How to fix/redesign demonology?

[Deleted]

The only classes getting an overhaul in BfA are survival hunters and demonology warlocks, according to a Q&A.
Now, I get survival hunters, having played them for a bit. The idea is fantastic but their implementation far from great.

Being relatively ignorant of demo locks, though, I was wondering...
In what way would you, having tried it our or perhaps even maining it, redesign demonology? What about its playstyle bugs you the most?

[Thorad]

Main problem for Demo is it has to be immobile or its a huge dps loss, and we know Blizzard is not doing anything but mobile raid encounters. Demo needs a way to fill in the dps gap while moving.

Demo is also not a spec which has the most visual effects, and you cant even see the imps you spawn to kill the boss, you just stand there waving ur hands like a turret.

Mechanically the biggest flaw that clogs Demo is DE, if you spawn a Demon and you had to move during the encounter before casting it, those demons are half wasted.

I know that everyone says the same thing, but with Blizzard going so much for mobility encounters, there is no other choice. Either give Demo a blink, lots of instant cast spells, or KJ's cunning, or go home.

This is probably why Blizzard is bringing back Raid buffs. The entire game is so much concentrated around whats good or not, people are being forced to play specs that they dont like just to perform good.

[cafecito820]

Just revert it to the WoD version. That spec was incredibly fun to play. Popping Demon Form, cooldown, and unloading Cataclysm + Demonbolt spams was /drool.

[Derilore]

What doesn't make sense is why they just didn't give demo warlocks a spellcaster meta.

Like DH sure they can go melee demon.

While demo warlocks could of had the badass caster demon which summons more demons.

Demon portal - summons demons for x seconds? Hm suicide imp portal? hounds rushing out of the portal would be cool too. Damage either way and much cooler.

a better demon bolt in demon form. Maybe it has old doom with a chance to summon another doomguard?

like so many cool options.

[Jurani]

Just give back what we had in MoP/WoD. It was a unique spec and very fun to play.

[Requimortem]

Just revert it to the WoD version. That spec was incredibly fun to play. Popping Demon Form, cooldown, and unloading Cataclysm + Demonbolt spams was /drool.

Which was a gutted version of the Demonology we had in Mists of Pandaria.

[Asuhariet]

Just revert it to the WoD version. That spec was incredibly fun to play. Popping Demon Form, cooldown, and unloading Cataclysm + Demonbolt spams was /drool.

WoD Demo was completely immobile as well, that doesn't fix that issue

[netherflame]

Make demo a tank spec.......please god.

[Bullettime]

It needs to be more akin to the D3 Necromancer than the Zunimassa's Witch Doctor it currently plays like. Having a horde of minions doesn't feel cool when they're lowly garbage and the base gameplay is pretty uninteresting.

More interesting pets, more interesting ways to give them power, more means in which to control them/situational sacrifice. Things like Implosion and Darkglare are fantastic and should be looked at for ways to expand the spec going forward.

[Zyky]

The only classes getting an overhaul in BfA are survival hunters and demonology warlocks, according to a Q&A.
Now, I get survival hunters, having played them for a bit. The idea is fantastic but their implementation far from great.

Being relatively ignorant of demo locks, though, I was wondering...
In what way would you, having tried it our or perhaps even maining it, redesign demonology? What about its playstyle bugs you the most?

they didn't say those were the "only classes" they said those were the 2 that are for sure right now.

[Typelouder]

Make demo a tank spec.......please god.

Came here to say the same thing. I know there was work back in MoP with the former Lock lead, but it would be nice if they gave it a shot.

[kasuke06]

I'd make it a bit closer to BM hunter, with an actual dichotomy between different summoning styles(akin to stomp build and frenzy build) with a focus either on summoning as many as you can(current) or maintaining a smaller cadre of tougher demons. not really sure just how much work that would take.

Maybe make it more of a "commander" type role instead of a "just summon whatever and huck it at them" role through having more of your damage come from commands issued to your various demons(maybe some kind of "coordinated attack" that has different effects for what you have summoned), marking targets with doom(reworked to increase demon damage to target), and having demons leave a small(but stacking) buff to your own damage, while keeping a smaller cadre of permanent demons that you can choose based on what effects you want(ranged one for pure damage, melee one with tanking capabilities, support one that debuffs enemies and/or buffs your current demons) and I would get rid of DE. IMO it's kind of a boring "press for more damage" button that seems to exist more as a way to punish movement heavy fights than anything else.

[Addict]

WoD Demo was completely immobile as well, that doesn't fix that issue

Did we play the same demo spec? i was a flying majestic winged beast of a man with mobilitiy and burst galore in wod. Sure outside of demonform you were immobile, but while in demon form you have all the mobility in the world, combined with a directional leap and gateway and teleport.

[Wondercrab]

Demonology has quite a few problems, but the biggest issue that I think needs fixing as a priority is Demonic Empowerment. It's a really awkward mechanic that requires frequent recasting of a maintenance buff every time you summon new demons. It's an unsatisfying spell to cast thanks to being visually uninteresting and having no punchy feedback, making it feel like you're not really "doing anything" every time you use it.

I also feel like Demonology is shackled to a lot of old Warlock mechanics that don't really fit the spec, but they want to keep for nostalgia reasons. Shadowbolt, for example, would be a great one to cut in favour of something like a spammable imp summon spell, with imps being your new resource instead of soul shards, and implosion your go-to resource spender. Doom is another weird spell that has a lot of mechanical downsides, doesn't really tie into the "master summoner" fantasy, and could probably be gotten rid of in favour of something more functional and thematically appropriate.

Warlocks as a whole lost a lot of their spec diversity and identity in Legion, though, and they really need some love going forward.

[Requimortem]

Came here to say the same thing. I know there was work back in MoP with the former Lock lead, but it would be nice if they gave it a shot.

No it wouldn't. I don't play a Warlock to be a punching bag for someone else. If that's what you want then go play a Demon Huntard and leave this class alone.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I was thinking about this. I'd like to take some inspiration from the vanilla talent tree and have the spec empower your regular demon pets. I'd like to see some way to use all of them rather than just being locked into the felguard. Maybe giving them some sort of buff that causes them to take damage? Naturally you'd need a way to resummon the demons quicker than we already do. Perhaps our abilities could centre around keeping them alive for longer? Effectively you'd have something like the new shadow priest voidform, a draining resource that you fight against. Perhaps you could have a cooldown that makes them die quicker but do more damage so you have more of a race on?

[Asuhariet]

Did we play the same demo spec? i was a flying majestic winged beast of a man with mobilitiy and burst galore in wod. Sure outside of demonform you were immobile, but while in demon form you have all the mobility in the world, combined with a directional leap and gateway and teleport.

Well if you wanted to do dps you were immobile getting to 800 fury before your demonbolt debuff fell off, then pop into meta and cast 4 demonbolts. Using Touch of Chaos or Leaping would just cause you to not be able to get off that 4th demonbolt which was the really important one. So idk. I know I did damage but I was immobile, I don't know about you.

[Cheze]

there are visual/theme problems and gameplay problems; from the standpoint of pure gameplay spamming DE all the time feels awkward, especially if you don't have a relatively low amount of haste. Spawning a lot of small 'guardians' to do DPS also impairs target swapping a lot. I feel like if nothing else the empowerment effect should just be tied into shadow/demonbolt.

Thematically the problem is that you barely see (or command) all the stuff you're summoning; all the imps and dreadstalkers and such get thrown into melee, as opposed to MoP when they'd all spawn around you. I thought the imp mother gameplay actually was okay, but all the imps being in melee removes a lot of the visual fun of it.