The Meta-Brawler (Demonology Warlock Build/Gameplay)

Dythok's Guide to being the Meta-Brawler (or hax).

(Special Note: This is an advanced guide on warlocks and my opinions and various gameplay styles. I highly recommend reading up on the Demonology thread at Elitist Jerks before reading any further: http://elitistjerks.com/f80/t110366-demonology_cataclysm_%7C_demon_within_4_0_6_updated/ )

Pros:
-Strong AoE damage
-Demonic Pact (+10% spellpower buff)
-Tons of control
-Incredible Burst Potential
-Felguard
-High Survivability

Cons:
-Horribly mana inefficient
-Lower single target damage
-Defensive CD is your Offensive CD (Metamorphosis)
-15+ abilities to keep track of in boss encounters
-Pet Dependent
-Ideal Positioning is just beyond melee range


Spec/Glyphs:
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#IZIbrcourRdoIbb:aVbzqdcVz

This is Dythok's spec, and as many will notice, the glyphing is vastly different from what is suggested from the simulations and spreadsheets that EJ has. This is because of the simple fact that I put more weight in what game experiences dictate than what a sim says is optimum. Glyph of Fear is mandatory in my eyes for it's CC value. This build also puts more some emphasis on your melee-ish abilites, so adding a snare effect to Shadowflame is a reasonable things to do, and starts to pay off when you have to kite for one reason or another. I use Soul Link as my third to further push my surviability up, but I can easily swap that glyph for anything else the fights demand. And as for the Glyph of Lash of Pain? With the nerf to Fel Armor and the nerf in mana regen directly caused by that, you want to use the Succubus in every single target fight you can. Felguard is king when it comes to AoE, but you'll need to Succubus if you want to not go OOM on any boss fight.

As far as the spec itself goes, there are about 6 points in the demonology tree in the talents Demonic Embrace (3/3), Demonic Empowerment (1/1), and Aura of Forboding (2/2) that can be placed wherever you desire. I disliked the other three choices because they felt very situational to me, all of them really involve your pet's survivability which shouldn't be an issue if you're doing it right. Nine times out of ten, when my pet disappears, it did because it despawned from some wierd mechanic, so Demonic Rebirth wouldn't be triggered. The only other time pet disappears, it was because it pulled aggro and prompty died, which is a tanking issue, not a pet issue. Master Summoner really only matters if pet disappeared, but pets can be replaced with a timely soul burn. The third, Improved Health Funnel is very good at what it does, but it's more of a talent for when you're soloing something that you cannot tank yourself, and hits like a truck (like a raid boss). And even if you are soloing a raid boss, you can usually keep your pet up without it anyways. I prefer Demonic Embrace because more stamina equals more health obviously, but also a stronger life tap, and more health for your pet. And with Aura of Forboding, I was at first apprehensive about it's root then stun effects, but it can be a solid way to mitigate damage, and an excellent kiting tool. I can't imagine life without it at this point.

Spell Priority:
Take a breath. Okay, ready?

DPS Priority:
-Curse of the Elements
-Metamorphosis
-Demon Soul (Felguard)
-Immolate
-Hand of Gul'dan
-Bane of Doom
-Immolation Aura (meta)
-Corruption
-Shadowflame
-Incinerate (Molten Core)
-Soul Fire (Decimation)
-Shadow Bolt

Okay, now take another breath.

Timing Dependent (but will be used in nearly every boss fight):
-Summon Infernal/Doomguard
-Hellfire
-Felstorm
-Life Tap
-Demon Leap (meta)
-Death Coil
-Drain Life
-Fel Flame
-Soul Burn
-Demonic Empowerment
-Demonic Circle/Teleport
-Shadow Ward (highly situational)
-Bane of Agony (highly situational)
-Demon Armor (situational)
-Soulshatter (situational)

Now, for those of you counting, that is 12 DPS abilities and 14 Timing Dependent. Yes, that is 26 abilities that Dythok will use often in a raid boss scenario. Now, what is a timing dependent ability? Well, these are abilities that one would use if the sitation demands it. You don't hellfire a single target, and you don't spam Fel Flame if you're standing still. Since Elitist Jerks goes over the 12 DPS Priority spells pretty well, I will explain the timing of the other 14 abilities I mentioned. And thankfully, a few of these abilities are off of the GCD or pet abilities so they can be macroed together well.

Area of Effect: Summon Infernal, Hellfire, Felstorm, Demon Leap, Demonic Empowerment, Soulshatter, Immolation Aura (meta), Shadowflame. You've all seen in at some point, a demonology warlock goes all Illidan and does enough AoE damage to do 100k dps. Infernal, Hellfire, Felstorm, and Immolation Aura are the big damage dealers here. Demon Leap allows the warlock to get into position and not lose damage since it does aoe damage when it lands, Shadowflame is instant cast, puts the snares on the baddies to keep them together so the AoE works. Demonic Empowerment makes sure the pet can do his job unhindered. Soulshatter makes it so you can survive.

Heavy Movement: Life Tap, Fel Flame, Death Coil, Demonic Leap, Demonic Teleport, Shadowflame, Corruption, Soul Burn (Soul Fire), Soul Burn (Demonic Teleport), Hellfire. All of these abilities are instant cast. They are all things you can do while on the move, or improve your movement through some means. If you're moving and you need mana, Life Tap. If you need health, Death Coil. Immolate or Corruption going to fall off while you're dancing? Fel Flame or Corruption. Still need to AoE on the move? Hellfire.

Survivability: Metamorphosis, Demon Armor, Drain Life, Soul Burn (Drain Life), Death Coil, Soul Burn (Healthstone), Demonic Teleport, Shadow Ward, Soulshatter. All of these abilities either help you gain life quickly, especially if you use Demon Armor first to get the bonus 30% healing, or provide a means to mitigate a ton of damage. You become more durable than most tanks if you have Metamorphosis, Demon Armor, and Soul Link all active at the same time. Drain life and Death Coil are awesome ways to get life back, especially if you're lower than 50% and your healers are struggling. Soul Burned (Healthstone) works like a last stand. Demonic Teleport and Soulshatter are both a means to avoid taking damage if the boss keeps trying to punch you in the face, at least temporarily.


Utility and Crowd Control:

This is where you start to shine. Just behind shamans, the argument could be made that Warlocks bring some of the strongest utility and control to group. For various Crowd Control abilities (Both hard and soft control), you'll bring the following:

-Fear (Glyphed)
-Banish
-Seduction (Succubus), Axe Toss (Felguard), Devour Magic (Felhunter), Spell Lock (Felhunter)
-Shadowflame (Glyphed)
-Hand of Gul'dan (Aura of Foreboding)
-Death Coil
-Enslave Demon
-Howl of Terror

Just a few tips to offer her. Fear can be used as a ghetto interupt for mobs with long cast times, assuming they aren't immune to the fear. Hand of Gul'dan can offer as much as 25% damage mitigation if your tanks can keep the mobs in the aura, which would keep baddies stunned 3 seconds out of every 12. A combination of Hand of Gul'dan and Shadowflame (Glyphed) offers high kiting potential on MULTIPLE mobs. If your CC keep getting broke because your mob is in melee range, you can Death Coil him out and safely Fear it out of range of the thunderclaps and hammers of the righteous. Don't freak out when your Fear breaks, it has a short duration, a short cooldown, and sometimes damaging the mob is unavoidable. Howl of Terror is your last oh crap move, only use it if you're 100% certain you're going to be screwed with or without it. It's a primary means of extending a fight a few extra second to get a last kill to make the pull slightly easier next time.

And as for the utility, you bring the following:
-Healthstone
-Soulstone
-Demonic Pact
-Ritual of Summoning

Shove cookies down your groups' throats. Its a free potion basically. Soulstone your healer if you're feeling lazy, or save it and soulstone who you feel would die to treat it as a battle rez type of an ability in an actual fight. Demonic Pact makes every spelluser in your raid love you. Ritual of Summoning speeds things up greatly.

Play Style:

This is where the brawler mentality comes in. Since as a demonology warlock, you use abilities like Shadowflame, Hellfire, Demonic Leap, and Immolation Aura, your sweet spot as far as positioning goes is in melee range. Being in the melee range also offers many other benefits, healing immediately comes to mind. If you allow yourself to be in melee range, this means that at least three targets will be in melee range of a mob, the tank, your pet, and yourself. This will allow a resto shaman to make efficient use of spells like Chain Heal and Healing Rain. This perk also extends to the various aoe heals granted by restoration druids and priests in the appropriate Chakra state. Also, being in melee range means you can, believe it or not, melee. No, you're not meleeing all the time, but on Dythok, 1% of his total damage in a single target boss fight will come from melee hits he will get in. Now, when is a spellcaster actually meleeing you have to ask? When they are moving or casting instant cast spells. If you can't cast a spell for 1.5 seconds, might as well smack the baddie in the face. Swinging your weapon also offers a chance to trigger a weapon enchant like Hurricane. Being closer to melee also offers the benefit of a shorter travel time for all of your spells. That means applying the 5% crit debuff sooner and triggering Decimation a little faster.

Also remember that while your sweet spot is as a brawler, you are still perfectly capable of being ranged. With Demonic Circle, you have the luxery of being in potentially 2 places at once. You are still capable of spreading out for fights. And if the boss does start exploding in the melee, you can also port out to the safety of range. If the boss needs to be kiting, don't worry about being in melee. While you can shine as a brawler, you will not gimp yourself if you're in the back with the hunter.

Pet Management:

As a pet class, you have some extra benefits and liabilities that you need to consider. Since you have more than one source of damage, your damage has the potential to be more consistent. Like in cases where no one can touch the boss, your pet can keep on wailing away on it as long as it desires. Additionally, if you are incapacitated through some means (bone prison, water bubble, chains), your pet can dps whatever is locking you down to break you out. For all purposes though, your pet is brainless and will eventually get itself killed (or worse, despawned) without your guidance. And without your pet, you are crippled, and all the spellcasters around you lost the 10% spellpower buff. This is further complicated that your ability Soul Link is NOT a damage reduction ability. It's a damager REDIRECTION ability. And that damage you deal to your own pet needs to be healed by either your own uberness and Fel Synergy, or a healer that knows how important your pet is to the group/raid.


In closing, the Meta-brawler can be quite a beast, but it is a very complicated one at that. Timing and positioning can make or break you. A lot of this has come from applying some innovation and real game experience to suggested play styles, and even if you don't have any interest in playing a warlock, don't be afraid to deviate from the norm, tweek your gameplay, and take your character to the next level.