Classic Warlock DPS Spell Summary

As a Warlock you will have an array of damage abilities, but most of them will not be used in raids. Outside of raids you can use any of them that you want, and it will be a damage increase to keep DoTs up on enemies.

• Corruption: your highest DPS DoT, and the main one that you will use, if allowed, in raids.
• Drain Life: drains the target's life, healing you. Essentially, this lets your spend Mana to regain health while channeling it, but it does take up a debuff slot, making it not really usable in raids.
• Hellfire: your strongest AoE ability, sending waves of fire out from you in a circle while channeling. You also will take damage while channeling this, so use it carefully.
• Immolate: a lower DPS DoT that also has an initial damage component. You will not use this in raids, but it can be worth using outside of raids.
• Rain of Fire: channeled AoE that can be cast from range on a set location. This does less damage than Hellfire, but is much less risky to use and does not require you to be near the enemies.
• Searing Pain: a short cast that does a burst of fire damage, generating a higher than normal amount of threat.
• Soul Fire: a long cast that does a high burst of fire damage, but also costs a Soul Shard. This is only ever used in PvP.
• Shadow Bolt: your primary DPS spell that will make up 95%+ of your rotation. A medium cast that does a high burst of shadow damage to your target.
• Shadowburn: instant burst of shadow damage that should be reserved for when you want to finish something off. It costs a Soul Shard, but if the enemy dies within 5 seconds of the cast, you will generate a Soul Shard as well. This is a talented spell in the Destruction tree.
• Siphon Life: a strong DoT that steals health from the target to give it to you. While you will not be able to use this in raids, it is quite strong outside of raids, especially in PvP. This is a talented spell late in the Affliction tree.
• Conflagrate: consumes your Immolate debuff on your target, dealing a burst of fire damage. This is a late talent in the Destruction tree that is generally only taken in certain PvP builds.
• Drain Soul: a channeled spell that drains the targets life, dealing damage over time. If you deal the killing blow to the target while draining you will generate a Soul Shard.
• Demonic Sacrifice: while this does not do damage itself, this sacrifices your Succubus to gain a significant damage buff. Sacrificing other pets will give different buffs, but Succubus is the most common pairing for raids since it will buff your shadow damage, which affects Shadow Bolt.

Curses are a spell type that is unique to Warlocks, offering a range of powerful effects that the Warlock can cast upon an enemy. Each Warlock can only use one curse on one enemy at a time, and multiple Warlocks cannot use the same curse on the same enemy. You will want to coordinate with your other Warlocks in a raid to determine who is in charge of what curse.

• Curse of Agony: A high damage DoT that ramps over time. This is generally not use in raids since Corruption does more DPS.
• Curse of Doom: A 1-minute debuff that does a large burst of shadow damage at the end. If you kill and enemy with it, there is a chance you will summon a Doomguard. This is also generally not used in raids since it is impractical and less DPS than Corruption.
• Curse of the Elements: A curse that reduces your target's fire and frost resistances, and increases the fire and frost damage that they take by 10%. This will be one of the three core curses that are used on bosses in a raid.
• Curse of Shadow: A curse that reduces your target's shadow and arcane resistances, and increases the shadow and arcane damage that they take by 10%. This will be one of the three core curses that are used on bosses in a raid.
• Curse of Recklessness: A curse that increases the target's melee attack power by a small amount, but also reduces their armor. This will be one of the three core curses that are used on bosses in a raid.
• Curse of Tongues: Reduces the target's cast speed by 60% for 30 seconds. This is exceptionally good against casters in PvP.
• Curse of Exhaustion: Slows the target by 10% for 12 seconds. This is very useful in PvP against melee, but is generally not used in PvE.
• Curse of Weakness: Reduces the damage that the target deals by a flat amount. This is occasionally used in raids, but is not as common.

One of Warlock's core strengths is their unique and wide ranging utility spells that they bring. Warlocks are so core to a raid being able to function that many top guilds will require every member to have a level 20 Warlock alt to use Ritual of Summoning at various points in the world, along with being able to use Create Soulstone (Lesser) on every member of the raid during progression attempts by placing their Warlock alts outside of the raid.

These are the core utility spells that are both iconic to Warlock and used frequently.

• Death Coil: instant cast that causes the target to run in horror for 3 seconds. Deals a small amount of damage and heals you for an equal amount.
• Life Tap: instant cast that converts health to Mana. This is your primary means of getting mana back while in combat.
• Fear: short cast that causes the target to flee in horror for up to 20 seconds, but damage may break the effect.
• Create Soulstone (Major): Creates a Soulstone, which can be placed on one person. If that person dies, they will have the ability to resurrect once, even while in combat.
• Ritual of Summoning: channels to create a summoning portal, that if two other players click to help you channel, will summon the targeted player to your location.
• Drain Mana: a channeled ability that slowly drains the target's mana while you channel.
• Howl of Terror: a short cast that causes up to 5 enemies within 10 yards to be feared for 15 seconds.
• Fel Domination: 15-minute cooldown that causes your next summon of a pet to be much faster and cost less Mana.
• Summon Felsteed: Warlocks are one of two classes that get a free mount at level 40. This is your mount that you will get from a class quest.

These are your core defensive spells that will be used frequently.

• Demon Armor: a strong defensive buff that gives you armor, Shadow resistance, and health per second.
• Shadow Ward: a 30-second cooldown that will put a shield on you that absorbs some shadow damage.
• Create Healthstone (Major): creates a Healthstone, which is a consumable that restores a burst of health when used. These can be created and then traded to other players, and are considered a vital consumable during raids for all players.
• Health Funnel: a channeled spell that transfers some of your health to your pet. This is your primary method of healing your pet if you need to heal your pet immediately before it dies while in combat.
• Sacrifice: sacrifices your Voidwalker to place an extremely large shield on you. This is one of your most powerful defensive abilities.
• Soul Link: causes some of the damage you take to be redirected to your pet instead. This is the final talent of the Demonology tree, and is generally only taken in some builds for PvP.

These are the other various spells that Warlock has in its toolkit. Most of these are highly situational, and some will be rarely used at all.

• Unending Breath: places a buff on your target, allowing them to breathe underwater for 10 minutes.
• Eye of Kilrogg: summons an eye that you can see from while channeling, allowing you to move the eye around and scout ahead without being in danger.
• Sense Demons: detects nearby demons, placing them on your minimap.
• Detect Greater Invisibility: places a buff on your target, increasing their Invisibility detection for 10 minutes.
• Banish: banishes a demon or elemental, making them unable to move, attack, use spells, or take damage for 30 seconds. Can only be used on one target at a time.
• Create Firestone (Major): creates a Firestone, that when equipped gives you extra fire spell power and a chance to deal fire damage on melee attacks.
• Enslave Demon: attempts to enslave the target demon, making them your minion.
• Create Spellstone (Major): creates a Spellstone, that when equipped can be used to absorb some magic damage. It also increases your spell crit chance by 1% while equipped.
• Inferno: a massive 1-hour cooldown that will summon an infernal to fight for you for 5 minutes. Can only be used outdoors, which means it is not usable in raids.
• Dark Pact: the final talent of the Affliction tree, that when used will transfer some of your pet's Mana to you.
• Ritual of Doom: you and 4 party members can channel this to attempt to summon a Doomguard. The ritual kills one of you, and if the Doomguard is not subsequently enslaved, it will go on a killing rampage.
• Summon Dreadsteed: this is your Level 60 mount that you can get from a class quest. This will not be completable until phase 2 of WoW Classic, so many Warlocks will opt to buy an epic mount if they have the gold.
• Amplify Curse: an early talent in the Affliction tree that, when used, amplifies your next Curse of Agony, Curse of Exhaustion, or Curse of Weakness, making it stronger than normal.

As a Warlock, you are able to summon a demon to be your pet that will fight by your side. You have the choice of the 4 demons listed below, each obtained by completing class quests at various levels. You can only have one demon out a time, and each demon comes with its own set of abilities. Just like you, your pets have mana that they use to cast abilities, but they can only passively regenerate mana by not casting and following the 5-second rule. To heal them, you can use Health Funnel or let them passively regenerate.

As an important note, your Pets will not learn new abilities and ranks of spells on their own. You will need to visit Demon trainers, which are usually next to Warlock class trainers. From the Demon trainers you can spend gold to buy Grimoires, which will teach the pets the various ranks and spells that they need to learn once you are the appropriate level.

The Imp is the first pet that you will get, with the class quest being available from level 1 at your starting Warlock trainer. The Imp is a ranged pet that cannot auto attack, and will deal fire damage from range by casting Firebolt. The Imp also has quite a low health pool, and is highly susceptible to dying from even mild bursts of damage.

• Firebolt: your Imp's only source of damage.
• Blood Pact: your Imp passively buffs your party, increasing everyone's Stamina. This is an aura that is only active while your Imp is alive.
• Fire Shield: buffs a target, causing them to deal some fire damage to attackers.
• Phase Shift: makes your imp invulnerable, but unable to attack. This is useful if you need to have Blood Pact up and cannot afford to have your Imp die.

The Voidwalker is meant to be your tank pet, and used mostly while leveling. This is your lowest damage pet, but can generate enough threat to keep enemies off of you using its various abilities. The Voidwalker also has a much higher health pool than your other pets.

• Consume Shadows: allows the Voidwalker to regenerate health while out of combat.
• Sacrifice: sacrifices the Voidwalker to place an extremely large shield on the Warlock. This is one of your most powerful defensive abilities.
• Suffering: 2-minute cooldown that is an AoE taunt, causing nearby enemies to attack the Voidwalker.
• Torment: taunts the target enemy. This is your Voidwalker's primary method of generating threat.

The Felhunter is a melee based pet that attacks targets to deal moderate damage. This is mainly a pet used for PvP since it has an interrupt ability, but also has the ability to purge an enemy or to dispel a friendly target, making it quite useful to have.

• Devour Magic: either purges a magic buff from an enemy or dispels a magic debuff from a friendly target.
• Paranoia: an aura that increases the Stealth detection of party members.
• Spell Lock: silences an enemy for 3 seconds, and if used when an enemy is casting, it will interrupt the cast and prevent them from casting spells from that school of magic for 8 seconds.
• Tainted Blood: when enemies attack the Felhunter, they lose a stacking amount of Attack Power.

The Succubus is a melee pet that is also mainly used in PvP, similar to the Felhunter. The Succubus has a control ability with Seduction that charms the target, making it quite powerful both defensively and offensively in PvP. It also is the next best choice for dealing damage if you cannot use your Imp.

• Lash of Pain: main damage ability of the Succubus.
• Lesser Invisibility: makes the Succubus invisible when used outside of combat.
• Seduction: charms the target for up to 15 seconds, but damage will break the effect. Only works against humanoids, which includes players.
• Soothing Kiss: soothes the target, increasing the chance that it will attack something else.