Note: Please do not post talent specs for me to "review" or "critique." If you have a question about a build, ask about the specific talents you are choosing between. You are better off creating a new topic if you really need help for your overall build.

I want to stress that this guide is meant to be a community effort. The notes and ratings in the guide are based on the opinions of the community, not my own. If you feel that a certain part of the guide could be debated, please say so in this post. I am open to constructive comments, suggestions, and questions.

Be sure also to visit Shadowbolt's guide for further analysis on raiding talents.


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Warlock Talent Guide (5/6/08)
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Talent guide contents
A. Affliction Tree [dx-a]
B. Demonology Tree [dx-b]
C. Destruction Tree [dx-c]
D. Talent Builds
1. Leveling Builds
2. Raiding Builds
3. Arena Builds
4. BG Builds

Use Ctrl+F (the "Find") function on your browser to jump to a specific part of the guide.

I will use this format to describe each talent in the Warlock tree:

Talent rank 5/5
Effect of talent when maxed out

Comment: General description of the talent and its implications.

Solo: ***** - How well this talent functions for grinding/farming solo.
Raid: **** - How well this talent functions for instances in the end game, 5-man and raid.
PvP: *** - How well this talent functions for PvP.

Notes: Final notes about the talent, including build-specific points and sometimes a little history.


Star rating system:
Each category receives 0-5 stars (*), 5 stars for good talents, 0 for bad ones.

(0) 0 stars indicates that the talent is near worthless for the scenario in question.
(*) 1 star indicates that the talent is poor in that scenario for most builds, but can be slightly helpful in certain situations.
(**) 2 stars indicates that the talent isn't very important, but is still helpful. This is usually the rating for most "buffer" talents that are surrounded by better ones.
(***) 3 stars indicates that the talent is useful, but not crucial.
(****) 4 stars indicates that the talent is a staple among Warlocks who choose that build.
(*****) 5 stars indicates that the talent is spec or class defining talent.

In many cases a certain talent is worthless for some builds but useful in other builds. These talents are usually within 21 points from Tier 1 of the tree. These talents may receive spec specific ratings. I will note this by writing something like this:

PvP: *** (***** For Affliction builds)

For example, this means that the talent isn't very important unless you are an Affliction Warlock.


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A. Affliction Tree [dx-a]
The Affliction tree improves the strength of your DoT and drain spells. It is widely considered to be the best grinding spec thanks to the near complete lack of downtime and the ability to take on multiple mobs at the same time.



Tier 1


Suppression rank 5/5
Reduces the chance for enemies to resist your Affliction spells by 10%.

Comment: Suppression acts as +hit gear that only works for your Affliction spells, meaning that each rank of Suppression gives you +2% hit for your DoTs, Fear, Death Coil, etc. +hit causes your spells to suffer fewer level-based resists. This helps save on mana lost from resists and time used to cast the spells. To see more on the effects of +hit, look up "spell hit" on wowwiki.

Solo: *** - Saves mana and improves DPS, especially against higher level targets. Difficult to fit into builds.
Raid: *** - Makes gearing up easier for the Affliction DPS Warlock, but it's hard to fit into most builds. Note it doesn't affect Shadow Bolt, and therefore it does not at all "replace" +hit.
PvP: *** - Helps prevent Fears and Death Coils from being resisted - very nice. See note.

Notes: You only need a combined bonus of +3% total hit for PvP against most targets. Also, it works to counteract talents like Iron Will that lower the chance of certain classes to be Feared. Keep in mind that this talent ONLY works for Affliction spells.
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Improved Corruption rank 5/5
Reduces the casting time of your Corruption spell by 2.0 sec.

Comment: Corruption is near worthless with a cast time. WIth this talent, it becomes a nice instant DoT option.

Solo: ***** - Reduces amount of time it takes to put out a Corruption, helps kiting, lets you ignore pushback by damage.
Raid: **** (***** For Affliction) - A significant increase in DPS, but there's little room for it in certain heavy Destruction builds. Not always useful against trash.
PvP: ***** - Almost every build should include this talent, especially for the arena.

Notes: Does not affect Seed of Corruption in any way.



Tier 2


Improved Curse of Weakness rank 2/2
Increases effect of Curse of Weakness by 20%

Comment: Increases the attack power reduction on Curse of Weakness from 350 to 420 (max rank).

Solo: * - You're better off using Curse of Agony in almost every solo scenario.
Raid: * - As far as I know, CoW doesn't stack with Demoralizing Shout, which therefore makes this a waste of a curse slot.
PvP: ** - CoW is an underestimated spell for longer match-ups. However, this talent isn't crucial.

Notes: For arenas, it is generally only taken by Warlocks who know they won't need Fel Concentration.
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Improved Drain Soul rank 2/2
Returns 15% of your mana if your target is killed by you while you drain its soul. In addition, your Affliction spells generate 10% less threat.

Comment: When you or your pet land a killing blow while channeling Drain Soul on a mob, you regain 15% of your total mana. This means you'll probably need a DoT on your target or a Shadow Bolt/Incinerate traveling to it while you're channeling Drain Soul on it to get this talent's bonus.

Solo: **** - Very nice for minimalizing downtime. Also, if you use a Voidwalker/Felguard to grind, your DoT's will pull that much less agro. However, Affliction has a lot of mana management options and Demo or Dest builds won't always be able to fit this talent in.
Raid: **** (Or less) - Don't expect to get the mana to proc in raids. The threat reduction's usefulness varies depending on how much you DoT/Drain, obviously. Overall DoT's don't have as much DPS as nukes, and therefore less threat.
PvP: 1/2 - Don't bother.

Notes: Highly recommended at later levels if you insist on grinding with Destruction or Demonology, with a Voidwalker/Felguard out. Send a Shadow Bolt and right when the missle leaves your hand, cast Drain Soul. Your finishing bolt will kill the target and you'll get the Soul Shard and the mana bonus.
________

Improved Life Tap rank 2/2
Increases mana awarded from your Life Tap spell by 20%

Comment: Increases rate of mana received from Life Tapping, reduces the number of times you have to Life Tap overall, and improves health:mana ratio when using Life Tap. Very good talent.

Solo: **** (*** For Affliction) - Helps you grind efficiently as possible. Fewer points for Affliction builds as they have Dark Pact. Still very useful though.
Raid: **** - Fewer, faster, health efficient Life Taps = more DPS and better healer efficiency.
PvP: *** - Great for long battles. Not as useful for short battles (like for a Warlock/Mage 2v2 arena team).

Notes: You'll almost always want this talent if you're going to have more than five points in Affliction.
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Soul Siphon 2/2
Increases the amount drained by your Drain Life spell by an additional 4% for each Affliction effect on the target, to a maximum of 60%.

Comment: Every Affliction DoT, Curse, and Drain (?) effect on the mob improves the amount of damage Drain Life does.

Solo: ***** (*** Demo/* Dest) - An extremely powerful talent for drain tanking or just draining life if you're using a pet to tank the mob. Mileage with Demonology and Destruction may vary depending on playstyle.
Raid: ** (* Demo/Dest) - Helps to "reload" as an Affliction spec, but Shadow Bolt has much higher DPS. Relieves the healers a little.
PvP: *** - Mileage greatly varies depending on what team you're running and what bracket.

Notes: As of 2.3, this talent no longer affects Drain Mana.

Tier 3


Improved Curse of Agony rank 2/2
Increases damage done by your Curse of Agony by 10%.

Comment: Increases the damage done by CoA. Since CoA is such a useful curse, it wouldn't seem to hurt to improve its damage by 10%. However, the talent cost is a little high the justify the improvement of only one spell, especially of one that takes 24 seconds to do its full damage.

Solo: ** - Every increase to DPS is welcome for grinding and farming builds, but the overall increase from this talent isn't very much. A decent filler talent.
Raid: 1/2 - Most raiders will use CoEl, CoS, or CoD instead.
PvP: ** - CoA is a good source of DPS for Affliction builds, but it's not crucial. You'll be using CoT and CoEx more often in the arena.

Notes: This talent works AFTER +spell damage, unlike its old version before 2.0.
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Fel Concentration rank 5/5
Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling the Drain Life, Drain Mana, or Drain Soul spell.

Comment: A great talent that allows you to use drains even while something is hitting you. Essential for grinding.

Solo: ***** (** for Dest/Demo) - Absolutely essential for drain tanking.
Raid: * (** in 5 mans) - Rarely useful in raids, as you shouldn't be taking hits anyway. In 5-man instances, it helps you mitigate some damage if you pull agro, but draining just pulls more agro.
PvP: ***1/2 - Incredible for certain strategies. Otherwise it just makes for a decent "instant" option. Make sure to bait out and dodge Kick/Pummels.

Notes: For more information on drain tanking, please see my FAQ.
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Amplify Curse rank 1
Instant cast, 3 min cooldown: Increases the effect of your next Curse of Doom or Curse of Agony by 50%, or your next Curse of Exhaustion by 20%.

Comment: Every three minutes you can make your CoA/CoD do significantly more damage, or your CoEx into a great snare. Can't really be used in emergencies, but nifty for the point nonetheless. Also, it's a requirement for CoEx.

Solo: ** - An Amped CoA will help you with certain bosses and difficult encounters, but considering the nature of the spells that Amp Curse affects, it isn't crucial.
Raid: * - Meh.
PvP: *** - Great when used with CoEx against melees or the flag carrier.

Notes: When used with CoA or CoD, it scales BEFORE +dmg gear, making it lackluster for any curse besides CoEx.



Tier 4


Grim Reach rank 2/2
Increases the range of your Affliction spells by 20%

Comment: Improves range of DoT's, Death Coil, and Drain's to 36 yards, Fear to 24 yards. Extremely useful especially considering Affliction's playstyle.

Solo: **** (Less for Dest) - Allows you to pull from further away, saving you a hit or two from mobs and making pulls easier.
Raid: **** (Less for Dest) - Every step you have to take to readjust to the mob is a loss in DPS. This increases your effective radius in battles. Also helps you outrange those 30 yard radius AoE spells.
PvP: ***** - A must-have for Affliction builds. Extra range on Fear, Drains, and CoT is very useful.

Notes:
________

Nightfall rank 2/2
Gives your Corruption and Drain Life spells a 4% chance to cause you to enter a Shadow Trance state after damaging the opponent. The Shadow Trance state reduces the casting time of your next Shadow Bolt spell by 100%.

Comment: Every tick of Corruption and Drain Life will be potentially devestating for your opponent. Most effective when you can Corruption multiple targets.

Solo: *** - Shadow Bolting from an NF proc during drain tanking will hurt your DPM a little, but help improve your grinding speed. Also pretty good for taking on multiple mobs.
Raid: * - A very slight improvement to the DPS of your Shadow Bolt spam, considering the global cooldown.
PvP: *** - Provides good, but completely unreliable burst damage to Affliction.

Notes: While grinding, it procs about every other battle or so, in my experience.
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Empowered Corruption rank 3/3
Your Corruption spell gains an additional 36% of your bonus damage effects.

Comment: Adds +36% to Corruption's +damage coefficient, making it 128%, from 92%.

Solo: **1/2 - Improves the DPS of your Corruption spell, but only if you have +dmg.
Raid: **** (Less for Demo/Dest) - Essential to Affliction DPS later on.
PvP: *** - Improves the DPS of your Corruption spell, but there isn't always room for it in PvP builds.

Notes: For leveling builds, don't put points into Empowered Corruption unless you have a significant amount of +dmg gear.



Tier 5


Shadow Embrace rank 5/5
Your Corruption, CoA, SoC, and Siphon Life also cause the Shadow Embrace effect, which reduces physical damage caused by 5%.

Comment: Your DoT's all apply an additional debuff that reduces the amount of physical damage the target deals. Does not stack with itself, even among multiple Warlocks. Putting one point in is useful to provide an additional "Affliction effect" for Soul Siphon's bonus.

Solo: * - 5% less damage isn't that big of a deal, considering the way a Warlock grinds. Put one point in if you have it to improve the bonus from Soul Siphon.
Raid: * (or ****) - For 25-man raids, your guild might want to have a consistent Warlock invest into this talent. 5% reduced melee damage is useful, but since it doesn't stack and has a heavy talent point cost you only want one Warlock to invest in it.
PvP: **** - Only put one point in. SE is essential to builds like 23/38, that can't reach UA or Contagion but need dispel protection. SE counts as a magical debuff and will help protect your DoT's from dispels.

Notes: This talent gets low ratings, but putting at least one point in it is useful to improve Soul Siphon and to make it harder to dispel you in PvP.
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Siphon Life rank 1/1
150 Mana, 30 yd range, Instant cast: Transfers x health from the target to the caster every 3 sec. Lasts 30 sec.

Comment: High mana cost, low damage DoT with a long duration. If Siphon Life ends early due to dispels of the mob dying, it is very mana inefficient. However, an extra DoT is an extra DoT, and the health you gain from Siphon Life is useful. Plus, it's a prerequisite for Shadow Mastery.

Solo: *** - Good, but with a high mana cost. If mobs are dying too fast for Siphon Life to work well, don't use it in your rotation.
Raid: **** - Good for further increasing DPS and keeping a minor HoT on you. Not always useful against trash, but that's the nature of Affliction.
PvP: ***1/2 - The extra DoT is pretty good, but it probably won't be competing with 41 talents for the point.

Notes: Siphon Life on several targets at a time is pretty nice for the healing. Just remember you spent a ton of mana casting them, and you might end up Life Tapping to make up for it anyway.
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Curse of Exhaustion rank 1/1
108 Mana 30 yd range Instant cast: Reduces the target's speed by 30% for 12 sec. Only one Curse per Warlock can be active on any one target.

Comment: CoEx is a low mana cost, 0 cooldown, 36 yard range snare that suffers no diminishing returns. Its weakness? It takes up a curse slot and is beat out by most other snares in the game. This means you either need to outrange or counter stuff like Intercept or Sprint or you need a teammate who can help you do that. An incredibly useful skill, but some do not like it.

Solo: ** - Only useful if you need to kite an elite mob and Fear isn't an option. Note that most elite quest mobs in the Outlands are immune to Fear AND Snares now.
Raid: * (**** for 5-man/heroics) - The best curse to swap out for CoR when using Fear as a CC in dungeons. It lets you kite mobs in certain situations, which makes it potentially a wipe-saver. Very underestimated.
PvP: **1/2 - With Shadowstepping Rogues, mace stunning Warriors, and Druids to hold you in place, this talent has lost much of its worth in the arenas. Still has its uses however, especially in the BG's.

Notes: I should apologize for the rating this talent had in the earlier version of this guide. I didn't have heroic experience yet and there wasn't much feedback on CoEx in the forums at the time of writing.



Tier 6


Shadow Mastery rank 5/5
Increases damage dealt or life drained by your Shadow spells by 10%.

Comment: A very good talent. 10% more damage to all of your spells is good.

Solo: ****1/2 - 10% of damage almost means you kill 10% faster. No reason to skip this talent.
Raid: ***** - No reason to skip this talent.
PvP: ****1/2 - No reason to skip this talent.

Notes: SL/SL builds will always take DK over SM because at PVP viable levels of gear, DK will always provide more damage than SM point-by-point.

Tier 7


Contagion rank 5/5
Increases the damage of Curse of Agony, Corruption, and Seed of Corruption by 5% and reduces the chance your Affliction spells will be dispelled by an additional 30%.

Comment: Slightly improves the damage of your DoT's and makes them harder to dispel. Every failed dispel costs your opponent mana and a global cooldown - pretty nice, since the weakness of Affliction before BC was dispels.

Solo: ** - A very minor increase to damage considering the cost in talent points. Generally you'll only get it as a prerequisite to Unstable Affliction.
Raid: ** - See above.
PvP: **** - Every time your opponent fails to dispel your DoT's, he has to try to dispel them again. Every additional dispel he has to cast costs him mana and a global cooldown. Protects your instants well when you can't use UA.

Notes:
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Dark Pact rank 1/1
20 yd range, Instant: Transfers a lot of mana from your pet to you.

Comment: An incredible talent. It gives you a source of mana that doesn't consume your health, which is helpful in all forms of gameplay.

Solo: ***** - It pretty much allows you to grind non-stop. Make sure to use it with an Imp or Succubus (with mana-cost abilities turned off).
Raid: **** - Makes you less reliant on healers for mana, greatly increasing your longetivity. Be careful if you use this with a CCing Succubus, you don't want those to run out of mana.
PvP: ** (*** in BG's) - It's best not to spam this very often in the arena, because your Felhunter is mana dependent. In BG's, you have a little more time to regen between battles.

Notes: Be careful when using this spell with a Felhunter or Succubus - their mana pools are important!



Tier 8


Improved Howl of Terror rank 2/2
Reduces the cast time of Howl of Terror by 1.5 seconds.

Comment: Turns Improved Howl of Terror into an instant PBAOE Fear. An incredible ability, despite having a shorter duration than Fear/Seduce but being on the same diminishing returns. Considered by some to be the "true" 41 Affliction talent.

Solo: **** - Helps you deal with certain hairy situations better and makes you better at multi-pulling.
Raid: ** - Fears are dangerous in dungeons, but so are mobs that agro on your healer. Instant Fear is very useful in such a situation. It's also good for certain encounters like the endurance section in Blood Furnace.
PvP: ***** - The applications of instant AoE Fear in PvP are endless. Still counterable by WotF and other similar abilities though.

Notes: Note that Howl of Terror has a maximum duration of 8 seconds, instead of 15 (or 12).
________

Malediction rank 3/3
Increases the damage bonus effect of CoS and CoEl by an additional 3%.

Comment: Improves the effectiveness of your main raid curses, but considering the talent cost and the location of this talent on the tree, it's not very popular.

Solo: 1/2 - You should be using CoA instead of CoS in just about every solo PvE situation.
Raid: **** - A larger raid could use one or two Warlocks with three points in this talent to maximize CoS/CoEl potential, but the increase per talent point isn't substantial.
PvP: 1/2 - Not useful for an Affliction Warlock by any stretch of imagination.

Notes: Only for hardcore raiding builds.



Tier 9


Unstable Affliction rank 1/1
30 yard range, 1.5s cast time: Causes 1050 damage over 15 seconds. If Unstable Affliction is dispelled, it will deal 1550 damage to the dispeller and silence them for 5 seconds.

Comment: Another extra DoT, but with a cast time. On dispel, deals huge damage (a 200% +dmg coefficient!) and silences the dispeller. This is very good, Affliction was vulnerable to dispels before BC. UA doesn't completely remove this weakness, but it helps. As an Affliction Warlock, you have the option of spending 1.5 seconds to cast UA to deal some extra damage and to protect your DoT's.

Solo: *** - An extra DoT. It will probably replace Immolate as your opener.
Raid: ***** - If you add it to your DoT chain, UA increases your DPS considerably.
PvP: ***** - See comment. Whereas Contagion only makes it harder for healers to dispel DoT's, UA forces them to make a decision as they must either eat the huge damage + silence, or let your teammate take the full DoT damage?

Notes: For those deciding between 41/0/20 and 40/0/21, UA beats out Ruin in long PvE battles until higher levels of gear (~30% crit, hit capped).. Generally for PvP UA will be taken over Ruin.

Also, Contagion and UA are NOT counter-intuitive. The point of UA is not to force a healer to be hit and silenced - a 1.5 cast spell that hits for a few thousand and silences for 5 seconds would be incredibly overpowered. It's there as a threat to seriously kick a healer's ass for dispelling his teammates.

UA is also helpful for protecting your Fear's and even stuff like Frost Nova.

UA can crit; it seems that it is affected by the healer's crit chance rather than your own, which is advantageous against Paladins.

B. Demonology Tree [dx-b]
The Demonology tree involves bonuses involving your pet, your stats, and your conjured stones. Demonology trades the damage options of Affliction and Destruction for enhanced survivability and a stronger pet.



Tier 1


Improved Healthstone rank 2/2
Increases the amount of Health restored by your Healthstone by 20%.

Comment: Your final rank healthstone will go from 2100 to 2500, a 400 health increase. Not bad, but not great.

Solo: ** - I remember some times where 400 health saved or would have saved my life. I wouldn't count on it though.
Raid: **1/2 - See note. This talent is more useful in raids since the bonus carries to everyone and not just you. Still not that big of a deal though.
PvP: *** - A pretty good help in the arena. Not as useful in BG's though.

Notes: People can carry multiple max rank healthstones if the Warlocks in the raid have a different numbers of points in this talent. Cooldown still applies though.
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Improved Imp rank 3/3
Increases the effect of your Imp's Firebolt, Fire Shield, and Blood Pact spells by 30%.

Comment: Greatly increases your Imp's DPS and makes Blood Pact a little better. For the final rank of Blood Pact, it increases the bonus from 66 sta to about 85, an increase of about 200 health - not that big of a deal.

Solo: **? (Varies) - Depends completely on your playstyle. If you don't grind with Imp, this talent is worthless. If you use him for Blood Pact, you're spending a lot of talent points for only a minor increase of health. If you use him for DPS, this talent is a must-have.
Raid: **1/2? (Varies) - Good to increase the party's health, but not crucial.
PvP: * - Imp isn't the best pet for PvP, but some people like him for his DPS.

Notes: Imp's DPS got severely nerfed in a recent patch. In the interest of DPS, this talent isn't that great without Improved Fire Bolt.
________

Demonic Embrace rank 5/5
Increases your total Stamina by 15% but reduces your total Spirit by 5%.

Comment: A very significant increase to your health. With the higher stamina values in BC, this talent is very important for PvP.

Solo: ** - The most efficient "stat" in solo is killing efficiency. This doesn't make you kill any faster, but since it helps prevent you from dying, it's not bad.
Raid: ** - Ideally, you shouldn't be taking damage. In reality, you will be taking damage. This will help you take those hits and give you a wider "Life Tap" range for health, but it isn't crucial.
PvP: ***** - Health is more important than ever in PvP, especially for Warlocks. A lot of classes would kill for this talent.

Notes: Note that an increase to your stamina also results in an increase to your pet's stamina. For builds with Demonic Knowledge, add an extra 1/2 star to the talent rating.



Tier 2


Improved Health Funnel 2/2
Increases the amount of Health transfered by your Health Funnel spell by 20% and reduces the health cost by 20%.

Comment: A decent talent for improving the efficiency of Health Funnel, mainly for use with a Voidwalker or Felguard.

Solo: **** (1/2 for Affliction) - Good for Felguard specs. Faster healing that requires less of your own health makes things a little more smoothly. Near worthless for builds that don't use Felguard or VW.
Raid: 1/2 - Every second spent using Health Funnel is a serious loss in DPS.
PvP: * - Sucks because Health Funnel sucks.

Notes: Note that +healing (and therefore +dmg) affects Health Funnel now.
________

Improved Voidwalker rank 3/3
Increases the effectiveness of your Voidwalker's Torment, Consume Shadows, Sacrifice and Suffering spells by 30%.

Comment: Improves your VW's threat-holding ability and Sacrifice. Worthless for FG and drain tanking builds.

Solo: * (*** if you grind with VW) - The most effective ways to grind are either by drain tanking or by grinding with a Felguard (post 60). However, if you insist on using Voidwalker to level, this is a pretty good talent to invest in.
Raid: 1/2 - Voidwalker isn't a viable offtank in later instances.
PvP: * - VW is worthless in PvP except for using Sacrifice, which is dispellable. However, this talent has value if you're one of those Warlocks in arena who likes to use dual/tri Sacrifice with Fel Dom builds.

Notes:
_________

Fel Intellect rank 3/3
Increases the Intellect of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter by 15% and your maximum mana by 3%.

Comment: The primary reason for picking up this talent is to increase the spell damage you get from Demonic Knowledge, further down the tree. There is only a sutble difference in your pet's mana pool.

Solo: 1/2 (** for Demo) - See comment. For Demonic Knowledge builds, see note.
Raid: 1/2 (** for Demo) - ^
PvP: 1/2 (** for Demo) - ^

Note: The best filler at its tier, pick it up.



Tier 3


Improved Succubus rank 3/3
Increases the effect of your Succubus' Lash of Pain and Soothing Kiss spells by 30%, and increases the duration of your Succubus' Seduction and Lesser Invisibility spells by 30%.

Comment: Increases Seduce's duration from 15 to 19.5 seconds. This is probably the only significant benefit you'll see from this talent. Unfortunately, that duration increase won't be seen at all in PvP.

Solo: 1/2 - Seduce is useful in certain situations where you need to deal with multiple humanoids. This situation isn't worth burning talent points for, though.
Raid: 1/2 - Every time Seduce is broken, the mob is free for 1.5 seconds. This talent will reduce the number of times that happens, but that doesn't mean it's worth investing in.
PvP: 1/2 - The only benefit you'll see from this talent is that Lash of Pain deals more damage. Skip.

Note: Haven't been able to confirm whether or not this talent affects the attack speed debuff on Soothing Kiss. That wouldn't warrant placing points into this talent, though... especially since Soothing Kiss doesn't stack with Thunderclap.
________

Fel Domination rank 1/1
Instant cast 15 min cooldown: Your next Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, or Felhunter Summon spell has its casting time reduced by 5 sec and its Mana cost reduced by 50%.

Comment: Combined with Master Summoner, provides you a 0.5 cast time, low mana cost pet every 15 minutes. Very nice.

Solo: **1/2 (***1/2 on PvP servers) - Ideally, your pet shouldn't be dying. On those moments that it does, Fel Dom will bring it right back up, but note that it's not going to have any threat when you bring it back out.
Raid: *** (0 for Aff/Dest) - Deep Demonology relies on having a pet out to keep the more effective bonuses - DK, SL, and MD. If your pet dies from SL damage or from AoE, you can bring it right back out with this talent.
PvP: ***** - Your pet dying generally means game over, but Fel Domination allows you a quick switch for certain situations.

Notes: Worthless without Master Summoner. Almost essential for arena builds.
________

Fel Stamina rank 3/3
Increases the Stamina of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter by 15% and your maximum health by 3%.

Comment: Significantly increases pet health, and adds to your Demonic Knowledge bonuses. Good for Demonology Warlocks, near worthless for other builds. The tiny bonus to your maximum health is small, but it's there.

Solo: ** (or 1/2) - Get it if you're going Felguard - he's not as tough as he looks. Aside from that and DK builds though, this talent is worthless.
Raid: ** - For deep Demonology builds, it helps your pet survive SL hits and AoE - only get it if you're going deep into Demonology.
PvP: ** - Only get it if you're going deep into Demonology.

Notes: For Demonic Knowledge builds, add an additional star to the talent rating. Do not bother with this talent if you're not going Demonology. Like Fel Intellect, it's a good filler for PvP builds.
________

Demonic Aegis 3/3
Increases the effectiveness of your Demon Armor and Fel Armor spells by 30%.

Comment: Improves resistance and armor from Demon Armor, healing bonus and damage from Fel Armor. A decent filler talent that unfortunately does not scale. In terms of damage, it's basically a +30 damage bonus if you keep Fel Armor up at all times.

Solo: **1/2 - Good for the bonuses to Fel Armor. Don't go out of your way for it, though. And you definately should NOT put points in it if you don't have Fel Armor yet.
Raid: **1/2 - See above. Also helps with healer efficiency, which is great, but the difference is small.
PvP: ** - See above. Loses points because Fel Armor is dispellable.

Notes: A maginal bonus per point, but easily the best filler at its tier.

Tier 4


Master Summoner rank 2/2
Reduces the casting time of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter Summoning spells by 4 sec and the Mana cost by 40%.

Comment: Greatly reduces mana cost and casting time for pets. It probably won't save you during battle, but it does help partially relieve the annoyance in summoning pets. It's also required to make Fel Domination useful.

Solo: ** - See Fel Domination.
Raid: ** - See Fel Domination.
PvP: ***1/2 - See Fel Domination. Makes resummons a viable option when combined with CC and effecting peeling.

Notes: Do not put that point into Fel Domination without putting two in this talent.
________

Unholy Power rank 5/5
Increases the damage done by your Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter's melee attacks by 20% and your Imp's Fire Bolt by 20%

Comment: Significantly increases the damage your pets do. This talent is good for Felguard specs that use their pet for damage, and is a prerequisite for Master Demonologist anyway.

Solo: **** (or 1/2) - 20% more pet damage is great... but only if you use the pet for DPS.
Raid: **** - Essential to Felguard DPS, worthless otherwise.
PvP: **** (or 1/2) - Only good for the Felguard.

Notes: Only get this talent if you plan on using Felguard and/or you plan on getting Master Demonologist. Skip otherwise.



Tier 5


Improved Enslave Demon rank 2/2
Reduces the Attack Speed and Casting Speed penalty of your Enslave Demon spell by 10% and reduces the resist chance by 10%.

Comment: When I use Enslave Demon, I use it primarily as a CC. It would be great to make my enslaved pet kick more ass, but not at the cost of talent points. This talent is only useful when you're enslaving a pet... which isn't very often. On top of that, the benefit you gain from this talent isn't that great of a benefit anyways.

Solo: 1/2 - Some zones have some powerful enslavable pets. Most don't.
Raid: 1/2 - The resist chance part helps here. Certain mobs in instances are enslavable, and enslave demon is probably the best way to CC them. Those situations are too rare to warrant points in this talent, though.
PvP: 0 - Helps Infernal and (lol) the Doom Guard. Completely worthless in arena because you can't summon either of those demons in there.

Notes: The fact that they changed this talent in 2.01 to take only 2 points makes me laugh. I wouldn't take this talent even for 1 point, even if it were in tier 1.
________

Demonic Sacrifice rank 1/1
100 yd range Instant: When activated, sacrifices your summoned demon to grant you an effect that lasts 30 min. The effect is canceled if any Demon is summoned.
Imp: Increases your Fire damage by 15%.
Voidwalker: Restores 2% of total Health every 4 sec.
Succubus: Increases your Shadow damage by 15%.
Felhunter: Restores 3% of total Mana every 4 sec.
Felguard: Increases your Shadow damage by 10% and restores 2% of total mana every 4 sec

Comment: Grants you a considerable bonus in exchange for your pet. Warlocks are very reliant on their pets, especially ones with points deep in Demonology (you lose MD/DK/SL without a pet out!). This talent gives you options for those situations where you don't want or need a pet out and the bonuses from DS are more helpful. Demonic Sacrifice is mainly used in specialized builds.

Solo: 1/2 (or *****) - Worthless for most builds, since the talent investment is so high and most Warlocks want to keep a pet out. However, this talent is essential to the functionality of certain builds (though those builds are rare nowadays).
Raid: 1/2 (or *****) - Deep Demo builds would almost always prefer to have a pet out so they don't lose MD and D bonuses. However, builds like 0/21/40 are completely reliant on this talent.
PvP: 1/2 - You want a pet out in PvP, trust me. .

Notes: Even if Demonic Sacrifice weren't a requirement for Soul Link, you'd want to pick it up, so that you can manually "reset" your pet for its resummoning (regains full HP/MP, all buffs/debuffs removed).
________

Master Conjurer rank 2/2
Increases the bonus Fire damage from Firestones and the Firestone effect by 30% and increases the spell critical rating bonus of your Spellstone by 30%.

Comment: Slightly improves the stats of Firestones and Spellstones. In the case of the Spellstone, I mean slight. Like two talent points for a small percent of a crit only if you have a Spellstone equipped kind of slight. Yeah, this talent sucks.

Solo: 1/2 - No thanks. Wands and Life Tap -> Drain Life are almost always more effective than melee + Firestone, and the benefits in fire damage and crit are too small to be worth any points.
Raid: 1/2 - See above.
PvP: 1/2 - See above.

Notes: One of the worst talents in the game. If this and Improved Enslave Demon were combined at tier 1 for a single talent point, I still wouldn't get them.

Tier 6


Mana Feed 3/3
When you gain mana from Drain Mana or Life Tap spells, you pet gains 100% of the mana you gain.

Comment: Life Tap makes your mana pool last longer. With this talent, it makes your pet's mana pool last longer too! This is great as it reduces pet downtime with the FG/VW, improves the long term DPS of the Imp, and helps the Succubus CC for longer periods of time.

Solo: **** - Without this talent, your Felguard would have downtime related to his mana. Putting 2 or 3 points into this talent will allow him to spam all of his abilities without downtime. Helps Imp a lot too.
Raid: **** - See above. Mana Feed makes Succubus a lot better for CCing.
PvP: **** - If you're this far into Demo, you're specced for longer lasting fights where your Felhunter or Felguard can run out of mana. This is the single most important talent for keeping your pet's mana up.

Notes: It is not necessary to max out this talent. You only need 1 or 2 points for PvP, 2 or 3 (maxed) for PvE.
________

Master Demonologist rank 5/5
Grants both the Warlock and the summoned demon an effect as long as that demon is active. Imp - Reduces threat caused by 20%. Voidwalker - Reduces physical damage taken by 10%. Succubus - Increases all damage caused by 10%. Felhunter - Increases all resistances by 1 per level. Felguard - Increases all damage caused by 5% and increases all resistances by 0.5 per level.

Comment: An incredible talent that makes Demonology builds very versatile. Unfortunately, this versatility is somewhat limited by the fact that raids and party groups always want you to have a certain pet out. If your pet dies, you lose MD - be careful.

Solo: ***** - There is no reason to skip this talent if you are going deep into Demonology.
Raid: ***** - Very nice, as you get to choose between a pure damage increase (Suc), significant threat reduction (Imp), and for certain battles, resistance (Felhunter), but it won't fit into most raid builds.
PvP: ***** - Vulnerable to banish, but still a solid talent. See note.

Notes: Some have argued only placing 4 points into this talent, because most casters will have well over the amount penetration than the resistance it provides.



Tier 7


Demonic Resilience rank 3/3
Reduces the chance you'll be crit by melee and spells by 3% and reduces all damage done to your demon by 15%.

Comment: Significantly decreases the damage your pet takes. Essential for Felguard grinding. The crit protection is helpful, but it's too early to see whether it's significant when stacked with resilience or not.

Solo: **** - Essential for Felguard grinding as it reduces the damage he takes, thus reducing the amount of healing he needs.
Raid: *** (* for builds that don't use Felguard) - Felguard needs the AoE damage mitigation.
PvP: **** - Pets are commonly the first target nowadays, and this will greatly improve their mitigation. 120 resilience worth of anti-crit isn't too shabby, either.


Notes: This talent WILL stack on top of the resilience "soft cap" at 492.
________

Soul Link rank 1/1
270 Mana 100 yd range Instant cast: When active, 20% of all damage taken by the caster is taken by your demon instead. In addition, both the demon and the master will inflict 5% more damage. Lasts as long as the demon is active.

Comment: Not quite the monster that it used to be, but considering you only have to put one point into it, it's still a pretty good talent. Not truly an increase to mitigation (as the same total damage has been done), but helps deal with burst well.

Solo: **** - More useful for the damage increase.
Raid: **** - One point for 5% extra damage is incredible. Losing this point (and your 3 from DK/5 from MD) due to AoE damage is much worse, though.
PvP: ***** - Considered by many to be a requirement for PvP.

Notes: It's still an incredible talent, as shown by the proportion of high arena ranked Warlocks who spec Demonology for it.
________

[b[Demonic Knowledge rank 5/5[/b]
Increases your spell damage by an amount equal to 12% of your pet's stamina plus intellect.

Comment: For most Warlocks, this is about a +100 bonus to spell damage. It scales, but not very well (a small percent of a small percent). An incredible talent nonetheless.

Solo: ***** - Greatly increases spell damage, and doesn't require good gear to see the effects!
Raid: ***** - See above.
PvP: ***** - See above.

Notes: The best pet for receiving damage from DK is the Imp, but his MD bonus doesn't affect damage (just threat).



Tier 8


Demonic Tactics rank 5/5
Increases crit chance of you and your summoned demon by 5%

Comment: More crits. The usefulness of this talent depends on how often you nuke as a Demonology build. Yeah, I think the change was dumb too.

Solo: *** - Higher DPS is good, even if it only affects your nukes.
Raid: **** - Crit helps Improved Shadow Bolt procs, which is great. Loses a point compared to Devestation due to tree placement.
PvP: ** - Felguard will rarely crit against a geared opponent, because his crit with this talent will still only be ~10%. A decent boost to the Warlock in 5v5, where you might have time to spam Shadow Bolts.

Notes: This talent is weak because it suffers greatly from placement.



Tier 9


Summon Felguard rank 1/1
Summons a Felguard under the command of the Warlock.

Comment: A high DPS melee pet with decent health/armor. Comes with his own set of abilities, the most notable of which is Intercept - a 3 second stun that puts the Felguard near the target, but with an 8-25 yard range and a 30 second cooldown.

Solo: ***** - Felguard is pretty good for leveling after 56.
Raid: (depends) - Felguard does extremely well against certain bosses and has been found to beat out Affliction at lower levels of gear. Against other bosses, Felguard is worthless.
PvP: **** - Spec-defining talent. Felguard's Intercept is very useful as it isn't magical and doesn't count against your Fear diminishing returns. He pressures cloth well with his appearance and damage and difficulty to Psy Scream/Frost Nova. However, he is extremely vulnerable to banish.

Notes: Ignore the Warlocks who say that Felguard is for "noobs." They think having to push 3 buttons instead of 4 makes you totally easy mode. They don't realize that fewer buttons = fewer options to work with.

C. Destruction Tree [dx-c]
Destruction is still a popular talent tree, despite the buffs to Affliction and Demonology. 2.01 brought more damage and a little bit more survivability to Destruction.


Tier 1


Improved Shadow Bolt rank 5/5
Your Shadow Bolt critical strikes increase the next 4 sources of Shadow damage dealt to the target by 20%. Effect lasts a maximum of 12 sec.

Comment: Every time you crit, all shadow damage dealt to the target is increased by 20%. An incredible talent.

Solo: ** (or 1/2) - You generally don't want to grind with a lot of Shadow Bolts, as they are highly mana inefficient. More damage is a good thing, but after a Shadow Bolt crit, your mob is probably almost dead anyway!
Raid: ***** - A must-have for raiding builds.
PvP: ** - Not really a big deal, but much better than Cataclysm unless you never plan on using Shadow Bolt. This allows you to follow up a crit Shadow Bolt with a 20% buffed Shadowburn.

Notes: DoT ticks do not consume Improved Shadow Bolt, but still receive the bonus damage. Builds that don't use Shadow Bolt obviously aren't going to get much use from this talent. See Shadowbolt's raid guide for more detailed information concerning the DPS benefits of this talent.
________

Cataclysm rank 5/5
Reduces the Mana cost of your Destruction spells by 5%.

Comment: A terrible talent. After 20 Shadow Bolt/Incinerates, you'll have saved enough mana to cast one more - that's a little more than 400 mana over 50 seconds. I get almost three times that much from a single Life Tap.

Solo: 1/2 (or *) - Only useful if you NEVER, EVER plan on Shadow Bolting, but you want to grind with a nuke build.
Raid: 1/2 - Even if you don't plan on using Shadow Bolt as your standard nuke, most builds will benefit more from having the option to switch to it when you have a Shadow Priest around.
PvP: 1/2 - No.

Notes: Some builds will take it despite it's terrible score, because certain builds will NEVER use Shadow Bolt, and because Destruction lacks fillers at certain tiers even for builds that only use Shadow Bolt.



Tier 2


Bane rank 5/5
Reduces the casting time of your Shadow Bolt and Immolate spells by 0.5 sec and your Soul Fire spell by 2 sec.

Comment: Increases Shadow Bolt DPS by 20%. Faster casts are always helpful.

Solo: ** (***** for Dest) - You shouldn't be farming or grinding with a Destruction build... but if you are, this is a very important talent.
Raid: ***** - The most important talent for Shadow Bolt spam, and helps keep those Immolates up for Incinerate spam.
PvP: **** - Shadow Bolt is a good nuke for PvP, but not all teams and specs will have the time to cast it.

Notes: Does NOT reduce Shadow Bolt or Immolate's +damage coefficient. This talent obviously isn't that great if you don't plan on nuking. Otherwise, it's pretty much essential.
_________

Aftermath rank 5/5
Gives your Destruction spells a 10% chance to daze the target for 5 sec.

Comment: Small chance for your nukes to apply a 50% "daze" type snare on your opponent. Sucks because of the low proc rate and the nature of the Destruction spec, especially considering the talents that it's competing with.

Solo: 1/2 (or *) - Destruction Warlocks generally want to grind with a Voidwalker. Some grind with an Imp, and an Aftermath proc would help a little bit to keep the mob from gettiing close to you. Sucks.
Raid: 0 - Worthless.
PvP: * - A low chance to proc a weak snare? No thanks.

Notes:



Tier 3


Improved Fire Bolt rank 2/2
Reduces the casting time of your Imp's Firebolt spell by 0.5 sec.

Comment: Greatly increases your Imp's DPS.

Solo: * - Most Warlocks don't grind with an attacking Imp. This talent is essential to the ones that do, though.
Raid: * - Atttacking with the Imp puts him in danger of AoE, and if he dies, you lose Blood Pact. However, he is a decent source of DPS with seperate threat from yourself, if you do use him for it.
PvP: * - Most Warlocks don't use Imp for PvP.

Notes: This talent gets (****) for builds that plan on using the Imp for DPS - make sure you get Improved Imp if you do that. Note that Fire Bolt's +dmg coefficient and this talent were both heavily nerfed in a recent patch.
________

Improved Lash of Pain rank 2/2
Reduces the cooldown of your Succubus' Lash of Pain spell by 6 sec.

Comment: This talent improves your Succubus' DPS a little, but it's not like she's going to become a DPS machine because of it.

Solo: 1/2 - Destruction Warlocks seeking a DPS pet for grinding should probably use Imp.
Raid: 1/2 - The DPS increase is not worth your 2 points, considering the tree this talent is in.
PvP: 1/2 - Succubus generally doesn't attack much in PvP, due to her low HP and slow movement speed.

Notes: This talent can actually be detrimental to your Succubus, since using Lash of Pain every 6 seconds means she'll never get to regenerate mana if you have autocast on.
________

Devestation rank 5/5
Increases the critical strike chance of your Destruction spells by 5%.

Comment: 5% crit is great, especially considering the location of this talent in the tree. Also helps proc more Improved Shadow Bolts, which is beautiful. Oh, and it's a prerequisite for Ruin.

Solo: ** (***** for Dest) -You shouldn't be grinding with Destruction, but if you are, it's essential.
Raid: ***** - Assuming you're only spamming nukes, 5% crit = 5% more dps if you have Ruin. But since you have Improved Shadow Bolt (you do, right?!!), it's actually much better than just a 5% improvement.
PvP: **** - Boosts burst capacity considerably, but won't fit into most builds.

Notes: The bonus to crit will not show up on your character sheet, because the talent states that it only benefits "Destruction" spells, and that sheet doesn't describe tree-based bonuses.
________

Shadowburn rank 1/1
105 Mana 20 yd range Instant cast 15 sec cooldown Reagents: Soul Shard: Instantly blasts the target for 91 to 104 Shadow damage. If the target dies from Shadowburn, and yields experience or honor, the caster gains a Soul Shard.

Comment: For one talent point, you get to have an instant cast nuke that hurts only a little bit less than Shadow Bolt. Essential for PvP, but it'll eat up your shards unless you're careful (I'm not).

Solo: *** - Inefficient, but effective for finishing off mobs without having to wait for DoT ticks or long cast times.
Raid: * - Only useful for trash mobs.
PvP: ***** - Gives you a decent amount of instant, reliable burst, but not all builds have room for it.

Notes: Almost every build with more than 10 points in Destruction gets this talent, PvP or not.



Tier 4


Intensity rank 2/2
Gives you a 70% chance to resist interruption caused by damage while channeling or casting any Destruction spell.

Comment: Very useful in certain situations.

Solo: **** - Almost essential to Destruction builds as you'll most likely pull agro from your pet while grinding.
Raid: ** - Useful at times, especially for tanking. Mostly a filler talent.
PvP: **** - Pushback in PvP can lose you battles. It won't save you from a Pummel or from a Counterspell, but it's definately useful, especially with Searing Pain.

Notes: With Paladin Concentration Aura, you hvae a 0% chance of having your spell pushed back.
________

Destructive Reach rank 2/2
Increases the range of your Destruction spells by 20% and reduces threat caused by Destruction spells by 10%.

Comment: Essential to nuking builds for both PvE and PvP.

Solo: ***** - Longer range means you can pull from further away and it takes longer for mobs to get to you. Every step taken to get into range is a waste of time - extra range helps. Also good to pull less agro from VW.
Raid: ***** - 10% threat reduction makes this talent pretty much essential. Helps you avoid those AoE's and makes you have to spend less time readjusting your range.
PvP: ***** - Absolutely essential for nuking builds.

Notes: Range talents are almost always essential to all ranged classes.

Improved Searing Pain rank 3/3
Increases the critical strike chance of your Searing Pain spell by 10%.

Comment: 15% crit (5% from Devestation) isn't going to make you crit all the time, but it's still pretty good. Too bad about that threat modifier on Searing Pain.

Solo: 1/2 (*** for Dest) - You generally won't cast many Searing Pains as Destruction for soloing, though it's probably your best option upclose.
Raid: 1/2 - The threat modifier makes this spell practically worthless unless it is your intention to pull agro.
PvP: *** - Some Warlocks prefer Searing Pain over other nukes because of the short casting time and the lack of a bolt animation. However, most builds don't have room to put pointsto into Improved Searing Pain.

Notes: Mileage greatly varies on playstyle. Unfortunately, Searing Pain doesn't benefit from talents like Bane and Shadow and Flame, and therefore does not scale as well with gear.



Tier 5


Pyroclasm rank 2/2
Gives your Soul Fire, Rain of Fire and Hellfire spells a 26% chance to stun the target for 3 sec

Comment: It sounds awesome, until you find out that Rain of Fire and Hellfire only have a 26% chance to proc Pyroclasm over their entire duration, meaning each tick only has a tiny chance to proc.

Solo: ** - Helpful if you open with Soulfire a lot, but not essential by any means.
Raid: 0 - No.
PvP: ** - Pyroclasm procs on Soul Fire are devestating. Soul Fire isn't used very often in PvP, though.

Notes: Early after WoW was released, people thought that this talent was broken because it seemed never to proc off Hellfire. It was later confirmed that it was working, just the chance to proc per tick was ridiculously low.
_________

Improved Immolate rank 5/5
Increases the initial damage of your Immolate spell by 25%.

Comment: Turns Immolate into a pretty nice spell and helps improve your burst capacity. Prerequisite to the incredible Conflagrate.

Solo: *** - Immolate is often used by Destruction grinders, and is a prereq anyway.
Raid: ** - The initial damage of Immolate won't make up a large portion of your DPS, but it's there.
PvP: ***1/2 - Helps improve your burst capacity.

Notes: Don't bother getting this talent unless you're going for Conflagrate.
________

Ruin rank 1/1
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Destruction spells by 100%.

Comment: One of the defining talents of the Destruction tree. Spell crits normally do 1.5x the damage; with Ruin, they do 2x. An incredible talent for burst DPS, a pretty good one for sustained.

Solo: ***** - Mobs generally don't last long after eating a Shadow Bolt/Incinerate crit boosted by Ruin.
Raid: ***** - A very good boost in DPS, considering it only costs one talent point, though it isn't as important as some people think.
PvP: ***** - Essential for Destruction, but Destruction isn't very good in arena.

Notes: Before patch 1.9, a Warlock could potentially crit for 4x damage, thanks to the old mechanics of CoS/CoEl that allowed for 1.25x/1.5x/1.75x/2x damage through vulnerability bonuses.



Tier 6


Emberstorm rank 5/5
Increases the damage done by your Fire spells by 10% and the casting speed of Incinerate by 10%.

Comment: This talent suffers because the spells that it enhances are not essential to raid DPS and a build this far into Destruction will be weak in arena. However, the recent change to it has made FIre competitive in PvE.

Solo: **** - Essential if you plan on grinding with Incinerate and/or Searing Pain.
Raid: 0 or ***** - Recent theorycraft models have found fire wielding versions of 0/21/40 to have significanly higher DPS than shadow based builds. Whether or not this is worth the lack of Imp. SB procs is up to the guild.
PvP: *** - Helps maximize Immolate/Conflagrate burst potential, but many builds will not have room for it.

Notes: Yes, it scales with gear. In patch 2.4, this talent was changed to also increase the casting speed of Incinerate by 10%, meaning it casts faster.

________

Nether Protection 3/3
When hit by a Shadow or a Fire spell, you have a 30% chance to become immune to all Shadow and Fire spells for 4 sec

Comment: A class-hosing talent, worthless against some classes in PvP and most mobs in PvE, pretty much overpowered against the classes it DOES affect.

Solo: 1/2 - Not very important, considering the relatively low number of mobs that nuke and the nature of their AI.
Raid: * - This talent would've been incredible for Vael. There's a lot more magic damage in instances than outside, but that doesn't mean this talent is crucial.
PvP: **** - This talent owns Fire Mages, Warlocks, and Shadow Priests. It's practically worthless against everyone else, but it's worth it for how great the benefit is against those classes.

Notes: An incredible talent that would be extremely overpowered in PvP if it were in any other talent tree.

Tier 7


Backlash rank 3/3
Increases your chance to critically hit with spells by 3% and gives you a 24% chance when hit by physical damage to reduce the casting time of your next Shadow Bolt or Incinerate by 100%. Backlash can only proc once every 8 seconds.

Comment: Punishes physical DPSers for attacking you. Suddenly I don't really mind that Hunter pet biting my ankles now...

Solo: **** - 3% crit is good, and throwing that instant Shadow Bolt or Incinerate to finish off the mob that hit you helps.
Raid: ***** - Great for the +3% crit.
PvP: ***** - One of the only reasons to spec Destruction.

Notes:
________

Conflagrate rank 1/1
165 Mana 30 yd range Instant Cast 10 sec cooldown: Ignites a target that is already afflicted by Immolate, dealing 206 to 261 Fire damage and consuming the Immolate spell.

Comment: A spec-defining talent. Conflagrate is a very nice "instant" burst option that is rather mana efficient and helps with burst DPS. Unfortunately, it doesn't scale that well with gear.

Solo: ***1/2 - A good option for finishing off a mob if Immolate is still on it.
Raid: * - General consensus is that it's not worth the GCD and Immolate tick(s) it eats up and is mana inefficient. Decent on trash mobs, at least.
PvP: **** - One of the main sources of burst damage for Destruction builds, but suffers from extreme mana inefficiency due to the requirement of Immolate, and poor scaling.

Notes: It used to have a 20 yard range, 1.5 second cast, and lower damage!
________

Soul Leech rank 3/3
Gives your Shadow Bolt, Shadowburn, Soul Fire, Incinerate, Searing Pain, and Conflagrate spells a 30% chance to return 20% of the damage caused by the spell.

Comment: It looks a lot cooler on paper than it really is. Your nukes have a chance to heal you a bit. The average 70 Warlock gets 400-600 health from these procs.

Solo: **1/2 - Reduces downtime, but downtime is inevitable for Destruction builds.
Raid: **1/2 - The healing you gain is nice for Life Tap, but note that if you are topped off, you are not making use of Soul Leech procs. Your mileage will vary depending on the healers in your raid.
PvP: *1/2 - You might get lucky with a chain proc here and there, but it's not reliable by any means.

Notes: Primarily a PvE talent, and even then it isn't crucial. Fel Armor will improve the healing from this talent.



Tier 8


Shadow and Flame rank 5/5
Your Shadow Bolt and Incinerate spells gain an additional 20% bonus from your spell damage bonuses.

Comment: Improves the +dmg coefficient on Shadow Bolt and Incinerate. Very nice, if you have +dmg gear.

Solo: **** - Would get 5 stars if it were useful for people with terrible gear.
Raid: ***** - Turns Shadow Bolt into one of the best scaling spells in the game.
PvP: **** - More damage is nice, but it can be difficult to land the 2.5 casts in the arena.

Notes: The modifier is added directly to the spell, changing Shadow Bolt's +dmg coefficient from ~85% to ~105%.



Tier 9


Shadowfury
710 mana, 30 yard range, 0.5 cast, 20 second cooldown: Unleashes Shadowfury, dealing 612-728 Shadow damage and stunning all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec.

Comment: A very nice and versatile AoE spell. It can be used defensively or offensively. For example, it can add some duration to your Seduce nukes, cause catastrophic explosions with Seed of Corruption, or you can cast it to stun people to hit them with Fear/Howl of Terror. Adds to Destruction's burst capacity too.

Solo: ** - Useful in mobby situations, but not essential.
Raid: * - Because of its cooldown, it's not going to be that great of a contribution to your DPS. Useful sometimes though.
PvP: ***** - See comment.

Notes: Shadowfury does not incur a global cooldown. Unfortunately, it also doesn't scale that well with gear, and does not benefit from a lot of the talents in the Destruction tree. Note that Shadowfury is targeted like a grenade, meaning you use it and it brings up a green circle which you target and cast the spell.

D. Popular Talent Builds

Level Grinding

1. Affliction Grinding to 60 Build (41/0/10)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IAMrVMrkVtboZxx
This is the best grinding build up to level 60. Put all 41 of your first points in Affliction, then decide what to do from there. Make sure you get Dark Pact as soon as possible; this talent is what makes drain tanking truly effective. Finally, make sure you have a significant amount of +dmg gear before you put any points into Empowered Corruption.

The last ten points after getting Unstable Affliction are debatable; some would prefer to put them in Suppression and/or Demonic Embrace. Getting Bane like in the build shown will greatly improve single target DPS in instances, and at 61 you can get Shadowburn, which is nifty.

Before 56, Affliction is chosen over Demonology and Destruction for many reasons. Affliction uses instant casts and channeled spells that are given protection with Fel Concentration. This reduces the amount of time wasted attempting to cast on an enemy beating on you and also makes it so you are not reliant on pet mana/agro to grind. The DoT's are very mana efficient, and with +dmg gear, Drain Life is extremely powerful. On top of this, you have Life Tap and Dark Pact to keep your health/mana pools consistently high; you shouldn't have any downtime. Also, Affliction does well against multiple opponents.

Destruction isn't taken because it has a lot of downtime and does not deal with multiple mobs as well as Affliction does. It kills single targets faster and is probably better for instancing, but soloing is a pain. Demonology isn't taken at the early levels because it lacks DPS talents lower in the tree. Demonology's powerful DPS talents aren't found until you are deep inside the tree, and even then they are not worth getting until you have some points left over for Affliction.



2. Felguard Grinding Build (20/41/0)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IVMbZ0gczIizceszxx0z
A Felguard pure-grinding build. I would not recommend this build until the mid-50's because the Felguard does not receive all of his abilities until 56.

The Felguard build is an alternative to a heavy Affliction build for grinding. Both are very effective, and neither have significant downtimes in normal grinding. Affliction is more efficient at dealing with multiple mobs, but Demonology grinds down single targets better.

There are many variations of this build, and it completely depends on what you plan to do during your grind. The build shown has most of the vital talents in Demonology. Some would debate the use of 3/3 in Mana Feed, but I believe that it helps to have that third point to maximize grinding efficiency. A Felguard who can't spam Cleave as much as possible is a lower DPS Felguard. Demonic Tactics could be valuable, as crit Felguard Cleaves with Demonic Frenzy stacks can deal nice damage.

The build shown has a balance of DoTing and nuking power. The strength, in my opinion, of Demonology for grinding is that you are capable of choosing between an efficient or a quick kill. An efficient kill would send the Felguard to the mob, DoT with CoA/Corruption, and then Life Tap -> Drain Life until the mob is dead. A burst kill would send the Felguard to the mob, maybe throw up DoT's, and nuke the mob down. Thanks to the Felguard's tanking ability, you can alternate between these methods of killing.

The main hassle of the Felguard is the rate at which is health drops at higher levels and his mana-sucking abilities. These flaws can be mitigated by Health Funneling during combat with your target DoT'ed and by takiing points in Mana Feed and using Life Tap -> Drain Life instead of a wand.

One final note - take Improved Drain Soul in this build. Casting a Shadow Bolt and using Drain Soul on the mob as the bolt is traveling towards the target is a very effective way to improve killing speed, as you'll usually get more than the mana you spent back from Improved Drain Soul. I consider it important for grinding with the Felguard.

Raiding

3. UA/Destructive Reach (41/0/17 +3)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IyMrVMfkVt0oZxx0pM
This is the build used by most Warlocks who are just starting to raid (Karazhan, SSC, etc), because it is not quite as gear reliant as Destruction builds. It has been shown to have the highest DPS at the lower tiers of gear, and it has access to utility talents like Malediction and Shadow Embrace.

The last three points after Destructive Reach in Destruction are debatable. Many will put them into maxing out Suppression and Devastation for max DPS, but you can also put them in Demonic Embrace for health in PvP, or in talents such as Malediction to add some support capability to the build. Because this is meant to be a "DPS build," I do not max out Malediction and Shadow Embrace in this build.

Compared to the other raiding builds, this build suffers a little during trash pulls, who usually die before your DoTs run out. This build excels against single target raid bosses, thanks to the efficiency and high dmg/cast time of the DoT's. Because a significant portion of its DPS is instant cast, this build excels in mobile boss fights. Thanks to Dark Pact, it is also a little more healer friendly.

This build is also popular because it is very flexible in terms of the overall game. It has most of the important PvP tools of an Affliction build. It arguably has the best PvE grinding tools. A simple gear switch allows this build to do practically anything.

Affliction suffers later on due to poor scaling with the +crit and +haste itemization of the higher tiers of gear.

Alternative:
Affliction Support Build
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IqMrMRctVtcoZxx0tr
Since Nightfall and the Drain Life talents aren't nccessary for high raid DPS, an Affliction Warlock may choose to put points into "support talents" for the raid. As guilds start moving into 25-man instances, it will probably be worth having a Warlock put points into Shadow Embrace and Malediction. Another choice would be to move some points into Improved Healthstone, though that talent is often taken by the other two raid builds.

Alternative II:
Contagion/Ruin
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IqMrMRctVtcZZxx0tr0z
At a certain level of gear (202 hit, 1k+ dmg, ~30% crit) Ruin will out DPS UA. 0/21/40 builds will still do more DPS, but this is the best "support" build you can get at high levels of gear.



4. DS/SnF (0/21/40)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=AZbxckIbzZEx0tr0khhi
The "pure nuking" build. This build is taken by raiders after they hit 202 +hit and have a good amount of +dmg. This build is based almost entirely upon the incredible scaling of Shadow Bolt at higher levels of gear. The point in Improved Imp is simply a filler for DS and can be moved somewhere else.

This build relies on Demonic Sacrifice to provide a large boost to your DPS. The nukes from this build are among the strongest and most efficient in the game.

However, all of this damage comes at the cost of your pet. If your group demands that you Seduce or bring out the Imp, you will suffer a major loss in DPS. Therefore it is necessary that you know the demands of your raid group and of your Warlock before speccing into this build.

Most Warlocks will sacrifice the Succubus, not the Imp, and spam Shadow Bolts. This is because Shadow Bolts synergizes better with the raid (Imp. Shadow Bolt, S. Priest debuffs) and because Shadow Bolt has a significantly higher +dmg coefficient than Incinerate (85% base vs 71%). Also, Conflagrate is rarely used in raiding, because it consumes (at best) the a tick from Immolate, costs a global cooldown, and scales poorly with gear. Emberstorm does not make up for these weaknesses.

Compared to Affliction, DS/SnF mostly suffers from lack of DoT (mobile) damage, and aside from Imp. Shadow Bolt, poor raid utility. Some Warlocks opt to stay Affliction because they need Malediction and/or Shadow Embrace. However, 0/21/40 puts out significantly more DPS with the gear available in the higher raid instances.


Alternative:
DS/SnF with fire
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=AZdxczIbzZxx0tr0tVuV
Though Shadow Bolt has shown to have the best scaling and efficiency, some people prefer to shoot red stuff from their hands and don't want to let go of Conflag. This build also works better if you raid with Fire Mages but no Shadow Priests.

Arena
A note on this section: I do not claim to be the most skilled or knowledgeable Warlock when it comes to the arena. At the time of writing, my highest ratings are 2010 in 2v2 and 1980 in 5v5. Remember that this guide was written based on community consensus.



6. Siphon Life/Soul Link (23/38)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Iq0rVRbkoZbxczIizzes
Made famous by Unstoppable, this build picks up all of the important defensive talents of Demonology and places the rest of the points in Affliction for mobility and mana draining potential. This build is meant to "outlast" your opponents with extensive use of Drain Mana on the healer and Drain Life on the DPS. SL/SL is currently one of the most complained about topics in the game, because of its survivability and longetitivity.

This build's offensive power relies on Demonic Knowledge and the Affliction talents. Your Affliction side lacks UA/Contagion, but it is still effective against dispels - Shadow Embrace, Drain Life/Mana, and Fear all serve to help protect your other DoT's. This build almost completely lacks any form of burst damage, so in most cases it is locked to an "outlasting" playstyle - expect 10 or 15 minute long games against many teams.

This build is considered primarily to be a 2v2 spec. It's also seen quite often in 3v3, but many consider it to be suboptimal in the 5's bracket, due to its lack of damage and CoEx being less useful in larger fights. It can certainly work, though.

Alternative:
High DPS SL/SL (27/34 or 26/35)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Iq0rVRfkkZbxczIiz0xs
There are many variations of SL/SL that drop the points in Demonic Resilience and sometimes Mana Feed for more DPS in Affliction. Some prefer to keep Mana Feed, others move points from Fel Concentration or Supression into talents like Imp. CoA and Imp. CoW. Most people with healer partners will keep DR for the pet survivability, but those running double DPS may opt to go for more DPS with this variant.




7. Felguard, General (6/44/11)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IV0oZbxczIizzestxx0z
This build is common among Warlocks in high ranking 5v5 teams - Tiz of Team Ice used this build and the team eventually won the national season 1 5v5 tournament. Many will trade the points from Demonic Tactics to Imp. Health Funnel, Imp Life Tap, and Soul Siphon.

The Felguard is useful in the arena because he provides easy DPS that requires none of your own global cooldowns or cast times to use. This allows the Warlock to send the Felguard on the burn target (or just on some other clothie) and then focus most of his attention on draining mana, CC, and CoT's. This build is considered to be very versatile, because it has burst damage through Shadowburn, decent DPS through the pet, DoT's, and Searing Pain spam, and Soul Link for survivability.

Many believe that Warlocks should always use their Felhunter over a Felguard. Though the Felhunter does provide incredible utility through his dispel and counterspell, not every team will need the counterspell to be effective. The Felguard is used for its higher health, higher DPS, and for Intercept.

Intercept is incredible. It makes the Felguard better at catching Druids and other healers trying to LoS, helps stop Warriors and other DPS from dealing damage, and it can be used "defensively" to save the Felguard from damage.



8. Felguard, Affliction (20/41/0)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Iq0rVRbZbxczIizzesd
This is a variant of the standard Felguard build, and isn't seen quite as often in the 5v5 bracket. It drops Bane, Shadowburn, and some points in Demonic Tactics for Fel Concentration, Grim Reach, and a choice in either Amp Curse/NIghtfall or Empowered Corruption.

Compared to the previous Felguard build, this one trades burst capacity for longer range and better drain tanking and mana draining ability. The idea is that the standard Felguard build has trouble operating when under fire, due to its lack of range and pushback interruption. The benefits here are mostly seen when running a defensive team.



9. Unstable Affliction (41/7/11 +2)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Ii0rVRfkqtbobxZxx0z
This build was very popular with 4 DPS teams. Many teams often consisted of a Warlock, Shadow Priest, Rogue, and one other DPS (generally a Shaman or Mage) and will attempt to burn down one opponent as soon as possible to end a match quickly. The primary use of this build is to protect Fear's and Shadow Priest debuffs with UA; otherwise, most teams would be better off using a Demonology spec.

With increasing melee DPS, this build has seen a lot less use in competitive PvP. The only time it is practical to spec it is if you have a higher priority target (in other words, a Shadow Priest) on your team.



10. "Agnos Build" (17/33/11)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Iq0rV0bZbxczIiz0xRZxx0z
Not quite as popular as other specs, but it has seen some use in any team where a Warlock expects to have enough time to cast Shadow Bolts. It is the only popular spec that has all of Soul Link, Nightfall, and Bane/Shadowburn, which makes it versatile in dealing DPS while under pressure and out of pressure.

Felguard is generally preferred over this build when the Felhunter's dispel isn't needed, because of the Felguard's incredible sustained DPS. However, for any team that needs a Felhunter and expects to see a Warlock with room to cast nukes, this can be a powerful option.

This build sees the most use in a team that will likely give the Warlock room to spam Shadow Bolts - the team must either be CC heavy or carry a higher priority target in the team.

Alternative:
SL/Ruin (6/34/21)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Iq0rV0bZbxczIiz0xRZxx0z
This spec is listed as an alternative because it fits into the same teams and playstyle that the Agnos build fits in. It loses some of the versatility of Affliction for better burst damage in Destruction, which results in a Warlock with better burst damage but weaker DPS under pressure.

Battlegrounds
I have added this section due to popular request. Any of the above arena builds will be effective in the battlegrounds. The builds below are considered to be powerful in the BG's, but not very useful in the arena. In other words, here are your Destruction specs :P.


10. Deep Destruction
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IV0bZbxZxx0trhtAuVo
Some prefer to put the points in Affliction into Destruction for Pyroclasm, Soul Leech, or Aftermath. However, this is considered by most to be the standed Destruction spec.

Destruction builds excel in open environments with no LoS, no enemy healing, and a smaller chance of the Warlock being targeted. With its good (but unreliable) burst, many interrupts, and talents like Nether Protection, Destruction does well when left alone. It doesn't do quite as well when under fire, however, and because he tends to spend much more mana per fight than other builds, a Destruction Warlock will need to Life Tap more often.

Despite its weakness in the arena and overall vulnerability, Destruction is a very fun spec to play. For many of us who can't stand the BG grind (like me), this is the only way to convince yourself to keep on grinding.



11. Nightfall/Backlash (instant nukes galore)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Iq0rVMbZZxx0tr0tIuVo
This one trades health and some points in Destruction for Grim Reach, Nightfall, and Fel Concentration.

This spec is made to maximize the number of instant cast nukes available to the Warlock. In addition to this, the Warlock gets much improved utility and 1v1 options through Grim Reach and Fel Concentration. Grim Reach makes it much easier to DoT kite and CoT healers, while Fel Concentration helps a little in certain match-ups, like Warriors and Hunter pets.

This is an extremely fun build, because of the incredible number of options it has. But without a single point in Demonology, it's also one of the most fragile. This is a very good choice for Warlocks looking for a thrill in the battlegrounds (or looking for incredible frustration, whatever.)

An alternative to this build would drop SFury and other points in Destruction for Siphon Life, CoEx, and 1/5 SE in Affliction.

Please report the OP and request to replace the old sticky with the new one.

I think I'll be fine after this post. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to leave them in this thread - especially if they compare this guide to the old one.

One more for good measure. Feel free to start posting (it's 4:48 AM, no one's going to start posting)

Fantastic.

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Q u o t e:
One more for good measure. Feel free to start posting (it's 4:48 AM, no one's going to start posting)

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I was reading it when you were only halfway done :-P

You should add Shadow Embrace 1/5 just above or below Shadow Embrace 5/5, and rate that.

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Q u o t e:
You should add Shadow Embrace 1/5 just above or below Shadow Embrace 5/5, and rate that.

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That would be a little inconsistent, but I should perhaps make it more clear that 1/5 is what most people get.