Review of the Talents of the Diabolist Hero in Destruction Warlock - Powerful Yet Lacking in Destruction Fantasy

This past week, Blizzard revealed 8 new Hero Talent Trees in a sneak peek at the new system coming with the The War Within expansion. Our Warlock guide writer, Kalamazi, offers an early review of the Diabolist Warlock Hero Talents for Destruction which despite its heavier Demonology feel still has a lot of firepower baked in for Destruction.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Our Guide Writers have provided initial first impressions on the Hero Talent Trees revealed so far. Check out all of our released editorials below:

Diabolist Destruction Warlock Review

Diabolist Warlock is the new Destruction-Demonology Hero Talent tree coming in The War Within, and does a great job at capturing the essence of what feels "Warlock". For those have played with Demonology's current Season 3 Tier Bonus that revolves around Doom Brand, Diabolist shares a handful of similarities with its newest ability, Diabolic Ritual. Diabolic Ritual also subliminally references the iconic Warlock ability, Doom, and how Diabolic Ritual summons a greater demon in either an Overlord, Mother of Chaos or Pit Lord.

While the summoning of Doomguards, Pit Lords and other greater demons has historically more often than not, been a Demonology niche, Diabolist extends all of these demons and abilities to Destruction as well!

• Breaking Down Diabolic Ritual

As mentioned, Diabolic Ritual is the core of what makes the Diabolist Tree function. This ability is similar to Doom Brand, both having the duration reduction clause attached to them when you cast spells. While Doom Brand itself is reduced whenever you cast Hand of Gul'dan for Demonology, Diabolic Ritual is reduced whenever you spend Soul Shards in general. This means that Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire and Shadowburn will all contribute to the cooldown reduction.

While spending shards is not a large issue for Demonology, Destruction spends them at a decently lower rate, barring mass casting Rain of Fire in AOE. This led to some initial concern based around balancing Diabolic Ritual for both specs. however Blizzard recently clarified that Diabolic Ritual will be tuned on a per spec basis, meaning that Destruction may very well receive some additional attention based on its nature of not spending shards as quickly as Demonology.

Blizzard: Diabolic Ritual will be tuned on a per specialization basis. This means that final numbers may be different for each specialization to achieve a similar cadence between the two, however, the overall mechanic will remain the same.

The other initial concern with Diabolic Ritual was based around the Overlord, Mother of Chaos and Pit Lord summons. It is likely that they all have their own unique form of a "Devastating Attack" which may vary in value based on specific scenarios, but the larger concern was based around the Hero Talents that build upon Diabolic Ritual in Cloven Souls, Secrets of the Coven and Ruination.

These abilities all proc based on what demon Diabolic Ritual summons, which initially had many concerned about there being too much RNG. Blizzard was also quick to clarify however, that Diabolic Ritual is cyclical, meaning that it will always initially summon an Overlord, followed by a Mother of Chaos, and then finally a Pit lord. This solves the issue of RNG while also making it much easier to plan around the effects that each greater demon brings with it when spawning. While some of the abilities that specific demons grant may seem stronger than others, having consistency in the effects is certainly the correct choice, avoiding the issue of "high" and "low" rolling from pull to pull.

Blizzard: A clarification: Diabolic Ritual is cyclical, starting with Overlord and ending with Pit Lord. So, when you summon a demon it will always be in the order of: Overlord, then Mother of Chaos, then Pit Lord, and then Diabolic Ritual will cycle back to Overlord.

Intricacies of Diabolist Warlock

• Cloven Souls

Cloven Souls is one of the three talents which build upon Diabolic Ritual, increasing enemies damage taken from you and your pets by 10% for 20 seconds. While this ability is more impactful for Demonology, Destruction can also make good use of it during Infernal and Crashing Chaos. The fact that Destruction can also maintain a relatively consistent damage output between major CD's means that it may very well be more impactful for Destruction when it is active outside cooldowns, than it would be for Demonology.

This effect also adds potential value to abilities such as Infernal Brand and Rain of Chaos, which have seen very little play over the course of Dragonflight. It is important to note however, that the 10% increased damage taken seems to be applied in debuff form on your enemies, which is based off of the Overlords "Devastating Attack". We currently are not sure of the duration of greater demons, or if their abilities and AOE based, or single target.

• Touch of Rancora

Touch of Rancora for Destruction is pretty straight forward compared to Demonology. It will likely always buff either Chaos Bolt or Rain of Fire and is also quite similar to Madness of the Azj'Aqir, which was removed in Patch 10.2. The main difference however, is that Touch of Rancora does not have any kind of maintenance buff attached to it. When it procs, you receive a 30% damage increase and 50% cast time reduction to your next shard consuming spell. Similar to how Cloven Souls feels (theoretically) outside of cooldowns, Touch of Rancora is likely stronger for Destruction than it is Demonology when CD's are not being used. It also has the added benefit of (likely) stacking with Madness of the Azj'Aqir during your Infernal windows.

Touch of Rancora is also not tied to any specific greater demon, it simply procs whenever ANY Diabolic Ritual expires, essentially granting you the effect 3 times more than Cloven Souls grants its damage increase.

• Secrets of the Coven

While Secrets of the Coven may indicate that Demonfire Barrage is made of 4 Shadow Bolts, Blizzard has clarified that for Destruction, it will actually be 4 Incinerate instead.

Blizzard: Demonfire Barrage will cast Incinerate for Destruction rather than Shadow Bolt. This is missing from our blog post and will be added.

The ability is interesting in the way that it transforms your next cast into Demonfire Barrage, which is also a channeled ability. While it may be a bit annoying to play with a non-channeled ability (Incinerate) which transforms into a channeled ability, the issue of cancelling the cast can be alleviated by using a macro, ensuring you do not override the Demonfire Barrage.

The other concern is how the spell generates shards and it proccing at times where you would rather cast Incinerate over Demonfire Barrage. A great example would be in a Havoc where Incinerate would cleave and generate additional shards, compared to Demonfire Barrage. This is assuming that Demonfire Barrage will not cleave in a Havoc window, which is the way other channeled spells have functioned. We also aren't sure if the spell interacts with Burn to Ashes and if it does, how many stacks does it consume?

• Choice node: Cruelty of Kerxan VS Infernal Machine

The choice between Cruelty of Kerxan and Infernal Machine likely depends on if we can stack multiple Diabolic Ritual via Cruelty of Kerxan. Cruelty also reduces the duration of Diabolic Ritual, making it 17 seconds, instead of 20. I would assume IF you are able to have multiple Diabolic Rituals active at once, it would only reduce the Ritual that is applied via your Infernal cast and not any previously active ones, but this is still TBD, along with the possibility of Diabolic Ritual stacking or not.

If Diabolic Ritual does NOT stack, it feels as if your only real choice is Infernal Machine. As Destruction, you will certainly not consume as many Soul Shards in single target as Demonology will when your major cooldown is active, BUT it is important to keep in mind that your Infernal lasts 30 seconds, compared to Demonic Tyrant being 15 seconds. In AOE however, Destruction can cast multiple Rain of Chaos in quick succession, making Infernal Machine quite possibly an exceptionally powerful ability in heavy AOE scenarios. This would lead to a plethora of Diabolic Ritual procs, swarms of greater demons and a few Cloven Souls/Secrets of the Coven/Ruination procs.

• Abyssal Dominion

Abyssal Dominion is one of the most exciting talents I feel for Destruction in the Diabolist tree. Being able to spawn an Overfiend (NOT an Overlord, as seen in Cloven Souls) that casts two Chaos Bolt at 80% effectiveness sounds awesome. This will also increase the single target relevancy of Cataclysm as a spell, while maintaining its AOE applicability through applying multiple Immolate effects. I do think that it would be even more exciting if the Overfiend cast Chaos Bolt's on every mob affected by Immolate, but would need to be tuned appropriately for both AOE and single target settings, similar to how the Doomguard from Doom Brand is currently in 10.2.

This also brings to question the status of Cataclysm in The War Within and if it will remain a talent, or become a baseline ability. It currently is a choice talent (shared with Inferno), but it seems very unlikely that Blizzard would require us to choose a shared talent like Cataclysm with Gloom of Nathreza being part of the baseline Diabolist tree. Cataclysm may still remain a talent, but it would likely be freestanding and easily accessible.

• Flames of Xoroth

Flames of Xoroth is likely here are a universal tuning knob for for Demonology and Destruction. Values can be increased if the spec or Hero Talent Tree is underperforming, or turned down a bit if it is too strong. It is not very exciting thematically, but does make sense in the grand scheme of things and will likely be chosen, then forgotten.

• Gloom of Nathreza

Gloom of Nathreza is similar to Flames of Xoroth where is feels a good bit undertuned currently. It is a throwback to our legendary cloak and power of old in Odr, Shawl of the Ymirjar, but is only a 5% damage increase, down from 15%. It is likely that Gloom will be buffed once testing begins for 11.0 but in its current form, feels quite underwhelming and really only has cleave relevancy. It is possible that you will want to cast Havoc in single target (may depend on additive or multiplicative scaling), but I assume the number will change regardless.

• Ruination

Ruination is an interesting capstone due to the fact that it is essentially...just...Hand of Gul'dan, but its Hand of Gul'dan on steroids. Ruination replaces Chaos Bolt when it procs, and calls down a demon infested meteor, which deals Chaos damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and summons 3 wild imps. This is all happening while you have an active Pit Lord, thanks to Diabolic Ritual.

This ability sounds like it could be visually stunning, but realistically comes down to how strong the impact damage is of the meteor itself, and if its strong enough in both single target (with it replacing Chaos Bolt) and AOE. The fact that is spawns 3 Wild Imps for Destruction is also unique, as that has been a Demonology specific ability (Hand of Gul'dan) for years. I think the Wild Imp addition is likely due to the fact that is replaces Hand of Gul'dan for Demonology, and the fact Blizzard does not want this proc messing up any kind of Tyrant ramp etc. With the ability being our Diabolist Hero Tree capstone, I believe chances are pretty high it will be impactful.

Defensive and Utility Talents

• Choice node: Soul-Etched Circles VS Annihilan's Bellow

When it comes to Soul-Etched Circles vs Annihilan's Bellow, you are likely to choose the free snare and speed increase to your Demonic Circle: Teleport in most PVE based settings. While there have been times where Howl of Terror has been used in PVE, it is a choice node with Mortal Coil, which brings a large amount of self-healing on a short cooldown. If Howl of Terror as uncapped on the number of mobs it fears, it would likely be a bit of a closer choice in PVE (likely M+ vs Raiding) but in its current form, you will likely select Soul-Etched Circles most of the time. This could change however in PVP, where Howl is more useful.

• Choice node: Infernal Vitality VS Infernal Bulwark

Infernal Vitality and Infernal Bulwark are two defensive based talents, with different implications. Infernal Vitality states that Unending Resolve will heal you for 30% of your health over 10 seconds and while this may sounds impactful, I feel it is actually the worse option. When I am using a defensive, it is to negate incoming damage from a large attack. Once that ability is over and I have negated a portion of the damage, I want to continue my DPS rotation while relying on healers/allies to restore my health pool. If you break down the overall healing of Vitality, it is 3% per second, which is also very low. If the ability healed instantly once Unending Resolve expires, then it would likely be a bit more competitive, but 3% per second is very little in most PVE based content when you are attempting to negate a large amount of incoming damage. Chances are, your healers will top you off regardless in a matter of seconds anyways, further negating the effect.

Infernal Bulwark however, makes our Unending Resolve a bit stronger, essentially granting us a small absorb shield via additional Soul Leech when cast. This IMO, is much more impactful than healing for 30% over 10 seconds, once the damaging ability has passed. Being able to negate an additional amount of incoming damage on TOP of your Unending Resolve DR is strong, and fits the mantra of what and why defensives are used, to preemptively negate preplanned, incoming damage. I would assume that Bulwark is likely the general choice in most PVE based content (Vitality may have its uses in certain scenarios), but you may see Vitality more in PVP based settings.

Is Diabolist Warlock a Hit?

I do think that overall, the initial iteration of Diabolist Warlock is a success. While it does not change a whole lot of core, rotational gameplay, it does feel very "Warlock" thematically. I will admit that Diabolist does certainly have a bit more of a Demonology feel than it does Destruction, but that is likely due to the similarities that Diabolic Ritual has to both Doom Brand and Doom. The fact that Ritual also summons Pit Lords, Mothers of Chaos and Overlords (which is likely a Doomguard) feeds more into subliminal Demonology thematics but I can assure you, there is certainly a good bit of power here for Destruction as well.

There will likely be changes to the Diabolist tree during The War Within Alpha/Beta but with it all being taken into account, I would give Diabolist a solid 8/10 with there being potential for it to be even higher once we can test abilities and interactions. We also have both the Soul Harvester (Affliction - Demonology) and Hellcaller (Affliction - Destruction) trees yet to be unveiled. With Diabolist looking as strong as it does, the future for Warlock may be bright once again.

About the Author

Hello! My name is Kalamazi, and I am a Warlock content creator focused mainly on PVE content. I recently joined Liquid and have previously cast multiple Race to World First events. If you have any questions feel free to stop by my Twitch and ask! You can also find me on Youtube, Twitter or in my Discord.

Diabolic Ritual

Spending a Soul Shards grants Diabolic Ritual for 20 seconds. While Diabolic Ritual is active, each Soul Shards spent reduces its duration by 1 second. When Diabolic Ritual expires you gain Demonic Art, causing your next ability that costs Soul Shards to summon an Overlord, Mother of Chaos, or Pit Lord that unleashes a devastating attack against your enemies.

• Cloven Souls

Enemies damaged by your Overlord have their souls cloven, increasing damage taken by you and your pets by 10% for 20 seconds.

• Touch of Rancora

Diabolic Ritual increases the damage of your next ability that costs Soul Shards by 30% and reduces its cast time by 50%.

• Secrets of the Coven

Mother of Chaos empowers your next Shadow Bolt or Incinerate to become Demonfire Barrage. Demonfire Barrage: Channel a barrage of 4 Shadow Bolts at 150% effectiveness toward the enemy target over 1.5 seconds.

• Soul-Etched Circles

You always gain the benefit of Soulburn when casting Demonic Circle: Teleport, increasing your movement speed by 50% and making you immune to snares and roots for 6 seconds.

• Annihilan's Bellow

Howl of Terror cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds and range is increased by 5 yards.

• Cruelty of Kerxan

Nether Portal, Summon Demonic Tyrant, and Summon Infernal grant Diabolic Ritual and reduce its duration by 3 seconds.

• Infernal Machine

Abilities that cost Soul Shards decrease the duration of Diabolic Ritual by 1 additional second while your Demonic Tyrant, Nether Portal, or Infernal is active.

• Infernal Vitality

Unending Resolve heals you for 30% of your maximum health over 10 seconds.

• Infernal Bulwark

Unending Resolve grants Soul Leech equal to 10% of your maximum health and increases the maximum amount Soul Leech can absorb by 10% for 8 seconds.

• Flames of Xoroth

Fire damage increased 2% and damage dealt by your demons is increased 2%.

• Abyssal Dominion

Grimoire: Felguard gains an additional effect: Grimoire: Felguard lasts 3 seconds longer and its cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds.

• Gloom of Nathreza

Hand of Gul'dan deals 15% increased damage for each Soul Shards spent.

• Ruination

Summoning a Pit Lord causes your next Hand of Gul'dan or Chaos Bolt to become Ruination. Ruination: Call down a demon-infested meteor from the depths of the Twisting Nether, dealing Chaos damage on impact to all enemies within 8 yards of the target and summoning 3 Wild Imps.

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