Destruction Warlock DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.0.7)
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Destruction Warlock in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.7). We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Destruction Warlock talents.
Talent Cheat Sheets for Destruction Warlock
With the introduction of the new talents system and the ability to freely change points and share/import builds free of consumable costs while out of combat, it is highly advised to adapt the build based on the type of situation at hand.
Best Talents for Destruction Warlock
Single-Target Talents for Destruction Warlock
Single target-oriented setup, which also retains some adaptability towards adds that need to be focused down and light cleave.
To import the build directly ingame, click on the export button at the bottom of the calculator
Best AoE Talents for Destruction Warlock
The overall better simming setup for dungeons; Fire and Brimstone
with
Diabolic Embers is taken to generate shards and proc
Decimation
which can be duplicated with
Mayhem (or
Havoc if you
prefer).
Inferno is the better option until 8+ targets compared
to
Cataclysm.
To import the build directly ingame, click on the export button at the bottom of the calculator
Diabolist Shadowburn Talents for Destruction Warlock
A Shadowburn variant better suited to offer higher priority damage
over more AoE.
Mayhem offers higher uptime, but
Havoc gives
more agency, which is important for a few bosses.
Inferno is the better
option until 8+ targets compared
to
Cataclysm.
Improved Chaos Bolt is a "feel good talent",
and may be replaced by
Burn to Ashes.
To import the build directly ingame, click on the export button at the bottom of the calculator
Hellcaller AoE Talents for Destruction Warlock
Hellcaller focus on
Wither makes
Cataclysm
and
Channel Demonfire extremely important for uptime, especially as
the target count increases.
Decimation proc still retain enormous
value in generating shards and providing direct damage, especially if
duplicated. This specific variant scales extremely well at high target
count.
To import the build directly ingame, click on the export button at the bottom of the calculator
Best Delves Talents for Destruction Warlock
Diabolist has stronger burst and can trivialise some otherwise
difficult situations.
Demonic Circle and
Shadowfury are
flexible points that can be reallocated on
Amplify Curse nodes if
needed.
Raiding
Do note that the builds suggested above do not account for specific fights in the current raid tier; that said, we have a dedicated page that covers boss-by-boss talent recommendations, which you can find linked below.
Mythic+
For specific Mythic+ advice, which typically involves having a setup that can perform both in single-target and AoE situations, and this set-up can also be influenced by affixes and other things like party composition and pull layout. Check out our dedicated M+ page below.
How To Use Destruction Warlock Talents
Since several talent choices have an effect on your gameplay, we recommend reading our rotation page linked below to find out how to adapt your playstyle and priority based on your selected talents.
Picking Warlock Class Talents
Other than a handful of DPS increase nodes, the path progression is generally flexible and allows one to opt in or out of specific utilities that may not be relevant in a specific situation. The following sections will highlight the key talents while also making suggestions for what to pick to progress down the tree.
For detailed information about each individual talent, follow the link to the Spell Summary page:
PvP Talents (War Mode)
Under our Talents section, there is the option to enter "War Mode." Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:
- PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world;
- 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level;
- 10% more experience gained while leveling;
- Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.
With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended you enable the feature. In most situations, this will allow for the maximum returns despite the risks. You will make yourself available for open-world PvP and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.
Destruction Warlock War Mode Talents
In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Destruction Warlock-specific PvE talents.
Warlock generic PvP Talents
Bonds of Fel allows to burst targets by dragging them away from the marked location.
Gateway Mastery increases your gateway's range by 20 yards and reduces the duration of the debuff placed on players using it by 15 seconds, making it a good choice when increased mobility is needed.
Nether Ward summons a shield lasting 3 seconds and reflecting back all harmful spells targeted at you.
Call Observer is only relevant when dealing with a lot of casting mobs.
Destruction Warlock PvP Talents
Fel Fissure causes
Chaos Bolt to create a 5 yard Felfire pool under the target, reducing movement speed by 50% and reducing healing received on all enemies by 25%. This talent seems great in all situations, but particularly when you are dealing with multiple enemies at once.
Bane of Havoc causes
Havoc to become a ground-targeted spell. Everything inside will be treated as it was debuffed by
Havoc.
Changelog
- 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
- 30 Oct. 2024: Updated Single Target talent after hotfix.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 25 Sep. 2024: Added a Shadowburn variant to Diabolist build.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated talents recommendation for Season 1.
- 26 Aug. 2024: Added a Delve talents reccomendation.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated recommendations to feature Hero Trees.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Talents updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.1.5.
- 01 May 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated talents for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated talent selection for single target and 2 targets for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Dec. 2022: Updated talent selection for single target.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Warlock Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Motoko, Warlock main since The Burning Crusade, co-admin in the Warlock Discord, and theorycrafter and contributor for LockOneStopShop.
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