The masters of chaos rained fire from the sky to burn their enemies mercilessly.
The Destruction Warlock covers his enemies with powerful demon magic. Other damage specializations of the Warlock include the Affliction Warlock and the Demonology Warlock.
The most important changes
Curse of Speech, Curse of Weakness, and Curse of Exhaustion are now available for all Warlock specializations. You learn the Ritual of Doom ability at level 37, which begins a ritual that sacrifices a random participant to summon a Doomguard.
The ritual requires four additional allies besides yourself. The Doomguard stays for 15 minutes and has a small chance to break free and attack the party. The Eye of Killrog can be attacked by players again and is usable in rated PvP.
The former talent Demonic Circle is now an ability. In the Shadowlands, your Devastation, Summon Hellbeast, and Rain of Fire spells gain a second rank. Devastation runs two seconds longer, Hellbeast deals 100% more damage on impact, and Rain of Fire deals 10% more damage.
The level 45 talent Grimoire of Superiority has been replaced with the new talent Chaos Rain. The Blazing Fire talent has been reworked to temporarily increase Firebrand, Burn, and Conflagration damage by 30%. The talents Soul Fire (level 15), Shadow Fire (level 25), Cataclysm (level 35), and Fire and Brimstone (level 35) have been slightly reworked.
How to play the Destruction Warlock
Against single targets, you must keep Firebrand on the target at all times. When you have five Soul Shards, cast Chaos Lightning. Next up are Conflagration and Incinerate. Both of these abilities allow you to build up Soul Shards.
| Stage | Talent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Flashover | Conflagration deals 25% more damage and grants an additional charge of Pyrolysis. |
| 25 | Reverse Entropy | Your spells have a chance to increase your speed by 15% for eight seconds. |
| 30 | Burning Rush | Increases your movement speed by 50%, but deals damage equal to 4% of your maximum health every second. Movement restricting effects cannot slow you below 100% of your normal movement speed. Lasts until cancelled |
| 35 | Fire and Brimstone | Burn now hits all enemies near your target, dealing 40% damage and generating two Soul Shard fragments per additional enemy hit |
| 40 | Darkfury | Reduces the cooldown of Shadowfuror by 15 seconds and increases the radius of the ability by two meters. |
| 45 | Rain of Chaos | While your original Hellbeast is active, each time you consume a Soul Shard, there is a 15% chance to summon an additional Hellbeast that lasts for eight seconds |
| 50 | Dark Soul: Instability | Infuses your soul with an unstable power that increases your critical hit chance by 30% for 20 seconds. |
Against multiple targets, you’ll maintain Firebrand on up to three targets. Use Devastation to spread the high damage of Chaos Lightning across multiple targets. When Devastation is on cooldown, you can use Rain of Fire on three targets or more to spend Soul Shards.
On offensive cooldowns, you should always use Sinister Soul: Instability when it is available. Otherwise, you still have the option of summoning a Hell Beast.
