WotLK Classic Destruction Warlock Guide

Destruction Warlock, as they have always been, is focused on hard casting powerful abilities into your enemies. This spec uses Fire spells and Summon Imp, allowing us to shoot our Firebolts faster and harder than ever. Destruction's sole purpose is to do as much damage to a target as possible, rather than focus on multi-target and execute like Affliction, or try to buff the raid up with Demonic Pact like Demonology. Using your immense amount of Fire and crit talents, you can expect to see big numbers as Destruction Warlock. It doesn't have as high single target as Affliction, nor does it have as much AoE as Demonology.

That being said, Destruction is still viable, fun and engaging to play. You are able deal immense amount of damage on demand, all in one go with powerful spells like Incinerate, Conflagrate, Immolate, and the new ability Chaos Bolt. Not only that, but Destro is one of the strongest specs when it comes to PvP, packed with slows and a stun from Shadowfury.

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.

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, Destruction Warlock has a few viable options for professions and which you choose depends on personal preference. You can go Tailoring for the big Lightweave proc, which will more often than not proc on pull with your trinkets, allowing for a larger burst in your opener.

The second profession you want is Engineering. Engineering is standard and even required among many guilds, due to all its explosives, Nitro Boosts, and of course the best in slot glove enchant Hyperspeed Accelerators.

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 Destruction as it allows you to do a ton of extra damage and typically all in the beginning window opener when you have all your other cooldowns and Bloodlust up.

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 Destruction Warlock, check out our guides below: