Ghostcrawler talks demonology warlocks in Mists of Pandaria
Warlocks are the most changed class in Mists of Pandaria, and demonology is getting some serious attention from Ghostcrawler as its new playstyle is flushed out. Notable in Ghostcrawler's discussion is that the days of using both fire and shadow spells with a lot of demon damage are being looked upon as something that weren't super compelling. Importantly, Ghostcrawler also says that demonology warlocks aren't intended to be melee casters anymore.
As a raiding demonology warlock, I find that Ghostcrawler's design intentions really make me pleased. Right now, if you want to do good DPS as a demo 'lock, you're going to be in the melee group as much as possible to get the most benefits from Metamorphosis and Immolation Aura, while at the same time staying stationary to turret out your DPS. In Ghostcrawler's plan for Mists, the necessity of melee-range spells is going to be situational. No longer am I going to be pestering my raid leader to put me in the melee group for Zon'ozz, and I should be able to stay at range and enjoy such benefits there as much as I can (which, at least in my perfect world, would include less movement).
It'll be interesting to see how this kit plays out in the end. It always seems to be one of those specs that gets changed around a fair amount in one way or another, and Ghostcrawler does say that Blizzard is looking to make a home for demonology.
So have faith, fellow 'locks! Things are looking evil.
Ghostcrawler's full statements, after the break.
Is our Metamorphosis rotation expected to be similar to our caster from rotation? Right now, since Meta has no way to apply Shadowflame it's pretty much just Demonic Slash spam until you get near 500 fury.
Use Demonic Slash and use Soul Fire when you get a Molten Core proc. The Molten Core procs will come from Wild Imps.
Wild Imps has changed so that imps consistently proc from your Shadowbolt and Demonic Slash. The Wild Imps in turn can proc Molten Core. If you like the old Wild Imps mechanic, you can recreate it with a glyph.
We are experimenting a lot with Demo, so let us know how these latest changes feel. We don't feel that the older design of Demo (use both Fire and Shadow spells with lots of demon damage) was super compelling. It is a spec that has wanted a home for some time. Affliction and Destruction by comparison have a stronger kit.
You aren't intended to be a melee caster in Meta. Things like Demonic Leap, Carrion Swarm and Immolation Aura are more situational and fun toys than core rotational spells you need on a challenging raid boss. We did experiment with Demo spending more time in melee earlier on, but we have backed off of that for some of the reasons you guys mention.
The basic rotation is something like: Keep Corruption up. Use Hand of Gul'dan on cooldown. Respond to Molten Core procs with Soul Fire. Use Shadowbolt when there is nothing else to do. Fel Flame is for movement. Breath of Gul'dan is for melee.
During Meta, all of your rotational spells should cost Fury. You shouldn't have to pay nearly any attention to mana.
The basic mechanic of Demonic Fury is to build to 1000, go into Metamorphosis, and then pop out again when you reach 500. If you need that extra dps *right now*, you stay in Metamorphosis until you run out.
There's a bug right now where when you exit Metamorphosis, it drains half of your remaining Fury. It's the same bug causing the DK spell conversion to drain all of your runic power.
Blood Pact is a weekly column detailing DOTs, demons and all the dastardly deeds done by warlocks. We'll coach you in the fine art of staying alive, help pick the best target for Dark Intent, and steer you through tier 13 set bonuses.
