Warlock Hero Talents — The War Within (11.2.7)

This page is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents for Destruction Warlock, check out our Talents page:

The current recommendation for Hero Talents is Diabolist and Hellcaller.

Diabolist provides stronger instances of burst around Ruination, with the upside of generating more shards passively during Infernal window, thanks to Abyssal Dominion. With that said, its overall output is lower in comparison.

Hellcaller should be an alternative considered exclusively when multiple targets are present.

The current recommendation for Hero Talents is Hellcaller.

Starting from 11.0.5, the patch reduced the target count gap that Hellcaller had previously. Now it has a better AoE potential than its counterpart.

Diabolist offers better 1 to 3 target damage and substantial burst potential with both Overlord and Ruination.

3.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Destruction Warlock

Hellcaller Universal Build Diabolist Universal Build

4.

Hellcaller Universal Build for Destruction Warlock

Blackened Soul is now the default choice, regardless of the target count. As for the other choice nodes centered around utility, Aura of Enfeeblement has too little uptime to warrant its usage over Curse of the Satyr. Additionally, Illhoof's Design has too big of a downside to consider over the already minimal value provided by Zevrim's Resilience.

4.

Diabolist Universal Build for Destruction Warlock

The choice between Infernal Vitality and Infernal Bulwark is dictated by how Unending Resolve is being used: a reactive way favours the former, especially in the context of a spec having lower sustain. Whereas proactive cooldown uses, or when healing is not a concern, makes the latter a stronger overall option.

In contrast, Soul-Etched Circles generally provides a wider functionality, as Howl of Terror is seldom picked in PvE activities. Last but not least, Cruelty of Kerxan is worse than Infernal Machine.

The focus of Hellcaller is on Wither uptime, making Cataclysm and Soulfire with Decimation attractive options to trivialize its upkeep management. The main goal, especially in multi-target, is to have as many rolling Withers before using Malevolence.

The Diabolist gameplay is centered around the fast cycling of demons, through Diabolic Ritual, with hard-hitting spells as the payoff. As a consequence, downtime can be punishing, especially if it results in missed activation of empowered spells. Otherwise, the Hero tree does not alter the base gameplay of Destruction.