Demonology Basics
Demonology warlock is a must for a proper 25 man raid setup providing the best spell power boost (over a certain amount of warlock spell power) for the raid as well as many warlock utilities. Demo spec has got really strong AoE capabilities and moderate amount of single-target DPS with high burst and powerful execute DPS!
Talent (New WotLK Classic)
Phase 2 - Ulduar
For the current Phase 2 talent changes: you should no longer use Suppression while using 2/3 OR 3/3 Nemesis is highly recommended! For 3/3 Nemesis you will need to reduce from 3/3 Improved Demonic Tactics to 2/3. On some fights 2/3 Nemesis and 3/3 Improved Demonic Tactics is better, it will always depend on fight length which depends on your guilds raid DPS.
Ulduar fight lengths are different from Naxxramas, OS or EoE, so Nemesis is a lot more important to use now so even if you are in Phase 1 Gear, try to focus on more hit rating so you can get rid of Suppression!
Talent (New WotLK Classic) Phase 1 - Naxx/OS/EoE
With the changes by Blizzard removing many cooldowns after each fight and also only small health increment on bosses gave us the possibility to drop Nemesis.
This extra 2 talent points can be now used to gain extra 2% hit chance through Suppression that means more stats.
If you are way over hit cap from gear you can still use Nemesis as filler.
Talent (old/non Classic)
This is the talent tree you would want to use in most cases. Another variation is to switch up Improved Demonic Tactics (from 3 to 2) and Nemesis (from 2 to 3) which will be superior when the fight is just as long that you can use a second Metamorphosis (with Nemesis 3/3) for at least 10-15 seconds. But still we are talking about 10-20ish DPS differences in these very strictly chosen situations of 136-141 seconds boss fights relying on mathematics. In reality, due to human error and reaction delay (etc.) you will do the same amount of DPS but if possible I still suggest you to have 2 demonology talents, one with Improved Demonic Tactics dominancy, one with Nemesis dominancy. Be ready for each fight, check your guilds last kill time and decide which talent to use.
Anyways, if you want to have only one demonology specialization, use the talent you see on the picture always.
Before reaching hit cap, you can go for Affliction tree's tier one talent Suppression. To be able to do this you can take 2 talents from Nemesis. More than that is simply not worth it. Always have your Improved Demonic Tactics! Felguard deals about 20-25% of your damage, ideally!
Glyphs:
- Glyph of Felguard: Increases the Felguard's total attack power by 20%. Crucial.
- Glyph of Life Tap: When you use Life Tap, you gain 20% of your Spirit as spell power for 40 sec. Crucial.
- Glyph of Metamorphosis: Increases the duration of your Metamorphosis by 6 sec. This is the new META as if having very short fights.
- Glyph of Quick Decay: Your haste now reduces the time between periodic damage ticks of your Corruption spell. You should use this once you reach about 360 haste rating (11%) with spell stone that already gives 240 haste rating. Also on multiple targets this glyph will always be superior over Glyph of Immolate.
- Glyph of Immolate: Increases the periodic damage of your Immolate by 10%. This can be used if you have almost zero haste rating and you fight only against single-target bosses... Otherwise Quick Decay is just superior.
Stats:
1. Hit rating. Hit cap is 17%. In raid with a shadow priest or balance druid you will need 14% or 13% if you are in party with a draenei (alliance).
2. Spell Power. Increases damage done by each of your spell, increases your pet's spell damage (by 15% of your spell damage) and increases your pet's attack power (by 57% of your spell damage)
3. Haste. Reduces cast time and reduces Global Cooldown of abilities. To reach the 1 second GCD you would need 1620+ Haste using spellstone. Fortunately, with raid buffs you only need 1269 to reach 1 sec GCD which can be reached only in 3.3./ Glyph of Quick Decay and stacking haste will give you Molten Core procs, appreciate this stat! In multi-target situations you will want even more haste than usual to really get Molten Core procs out.
4. Spirit/Crit. This really depends on your current gear. In general, spirit is usually better in 3.0 (Naxx,OS,EoE), 3.1 (Ulduar) and then in 3.2: (ToC) crit will get eventually better as your gear gets better (but love spirity gear if you are still progressing).
Professions:
1. Engineering: +340 Haste for 15 seconds on 1 minute cooldown, Saronite Bombs (in some cases for instance in 3.0 BiS Gear on single target the rocket is superior and engineering also provides lower single target DPS in this gear than JC/LW/Ench/Insc or BS... in most cases anyway (as there aren't many single-target-tunnel bosses) Engineering with haste enchant is the best)) The mobility this profession gives is just OP anyways!
2. Tailoring: Gives you an average of 73.75 Spell Power
3. Jewelcrafting: +48 Spell Power/+60 Spell power (until TOC)
4. Leatherworking/Enchanting/Inscription/Blacksmithing: +46 Spell Power
5. Skinning: +40 Crit Rating
Preparation:
- Always use Grand Spellstone.
- Use Potion of Speed or Potion of Wild Magic (2x/fight). Potion choice depends on the bossfight and your gear, also may change by Bloodlust/Heroism and Power Infusion usage. Also Potion of Speed is usually superior as second potion at execution phase.
- Use Flask of the Frost Wyrm.
- Use Spiced Mammoth Treats for your pet.
- Use Flame Cap (usually in execution phase at 35%, sometimes on start for big Immolation Aura AoE damage burst with a Potion of Wild Magic).
- There are a few more DPS increasing stuff like Oil of Immolation or Kreeg's Stout Beatdown. You can use them for slight DPS increase!
Basics of Gameplay:
2. Keep your DoT's up! Keep Corruption, Immolate and Curses up on the fight all the time!
3. Use your filler abilities: normally spam Shadowbolts. Molten Core procs -> Use Incinerate (3 charges). Under 35% -> Use Soul Fire.
4. Use Demonic Empowerment on CD.
5. Keep your Life Tap glyph's buff up, while managing your mana, too.