Destruction Warlock DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Destruction Warlock abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: The War Within (11.2).

Single Target

Maintain Immolate and Wither on the target at all times.

If about to cap Soul Shards.
During Roaring Blaze debuff if below 4 shards.
If available and below 4 shards.
Inside Malevolence.
If >4 Soul Shards and Infernal Bolt triggered.
When available.
During Roaring Blaze debuff.
When available.
If 2 charges, to hasten long casts like Chaos Bolt.
To maintain Eradication debuff.
At 3 charges to avoid overcapping.
To generate Soul Shards.
To generate Soul Shards.
If moving and no other instant casts available.

Maintain Immolate and Wither. Use Chaos Bolt to avoid capping Soul Shards and Soul Fire during Roaring Blaze. Utilize Channel Demonfire and Cataclysm on cooldown, and Conflagrate to generate shards or hasten casts.

AoE

Ensure Immolate is applied to all viable targets.

Maintain on main target.
Maintain on as many targets as possible.
Use with maximum Wither targets.
Apply to secondary targets lasting 10+ seconds.
On cooldown.
On cooldown or delay slightly for more targets.
During Malevolence.
If 5+ targets with Havoc or 3+ without.
If 5 Soul Shards.
Spend at 2 or less Soul Shards.
Apply if secondary target is present.
If target will die within 5 seconds.
When available.
To spend Soul Shards.
To generate Soul Shards and Backdraft stacks.
At 3 charges to avoid overcapping.
To generate Soul Shards.

Maintain Immolate and Wither on all targets. Use Malevolence with maximum Wither targets, and Rain Of Fire for large groups. Spend Soul Shards with Chaos Bolt or Shadowburn as needed.

Cooldowns

Use on cooldown for AoE damage and shard generation.
Use to apply Immolate to multiple targets or refresh DoTs.

Use Summon Infernal on cooldown for AoE and shard generation. Utilize Cataclysm to apply or refresh Immolate efficiently.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

Single-Button Assistant
Assisted Highlight
Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.