Demonology Warlock Gearing Guide

Patch 10.2.5 Last Updated: 31st Jan, 2024
Sjeletyven Demonology Warlock Author
Sjeletyven

Gear

Patch 10.2 Tier sets

  • 2set: Consuming a Demon Core applies a doom brand that explodes after 20 seconds, dealing shadow damage to nearby enemies or 1.5x that amount to a single enemy. Hand of Gul’dan reduces the duration of your Doom Brands by 1 sec per Soul Shard spent
  • 4set: When Doon Brand is Removed, you have a chance to summon a Doomfiend that casts 5 Doom Bolt volleys before departing. Each Doom Bolt volley deals damage to up to 4 enemies or 1.5x that amount to a single enemy.

In short, it's not a bad tier set and it scales well into AoE. It is a little underwhelming on pure single target, even with the 1.5x scaling if you are fighting only one enemy, but it is not completely dead in the water.

The set is designed in a way that you want to have as many doom brands up as possible, so you will be “multi-dotting” with your instant Demonbolts anytime you're fighting more than 1 target.

The proc rate of the Doomguard follows the same scaling as shard regen for agony as affliction, meaning that there are heavy diminishing returns on increasing the spawn rate with multiple doom brands out. Even so, you still want to spread as many Doom Brands as possible, as the damage the doom brand itself deals is pretty significant in AoE.

Advanced: You want to prioritize applying doom brands on targets that will die shortly after, as it will reduce the amount of total doom brands you have out at once, while not reducing the total amount of doom brands you are applying in a given time window. This means you will not dive as deep into Diminishing returns and it should yield more Doomfiend procs overall.

Demonology Warlock Best in Slot Gear

You should still prioritize the gear you use by running a sim for your character, but the lists below will give you a good idea of what items are considered good for Demonology Warlock, and help you target the right content for each piece of loot.

ITEM LEVEL IS KING!!

For Demonology, item level will almost always be better for any item that has main stat (intellect) on it. The exceptions are rings, neck and trinkets where secondary stats or trinket effects become more important.

Keep in mind that there are multiple items that can be good upgrades outside of this list, and it mostly comes down to what you currently have equipped. For example you don't want to go full haste, full Crit, or full versatility, but rather a mix of all. The only way to get an accurate answer is to use Raidbots to sim your own character, but if you're looking for a guideline, try to gear towards Crit/Vers when possible.The items that will have the biggest impact on your damage outside of just increasing item level are Weapons and Trinkets. If you are targeting any piece of gear it should be these.

Overall Best Gear

Slot Item Source
Head Devout Ashdevil's Grimhorns Tindral Sageswift / Catalyst
Neck Amulet of Eonars Chosen Nymue
Shoulders Devout Ashdevil's Hatespikes Smolderon / Catalyst
Cloak Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl Tailoring
Chest Devout Ashdevil's Razorhide Nymue / Catalyst
Wrist Anguished Restraints Gnarlroot
Gloves Devout Ashdevil's Claws Igira the Cruel / Catalyst
Belt Urctos's Hibernal Dial Council of Dreams
Legs Leggings of the New Dawn Dawn of the Infinite: Morozond’s Rise
Boots Vibrant Wildercloth Slippers Tailoring
Ring Band of Burning Thorns Larodar
Ring Signet of the Last Elder Igira
Trinket Nymue’s Unraveling Spindle Nymue
Trinket Belor’relos, the Suncaller Tindral Sageswift / Catalyst
Main Hand Iridal, the Earth's Master Dawn of the Infinite: Galakron’s Fall

Best Gear from the Raid

Slot Item Source
Head Devout Ashdevil's Grimhorns Tindral Sageswift / Catalyst
Neck Ouroboreal Necklet or Amulet of Eonars Chosen Volocross / Nymue
Shoulders Devout Ashdevil's Hatespikes Smolderon / Catalyst
Cloak Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl Tailoring
Chest Devout Ashdevil's Razorhide Nymue / Catalyst
Wrist Anguished Restraints Gnarlroot
Gloves Devout Ashdevil's Claws Igira the Cruel / Catalyst
Belt Urctos's Hibernal Dial Council of Dreams
Legs Devout Ashdevil’s Tights Larodar / Catalyst
Boots Vibrant Wildercloth Slippers Tailoring
Ring Band of Burning Thorns Larodar
Ring Signet of the Last Elder Igira
Trinket Nymue’s Unraveling Spindle Nymue
Trinket Belor’relos, the Suncaller Tindral Sageswift
Staff Dreambinder, Loom of the Great Cycle Nymue

Best Gear from Mythic+

Slot Item Source
Head Devout Ashdevil's Grimhorns Great Vault / Catalyst
Neck Ironshell Pendant Throne of the Tides
Shoulders Devout Ashdevil's Hatespikes Great Vault / Catalyst
Cloak Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl Tailoring
Chest Devout Ashdevil's Razorhide Great Vault / Catalyst
Wrist Devout Ashdevil’s Bracelets Catalyst
Gloves Devout Ashdevil's Claws Great Vault / Catalyst
Belt Belt of Undying Devotion Waycrest Manor
Legs Leggings of the New Dawn Dawn of the Infinite: Morozond’s Rise
Boots Imbued Frostweave Slippers Dawn of the Infinite: Galakron’s Fall
Ring Lord Waycrest’s Signet Waycrest Manor
Ring Signet of Titanic Insight Jewelcrafting
Trinket Balefire Branch Waycrest Manor
Trinket Sea Star Throne of the Tides
Staff Iridal, the Earth's Master Dawn of the Infinite: Galakron’s Fall

Trinkets

Always sim yourself to find optimal trinkets for your character, however here are some that will be interesting.

Passive

Active

Embellishments

Embellishments in 10.2 have been nerfed to the ground and the difference between different combinations are not as big as they used to be.

Single Target: Double Shadowflame should still be the winner.

Cleave/AoE: There are alot of different setups that can work. Lariat is good if you have full sockets, Allied Wristguards of Time-Dilation are great in the raid, Blue Silken Lining is great if the uptime is high and even Azureweave scales well with multiple targets. What embellishments you would want for a more balanced setup is completely depending on your current gear.

I think for raid Allied Wristguards + Lariat / Shadowflame / Blue Silken lining is a very safe choice. Azureweave if you want to focus more on AoE can also be justified.

Mythic+: Double Blue Silken lining is almost certainly the clear winner in M+.