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Blood Pact: Demonology 101, Part 2

Dominic Hobbs
Updated ·5 min read


Typical PvE talent setup

Above is an image of the raid build I would recommend but there are many optional points spent there. Here's a link to it and below is a breakdown of each talent.

Example demonology raid build.

Talent overview

Affliction talents:

  • Suppression - Typically not taken with demonology builds but is an option if you are really struggling for hit from gear.

Demonology talents:

  • Improved Healthstone - As this doesn't give any direct or inferred DPS gain it is often left out however I feel it's a great talent that has saved lives and wipes. Take it as an optional.

  • Improved Imp - You won't be summoning your imp except to have someone to argue with, so don't improve him (he might win).

  • Demonic Embrace - More stamina is always good, it keeps you alive, keeps your pet alive and gives you something to tap.

  • Fel Synergy - This is a great talent for keeping that minion on his feet. One or two points is fine depending on what else you want to go for.

  • Improved Health Funnel - If you're soloing group quests or farming mounts then this is a good talent, but it should have no place in a raiding build.

  • Demonic Brutality - More hurt from the hurty-monster. All good.

  • Fel Vitality - Good in its own right but also works nicely with Demonic Knowledge

  • Improved Succubus - As with the imp, you won't be needing this.

  • Soul Link - Huge survivability gain for a single point. Always worth having.

  • Fel Domination - Very popular talent and can help out in a pinch. It is optional though as it's not a DPS gain unless your minion dies and this shouldn't happen.

  • Demonic Aegis - Very powerful talent, get this one.

  • Unholy Power - Again, beefing up the beefcake.

  • Master Summoner - As with fel Domination, this will help get your minion back on his feet if something goes wrong. Have them both and you can get a summon in under a second, but better to save the points and keep him alive.

  • Mana Feed - An optional point, not completely wasted but often not needed. Can be very handy for solo work.

  • Master Conjuror - What used to be a terrible talent is so good now. Spend these points.

  • Master Demonologist - The core of demonology to my mind. Get this.

  • Molten Core - A talent that adds both complexity and a decent amount of damage.

  • Demonic Resilience - PvP thing, leave it alone.

  • Demonic Empowerment - A worthwhile damage boost.

  • Demonic Knowledge - Allows you to 'double-dip' on raid buffs. Lovely!

  • Demonic Tactics - Straight damage gain as well as increased Demonic Pact uptime.

  • Decimation - This is the execution talent. When the target is below 35% health the fun starts.

  • Improved Demonic Tactics - Optional talent that slightly increases minion damage and Demonic Pact uptime.

  • Summon Felguard - You weren't gonna leave this guy behind were you?

  • Nemesis - Shorter cooldowns equals more chance to use them.

  • Demonic Pact - damage boost and an awesome raid buff that will have caster DPS singing your praises and healers ensuring you always survive.

  • Metamorphosis - Illidan in a can -- sweet!

Destruction talents:

  • Improved Shadow Bolt - You will be casting a lot of Shadow Bolts so this is a nice boost to it. The mages will love you to, for whatever that is worth.

  • Bane - Huge gain to key spells. Essential.

  • Ruin - Always a powerful spell, if less so for demo than destro.

  • Intensity - Completely optional but some prefer to have the pushback resistance,

  • Destructive Reach - Although the range is a marginal bonus as you need to be closer for Corruption and curses it can come in handy, especially if you do get threat capped.


Gems

For a meta use the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond. Unfortunately this needs two blue gems so make sure you have a couple Purified Dreadstone at all times. With that in mind and if the socket bonus is a load of spell power (head and chest items for example) then feel free to gem for the bonus, matching colors as below. Otherwise, just put pure spell power gems all the way.

  • Blue socket - Spell power and spirit

  • Red socket - Pure spell power

  • Yellow socket - Spell power and haste

Some people gem for haste beyond socket bonuses; while there's no denying that haste is a great stat for personal DPS it isn't better than spell power and doesn't boost the Demonic Pact bonus to the group.

Glyphs

A lot of warlock glyph information can be found in a previous Blood Pact: Warlock glyphs to use, ignore or to dream for. Typical setup for endgame demonology would be:

Enchants for the endgame


Don't forget to add extra gem sockets where you can (waist for all, wrist and hands for blacksmiths).



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Blood Pact is a weekly column detailing DoTs, demons, and all the dastardly deeds done by Warlocks. If you're curious about what's new with Locks since the last patch, check out WoW.com's guide to patch 3.3 or find out what's upcoming in Cataclysm from the BlizzCon 2009: Class Discussion Panel.