Demonology Warlock Guide

📊 Stat Priority

Priority: Intellect >>> Critical Strike ≈ Haste > Mastery >> Versatility. Intellect is by far your strongest stat and comes from item level, so higher item level is almost always the upgrade regardless of secondary distribution.

• Intellect - primary stat, scales everything. Chase item level first.
• Critical Strike & Haste - very close. Haste smooths the rotation and speeds Wild Imp casts/Demonic Core generation, which Demo 'craves'; Crit is the raw throughput stat. Both sit ahead of Mastery in Season 1.
• Mastery - increases your pet/demon damage. Solid but the spec already overflows with demons, so it sits below Crit/Haste.
• Versatility - the dump stat (small survivability bonus on the side).

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set — Abyssal Immolator (Head, Chest, Hands, Legs via Catalyst):

• 2-piece - Hand of Gul'dan deals ~15% increased damage. Since Hand of Gul'dan is your most-pressed button (and your Dominion of Argus payload), this is a big, always-on gain.
• 4-piece - Dreadstalkers deal ~10% increased damage and last 3 additional seconds. Directly buffs a core summon and lengthens your Tyrant snapshot.

Top trinkets — Raid: Gaze of the Alnseer + Emberwing Feather is the optimal pairing. M+: Emberwing Feather (M+ farmable) paired with a Haste/throughput trinket (e.g. Eye of Midnight / Heart of Wind). Others seen: Locus-Walker's Ribbon, Vaelgor's Final Stare.

Consumables: Intellect Flask (Flask of the Magisters / Phial of Power) · combat damage Potion · Intellect/Haste Feast food · Void-Touched Augment Rune · Thalassian Phoenix Oil on weapon. Gems: Intellect Eversong Diamond (meta-style) + secondary gems matching your sim'd stat (Crit/Haste). Enchants: weapon, rings, chest, legs, boots all enchanted per current Season-1 recipes — match the secondary your sim wants.

🚀 Opener

Pre-build demons and shards before the pull so your first Summon Demonic Tyrant snapshots a full board of Wild Imps + Dreadstalkers. Hold Tyrant until Dreadstalkers and your Grimoire pet are out, then dump Hand of Gul'dan during the Dominion of Argus window.

1. Pre-cast Power Siphon with 2 Wild Imps active (if talented), then pre-cast Demonbolt(s) on Demonic Core
2. Pre-cast Shadow Bolt so it lands at pull (build toward 5 Soul Shards)
3. Call Dreadstalkers (also spawns your Vilefiend / Doomguard depending on build)
4. Cast your Grimoire pet (Grimoire: Imp Lord, or Fel Ravager for offensive purge)
5. Hand of Gul'dan to fill the board with Wild Imps (spend toward 5 shards)
6. Summon Demonic Tyrant — buffs every active demon and starts the Dominion of Argus window
7. Spam Hand of Gul'dan as much as possible for 15s (each cast adds Wild Imps; Dominion refunds shards)
8. Demonbolt on Demonic Core to keep imps fed
9. Implosion at 6 Wild Imps if you have ≤1 Demonic Core (cleave/refresh)
10. Sync trinkets + racial with Tyrant, then fall into the priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

Keep Dreadstalkers and Tyrant on cooldown, never overcap Soul Shards or Demonic Cores, and feed Hand of Gul'dan during every Tyrant window. The whole spec is a loop of generate shards → summon demons → burst with Tyrant.

1. Call Dreadstalkers right before Summon Demonic Tyrant (so Tyrant buffs them)
2. Call Dreadstalkers on cooldown otherwise
3. Summon Demonic Tyrant when Dreadstalkers + Grimoire pet are active
4. Summon Doomguard on cooldown (off-Tyrant — it does not need the window)
5. Power Siphon with 2+ Wild Imps and ≤2 Demonic Cores
6. Hand of Gul'dan when about to overcap Soul Shards (or to feed Dominion of Argus during Tyrant)
7. Infernal Bolt (Diabolist) / Shadow Bolt when below ~3 Soul Shards to regenerate
8. Demonbolt with 2+ Demonic Core stacks (don't let Cores overcap at 4)
9. Implosion at 6 Wild Imps only with the To Hell and Back / single-target imp-refund talent
10. Shadow Bolt as the filler / shard generator

💥 AoE / Cleave Priority

Almost identical to single-target — the difference is Implosion becomes a core button. Implosion's secondary-target damage lands at FULL value regardless of imp energy, so spamming Hand of Gul'dan → Implosion is your AoE engine. Diabolist's Overlord / Pit Lord summons hit the whole pack.

1. Call Dreadstalkers before Summon Demonic Tyrant
2. Summon Demonic Tyrant on a full demon board
3. Summon Doomguard on cooldown
4. Hand of Gul'dan when about to overcap Soul Shards (build Wild Imps fast)
5. Implosion at 6 Wild Imps on cooldown — this is the cleave (secondary targets take full damage)
6. Bilescourge Bombers / Guillotine on cooldown if talented (uncapped AoE)
7. Power Siphon with 2+ Wild Imps and ≤2 Cores to recycle into Demonbolt
8. Demonbolt with 2+ Demonic Core stacks
9. Infernal Bolt / Shadow Bolt to refill shards when low
10. Shadow Bolt as filler

⏱️ Cooldowns

Summon Demonic Tyrant is the spec — everything funnels into its window. Stack Dreadstalkers, your Grimoire pet, and a fresh batch of Wild Imps before pressing it, then spam Hand of Gul'dan during Dominion of Argus.

Summon Demonic Tyrant120s

Your defining burst. Buffs every active demon (Wild Imps, Dreadstalkers, Vilefiend) and extends their durations for ~15s while it hammers your target. Opens the Dominion of Argus window — cast as many Hand of Gul'dans as possible during it. Always line up demons + trinkets + racial first.

Call Dreadstalkersshort CD

Summons two Dreadstalker hounds; reduced/free cost with Demonic Calling procs. Cast on cooldown, but time it to land just before Tyrant so they get the buff. The tier 4pc makes them hit 10% harder and last 3s longer.

Summon Doomguard120s

New Midnight cooldown pet that does NOT benefit from Tyrant, so use it flexibly whenever it's up — don't hold it for the Tyrant window. Big sustained add to your demon damage.

Grimoire: Imp Lord / Fel Ravager120s

Replaced the old Grimoire: Felguard. A powerful temporary demon you summon right before Tyrant. Fel Ravager brings Singe Magic (offensive purge) for dungeon buffs; Imp Lord is the default.

Nether Portal / Demonic Strengthtalent

Build-dependent burst layers. Nether Portal summons demons on every shard spend for a window; Demonic Strength empowers your Felguard's Felstorm. Use inside or alongside the Tyrant window per your talent build.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Warlocks are deceptively tanky for a ranged DPS — a strong absorb (Unending Resolve), a health-into-shield trade (Dark Pact), a self-heal (Mortal Coil), and the best emergency item in the game (Healthstone). Demonic Circle is your mobility-as-survival escape.

Unending Resolve~3 min

Major personal cooldown: large absorb shield + 40% damage reduction + interrupt/silence immunity while active. Your big 'eat this mechanic' button. Strength of Will improves it if talented.

Dark Pact~1 min

Sacrifices ~20% current health for a big absorb shield (off the GCD). Use it BEFORE you're low — it scales off health you spend, not health you have. Frequent Donor lowers its cooldown.

Mortal Coil45s

Horrifies the target (mini-CC) AND heals you for a chunk of max health. Doubles as a soft interrupt / peel and a quick self-heal on a short cooldown.

Healthstone1 min (combat)

Instant ~25% heal item you conjure (Create Healthstone). Pact of Gluttony / talents allow multiple uses per fight. Top emergency button — keybind it, don't dig in your bags.

Demonic Circle: Teleportinstant

Drop a circle, teleport back to it — break roots, dodge frontals, reposition out of bad. Mobility used as survival. Demonic Gateway covers longer skips for the group.

Soulstone10 min

Pre-cast on an ally for a battle resurrection, or self-cast for a self-rez. Raid-saving utility — assign it on every pull.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• Run Diabolist in M+ — front-loaded Overlord / Pit Lord summons and Infernal Bolt shard economy beat Soul Harvester for keys.
• Implosion is your AoE: its secondary-target damage lands at full value regardless of imp energy, so Hand of Gul'dan → 6 imps → Implosion is the cleave loop.
• Don't end a pull empty — bank some Soul Shards / Demonic Cores so the next pack opens with burst instead of a slow ramp (you regenerate ~3 shards out of combat).
• Strafe while moving so your Wild Imps line up narrowly behind you — facing them into an adjacent pack can accidentally pull it.
• Use Fel Ravager's Singe Magic to purge dangerous enemy buffs; Banish to lock down Demon/Elemental mobs.
• CC suite for affixes: Shadowfury (AoE stun), Howl of Terror (10-target fear), pet Spell Lock / Axe Toss for the assigned interrupt. Mortal Coil as a backup stop.
• Pre-cast Soulstone on a healer/key-holder, keep Healthstones up, and use Demonic Gateway for skips.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (importable configs on Wago.io) to track Demonic Cores, Soul Shards, Wild Imp count, and Tyrant. Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, Plater (imp/demon nameplate tracking), OmniCD.

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead][] Spell Lock

#showtooltip Summon Demonic Tyrant
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Summon Demonic Tyrant

#showtooltip Hand of Gul'dan
/petattack
/cast Hand of Gul'dan

#showtooltip Soulstone
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@player] Soulstone

#showtooltip
/use Healthstone
/cast Dark Pact

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Casting Summon Demonic Tyrant on an empty board — always have Dreadstalkers, your Grimoire pet, and fresh Wild Imps out first, or you waste the whole window.
• Not spamming Hand of Gul'dan during Dominion of Argus — the 15s post-Tyrant window is where the damage is; fill it with Hand of Gul'dan, not Shadow Bolts.
• Overcapping Soul Shards or Demonic Cores — both are wasted resources; spend Cores with Demonbolt and shards with Hand of Gul'dan before they cap.
• Holding Summon Doomguard for the Tyrant window — it doesn't benefit from Tyrant, so use it on cooldown instead.
• Imploding at the wrong time — in single-target only Implode with the imp-refund talent and low Cores; in AoE press it on cooldown at 6 imps.
• Sitting on Dark Pact / Unending Resolve until you're already low — pre-shield for known damage; Dark Pact especially scales off health you spend, not health you have.
• Forgetting Soulstone and Healthstones — free raid utility; assign and refresh them every pull.