6.1 Demonology Guide

[Zagam 1,982]

6.0.3 Demonology Guide by Zagam

 

This will be an ever-changing guide as improvements are made.  This guide is live for 6.0.3 with the buffs from 11/25 in effect.

 

 

 

1.  Specialization Overview / What Has Changed

 

In 6.0, Demonology received numerous changes that departs from the 5.4 model.  Those changes include:

 

• Pandemic effect reduced from 50% to 30%.  This effect is now baseline for all classes with HoTs and DoTs.
• Void Ray, Carrion Swarm, and Twilight Ward have been removed.
• Fel Flame has been removed.
• Snapshotting has been removed.
• Mastery: Master Demonologist has been reworked.
• DoTs no longer have traditional breakpoints; instead, they deal partial ticks
• Grimoire of Sacrifice has been removed and replaced with Grimoire of Synergy.
• Shadow Bolt and Soul Fire have had their damage coefficients modified.
• Summon Doomguard and Summon Infernal have had their damage coefficients increased.
• Hand of Gul'dan and Shadowflame damage coefficients have increased.

 

What this all translates from is Blizzard's mass removal of many abilities as well incorporating a "stat-squish" which vastly reduces the size of numbers in World of Warcraft's combat experience. 

 

 

Pandemic

 

Pandemic used to be a Warlock exclusive ability that enabled them to freely cast their Damage-Over-Time effects (DoTs) within a larger window without losing DPS.  This effect has been reduced to Warlocks and gained by all other classes in regards to DoT-type mechanics in that you can apply DoT and HoT (healing-over-time) spells to refresh the duration and add up to 30% of the original duration of the spell to the DoT time remaining.  In 5.4, Doom had the ability to gain up to 30 additional seconds on the total duration.  In 6.0, Doom will only be able to gain up to 18 additional seconds, for a total of 78, down from 90.  Corruption will be reduced in the same manner dropping from 27 seconds in 5.4 to 23.4 seconds in 6.0.  This means that Doom's application should happen only when the remaining time of Doom is below 18 seconds and Corruption's application should happen only when the remaining time of Corruption reads less than 6 seconds in 6.0.

 

 

Snapshotting

 

The removal of snapshotting will impact Demonology on a rather large scale in terms of gameplay.  Snapshotting Doom will no longer be a part of gameplay.  Corruption was never snapshotted before, so this will be of little change.  The major snapshotting change comes from how Hand of Gul'dan was snapshotted in 5.4, affectionately referred to as "HoG Weaving" which dealt with casting Hand of Gul'dan and then activating Metamorphosis to snapshot bonus damage.  This no longer works with the re-working to Mastery: Master Demonologist.  You will still, however, want to maximize a 2-stack of Shadowflame, the DoT that results from Hand of Gul'dan.   

 

Partial Ticks & Haste

 

DoTs and Haste ratings have always had a reliable relationship.  Certain Haste levels gained access to new ticks because of how Haste worked with DoT durations.  In 5.4, gaining a certain amount of Haste lowered the duration of a DoT until it was reduced by the amount equal to the tick interval which gave an additional tick.  In 6.0, the DoT duration will remain exactly the same as the tooltip says with a partial tick coming at the end of the duration.  This removes the complication of finding certain Haste thresholds which is nice with the removal of Reforging. 

 

To clarify more on partial ticks, in 5.4, a small amount of Haste might reduce the duration of Doom down to 56 seconds from 60 seconds.  Instead of ticking 4 times every 15 seconds, Doom would tick 4 times every 14 seconds.  However, when you got enough Haste that Doom would last 48 seconds, Doom would reset to a 60 second duration and include an additional tick thus ticking 5 times in 60 seconds.  The benefit of hitting this breakpoint was two-fold: DoTs ticked for longer and ticked more often.  The penalty for not achieving a threshold, however, was that you had to apply your DoTs more frequently, such as every 56 seconds in our example.  In 6.0, with the same amount of Haste in 5.4, Doom would continue to tick for 60 seconds but would do it with the interval calculated in 5.4, every 14 seconds.  When Doom has it's 4th tick in 6.0, it will deal full damage and have 4 seconds left on its remaining time.  If Doom is not refreshed, Doom will tick for damage equivalent to the amount of time remaining.  In this example, the amount of time remaining would be divided by the tick interval of 14 seconds, or 4/14.  This would result in a partial tick equal to 28.57% of a normal tick.  Partial ticks give all the bonus of hitting Haste thresholds without the penalties of not achieving a Haste breakpoint. 

 

Dynamic updates to Haste effects will be of little worry since there's essentially nothing to control.  If you have Haste procs up, the tick interval of your DoT will speed up giving you more ticks within that Haste proc's duration.  If a DoT expires with a Haste proc up, the partial tick calculation would be the same as described above.

 

 

Grimoires

 

Grimoire of Sacrifice has made sense for other Warlock specializations, but hardly ever made sense for Demonology.  For Demonology Warlocks, Grimoire of Sacrifice has been removed and been replaced with Grimoire of Synergy.  This new talent works similarly to the Warlock T16 2 piece bonus.

 

 

Damage Tunings

 

Shadow Bolt, Soul Fire, Hand of Gul'dan, Corruption, Doom, and Shadowflame have all had their damage coefficients modified.  These abilities will be tuned appropriately to make Demonology a balanced specialization.

 

 

Mobility Change

 

Fel Flame has been removed which severely hurts Warlocks' mobility from 5.4 to 6.0.  However, Demonology still has Touch of Chaos, Corruption, Doom, Hand of Gul'dan, Chaos Wave, and Life Tap, all of which can be cast on the move. 

 

 

Overview

 

Demonology Warlocks will still focus on the optimized building and spending of Demonic Fury, maximizing Metamorphosis uptime, and maximizing Shadowflame uptime while maintaining 100% uptime on Doom and Corruption.

 

 

 

 

2.  Racial Perks Evaluated

 

Racials have been modified in 6.0 to become more balanced going forward.  Alliance Warlocks can be 1 of 4 races while Horde have access to 5 different Warlock races.  Offensive perks are analyzed as follows:

 

Alliance

 

• Human - The Human Spirit = small Versatility buff
• Dwarf - Might of the Mountain = 2% bonus Critical Strike Damage and Healing
• Gnome - Expansive Mind = +5% mana; Nimble Fingers = 1% Haste
• Worgen - Viciousness = 1% Crit Chance

 

Horde

 

• Troll - Berserking = 15% Haste for 10 seconds, 180 second CD
• Orc - Command = 1% Pet Damage; Blood Fury = xyz Spell/Attack Power
• Goblin - Time is Money = 1% Haste
• Blood Elf - Arcane Acuity = 1% Crit Chance; Arcane Torrent now restores 3% mana as well as interrupting spell casting
• Undead - Touch of the Grave = ~0.3% DPS gain

 

These racial perks have been Simulated using Simcraft and show as follows:

 

 

Level 90 Demonology Horde

 

1. Goblin - 17,716

2. Orc - 17,694

3. Troll - 17,674

4. Undead - 17,666

5. Blood Elf - 17,579

 

*assume error of 0.25%

 

In complete seriousness, your race doesn't matter.  They all give you something that is relatively the same and it comes down to preference.  To give you an idea of scale, the difference between #1 and #5 is 0.77%.  With offensive balance looking solid, take in consideration the bonus perks such as the Goblin Rocket Jump, Blood Elf's Arcane Torrent, or Orc's Hardiness.  If that fails, take what looks the best.

 

Level 90 Demonology Alliance

 

1. Human - 17,793

2. Dwarf - 17,775

3. Worgen - 17,741

4. Gnome - 17,734

 

*assume error of 0.25%

 

Just as with Horde, the DPS variance here is so minimal that choosing one based on DPS performance is impossible.  Consider the defensive traits such as Human's Every Man For Himself, Dwarf's Stoneform, Worgen's Darkflight, or the Gnome's Escape ability. 

 

For fun, I've simulated the level 100 racial effect.  The top is Gnome at 42,325 and the worst is Blood Elf at 41,879 for a difference of 446 DPS, or 1%. 

 

In all honesty, the racial decision has been removed based on offensive power.  They all have their own flavor which essentially lets you pick based on how you want to play, not what you are forced to play.  Blizzard has done a great job balancing racials and balancing secondary stats to the point you can pick a gameplay style without affecting your DPS by more than a percentage point. 

 

 

 

 

3.  Talents & Glyphs Explained

 

 

Tier 1 - Defensive Tier

 

Soul Leech is going to be very strong for encounters with residual, constant raid damage.  Harvest Life requires dropping from your optimal DPS rotation to heal which may be useful in Mythic level raiding.  Dark Regeneration has a very potent heal, but its long cooldown makes it a choice for when burst damage comes less often.  This talent is increased in efficency with the Glyph of Healthstone.

 

As a default, use Soul Leech.  Exceptions can be made for the other two talents, but those will be unique situations.

 

 

Tier 2 - The CC Tier

 

Howl of Terror is somewhat useful against a pack of mobs but usually has limited usefulness in raids due to the scattering of mobs.  Mortal Coil provides a very helpful heal on a 45 second cooldown which could prove to be very useful during periodic bursts of damage.  Shadowfury is very useful when stunning adds.  For fights without adds or the need for stuns, Mortal Coil will be the default selection. 

 

For PvE, default to Mortal Coil unless stunning adds is beneficial to your raid group through Shadowfury.

 

 

Tier 3 - The Mitigation Tier

 

Soul Link proves to be very valuable as Demonology due to your pet being a reliable 20% damage reducing shield that works well in synergy with Soul Leech.  On top of the damage reducing mechanic, you are also healed for 3% of the total damage done which is a great passive healing tool.  Sacrificial Pact is superior for massive damage bursts that Soul Link can't mitigate as well.  Dark Bargain usually has some unique places that it can be used, but the long cooldown makes Soul Link and Sacrificial Pact more valuable as a defensive survival talent.

 

For low to gradual raid damage, take Soul Link.  For predictable spike damage, take Sacrificial Pact. 

 

 

Tier 4 - The Utility Tier

 

Blood Horror has very little PvE implications since it requires a target to melee you.  If adds are hitting you, something isn't going right with the encounter.  If a boss is hitting you, something REALLY isn't going right with the encounter.  Burning Rush is a very useful toggle ability that increases your speed by a whopping 50% at the cost of 4% of your HP per second.  Use this sparingly but always when quick movement is called for.  Burning Rush has been altered slightly from it's 5.4 version to where it will now go through absorption effects before consuming your HP which further values absorption effects.  Unbound Will is useful in encounters where a Magic debuff will be applied to you and others putting a dispelling bind on healers.  More often than not, your healers will handle dispels. 

 

Burning Rush will be your default choice unless a unique situation calls for Unbound Will.

 

 

Tier 5 - Pet Tier

 

Grimoire of Supremacy will empower your default pet of a Felguard and turn him into a dual-wielding badass Wrathguard.  This Wrathguard will do 20% more damage and generate 20% more Demonic Fury through his attacks.  Grimoire of Service will grant the Warlock a cooldown with the ability to summon an Imp, Felhunter, Succubus, Voidwalker, or Felguard who will instantly use his or her signature attack and remain attacking its target for 20 seconds generating Demonic Fury as well.  Grimoire of Synergy gives you and your pet a chance to proc Demonic Synergy which will give the other a 15% damage increase for 15 seconds.  Grimoire of Synergy simulates at a 34% uptime and is currently tied with Grimoire of Supremacy.

 

Simulated Grimoire Choices

 

Single Target Normal GoSynergy = 30,038

Single Target Normal GoSupremacy = 30,038

Single Target Normal GoService = 29,068

 

Single Target Mythic GoSynergy = 42,296

Single Target Mythic GoSupremacy = 42,217

Single Target Mythic GoService = 40,876

 

For 2 Target and 3 Target, Grimoire of Supremacy pulls ahead of Synergy by 1,800 DPS with 2 targets and 3,700 DPS with 3 targets.  Wrathguard seems to be hitting very hard with Mortal Cleave being your 3rd highest source of damage.  Bring on the Armageddon wielding Wrathguards!

 

 

Tier 6 - The Enhancement Tier

 

Archimonde's Darkness grants an additional charge of Dark Soul: Knowledge.  For Demonology Warlocks, this means an extra use of a 30% damage bonus.  However, the charge system works like Hand of Gul'dan where each charge does not recharge independently.  This means that you get 1 additional use of Dark Soul: Knowledge per fight meaning the longer the fight lasts, the lesser the value of Archimonde's Darkness.  Kil'jaeden's Cunning grants full mobility while casting for 8 seconds on a 60 second cooldown.  This ability has been nerfed significantly from its 5.4 cousin, but still could provide some useful DPS while moving on an encounter that has strict moving requirements.  Mannoroth's Fury increases the radius and damage of Hellfire and Immolation Aura by a significant amount.  The radius is increased by 500% and the damage is increased by 100%.  This effect lasts for 10 seconds on a 60 second cooldown.  This talent will prove to be very useful on fights with any amount of AoE.  Even when a fight has minimal AoE, Mannoroth's Fury will still be a potent selection in a fight that is lengthy and has little movement requirements. 

 

This talent selection will be on a fight by fight basis depending on the encounter's needs.

 

 

Tier 7 - The Destruction Tier

 

The level 100 talents provide a huge DPS boost to Demonology Warlocks in 3 different flavors.  Demonbolt is a very potent spell that consumes Demonic Fury in a stacking fashion to deal high burst damage.  Cataclysm is a large AoE ability that deals significant damage and applies Corruption (Doom if in Metamorphosis) to all targets hit on a 60 second cooldown.  Demonic Servitude makes your Doomguard, Terrorguard, Infernal, and Abyssal summonable as permanent pets. 

 

Currently, Demonbolt is the clear winning talent in terms of additional DPS gained at level 100.  This spell will have an impact on how Demonology is played because of the additional spell.

 

Talent selection is by and large a fight-by-fight decision.  More information will be given on which talents to select on each fight in the encounter-specific guide made for Tier 17. 

 

 

 

 

4.  Stat Analysis

 

In 6.0, Hit and Expertise were removed leaving only Mastery, Crit, and Haste from 5.4.  However, two new stats were added in 6.0 called Versatility and Multistrike.  There have also been extra stats called Tertiary Stats that can be found on gear with similar frequency as seeing Warforged gear in 5.4.  In 6.0, Demonology Warlocks also gain the passive ability Demonic Tactics, which is an attunement statistic added which gives 5% more Mastery from all sources.

 

 

Haste

 

Haste is the secondary that that makes everything go faster, namely spell casts and DoT tick speeds.  For Demonology, Haste decreases the cast time of Soul Fire and Shadow Bolt while increasing the DoT tick speed of Hellfire, Immolation Aura, Doom, Corruption, and Hand of Gul'dan.  Haste also decreases the global cooldown (GCD) of Touch of Chaos and Hand of Gul'dan.  Haste also increases the attack speed of your pets. 

 

 

Critical Strike

 

Critical Strike (Crit) is the stat that gives you a percentage chance to deal 100% bonus damage to your target.  All damage done by Demonology Warlocks is capable of dealing a Critical Strike.  On top of dealing extra damage, Critical Strike plays an important role for 2 abilities: Soul Fire and Doom.  When Doom critically strikes, a Wild Imp will be created which will deal damage and generate 50 Demonic Fury over 10 casts.  Soul Fire's damage is always a Critical Strike and Critical Strike percentage further increases Soul Fire's damage. 

 

 

Mastery

 

Mastery: Master Demonologist is the stat that gives you a bonus percentage to you and your pet.  Your Mastery stat also further increases damage of certain abilities while in Metamorphosis.  Increasing Mastery increases your overall damage.

 

 

Multistrike

 

Multistrike is a new stat in 6.0 that gives you and your pet a percentage chance to deal 1 to 2 additional strikes that deal 30% of the original damage dealt.  For example, if your Shadow Bolt hits for 10,000 damage, a Multistrike Shadow Bolt will hit for 3,000 additional damage.  For each spell hit, your Multistrike chance is used to calculate whether or not a Multistrike hit is delivered.  This happens twice per cast.  Multistrike hits are capable of Critical Strikes even if the original ability did not Critically Strike.  Similarly, Critical Strikes of the original spell do not guarantee Critical Strikes of the Multistrike hits.  It is yet to be proven if Multistrike hits generate Demonic Fury.

 

 

Versatility

 

Versatility is a new stat in 6.0 that gives you bonus damage and bonus damage mitigation.  Point for point, it's a relatively weak stat compared to the rest, but it still has value as it's a flat DPS gain and a flat damage taken reduction. 

 

Overall, the secondary stats in 6.0.3 are much closer in value to each other than they have ever been before.  The balance between secondary stats has been a goal of Blizzard's and it's been done well.  Simulationcraft stat weights show very little variance between builds which lends itself to playstyle variances.  Early simulated values show Haste and Crit having high values followed closely by Mastery, Versatility, and Multistrike.  With Demonbolt, Haste will play a strong part in building Demonic Fury quickly enough to have the amount required for burst windows but you don't need much more than 10%.  This allows for ample building, even with moderate movement, in order to get to your next burn phase.  Crit will empower Soul Fires and increase Demonic Fury generation via Wild Imps.  These two stats will work together in harmony to give a good feel for Demonology.  Multistrike, Versatility, and Mastery will be for DPS gains.  Once you have enough Haste to create enough Demonic Fury for burn phases, the stats to go for will be Crit and everything else.

 

TL;DR - Mastery >= Haste (to about 10%) > Crit = Multistrike > Haste = Versatility

 

 

 

 

5.  Gear Acquisition and Tier 17 Bonuses

 

Gear acquisition will come at the speed of content you and your guild are able to clear.  There are many ways to collect gear and with secondary stats being moderately close in value, you'll traditionally want anything that is higher item level due to the higher amount of stats on the piece of gear.  Warlock's Tier 17 gear is called Shadow Council.

 

Helm - Shadow Council's Hood

Shoulders - Shadow Council's Mantle

Chest - Shadow Council's Robes

Legs - Shadow Council's Leggings

Gloves - Shadow Council's Gloves

 

 

T17 2pc Bonus

 

The Item - Warlock T17 Demonology 2P Bonus states that Hand of Gul'dan will have an additional charge and Corruption will have a 2% chance to generate a charge of Hand of Gul'dan on each tick.  This set bonus will greatly increase your Shadowflame uptime, give you an additional charge on an ability you can cast while moving, and increases the number of times you can cast Chaos Wave for burst AoE.  Once this set bonus is acquired, be prepared to never let your Hand of Gul'dan charges get to 2 so that you don't waste a Corruption tick proc.  Treat Hand of Gul'dan the same and you'll get additional Shadowflame uptime because of it.

 

 

T17 4pc Bonus

 

The Item - Warlock T17 Demonology 4P Bonus states that Hand of Gul'dan has a 50% chance to unleash your inner demon.  What this translates to is that you get a new guardian pet type that comes out, fires out some Soul Fires, and then disappears.  This passive damage is being tuned, but it currently presents about 1-2% of a DPS gain.  The Soul Fires that this extra demon guardian do not generate Demonic Fury.

 

All in all, it is recommended to acquire both the 2pc and 4pc bonuses as both are significant DPS gains.  The 2pc, however, is much more powerful than the 4pc bonus while the 4pc bonus is simply a passive DPS gain with no other effect.

 

 

 

6.  Trinket Breakdown

 

There are 4 trinkets in Tier 17 that include 3 RPPM trinkets and 2 on-use trinkets.  Just as before with 5.4, trinket procs and base values are calculated with the slightly confusing formula: P(ilvl) = P(665) * 1.15 ^ ((ilvl - 665)/15).  To solve for a proc or base value, simply plug in the item level you're curious about.  For example...

 

P(665) = 220 * 1.15 ^ ((665 - 665)/15) = 220.  The 220 here is given with the 665 item level.

 

To solve for P(680), plug the value in...

P(680) = 220 * 1.15 ^ ((680-665)/15) = 253. 

 

This value is listed as the 680 version of the RPPM trinkets which verifies that the baseline calculation for item levels is 665.  If you can't follow this, don't sweat it - I break it down for you.

 

Darmac's Unstable Talisman

 

DUT is baseline Intellect with a Haste proc for 10 seconds with an RPPM value of 0.92.  The Haste value and baseline Intellect scale with item level.  This trinket will have the feel of Tempus Repit with a sizeable Haste proc being worth 65% of Bloodlust at the 665 item level and being worth almost Bloodlust at 695. 

 

• 665 = 220 Intellect, 19.13% Haste
• 680 = 253 Intellect, 22.00% Haste
• 695 = 291 Intellect, 25.30% Haste
• 701 (Warforged) = 308 Intellect, 26.75% Haste

The Haste proc is called Instability with Spell ID = 177052.

 

Blackiron Micro Crucible

 

BMC is baseline Intellect with a Multistrike proc for 10 seconds that scales every 0.5 seconds and stacks 20 times.  This trinket has an RPPM value of 0.92.  With a rapidly building Multistrike value, this trinket will start off with little value but grow quickly into giving a burst spike of damage towards the end of the proc.

 

• 665 = 220 Intellect, 131 - 2620 Multistrike
• 680 = 253 Intellect, 150 - 3000 Multistrike
• 695 = 291 Intellect, 173 - 3460 Multistrike
• 701 (Warforged) = 308 Intellect, 183-3664 Multistrike

The Multistrike proc is called Molten Metal with Spell ID = 177085.

 

Goren Soul Repository

 

GSR is the 3rd of the RPPM trinkets with a value of 0.92 that works exactly as DUT except instead of Haste, the proc is Crit which lasts for 10 seconds.

 

• 665 = 220 Intellect, 1913 Crit Rating
• 680 = 253 Intellect, 2200 Crit Rating
• 695 = 291 Intellect, 2530 Crit Rating
• 701 (Warforged) = 308 Intellect, 2675 Crit Rating

The Crit proc is called Howling Soul with Spell ID = 177047.

 

Copeland's Clarity

 

CC is a trinket with an on-use proc that lasts for 20 seconds and has a 120 second CD.  This trinket has obvious value in that you can control when it procs and has a proc length and CD equal to Dark Soul.

 

• 665 = 220 Intellect, 1467 Spell Power on use
• 680 = 253 Intellect, 1687 Spell Power on use
• 695 = 291 Intellect, 1940 Spell Power on use
• 701 (Warforged) = 308 Intellect, 2052 Spell Power on use

The Spell Power proc is called Sudden Clarity with Spell ID = 177594.

 

Shards of Nothing

 

SoN is a baseline Intellect trinket with a Haste on use that lasts for 20 seconds and has a 120 second CD.

 

• 655 = 201 Intellect, 13.37% Haste on use
• 670 = 231 Intellect, 15.38% Haste on use
• 685 = 266 Intellect, 17.68% Haste on use
• 691 (Warforged) = 281 Intellect, 18.70% Haste on use 

 

The Haste proc is called Void Shards with Spell ID = 176875.

 

Without simulating the trinkets, the top two from a theoretical point would be 1 of the RPPM trinkets and CC.  CC's value comes from being a dependable 2 minute cooldown with a 20 second duration making it ideal to line up with Dark Soul.  For Demonology, the Haste proc is highly valuable and ensures higher DPS on a consistent basis since the Haste proc will affect 100% of your spells while under its effect.  The Crit and Multistrike trinkets have some RNG within them that could underperform or overperform depending purely on RNG in terms of how many spells are effected from the trinket proc.

 

Simulated values show the RPPM trinkets with an average uptime of 18% at the 665 item level.  CC would be up for 20 seconds every 120 seconds, so its uptime is calculated abetween 16.7% and 23%.  For those of you who used BBoY and KTT in 5.4, you'll remember how good or how bad some of your trinket uptimes could be with RPPM proc rates.  Remember this as you may see variance in individual pulls with the RPPM trinkets. 

 

 

Simulated Trinket Values

 

665 Item Level

 

• Darmac's Unstable Talisman - 28,149
• Blackiron Micro Crucible - 27,846
• Copeland's Clarity - 28,768
• Goren Soul Repository - 28,105
• Shards of Nothing - 27,863
• CC + DUT = 29,323

 

680 Item Level

 

• Darmac's Unstable Talisman - 32,997
• Blackiron Micro Crucible - 32,791
• Copeland's Clarity - 33,712
• Goren Soul Repository - 33,224
• Shards of Nothing - 32,707
• CC + GSR = 36,501

 

695 Item Level

 

• Darmac's Unstable Talisman - 39,051
• Blackiron Micro Crucible - 38,739
• Copeland's Clarity - 39,780
• Goren Soul Repository - 39,257
• Shards of Nothing - 38,617
• CC + GSR = 43,299

 

The first thing that should jump off the page of these numbers is how close they are.  The clear winner is Copeland's Clarity with Goren Soul Repository and Darmac's Unstable Talisman in a close 2nd.  My advice is to always use the highest item level of these three trinkets that you have.  If you use Goren Soul Repository, you'll have lots of Crit damage.  If you use Darmac's Unstable Talisman, you'll have some Haste procs that will help you build and spend DF.  As a rule of thumb, always use the two highest item level trinkets you have, regardless of what they are.  Even Shards of Nothing isn't that far behind, but the value of the trinket is a bit lower because of the lower item level.

[Zagam 1,982]

7.  Gameplay Tips and Tricks

 

The above sections should fill in the intricate details of what goes on behind the Demonology specialization.  This is the section that explains the details of what each ability does, what impact it has, and how to best use it.

 

 

1. DoTs - Corruption & Doom

 

 

With the removal of snapshotting and Haste breakpoints, the only things to worry about with Corruption and Doom is maintaining them at a 100% uptime.  Always.  There are some minor notes about each ability detailed below.

 

Corruption

•Ticks over 18 seconds with a 2 second baseline interval
•Generates 3 Demonic Fury per tick at level 100
•Generates 1.5 Demonic Fury per second at 0% Haste; 2 DF/sec at 50% Haste
•Safe to reapply with no DPS loss at 5.4 seconds remaining in duration

 

Doom

•Ticks over 60 seconds with a 15 second baseline interval
•Safe to reapply with no DPS loss at 18 seconds remaining in duration
•Generates Wild Imps with Critial Strikes
•Critically Strikes 20% more at level 100

 

As a bonus, here is a chart on how many Wild Imps you could expect to see with various Crit and Haste % values.  Note: to calculate the total number of Imps generated per fight, take your expected Imp number and multiply by the minutes of an encounter.  For example, for a fight that lasts 5.5 minutes with 20% Haste and 25% Crit, you could expect 2.2 Imps x 5.5 minutes = 12.1 Wild Imps.

 

 

 

2.  Demonic Fury Builders - Shadow Bolt, Soul Fire, and Hand of Gul'dan

 

 

Demonology is designed to build your primary resource, Demonic Fury, and then spend it.  In this section, we'll analyze the optimal way to build Demonic Fury.

 

Shadow Bolt - this spell will be your primary Demonic Fury builder.  Shadow Bolt deals 126% of Spell Power in damage along with generating 25 Demonic Fury.  Shadow Bolt's base cast time is 2.5 seconds.  At 0% Haste, Shadow Bolt generates 10 Demonic Fury per second.  At 10% intervals of Haste, Shadow Bolt generates another 1 Demonic Fury per second.

 

Soul Fire - this spell will be your secondary Demonic Fury builders if you use Demonbolt as your level 100 talent.  If you use Cataclysm or Demonic Servitude, Soul Fire will be your primary Demonic Fury spender instead.  Soul Fire deals 86.1% of Spell Power in damage along with always dealing a Critical Strike and generating 30 Demonic Fury.  Soul Fire's base cast time is 4.0 seconds but this decreases to 2.0 seconds as long as you have Molten Core charges.  You should never cast Soul Fire without Molten Core as the mana or Demonic Fury cost is too expensive.  At 0% Haste, Soul Fire will generate 15 Demonic Fury per second.  At 10% intervals of Haste, Soul Fire generates another 1.5 Demonic Fury per second.

 

Hand of Gul'dan - this spell has a charge system with a baseline of 2 charges that goes up to 3 with the 2p T17 bonus activated.  Hand of Gul'dan deals 165% of Spell Power in damage and initiates 129.6% Shadowflame damage over 6 seconds as well as generating 2 Demonic Fury per second per enemy hit.  Maximizing Shadowflame damage is a key element to playing Demonology to a high level.  In order to maximize Shadowflame damage, you want to cast Hand of Gul'dan and follow it with another Hand of Gul'dan approximately 4 seconds later.  The 2nd Hand of Gul'dan will land and ignite a 2nd stack of Shadowflame.  When the 2pc T17 bonus is activated, you'll want to follow up the 2 stack with another Hand of Gul'dan to extend the 2 stack for another 6 seconds by applying it with less than 2 seconds to go on the previous 2 stack.  Shadowflame cannot stack beyond 2.

 

 

3. Demonic Fury Spenders - Touch of Chaos, Soul Fire, & Chaos Wave

 

 

Spending Demonic Fury is how you deal the most damage as a Demonology Warlock.  There are many ways to spend Demonic Fury and they all must be done in Metamorphosis.  Here, we will explore the various ways to spend Demonic Fury.

 

Touch of Chaos - this spell is the transformation of Shadow Bolt and deals 67.2% of Spell Power in damage while adding 6 seconds to Corruption's duration.  This ability can be cast while moving.  Touch of Chaos consumes 40 Demonic Fury.

 

Soul Fire - this spell is transformed while in Metamorphosis to consume Demonic Fury instead of generate it.  Soul Fire deals 86.1% of Spell Power in damage as well as always dealing a Critical Strike.  Further, Critical Strike chance boosts the damage of Soul Fire.  Soul Fire costs 160 Demonic Fury to cast which is reduced to 80 with Molten Core.  This is your primary spender unless you're using Demonbolt.

 

Chaos Wave - this spell is the transformation of Hand of Gul'dan while in Metamorphosis.  This ability deals (UNKNOWN)% of Spell Power in damage.  This ability utilizes Hand of Gul'dan's charge system.

 

 

4.  Pain Enhancers - Demonbolt, Cataclysm, & Demonic Servitude

 

 

This section covers the level 100 talents for Demonology Warlocks all of which are intricate parts of dealing optimal damage.

Demonbolt - this spell is very unique in that it completely alters the playstyle of Demonology.  Once this spell is acquired, it becomes your primary spender of Demonic Fury and what you build your play around.  Demonbolt deals 412.5% of Spell Power as damage and also has a stacking mechanism that increases the damage done and the Demonic Fury spent for each successive cast.  The effect that increases the damage and Demonic Fury cost has a 40 second duration that is reduced by Haste.  With Demonbolt, your goal will be to build Demonic Fury as fast as possible to spend on Demonbolts with procs up.

 

•Stack 1 = 412.5% SP + 80 Demonic Fury
•Stack 2 = 495.0% SP + 160 Demonic Fury (240 Total)
•Stack 3 = 577.5% SP + 240 Demonic Fury (480 Total)
•Stack 4 = 660.0% SP + 320 Demonic Fury (800 Total)

 

In one burst phase, you can't go higher than 4 stacks because of the 1,000 Demonic Fury cap.  However, you can exit Metamorphosis and build back up to further stacks by building to the DF required, casting Demonbolt, and leaving Metamorphosis to build DF again.  By doing this method, the following is achievable:

 

•Stack 5 = 742.5% SP + 400 Demonic Fury
•Stack 6 = 825% SP + 480 Demonic Fury
•Stack 7 = 907.5% SP + 560 Demonic Fury
•Stack 8 = 990% SP + 640 Demonic Fury
•Stack 9 = 1072.5% SP + 720 Demonic Fury
•Stack 10 = 1155% SP + 800 Demonic Fury

 

Remember, the debuff scales with Haste, so the more Haste you stack to build more Demonic Fury, the shorter the window will be to maximize your Demonbolt.  Going past a 4 stack will never be a viable decision in PvE, but you can still create some pretty interesting situations if you wanted to.

 

Cataclysm - this spell is the AoE nuke of the level 100 talents that deals 750% of Spell Power in damage and applies Corruption to all targets hit if cast in caster form.  However, in Metamorphosis, all targets hit will be afflicted with Doom!  Cataclysm is a 3 second base cast time that uses a targetting reticle similar to Rain of Fire.

 

Demonic Servitude - this talent replaces Summon Doomguard and Summon Infernal spells with actual summoning spells similar to your Imp and Felguard.  With this talent, you can have a permanent Doomguard or Summon Infernal out.  Better yet, with Grimoire of Supremacy, you can have a permanent Summon Terrorguard or Summon Abyssal!  This talent could be classified as a passive DPS talent that performs well but doesn't come close to Demonbolt.  It does, however, win badass points.

 

 

5. AoE - Hellfire and Immolation Aura

 

 

With Void Ray and Carrion Swarm removed, AoE for Demonology Warlocks consists of using Hand of Gul'dan along with Shadowflame's DoT in coordination with some burning rings of fire.

 

Hellfire - this spell deals AoE fire damage equal to 15.75% of your Spell Power and also deals 15.75% of your Spell Power in damage to yourself.  You are unable to cast any other spells while channeling Hellfire.

 

Immolation Aura - this spell is the grown up version of Hellfire.  Immolation Aura deals xx.xx% of your Spell Power in AoE damage while in Metamorphosis and becomes an aura of damage while you cast other spells.  Immolation Aura also does not deal damage to yourself.

 

 

6.  Imps, Felguards, & Doomguards - OH MY!

 

 

Demonology uses an arsenal of demons to help destroy any foes that stand in its way.

 

Wild Imps - these little fellas come from two different places and deal a lot of damage while generating a lot of Demonic Fury.  Doom Critical Strikes and Demonic Calling procs will pull Wild Imps from the twisting nether to cast 10 spells which generate 5 Demonic Fury each before these little guys scurry away.  Wild Imps cannot be controlled and act as guardians in that they will attack what you are currently attacking with a slight delay in changing targets.  Haste reduces the effects of Demonic Calling and sits at 20 seconds baseline.

 

Summon Felguard - this will be your primary demon used when not using Demonic Servitude.  Your Felguard should always have Legion Strike on auto-cast and should have Felstorm used on CD except in situations where numerous targets will soon be present.  Your Felguard also comes equipped with a 4 second stun in Axe Toss.

 

Summon Doomguard - this spell has been heavily buffed since 5.4 and serves as an actual cooldown again.  The Summon Doomguard will come out and shoot out 18 Doom Bolts at your target that also deal 20% more damage to enemies below 20%.  This is a great execute spell but also a valuable cooldown for any part of an encounter that you want to be over just a little bit quicker.  The Summon Doomguard becomes a permanent pet with Demonic Servitude and becomes a Summon Terrorguard with Grimoire of Supremacy.

 

Summon Infernal - this spell has also been heavily buffed since 5.4 and no longer is the laughingstock of cooldowns.  The Summon Infernal will land dealing massive damage in the form of Summon Infernal Awakening.  He will then melee enemies while burning them with an AoE Immolation spell.  The Summon Infernal becomes a permanent tank-oriented pet with Demonic Servitude and becomes an Summon Abyssal with Grimoire of Supremacy.

 

 

7. Bringing It All Together

 

 

With DoTs, Demonic Fury generators and spenders, and demon pets explained, let's bring it all together and figure out how to optimize our DPS!

 

 

A. The Opener

 

Your opener is going to be a bit different with various talents.  For optimal DPS, we're using Grimoire of Synergy or Supremacy, Archimonde's Darkness, and Demonbolt as our level 75, 90, & 100 talents.

 

•Pre-Pot + Soul Fire
•Hand of Gul'dan
•Corruption
•Shadow Bolt
•Dark Soul: Knowledge + Hand of Gul'dan
•Metamorphosis + Doom
•Demonbolt
•Demonbolt
•Soul Fire until out of Molten Core charges then Touch of Chaos

 

This opener generates some Demonic Fury up front in order to let us cast 2 Demonbolts.  Any excess Demonic Fury should be spent on Soul Fire as long as you have some Molten Core charges.  Dark Soul: Knowledge is used with Hand of Gul'dan to buff the 2 stack of Shadowflame as well as the two Demonbolts and any extra spells.  When you run out of Demonic Fury, go into your build phase.

 

 

B. The Build Phase

 

Building Demonic Fury follows a rather simple checklist:

 

1. Corruption applied?  If no, then apply it.

2. Hand of Gul'dan at 2 stacks?  Cast it and cast another after 2 Shadow Bolts.

3. Molten Core stacks?  Use Soul Fire

4. Use Shadow Bolt

 

Basically you want to spam Shadow Bolt as long as Corruption and Doom are applied.  Use your Hand of Gul'dan spell appropriately so that you're never sitting at max stacks and that you maximize the time Shadowflame is up with a 2 stack.  If you're using Demonbolt, use Molten Core Soul Fires in caster form because all of your Demonic Fury is going towards Demonbolt in the burn phase.  Soul Fire builds Demonic Fury faster.

 

 

C.  The Nuke Phase

 

Nuking involves spending your Demonic Fury in the most fuel-efficient manner with your fuel being Demonic Fury.  That means casting Demonbolt with as much firepower as possible.

In order to maximize Demonbolt damage, you'll need to enter your burn phase with 850 Demonic Fury.  When you enter Metamorphosis, cast Dark Soul, Doom, and then Demonbolt 4 times.  You'll fall out of Metamorphosis and begin your build phase again.

There is some math as to why you would want to do it this way.  When it comes to spending Demonic Fury in Metamorphosis, you want to deal as much damage as possible.  With a limited Demonic Fury pool and a small window of time, you have some decisions to make.  Since Demonbolt has a 2 second cast and Soul Fire has a 2 second cast, let's assume you can get 5 spells off.  With some moderate Haste, you could easily get 6 done, so let's look at a model of different combinations.

 

Here is the model that is sorted by number of casts to see different combinations:

 

 

Here is the model that is sorted by maximum spell power with red showing impossible combinations, yellow showing fuel-inefficient combinations, green showing the ideal combination, and orange showing less-than-efficient combinations:

 

 

As you can see, 0 Soul Fires and 4 Demonbolts is how to do it if the Spell Power coefficients of Soul Fire and Demonbolt remain the same as they are today (81.6% and 412.5%).  Remember, the Soul Fire combination is assuming no Demonbolts Critical Strike!  If they do perform a Critical Strike, it only solidifies 4 Demonbolts as the absolute way to go.  The reason the line with 800 DF is optimal is because you'll want to go into burn phases with 850 DF.  You'll apply Doom and then use Demonbolt 4 times.

 

 

8.  Summing It Up

 

So, the TL;DR of Demonology Warlock would go something like this:

 

1. Keep Doom and Corruption up 100% of the time.

2. Maximize Shadowflame uptime with proper Hand of Gul'dan use.

3. Build with Shadow Bolt and Soul Fire with Molten Core charges

4. Use 4 Demonbolts with Dark Soul: Knowledge and Metamorphosis for maximum damage

5. Use your Summon Doomguard and Felstorm correctly.

6.  Delay Dark Soul: Knowledge for Demonbolt but do not delay Demonbolt for Dark Soul: Knowledge when it is glyphed!  If you choose not to use the glyph, use Dark Soul: Knowledge on CD and it will align with Demonbolt every 2 minutes.

 

 

8. Changelog

 

12/08/2014 - Modified "Summary" section to include information about delaying Dark Soul for Demonbolt for clarification

11/26/2014 - 25% buff to Shadow Bolt, Soul Fire, and ToC & 10% buff to Demonbolt, added stat TL;DR, added note about Glyph of Healthstone with Dark Regeneration

10/9/2014 - Added Grimoire Simulations showing Synergy = Supremacy > Service for single target and Grimoire of Supremacy > Synergy > Service for 2, 3 targets

10/9/2014 - Fixed some typos, added ToC SP Coefficient, modified Human racial to Versatility, and updated tooltip for T17 2p to 2%, down from 4%.

10/8/2014 - Published

 

Notes

*Grimoire of Synergy tooltip not working

*Metamorphosis ability tooltips not on wowhead

*Damage coefficients missing on some abilities

*Glyphs coming - Dark Soul glyph will be needed

 

 

9.  Contributors & Thanks

 

Lockybalboa - enduring my "thinking-out-loud" spouts

Liquidsteel - proofing, clarifications

Recklessfear - collaboration efforts

Gahhda - countless discussions and clarifications; Simulationcraft

[Orthios 271]

Real nice work!  Only thing I see wrong is that the Human Spirit Racial increases Versatility scaling with level (I'd guess it to be either 0.5% or 1%).  Outside of that this is really good, and I like the explain things.

[Zagam 1,982]

Yeah, I was having issues finding accurate tooltips for racials.  Either way, whatever it is, should be minimal difference.  EMFH is OP as a defensive racial.

[Drafty53 17]

Zagam...You rock! Thank you so much for all that you do.

[Zagam 1,982]

You guys are who I do this for! 

[Desos 18]

Nice work!

 

2 annotations:

Did Twilight Ward really got removed even after getting a glyph?

The tooltip on ToC gives a 67.2% coefficient.

[JvChequer 43]

Finally some Demo Blood on all warlockish Veins.

 

T17 we will rock some Imps, baby

[Lockybalboa 618]

Did Twilight Ward really got removed even after getting a glyph?

 

Yes. The glyph was added and then removed. TW is gone gone.

[EvilOverlord 1]

Even Shards of Nothing isn't that far behind, but the value of the trinket feels like it needs adjusted - no reason it's baseline Intellect should be lower than the rest. 

 

The reason it's lower is because that trinket drops in Highmaul instead of Blackrock Foundry.

Similar to how MV loot was lower ilvl than HoF and ToES, Highmaul loot is 10ilvls lower than Blackrock loot of the same difficulty.

 

Thus the ilvls for upgraded versions that you used are also higher than they should be

 

 

Regarding the burn phase, should we always get the Dark Soul Glyph (half the CD, half the duration)? It's not explicitly mentioned, nor any other glyphs, but since you're building to 850DF and just casting 4 Demonbolts, I assume that's what you intended/would be best.

Edited October 9, 2014 by EvilOverlord

[Zagam 1,982]

Nice work!

 

2 annotations:

Did Twilight Ward really got removed even after getting a glyph?

The tooltip on ToC gives a 67.2% coefficient.

Thank you for tooltip.  Most of the time, I'm stuck behind a firewall, so getting access to things is difficult!

 

The reason it's lower is because that trinket drops in Highmaul instead of Blackrock Foundry.

Similar to how MV loot was lower ilvl than HoF and ToES, Highmaul loot is 10ilvls lower than Blackrock loot of the same difficulty.

 

Thus the ilvls for upgraded versions that you used are also higher than they should be

 

 

Regarding the burn phase, should we always get the Dark Soul Glyph (half the CD, half the duration)? It's not explicitly mentioned, nor any other glyphs, but since you're building to 850DF and just casting 4 Demonbolts, I assume that's what you intended/would be best.

Simcraft models are still using that trinket for Affliction, Arcane Mages, and a few others - confusing, but at least it's not that way for Demonology.  I'll readjust the values for Shards of Nothing since I got dat formula.

 

Yes, Dark Soul Glyph will be required.  I haven't added that in yet since it's not obtainable, but I'll be doing another edit.  I just didn't want to keep the burn phase permanent because it'll change if they nerf Demonbolt's scaling.  Dark Soul Glyph is intricate to 60 second phases (10 burn, 50 build).

[Faowulf 5]

Love the guide.  Can't wait for this expansion.

[Berlinia 168]

Human spirit gives 100 vers = 0.77% vers

 

Nice Guide!!!

[Mero 0]

Thank you very much Zag for you support to the cause. So the stat prio in 6.0 will be haste >= crit > mastery?

Will we need T16 4p or, like now, will go with only 2p bonus?

[Eddie 16]

I'm more excited than ever to go back to demonology once 6.0 hits. Though I will miss my hulking Wrathguard wielding a pair of Armageddon blades now that Synergy is the optimal choice. Might end up sticking with Supremacy for a bit if the numbers are similar, just for Badass points.

[Zagam 1,982]

Thank you very much Zag for you support to the cause. So the stat prio in 6.0 will be haste >= crit > mastery?

Will we need T16 4p or, like now, will go with only 2p bonus?

Haste is intricate to building DF up quickly for burn phases.  Crit generates more Imps from Doom and assists in DF generation.  It also boosts Soul Fire damage and gives Demonbolt a chance to do insane damage.  Mastery is a flat gain and not at the level it was before.

 

You would never want to use ilvl 582 gear at the Normal/Heroic/Mythic level of WoD when you're in the 665/680/695 range. 

[juribe 1]

Any theorycrafting or testing done with the Darkmoon card? Presumably slightly worse than the raid trinkets, but any word on the severity?

[Mero 0]

You would never want to use ilvl 582 gear at the Normal/Heroic/Mythic level of WoD when you're in the 665/680/695 range. 

 

Sorry, probably I didn't explain myself well. I mean in 6.0 PRE-EXPANSION patch, not in WoD with the T17 accessible. So in SoO tier and loots.

[Zagam 1,982]

Any theorycrafting or testing done with the Darkmoon card? Presumably slightly worse than the raid trinkets, but any word on the severity?

Not sure, but its ilvl was pretty low.  It'll likely be a solid pre-raid trinket, but you'll want to replace it ASAP.

 

Sorry, probably I didn't explain myself well. I mean in 6.0 PRE-EXPANSION patch, not in WoD with the T17 accessible. So in SoO tier and loots.

As Demonology, you always use 4pc bonus in T16.

[Eddie 16]

I think the question Mero was asking wasvwhen 6.0 hits, but we are still in Seige, does the stat prio change to Haste >= Crit > Mastery, or does it stay as is?

[Zagam 1,982]

The stat weights in 6.0 are all relatively the same.  They're close enough that it doesn't matter, similar to today's Demonology stat weights.  Dead horse statement: it's not your stats, it's your gameplay that determine DPS.

 

Without Demonbolt, the way to play in 6.0 is to build with Shadow Bolt and spend with Soul Fire.  The rotation will feel empty - because it is.  Just hang in there until you hit level 100.

[Krippz 0]

Thanks for the awesome work Zagam. Any tier 16 BIS changes in light of the 6.0 patch?

Edited October 9, 2014 by Krippz

[Zagam 1,982]

No.  Stat weights are largely irrelevant.  Build with Shadow Bolt, dump with Soul Fire.  Any stat works out with it.

[Eddie 16]

So get your stats where it feels good, and go. Sounds about right.

[gahhda 95]

No.  Stat weights are largely irrelevant.  Build with Shadow Bolt, dump with Soul Fire.  Any stat works out with it.

 

Not sure if you guys are talking about 90 or 100...but the only case in which you use SF over ToC is if you can't physically spend the DF in the duration of dark soul.

 

ToC is still significantly better in terms of efficiency.

 

SF pulls ahead primarily during dark soul, and even then only really if you have glyph of dark soul.

 

I could see SF being default at 90 just because of stat inflation from full BiS, but 100 is a different story.