Updated for 4.3
Note: Some aspects of this guide may not apply to your Warlock until you reach higher level. If you need to get your character to max level quickly, take a look at this leveling guide, now.
Glyphs come in three varieties, Prime, Major and Minor. Prime glyphs enhance core aspects of your class and generally provide the greatest benefit of the three types.
Major Glyphs, while not quite as powerful as Prime Glyphs, are still useful and continue to provide a myriad of benefits.
Minor Glyphs often times provide small quality of life improvements or visual changes, such as the Glyph of Shadow Form for priests which makes the character more visible through Shadow Form. However, a few are known to provide more significant benefits such as the warrior glyph of Berserker Rage.
Prime Glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
Here are your highest priority abilities.
Your first priority is keeping Improved Soul Fire active on your target. Immolate, Bane of Doom and Corruption should all be kept active on your target at all times as well, although Bane of Doom can be held off on if you expect the target to die swiftly.
When you have nothing else to use, no more cooldowns to burn or DoTs to reapply, that’s when you’ll be using Incinerate as a filler spell until something higher priority is ready.
AoE Rotation
Cooldowns
The most important aspect of managing your cooldowns as a damage dealer is making certain to use them whenever they’re avaliable. Don’t be afraid to use them during any fight, even against trash mobs, as the higher the uptime you have with them, the greater your overall damage will be so long as you aren’t using them when a fight is about to end.
The only time to hold off on using your cooldowns is when you’ll be unable to attack the boss due to fight mechanics, such as during Morchok’s Black Blood of the Earth ability or when Hagara is about to cast Water Shield and become immune to all damage.
Melee DPS will have to watch out for this more than ranged, as they are far more vulnerable to situations where an encounter requires constant movement or the boss is utilizing some form of AoE attack that makes fighting in melee range impossible.
Intellect > 17% Spell Hit Cap > Haste > Mastery = Critical
Intellect:
Intellect is your primary stat as a Destruction Warlock, increasing your maximum mana and the damage of your spells
(17%) Spell Hit:
Hit rating decreases the chance for your spells to miss, and once you reach 17% your spells will no longer miss on bosses, avoiding unnecessary loss of DPS and wasted casting time/mana.
Haste:
Haste Rating decreases cast time, lowers the Global Cooldown, and increases the speed at which DoTs deal damage.
Critical Strike:
Critical Rating increases the chance for your spells to critically hit on targets.
Mastery – Fiery Apocalypse:
Destruction Warlock Mastery increases all fire damage dealt.
Reforging
When reforging gear, it’s important that you look to reforge from your least effective stat into the most effective for whatever gear goal you are currently aiming for. See our stat priority list for more information.
17% Spell Hit Cap > Haste > Mastery = Critical
Your first priority when reforging is to reach the spell hit cap of 17%. Once that goal is achieved you will then want to maximize the amount of haste on your gear, followed by either Mastery or Critical.
Gems
- Red – Brilliant Inferno Ruby
- Blue – Veiled Demonseye
- Yellow – Reckless Ember Topaz
- Meta – Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
Unless a socket bonus offers intellect, it’s more effective to gem for pure intellect and ignore the bonus.
Enchantments
- Main Hand/Two-Handed: Power Torrent
- Off-Hand: Superior Intellect
- Helm: Arcanum of Hyjal
- Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Charged lodestone
- Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect
- Chest: Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
- Bracers: Enchant Bracer – Mighty Intellect
- Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Haste
- Belt: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
- Leggings: Powerful Enchanted Spellthread
- Boots: Enchant Boots – Lavawalker
Our class guides for whichever class you’re playing:
Death Knights – Druid – Hunter – Mage – Paladin
Priest – Rogue – Shaman – Warlock – Warrior
The GotWarcraft Gold Guide
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