Since Gul’Dan warlocks were truly powerful casters with a lot of unique abilities and outstanding class specific. In our WotLK Warlock guide, you can find all you need to know about this class.
WotLK Classic Warlock Overview
Warlock class gameplay is built around some DoTs and strong dark magic damage abilities. This class also has unique companions: demons, which Warlocks summon for additional support, damage, and tanking, depending on what demon you summon. Keep in mind, that this class has only damage-dealing specs.
Destruction
Destruction Warlocks are the masters of ashing enemies to death with massive fire spells and burning the souls of enemies. The specialization has a huge burst potential combined with constant direct damage. However, the problem is the lack of finishing spells that are widely presented among other Warlock specs.
While Destruction Warlocks were literally kings of The Burning Crusade Damage Meter, in WotLK they found themselves in the very bottom, which made Warlock in WotLK mains switch to Affliction and moves Destruction mains to PvP. However, Destro Warlocks have received massive support from potential buffs, so they still can be used in certain situations in raids.
Affliction
Affliction was an absolute underdog throughout the whole TBC, but for now, it receives a massive rise becoming arguably the best Ranged DPS spec out of all. It has made a significant jump in its damage-over-time spells damage.
WotLK Affliction Warlock finally shows the power of its potential and its abilities start to hit really hard. A new mechanic of Corruption was introduced, where you should prolong it for as long as possible with Everlasting Affliction. Also, the big factor is Drain Soul rework. Now it’s a big DoT finisher, which is used when the enemy is below 25% of health. Haunt also has a big impact on the damage you deal with your DoT spells.
All this makes Affliction one of the best DPS specs, but it really kills the idea of Affliction being a support spec while killing all the DPS Meters at the same time.
Demonology
Wrath of the Lich King has changed Demonology spec a lot. Now it’s not only a playable spec but a great support spec that buffs all the raid with the spell power via Demonic Pact. The rotation has also changed significantly. It’s no longer about standing behind your Felguard and casting Soul Fire and Shadow Bolt. There are a lot of new possibilities, for example, you can easily turn into a demon (just like a Demon Hunter, but way before the Demon Hunter release). The skill that turns you into a demon is Metamorphosis. This is an extremely important cool-down, as it not only makes you deal more damage but also increases your survivability. We also get several different spells, such as Immolation Aura, Shadow Cleave, and Demon Charge. These skills make you change ranged attacks to melee range to increase your output damage. This makes your positioning much more interesting, so the WotLK Demonology Warlock gameplay in general becomes more diverse.
This is why Demonology is a great support spec with good burst damage and survivability. It’s really a fun spec to play!
WotLK Classic Warlock Changes
In the previous expansion, Destruction Warlock was the king of all Warlocks. All the Warlocks we saw were some sort of variation of Destruction Warlock. In Wrath of the Lich King, everything has changed. Each Warlock specialization sees its usage in Wrath of the Lich King. Now the Affliction comes into play, being one of the best ranged DPS classes in the game. WotLK Destruction Warlock moves into the PvP or becomes a mediocre support DPS class, and Demonology becomes a great playable spec with unique mechanics.
5.0WotLK Warlock Leveling Guide
There are two main ways of leveling Warlock. The first one – Demonology, and the second – Affliction. Destruction is not really the best choice for leveling. However, you may try some experiments with Destro Warlock, we will be covering two other specs for leveling.
Affliction
| Strength | Weakness |
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Demonology
| Strength | Weakness |
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For more leveling info go check out our leveling guide for WotLKK Classic.
WotLK Warlock Talents and Glyphs
Even if you level your Warlock in Affliction or Demonology, for endgame you can choose another spec. So, let’s learn more about them.
Destruction build [0/13/58]: spec that deals a lot of straight fire damage, but it also has some procs that allow you to increase your damage, so in talent build, we have buffs for both. For both ways, we have different talents in our build. For straight fire damage, we have Emberstorm, Fire and Brimstone, and Shadow and Flame. For procs, we have Pyroclast, Backdraft, and Empowered Imp.
Affliction build [55/0/16]: spec that uses Damage-Over-Time skills for dealing damage and to hit hard with these DOTs, the fight has to last long, otherwise, burst damage specks are just better, because they can simply annihilate the target in a short period of time. But for most of the boss fights it’s not the case when the enemy is destroyed quickly, so that’s exactly where Affliction comes into play.
The main talents that increase our DOT spell damage output are Improved Curse of Agony, Improved Corruption, Siphon Life, and Malediction.
Demonology build [0/56/15]: the key of the spec is to change the rotation filler skill between Shadow Bolt, Incinerate, and Soulfire in order to proc Molten Core and Decimation. And at the same time buff your Felguard with different talents such as Demonic Empowerment, Unholy Power, Master Demonologist, and Demonic Tactics. And it’s worth noting that Demonic Pact is a talent that will make every caster in the Raid respect you as it increases spell damage by 10%.
WotLK Classic Warlock Stats
Collecting items with specific suitable for your spec stats will make you much more powerful, so let’s learn more about them.
| Destruction | Affliction | Demonology |
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Note about Hit Rating. For most targets (lvl 80) you need just 4%, which is 104.9 for Destruction and Demonology and 26.4 for Affliction, but if you fight against lvl 83 target, which is a raid boss, you need 17% in order not to miss, so it’s 445.9 for Destruction and Demonology and 367.2 for Affliction. So once you’ve reached the hit cap, focus on Spell Power, as the further increase of hit rating will be a waste of stats. Affliction has a lower cap because it’s being compensated by Suppression talent.
WotLK Classic Warlock Best Race
WotLK best Warlock race is another thing you should know before you create your new character.
| Alliance | Horde |
| Humans are the best race to play among all the Alliance. This is due to increased spell power and reputation farm. | Orcs are the way to go. They boost the DPS of Demons and other pets, which is always nice. |
WotLK Classic Warlock Consumables, Chants & Gems
The best warlocks never ignore any little detail that can make them powerful. So follow this rule too!
Affliction
| Gems | Chants | Consumables |
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Destruction
| Gems | Chants | Consumables |
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Demonology
| Gems | Chants | Consumables |
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WotLK Classic Warlock Best Professions
Tailoring is a great choice as it provides 295 Spell Power items, which is always great when you pay Warlock
Engineering is a must-have for all classes in WotLK, as it provides a lot of useful items, including a +340 haste rating.
If you want to dive deeply into these professions, go check our guides for Tailoring and Engineering. Also, if you don’t want to waste your time and gold on professions, you may check out our profession boosts Engineering and Tailoring.
WotLK Classic Warlock Rotation
This advice will help you to start mastering your Warlock skill, but in the future, you can choose your own way.
| Destruction | Affliction | Demonology |
Keep Curse of the Elements or Curse of Doom on the target at all times. You use Curse of Doom if you have an Unholy Death Knight or Moonkin in your group. Otherwise, you use Curse of the Elements. Imp is your best pet. He deals the most damage and the builds above both have Empowered Imp which gives us a 100% chance to crit after he crits. | At first, begin by casting Life Tap before the boss is engaged. Ensure the boss has Curse of the Elements on him at all times.
Be careful not to re-apply DoTs earlier than necessary as this will lower your DPS. | Demonology relies on a priority system instead of a skill rotation. Core Abilities:
Curses:
Other Spells:
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WotLK Warlock BIS
BiS stands for Best in slot. So, below you can find the best items for all Warlock specs. Here are the best items for Phase 1 and the pre-raid BiS list.
WotLK Classic Warlock Pre-Raid BIS List
WotLK Classic Warlock BIS List
WotLK Warlock PvP
The best Warlock specs for PvP in WotLK Classic are Destruction and Affliction. So here are the most popular 2v2 and 3v3 Arena team setups. They are considered to be the most effective and the best to grind Arena rating.
Destruction
| 2v2 comps | 3v3 comps |
| Destruction Warlock/ Elemental Shaman Destruction Warlock/ Arms Warrior Destruction Warlock/ Discipline Priest Destruction Warlock/ Frost Mage Destruction Warlock/ Rogue Destruction Warlock/ Restoration Druid Destruction Warlock/ Holy Paladin | Destruction Warlock/ Holy Paladin/ Arms Warrior Destruction Warlock/ Balance Druid/ Restoration Shaman Destruction Warlock/ Frost Mage/ Restoration Druid Destruction Warlock/ Restoration Druid/ Elemental Shaman |
Affliction
| 2v2 comps | 3v3 comps |
| Affliction Warlock/ Shadow Priest Affliction Warlock/ Druid | Rogue/ Affliction Warlock/ Druid Rogue/ Affliction Warlock/ Shaman |
WotLK Classic Warlock Macros
Finally, here are some useful tips to improve your Warlock gameplay in WotLK Classic. Macros are very useful tools for all specializations. Now let’s take a look at the most popular ones, which will help you a lot while playing Warlock.
Focus DoT Cast
#showtooltip Corruption
/cast [@focus,mod:alt][@mouseover,mod:ctrl][@target] Corruption
This macro allows you not to pick a target but to cast a spell to a current cursor location via pressing CTRL. If you press ALT you will cast on your focus. This saves you a lot of time during the fight.
Channeled Spells No Cancel
#showtooltip Drain Soul
/cast [nochanneling:Drain Soul] Drain Soul
This macro makes your channel spells impossible to cancel. Can be used with any channel spell.
So, it’s all you need to know about WotLK Warlock. Good luck in getting the new gameplay experience, and don’t forget to rate our WotLK Warlock guide if this information was helpful for you.
