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 (11.2.5).

Single Target

Maintain Immolate and Wither on the target at all times.

• Chaos BoltView detailsIf about to cap Soul Shards.
• Soul FireView detailsWith Decimation during Roaring Blaze if below 4 shards.
• Soul FireView detailsWith Decimation if below 4 shards.
• ShadowburnView detailsInside Malevolence.
• Chaos BoltView detailsIf >4 Soul Shards and Infernal Bolt triggered.
• Channel DemonfireView detailsDuring Roaring Blaze whenever available.
• Channel DemonfireView detailsWhenever available.
• ConflagrateView detailsIf 2 charges, to hasten long casts like Chaos Bolt.
• Chaos BoltView detailsTo maintain Eradication debuff.
• Dimensional RiftView detailsAt 3 charges to avoid overcapping.
• ConflagrateView detailsTo generate Soul Shards.
• IncinerateView detailsTo generate Soul Shards.
• ShadowburnView detailsIf moving and no other instant casts available.

Keep Immolate and Wither active. Use Chaos Bolt to avoid capping Soul Shards and maintain Eradication. Leverage Soul Fire and Channel Demonfire during key debuffs. Use Conflagrate and Incinerate to generate Soul Shards.

AoE

Maintain Immolate on primary and secondary targets.

• WitherView detailsApply to as many targets as possible.
• MalevolenceView detailsWith as many Wither targets as possible.
• ImmolateView detailsApply to secondary targets lasting 10+ seconds.
• Soul FireView detailsWith Decimation.
• CataclysmView detailsOn cooldown unless delaying for more targets.
• ShadowburnView detailsDuring Malevolence.
• Rain Of FireView detailsIf 5+ targets with Havoc or 8+ without.
• Chaos BoltView detailsIf 5 Soul Shards.
• Infernal BoltView detailsSpend shards before using.
• HavocView detailsApply if secondary target is present.
• ShadowburnView detailsIf target will die within 5 seconds.
• Channel DemonfireView detailsWhen available.
• ConflagrateView detailsTo generate Soul Shards and Backdraft stacks.
• Dimensional RiftView detailsAt 3 charges to avoid overcapping.
• IncinerateView detailsTo generate Soul Shards.

Apply Wither and Immolate broadly. Use Malevolence and Rain Of Fire for AoE bursts. Spend Soul Shards with Chaos Bolt or Rain Of Fire and generate them with Conflagrate and Incinerate.

Cooldowns

• Summon InfernalView detailsUse on cooldown for AoE damage and shard generation.
• CataclysmView detailsUse to apply Immolate and Wither in AoE.

Use Summon Infernal for AoE and shard generation. Cataclysm is ideal for spreading Immolate and Wither in multitarget scenarios.

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.