2.1.

Roaring Blaze
If you are playing with

Roaring Blaze it is important to make near perfect use of it

in order for it to be a beneficial choice. You should pool 2 charges of

Conflagrate in

anticipation of your
Immolate refreshes. After applying
Immolate, hit
Conflagrate twice and use your recharge immediately when it comes off of cooldown
(for a triple buffed

Immolate total). Once

instance of the debuff and wait for your

does, reapply

Immolate falls off, reapply a fresh

Conflagrate to hit 2 charges again. When it

Immolate for a full pandemic duration and repeat the process.

2.2. Chaos Bolt

Chaos Bolt costs 2 Soul Shards to cast now. Since we can only have a maximum of
5 Soul Shards, this means that the maximum number of

Chaos Bolts we will be able

to reliably cast in a short window of time is (Chaos Bolt Chaos Bolt

Conflagrate Chaos Bolt). Generating resources is also noticeably slower, especially
with
Shadowburn no longer being a part of the specialization for the most part. For
these reasons, casting Chaos Bolt during beneficial procs is less of a priority now, as we
cannot fit anywhere near the same amount of casts into a small window of time.
Chaos Bolt should now primarily be used to maintain as high an uptime as possible
on the
Eradication debuff. This is will noticeably increase your
Immolate
damage as well as increasing the damage of your next Chaos Bolt. You should still look
out for good windows to cast increased numbers of Chaos Bolts. For example, if you are
playing with a
Sandman's Pouch, you should try and enter the proc with at least 4
Soul Shards ready. This is still your best spell for quickly bursting down high priority
targets.

2.3. Dimensional Rift

Treat
Dimensional Rift charges as extra
Chaos Bolts. You can save up your
charges and use them consecutively to push a damage check, or just ensure you always
keep them on cooldown. If you have the
Dimension Ripper Golden Trait make sure
you will always paying attention to your charges so you do not mistakenly cap.
If there are 2+ targets present and you are spending your time cleaving with
Havoc, it is a DPS loss to use

Wreak

Dimensional Rift if it will interfere with a cast that

would otherwise be copied by

should only use your

Havoc. What this means is that in such situations you

Dimensional Rifts when you have to move, or when you are

entirely out of Soul Shards and

Conflagrate is on cooldown.

2.4. Soul Shard Generation and Consumption

You start every fight with 3 Soul Shards. During combat, Soul Shards are generated
through the use of your core abilities.

Conflagrate generates 1 Soul Shard on cast.

Immolate has a 15% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard on normal ticks, and a
30% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard on critical ticks.

Soul Shards will mostly be consumed with the following abilities.

Chaos Bolt consumes 2 Soul Shards.

Rain of Fire consumes 3 Soul Shards.

Summon Imp consumes 1 Soul Shard.

Summon Doomguard consumes 1 Soul Shard.

Summon Infernal consumes 1 Soul Shard.

Grimoire: Imp consumes 1 Soul Shard.

Shadowburn (if talented) consumes 1 Soul Shard.

2.5. Wreak Havoc!

Wreak Havoc is one of the most potent cleave talents in the game. It immediately
displaces

Soul Conduit as the go-to end tier talent if a second target is present for an

extended period. There is no special way to use this talent other than to keep
Havoc
applied 100% of the time. This talent is usually the winner on heavy cleave/AoE
encounters.

2.6. Doomguard and Infernal

Summon Doomguard is your single-target DPS cooldown. It shares a cooldown
with

Summon Infernal, your AoE DPS cooldown. Infernal is preferred if you can

reliably hit 2 or more targets for the majority of its uptime. If you have the
Flames Golden Trait from your Artifact, you should always use
regardless of number of targets if
is best combined with

Lord of

Summon Infernal

Lord of Flames is off cooldown. Lord of Flames

Bloodlust for maximum carnage.

2.7. Unending Resolve

As the Eternal Resolve glyph no longer exists, we are back with our active cooldown
Unending Resolve. As with most defensive cooldowns, it is best used during
periods of high incoming damage where you feel mortally threatened. The one caveat
with our cooldown, however, is that it also gives interrupt immunity. Keep this in mind
as there are quite a few bosses with interrupting shout style mechanics, and this
cooldown allows you to ignore them entirely.

2.8. Pet Choice

Destruction Warlocks always use the

Summon Imp and

Grimoire: Imp, as they

deal increased damage against targets afflicted by your

Immolate. This only
reinforces the very high priority Immolate has, as your pet deals 50% less damage if it is
not active! Also keep in mind that the Imp's
Command Demon is
Cauterize
Master, which heals you for 8% of your maximum health over 12 seconds. While not an
overwhelmingly large heal, it can be the difference between life and death during high
damage situations, so do not forget about it!

2.9. Cataclysm
Cataclysm can be an extremely potent spell when you can reliably take advantage
of it. A great example is the Mythic Mannoroth encounter, where the Fel Imps spawn
every 50 seconds. As
Cataclysm has a 45-second cooldown, this allows us to hit
every wave of imps with a large burst of AoE, followed by the heavy damage of the

Immolate ticks. As

Reverse Entropy provides amazing quality of life it can

be difficult to sacrifice this, but rest assured that in the right situation
Cataclysm can
easily turn the tide. Keep an eye out for situations where you can abuse this spell.

3. Core Concepts
Destruction Warlock is a specialization that is simple enough to grasp on a single target,
but due to the flexibility of your abilities, allows for some of the highest optimization of
any specialization in World of Warcraft. There are 3 major concepts that form the
central trinity of optimizing for success:
1. Soul Shard management;
2.

Havoc usage;

3. movement management.
While managing movement is a fundamental skill shared by all the caster classes in
World of Warcraft, the highly immobile nature of Destruction Warlock makes the proper
positioning and movement play of particular importance on many encounters.

3.1. Soul Shard Management

Shard management is significantly simpler than managing Embers was, mainly due to
the slower pace of the rotation and predictable nature of
Conflagrate. Correctly
managing Soul Shards now is more of a contextual skill than a static one; that is to say,
you should adjust your approach based on the situation. On fights that are purely single
target, like Fel Lord Zakuun, you will generally be best aiming for the highest uptime of
Eradication to empower your
Immolates. On encounters where add damage is a
priority, however, you might be better served to pool your Soul Shards to allow you to
burst down an important target. If you are playing with a predictable trinket, like
Sandman's Pouch, you should always budget Soul Shards for the proc as it will greatly
increase your damage during this time.
There are talents and (in Legion) Artifact traits that affect your ability to recoup Soul
Shards. The primary one of note is
Soul Conduit, which is our best end tier talent
for single target. The 20% chance to refund the Soul Shards works at an individual
level, meaning that if you cast
Rain of Fire (3 Shard cost) there is a chance you
could get all 3 Soul Shards back. This makes this talent a little more powerful and
reliable than you might otherwise expect.

3.2. Havoc Usage

Havoc is one of your most important spells. Havoc copies any of your direct spells,
however, it does not affect the Soul Shard generation of
Conflagrate (i.e you still
get 1 Shard). In multi-target scenarios this should be used on cooldown, without
exception. Now that Havoc copies all spells for an 8-second window without limit, it is
a significantly more potent tool for cleaving that it ever was before.

It is best to use

Havoc to duplicate spells that are limited by Soul Shards or charges.

For example, duplicating

with

Roaring Blaze via

Immolate and then immediately empowering both of them

Conflagrate is a great way to start. Follow up by

dumping
Chaos Bolt casts to debuff each target with
your Shard efficiency.

Eradication and double

Havoc is typically unaffected by range or line of sight requirements. Over time you
will develop the knowledge and instinct to take full advantage of the ability. A good way
to go about building this experience is by paying close attention to your boss timers. If
you know the add on Tyrant Velhari is coming in the next 10 seconds, you should hold
on to your Soul Shards and

Conflagrate charges for Havoc. If you have 4 Soul

Shards ready, you can immediately cast Havoc as soon as the add spawns. Cast
Immolate and Conflagrate, dump 2

Chaos Bolts, Conflagrate again to generate a

Soul Shard and double empower your Immolate via

Roaring Blaze (this

combination is only possible with

Wreak Havoc). If you are playing without Wreak
Havoc, it is usually better to hard Immolate each target before casting Havoc, then apply
Havoc and empower both with Conflagrate simultaneously. This is very much a 'feel'
ability! When in doubt, however, use Havoc on cooldown when a second target is
present.

3.3. Movement Management

While it is difficult to describe the best ways to position and move during a dungeon or
raid encounter, it is essential to your success as a Destruction Warlock.
Demonic
Gateway can be highly effective on many encounters and is under appreciated by many
players and raid groups. Think of
Demonic Gateway as a raid cooldown that can
instantly teleport your entire raid group 40 yards, and the potential this ability holds
quickly becomes clear. Ask your group if they want
Demonic Gateway anywhere
specific; if not used for your strategy, use it instead as a personal cooldown. Finally,
always try to position yourself in a location central to fight movement. For example, if
the boss is being moved in a circle, try to stay on the inside of the kite path to ensure
minimal movement.
3.3.1. Quiet Movement
Many players will unconsciously move during fights, despite it being unnecessary. For
example, sometimes the boss or adds will be moved by the tank a couple yards, and
though you are still in range to cast, you subconsciously mirror that movement, costing
you global cooldowns. Consciously work to "quiet" your movement, and reduce
unnecessary movement to a minimum. The best way to see this in action is to take a
video of your raid, then watch yourself play. Most players will be surprised by the

amount of wasted movement they commit. When you are forced to move, try and cover
a global with

Conflagrate, and make your path as direct and decisive as possible.

4. Opening Sequence
1. Use

Potion of Deadly Grace.

2. Pre-cast
range).

Incinerate at 5 seconds on the countdown (make sure you are max

3. Pre-cast a second
4. Pre-cast

Incinerate.

Immolate.

5. Activate any on-use trinkets or racials you have.

6. Cast

Conflagrate.

7. Cast

Grimoire: Imp.

8. Cast

Summon Doomguard (or

of Flames and

Summon Infernal if you have

Bloodlust is used on the pull).

9. Cast

Dimensional Rift 3 times.

10. Cast

Conflagrate.

11. Cast

Chaos Bolt (when you have Soul Shards).

12. Cast

Conflagrate to generate Soul Shards and extend

13. Maintain
14. Cast

Immolate.
Incinerate as a filler when necessary.

15. Continue with your normal rotation.

4.1. With Roaring Blaze

Backdraft.

Lord

1. Use

Potion of Deadly Grace.

2. Pre-cast
range).

Incinerate at 3 seconds on the countdown (make sure you are max

3. Pre-cast

Immolate.

4. Cast

Immolate.

5. Activate any on-use trinkets or racials you have.

6. Cast

Conflagrate.

7. Cast

Conflagrate.

8. Cast

Grimoire: Imp.

9. Cast

Summon Doomguard (or

of Flames and

Summon Infernal if you have

Bloodlust is used on the pull).

10. Cast

Dimensional Rift 3 times.

11. Cast

Conflagrate when available for Soul Shards.

12. Cast

Chaos Bolt (when you have Soul Shards).

13. Cast

Conflagrate when available for Soul Shards.

14. Continue with your normal rotation.

With
Bloodlust in the opener, the goal is to buff your
Roaring Blaze 4 times total.

Immolate with

Lord