Hi! I have been playing Demonology successfully and this guide is for people who like exploring unconventional PvP fun. I recommend reading it and exploring the details. I hope this guide helps you and you have a lot of fun with this crazy class :)
This guide is for advanced users. In addition, I made a basics video guide. You can watch it here:
Human works perfect. Trinket proc will do amazing things. If you are Ally, I recommend choosing this race.
Dwarf is not a good choice. Stone Form boosts defense, but won't do much to protect you. If you wan't defensive Racial spells, use the ones that will help you escape.
Gnome will do better than Dwarf. Escape Artist removes movement impairing effects.
Worgen works like a charm. Darkflight helps you escape. This is another Ally race I recommend choosing.
Orc will slightly boost damage. It can be a race of your choice, but I recommend even more useful races and racial spells.
Undead is a good choice for almost any class. Will of the Forsaken is the cake.
Troll is a very good choice and one of my favorites. Berserking increases spell casting speed and it has 3 minutes cooldown / just like Metamorphosis. Use it in a macro and it will do you very good.
Blood Elf is just useless. That AOE silence has a short range. Let a melee attacker use it.
Goblin will boost haste! That helps a lot when reaching breakpoints. Among all racial spells, Rocket Jump will save your skin most efficiently. In my opinion, Goblin is the best race for Warlocks.
// In PvE, stat priority is ' Intellect > Hit > Mastery > Critical > Haste '. This is not a PvE guide. Here, it's a bit different. In PvP, you are not free to cast whenever you like and therefore spells that deal DoT are an important weapon. This list is about spell casting speed and DoT speed and for that you need 'haste'.
Intellect > Hit > Haste > Mastery > Crit
Intellect: maximum
Hit (Melee): 5%
This is set because your Felguard uses his stun. He is a melee attacker. If you are below 5% hit rating, he will be missing from time to time; I know this from experience. If you can't reach 5%, just don't go below 4%.
Spell Penetration: >195
Haste: >12.60% with the DI I recommend >10% and around 13.40% with the DI
By my calculations, 10% and 12.60% are breakpoints where you do extra DoT tick. Use the DoT calculator to check this out. Reforge critical rating to haste rating or leave it as is. Don't reforge mastery to haste.
Mastery: Have around 12.50 or 13.00 and around 28 with the trinket proc.
Mastery increases damage when in Demon form. Just remember, if you only stack mastery, you will make a '30 sec-class' (worth only when in Demon form) and that is not good. Even if you don't stack mastery, you will do insane damage (if you learn to do a good rotation). Personally, I prefer survival, but If you wanna be a '1 shot-class' (do 50 - 60 k crit on a player), choose Human and use PvE trinket with the mastery proc. Pay close attention on its effects:
MASTERY BOOST
Critical Rating: minimum
Don’t use PvE gear just to kill it. You need some critical rating as well.
Resilience: 5k or 4.5k
If you are a human, one trinket should be PvE. If not, everything should be PvP gear.
META socket: +54 Mastery rating + Minor Run Speed Increase
RED socket: +50 Intellect
YELLOW socket: +25 Intellect and +25 Haste Rating/ +25 Intellect and +25 Resilience Rating
BLUE socket: +50 Intellect/+25 Intellect and +25 Hit Rating
Head: +65 Intellect and 35 Resilience Rating
Shoulder: +50 Intellect and 25 Resilience Rating
Back: Lightweave Embroidery (Tailoring)
Chest: +40 Resilience Rating
Wrist: +50 Intellect
Hands: +50 Haste Rating
Waist: Add a socket to the belt
Legs: +95 Intellect and +80 Stamina
Feet: +50 Haste Rating
Main hand: Power Torrent
Off-hand: +50 Intellect
Blacksmithing // gives you 2 extra sockets > +100 Intellect
Tailoring // Lightweave Embroidery does awesome proc: +580 Intellect
Prime
__Metamorphosis // Using this glyph allows you to reuse the Immolation Aura
__Corruption // Every instant cast is very valuable and this Shadow Bolt will trigger 'Shadow and Flame' effect
__Immolate // Use this or glyph of Incinerate. I prefer Immolate since it is allays on
Major
__Shadowflame // Don't play PvP without this. It saves your skin.
__Healthstone // Optional, but in my opinion optimal
__Demonic Circle // Optional
Minor
__Unending Breath
__Ritual of Souls
__Health Funnel
You can use any variation, but be sure to check Molten Core, Decimation and those Destro talents which increase spell casting speed.
Power Auras!
- Use Power Auras to easily track these procs:
Molten core
Decimation
Trinket Proc
Lightweave Embroidery
Power Torrent
- Use Power Auras to easily track the important buffs:
Demon Armor/Fel armor // Always be aware of what is on, as you will be changing armors during battle
Soul Link // After changing minions, you need to recast the Soul Link.
Dark Intent // The opponents will purge or dispel DI. When that happens, you need to be aware of that and recast the spell. Don't be lazy. DI makes a difference.
The best way to track personal buffs is to use Power Auras to create large icons which will appear during buff existence. Check "use own texture".
- You might wanna track enemy defensive buffs and their durations, such as: Anty Magic Shell, Berserker Rage, Spell Reflection, Bubble etc…You must be aware of those or you will loose every duel and arena! Also, you can use any addon for tracking CC durations. I use Power Auras and set options about specific debuffs on enemy target.
Raven/DoTimer/...
For 4.3.4 Raven is the bast addon for tracking DoT on an enemy target. But if you use it, be sure to uncheck “Hide Blizzard Buffs” and “Hide blizzard Runes”. Lately, I stopped using it. Power Auras can be used for everything. Its probably the most useful addon i have found.
Demon Armor
Use it when you are being attacked.
Fel Armor
Use it when you are not being attacked. Use it when bursting regardless of whether or whether not you are being attacked. When your burst ends, switch back to Demon Armor if you are being attacked.
// It gives more spellpower
// Use some "light" key-binding for this. Let it be "easy to use" as you will be switching armors very often. Just to give you an example, I use "shift+left-mouse click" to use macro "/castsequence Fel Armor, Demon Armor".
Main rotation:
Immolate > Corruption > Bane of Doom > Curse of the Elements > Fel Flame (maintain the applied DoT!) > Drain Life/ Shadow Bolt (Do Drain Life for healing. If you are free to cast, cast Shadow Bolt)
// Do the DoT. You can always spam Fel Flame to maintain that Immolate. Try to buy time for casting one Shadowbolt (or Incinerate if the MC is on) because it will trigger the “Shadow and Flame” effect.
Proc rotation:
Shadow Trance: do instant Shadow Bolt
Molten Core: Spam Incinerate
Decimation: Spam Soul Fire
// It is important to track procs. Learn from PvE players. They save CDs for the moment when the Boss is 35%HP. Once they reach Decimation, they turn Demon and just spam Soul Fire. During this particular time, their damage can be the highest in raid. In battlegrounds, I use Soulburn+Soulfire on targets bellow 35% health just to trigger the proc. Once you gain it, become Demon. You will see the reasoning behind naming it the "Decimation". You will be doing incredible damage and spamming Soul Fire will be resetting the buff since it is likely that you will drop targets bellow 35% HP as well. If you have some good luck (for example, the opponents are busy attacking other players and the healers are dead), maintaining the buff while being boosted will make you do some crazy things like killing multiple targets one after another. Don't believe me? Try it (with some decent gear ofc).
Boost:
Switch to Fel Armor! > Demon Soul > Trinket > Metamorphosis
Boosted rotation No1:
Immolation Aura > Reapply missing DoT! > Soulburn > Soul Fire > Hand of Gul'dan > Felstorm > Shadowbolt > Hand of Gul'dan (when ready)
// Proc rotation is higher than this rotation. It's a priority. Also, don't forget to use Demon Leap to stun and do damage.
Boosted rotation No2:
Immolation Aura > Reapply missing DoT! > Hand of Gul'dan > Felstorm > Soulburn > Soul Fire > Shadowbolt > Hand of Gul'dan (when ready)
Boosted rotation No3: // my favorite
Immolation Aura > Reapply missing DoT! > Hand of Gul'dan > Felstorm > Soulburn > Summon Felhunter > Shadowbite > Shadowbolt > Hand of Gul'dan (when ready)
// Use Soulburn + Soulfire to do crits, but I recommend to save Soulburn for summoning the Felhunter. Using both Felguard and Felhunter provides more cc and the Felhunter’s Shadowbite. After Hand of Gul’dan lands, order Felguard to do his Felstorm (in the Hand of Gul’dan aura, he does more damage). Soulburn to summon Felhunter and let him Shadowbite increasing the applied DoT. In arena, if you apply boosted DoT on two targets in conjunction with the Immolation Aura and Shadowbite, the opponents will be like "wtf? this damage? He's just a stupid demo lock. This shouldn't be happening!"
Damage test
This is optimum crits you can do as Demo. Cata Demonology Warlock with Cataclysmic PvP gear set is doing crits:
on a dummy: 83k ;
on a player with 4.2k resilience: 49k
// This was on Warmane where Demo dmg is a bit nerfed. Regardless of that, I think it was some nice damage. I think on Atlantiss I will do even more, cause Demo seams to be even stronger there.
Boost:
It is good to use the Immolation Aura as soon as possible, because you will be able to reuse it during the Demon form.
Code:
#showtooltip
/cast [form:2] Immolation Aura
/castsequence reset=10 Demon Soul, 14, Metamorphosis
Boost (for Trolls):
Trolls make burst very fast and deadly.
Code:
#showtooltip
/cast [form:2] Immolation Aura
/castsequence reset=10 Demon Soul, 14, Metamorphosis
/cast Berserking
Trinket (for Goblins):
From my experience, I find that it is best to use Rocket Jump after Trinket. You will see this in some dueling examples. Let me give you a simple example: the warr will apply Hamstring (or reapply); trinket that and jump away. You will maintain distance without any movement impairing effects (read Rocked Jump description). Ofc, the macro allows you to postpone the Jump.
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=90 13, Rocket Jump
Demon Leap:
Demon Leap is a spell for movement and cc; it has nothing to do with your boost. Therefore, use this macro. If you're not in the required stance, It will fix that. Also, I added Howl of Terror here. Demon Leap can do AOE stun. Howl of Terror is an AOE fear. Those two spells work well together. You will be stunning multiple targets and buying 2 seconds to fear them all. Regardless to this macro, you should also have a separate key-bind for Howl of Terror.
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=40 Demon Leap, Howl of Terror
/cast Metamorphosis
Hand of Gul’dan:
Pets have increased critical chance in the Hand of Gul'dan Aura. Use Felguards strongest damaging spell when he is in the Aura.
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=8 Hand of Gul'dan, Felstorm
Dark Intent:
If you are in a purty, it will target the party member. If not, it will target the minion instead.
Code:
#showtooltip
/cast [group:party, @party1] Dark Intent; [@pet] Dark Intent
Soul Link:
This is good for battlegrounds. Use it only if you are also using the DI macro.
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence [@pet] reset=10 Soul Link, Dark Intent
Death Coil:
Let me give you an example. The war will be stunned; you will be casting Fear and he will trinket near the end of you cast in order to successfully interrupt. By quickly hitting this macro, you can stop your casting in time and Death coil him.
Code:
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Death Coil
Soulburn + Summon minion:
Demonology is all about changing demons and using the best of it. It has perfect sense. This macro is for fast summoning and it works depending on your temporary minion.
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence [pet: Succubus/Felhunter/Imp/Voidwalker] reset=5 Soulburn, Summon Felguard; [pet: Felguard] reset=5 Soulburn, Summon Felhunter; [nopet] Soulburn, Summon Felguard
Controling minions:
Use two macros for controlling all of your minions. One is for ordering them to attack the opponent and the other one is for ordering them to follow you. There is a set of spells which can be related to <petattack> and the set of spells which can be related to <petfollow>. For example, if you want your Succuby to Whiplash, you want her by your side (near you, where she can defend you from a melee attacker). If you want to use a spell to free your Felguard, you also want him to come near you, because God knows where he is stuck. If you want him to stun the target, obviously, you want him to attack.
- Pet Attack:
It works and shows tooltips depending on which minion is active.
Code:
#showtooltip
/cast [pet: Felguard] Axe Toss; [pet: Felhunter] Spell Lock; [pet: Succubus] Seduction; [pet: Voidwalker] Torment; [pet: Imp, @Player] Singe Magic; [nopet] Summon Felguard
/petautocaston Seduction
/petattack
- Pet Follow:
Code:
#showtooltip
/cast [pet: Succubus] Whiplash; [pet: Felguard] Demonic Empowerment; [pet: Voidwalker] Sacrifice; [pet: Imp] Flee; [pet:Felhunter] Demonic Empowerment; [nopet] Summon Felhunter;
/petautocastoff Seduction
/petfollow
Immolate:
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=3/target Immolate, Curse of the Elements
/cast Devour Magic(Special Ability)
DoT:
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=5/target Corruption, Bane of Doom, Curse of the Elements
/cast Devour Magic(Special Ability)
Armors:
Code:
#showtooltip
/castsequence !Fel Armor, !Demon Armor
Be flexible and change minions! Order the b1tch to seduce, then order Felguard to stun. Or, order Felguard to stun, then order Felhunter to silence. Use macro 'Soulburn + Summon minion'.
Save Death Coil for bursting. It will heal you and the heal will be higher after boost. Try to endure damage during Axe Toss cooldown. The first Axe Toss is to sabotage the opponent’s opener and the second one is to clear your casting when in Demon form. It is an ideal satiation for you (if you survive). There is an interesting data about the Hand of Gul'dan spell. It roots the opponent for 3 seconds and if he is in the Aura for another 3 seconds, he will be stunned for the same duration. In addition, all pets have increased critical chance while they are in the Aura. Keep him in the Aura for as long as you can. Use Axe Toss or ask your arena partner to help you.
This is what you can do:
Root him for 3 seconds;
After 2 seconds, stun him for 4 seconds;
After the stun, he will be stunned for another 3 seconds;
As you can see, with only 2 spells, the target is immobilized for 9 seconds. Add Fear to that and you will do an awesome cc chain.
Dueling tips
VS Warrior // 00:00 & 01:04
Beleve it or not, you are anti-warr. Now there is a neat trick: before duel starts, start summoning Infernal. Duel will start in 3, 2, 1... Start casting on number 2. As soon as duel starts, the warrior will be stunned for 2 seconds by that AOE and you will have some kind of an opener. Two seconds is more than enough to cast Immolate. Do Corruption, Bane and Curse. Maybe he will charge, do Shadowflame and just teleport to safety. He will Leap; do Demon Leap to maintain the distance between you.
//How can we avoid this? It would be nice to successfully run away from the opponent while saving the Leap for offense. Just trinket and use Rocket Jump! Goblin is the best race for warlocks! :)
The bursting is easy: Deth Coil him and after that, use Axe Toss. Recast Immolate and land Hand of Gul'dan. Soulburn to summon the Felhunter and move into the Hand of Gul'dan aura. The warr will probably chance you there which is actually what you want. Immolation Aura, DoT, increased Felhunter's Shadowbite (due to the fact that he is in the Aura) and the 600% armor boost will make you tough and deadly. The warr will be no match for you and he'll probably die there.
VS Paladin // 01:50 & 03:14
This is very very hard. Try to do this cc train at the beginning of the duel: AOE Infernal, Immolate, Axe Toss, Fear, Hand of Gul'dan. If Infernal is on CD, use this chain: Axe Toss, Immolate, root him with Hand of Gul'dan and Fear. Once you put DoT, just run away! Don't waste trinket on Repentance. Save it for Hammer of Justice. If he does Repentance, wait until he comes and frees you. Soulburn for fast movement and Teleport. Run! Run! Run! Make max Fear distance and Fear him again. If you do well and he bubbles before Demon Form, gg! It is most probably that he wont as you will need Demon Leap to survive. Track his bubble duration and after its gone, reaply DoT and use Soulburn to summon Felhunter. It will increase DoT damage. Silence Pala to prevent healing and there is a slight chance that you will succeed.
VS Hunter // 04:26
Start using the b1tch. Let her sabotage the hunter and you should become Demon asap. Burn him with Immolition Aura and always stick close to him. Do Shadowflame to slow his movement. Leap to stun the hunter. Two seconds is enough to cast Fear. Cast Immolate, if he trinkets, stop the cast and Deth Coil him (remember the macro?). When bursting, Soulburn to summon Felguard and stun him again.
VS Mage // 05:17
Start with Felguard. If the opponent is Fire, remember to move your minion away from you. As soon as he opens, send Felguard to sabotage his opener. As soon as you use Axe Toss, Soulburn to summon Felhunter as you will need him to do interruptions. Leap to stun the mage and buy your time for casting Fear. If he Blinks or Trinkets, use Death Coil. There is no general rule. Everything depends on tracking his CD, skill and gear. I have only one more tip. There are some mages who like exploiting spell range differences. They will always leave your fearing range. What you need to do is to move out of their range. They will chase you regardless to the position of your Demonic Circle. Teleport back to near the opponent and sabotage his movement.
VS Shadow Priest // 06:00
Don't let him come near you! His AOE Fear has a small range. Don't let him use it. Teleport, run away, do what you have to do. Start with Felguard and finish with Felhunter.
VS Rogue // 06:58 & 08:11
1. If he saps your pet, spam Hellfire as he is probably near you.
2. If he saps you instead, order the Felguard to do his Felstorm, move him around to remove rogue from stealth.
3. If he doesn't sap at all, use pet stun to sabotage his opener.
4. Pet Stun, Immolate, Fear, Corruption, Bane of Doom, Curse of Weakness (or Curse of the Elements, if you do Weakness, you will change to Elements during burst).
5. Don't become Demon before Cloak of Shadows. If you do, all he needs to do is to cast Cloak and Vanish. He will get out of combat and wait until your Demon Form is gone.
6. Once hes Cloak of Shadow is gone, quickly recast Corruption. Ensure that his next vanish will not get him out of combat. If he uses Vanish during Cloak, start hitting the keyboard to do Soul Harvest. You will start casting eventually. Ofc, he can interrupt that with another opener. Use pet stun to sabotage, or if its on cooldown, trinket that.
7. Just like against any other classes, save Death Coil for burst and change to Fel Armor. You can always use Demon Leap to do another stun during burst. Demon Leap stuns for 2 seconds and that is more than enough to cast Howl of Terror (1.35 sec cast).
8. Kitting can vary depending on the situation. Lets assume that his Cloak of Shadows is gone and that your trinket is ready. Demon Leap away from him and start fake casting Fear. If he Shadowsteps, teleport.... If he doesn't, shadowflame him, cast soulburn and teleport. Even if he shadowsteps after the teleport, you will have great running speed (cause of the Soulburn). Whatever he casts right after the Shadowstep, trinket that and continue using your fast feet.
VS Death Knight // 09:22
Man, its just getting even worse. You must use Power Auras to track the Anti-Magic Shell duration. Start with the b1tch. As soon as she starts seducing, maybe he will get bored and use the Anti-Magic Shell right away. If not, you will have some time for casting Immolate or Fear. As soon as he casts Anty Magic Shell, summon Felguard and stun the DK. //Notice that I'm saving Axe Toss to counter Anti Magic Shell.
Run! Run! Run! If he grips, Teleport. Use Demon Leap to stun him and buy time for casting Fear. Burst and burn him with Immolation Aura. Use Death Coil and Hand of Gul'dan. Switch to Felhunter, silence the DK and hopefully you will kill him before he heals himself. Just don't think of this as an easy task. You have only around 20% chance to win against a DK. My video shows duel VS Frost Death Knight. If you defeat skilled Unholy DK as a Warlock, please send me a message :P
VS Enchantment Shaman // 10:22
Postpone burst as much as you can. Try to survive by running away and do DoT. Burst only when it is a last chance to do it. Use Death Coil and Helthstone to heal yourself. If you successfully drop his health, switch to Felhunter and use Spell Lock to prevent his healing. This cc chain buys you time for casting and does movement implicating effects for over 17 seconds:
Death Coil > Hand of Gul'dan (root) > Axe Toss > Aura of Foreboding (stun) > Fear
VS Elemental Shaman // 11:38
He will be a problem. He has Wind Shear (interupt with 5 seconds cooldown) and he should be able to easily defeat any caster. The best you can do is to stun him with Demon Leap and cast Fear right away. Make a cc chain with Axe Toss and Spell Lock. Everything must be a continuous chain. Otherwise, he will interrupt everything you do.
VS Feral Druid // 12:15
Use Felguard to sabotage the cats opener. Do DoT, teleport and Leap to avoid him. Maybe at this point he will Cyclone you. Use trinket. Try to endure one Axe Toss cooldown and after that its time to burst. Axe Toss, Fear, Death Coil and gg. Switch to Felhunter and silence to prevent healing.
VS Balance Druid // 13:10
Remember to cast only if he is incapacitated. Open with Axe Toss and do Immolate + Fear. Leap to stun him and you will have time to Fear him again. Switch to Felhunter and prepare for doing silence/interruptions. Burst in conjunction with the Death Coil. If you do this well, you have a good chance to prevent his casting.
VS Affliction Warlock
If he knows what he is doing, you have no chance. Sorry to disappoint you.
VS Healer // 13:47
All the thing you can use in a cc chain:
Fear > Demon Leap (stun) > Death Coil > Hand of Gul'dan (root) > Axe Toss > Aura of Foreboding (stun) > Fear > Spell Lock > Fear
These comps are for pure fun, don’t expect reaching something like 2900 rating. Maybe you can play nice on around 2200. I did 2300 with ele sham in 2v2 brackets. Also, I met one demo/ele comp with 2500 rating. I was amazed and gj mate! Anyway, play demonology for fun. Ofc, don’t go on some arena tournament and expect to win.
Arena Comps
Demonology Warlock & Shadow Priest // 00:06
This comp is awesome and fun. You will be boosting him with the Demonic Pact (10% increased spell power) and Dark Intent. It is in your intention to be the target and let him do the magic. He will be shielding you and healing you. If the opponents are attacking him, peel. As soon as he's ready to burst, do your thing and cc their healer if necessary. Try to use Demon Leap to stun two targets at once. It will give you two seconds and that is enough to cast AOE fear.
Demonology Warlock & Balance Druid // 01:08
The Moonkin will go cat form and stealth. If the opponents are melee, your partner should forget about the Pounce. Let him use his max range and open from there. Hopefully, you will be the target for a certain time. Remember to track HoT casted by Dudu. The dudu will do HoT on you and you will kite. Once you start thinking "OK, its been enough", teleport to safety and benefit from HoT. Maybe they will switch to Dudu at this point. Go back into the game and burst.
Demonology Warlock & Elemental Shaman // 01:39
The opponents will attack your partner. Just try to peel as much as you can and let him do his thing. Focus on controlling both targets. Ele will just punish them. You will see some arena examples and what I mean.
Demonology Warlock & Fire Mage // 02:10
Demonic Pact will boost the Mage. He will do awesome damage. You can play with Frost Mage, but I prefer Fire. You can do good cc, and you need a high burster.
Demonology Warlock & Retribution Paladin // 03:17
It can work pretty well. Paladins can off-heal and are endurable. Usually, opponents will attack your partner, leaving you some time for casting Fears and damage.
Demonology Warlock & Subtlety Rogue // 04:23
The rogue should act like a bodyguard. He should be peeling for you/defending you from melee. Maybe your main target will not be a melee attacker. When ready, become Demon, do your burst and the rogue should leave Blind on his first target while switching to the main target.
Demonology Warlock & Unholy Death Knight // 05:09
Its all about defense. You defend him from casters and he defends you from melee. We can describe this comp as "Buying the time". He needs time to build up his enormous damage and you need time to prepare the best possible situation.
3v3 Arena Comps // 06:06
Play with any of the mentioned classes and invite Holy Paladin or Resto Shaman for 3v3.
P.S.
If you like my idea of fun, be brave and embrace the challenge. Don't hide behind OP classes exclusively; save that RPal of yours for some tournament. Feel free to explore various ways to defeat your opponents. Be creative and surprise them. You can start by trying this rarely used spec and by giving some ideas that will make you unpredictable. Good luck and enjoy playing Demonology Warlock :)
P.P.S.
If you have any questions, you can find me on Atlantiss Dragonwrath. Warmane Warsong is dead. I played there for a very long time, but not anymore. My char name is:
'Gatara' Guild <Resurrected> // Horde
Also, send me e-mail on Youtube or comment here. Thats ok :)
Member
Quote
