Warlocks had the deepest rework of any class: twenty-two new talents and twenty removed. Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom became Banes, a new category with its own talents. Affliction channels Wrack, Demonology can sacrifice one demon and fight with another, and Destruction juggles Shadow and Fire with Conflagrate, Shadowburn and Incinerate. Trolls can be warlocks for the first time.
At a glance
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Role | Ranged damage |
| Resource | Mana, Soul Shards |
| Armor | Cloth |
| Races | Human, Gnome, Orc, Undead and, new in Forever, Troll |
| New on the trainer |  Bane of Agony at 8,  Bane of Doom at 60 |
| Demons | Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus or Incubus, Felhunter, plus Infernal and Doomguard rituals |
What changed from Classic
- Banes. Curse of Agony is now Bane of Agony and Curse of Doom is Bane of Doom. The tooltips limit you to one Bane and one Curse per warlock on a target, so Bane of Agony and Curse of the Elements can sit side by side.
- Wrack caps Affliction: a channel that deals Shadow damage every second and makes your other Shadow damage-over-time effects on the target deal 10% more.
- Damage-over-time effects can crit.
Pandemic doubles the critical damage bonus of Corruption, the Banes, the drains, Siphon Life and Wrack, and 
Malevolence adds 5% Shadow crit. - Demonic Sacrifice lasts two hours and flipped. Sacrificing the Imp now raises Shadow damage by 15% and the Succubus or Incubus raises Fire damage.
Demonic Pact stops a new summon from cancelling it. - Destruction plays two schools.
Shadow and Flame gives you 10% Shadow damage after Conflagrate and 10% Fire damage after Shadowburn, stops Conflagrate from consuming Immolate, and makes Shadowburn refund its Soul Shard. 
Suppression now adds 5% hit to every spell and reduces threat by 20%.
Improved Shadow Bolt makes the target take 20% more Shadow damage from you, not from every warlock.
Bane of Havoc copies 15% of your damage to other targets onto the one it is on.- The Incubus joins the Succubus as an option for the same summon.
- Removed: Dark Pact, Grim Reach, Devastation, Emberstorm, Fel Intellect and Fel Stamina, the old curse, drain and stone improvements, Improved Immolate, Improved Searing Pain and Improved Subjugate Demon. Improved Firebolt and Improved Lash of Pain were folded into
Improved Imp and 
Improved Sayaad.
Affliction
DoTs and Wrack: Curses of Agony and Doom are Banes now, and Wrack ticks every second while raising the damage of your other Shadow damage-over-time effects on the target by 10%.
Affliction keeps several effects ticking and fills with drains and Shadow Bolts. 
Siphon Life arrives at 37 and 
Wrack at 46.
Single target:
- Your raid's curse, usually Curse of the Elements.
- Corruption, instant with
Improved Corruption. - Bane of Agony, or Bane of Doom on targets that will live a full minute.
- Siphon Life.
- Wrack whenever it is ready, so every effect above ticks 10% harder during its channel.
- Fill with Shadow Bolt.
Nightfall procs from Corruption, the drains and Wrack make the next one instant.
Soul Siphon adds 12% to Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack for each of your other Affliction effects on the target, up to 36%. 
Malediction adds 5% to all periodic damage. In Demonology, the build takes Demonic Embrace, Fel Vitality and Demonic Sacrifice: sacrifice the Imp for 15% more Shadow damage.
Demonology
Demonic Pact keeps your Demonic Sacrifice buff when you summon a different demon, so you can sacrifice one and fight with another.
Demonology fights alongside its demon and can now keep a sacrifice buff while doing it.
Setup before the pull:
- Summon the Imp and sacrifice it with
Demonic Sacrifice for 15% Shadow damage. - Summon the Succubus or Incubus.
Master Demonologist gives both of you 10% Shadow damage while it is out, and Demonic Pact keeps the Imp's buff. - Turn on
Soul Link: 30% of the damage you take goes to the demon, and you both deal 3% more.
Single target: keep Corruption and a Bane up, cast Shadow Bolt, and use Soul Fire below 35% health. 
Decimation cuts Soul Fire's cooldown by 90%, and casting Shadow Bolt on a target under 35% makes your next Soul Fire 40% faster and free of Soul Shards.
Demonic Knowledge adds spell damage equal to your level while a demon is out, and 
Unholy Power 10% demon damage. The Destruction points cover Improved Shadow Bolt, 
Bane, 
Cataclysm and 
Ruin.
Destruction
Conflagrate and Shadowburn feed Shadow and Flame, which buffs the opposite school. Incinerate is the new capstone filler.
Destruction is burst and juggling. 
Conflagrate arrives at 34 and 
Incinerate at 44.
Single target:
- Immolate, and keep it up.
- Conflagrate on cooldown. With Shadow and Flame it keeps Immolate and gives you 10% Shadow damage.
- Shadowburn on cooldown. It gives 10% Fire damage and refunds its Soul Shard.
- Incinerate as the Fire filler, 25% stronger while Immolate is up, and Shadow Bolt to keep Improved Shadow Bolt's debuff on the target.
- On fights with a second target, put Bane of Havoc on it and let it soak 15% of everything you deal to the boss.
Ruin doubles the critical damage bonus of Destruction spells, 
Agonizing Flames adds 10% to all Destruction damage, and 
Fire and Brimstone adds 25% crit to Conflagrate. The Affliction points buy Suppression for hit and Improved Corruption.
Stat priorities
Forever converts 10 Hit Rating to 1% hit and 14 Critical Strike Rating to 1% crit. Blizzard has not published the spell hit cap against Forever's raid bosses; Classic's was 16%, and Suppression covers 5% of it in both the Affliction and Destruction builds.
| Spec | Priority |
|---|---|
| Affliction | Hit, spell power, Critical Strike, Haste, Intellect, Stamina |
| Demonology | Hit, spell power, Critical Strike, Stamina, Haste, Intellect |
| Destruction | Hit, spell power, Critical Strike, Haste, Intellect |
Crit matters to Affliction for the first time because Pandemic and Malevolence let damage-over-time effects crit for big numbers. Stamina has value for every warlock through Life Tap and Soul Link. Compare sets in the gear planner.
Leveling
Level as Affliction with the Voidwalker tanking, or as Demonology if you want to die less.
- Corruption becomes instant from the early Affliction points, then Bane of Agony and Drain Life or your wand.
- Life Tap and Drain Life keep you going without drinking. Create a Healthstone and a Soulstone whenever you can.
- Fear and Howl of Terror buy time when a pull goes wrong; Death Coil heals you and stops one attacker.
- Demonology's Soul Link at 33 and Fel Vitality make the Voidwalker almost unkillable while leveling.
- With the Talented Legacy perk, Wrack comes at 41.
Races
- Orc:
Blood Fury adds 10% spell power for 15 seconds, and 
Hardiness shortens stuns by 20%. - Undead: Will of the Forsaken breaks fear, charm and sleep, the best PvP racial for a warlock.
- Human: Sword Specialization adds 2% crit to spells while you hold a sword.
- Gnome: Escape Artist breaks roots and snares.
- Troll: new to the class. Berserking adds 10% casting speed for 10 seconds, and
Regeneration keeps a little health regeneration going in combat.