Simple Destruction Warlock DPS Guide (Shadowlands)

Welcome to our beginner’s guide for casually playing a Destruction Warlock in World of Warcraft. This guide is intended for players who prefer a less complex play style and simpler rotation.

    #showtooltip Havoc
    /cast [@mouseover,harm] Havoc; [harm] Havoc

    #showtooltip Immolate
    /use [@mouseover,harm] [harm] Immolate

Talents & Builds

Level 15: Flashover
Conflagrate deals 25% increased damage and grants an additional charge of Backdraft.

Level 25: Reverse Entropy
Your spells have a chance to grant you 15% Haste for 8 sec.

Level 30: Demon Skin
Your Soul Leech absorption now passively recharges at a rate of 0.5% of maximum health every 1 sec, and may now absorb up to 15% of maximum health.

Level 35: Fire and Brimstone
Incinerate now also hits all enemies near your target for 40% damage and generates 2 Soul Shard Fragment for each additional enemy hit.

Level 40: Mortal Coil
Horrifies an enemy target into fleeing, incapacitating for 3 sec and healing you for 20% of maximum health.

Level 45: Roaring Blaze
Conflagrate increases your Immolate, Incinerate, and Conflagrate damage to the target by 25% for 8 sec.

Level 50: Soul Conduit
Every Soul Shard you spend has a 15% chance to be refunded.

Stat Priority

1. Intellect
2. Haste
3. Mastery
4. Critical Strike
5. Versatility

Abilities

• Apply Havoc to a secondary target to mirror your single target spells to also strike the secondary target
• Use Chaos Bolt as much as possible when Havoc is applied to a second target
• Conflagrate reduces the cast time of Chaos Bolt and Incinerate
• Use Summon Infernal when you need burst AoE or on boss fights
• Demonic Gateway, Demonic Circle, and Demonic Circle: Teleport help provide mobility, you should play around with these and learn how they work so that they can be utilized in boss fights or when needed
• Use Drain Life after casting Soul Rot for healing as needed

Rotation

Single Target Rotation

1. Immolate
2. Soul Rot
3. Conflagrate
4. Chaos Bolt
5. Incinerate to generate soul shards

AoE Rotation

1. Rain of Fire
2. Soul Rot
3. Immolate on up to 3 targets
4. Incinerate x3
5. Conflagrate
6. Rain of Fire

Gems & Enchants

Gems

As of right now the best option is Haste gems.

• Quick Jewel Cluster
• Quick Jewel Doublet

Enchants

• Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Fortified Leech
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Eternal Stats
• Bracers – Enchant Bracers – Eternal Intellect
• Rings – Enchant Ring – Tenet of Haste
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Sinful Revelation

Covenant

Night Fae is currently the best choice for a casual player playing a Destruction Warlock. The class abilities are Soul Rot and Soulshape.

• Soul Rot helps provide additional DPS in both single target and AoE engagements and buffs Drain Life.
• Soulshape provides additional mobility.

Conduits

Here you can find a list of Potency Conduits in order of priority that are beneficial for both single target and AoE dps. Feel free to use whichever Endurance and Finesse conduits best suit your play style.

Soul Eater – Soul Rot’s damage and radius is increased by 25.0%.

• Can be acquired by completing the Strengthening the Bond quest when you first get your soulbind.
• Drops from multiple World Bosses:
  • Valinor
  • Mortanis
  • Nurgash Muckformed
  • Oranomonos the Everbranching

Ashen Remains – Chaos Bolt and Incinerate deal 4.0% increased damage to targets afflicted by Immolate.

• Drops from the second boss in Sanguine Depths, Executor Tarvold
• Can be acquired from World Quests

Combusting Engine – Conflagrate increases your remaining Immolate damage by 8.0% until Immolate expires or is refreshed.

• Drops from the fourth boss in Theater of Pain, Kul’tharok

Legendary

The best overall legendary for casual Destruction Warlocks is Embers of the Diabolic Raiment
Incinerate now generates 100% additional Soul Shard Fragments.

Memory of the Diabolic Raiment is dropped by Kul’tharok, the fourth boss in Theater of Pain

This legendary can be crafted for the chest slot or back slot.