WoW Forever Warlock Demonology — Specialization Changes

Ranged combat, spell damage and demon support. Demonology combines the bonus from a sacrificed demon with an active pet. In Forever, Demonic Pact lifted the old restriction: the sacrificed bonus stays as long as you summon a different demon. First you pick two demons — one to sacrifice, the other to fight — and from there the job is keeping the pet alive to the end of the fight and never letting it run out of mana.

Choose Who to Sacrifice and Who Stays in the Fight

Demonic Sacrifice in Forever gives different effects than in classic. Sacrificing the Imp grants 15% Shadow damage, the Succubus or Incubus — 15% Fire damage. The Voidwalker returns 2% of your total mana every four seconds, the Felhunter — 3% of your total health every four seconds. The effect lasts two hours and usually falls off when you summon any demon.

In classic, Fire came from the Imp and Shadow from the Succubus; the Voidwalker returned health and the Felhunter returned mana. In Forever the pairings were swapped, and the duration grew from half an hour to two hours.

Demonic Pact changes the summon restriction itself: a different demon keeps the effect, while re-summoning the sacrificed one removes it. For Shadow damage, sacrifice the Imp and summon the Succubus or Incubus — then the sacrifice stacks with the Shadow bonus from Master Demonologist. For Fire, sacrifice the Succubus and summon the Imp. The Felhunter is a utility choice, for when enemy spell control and magic protection matter more than a school bonus. And no, this Demonic Pact does not hand out spell power to the whole raid.

The Demon Must Work the Whole Fight

Fel Energies heals your pet for a share of your spell damage and grants the summoned demon mana equal to 50% of what you gained through Life Tap. Your damage this way sustains the pet's survivability, and a well-timed tap fills both mana bars. Deadly zones on the ground must be avoided, not counted on being covered by passive healing.

Unholy Power increases the damage of the listed demons, Fel Vitality raises their maximum health and mana, and your maximum mana along with it. Demonic Knowledge grants spell and healing power while a demon is summoned, and is calculated from your level rather than the pet's stamina and intellect. A dead or absent demon costs you far more than its own attacks would provide.

Improved Health Funnel strengthens the healing of Health Funnel, lowers its health cost and reduces the threat from it, and also lets you cast it regardless of the demon's health. Decide in advance whether the pet needs support: pulling it out of the damage is better than trying to out-heal constant lethal damage and losing your own casts over it. Master Summoner and Fel Domination speed up swapping the pet, but with Demonic Pact you still have to summon the correct, different demon.

Shared Defense and the Execute

Soul Link transfers 30% of the damage you take to the active demon and raises both your damage and its by 3%. The protection only works while the demon is alive, so you have to watch two health bars: the transferred damage can cost you the pet, and with it the protection itself.

Demonic Brand reduces the threat from Searing Pain and makes the pet's next two attacks very noticeable to the enemy, adding Fire or Shadow damage to them. This is handy when the demon needs to hold a target, but a pet's high threat in a raid is far from always wanted. Check its use against who exactly is supposed to hold the enemy.

Devastation empowers Shadow Bolt or Searing Pain against enemies below 35% health and, for ten seconds, cuts the cast time of Soul Fire, removing its soul shard cost; the talent also reduces the cooldown of Soul Fire. A sped-up Soul Fire still needs a safe window and a target that will live to the impact. If you need to reposition — use those very ten seconds for it.

Demonic Sacrifice

Demonic Sacrifice turns one demon into a lasting bonus: the Imp gives Shadow damage, the Succubus and Incubus — Fire damage, the Voidwalker returns mana, the Felhunter — health. Together with Demonic Pact the second, different demon stays with you.

Pets

Summon Imp and the other demons are summoned for the task at hand: damage, enemy spell control or defense. Health Funnel heals the pet, Enslave Demon lets you temporarily take control of an enemy demon.

Shadow Bolt and Searing Pain

Shadow Bolt is the main direct spell, Searing Pain hits faster and more noticeably to the enemy; both abilities are empowered by Devastation on the execute.

Soul Fire

Soul Fire is a heavy hit for a soul shard. Under Devastation it casts noticeably faster and without spending a shard.

Curses and Control

Curse of the Elements and Curse of Weakness support the group, Curse of Tongues slows enemy casts, Fear, Howl of Terror and Banish cover crowd control, Death Coil knocks the enemy back and heals you.

Utility Spells

Life Tap trades health for mana and also restores the demon's mana, Create Healthstone and Soulstone Resurrection insure the group, Shadow Ward and Demon Armor help you survive.

The Demonology tree holds 50 points on a budget of 51. It is taken in full, and the single free point goes into the first tier of Affliction: Improved Life Tap at one point adds mana from Life Tap — and through Fel Energies part of that mana reaches the demon too.

This is not a ready-made leveling build. It is only an example ability distribution for reference.

A weapon here is also a set of stats. A staff or a pairing of a one-handed weapon with an off-hand is chosen by spell power, intellect and stamina.

Spell power works twice: directly on your damage and through Fel Energies on healing the pet. The higher your damage, the sturdier the demon — this is a rare connection for classic, and it is worth accounting for when picking items.

Intellect and maximum mana matter because of Life Tap and Fel Energies: a tap fills both you and the demon, and Fel Vitality raises the ceiling of both. Stamina is not wasted either — Soul Link transfers part of the damage to the pet, but health is still spent.

The school bonus from Demonic Sacrifice sets the priority: sacrificing the Imp for Shadow, you empower Shadow Bolt and Soul Fire; sacrificing the Succubus for Fire — Searing Pain and Fire damage. Pick items for the school you chose as the sacrifice, not for both at once.