WotLK Classic Demonology Warlock Guide

Demonology Warlock, unlike previous expansions, is not only one of the coolest looking specs in the game, but also extremely powerful. No other class compares to their AoE, and their single-target is right up there with the best of them.

Demonology is a mix of all that a Warlock can bring. You have hard-hitting damage-over-time abilities that must be kept up at all times, alongside major and much-needed utility, and even powerful cooldowns like Metamorphosis, which turns you into an unstoppable Demon with its own special abilities. Demonology Warlock has access to an execute ability, meaning when the boss gets low enough in health (35%) you get to spam fast-casting, free Soul Fires that Hit for a ridiculous amount of damage. And let us not forget about the almighty Summon Felguard, who has come back even stronger than before.

One thing to keep in mind with Demonology; we bring the best Raid buff in the game, Demonic Pact, which buffs your entire raid with 10% of your Spell Power when your pet crits. There is some finesse with how the raid buff is used, but we will get into that in a later section.

For a better understanding of where Warlock stands in regards to other classes and specializations in Wrath Classic, you can check out our PvE DPS rankings below. However, ultimately, you should not let these lists dissuade you from playing what you enjoy.

Demonology Warlock can be played in two diffeerent ways. You have the option to play as a pure support role, where your job is to do everything you can to supply the largest Demonic Pact buff possible for the group, even at the loss of your own personal DPS, or you can opt to just deal as much personal damage as you possibly can. The choice between providing damage to the raid through Demonic Pact or just deciding to focus on your own personal is one that should be decided on between yourself and your raid group.

The difference in gameplay differs slightly between these two options. Your rotation more or less stays the same, the difference being when you use your Felguard and between using either Potions of Speed or Potions of Wild Magic.

The bigger difference between support and DPS Demonology is the gearing, or more importantly, the stat distribution. Without getting too deep into it, the most common difference is as a personal DPS Demo, you would utilize more Haste and gearing would more closely resemble a build that Affliction Warlock uses. Support Demo chooses the pieces of gear that give up that Haste for a healthy amount of Spell Power, Spirit, and to a degree even Hit Rating. There are some gear sets where you can sacrifice a good chunk of Hit, but gain a larger amount of Spell Power or Spirit. The result of this is a drop in personal DPS in return for a more satisfying Demonic Pact.

If you are the only Demonology Warlock in your raid, then I would suggest a nice middle ground. The solution to this is giving up a portion of your Haste and Hit in exchange for a smaller amount of both Spell Power and Spirit. This decision should be discussed between you and your raid leader.

Only a couple Races of each faction can be Warlocks. The best race for Warlock is Human if you are Alliance, and Orc if you are Horde.

For Alliance players, Human grants you an excellent PvP racial in the form of Will to Survive, as well as additional Spell Power via Fel Armor, Glyph of Life Tap, and the bonus Spirit Humans gain from The Human Spirit.

For the Horde, Command and Blood Fury are both very strong for a Warlock, making Orc by far the best choice.

Human in the best race for Warlocks in both PvE and PvP. Spirit converts into Spell Power thanks to our Fel Armor and Glyph of Life Tap. Humans also have Will to Survive, which will get you out of any stuns, fears and movement effects. Additionally, Humans also have Perception, a strong in PvP perk.

Gnomes are still a great race for Warlocks. Escape Artist is a niche ability for PvE, but a very strong ability in PvP, able to instantly get you out of any slows, roots and snares. Gnomes come with Expansive Mind, which increases your Intellect by 5%. Intellect increases your Mana and also increases Critical Hit chance with your spells. As a bonus, Gnomes come with Engineering Specialization, increasing your engineering skill by 15. While niche, they do have Arcane Resistance, which offers slight resistance against Arcane enemies.

Orc is an amazing race that brings a very strong cooldown in Blood Fury, which significantly buffs your damage and, when combined with all your other cooldowns, can be a very powerful. Command buffs your Demons damage by an additional 5% damage, which is nice because we always have a pet out. Lastly, Orcs have Hardiness which reduces the duration of stun effects by an additional 15%. This is not too helpful in PvE content, but can be life saving in both battlegrounds and inside the Arena.

Undead doesn't bring too much to the table in terms of their PvE content, but is the solid choice for anyone looking to dominate the PvP scene. Will of the Forsaken is one of the best PvP racials in the game. Allowing you to remove any Fear, Sleep and Charm effect on a two minute cooldown. They also have Shadow Resistance, which reduces the chance you will be hit by Shadow Spells by 2%. This can be really handy in PvP content, as Warlocks and Shadow Priests are fairly common. Undead also have Cannibalize, allowing you to eat other Humanoids or Undead mobs and it heals you in return.

Overall, Demonology Warlock has a few viable options for professions and which you choose depends on which one you want. You can go Tailoring for the big Lightweave proc, which will more often than not proc on pull with your trinkets and whatever else, allowing you to snap a very big Demonic Pact, which at the end of the day is why you are in the Raid. If you go Jewelcrafting instead, you get straight Spell Power, rather than the proc, giving your raid a nice static amount of Spell Power from Demonic Pact the whole encounter. Which one you choose is up to you and they are so very close to each other, so you can choose which to use based on your preferences and the economy of your server for gold-making.

If you are instead playing a pure support Demo, Tailoring and Jewelcrafting supply more Spell Power, meaning more value out of Demonic Pact. The issue with this is that you cannot go Engineering. Engineering is pretty standard and is even required among many guilds. If your Guild does not require Engineering and you feel like you can live without the Nitro Boosts and Explosives, then I urge you to go Tailoring and Jewelcrafting and be the best Support you can possibly be.

Engineering is extremely strong and is the best profession you can get in terms of damage. You get an insane Haste enchant called Hyperspeed Accelerators on your gloves that gives you 340 Haste for 12 seconds on a one-minute cooldown. This is an absolutely amazing ability and is worth Engineering simply for that. You can pop this with your Trinkets and all your other cooldowns.

Engineering also gives you access to the infamous Nitro Boosts, which are put onto your current boots. It is not a separate pair of boots like it was in Classic and TBC. They not only give you some much needed mobility, but the boots can get you out of many sketchy situations. One good use for them, since you should be constantly trying to seed, you'll naturally fall back every so often. You can use the boots to catch quickly back up to the raid and continue seeding.

Another perk to Engineering is what has been known for years: the explosives. You have Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, and even a Frag Belt, all of which require Engineering to use and provide a solid boost in your overall damage.

You also get a cloak enchant called Springy Arachnoweave. This cloak provides 27 Spell Power and can be used as a parachute cloak.

Tailoring allows you to enchant your cloak with Lightweave Embroidery, which is a proc chance of 295 Spell Power for 15 sec with a one-minute internal cooldown. This is phenomenal for Demonology as it boosts the strength of your Demonic Pact, especially on pull, since that is typically when most guilds Bloodlust/Heroism and pop their cooldowns.

With Jewelcrafting, you get the special Gems that only Jewelcrafters can wear that were once the best. However with the unlocking of epic gems in Phase 3, it's no longer more beneficial to go Jewelcrafting as gain from Jewelcrafting-only gems don't outweigh the big Spell Power gain from Tailoring's Lightweave Embroidery.

Using macros and addons makes your life significantly easier when playing Wrath Classic, and they can improve your experience a lot, depending on how skilled you are at customizing them.

If you are interested in learning more about addons and macros suited to Demonology Warlock, check out our guides below: