvp and grinding but it shows its real beauty in raiding. Since most gear is haste heavy these days we make up for the low crit by putting talent points in demonic tactics and with haste being so plentiful it should be no problem getting you incinerates down to almost 2 sec. Even a very undergeared player can hit between 1300 and 1500 dps with no problem. The beauty of this build is the cycle is VERY easy. Curse of Agony or Curse of Elements, immolate, corruption then spam incinerate like crazy making sure to pop Demonic empowerment when ever you can. Also demonic sacrifice is in there for fights that require to much micro management and you cant keep your pet alive. Very effective till you get Tier 7 on and is a very easy learning build.

Destruction Builds

An interesting thing has happened since 3.0.2 came out. We 'locks are no longer tied to a specific school of magic. While this can be perceived as a boon to our kind due to the endless possibilities, it can also be considered a bit of a hindrance. We've become so much more complex, especially when it comes to the Destruction tree. No longer do I simply sac my Succubus, throw out a CoA and spam SB's until everything around me falls into a pile of steaming flesh. There's more to the Destructo-lock than before. Now that Spell-power is the way of the world, our gear no longer relegates us to being either a "shadow 'lock" or a "fire 'lock".

• Fire Destro (5/13/53)

  • A heavy destruction build very good for raiding. Cycle is immolate, (corruption), chaos bolt, incinereate, incinerate, conflagerate when under 5 secs left of immolate. Refresh corruption when it expires but it doesn't always fit with the cycle. I personally like to use a felhunter for the buff, and it does some damage when possible to have him in melee.
• Destro/SL pvp (0/11/60)
  • A heavy destro build based on my early experience. Now destruction is damage efficient and has the Soul Link survival ability.
• Fire Destro (Raid, no Conflag) (7/13/51)
  • A "fire" destruction spec, based on an old spec from here for lv70. Note that the spec does not include Conflagrate, due to the awkwardness of removing the immolate spell. Use an imp in raiding (perhaps moving points from improved life tap and/or improved healthstone into improved imp). Spell order is Chaos Bolt, Corruption, then either Curse of Agony, or perhaps Curse of Elements (less recasts) (check your DPS, still untested), Immolate, spam Incinerate, then just pop Chaos Bolt whenever you can, and reset your DoTs whenever they run out, and keep spamming Incinerate at other times.

• Fire/Imp Destro (0/19/52)

  • Destro build that utilizes the warlocks fire abilities. The points in demonology provide a dps and stam buff for you and your imp (and raid) as well as more survivability. Fel Domination/Master Summoner is for when your imp gets nuked. The points in improved healthstone (especially if you raid with other warlocks) can be spent in Soul Leech or Nether Protection.
  • Havent really perfected a rotation yet but what I've been using is Curse of Elements, Immolate, Incinerate, Chaos Bolt then spam Incinerate until immolate is about to expire and Conflag. Then Immolate, Incinerate, and Chaos Bolt rinse repeat.
  • If you have another lock that's dedicated to Curse of Elements or Affliction with the improved talent, use Corruption and/or Curse of Agony to proc Molten Core (any dps boost is nice!).
  • I've found this is best for bosses or mobs w/ 130k+ health.

• Fire lock/Major Imp (0/20/51)

  • This build is similiar to other Fire/Imp builds but kinda different. This build only uses points in Destruction to boost fire damage and has chaos bolt and empowered imp. In demonology it has improved imp and has 5 points in Unholy power to boost the imp's damage even more. I also recommend getting glyph of imp.
  • This build is a high dps build and is very viable for bosses. The rotation I think is best is Curse of Elements, Immolate, Chaos bolt, Spam incinerate until immolate is about to run out then conflagrate. Rinse and repeat.

• Shadow Destro [SM+S&F] (31/0/40)

  • Crit oriented, shadowbolt spamming build. Core elements in destro tree: Imp SB, Bane, Cataclysm, Ruin, Devastation, Backlash, S&F. In affi: imp CoA, Suppression, Imp and Emp Corruption, Nightfall, SM. One point is optional for eradication (seams best option) dark pact (which pretty much sucks now) or even shadofury if you can find use for it. Glyphs used by me are glyph of coruption, shadowbolt and shadowburn.
  • Warning: dmg on thrash mobs in hc's is likely to be low (due to low haste rating) and threat management can be hard.
  • Note that at the moment I'm using inferior build to this one that can be seen here which should be changed soon (I'm using dark pact with imp atm, and dont know yet what to do about pet when i change it to eradication)

• Chaos Bolt, Soul Link, Improved Corruption (5/15/51)

  • This build is mostly using Incinerate it does a significant amount of damage and your high crits will take your opponent down rather quickly. But you still have the ability to have your DoTs pick away at your enemy or use survival techniques like stunning or soul link to keep alive when you are in need of it most.
  • Most people have claimed that destruction is not a PvP build so i usually stayed away from it until now. I relearned my talents full destruction and i am very impressed. I was previously SL/SL which is an excellent arena build.
  • This build is made so that you can through your DoTs on and corruption will actually do some damage instead of being weakless like most destro builds. The 15 points in demonology is made for survivability. Demonic Embrace increases your stamina, improved healthstone heals you for a significant amount especially if you have the glyph, soul link splits your damage, and fel domination is used for moderately quick demon summoning. Improved Succubus may come in handy with the 'ol "seduce and nuke" technique.
  • The 51 in destruction is just getting your procs for and instant casts, protection and stunning with SF. Chaos Bolt was a little disappointing to me but its good for piercing through absorbtions and resistances. Getting big crits is usually helpful thanks to Backlash. The instant cast Incinerate or Shadowbolt proc comes up pretty often for me. I have the glyph for Shadowbolt so i usually incerate because it crits pretty high and emberstorm increases its damage. I am sure it will do well in BG's, but i am curious to see if it does well in arena because destro usually doesnt belong in arena.