- Author: Tavon
- Date: May 11, 2021
- Updated: May 12, 2021
- Expansion: TBC Classic
The stat priority for a Destruction Warlock is:
- Spell Hit
- Spell Damage
- Spell Crit
- Spell Haste
- Stamina
- Intellect
Spell Hit
What’s the point in casting if we can’t hit? In The Burning Crusade, we are transitioning away from raw % hit on gear and instead have a spell hit rating. The conversion is 12.6 spell hit = 1% hit, so we need 202 spell hit to achieve 16% hit. Unfortunately there are no talents that increase our spell hit for Destruction spells, so we will need to prioritize reaching hit cap before stacking our other stats.
Spell Damage
Spell damage is something that we hope to maximize through our gear and continuously be pushing as different phases of content are released. Ideally, we want to be looking at 650-800 spell damage before buffs to be competitive DPS in early raids like Karazhan, Gruul’s Lair and Magtheridon’s Lair. Fortunately, this is achievable through the Spellstrike and Shadoweave sets.
Spell Crit
The more critical hits, the better – especially for Destruction Warlocks! Just like hit, the way this stat looks on our gear is a bit different than in Classic WoW. The Conversion is 22.1 spell crit = 1% crit. We do get some additional crit from the talent tree through Devastation, but continue to stack this stat as much as possible.
Spell Haste
Realistically, spell haste isn’t going to make too much of a difference until we are hit capped and stacked with crit and spell power, and comfortable in our Destruction spec. Starting in the first two phases of TBC content, this stat is not going to be a priority.
Stamina
The stamina to health ratio is 1 to 10, so every point in stamina gives you 10 health. The main reason we want health in PvE, beyond survivability, is to decrease the impact that using Life Tap will have on our health pool. It’s not uncommon to mistake our health bar for a second mana bar, and we don’t want to be too much of a burden on our healers.
Intellect
Raw intellect provides mana and an increased chance for critical effects on mobs.
Every point of intellect gives us 15 mana.
The conversion rate for critical strike rating is 10 intellect = ~0.125% crit, so for every 80 intellect our gear provides, we gain 1% crit without buffs. Blessing of Kings increases our intellect by 10% (and we will almost always have a paladin to bless us) and then every ~73 intellect gives 1% crit.
Gnomes get a 5% increase to total intellect as their racial, so they will get 1% crit per ~70 intellect points if buffed with Kings as well. Unbuffed, ~77 intellect gives 1% crit for Gnomes.
In general, intellect does not provide as much crit as actual crit rating, and because of Life Tap we typically don’t have too dire of mana issues. For these reasons, intellect is valuable, but will be inherent in our gear.
Note: Spell Haste will become very important as future phases are released with Haste being a stat present on equipment.
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