Garodar Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) Introduction: Hello there. My name is Luke (or Lucas) and I am known as Thilan In this guide, I'll explain everything step by step on how to play a Demonology warlock in pvp. I will also give you a short insight in this spec's history in case you are really interested in it. Now, some of my achievements... just to let you know who's guiding you about this spec: 2v2: 2850 rating (3000+ MMR) running Demo/Boomy on PandaWoW (Above 2.7 on 4+ warlocks and only Demo Lock to get above 2700). 3v3: 2306 rating (2500+ MMR) on PandaWoW (Plus, also got Gladiator in fifth arena season on PandaWoW). Now, lets go through the history of this specific class specialization before we start the guide. IMPORTANT TIP - You cannot remember all of these steps at once. If you keep having trouble learning demonology, you can always open up the guide and see what you forgot in order to improve. HISTORY: - As you might know, Demonology Warlock is one of the weakest dps spec in patch 5.4.8 and previous patches, such as 3.3.5, or 4.3.4. The reason to that was simple. Blizzard did not care for this class as a PvP specialization. Back in Wotlk, the only role you could fit in competitive pvp bracket was RBG and that was also hard to get in. You had to be very, very good on doing damage and tanking at the same time. - In Cataclysm, there weren't that many changes. Demonology was still weak and it had very few spells that made it stand out from other specializations. For example, you could use nowadays destro lock abilities such as Incinerate, Rain of Fire, Immolate and you actually depended on those. Those were your primary dps source back in 4.3. Among the other problems in 4.3, Demonology had to cast alot. Like, all the time and casts were usually longer than they should which made it not a very good spec. However, that did not mean demonology was not viable at all. It had a very strong burst, surprisingly, more sustain dps than now. You had few dots and you casted incinerate often... very often, to be honest. You could play demo in arenas, but you could never get higher than 2200. 2200 in 4.3 as demonology meant you're very good. It was that hard. - Now, at beginning of MoP, the specialization got changed completely and was very, very, very strong, pretty much anywhere and could replace any affliction lock in 2v2/3v3 brackets. The burst of a demo lock in 5.0-5.2 was insanely overpowered. The Imp damage was ridiculously high at the time, sometimes they would even solo your target while you try to cast a Soul Fire. Chaos Wave would hit 50% of player's hp which meant you could use x2 Chaos Waves and your target was already doomed. There was no way you could live that. Then, they got nerfed. Chaos Wave was no longer the op verson of Hand of Gul'dan, rather just a strong blast dealing alot of damage IF it crits. - Here we are in 5.4. In this patch, the spec is somewhat good, but still in a pretty bad shape. The burst is ok, but the sustain damage is nonexistant. It's how it works sadly. Now, in case you wonder why should you play demo lock and not other specs? This is the only answer I have. If you're a fotm whore, demo is not for you. However, if you're a person who likes trying things out for sake of having fun, then demonology is a spec for you. Demonology warlock can be more fun than other 2 specs. I played affliction all the way to 2.2 and I got bored the more I played it. Too much fear spamming. You just spam fear, and put up dots. The dot spam was very boring and didn't feel as rewarding as you literally put no effort into killing your target. Just not my cup of tea. Destruction felt boring after 1.8, because you get trained alot in arenas and it was too frustrating for me. Demonology never had me feel burned out. They playstyle was really fun. Demonology is very good and very viable. People just need to give it a chance. PROS AND CONS: PROS: - High burst potential. - Alot of instant crowd control. - Insane amount of utility. - High mobility. - Efficient peeler in any situation. - Can tank alot of damage with proper build. CONS: - Does no sustain dps. - Can't pressure outside of MC (Soul Fire). - No interrupts. - No execute spells. - Depends on cooldowns too much. - Your dots have no dispel protection. - Can work well in arena only in few comps. - Too much AOE damage, that leads to your cc getting breaked. - You run out of mana quickly just by peeling or using Fel Flame to generate fury. Still, all these cons shouldn't discourage you from playing demonology. Think positive and focus on the pros. - GUIDE - RACES: Best races on Alliance: Human - Every Man for Himself Why human? - Well, human in general is the most overpowered race pvp-wise, due to strong racial that gives u a free trinket and lets u fill up your 1 trinket spot with a damage increase proc trinket. Worgen - Darkflight Why worgen? - Worgens in my personal image are better than gnomes only because they give you extra mobility and increasing kiting capability of a warlock which is something you'll depend on later on. I dont like freedom if I can't escape. Its why I prefer worgen. Gnome - Escape Artist Why gnome? - Always nice to have a freedom versus roots and slows. It's not as good as races above, but it's still pretty decent. Alliance races in order: Human->Worgen->Gnome->Dwarf Why not Dwarf? - You can play a dwarf, I guess. The racials for a dwarf are really bad, it's pretty useless as a demo lock. Best races on Horde: Orc - Blood Fury Why orc? - It gives u a strong damage buff in your burst and that is highly welcomed as demonology warlock. Troll - Berserking Why troll? - I did some recent tests and it turns out Troll gives you alot more burst with Hand of Gul'dan than any other race and this is one of the biggest pros you can value if playing horde. Also, you might wanna consider playing haste build (scroll below to the build section). Undead - Will of the Forsaken Why undead? - Gives u immunity to fears, seductions and incapaciation effects every 2 mins, so why not? Great option as a horde demo lock. Goblin - Rocket Jump Why goblin? - Gives extra mobility to your spec, which is very useful for kiting. Very useful anywhere. You depend on kiting your targets. Horde races in order: Orc->Undead->Goblin->Troll->No such thing as belf. Why not bel... - Dont even think about it. Just play an orc. :P TALENTS: Basic Build: http://i.imgur.com/sRZgvjW.jpg Level 15 talents: Recommented talents: http://i.imgur.com/7F7UGAJ.jpg - Dark Regeneration: The best talent for this tree. Heals you for 15% health and increases all other healing you get while it's up by 25%. Usually chained in combo with Healthstone to increase heal potency by a huge amount. Not recommended talents: - Soul Leech: It's a horrible talent. If it was any stronger, it'd be a go to. Considering how weak it is at the moment, don't use it. - Harvest Life: Not very good in arenas. You can get easily interrupted, cc'd and the damage is not very good as you might think it is. Level 30 talents: Recommended talents: http://i.imgur.com/YutZJem.jpg - Mortal Coil: Really good talent for demonology. You get some health back and you fear your target, without overlapping any other cc you do. http://i.imgur.com/Rzj9JST.jpg - Shadowfury: This talent is not good in 2v2 at all. Use this only sometimes in 3v3 arenas depending on what comp you play against. Use this usually against high melee cleaves so you can peel for your teammates. Not recommended talents: - Demonic Breath: Stupid ability, all I can say. In MoP pvp, you prioritize cc over slow effects. Always. This talent only works in PvE. Level 45 talents: Recommended talents: http://i.imgur.com/uKL4VSD.jpg - Soul Link: Very good in arenas and duels. Use it if you're playing more tanky spec rather than offensive. 20% less damage is always good. http://i.imgur.com/FvUhMDL.jpg - Dark Bargain: A very good talent for demonology. Unlike Soul link, this one can be dispelled off. It still gives you the time you need to heal up. Very useful in 3v3 and 2v2 arenas. Might prove useless in bgs because u will usually die after using this without a healer. Not recommended talents: - Sacrificial Pact: Not very good. Its easily blown up by your opponents and the penalty is not very good considering some people will try to kill your pet very often. This is good in duels in combo with unending resolve where it takes longer to take it off, but outside of bgs and duels, it's not recommended. Level 60 talents: Recommended talents: http://i.imgur.com/HbWaDQq.jpg - Blood Horror: Extra cc, very powerful vs melee classes in arenas. Usually use it if you want to fear your target or take distance. http://i.imgur.com/KUbFKzf.jpg - Unbound Will: Good in arenas if you're not playing against melee cleaves. Usually use it to unbound cc and port away to avoid taking any damage. Do not use this vs classes that have DoT dispel protection such as priests, or warlocks. Not recommended talents: - Burning Rush: 4% health for 50% more speed is not good. Dont use this anywhere, not even world pvp when you're trying to make run for it or something. Level 75 talents: Recommended talents: http://i.imgur.com/b2JoItd.jpg - Grimoire of Service: Extra cc, good if u use them both at the same time in one cc chain. Can be very helpful for cc. Use when your team already has a Mortal strike effect. http://i.imgur.com/cj2OhnK.jpg - Grimoire of Supremacy: 20% more damage is always nice considering pets aren't that strong and you get a 25% mortal strike from your Wrathguard. This talent is the best one in level 75 tree. Not recommended talents: - Grimoire of Sacrifice: No. You will lose your pet and he is huge factor to your cc and damage sometimes. The 25% damage won't compensate for the lack of cc. Usually after you lose it once, its gone. Level 90 talents: Recommended talents: http://i.imgur.com/t6xD742.jpg - Archimonde's Darkness: You need this talent anywhere. 2 bursts in row is very, very good. Not recommended talents: - Kil'jaeden's Cunning: Useless for demo as you never cast Shadow Bolt. - Mannoroth's Fury: Only good in bgs. Not very strong anywhere else, therefore dont use it. Drains fury very fast. GLYPHS: http://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/ability_warlock_impoweredimp.jpg Imp Swarm: It's a "must" have glyph. You need that little bit of pet damage combined with your felguard in burst. Plus, the imps give alot of fury. http://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/spell_shadow_metamorphosis.jpg Demon Hunting: Good for fast fury generation and tanking melee classes. Do not use this against casters. http://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/spell_shadow_demonictactics.jpg Eternal Resolve: Good glyph if you are using Soul Link. Extra damage reduction is always nice thing to have. http://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/inv_stone_04.jpg Glyph of Healthstone: As stated above, incredible glyph but not prefered in all situations. It's good in most, but not all scenarios. It's up to you. http://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/spell_shadow_summonfelhunter.jpg Glyph of Demon Training: Gives your Wrathguard alot of health, which is very good to have, making your pet more tanky. REFORGING: - Usually ignore your haste for the burst spec (unless you're playing haste build). If you have haste that you can sacrifice for crit or mastery, do it. - If you have over 6.80% hit, sacrifice your hit rating for some crit or mastery if you can. Make sure you dont get below 6% hit 'tho. Get as close as you can to 6%. NOTE - As, demo, you do not have to worry about builds and stats. Pretty much anything u go for works very well because the damage scales with gear, not specs. ENCHANTS: Shoulder: +200 Intellect, +100 Critical Strike Chest: +80 All Stats Cloak: Lightweave Embroidery Bracer: +170 Mastery Gloves: +170 Mastery Belt: Living Steel Belt Buckle Legs: +285 Intellect, +165 Critical Strike Boots: +8% Speed, +140 Mastery Weapon: Spirit of Conquest Offhand: +165 Intellect PROFESSIONS: - Tailoring for cloak enchant, which is your Lightweave. If you're not using professions, u can always replace it with crit cloak enchant, or an intellect one. - Herbalism for that little bit of haste. The haste comes off an ability called Lifeblood, which ranks up as you get higher and higher in Herbalism. The ability gives u 2880 haste, which is about 6, or 7% and heals you for minor amount, which can prove useful if it crits. Usually heals around 23k and the max I saw was 50k. - Both cloak enchant and Lifeblood ability from Herbalism are usable in arenas, which makes these 2 professions perfect for demo warlock. - In case you're too lazy to farm Herbalism, you can always go for Engineering, in case you're an orc and you want the glove enchant, or something fun like Nitro Boost, or Goblin Glider. This profession is recommended for other races. GEMMING: Mastery build: Red: +80 Intellect +160 Mastery Yellow: +360 Mastery Blue: +80 PvP Power +160 Mastery Meta: +216 Intellect & 3% Increased Critical Effect Haste build: Red: +80 Intellect +160 Haste Yellow: +360 Haste Blue: +80 PvP Power +160 Haste Meta: +216 Intellect & 3% Increased Critical Effect Crit build: Red: +80 Intellect +160 Crit Yellow: +360 Crit Blue: +80 PvP Power +160 Crit Meta: +216 Intellect & 3% Increased Critical Effect BUILD PROS AND CONS: HASTE BUILD PROS: - Corruption ticks faster resulting in faster fury generation. - Your pets cast faster. - Overall faster fury generation. - The global cooldown is shorter. - The sustained dps is better. Not good, but better. - Hand of Gul'dan ticks faster, which is good. - Cast time on fear and shadow bolt is shorter. - Faster burst, requires more different playstyle. HASTE BUILD CONS: - The burst is not very decent. - Does not provide any real benefit to the damage compared to mastery. - Your corruption ticks are low as they are on damage. This wont help out that much. - Shadow Bolt is useless anyways when it comes to damage. Only good for fury generation. CRIT BUILD PROS: - Higher chances for your Chaos Wave to crit. - Higher chances for your Hand of Gul'dan ticks to crit more often. - Higher chance on your Touch of Chaos to crit. - Higher Soul Fire damage in caster form and meta form overall. - More sustained dps with your dots and pet attacks. CRIT BUILD CONS: - Does not provide any real benefit to the damage compared to mastery. - The crit chance is not good if the RNG is not on your side. This build depends on a comp you're running in arena. MASTERY BUILD PROS: - Higher burst which is what you depend on. - Higher damage in caster form. - Stronger pet attacks (Even if they're weak, any damage is appreciated). - Higher damage output in any type of burst as demonology. MASTERY BUILD CONS: - Less sustained dps than Crit and Haste build and less crits. BUILD PRIORITY: - Your priority is burst, because you barely do damage outside of it. That is why you go with the mastery build. Gives you alot of burst and caster form damage than crit or haste build. Altough I can say other 2 builds are almost as good, mastery build is a bit above those. STATS: As you see from the first part of the guide, mastery is your most benefitial stat. You utilize and get as much mastery as you can from your gems, enchants and reforging. Crit is your second most important stat. Its very helpful in burst and can give u a little bit more sustain damage, but its still weak. It increases the chances of Your HoG to crit, or Chaos Wave to crit. My recommendation is that you go mastery, and everything else is crit. Now remember, even 'tho mastery is about 5% better, other stats work just as good but sometimes require a little difference in playstyle. I chose to show you this one because other builds dont work very well if you're not 550 ilvl. Stat priority goes like this: 6% Hit --> Mastery --> Crit --> Intellect --> Haste Now, people seem to ask me sometimes. What is better? x2 Hand of Gul'dan or x2 Chaos Wave? My recommendation is that you use Hand of Gul'dan. Now, why, you might ask? Well, Hand of Gul'dan is a dot tick. It will crit more because its a dot, it will generate fury, not waste it like Chaos Wave. Its also a marvelous filler in burst along with other stuff like Imps, Corruption, Felstorm. This bursting technique will extend your burst, unlike Chaos wave which will kill the burst almost immediatly if you do not have fury. Chaos Wave in the other hand is just a big explosion of damage that is not that high, unless it crits and your crit chance is usually 25%. I dont like to use Chaos Wave, unless I have alot of Demonic Power left in meta and I got nothing to spend it on, so I pop 1 Chaos Wave. This is just my priority however. You use what suits yourself. If you go for Chaos Wave, I recommend a crit build with mastery buff, if Hand of Gul'dan, go full mastery build with 5% Stat buff. ROTATION, ABILITIES & RESOURCES: - You have your primary resource called: Mana. You use it to boost your other stat, called Demonic Fury. - Demonic Fury is used to spend it on very powerful attacks and burst. - While in Metamorphosis, you lose 6 demonic fury every second, so do not waste your time in Metamorphosis. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=172/corruption - Applies a dot that deals X amount of damage over 18 seconds. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=603/doom- Applies a dot that tick every 15 seconds for X amount of damage and lasts over 1 min. Soul Fire - Deals X amount of fire damage. The damage is increased by your crit chance and mastery. Curse of the Elements - Increases magical damage done to the enemy by 5% Fel Flame - Your primary ability to spam. Instantly deals X amount of shadowflame damage to your target.. WHAT DO I USE FIRST: At the start of every duel or match, apply your Curse of Elements, Corruption and start spamming Fel Flame. When your Soul Core procs, use 1 Soul Fire for a nice amount of damage and fury generation. CROWD CONTROL (CC): http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=5782/fear - Fears your target for 8 seconds. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=5484/howl-of-terror - Fears all targets around you for 8 seconds. The more you're getting hit, cooldown is reduced. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=89766/axe-toss - Stuns the target for 4 seconds. Blood Horror - Targets that attack you from melee range are horrified for 4 seconds. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=6789/mortal-coil - Horrified your target for 3 seconds, healing you 15% of your health. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=30283/shadowfury - Stuns all enemies in 8 yards for 3 seconds. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=108501/grimoire-of-service - Stuns your target for 4 seconds. (Does other things as well) http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=1122/summon-infernal- Stuns your target for 2 seconds upon spawn. HOW DO I CC: Usually, you save Howl of Terror for setups, same with Axe Toss and Mortal Coil/Shadowfury, Grimoire of Service. Infernal is a dueling ability and is not usable in arena, so dont think much of this ability. Use fear to either get distance away from your opponent, or your teammate, or simply to cast a damage dealing ability. MOBILITY: Demonic Leap - Leaps for a short distance, activating Metamorphosis. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=48020/demonic-circle-teleport - Teleports you back to your Demonic Circle. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=111771/demonic-gateway - You leap from 1 gateway to another. (70 yds not 40. WoWHead link is from WoD) http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=111400/burning-rush - Increases your speed by 50% permanently, drains 4% health every second as long as active. Use your mobility anytime u can. They do not have a long cooldown and can be life saver. Dont be greedy with them. OFFENSIVE ABILITIES: Dark Soul - Primary offensive ability. Further increases your mastery by 30% and meta form by x3 times the amount. Mannoroth's Fury - Increases damage of your Immolation Aura or Hellfire by 100%. (Usually useless because it drains insane amount of your demonic power). http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=108503/grimoire-of-sacrifice - Further increases your damage by 25%. (Useless because you lose your pet and cc). HOW TO BURST: After you get enough demonic power to burst, the 1st thing I do is coil my target. I use my ZShot, then Imp Swarm (due to the scaling issues, use after Dark soul), stun the target, x2 Hand of Gul'dan, go meta before the 2nd hand lands and spam Touch of Chaos. After the stun is done, do an AOE fear if you have it. Always useful. You should consider bursting with atleast 450 Demonic Power. Your fel imps will make sure u keep generating fury as you burst. After you're wasted, you just boost your demonic power and get ready to burst again. Here is the burst in order: Curse of the Elements (Reapply) > Corruption (Reapply) > One-Shot Macro > Imp Swarm > X2 Hand of Gul'dan > Axe Toss > Metamorphosis (Before 2nd HoG lands) > Felstorm > Touch of Chaos Spam. 2nd way to burst: Curse of the Elements (Reapply) > Corruption (Reapply) > One-Shot Macro > Imp Swarm > Metamorphosis > Axe Toss > Soul Fire > Soul Fire > Chaos Wave > Chaos Wave. This bursting technique is viable if you're playing with healer in 2's, or in 3's arenas with comps such as MLS that rely on bursting, rather than slow pressure. In 2v2, with double dps, its very hard to kill anything with it. I dont know excatly why, but its alot slower than your 1st burst. 3rd way to burst: Curse of the Elements (Reapply) > Corruption (Reapply) > One-Shot Macro > Imp Swarm > X2 Hand of Gul'dan > Axe Toss > Metamorphosis (Before 2nd HoG lands) > Felstorm > Drain Life (Requires talent Harvest Life). This bursting technique is not viable in arenas, rather bgs or duels versus some classes such as ret paladins, or maybe monks. It heals you as well as pulls alot of burst out. Play haste build for this one. HOW NOT TO BURST: - Do not burst without atleast 2 of your procs up. Your trinket, or your cloak, or weapon enchant. You must have atleast 2 of those up in your burst. - Do not burst without Dark Soul, or trinket, or any other damage boosting cooldowns you have, unless the target is very low hp. - Do not burst without x2 Hand of Gul'dan's or Chaos Wave. - Do not use Soul Fire in your burst, unless you have plenty of time to cast it and the cast time is shorter. - Do not burst in arena without your partner. Even if you got the cross cc off, you need your partner to help, in order to score the kill. DEFENSIVE ABILITIES: http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=108415/soul-link - 20% of damage you take is transfered to your pet as a result. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=108416/sacrificial-pact - Absorbs the damage equal to your pet's current maximum health. Dark Bargain - Absorbs all damage. As a penalty, 50% of the damage you took is applied to you as a dot tick over 8 seconds. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=104773/unending-resolve - Reduces damage taken on the warlock by 40% and while the ability is active, you can not get silenced or locked out. Eternal Resolve - Passive version of Unending Resolve unlocked with the glyph. Provides 10% damage reduction from all sources. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=108359/dark-regeneration - Heals you for 30% of your health and increases all healing done to you by 25%. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=6201/create-healthstone - Restores 20% of your health back (40% if glyphed). Dark Apotheosis - The strongest defensive cooldown unlocked with a glyph. Provides 10% physical damage reduction, 15% magical and increases your armor by alot. Twilight Ward - Absorbs X amount of magic damage. Curse of Enfeeblement - Reduces all physical damage done by the target by 10%. Aura of Enfeeblement - Upgraded version of the curse. Reduces all physical damage around you by 10%. - As you can see warlocks have a whole plenty of defensive cooldowns available to them, but most of these can't be used at the same time. You have to pick between first 3 and use only 1 of them as they're part of the same talent tree. You can not have Eternal Resolve and the Unending Resolve at the Same time. PETS AND METAMORPHOSIS ABILITIES: http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=688/summon-imp: Regular caster pet. Can dispel magic effects and heal the warlock. > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=112866/summon-fel-imp: Upgraded version of the pet. This one hits 20% harder. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=712/summon-succubus: Melee-caster pet. Can seduce its enemies and knock them back. > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=112868/summon-shivarra: Upgraded version of the pet. This one hits 20% harder. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=691/summon-felhunter: Melee pet. Can silence its enemies and purge useful magic effects from the enemies. > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=112869/summon-observer: Upgraded version of the pet. This one hits 20% harder. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=697/summon-voidwalker: Melee-tanking pet. Can disarm its opponents as well as gain 30% health for 20 seconds. > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=112867/summon-voidlord: Upgraded version of the pet. This one hits 20% harder. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=30146/summon-felguard: Your primary melee pet. Can stun its target, as well as charge and bladestorm. > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=112870/summon-wrathguard: Upgraded version of the pet. Hits with both main hand and off-hand for 20% more damage. Guardian pets: http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=18540/summon-doomguard: Upon being spawned, doomguard will cast Doom Bolt on its target for 1 minute until it departs. > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=157897/summon-terrorguard: Upgraded version of the pet. This one hits 20% harder. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=1122/summon-infernal: Upon being spawned, it will stun anyone in its spawn radius and do aoe damage to all enemies around him. > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=157899/summon-abyssal: Upgraded version of the pet. This one hits 20% harder. Which is the best? - Felguard/Wrathguard is your primary pet pretty much anywhere and you depend on it for your burst and cc. - Every other pet gives good benefits, but no other pet is as good as Felguard/Wrathguard is. Play with Felguard 24/7. - If you play comps such as WLS, or WWLS, you can swap your pet out with Felhunter/Observer so you can help your team stop cc effects. - If you play these 2 comps I named, you can also play an Imp/Fel Imp, but... only vs Hunter teams so you can dispel traps off your teammates. - Dont ever play Voidwalker/Voidlord. That pet is just horrible for demonology. Same applies for Succubus/Shivarra. Metamorphosis abilities: - I guess by now you've introduced yourself to the fact your abilities completely change in Metamorphosis. If you haven't got them figured out well, I will write them down. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=686/shadow-bolt > Touch of Chaos: Instantly hits for X amount of damage. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=105174/hand-of-guldan > http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=148570/chaos-wave: Instantly hits for X amount of damage, slowing your enemy by 30% per stack, triggering MC. http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=172/corruption > Doom: Ticks for X amount of damage very 15 seconds for 1 minute. Fel Flame > Void Ray: Useless. Don't use it. Fear > Sleep (Dark Apotheosis): Puts your target to sleep for 8 seconds. Curse of the Elements > Aura of Elements: Affects all targets within your radius with this effect, applying 5% magic damage boost to the warlock. Cannot be dispelled. Curse of Enfeeblement > Aura of Enfeeblement: Affects all targets within your radius with this effect, applying 10% less physical damage taken to the warlock. Cannot be dispelled. ROTATION: In any situation, the 1st thing you do when you get in combat is apply your dots, meaning Corruption and Curses and Doom (Optional). Your rotation revolves around keeping your curse and Corruption up, spamming Fel Flame and Fearing in between the damage. If your mana gets low, tap some of it if you're not too low on health. Keep dots up at all cost and Fear regulary to either peel or slow down your opponents. HOW TO SURVIVE: - As a demonology warlock, it's is pretty hard to survive and do damage at the same time. If the target you're fighting in arena or duel is a caster class, try to keep your Twilight Ward applied anytime its off cooldown, but do not use it if you're bursting or dealing damage. Use it only when playing defensive. - If the target you're fighting is an arms warrior, aka physical damage dealer, apply your curse of enfeeblement, go into your tanking stance (Dark Apotheosis), apply Aura of Enfeeblement and start kiting the warrior damage. Use Demonic leap to force his mobility, as well as your Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway. - If you're using Soul Link, try to make sure you use Glyph of Eternal Resolve as well, resulting in a 30% passive damage reduction. - In the other hand, if your opponent pops a strong damage increase cooldowns such as Avenging Wrath, or Recklessness, I would suggest that you use your Dark Bargain. or use your healing cooldowns. - Use your cooldowns one by one. Don't simply pop them all if you have a healer or a Boomy to help you out. - Use your mobility as an advantage. The more you're kiting, the longer you'll survive. Make sure you use your Demonic Circle, Gateway, Demonic Leap and Darkflight (optional/race depending) correctly. MACROS: - Burst: #showtooltip Dark Soul /cast Dark Soul: Knowledge /cast Lifeblood /use Potion of the Jade Serpent /use Prideful Gladiator's Badge of Dominance - Use this macro to burst. It increases your damage by a ton and kills anything if you have the potion up. - Defensive: #showtooltip Dark Bargain /cast Dark Bargain /p Using Dark Bargain. Heal me up, please! - I use this macro specifically when I'm low or taking heavy damage, letting my healer or boomkin know and then let him heal me up. - Defensive v2: #showtooltip Undending Resolve /cast Unending Resolve /cast Sacrifical Pact /cast Twilight Ward - Provides alot of magic damage absorption as well as "any school" absorb as well reducing the damage dealt on you by 40%, making it harder for your opponents to burst down your bubble. - Rotation: #showtooltip /castsequence reset=target Corruption, Curse of the Elements - Applies your regular dots on your current target. - Rotation v2: #showtooltip /castsequence reset=5 Corruption, Curse of the Elements, Metamorphosis, Doom, Touch of Chaos - Applies all dots available to demonology spec and entering meta form to apply doom. Leave Meta as soon as you use ToC. I use this macro when I dont have Dark Soul and can't burst. - Healing Macro: #showtooltip /castsequence reset=5 Dark Regeneration, Healthstone, Lifeblood - Pops all your heals, including Lifeblood if you have it. - Grimoire focus Macro: #showtooltip Grimoire: Felguard /cast [target=focus] Grimoire: Felguard - Axe Toss Macro: #showtooltip /petattack /cast Axe Toss /cast Command Demon A general axe toss macro for easier pet managment. U do not necessarily have to use this macro. U can manually bind your pet's bar. This is a bit easier because it lets you control your pet's actions. - Pet CC Macro: #showtooltip /cast [pet:Voidwalker] Sacrifice; [pet:Succubus] Whiplash; [pet:Felguard] Axe Toss; This is your pet's general macro, depending on the pet you have. I use this usually as soon as I burst. I stun my current target with my pet stun, then use the grimoire to cross cc the off target and do damage to my target. Will add more macros as soon as I can and get around them for a bit. - Optimal Fear Macros: /cast [target=focus] Fear /cast [target=arena1] Fear /cast [target=arena2] Fear /cast [target=arena3] Fear Dont even think about using all this in 1 macro. This is just an example of how you can bind these each separately depending on what target you want to fear. SECRETS, TIPS AND TRICKS: - Your Curse of the Elements and Aura of the Enfebleement stack, meaning you can reduce 10% physical damage reduction on enemy player and apply 5% magic damage. - Your Curse of Enfebleement and Aura of Elements stack, meaning you can reduce 10% physical damage reduction on enemy player and apply 5% magic damage. - X2 Hand of Gul'dan scale damage if you enter Metamorphosis before the damage lands. - Harvest Life burst is very good. You can use it and still perform well in arenas if you position yourself well. - Your Immolation Aura has a very long range. Use it to track down your stealthed enemies. This ability is spammable in tank stance. - Your doomguard actually does decent damage. Use it to your advantage in duels when fighting casters or offhealing classes. - You can build up a whole spec revolved around tanking melee physical damage classes. Use Dark Apotheosis, Soul Link, double of Curse of Enfebleement, Glyph of Eternal Resolve (Passive 10% damage reduction). This spec tanks any burst, not just warriors, even rogues, or monks. DUELING GUIDE: Well, I'll be honest. I'll set the class difficulty in duels in order, so if you keep losing to certain classes, don't beat up over it. Those classes can just be good counters. By the way, I will not cover mirrors, because they're just kek. Hardest Class > Easy Class Unholy Death Knight > Frost Mage > Balance Druid > Arms Warrior > Fury Warrior > Fire Mage > Warlock (Any Spec) >Feral Druid > Marksmanship Hunter > Survival Hunter > Beast Mastery Hunter > Shadow Priest > Arcane Mage > Subtlety Rogue > Combat Rogue > Assassanation Rogue > Enhancement Shaman > Elemental Shaman > Retribution Paladin > Frost Death Knight > Windwalker Monk The list is self explainable. Death Knight alone is the hardest class for demo locks to fight. Few reasons. They have too much cc breakers (Desecrated Ground, Icebound Fortitude, Trinket, Lichborne, Anti-Magic Shell), on top of everything, a very overpowered gap closer, strong DoT damage, strong pet damage and strong burst as well as 2nd best sustain dps in the game and on top of everything; Insane self healing with Death Pact (or Conversion), Death Strike, Lichborne + Death Coil. If you try to Dot a DK, summon imps, kite and let your pets get him low, you're just gonna lose slower. If you stay near him and just go flat out with burst, you will likely lose faster, but you have some small chance to beat the death knight if you manage your positioning, your offensive and defensive rotation well. Monk being the easiest class on the list for few reasons. Any melee gap closer on us can be shut down easily with Blood Horror, Coil, Howl of Terror. It's very easy to make a monk blow his defensives cooldowns. Like I said, just insanely easy, but it's not impossible for monk to beat you. If he's really good, 1 mistake on your part can be your end, as long as it's a big one. Now, not to bother you anymore with the analysing, onto the guide... Warrior Offensive abilities: - Recklessness: Increases crit by 30% for 12 seconds. - Avatar (Talent): Increases damage done by 20% and removes all roots and snares from the target. - Skull Banner: Increases all critical damage done by 20%. Defensive abilities: -Shield Wall: Reduces all damage taken by 40% (60% if glyphed). - Spell Reflection: Reflects a next cast done on the warrior. Lasts for 5 seconds. - Mass Spell Reflection (Talent): Refects next cast done on all nearby group members and the warrior. Lasts for 5 seconds. - Die by the Sword: Reduces all damage taken by 20% and increases parry rating by 100% for 8 seconds. - Rallying Cry: Gives the warrior 20% more health for 10 seconds. How to counter warrior's offensives: - Use the talent Soul Link to gain additional 20% damage reduction. - Stay in Dark Apotheosis or Metamorphosis to minimize the warrior's burst. - Pop your Unending Resolve if you're in a cc, or if he's bursting on you and you can't run away. - Try to escape his burst by going further away and then using your Demonic Circle or Demonic Gateway. How to counter warrior's defensives: - Pop your oneshot macro and then stun him immediatly. If he trinkets it and walls, just continue bursting, but at the same time, do not forget to kite him while you're doing it. Go through his wall and if he gets you below 50%, pop your heals. - Trinket only his Intimidating Shout, nothing else. - After you've wasted your burst, immeditatly setup your fury for the second and last one to murder the warrior without his main defensives. You need atleast 15 second gap between your bursts. That includes the time spent after your 1st Dark Soul expired. Tips and tricks: - If he pops (Mass) Spell Reflect, try to reflect something useless like your Curse of the Elements. - If you're in Dark Apotheosis, try to leap away and then if he gap closes on you with charge, or Heroic Leap, use your Carrion Swarm to knock him away. - If the warrior wastes his last charge, port back to your position and start bursting into him. Paladin Offensive abilities: - Inquisition: Increases holy damage done by 30% for X amount of time. - Avenging Wrath: Increases all damage done and healing by 20% for 20 seconds. Defensive abilities: - Divine Shield: Immune to all damage and spells for 8 seconds, but reduces all damage done by 50% and causes Forbearance for 1 minute. - Divine Protection: Reduces all magic damage taken by 40%. (20% physical, 20% magical if glyphed) How to counter paladin's offensives: - Use Sacrifical Pact + Unending Resolve in a combo if you're sure you cannot port behind a pillar, or atleast take a long distance from his burst. - You can try to stick near the gateway, and as soon as he pops his burst and uses HoJ on you, trinket, Mortal Coil (He will not trinket it most likely) and then use your gateway to take as much distance as you can. - If you're playing in the area with pillars, save your demonic port for his burst and use Demonic Leap to escape his periodid damage done on you. How to counter paladin's defensives: - Use your oneshot and stun him and then start bursting. Try to usre your aoe fear after your stun if you have it (or Mortal coil if you have it) and try to prevent him from healing. - Save your Trinket for the HoJ + Burst combo. - Do not get in melee distance when bursting. He can simply use Blinding Light and heal up as you're cc'ing. - Always keep your distance far enough to be able to do damage and short enough to be able to interrupt him. Tips and tricks: - If he's feared for 7 seconds, spam your drain life to regain as much hp as you can in that short period of time. - Harvest life works as well in combo with your burst, or just to heal up. If you do use it, don't forget to spam it when the paladin is feared. Hunter Offensive abilities: - Stampede: Summons all hunter's pets to attack you for 40 seconds. - Murder of Crows: Summons a flock of Crows to attack you for 15 seconds. Defensive abilities: - Deterrence (X2): Hunter gains 100% deflect change on all attacks (Reflects all attacks if glyphed). How to counter hunter's offensives: - Use your Howl of Terror to fear as many of the stampede pets as you can. - Use Unending Resolve + Sacrificial Pact for the crows. How to counter hunter's defensives: - Force both of his Deterrences in 1 burst and just kill him after that. Tips and tricks: - Do not try to cast. Hunter has so many ways to stop your casts (via Feign Death, Silencing Shot, Counter Shot). Trying to cast can only lead to a faster loss. Instead, use your instant cc to your advantage (Howl of Terror, Mortal Coil, Axe Toss). Rogue Offensive abilities: - Shadow Blades: Rogue deal pure shadow increased damage and generates combo points. - Shadow Dance: Allows rogue to use stealth abilities while out of stealth for 8 seconds. Defensive abilities: - Cloak of Shadows: Rogue becomes immune to all spell damage attacks, as well as removing all magical effects from the rogue. - Evasion: Increases dodge chance by 50%. (With this ability, rogue can dodge your pet attacks) - Vanish: Rogue vanishes back into the shadows, activating stealth. If rogue has dot damage on him, rogue is immune to it for 3 seconds. How to counter rogue's offensives: - Trinket his second opener on you and try to get him in a fear with your Howl of Terror. - Sit tank stance every time during the duel. - Apply Blood Horror at the very start of the duel. If the rogue cloaks it, just oneshot him in a coil + stun combo. How to counter rogue's defensives: - If he uses cloak and doesn't instantly vanish, try to stun him and apply dots shortly after the stun is gone. - If he vanishes, try to get him out with your Carrion swarm or Immolation Aura. - Shortly after his second stun, coil him, into a burst + imps + stun after the coil and that should dip most, if not all his health. Tips and tricks: - Try to keep rogue in combat with your pet's felstorm after the rogue vanishs, so he will get out of stealth. Priest Offensive abilities: - Power Infusion: Increases priest's haste by 25% and mana cost of all abilities is reduced by 20%. - Devouring Plague: Consumes all orbs to deal instant shadow damage and additional damage over time for 6 seconds. Heals the caster for 100% of the damage done. Defensive abilities: - Power Word: Shield: Absorbs X amount of incoming damage. Lasts for 15 seconds and gives the priest debuff Weakend Soul which makes priest unable to shield for the next 15 seconds. - Dispersion: Reduces all damage taken by 90%. The priest is unable to attack or cast, but generates X amount of mana every 1 second for 6 seconds. While the priest is under effect of Dispersion, it is vulnerable to crowd control effects. How to counter priest's offensives: - When you see Devouring Plague ticking on you along with Shadow Word: Pain, and Vampiric Touch, Pop your Unending Resolve + Sacrificial Pact to reduce the incoming damage as well as absorb it. - Priest can easily generate his orbs, so be careful with your defensives. Try to interrupt any Mind blast on you if he is in the range of your cc, or interrupt (Carrion swarm). - If the priest uses Spectral Guise (Invisibility for 6 seconds), be sure he will try to fear you. In that case, either try to predict his range and knock him off via Carrion swarm, or port back and gate away to completely stop the fear on you and then put him in crowd control effects. How to counter priest's defensives: - When he Disperses, fear him if your fear is not diminished below 4 seconds. - When he uses his shield, try to felstorm it + 1-2 Fel Flames to break it. Burst as soon as you broke it and try to force disperse in 1 burst, else you will lose easily. Tips and tricks: - You can also instantly summon your imps and wait for your procs. After that, spam him with Soul Fire + Chaos wave burst. - Harvest Life haste build is also prefered vs priests in duels. Alot of selfhealing, as well as damage. This dueling playstyle is slower, but safer than the other 2. Death Knight - Haven't found a way to beat good death knights yet. They are just too hard to beat. Shaman Offensive abilities: - Ascendance (Elemental): The Shaman transforms into a Flame Ascendant for 15 sec. While in this form, Lava Burst has no cooldown and Chain Lightning is empowered to become Lava Beam. - Ascendance (Enhancment): The Shaman transforms into an Air Ascendant for 15 sec. While in this form, auto-attacks and Stormstrike become Wind attacks, bypassing armor, and having a 30 yard range. - Stormlash Totem: Shaman attacks cause additional nature damage. Defensive abilities: - Stone Bulwark Totem (High chance shaman will play with this talent): Absorbs X amount of damage for 10 seconds. - Nature's Guardian: Attacks that brings shaman's health below 30% increase his maximum health by 25% for 10 sec, and reduce his threat towards the attacker. Cannot occur more than once every 30 sec. - Shamanistic Rage: Reduces all damage done on the shaman by 30% for 15 seconds and is on 1 minute cooldown. - Astral Shift: Shaman shifts partially into the elemental planes, taking 40% less damage for 6 sec. How to counter shaman's offensives: - If you're in line of your Demonic Circle, port away and try to pillar his burst. If there are no pillars, just run. Ascendance duration is very short. - If you cannot port away, pop your Unending Resolve + Sacrificial Pact and tank his burst. You can also use it as an opportunity to burst yourself. While he's offensive, he will either stay offensive and risk dying, or go defensive and heal up. How to counter shaman's defensives: - If the shaman is playing with nature's guardian, just simply burst through it. Not much can be said here. - If the shaman is playing with Stone Bulwark Totem, do not burst, until you either destroyed the totem, or broke the shield. - If the shaman is playing with Astral Shift, stun/coil him first before your burst. Tips and tricks: - Your Dark Apotheosis can be a life saver versus shamans. If you get in their melee range, they will try to knock you away. Just demon leap back to close the gap. - Soul Fire crit build is prefer in duels vs shamans simply because shamans do not have many defensives. Those that they have are not that strong. Mage Offensive abilities: - Frozen Orb: Launches a Frozen Orb forward from the Mage's position, releasing Frostbolts that deals Frost damage to all nearby enemy targets for 10 sec. Grants the Mage 1 charge of Fingers of Frost when it first reaches a target. - Heating Up: Makes fire mage's next Pyroblast instant. - Icy Veins: Hastens mage's spellcasting, increasing spell casting speed by 20%. Lasts 20 seconds. Defensive abilities: - Ice Block (X2): Makes the mage immune to all damage and spells, but while under the block, mage cannot perform actions, or move for 10 seconds. - Ice Barrier: Absorbs X amount of damage. Lasts for 30 seconds. - Alter Time: After 6 seconds, mage moves back to his previous position, returning his health, buffs and debuffs. How to counter mage's offensives: - If you see him use orb, pop your Undending Resolve + Sacrificial Pact and try to spam fear on him because at that time, you're immune to his silences. - If he deeps you, trinket it immediatly and pop defensives or try to get him in cc without casting, using your instant cc. - If its a fire mage, I recommend you use Dark Bargain for his Heating up procs because, not even Unending Resolve + Sacrificial Pact can save you from the massive burst fire mage can put out. How to counter mage's defensives: - Make sure you blow up his Ice Barrier before you want to burst, so you can have a clean burst. - Force 1 Ice Block with your burst. After he uses it, get out of meta and try to generate fury on his pet. After he breaks his Ice block, try to nuke him in your second and last burst while he's on Hypothermia. Tips and tricks: - For dueling mages, Felhunter would be a 2nd best pet choice. - Soul Link versus fire mages can be a great option as well, but you have to play more careful. - Try to knock him in your burst to prevent his cast and further actions for next 1-2 seconds. Druid Offensive abilities: - Tiger's Fury (Feral): Increases feral's damage by 15% and regens energy. - Savage Roar (Feral): Increases feral's physical damage done by 30% for 12 seconds (if glyphed). - Celestial Alignment (Balance): Increases Druid's damage by 15% and pauses both eclipses and lets druid benefit from both lunar and solar buff. Defensive abilities: - Barkskin: Reduces damage taken by 20% for 12 seconds. - Survival Instincts (Feral): Reduces all damage taken by 50% for 6 seconds. - Might of Ursoc: Druid activates Bear Form, gaining 30% extra health for 20 seconds. - Heart of the Wild: Increases druid's spell power and healing, basially turning them in healers for almost a minute. How to counter druid's offensives: - If its a feral druid, use your Blood Horror to stop his offensive opener. If he trinkets it, stun him and get him in a clear fear after that and start your regular opener. - If its a balance druid, he will root + beam you. If he uses starfall, stun him to stop the starfall and you can always wall his silence with Unending Resolve. - Use all your instant cc to stop them as best as u can. If they start kiting, go after them with a mortal coil into a fear to stop it. How to counter druid's defensives: - Just go through his defensives. Its your only option. If you force all of them in 1 perfect burst, u will most likely kill him in next one. - If its a balance druid, try to coil 1st, then pop burst, x2 hog and stun, go meta, spam your ToC, then aoe fear and that should force most of his cooldowns. Tips and tricks: - Try to port away and heal up. Most druids will try to clone your heals. - Use Glyph of Siphon Life because you need that 1 instant heal in case druid clones your dark regen. - Everytime u burst, they will try to clone you. Trinket the clone and knock them, expect another clone. Then do a coil if you haven't wasted it, or try to cast fear on them before he clones you. Monk Offensive abilities: - Tigereye Brew: Consumes all monk's stacks of Tigereyebrew to increase his damage by X% for 15 seconds. - Rising Sun Kick: Hits monk's target for X amount of damage and applies a debuff that makes you take 20% more damage from the monk. Defensive abilities: - Touch of Karma: Monk absorbs all damage for 10 seconds. - Diffuse Magic: Reduces magic damage taken by 90% for 6 sec and transfers all harmful magical effects back to their original caster if possible. - Fortifiying Brew: Increases monk's health by 20% and reduces all damage taken by 20% for 15 seconds. How to counter monk's offensives: - Simply trinket the 1st stun, if he consumes all his stacks. - If you have cc like Blood horror or Howl of Terror for his next one, try to predict it and use those abilities on time. - Use your knockback to your advantage in order to force his mobility. Do not forget to use your Portal and gateway as well. How to counter monk's defensives: - Force both karma and diffuse magic in 1 burst and kill him in a next window within 1 minute. Try to burst as soon as you have over 400 fury. Tips and tricks: - Leap + Carrion Swam is a nice combo to force all monk's mobility. - Use your Aura of Enfeeblement as well as curse in a combo to reduce monk's damage by 20%. 2v2 ARENA COMPOSITIONS: http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/1/14/Spell_nature_starfall.png?version=cd1ed9a271f0a4f68044d37daf5b1ed0 http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg - Balance Druid/Demonology Warlock - Incredible team composition. Among the strongest one in the bracket, yet very underrated. The comp relies heavily on bursting, kiting and healing up until u can burst again. It is very fun to play. Good versus many Dps/Healer comps and alot of double dps comps. Simply among the top 10 best double dps comps in 2v2. http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/frost-mage-icon.jpg http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg - Frost Mage/Demonology Warlock - Good for bursting. If you do not kill withing first 2 bursts, you're likely to die very quickly. However its good for kiting. You have sh!t ton of cc, and not any of your cc's dr with each other, which is great. http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Subtlety-rogue-icon.jpg http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg - Subtlety Rogue/Demonology Warlock - Good for bursting. Kinda like Frost Mage/demo. Very good for burst and kiting, but u die easily if you do not cc well and play without communication. http://macro-wow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/shaman_icon.png http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg - Enhancement Shaman/Demonology Warlock - You heal actually very, very good, tbh, but its limited healing. You have to burst very fast and very good to kill. If you fail, retreat and wait to burst again. Which one of these is Tier 1: - As stated above, Balance Druid/Demonology Warlock is the best 2v2 composition to run as demonology warlock and one of the best in general. 3v3 ARENA COMPOSITIONS: http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/e/ef/Spell_shadow_deathcoil.png?version=1f5a088dc1007344aff88bd2bf34e31f http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Restoration-Druid-Icon.jpg - Unholy Death Knight/Demonology Warlock/Restoration Druid - Also known as Shadowcleave 2.0. Very good and this comp is heavily carried by death knight's sustained dps and burst. http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/frost-mage-icon.jpg http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Restoration-Druid-Icon.jpg - Frost Mage/Demonology Warlock/Restoration Druid - Also known as MLD. Not a real MLD, rather Demo MLD. Heavy burst and some rot pressure from the mage as well as decent survivability due to the comp having many defensive cooldowns. http://www.regressionx.com/wow/Images/Shaman_LightningBolt.jpg http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Restoration-Druid-Icon.jpg - Elemental Shaman/Demonology Warlock/Restoration Druid - Also known as Demo LSD. Good for burst and outside of burst. Has ridiculous survivability and healing. http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/1/14/Spell_nature_starfall.png?version=cd1ed9a271f0a4f68044d37daf5b1ed0 http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg http://static.icy-veins.com/forum-files/uploads/profile/photo-21490.jpg?_r=1418052778 - Balance Druid/Demonology Warlock/Restoration Shaman - Extra haste and mastery, plus some crit from the druid's stat buff. Strong sustain dps, high kiting capability and survivability in most situations. Very good vs alot of 3v3 comps. http://macro-wow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/shaman_icon.png http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpghttp://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Restoration-Druid-Icon.jpg - Enhancment Shaman/Demonology Warlock/Restoration Druid - A.K.A Demo LSD3. It has insane pressure coming from enhancment shaman and a great burst along with some strong cc chains. http://pastandoenmulgore.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/icon-hunter.gif http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg http://static.icy-veins.com/forum-files/uploads/profile/photo-21490.jpg?_r=1418052778 - Marksmanship Hunter/Demonology Warlock/Restoration Shaman - Mostly known as Demo HLS. Works better with Marksmanship Hunter, because of the Marksman burst output and extra CC. A Survival Hunter works almost as good, but Marksmanship is more preferable over Survival. Another version of the comp that also works decently is Demo HLD, with a Restoration Druid. Can work fine, but is a bit harder to play. http://www.scrollsoflore.com/gallery/albums/wow_icons/thumb_Spell_Shadow_ShadowWordPain.png http://www.wowpickuplines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demonology-warlock-icon.jpg http://static.icy-veins.com/forum-files/uploads/profile/photo-21490.jpg?_r=1418052778 - Shadow Priest/Demonology Warlock/Restoration Shaman - I'm not quite sure what the name of this comp is, but I'll go with Shadowplay 2.0. The comp has a very funny burst, easily executed and it requires only little cross cc to score a kill. The comp can work only good if you are playing with a 'good' healer and even better Shadow Priest. Which one of these is Tier 1: - Demo MLD is tier 1 for Demonology Warlock simply because of the amount of cc you have and the amount of utility & burst the comp can put out. HOW TO PLAY IN 2V2 ARENA, BASIC: - Now, you know I cannot cover everything. I can only cover the very few basic steps you do when you enter the arena as Demonology Warlock. When you enter the arena, you apply your dots, your doom on both targets and you start generating demonic fury. After that spam Fel Flame or Demonic Slash on your main target (depending on the stance and class you're fighting). - When you want to burst, you have to make sure that you have the cross cc on other targets in arena so they dont disrupt your burst. Most common cc you would go on any nonshaman (sometimes even shaman, depends if he has tremor or not) team is Fear>Refear (if you have it)>Root Beam>Bash>Cyclone>Reclone. - If your opponent has already used defensives, for example, Shield Wall, Karma, or Feint, try to have your druid clone his defensives when your cross cc on healer/dps starts to expire. If your druid's reclone is expiring, he should simply clone the dps to wear off those defensives while he's low hp. Then, you might as well dump any cc u got left into the healer/dps and try to kill the main target without his defensives. - There is also other situation. Once you see your burst is slowly failing and you are starting to run out of demon power, put up 2 Doom dots on your opponents and reapply your regular dots. If you fail the burst, go into the kite mode until u can burst again. If you are fighting melee classes like warriors, rogues, monks, simply try to outrun them by going into Dark Apotheosis, leaping every 10 seconds, Knocking back, using port efficiently to port out of their LoS not in their LoS so they can charge you again and dont be afraid to gate if you're 60% hp or less. Remember, you have it up every minute. When your partner is taking too much damage, peel with cc on the enemy team dps to slow them down. Try to fake cast in case you're fighting against a rsham. If you're fighting against other healers, and they are not near you, simply cast it because they have to get in your range to interrupt you. - If you're getting trained by melee classes yourself, go into the kite mode, heal up and continue when you're safe to push in again. Use your defensives carefully. One by one. Always prioritize longer cooldowns so you can have them later on the match if it does last longer. For example: You're taking alot of damage from a windwalker in a stun. Have your druid use heart, ward and rejuv. That should keep you up without having to use any of your own defensives. After that, use your Unending Resolve on their next push, then Dark Bargain and finally heals. Remember. If you're in cc and you want to heal up, don't hesitate to trinket and pop heals, because that's a common tactic for it. The way you prioritize cooldowns: Heart of the Wild>Unending Resolve>Dark Bargain>Trinket (Optional/Situational), Dark Regeneration & Healthstone HOW TO PLAY IN 3V3 ARENA, BASIC: - Now, this bracket is more difficult, even more if you're the training target. At the very start of arena, apply your dots and curses on all targets, then go into metamorphosis and use your doom dots on all 3 targets, and touch of chaos if you have it to extend your corruption ticks. If your dots get dispelled, then do not bother reapplying doom on all 3 targets, only on your main target. - Applying doom 3 times over and over even 'tho its gonna get dispelled before it ticks is a waste of fury. After that spam fear on targets that are doing the most damage on you or your teammates and use fel flame. Same burst rules apply here as they do in 2v2. After the burst, go into the kite mode and keep your dots up and fear your the enemy target with most dmg to slow. The real problem in 3v3 is positioning. If you're playing in arenas with pillar, try to stick near the pillar. - If you're being trained, use your Demonic Leap to take distance and if they close the gap, port back to your pillar. Organizing cooldowns is hardest job. Who will use the trinket, and who will not? Prioritize your healer's trinket above everything else and peel with any cc u got. - Save your AOE fear for either your opener or burst and try to fear as many targets as possible. If your opponents are 3 casters and you're the target, use your Bargain to slow their burst as best as u can. For example, if you're playing against Shadow Priest/Fire Mage/Resto Druid, go slow and use cools one by one, such as your wall, bargain and heals. If you're playing LSD, you get an extra defensive from the druid, which is Ironbark. So, just chill out and go slow. By the time your opponents forced all cooldowns, your first used ones will probably be off cooldown again. One of the more optional choices to do at start is to spawn your imps to burst very fast or save it for second one. Its all up to your team, synergy and playstyle. DISCUSSION: DoT Damage and Sustain DPS Now, as you probably know from the guide, Demonology warlock has the least sustain dps in the game. However, that is not something that should refrain you from giving it a try. You can do a decent sustain dps if you know how to manage your dots, your pets and play the right comp. First of all, we have Corruption. It is weak as sh!t. If you're fully geared, it will tick around 2-2.5k, 5-5.3k (crit). That alone makes it a very weak dot. Secondly, you have Doom. It is strong, but ticks for long time, basically every 12-14 seconds, hit usually between 20k-25k, 45-50k (crit). It is very strong and can be deadly if not dispelled. Thirdly, you have a small curse which increases your dot damage by 5%. If you use both of these, including your aura, your dots as well as attacks will hit 10% harder. Next up, we have our pets. Imps and our Wrathguard. As for imps, they do not do so much damage, but I only spawn them to get my fury quickly and start bursting as soon as I can. If there are all 5 on the field, they can hurt pretty hard, about 5k damage each. Your Wrathguard can Wrathstorm all enemies around his radius, which I would only use if they are all 3 stacked up in arena. Well, now that we got hand on these basics, lets get to the comps. In my opinion, the best comp for more spread pressure is Demo LSD2. If you wonder why, I will explain it to you. Number 1 resource of spread pressure in this comp is coming from your Boomkin, by spamming Moonfire and Sunfire. Then, you have your Rshaman's Flame Shock which is a 27-30 second dot that ticks quite often. Then, there's you, Corruption, Doom and your pets to assist you with your damage. If you're playing LSD2, I recommend you to play with haste build for overall faster ticks, because with the druid haste buff, you should pull up to atleast 29%-30% haste and your shaman can compensate for the mastery loss, giving you about 3000 mastery, which in percentages is around 5%. So, you should have about 28% mastery, and 30% haste. Your crit would be aproximately around 25%, or higher. If you're playing a troll, first, pop your burst along with Berserking (20% haste) then, reapply your Corruptions on the target and start bursting your main target. Your dots will start ticking very, very fast along with your shaman's, druid's dots, including the druid's starfall. Then, use your pet's felstorm for even more damage. Do not forget to reapply your dots if the enemy dispells them, but I highly doubt that will happen because most people underrate the dot damage of this comp. For your burst, use your regular touch of chaos burst. It will hurt almost equally as it would with a mastery set, without a shaman. Now, I know as Demonology, you will still have trouble keeping all the dots because, when they are dispelled, there is no dispel protection. No dot ability from this comp has dispel protection. Not the druid's, or shaman's, or warlock's dots have dispel protection, so you're gonna have to dedicate to spamming the crap out of your dots anyway. Pressure damage Well, for this topic, lets talk a little bit about pressure damage as demonology warlock. Arguably, you cannot pressure much as demo, but... even the little pressure you can put out can be useful if you play the proper comps in arenas. One of the most common tricks I do to achieve pressure is by simply putting my imps out, they do some work, give me few MC procs and then I cast Soul Fire into a fel flame, all in 1 global and it does moderate pressure damage. Another way you can pressure as demo is by maximizing your pet damage to a full extent, meaning, you cast a Shadow Bolt/Soul Fire, get an imp out, put all of your imps out, then do your pet's Bladestorm, the moment he applies Mortal Cleave. Another useful thing would be if the targets were spread out so your Mortal cleave does full hit and not a divided blade attack. Some people like to save Soul Fire for burst and high pressure when you have Dark Soul up, but I'd rather save it. Why? Well, ****** core procs are a good fury generator, decent damage dealer (especially when used with Fel Flame) and dont consume too much mana. Granted the fact everything you use as demo is expensive, this might be your only way to pressure your opponents without having to spend too much mana. ADDONS: Regarding the addons, there are few useful addons that will improve your gameplay without taking too much space from you, or causing lag if you have a bad PC or laptop. - Nice Damage: Takes no space, just improves the damage font, making it look a bit more awesome. This addon is pretty optional. - NameplateCooldowns: Shows your opponent's cooldowns at top of his nameplate frame, letting u know when you can burst or even swap targets. - LoseControl: Tells you when you're in cc and when is your opponent in cc on their unit frame and even on arena frames. Very useful for cc coortination. - sArena: A decent addon that adds a trinket button to your arena frames showing you when your opponent used his trinket and its cd. - Doom_CooldownPulse: Shows the cooldown left on your ability icons. Very useful anywhere, not just pvp. - ExtraCD: Shows your procs and lets u know when they're up and their PPM. Your "go to" addon as a demonology warlock. Well, that's it for this guide. If you think I made a mistake somewhere, or added a missleading information, let me know. Also, I'd like to hear other warlocks' feedback if there are any. Hopefully this guide helps you get started at demonology. :) Edited November 7, 2017 by Garodar 14
Furmetalisawintrader Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 nice guide. read some of it and i enjoyed it. +1 :)
Frostshotz Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 I'd say replace meta with the 232 int+3% crit effect. Glyph of healthstone is a must.Glyph of demon hunting isn't bad, but insanely fun, losing fel flame tho. Troll over goblin anytime.With the 20sec burst you can get 1 or 2 extra dot ticks on corruption.And 1sec soulfires ftw. Get hit to the max man.6% 1
Chivy Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 Actually someone play's demonology here, nice yo :) +1
Garodar Posted October 13, 2015 Author Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) I'd say replace meta with the 232 int+3% crit effect. Glyph of healthstone is a must.Glyph of demon hunting isn't bad, but insanely fun, losing fel flame tho. Troll over goblin anytime.With the 20sec burst you can get 1 or 2 extra dot ticks on corruption.And 1sec soulfires ftw. Get hit to the max man.6% 1 - I was unsure wheter I'd go over mastery or crit, but crit meta seems to be more preferable in crit and haste build than mastery. I will switch it out. Thanks for tip. :) 2 - Glyph of Healthstone is not a must if you're fighting classes such as shaman with a soul link + eternal resolve build without wall or bargain. They will easily burst down your health in 2-3 hits and that's why I need that 1 quick instant heal from healthstone, that will give me enough time to retreat. If I dont use siphon, I usually die. I had the same situation yesterday in 2's vs enh/holy pala. Healthstone is better, but not always prefered. Demon Hunting is for melee classes only. I thought I added that part somewhere in there. U cant go versus casters simply because your hits requite melee range. I'll check the guide again in case i forgot to add that part. Thanks for tip 'tho. 3 - Not sure if 1-2 tick in burst is even useful if you're not playing haste build. I set the order by the benefits for what is best in bursting. Kinda like humans, orcs, etc. Even with my burst up, corruption barely ticks for 4k, does not benefit me more than a leap away from my opponent, even if they're somewhat close. My priority was like goblin 55/45 troll. About Soul Fire - its not good yet, because soul fire cast is different every time. Sometimes its instant, sometimes, its 1.5 sec, sometimes 8, sometimes 20. Until that gets fixed, goblin is a go to. Uhm, I'm not sure what u mean about hit. My hit is 6%. I gave precise instructions on not to get it below 6%. @Furmetalisawintrader I did my best to make the guide as accurate and enjoyable as I could. :) @Chiv, thank you dude. Hope this guide helps someone to get motivated or even start demonology. Edited December 4, 2015 by Garodar 1
evilelefes Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 A lot of information. It is difficult to make out everything but, and there are useful things. But at the same time, there are not required. A thank you! :)
Garodar Posted October 13, 2015 Author Posted October 13, 2015 A lot of information. It is difficult to make out everything but, and there are useful things. But at the same time, there are not required. A thank you! :) This guide was designed to help someone new to the game or pvp, its why I tend to add what you call "not required". Np. I enjoyed making this guide. Glad you liked it. A little tip; if you do start playing demonology, try to constantly work everything step by step and read the guide if you do not understand something. :)
Nemifest Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 I'd say replace meta with the 232 int+3% crit effect. I heared the crit doesn't do anything.
Garodar Posted October 13, 2015 Author Posted October 13, 2015 I heared the crit doesn't do anything. Almost nothing if ur below 43% crit. Above 43% u can actually pull some nice crits with touch of chaos or chaos wave. Depends on your playstyle. :)
Frostshotz Posted October 14, 2015 Posted October 14, 2015 I'm using my destro build for demo also.Mainly mastery stacked and stuff.The gem is crit EFFECT, meaning higher crits.I've done 200k soulfires in arenas with all procs up(1 dps trinket). And glyph of healthstone is still a must.I don't run soul link so i might be wrong. The 1-2 extra ticks are definately good, more demonic fury and more damage output.
Garodar Posted October 14, 2015 Author Posted October 14, 2015 I'm using my destro build for demo also.Mainly mastery stacked and stuff.The gem is crit EFFECT, meaning higher crits.I've done 200k soulfires in arenas with all procs up(1 dps trinket). And glyph of healthstone is still a must.I don't run soul link so i might be wrong. The 1-2 extra ticks are definately good, more demonic fury and more damage output. No one ever lets me get a soul fire off, so I find crit useless in some cases. I'll try trolls and do a real comparison to a goblin. Still goblin in my head. Will look into it 'tho.
uraganuu Posted October 14, 2015 Posted October 14, 2015 I heared the crit doesn't do anything. You are correct, only the first part of what's stated is actually working. I've written a bug report here: http://forum.pandawow.ru/showthread.php?t=145159&highlight=meta but it's not fixed yet.
Garodar Posted October 14, 2015 Author Posted October 14, 2015 You are correct, only the first part of what's stated is actually working. I've written a bug report here: http://forum.pandawow.ru/showthread.php?t=145159&highlight=meta but it's not fixed yet. Well, now we know its bugged and not worth it. Thank you for that note, will take it in consideration before I go into theorycrafting again.
Adlairo Posted October 19, 2015 Posted October 19, 2015 (edited) If you know how to play this spec well, u can do better than alot of Affli Locks. I played Demo LSD with Thilan and we beat alot of the good teams on here, went like 20-1 as well, and beat a lot of teams that we couldn't beat with an Affli. +1 Edited October 19, 2015 by Adlairo
Garodar Posted October 19, 2015 Author Posted October 19, 2015 If you know how to play this spec well, u can do better than alot of Affli Locks. I played Demo LSD with Thilan and we beat alot of the good teams on here, went like 20-1 as well, and beat a lot of teams that we couldn't beat with an Affli. +1 Bcs I am thilan. That was alot of fun 'tho. Demonology is so powerful, especially as MLD. 1
Garodar Posted December 5, 2015 Author Posted December 5, 2015 #UPDATE (Trust me, bumping this sh!t was my last intention, but its for some people I've helped recently :D ) Didn't feel like finishing this guide either, because it received less feedback, but lately, I've seen alot of people that asked me to coach them on how to play demonology, so I rushed to finish this guide. Well, the guide is now complete for anyone who still gives a f*ck about demonology. :P
Adlairo Posted December 5, 2015 Posted December 5, 2015 #UPDATE (Trust me, bumping this sh!t was my last intention, but its for some people I've helped recently :D ) Didn't feel like finishing this guide either, because it received less feedback, but lately, I've seen alot of people that asked me to coach them on how to play demonology, so I rushed to finish this guide. Well, the guide is now complete for anyone who still gives a f*ck about demonology. :P people give a fuck about Demonology? Kappa
Garodar Posted December 5, 2015 Author Posted December 5, 2015 people give a fuck about Demonology? Kappa Probably not. :( I do, that matter the most. (No it doesn't) :P
Garodar Posted December 6, 2015 Author Posted December 6, 2015 Good Job.I will try it. Thank you U better do m8. I just hit 2400 as demo. If I can, so can you. Dont give it up so easy if u do. :)
Garodar Posted February 8, 2016 Author Posted February 8, 2016 #UPDATED the guide with more info for anyone curious about this sh!tty spec. :P
Nemolionak3 Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Awesome guide! Helped me a lot :) I'm still gearing up but it's already really fun. I like the survivability, especially with demon hunting. :D 1
Garodar Posted March 23, 2016 Author Posted March 23, 2016 Awesome guide! Helped me a lot :) I'm still gearing up but it's already really fun. I like the survivability, especially with demon hunting. :D Nps. Thanks for feedback. I might even make more advanced guide soon enough, but I'm just not sure yet. :)
Machmollox Posted March 24, 2016 Posted March 24, 2016 I was thinking to make a afflic guide, but when i saw, i turned my eyes open about 12345 buttons : ), anyway, this guide gonna be nice for all specs, if learn demo, learn others ez
Garodar Posted March 24, 2016 Author Posted March 24, 2016 I was thinking to make a afflic guide, but when i saw, i turned my eyes open about 12345 buttons : ), anyway, this guide gonna be nice for all specs, if learn demo, learn others ez Make an affliction guide. As far as I know, there are none. :)
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