Spec in Review: Demonology Warlocks

Warlocks got a huge revamp in Mists of Pandaria, so it's not all that shocking that the changes they are receiving in Warlords are somewhat less dramatic than other classes. Still, there are some notable changes, so let's get to it.

Also, much like my Frost Mage article, this will contain information that applies to other Warlocks as well.

Fel Flame/Void Ray: Gone

Yes, they're cutting down on casting-while-moving abilities, and while I think that just nerfing the damage to this one would have been sufficient, the fact remains that as a DOT-heavy class, Warlocks can afford to not be casting for a little bit. Demo in particular has options anyway, like using Touch of Chaos. Still, the lack of Void Ray does make large-pack AoE in demon from a little formless.

Pandemic Goes Sort of Universal:

Pandemic made refreshing DOTs a less precise science, allowing you to refresh it at 50% of its duration or lower without losing anything. That effect is now a universal thing for all DoTs for all classes, but you'll only be able to get a 30% longer duration.

All those tick and snapshot changes:

Way way back when the expansion was announced, Blizzard explained some changes that will finally be going live soon. To recap: DoTs will now adjust constantly to your current spell power, haste, crit, etc. On the negative side, that means that refreshing all your DoTs when you get a full stack off of Wrath of the Darkspear or Unerring Vision of Lei Shen will not be nearly as powerful anymore, but it also means that things will be a lot more forgiving, and as long as you keep those DoTs up, you'll be ok. (Demo's got more interesting stuff going on anyway.)

Carrion Swarm - Gone

Carrion Swarm was something I mainly used for the interrupt. It's hard to argue that the thing doesn't look really cool, but they wanted to cut back on the arms-race of interrupts and such. I'd love to see it come back as just a little AoE burst - perhaps something to spam while you've got Immolation Aura up.

Glyph of Demon Hunting - Gone:

Yes, the never-quite-working Demonology Warlock Tank is going away. I honestly can't say I'm shocked, given that they were never willing to fully commit to it, despite there clearly being some interesting design work there. Still, my hope is that they got rid of it because they wanted to establish Demon Hunters as a separate class. A hero class, perhaps...

Grimoire of Sacrifice becomes Grimoire of Synergy for Demonology:

It never really made much sense that the Demonology warlock would go minion-less, so Demo now gets essentially the t16 2-piece set bonus as a talent. I'm probably going to stick with supremacy, especially given a certain level 100 talent...

Kil'jaeden's Cunning becomes a cool down:

KJC now allows you to cast any spell on the move, but only temporarily, after hitting this as an active ability. Sad, but then again, ranged classes across the board are getting hit by this stuff (except for non-Marksmanship hunters.)

New Talents:

Demon Bolt:

This is a spell that costs Demonic Fury only, and is thus only usable in Metamorphosis. It deals a large amount of damage (and has a cool visual,) but has a sort of Arcane Charge-style mechanic, where it gets somewhat more powerful but significantly more expensive with each use. This debuff lasts a rather long time, actually. I still don't really know how to use this thing, but it could prove interesting.

Cataclysm:

Yes, finally Warlocks get Cataclysm, which had been a spell on the Mists of Pandaria beta. This is an AoE cool down that allows you to hit a targeted area with big damage, and then it applies Corruption to anyone in that area (Immolation if you're Destruction-spec.) Should prove powerful on groups of long-lasting adds.

Demonic Servitude:

This talent allows you to summon your Doomguard or Infernal (or if you have Grimoire of Supremacy, your Terroguard or Abyssal) as a permanent pet, rather than as a ten-minute cool down. The Doom/Terrorguard is designed more for single-target, casting ranged attacks like an Imp on double-steroids. The Infernal/Abyssal has some AoE abilities. Like your normal minions, your big guys will now have specific names and a number of additional activated abilities. Also, just saying, but the Abyssal looks ridiculously cool if you have green fire.

Speaking of Green Fire:

Just a reminder: the quests to get Green Fire aren't going anywhere - Blizzard will probably never take that away from people - but those who attained their own Codex of Xerrath passive before 6.0 will get a title: "Breaker of the Black Harvest." That's a pretty cool title, so if you haven't done it yet, you've got one day. Good luck (you'll need it.) Still, it's only the title that is going to be unattainable. The Green Fire will still be there, and that last fight will probably be a hell of a lot easier at level 100.