PvP Destruction Warlock Guide

PvP Destruction Warlock

Stat Priority

Talents & Builds

Pre-Bis & Best In Slot (BiS)

Glyphs, Gems, Enchants, & Consumables

Rotation, Cooldowns, & Abilities

Welcome to the Destruction Warlock PvP guide for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King!

In this guide, you will learn how to properly play a Destruction Warlock in PvP scenarios, whether those may be battlegrounds, arenas, or the open world. The Destruction Warlock focuses on a high-burst type of gameplay, ravaging enemies with unstable and extremely powerful fel fire.

This build is characterized by high survivability, very strong offensive spells, and a vast array of utility spells, which include powerful debuffs and curses (such as the curse of tongues and curse of the elements), or powerful helpful effects (such as soulstones and healthstones).

This guide covers the Destruction Warlock as of the latest patch, 3.3.5, and includes BiS gear, gems, enchantments, gameplay, and spell rotation tips.

Arena Team Setups

When it comes to teams for the Arena you will want to try the following combinations:

2 vs 2 teams:

• Destruction Warlock/Elemental Shaman
• Destruction Warlock/Arms Warrior
• Destruction Warlock/Discipline Priest
• Destruction Warlock/Frost Mage
• Destruction Warlock/Rogue
• Destruction Warlock/Restoration Druid
• Destruction Warlock/Holy Paladin

3 vs 3 teams:

• Destruction Warlock/Holy Paladin/Arms Warrior
• Destruction Warlock/Balance Druid/Restoration Shaman
• Destruction Warlock/Frost Mage/Restoration Druid
• Destruction Warlock/Restoration Druid/Elemental Shaman

Best Races

Since the expansion we are reviewing is Wrath of the Lich King, the warlock class has several interesting choices when it comes to PvP content. The most notable choices are Human for the Alliance and either Undead or Blood Elf for the Horde.

Horde

• Orc: One of the available choices for the warlock class, the Orc race provides three interesting effects for PvP content.
  The first one is the Command racial, which offers your pet a 5% damage increase – this racial can offer a small boost to your overall damage, especially in a “mirror” match in which you face another warlock of another race.
  The second interesting racial for the Orc race is Hardiness, which reduces the duration of stun effects by 15%, which can make the difference between a win or a loss in a situation where your trinket is on cooldown.
  Last but not least, there is a third racial: Blood Fury, which can be used for a one-shot macro in conjunction with your trinkets. This racial offers us increased spell power based on our level, which makes it a great offensive cooldown.

• Undead: One of the favorite races for the Warlock class on the Horde, not only due to the fitting aesthetics, but also for its powerful PvP racials.
  Will of the Forsaken is the first racial we will take a look at: It acts as a trinket that removes charm, sleep, and fear effects; you can think about it as a second trinket in your pocket.
  The second racial is an all-time Undead trademark, Cannibalize. It allows you to feast upon the corpses of your fallen enemies not only to regenerate your health points, but also to instill terror upon those watching this unspeakable act.
  If you feel like being a silent predator, the Underwater Breathing racial will allow you to hide inside large bodies of water for a very long time, waiting for any unsuspecting prey that you have set your eyes upon.

• Blood Elf: Blood Elves, like the Undead, have two interesting racials with high applicability in PvP content.
  One of these is the Arcane Torrent. It acts as an interrupt and a silence effect, and is especially useful when fighting against other casters.
  The second racial is Magic Resistance, which offers a 2% chance of spells missing you, making it a very fine mitigation tool.
  Other than that, Blood Elves do not offer any other special racial effects for PvP content. (But, who knows – maybe your love for Silvermoon and their aesthetics will persuade you to pick this race.)

Alliance

• Human: One of the two available races in the Alliance that can pick the Warlock class, Humans are also greatly favored for PvP due to their extremely powerful racial: Every Man for Himself. This racial acts as a trinket, removing any tun/charm/fear/incapacitating, or sleep effect that may be used on you by another player, or even NPCs. This racial allows you to venture forth into PvP scenarios while using two PvE damage-enhancing trinkets. The tradeoff, however, is that without a trinket you will have reduced resilience at the benefit of increased offensive capabilities.
  Another interesting racial that can benefit the Warlock class is The Human Spirit, which increases your overall spirit stat percentage by 3%, working perfectly in conjunction with Fel Armor.
  Other than that, there is another small, yet beneficial racial that can be used in PvP scenarios to escape potential threats or to better react to them: Perception, which increases your stealth detection. You would rather avoid getting backstabbed, wouldn’t you?

• Gnome: The second race of the Alliance that can choose the Warlock class, Gnomes offer Expansive Mind, which can benefit your overall damage.
  They also offer a somewhat weaker trinket effect that removes any immobilizing or slow effects on you, called Escape Artist.
  Finally, there is the Arcane Resistance, which is similar to the Blood Elf racial but is less impressive. It reduces the chance to be hit by arcane spells by 2%.
  One perk of the Gnome race is their small model, which might make them difficult to find in the chaos of the battle. This will allow them somewhat of a tactical advantage, since they are hard to distinguish.
  Aside from that, their passives for PvP content are weaker than those of the other races. Did we also mention that their armor looks rather weird on them?

Best Professions

• Engineering is one of the most versatile professions, and is certainly the most beloved one when it comes to player-versus-player content. It offers a range of powerful gadgets and bombs that give the player an edge over his opponents.
  Nitro Boosts offer a powerful chase or escape ability if you are looking to catch up to one opponent or gain a range difference, allowing you to place yourself out of harm’s way. It works especially well with Demonic Circle: Summon, allowing you to confuse your enemies.
  You can benefit from bombs like Saronite Bomb or Frag Belt, as well as rockets like the Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket. You can also use nifty gadgets, such as the Mind Amplification Dish, which attempts to take control of the enemy’s character, and the Flexweave Underlay, which turns your cloak into a parachute.

• Jewelcrafting is one of the professions which can lend you plenty of gold, while also contributing to the min-maxing aspect of the game. A Jewelcrafter can create special gems such as the Mystic Dragon’s Eye, which boost your resilience by a considerable value.

• Mining will generate you a good source of income, while also generating enough raw materials to level up professions like Engineering or Jewelcrafting. Most people underestimate the profitability of mining, but rest assured that it will go a long way.
  Not only will it provide you with a sustainable source of gold, but it will also grant you a special passive that will enhance your PvP potency – Toughness, which will increase your stamina by 60 at max rank.

• Alchemy offers a variety of useful potions and flasks. While you are generally unable to use any potions in arenas, you can still use one specific flask dedicated to alchemists: the Flask of the North. It offers either spell power, attack power, or raw strength and is the only usable flask in an arena.
  Alchemy also offers potions like Free Action Potion, which can be used as an improvised trinket in dire situations.

• Herbalism will generate you a very good source of income, especially when paired with Alchemy. It also offers one, potentially life-saving ability for PvP scenarios – Lifeblood, which offers a heal-over-time effect that can save you in clutch situations.

• Skinning is mainly used as a gathering profession, but it also offers you a nice boost to your critical strike rating in the form of Master of Anatomy.

• Tailoring offers you the ability to craft equipment from cloth pieces, as well as other magical items found all around the world. This profession is usually paired with Enchanting, since you can disenchant the gear you create and turn it into useful magical essences.
  It’s a very useful profession due to the gear you can create during either your leveling journey or high-end content, while also making you a steady amount of gold (especially when paired up with Enchanting).

• Enchanting: offers you the ability to enchant your equipment, as well as your ally’s equipment with various magical effects that give you an edge. This profession also allows you to disenchant equipment to break it down into rare magical essences required not only for the practitioners of this craft, but for other professions as well.
  Picking up Enchanting gives you access to special enchantments for your rings. For example, melee classes can benefit from Enchant Ring – Assault, increasing their Attack Power by 40 on each ring.
  This profession is best paired with Tailoring due to the Disenchanting ability, allowing you to effectively craft equipment that can be broken down into magical essences.