Cataclysm Classic Demonology Warlock Rotation and Cooldowns (2024)

Last updated on May 17, 2024 at 00:00by Crix

On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of yourDemonology Warlock in both single-target and multi-target PvEsituations in Cataclysm Classic. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc.in order to minmax your DPS.

This page contains all relevant information needed for Demonology Warlocksbefore the release of Cataclysm Classic. We will be updating this with all thelatest information as soon as more is discovered, so make sure to check back.

A massive change coming into Cataclysm is how DoTs work. In the past you used to want to let them run theirentire duration to get full value of it. This is no longer an issue in Cataclysm. Now you can clip your lasttick of the DoT and the remainder will carry over into the new refreshed DoT, giving you an extra tick of thatDoT, which can be further improved depending on your Haste rating. Check out the Stats page for more in depthinformation about Haste breakpoints for each DoT. This also ensures that you can have 100% uptime on most encounters.

The job of an Demonology Warlock is to deal as much damage as you can. Demonology Warlocks shine in single targetand AoE damage, boasting some of the highest in the game for the entire expansion. Something MASSIVE with Demonologyspecific, is two terms that you should get used to in order to maximize your damage as Demonology. Mastery swap is thefirst one. With the way Metamorphosis works, it snapshots all the Mastery you have on you when you press Metamorphosis and you keep that Mastery while in Metamorphosis until it ends, even after you takeoff the Mastery gear. This means that you can keep an additional set of gear on you that has as much Mastery as youcan possibly get, then before the boss is pulled, you equip this gear, then cast Metamorphosis, then swapyour normal gear back on and go about your rotation. If you choose to not do this, then you can skip the gear swapin the rotation. Addons like Itemrack will help you make a gearset and you can even set it to a keybind, so you canvery easily press one keybind to put your Mastery gear on and another keybind to equip your normal gear back on.

The next thing to talk about is something we call Pet Twisting. This is a really simple concept that has you startthe fight with your Summon Felguard out, then cast Demon Soul, then pull your Summon Felhunterout. While that looks and sounds annoying, it's pretty simple thanks to the spell Soulburn. When you Soulburnthis makes your next summon demon spell instant cast. The reason main reason we do this is that Demon Soul gives you apowerful buff, depending on which demon you have out. If your Summon Felguard is out when you cast Demon Soul,you get 15% Haste and 10% damage. If your Summon Felhunter is out when you cast Demon Soul, you onlyget 20% increases DoT damage. Another issue is that your Felhunter does EXTRAORDINARILY more single target damage than yourFelguard does. This means that you want to use your Felhunter as much as you can, but you also want to get the Demon Soulbuff from your Felguard. If you choose not to Pet Twist, then you can skip that part of the rotation.

1. Make sure your Summon Felguard is out and that your Mastery gearset is on.
2. Make sure both Fel Armor and Soul Link are on.
3. Don't be max ranged due to wanting to run in to Immolation Aura and Shadowflame. I prefer 10-15 yards ifboss allows.
4. (Prepull) Cast Soulburn — This is a buff that it gives you that will last 20 seconds. So as long as youuse this within that window, it will save you a global once the fight starts. This also allows you to Soul Harvestbefore the boss pull to ensure that you have all three of your Soul Shards available for you.
5. (Prepull) Cast Metamorphosis with roughly 2 seconds left on the pull timer. — This will snapshot your Masteryfrom your Mastery gear and allow you to keep it until Metamorphosis ends, even after you swap your gear off.
6. (Prepull) Equip your normal raid gear
7. Prepot your Volcanic Potion unless the fight is less than two minutes, then it's often better to hold that potionfor whenever your raid lusts.
8. Precast Incinerate so that it lands on the boss right when the pull timer hits zero seconds. Alsosend your Felguard in to attack.
9. Cast Curse of the Elements if no other member is putting up the debuff. Assassination Rogues, Balance Druidsand Unholy Death Knights also apply this debuff.
10. —
11. Pop your cooldowns like Blood Fury, Trinkets and whatever else you have.
12. Cast your Felguards Felstorm and then cast Demon Soul
13. Cast Summon Doomguard — He cannot be lusted, but snaps your spell power, so pop this when you haveas much spell power as possible. Hold this until you have your Spell Power procs up. It will attack whatever has your Bane of Doom or Bane of Agony on it.
14. Cast Bane of Doom — Only Bane of Agony if the boss won't live for 30 seconds.
15. Summon your Felguard and make sure he's attacking the target. This should be instant cast, thanks to the Soulburnthat you casted right before the fight started.
16. Cast Hand of Gul'dan — Keep this up on cooldown at all times. This does decent damage, but most importantlybuffs your Felhunters crit by 10%.
17. Cast Immolate — Keep this up at all times. Hand of Gul'dan refreshes this, so you only need to putthis up one time.
18. Cast Corruption — Keep this up at all times.
19. Cast Demon Leap to move in closer to the boss. Alternatively you can run into melee while casting all of your instantcast spells.
20. Cast Immolation Aura once in melee range
21. Cast Shadowflame while in melee and try to keep this on cooldown as often as you can. If you are worried about dyingwhile in melee, then disregard this and sit at ranged.
22. Fill with Incinerate — This is your main filler. There is a Shadow Bolt variation of this, but itloses out to the Incinerate filler on single target.
23. Once you are in execute range (-25% Boss Health) fill with Soul Fire while continuing to keep your DoTs up.

1. Make sure you send your Summon Felguard in.
2. Cast Hand of Gul'dan to give your demon 10% Crit.
3. Cast Felstorm — Keep this on cooldown as much as you can.
4. Cast Metamorphosis
5. Cast Demon Leap if you're not in melee range.
6. Cast Immolation Aura
7. Cast Shadowflame and keep this on cooldown as much as you can.
8. Cast Hellfire — You can move around while Hellfire is channeling.