Demo Lock, the introduction. [ Guide ]

[Deleted]

Notice I wrote this at home without any internet. Some information here might be based off on the top of my head. They will get fixed as I find the time to update my guide.

~Florez.

The Demonology Warlock.
Tables of content:

1.1 – Introduction.
1.2 – Why a Demonology Warlock?
1.3 – The Demonology Warlock and the raid.

2.1 – The Spec, key talents.
2.2 – Glyphs
2.3 – Basic Rotation.

3.1 – Gearing, itemisation.
3.2 – Gemming.

4.1 – Tips and tricks.
4.2 - Finale.




1.1: Introduction.
I have written this guide to help the players that are starting up, on how to play their warlock efficiently as Demonology in a raid. In terms, the players that are uninformed, or feel like they need to understand the class better, will get a better understanding after reading this guide. It is my hope, that some of the common misunderstandings will be cleared up. I thank you for reading my guide, and I hope you will find it helpful.

1.2: Why a Demo Warlock?
When picking out exactly wich spec you prefer running around in a raid as, there are always a few things to consider. Following is the mindset for playing a Demo spec. Playing a Demonology Warlock means you want to handle your demon brethren with more care. In a raid, you want to buff your fellow raiders, and sometimes sacrifice your own DPS to increase theirs. As a Demonology Warlock you have to be aware, that if you die, it is not only a loss of the dps you contribute, but also a major drop for all the other casters. The gearing and gemming you perform is directed towards demonology in such a way, that respeccing often requires you to completely regem your gear.

Of the plusses, your surviveability with Soul Link is drastically increased. You gain some awesome cooldowns, and your damage in the execute phase ( when the mob/boss is below 35% ) is unmatched, save Affliction Warlocks.

1.3: The Demonology Warlock and the raid.
The first, and most important thing you have to know about demonology Warlocks, is the amount of raid performance they bring. Through their talent, Demonic Pact.
They increase the spellpower of everyone in the group/raid by 10% of the Warlocks spellpower. Any decent Demonology Warlock will be sitting in around 4800+ spellpower buffed, at the middle of ICC. Notice, that this spellpower buff does not stack with the Ele Shamans Totem of Wrath. ( There is math saying that the totem do contribute with spellpower to the buff the Warlock grants. )

The second thing they bring, is the “Scorch effect” better known as Improved Shadow Bolt. ISB grants you an increased 5% chance to crit, whoever you debuff. Basically, no other spec ( Save Affliction Locks ) wants to get the effects that brings the Scorch Effect, and why would they if the Demonology Warlock does it for them?

So, why is the Demonology Warlock doing saddening DPS on progression raids? Out of the things to consider when talking about the individuals DPS, is what he should be doing. Not only is Demonology slightly behind other classes and specs on DPS as it is, on progression the bosses time below 35% hp is rather low, if you even get them that far down. This means that the time where Demonology Warlocks benefit from Decimation, is diminished or even non existent on progression bosses. That however, doesn’t mean Demo Locks cannot put out decent numbers. Out of the Warlocks specs, Demonology’s and Affliction’s DPS is nearing each other at BIS gear, with Destro lacking slightly behind.

2.1: The Demonology Spec.
When you’re talenting a Demonology Warlock, there is little room for freedom. You want to make sure you have Ruin from the Destro tree, as about 60-70% of your total damage output will be through destruction spells. The rest more or less have to go into the Demonology tree to make the synergy between spells, skills and pet work. I have seen examples of Demonology specs with the Supression talent – I however advice that you get a hitcapped gearset, and work with the cookie cutter spec from there.
The spec is as follows.
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#IZbRchkAkihsgdAoE00V

2.2: Demonology Glyphs.
Out of the glyph possibilities, there are a few settings wich has proven viable. The Glyphs I would consider mandatory, are Glyph of Lifetap and Glyph of Felguard. In the last Glyph slot I would vouch for either Glyph of Quick Decay, Glyph of Shadow bolt or Glyph of Metamorphosis. The reasoning behind picking Glyph of Quick Decay, is due to our talents demanding and uptime on Corruption, and for the fact that many fights have a lot of movement, where casting a Corruption might be the only thing you can do. On some fights however, I prefer to use Glyph of Shadow Bolt. This is mostly on fights where I can stand around and turret for a long while. Demonology is a spec that uses a ton of mana, and getting some spare GCD’s for extra damage rather than lifetap, is a welcome benefit.
The Glyph of Metamorphosis is a few seconds of increased damage. This increases your time as a Demon through Bloodlust, and at the begining of the fight. Defently a good Glyph aswell.

2.3: The Demonology Rotation.
The rotation, or prioritation of spells in the Demonology Warlocks repertoire is quite simple to manage. My starting rotation is quite simply Shadow bolt, Immolate and Corruption. Then I keep casting Shadow bolt till I have to refresh either Immolate or Corruption, or I get a Molten Core proc. If the proc is up when I am nearing 35% I try to keep as many of the charges as possible, to rain Soul Fires. If not, I cast Incinerates. (Any addon to track this proc for you is a godsend). If the dots are going to run out at the same time, I try to cast my immolate so it doesn’t clip anything, then refreshing Corruption. When the boss drops below 35% I suggest leaving out Immolate, unless you have the T10 4set bonus. You won’t have to suddenly cast Incinerates, and Soul Fire deals a massive amount of damage.


3.1: The Demonology Gear.
The Demonology Warlock who wishes to be as effective in a raid as can be, will grab everything he can with spellpower>spirit>haste. A few items slips through this general rule, such as items with hit. However, a low Ilvl item with Spellpower, Spirit and haste, is often valued higher than a high Ilvl item with Spellpower, crit and haste. Stack spirit, Stack haste.

3.2: Gemming.
Gemming as a demonology Warlock depends on your vision for your character. There is two different mindsets of how to gem, and these are as follows: Gem everything with 23 spellpower. If the sockets are blue, and the socket bonus is above 5 spellpower, gem 12 spellpower 10 spirit. That is the mindset for a lock who solely tries to gem to the benefit of the raid.
My own philosophy follows the principle of gemming red with 23 spellpower, blue following the same rule as above, and yellow with 12 spellpower 10 haste. My reasoning for doing this, is believing that 10 haste for me, is worth more than the one spellpower the buff might grant to our casters/healers.

4.1: Tips and tricks.
The first thing I did when I rolled a Demonology Warlock, was to bind “Demonic Empowerment” to my Shadow Bolt. I wanted that thing to be on cooldown as much as possible. I also start most fights by eating a Potion of Wild Magic, blowing my trinkets + Metamorphosis. Doing so, allows you to have trinket, metamorphosis and potion up, for the time Bloodlust is about to hit the fan. ( Notice, this depends slightly on bosses and there are few exceptions )

The last trick, is to add your Felguards cleave to your Shadow Bolt. This often makes sure, that the AI controlling your pet aint screwing you over. I have seen it waste more than two seconds not using cleave, for wich reason I know not.

4.2: Finale.

Thank you for reading through the guide. I hope you’ve gained something from reading through. Viva la Demo Lock!

[TillieTill]

Why not go for the maximum spellpower spec if you are going to be demo lock? doesnt make sense to me

[Ravemstr]

Another Demo guide ??? Errr, i mean... good job! But...

The spec is as follows.
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#IZbRchkAkihsgdAoE00V

Might i suggest taking the 2 points from Improved Healthstone back into Demonic Embrace? More stamina = more spell power for demo locks.

On some fights however, I prefer to use Glyph of Shadow Bolt. This is mostly on fights where I can stand around and turret for a long while.

No! Especially on turret fights you should have GoQD which will give you more Molten Core procs.

The last trick, is to add your Felguards cleave to your Shadow Bolt. This often makes sure, that the AI controlling your pet aint screwing you over.

It's been tested and proven that anything other than Imp's firebolt macro'ed to our casts is a DPS decrease rather than an increase so... No!

[gherkin]

It's been tested and proven that anything other than Imp's firebolt macro'ed to our casts is a DPS decrease rather than an increase so... No!

This is true - instant attacks do not suffer from the queuing issue that Firebolt does. They only need to check that the target is in front of you and that you are in range, both of which can be calculated Client Side and sent to the server for approval.

[~Thalia~]

( There is math saying that the totem do contribute with spellpower to the buff the Warlock grants. )

ToW would only contribute to the very first application of DP, but after that DP overwrites ToW. And ToW is a significant dps loss for an Elemental Shaman, so there is no reason to have ToW out if there is a Demonology Warlock in the raid.

2.1: The Demonology Spec.
When you’re talenting a Demonology Warlock, there is little room for freedom. You want to make sure you have Ruin from the Destro tree, as about 60-70% of your total damage output will be through destruction spells. The rest more or less have to go into the Demonology tree to make the synergy between spells, skills and pet work. I have seen examples of Demonology specs with the Supression talent – I however advice that you get a hitcapped gearset, and work with the cookie cutter spec from there.
The spec is as follows.
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#IZbRchkAkihsgdAoE00V

Well no, the cookie cutter spec isn't as you linked but has the points from Imp HS moved to DE, for increased stamina (= increased Pet stamina = increased spellpower = increased pet damage), as someone else already stated above.

There IS little room for freedom, as you can move the two points from IDT to Suppression, or Destructive reach (the only two viable options imho).
IDT grants more dps generally speaking. But Suppression can be a good call when replacing a piece of gear by another one that grants a significative update while losing some hit in the process (like upgrading Rigormortis with Arthas' swords - the weapon being significantly better will make up for the loss of IDT). Then, Destructive reach can be a viable option as Demo suffers from serious threat issues especially on fights when you stand in point blank range (Rotface, Arthas...).

2.2: Demonology Glyphs.
Out of the glyph possibilities, there are a few settings wich has proven viable. The Glyphs I would consider mandatory, are Glyph of Lifetap and Glyph of Felguard. In the last Glyph slot I would vouch for either Glyph of Quick Decay, Glyph of Shadow bolt or Glyph of Metamorphosis. The reasoning behind picking Glyph of Quick Decay, is due to our talents demanding and uptime on Corruption, and for the fact that many fights have a lot of movement, where casting a Corruption might be the only thing you can do. On some fights however, I prefer to use Glyph of Shadow Bolt. This is mostly on fights where I can stand around and turret for a long while. Demonology is a spec that uses a ton of mana, and getting some spare GCD’s for extra damage rather than lifetap, is a welcome benefit.
The Glyph of Metamorphosis is a few seconds of increased damage. This increases your time as a Demon through Bloodlust, and at the begining of the fight. Defently a good Glyph aswell.

Glyph of shadowbolt really doesn't cut it, it is a significant dps loss over Glyph of Meta\Quick decay. You really shouldn't advertise people to use it.
If you're having mana issues it is better to move two points from IDT to put them in Cataclysm (and I wouldn't recommend it either). SB is a much smaller part of Demo dps nowadays, while still being the 1st damage output (debatable on fights where you can abuse the decimation mechanics).
Glyph of QD has been proven to be a dps increase over Glyph of Meta of ~60-80 dps.

2.3: The Demonology Rotation.
The rotation, or prioritation of spells in the Demonology Warlocks repertoire is quite simple to manage. My starting rotation is quite simply Shadow bolt, Immolate and Corruption. Then I keep casting Shadow bolt till I have to refresh either Immolate or Corruption, or I get a Molten Core proc. If the proc is up when I am nearing 35% I try to keep as many of the charges as possible, to rain Soul Fires. If not, I cast Incinerates. (Any addon to track this proc for you is a godsend). If the dots are going to run out at the same time, I try to cast my immolate so it doesn’t clip anything, then refreshing Corruption. When the boss drops below 35% I suggest leaving out Immolate, unless you have the T10 4set bonus. You won’t have to suddenly cast Incinerates, and Soul Fire deals a massive amount of damage.

No Curse? First thing Demo should do is putting up CoD, which has the highest DPCT of all spell (except Immolation aura, but this one doesn't count ). CoA can be used if you're switching targets, and CoD is on cd. Just keep in mind that it has a lower DPCT than SF, so only use it if you're forced to move and everything else is on CD.
And you SHOULD keep up Immolate at all times, even if you don't have 4pT10. It has a much higher DPCT than even Soul Fire, even more since the dot portion can now critically hit.

4.1: Tips and tricks.
The first thing I did when I rolled a Demonology Warlock, was to bind “Demonic Empowerment” to my Shadow Bolt. I wanted that thing to be on cooldown as much as possible.

Since you're not going to use SB as often as you used to, and only once every 30 sec below 35%, you might want to bind Demonic Empowerment to all your spells (or at least, Immolate, SB, SF, and Incin.).

[harky]

No offense, but please don't attempt to write guides unless you have a firm understanding of your class/spec. It just leads to new Locks being confused, or mislead because they see that it's a 'Guide' and assume the poster is well-informed.

[Jessicka]

Glyph of Shadowbolt is terrible for a Demo lock. We no longer suffer mana problems since the Life Tap change so we really don't need the mana cost reduction, and now Immolate crits, that Glyph is better than Meta these days, but still not a match for Quick Decay. It's actually Life Tap that's potentially the weakest Glyph, which depends on Spirit on gear.

Mana Feed is completely unnecessary in a raid situation, as replenishment, totems, blessings etc will keep your FG pretty much topped off anyway.

Immolate and Corruption should always be on the target so long as they can run their full duration, Immolate as it's a higher DPET, and Corruption for MC procs. CoA should also be used if your last CoD falls off within the last 30-60 seconds of the fight.

Regarding MC, Incinerates should only replace Shadowbolt on the priority queue, as Corr and Immo are still higher DPET spells, and the Immolate DoT makes Incinerate hit harder.

[TillieTill]

Let's not bump this post, wouldn't be nice if some new player read this guide and learned wrong spec, rotation etc..

(this was not bumped by this post because it was already at the top)