TBC Classic Destruction Warlock Guide (Phase 3)

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.

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

• Life Tap — converts health into mana, so mana practically never runs out
• Drain Soul — cast it on a dying enemy to get a Soul Shard
• Create Soulstone — lets the raid avoid a full wipe
• Ritual of Summoning — summon players to the raid
• Fear and Banish — control
• Drain Life — self-healing

Gnome

• Expansive Mind increases Intellect by 5%, and with it your mana pool and spell critical strike chance.
• Escape Artist instantly removes root and slow effects. 2-minute cooldown.
• Engineering Specialization increases Engineering skill by 15.
• Arcane Resistance increases Arcane resistance by 10.

Human

• The Human Spirit increases Spirit by 10%.
• Perception sharply increases stealth detection for 20 seconds. 3-minute cooldown.
• Diplomacy increases reputation gained by 10%.

Orc

• Blood Fury increases spell power for 15 seconds, but healing received is reduced by 50% for that duration. 2-minute cooldown.
• Command increases pet damage by 5%.
• Hardiness increases the chance to resist stun by 15%.
• Axe Specialization increases expertise rating by 5 while wielding an axe.

Undead

• Will of the Forsaken grants 5 seconds of immunity to fear, charm, and sleep and removes such effects already applied. 2-minute cooldown.
• Cannibalize restores 7% health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds by eating a nearby corpse.
• Shadow Resistance increases Shadow resistance by 10.
• Underwater Breathing triples the time you can stay underwater.

Blood Elf

• Arcane Torrent restores mana and silences enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. 2-minute cooldown.
• Mana Tap steals mana from the target and applies an effect that stacks up to 3 times.
• Magic Resistance increases all resistances by 5.
• Arcane Affinity increases Enchanting skill by 10.

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.