5.4 Destruction Warlock DPS Guide - Warcraft Academy

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[@DooMERful]

man this guy surely knows his warlock

[@XiGlenGu]

So far the best guide i have watched for destro lock.

[@TommyF4]

I have 7 lvl 90's, and ive seen most guides of all the classes. YOU SIR, have one of the best guide ive seen inawhile. Subscribed

[@grzala19]

Good old times

[@Mastashad160]

Awesome guide. You pointed out a lot of little things that would have taken weeks to notice on my own.

[@kassabis]

I stopped playing about 2y ago and I was demo. Just got back and with this tutorial, I managed to go up to 120k with my old 505 gear. Thanks a lot. Very helpful.

[@Qwertyzionxd]

Hey ! This is a really nice guide, I just would like to share my havoc macro with you ,its a bit more complex but very useful ! #showtooltip Havoc /cast [mod:shift,@focus][@mouseover,harm[] Havoc What it does,is : If you have an enemy targeted,you cast Havoc on it If you have a target mouseover, you cast Havoc on that If you have focus target and you press your macro with shift modifier ( e.g. shift+q) , You cast Havoc on your focus target. I hope its helpful and good luck ,keep it up with your vids !

[@Oddie_021]

This one works the exact same way as urs except for no need to press shift if u got a enemy on focus and put ur mouseover another one u havoc ur mouseover target if u have a focus target and u don't mouseover u do it on the focus target and so on and so on #showtooltip havoc /cast [target=mouseover, exists] havoc /cast [target=focus, harm][harm] havoc /cast havoc

[@Black14825]

Lol at the mage at 12:47 taking the bomb directly on his face. Btw great guide it helped me a lot!

[@Jasaface]

love the topic selection at the top

[@Rompelstaump]

Thank you for making all the great videos! It really helps me play better. The video also gives me a solid point of reference when I try to help other players understand what is expected of them when they play this class/spec in a raid capacity.

[@isoking9727]

Ahh I miss the day ..:(

[@evreliagaming]

If you check the gem section, the expertise gems are mentioned, including an explanation of when to use them. Not to mention that it's not just as simple as "stacking expertise". This is only useful if it does allow you to reforge out of hit into more Mastery on your gear. If you are not able to do that, for example if you're already fully reforged out of hit and fully reforged into Mastery, you won't gain anything by doing so. You have to think about it a bit :)

[@evreliagaming]

That is a good suggestion, I'll add them to the written guide.

[@evreliagaming]

That question is answered in the video. Depends on the situation.

[@xDFoRcEzZ]

That is some crazy ass crits

[@celladify]

It wasn't just time management. It was the "real life" change of character. The anger.

[@quinlintaylor]

This is a great guide, thank you once again warcraft academy.

[@evreliagaming]

I don't know why people keep saying this, but all the Engi perk is a Glove tinker, and all tinkers also stack with standard enchants.

[@trygaeyheryqy]

Most guides for patch 5.3 said that the stat prio was Haste > Mastery > Crit, but now alot of them state that in patch 5.4 the stat prio is Mastery > Crit > Haste. What changed? is it the warlock class or because of the SoO raid mechanics?

[@Nunchukd]

You are correct. Personally I would roll with GoSac only once I started to get closer to BiS gear and was using the Burning Primal Diamond.

[@rasmusknutmejer4391]

A great guide! But you forget one thing. Grimoire of Sacrifice Chaos Bolt debuff on target. If you cast Chaos Bolt twice in a row without anything in between the debuffs final tick wont happen. Always cast an Incinirate in between your Chaos Bolts.

[@evreliagaming]

That's not true. If you cast Chaos Bolts back to back it is impossible to clip the debuff of the previous one unless the boss moves towards you a significant distance between the casts.

[@rasmusknutmejer4391]

Depending on the distance to the boss ofcourse. But remember, the final tick is always when the DoT finishes! But I feel you bro.. I feel you

[@evreliagaming]

Rasmus Knutmejer It doesn't depend on the distance to boss. The time taken for the Chaos Bolt to travel will be the same relative. The only way for it to be clipped is if the boss moves towards you a significant distance in between the two casts - not going to happen unless the boss is enraged and charging at you.

[@diegorueda5047]

@@evreliagaming .

[@Ulandos]

Thank you for this guide. Helped a lot :)

[@Eindridi1661]

a shift focus target macro for havoc works much better, it only targets your focus if you shift click it, so you can use it like normal if for some reason you don't need to put it on your focus target. it really just saves a button slot.

[@nadendas]

i use the mouse over macro and should i ever go back to the focus macro i'll cry

[@evreliagaming]

You can Spam them. There was a hypothetical situation a while ago where you could clip it if you cast one and the boss travelled towards you extremely quickly as you cast the second, but that's just never going to happen.

[@outlawbogz]

The Conflag glyph is useful too at times too. For instance on dark shamans when you want to AOE snare the adds but dont have time or embers to waste applying immolate

[@Kadotas]

Thank you for the guide evrelia! And congrats on Garrosh kill!!!!

[@hxigg]

Do you think demonology is too neutered to use in 5.4? It's my favorite spec, but I have to try really hard to pull off 30k less dps than my destruction spec can pull off when I'm not even trying with my destruction spec....

[@erickemmerling9124]

If you are going with a Crit>Mastery build you wouldnt take that chest you would take the shoulders off norushen and keep your tier chest since it has basically the same stats

[@pongueurlacoste]

You will most likely be already fully reforged into mastery, but what makes these gems interesting is the fact that your "second best" secondary stat (crit or haste) is still better than 50% of int, because you're effectively trading 80int for 160 haste/crit by putting such a gem on.

[@outlawbogz]

Also you want to stack expertise over intellect. As 2 points of mastery is more beneficial than 1 point on intel. So you stack expertise to reforge the hit back in mastery.

[@Mattey245]

Can you please post your hidden bars keybinds and spells ? or at least the hidden keybinds

[@ParanoidPothead]

Does anyone else have problems with occasionally falling through the water with the warlock mount walk on water glyph?

[@evreliagaming]

Yup.

[@wtflasergunpewpew]

it's because u took damage, unmount and try again -u'll see.

[@Dreamchime]

As far as I know, you will fall through the water if you stop moving.

[@lilkick255]

no, u can stop moving but if you face or look down you will fall in. unlike when you take damage though you can pop back up and walk without dismounting. If you take any damage even small fall damage you have to dismount and remount.

[@PlastKladd]

It could be because you're holding your right mouse button down and looking down too much which will result in the mount diving.

[@Eva_xoxo]

You are wrong when you say that Fire and brimstone doesnt benefit from grimoire of sac, because you do get a DPS increase from your spells AOE. This was a buff some months ago, other than that good guide.

[@evreliagaming]

Grimoire of Sacrifice does nothing for AoE. Test it out. The change you are referring to was a bug where it incorrectly REDUCED spell damage. Now it just does nothing.

[@lilkick255]

if you look at the sacrifice talent it will tell you straight out it doesn't effect the aoe damage of fire and brimstone

[@diegorueda5047]

@@lilkick255 .

[@Kenziex123]

Wow, beautiful guide... please make more!

[@MichaelMoore497]

Very nice tutorial! It's a little advanced for me but I learned a lot. Still, I had to pause it, go look things up, like "whats a snapshot?" I feel like I was in the 102 class when I should have been the 101 class. If you could recommend something a little more basic, that would be great. Thanks again.

[@evreliagaming]

It is minimal, but it's still better. Likewise, so is the difference between haste and crit. In fact, if you care about that, you should definitely care about using the correct meta.

[@Akecheta230]

I am curious as to know what add-ons you're using...

[@connornichel]

Wow, 1 million critical strikes with the Chaos Bolt. Impressive

[@pking5]

When you choose the talent Grimoire of Supremacy, the Observer will take the place of your Fel Hunter.

[@evreliagaming]

Then you checked a very long time ago, because Expertise gives Spell Hit and has done for this entire expansion.

[@TheGamerReaper]

Warlock UI and addon guide please :D

[@FoxLightstep]

This.

[@someidiotinnj]

He already did one a while ago look up "How Your UI Can Help You DPS"

[@Mike399za]

What interface addons are you using here? If you could make an addon section to the guide, that'd be amazing :P Otherwise this is most likely the best Destro guide I've come across.

[@michaelflood1225]

Thanks for the video this is really gonna help me out

[@adioprotege]

in order to cleave with shadowburn do both targets need to be under 20%

[@brut1s]

great video Evrelia, thanks for your great insight :)!

[@Gilroc64]

you should really provide information on your UI on the website you provided, and possibly a link to your weak auras strings, otherwise, good work

[@sceneCatgirl]

You mention that either the legs or chest are the optimal off pieces, but wouldn't it be better to go for WF shoulders since the tier shoulders are the only tier piece that doesn't have mastery?

[@evreliagaming]

There's no reason why you shouldn't use GoSac before BiS, especially given the nature of most SoO encounters.

[@starlite7249]

Love your guide's keep up the good work.

[@DarkAndTriumphant]

spriest and lock damage op right now.

[@evreliagaming]

Alliance racials are generally pretty sucky. Troll/Orc much better overall. Worgen is the best Alliance race for a Warlock, but it's only 1% crit so it's not gonna make any noticeable difference if you're not raiding bleeding edge progression.

[@evreliagaming]

It would be better to reforge between bosses, it's not like Reforging is that expensive, and you can use the same gems between specs. Destro likes crit and Affli just does not.

[@evreliagaming]

That's the Gold Challenge Mode gear set.

[@garrchomp678]

why does this guide have waayyyy more views than all your other ones?

[@evreliagaming]

A lot of my subscribers are Warlocks + this is a popular spec.

[@Kenziex123]

Can I suggest that you put your macros in the description for copy and pasting? It doesn't bother me at all but I'm sure other people would prefer you did.

[@martinlarsson5302]

Is your UI downloadable anywhere? Its simply awesome and very clean, thanks for an awesome indepth guide, learned alot as a new warlock player, thumbs up!

[@FimbongBass]

i agree with mostly everything you say EXCEPT for your comment on mannoroth's fury, i am 100% in disagreement with your statement, i know from complete experience that MF is a REQUIREMENT for any AoE fights or even any AoE phased fights, especially on galakras and spoils, on my recount or skada, my top three spells would be the classic (chaos bolt, incinerate, and conflag/immolate) that usually happens during single target fights, which AV comes into play, but for AoE, to a point where i actually compete with heroic geared non warlocks, Rain of Fire would end up being the top three in spell damage, I hope people read this and realize that MF is amazing for destruction, infact almost a REQUIREMENT for AoE fights, i guarantee you if i had the same gear as you did and we did an AoE, i was undoubtly beat your dps, i beat many many other warlocks that were more egared than me, simply because i used the correct talents the correct way, please people, this is a good guide but if you really want to become a great warlock, please us MF for AoE fights and not AV, trust me, youll see the difference, if you dont, you clearly arent using it at the proper times when necessary, other than that, good video!

[@FimbongBass]

sorry for my grammar and horrible spelling., i was rushing to type this out as quickly as possible so any other struggling warlock can see that MF is a must have talent for Any AoE fights, choosing AV over MF for an AoE is a huge dps loss, dont care if you ''time'' it right, my trinkets usually proc exactly when i want them too so AV is irrelivant most of the time, its not that great of a talent, especially in AoE heavy boss fights like Seige, time MF right, use it off cooldown as many times as possible, and youll have the Infamous Warlock Aoe DPS that every other class envys and wonders how they can pull that much

[@FimbongBass]

JoseRCol2 Any replies will not be read, I know what I am talking about, i've seen it for myself, anyone who says otherwise is clearly not as good as they think, sorry but having more gear doesnt mean you have more skill, which is what ive learned over the years of competing with other warlocks on dps, do not underestimate MF, very good talent

[@viniskinhead]

if you have 2 parts of pve set, you will lost 1k pvp power, i don't know if is the best choise, i put my warlock, with mastery 91% , and 115% in bgs with all buffs friendly buffs. i use all prideful pieces, if change trinkets too, probably i'll go die, because the resilance. against warriors is so hard to play, but other classes is more easy. ^^

[@evreliagaming]

There is a video on this channel somewhere that explains all my addons

[@evreliagaming]

Small world! I do indeed!

[@PowerWalkXD]

Exellent guide, I learned much from this. Question regarding something completely irrelevant: How do you get your AffDot bars so transparent? I've been trying every setting I could think of, but they are just to damn visible :(

[@darthtd]

Good stuff! quick question, what are the most common mistakes that you had and once corrected noticed better dps? i'm 519il and can't break the 120k in single target, perhaps it's tunnel vision? lol keep up the good work

[@Renokiller3]

160exp = 160hit and you guys should use weakauras for trinket procs. They really help out

[@ThrishWoW]

Ever gonna do a demo lock guide? :)

[@robertwood1689]

Listen to evrelia he's numbah one lock

[@Renokiller3]

And he was using it on a low lvl target dummy so that helps quite a bit when hes trying to show off damage :p

[@DarkTurtle92]

My thing is I need to get out the habit of throwing in fel flame I feel like that lowers my dps rotation cause man

[@Gre3dish]

Great guide as always.

[@adzr0cks]

Great guide, this has been really helpful for me starting up with Warlocks and I'm really enjoying it. I have a question regarding Curse of Elements. You mention applying it as the first cast? I found that by doing this my trinkets will proc and by the time I get the my first Chaos bolt off, I only have time for one by using 3 stacks of backdraft. It isn't often an issue as we usually run with rogues/other warlocks and I put the burden on to them :P But would you have any other suggestions for when to cast Curse of Elements as it does impact my opening rotation currently.

[@evreliagaming]

The only solution is to ask a more suitable class/spec to apply it. A 5% spell damage gain for the entire raid supersedes any inconvenience you get by having your trinkets proc early. It needs to be on the target before any spell damage is done to it.

[@evreliagaming]

Uh, yes it should. Why would you possibly think CB is better?

[@husky7876]

i wonder how much damage his chaos bolt will do with double trinkets + Dark Soul + pot

[@brodsta1995]

few litle tips nice work still need to get rid of my god damn uvls

[@theoneandonlycarlo]

your chuck norris... don't try to trick us. You are the hunter You never lose

[@evreliagaming]

Well 486 is pretty horrible... you can get like full 535 gear from Timeless isle

[@raWzzTastic]

I really like how your setup looks. what are some of the addons you use? (bars and the timer on buffs/spells)

[@JixMM]

hi can you tell me your macros and addons? this was pretty nice 

[@Shevchenkocss]

Hi great guide got some usefull tips here. One question what pet do you use ?

[@evreliagaming]

You shouldn't be using the Legendary Meta as Destro anyway so that's not something you should be worrying about.

[@JoachimBach]

What set is that shown on the two warlocks in the end of the movie? They look BRILLIANT! :)

[@thewinner4me816]

I'm years and years late but i just wanna know how destro played in MoP

[@evreliagaming]

Ah fuck I meant to include that. The crit gem is best.

[@ivanmendoza1592]

Great guides man. I have a trinket question. I currently have Flex 2/2 [Purified Bindings of Immerseus] Flex 2/2 [Kardris' Toxic Totem] Norm War [Black Blood of Y'Shaarj] Which would you recommend using? Thank you

[@ruchem71]

Is there an addon that can be used that will place the trinket/process icons in the middle of the screen so you can see them better? Great guide! Thanks.

[@husky7876]

does chaos bolt snapshot your stats like immolate?

[@evreliagaming]

At the exact second the cast is finished, it snapshots your stats

[@wildblossom27f]

Ur an amazing lock keep up the good work

[@Syphun68]

wtb a Demo lock guide...the forgotten spec.

[@emilbyqvist9012]

Hi! Love your guides they are awesome! =) When you say that haste and crit should be fairly even, is that rating wise or % wise?

[@yep2039]

I tried this out but I recently hit 2200 with the stat priorities mastery>crit>haste>hit=int. I play pvp though so I can see why I would use something different XD

[@ANDR3WR1CKARD]

I think he has mentioned Worgen as the best race before, Not 100% sure though.

[@evreliagaming]

In a real raid situation with all buffs and tricks etc you can get like 4mil plus ^^

[@jeffreykurtz635]

I noticed you didnt mention the frenzied crystal of rage in the gear section is that because its not a viable trinket?

[@TehSqueakySniper]

How come you've not mentioned the trinket from Malkorak? I would have thought that one would have been a better choice that Kardis

[@evreliagaming]

You would need to Simcraft that to know for sure.

[@evreliagaming]

That's a mistake, forgot to edit it out of the script from the Affli one =[

[@nangzdk]

How are you supposed to soulburn drain life as destruction? Your comments on harvest life confuse.

[@kimahry10]

very very nice guide! keep up the good work =)

[@lawlestest]

I hope they're pulling through with the HP lowering and shit in the new xpac.. critting over 2mil, it's getting out of hand .. I was expecting the next expansion to give tanks around 10m hp and dps/heals around 7m lol, because thats the pattern the game took on over the expansions. thank fuck theyre going to lower it again, no more 485619856986 damage over ur screen.

[@iSongzHD]

dude, is the difference between 535 and BiS really that high? I crit 950k with everything up, trinkets, pots included... and then I see a 2.3million crit... jjessus

[@MrKinPimpin]

really. it seems to be controversial in forums ive read. with personal experience they seem to do about the same, but im in normal gear and im wondering about the BiS, or nearly BiS gear, that im sure this lock has

[@TheKageX]

Huge fan here. 2 Questions, I play both Aff and Destro and was wondering which spec is optimal for which boss? and my second question is is there a way i can hybrid stats to work best for both specs? Currently at the 13737 haste now im just dumping into mastery.