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TBC Classic Destruction Warlock Guide (Phase 3)
by FourenUpdated 8 minutes read views
About the Class
Destruction Warlock is a ranged spellcaster in cloth armor. Damage comes from heavy Fire and Shadow spells. The specialization sacrifices some survivability and utility for maximum sustained damage, scales well throughout all of TBC, and often tops the damage charts.
Strengths
- Mana practically never runs out thanks to
Life Tap. - Little competition for gear: a significant portion of the T4 and T5 items are crafted.
- Good self-sustain through
Drain Life and Siphon Life. - More survivable than other ranged fighters.
- Utility: curses,
Healthstone, and 
Create Soulstone. - Strong control through
Fear and 
Banish.
Weaknesses
- Very serious threat problems.
- No movement-speed abilities.
- Expensive to gear up at the start due to the large number of crafted items.
- You have to farm
Soul Shard. - The Shadow variant only shines with three warlocks in the raid, and the Fire variant only with a Fire Mage present.
- You have to cast almost without pauses, and the rotation consists of only a few buttons.
Stat Priority
Warlock Destruction Stats Priority
- 1Hit (spells)
- 2Spell Haste Rating
- 3Spell Power
- 4Critical Strike (spells)
- 5Intellect
- 6Stamina
- 7Spirit
Talents
Talents
Ability Priority
Abilities Priority
Fire variant:
Curse of Doom — keep it on the target
Immolate — keep it on the target
Corruption — only on the pull, to hand threat over to the tank
Incinerate — filler
Conflagrate — only if you have to move and your mana doesn't require Life Tap; don't press it on cooldown and don't spend Immolate on it- Be sure to use
Flame Cap together with your other cooldowns
Shadow Priority
- Curse of Doom — keep it on the target
- Immolate — if you have little Shadow-damage gear, and also always if you've taken talents for it or Improved Immolate, or if there is a Fire Mage in the raid
- Corruption — only on the pull, to hand threat over to the tank
Shadow Bolt — filler- Conflagrate — only if you have to move
Threat on this specialization is enormous — keep a threat meter on your screen at all times.
Pet
- Fire variant:
Demonic Sacrifice on 
Summon Imp for a single target, and on 
Summon Succubus for area damage - Shadow variant: Demonic Sacrifice on Summon Succubus always
Important Abilities
Important Abilities
converts health into mana, so mana practically never runs out
cast it on a dying enemy to get a Soul Shard
Soul Shardlets the raid avoid a full wipe
summon players to the raid
self-healing
Best in Slot (BiS)
Best in Slot (BiS)Slot
Recommended Gear
Source
Head
Dark Conjuror's Collar
Kil'jaeden — Sunwell Plateau
Neck
Amulet of Unfettered Magics
Lady Sacrolash and Grand Warlock Alythess — Sunwell Plateau
Shoulders
Mantle of the Malefic
Mother Shahraz — Black Temple
Back
Tattered Cape of Antonidas
Kil'jaeden — Sunwell Plateau
Chest
Sunfire Robe
Tailoring
Wrists
Bracers of the Malefic
Kalecgos — Sunwell Plateau
Hands
Handguards of Defiled Worlds
Kil'jaeden — Sunwell Plateau
Waist
Belt of the Malefic
Brutallus — Sunwell Plateau
Legs
Leggings of Calamity
Brutallus — Sunwell Plateau
Feet
Boots of the Malefic
Felmyst — Sunwell Plateau
Ring 1
Ring of Omnipotence
M'uru — Sunwell Plateau
Ring 2
Loop of Forged Power
Jewelcrafting
Trinket 1
The Skull of Gul'dan
Illidan Stormrage — Black Temple
Trinket 2
Shifting Naaru Sliver
M'uru — Sunwell Plateau
Weapon
Sunflare
Kil'jaeden — Sunwell Plateau
Off-hand
Heart of the Pit
Brutallus — Sunwell Plateau
Ranged
Wand of the Demonsoul
Trash mobs — Sunwell Plateau
Tier 6 Set — Malefic Raiment
Tier 6 Set — Malefic RaimentSlot
Recommended Gear
Drops From
Head
Hood of the Malefic
Archimonde — Hyjal Summit
Shoulders
Mantle of the Malefic
Mother Shahraz — Black Temple
Chest
Robe of the Malefic
Illidan Stormrage — Black Temple
Hands
Gloves of the Malefic
Azgalor — Hyjal Summit
Legs
Leggings of the Malefic
Illidari Council — Black Temple
Wrists
Bracers of the Malefic
Kalecgos — Sunwell Plateau (exchanged via Sunmote)
Waist
Belt of the Malefic
Brutallus — Sunwell Plateau (exchanged via Sunmote)
Feet
Boots of the Malefic
Felmyst — Sunwell Plateau (exchanged via Sunmote)
Enchants, Gems, Consumables
EnchantsHead
Arcanum of Power
Shoulders
Power of the Scourge
or
Greater Inscription of Discipline
or
Greater Inscription of the Orb
Back
Enchant Cloak - Subtlety
Chest
Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats
Wrists
Enchant Bracer - Spellpower
Hands
Enchant Gloves - Major Spellpower
or
Enchant Gloves - Spell Strike
Legs
Runic Spellthread
or
Mystic Spellthread
Weapon
Enchant Weapon - Soulfrost
or
Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower
GemsSlot
Recommended Gear
Comment
Meta gem
Chaotic Skyfire Diamond
Red
Brilliant Crimson Spinel
Brilliant Living Ruby
until phase 3
Yellow
Reckless Pyrestone
in phase 5
Potent Pyrestone
before phase 5
Potent Noble Topaz
before phase 5
Veiled Shadowsong Amethyst
for hit
Veiled Nightseye
for hit
Blue
Timeless Shadowsong Amethyst
two are enough to activate the meta gem
Timeless Nightseye
ConsumablesFlask
Flask of Pure Death
or
Flask of Supreme Power
Food
Poached Bluefish
or
Blackened Basilisk
or
Crunchy Serpent
Weapon oil
Expired Wizard Oil
or
Superior Wizard Oil
Potion
Destruction Potion
or
Super Mana Potion
or
Super Healing Potion
or
Free Action Potion
or
Invisibility Potion
Rune
Dark Rune
or
Demonic Rune
Runes share a cooldown with Healthstone and Flame Cap, but they don't use the global cooldown and save you from extra Life Tap casts.
Races
Gnome
Increases Intellect by 5%, and with it your mana pool and spell critical strike chance.
Instantly removes root and slow effects. 2-minute cooldown.
Increases Engineering skill by 15.
Increases Arcane resistance by 10.
Human
Increases Spirit by 10%.
Sharply increases stealth detection for 20 seconds. 3-minute cooldown.
Increases reputation gained by 10%.
Orc
Increases spell power for 15 seconds, but healing received is reduced by 50% for that duration. 2-minute cooldown.
Increases pet damage by 5%.
Increases the chance to resist stun by 15%.
Increases expertise rating by 5 while wielding an axe.
Undead
Grants 5 seconds of immunity to fear, charm, and sleep and removes such effects already applied. 2-minute cooldown.
Restores 7% health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds by eating a nearby corpse.
Increases Shadow resistance by 10.
Triples the time you can stay underwater.
Blood Elf
Restores mana and silences enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. 2-minute cooldown.
Steals mana from the target and applies an effect that stacks up to 3 times.
Increases all resistances by 5.
Increases Enchanting skill by 10.
Best Professions
Tailoring
A mandatory profession for a warlock: it provides very strong items, some of which last for almost the entire expansion.
Enchanting
The second most useful: ring enchants give a total of 24 spell power — your main stat.
Author
Fouren
Fouren has been playing World of Warcraft for over 15 years. He is an active player with 12 Cutting Edge achievements under his belt, and has reached the top 1% and 0.1% multiple times on various classes. His main classes are healers, particularly Holy Paladin.
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