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 (11.1.7).

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 below 4 shards.
If at 2 charges and movement is needed.
If >4 Soul Shards and Infernal Bolt triggered.
When available.
During Roaring Blaze debuff.
When available.
If at 2 charges to hasten long casts.
To maintain Eradication debuff.
At 3 charges to avoid overcapping.
To generate Soul Shards.
To generate Soul Shards.

Maintain Immolate and Wither while managing Soul Shards. Use Chaos Bolt to avoid capping and maintain Eradication. Utilize Soul Fire and Channel Demonfire during Roaring Blaze.

AoE

Ensure Immolate is applied to all viable targets.

Maintain on main target.
Maintain on as many targets as possible.
With maximum Wither targets.
Apply to secondary targets lasting 10+ seconds.
On cooldown.
On cooldown or delay for more targets.
If 5+ targets or 3+ with Havoc.
If at 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.
At 3 charges to avoid overcapping.
To generate Soul Shards.

Maintain Immolate and Wither on all targets. Use Rain Of Fire for large groups and Havoc for cleave. Spend Soul Shards with Chaos Bolt or Rain Of Fire.

Cooldowns

Use on cooldown for AoE and shard generation.
Use to apply Immolate in AoE or refresh in single target.

Use Summon Infernal on cooldown for AoE and shard generation. Utilize Cataclysm for efficient Immolate application.

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.