Demonology Warlock PvP guide: level 60 Felhunter and Soul Link survival build

Overview

Level 60 · Demonology Warlock in battlegrounds and world PvP.

Demonology in PvP is the durable warlock. Soul Link, Demonic Embrace and Master Demonologist make you hard to kill, while a Felhunter with Improved Felhunter silences healers more often through a shorter Spell Lock cooldown. Demonic Pact lets you keep a sacrificed demon’s buff even after you summon another demon, which gives you options: sacrifice a Felhunter for health regeneration, then bring out a Voidwalker or another Felhunter for Master Demonologist.

Your role in a fight

In battlegrounds, play as a defender and anti-caster: guard a flag or point, Spell Lock enemy healers, Devour Magic crowd control off your team and Fear attackers into your allies. In world PvP, this build wins long fights rather than short ones.

Darkspear Islands

The Darkspear Islands are Blizzard’s new 15 vs 15 battleground with control points and flag captures plus defense. A warlock that is hard to kill is a good point defender: hold the point alone long enough for help to arrive, Spell Lock the attacking healer and Fear the first melee onto your side of the point. Against a flag push, Curse of Exhaustion and Fear slow the carrier’s escorts. The actual layout is not known yet.

Honor and ranks: WoW Forever is reported to bring a 14-rank Honor track, earned from battlegrounds and PvP content. Thresholds, weekly caps and decay are not announced; see the PvP and honor hub for what is confirmed.

Strengths

• Very durable: Soul Link, +15% Stamina, Master Demonologist’s damage reduction and Demonic Sacrifice health regeneration.
• Anti-caster kit: more frequent Spell Locks and stronger Devour Magic from the Felhunter.
• Curse of Exhaustion from the Affliction half keeps melee slowed.
• Flexible through Demonic Pact: you choose which sacrifice buff and which active demon fit the fight.

Weak points

• Low burst: you win slowly, and a healer can keep your target alive.
• Pet dependence: a crowd-controlled or killed demon removes most of your defense.
• Resummon time: changing between Felhunter and Voidwalker mid-fight is slow outside Fel Domination.
• Forever PvP is unannounced at 60: battlegrounds beyond the Darkspear Islands and the honor rewards are not confirmed.

Level 60 PvP talent build

Affliction 16 / Demonology 35 / Destruction 0, all 51 points. The talent tree above shows the finished build.

Demonology (35)

• Improved Health Funnel 2/2 — Keep the Soul Link demon alive without threat at any health.
• Demonic Embrace 5/5 — +15% Stamina.
• Unholy Power 4/5 — More Felhunter and Voidwalker damage at 4/5.
• Demonic Aegis 2/2 — Stronger Demon Armor.
• Fel Vitality 3/3 — +15% health and mana for your demon, which absorbs part of your damage through Soul Link.
• Demonic Sacrifice 1/1 — A Felhunter sacrifice gives health regeneration; with Demonic Pact you keep it after summoning another demon.
• Master Summoner 2/2 — 4 sec faster and 40% cheaper summons.
• Fel Domination 1/1 — An almost instant summon after your demon dies.
• Demonic Energies 2/2 — Your damage heals the demon and your Life Tap mana reaches it, which keeps a Felhunter casting.
• Improved Felhunter 3/3 — Spell Lock comes back 6 sec sooner and Devour Magic heals more.
• Soul Link 1/1 — 30% of your damage taken goes to the demon.
• Demonic Knowledge 3/3 — Spell damage while any demon is out.
• Master Demonologist 5/5 — With a Felhunter out, you and it take 10% less magic damage; with a Voidwalker, 10% less physical damage.
• Demonic Pact 1/1 — Your Demonic Sacrifice buff survives summoning a different demon.

Affliction (16)

• Improved Corruption 5/5 — Instant Corruption, your main damage while kiting.
• Malediction 5/5 — +5% periodic damage for Corruption and Bane of Agony, since this build has no Siphon Life.
• Improved Bane of Agony 1/2 — One point to open the Curse of Exhaustion row.
• Fel Concentration 3/3 — Drain Life survives melee hits more often.
• Amplify Curse 1/1 — A stronger next Curse of Exhaustion or Curse of Weakness.
• Curse of Exhaustion 1/1 — A 30% slow on a separate slot from your Bane.

Key abilities

• Spell Lock (Felhunter): silence a healer or caster; Improved Felhunter shortens its cooldown.
• Devour Magic (Felhunter): remove Polymorph, Fear or other magic effects from allies, and heal the Felhunter.
• Fear and Death Coil: break focus on you or your healer.
• Curse of Exhaustion: slow melee and flag carriers.
• Health Funnel and Fel Domination: keep or replace the Soul Link demon quickly.
• Corruption and Bane of Agony: instant pressure while you control the fight.

Matchups

• Mages and warlocks · Felhunter out for 10% less magic damage, Spell Lock their big casts and Devour Magic their crowd control.
• Priests and shamans · Spell Lock the heal, keep Corruption rolling, Fear them out of position.
• Warriors and rogues · switch to a Voidwalker for 10% less physical damage, Curse of Exhaustion, Fear and Death Coil.
• Hunters · close to their dead zone behind obstacles; Soul Link helps against their burst.
• Paladins · long fights with Blessing of Freedom and dispels; aim to drain their mana with Felhunter pressure.

Resources and cooldowns

Your demon is your most important cooldown: without it you lose Soul Link, Master Demonologist and Demonic Knowledge. Keep Fel Domination for the moment it dies. Life Tap with Soul Link up, and carry Healthstones and Soul Shards for Death Coil. Master Demonologist choice matters: Felhunter against casters, Voidwalker against melee.

Gear

No warlock PvP set appears in this site’s beta datamine, so what Forever’s honor track gives warlocks is not announced. This build already stacks Stamina through Demonic Embrace and Soul Link, so gear that adds more Stamina makes you close to unkillable for a single attacker. Shadow spell damage matters less than for the other two builds; spell hit keeps Fear and Spell Lock support reliable. From the Tier 1 Demonheart Raiment, only the 2-piece hit bonus helps outside raids.

Consumables and engineering

• Free Action Potion against the stuns and roots that stop you from Fearing.
• Healthstones and Major Healing Potions to fuel Life Tap with Soul Link up.
• Greater Shadow Protection Potion against other warlocks and Shadow Priests, if Forever keeps it.
• Alchemy: make your own Free Action and protection potions instead of buying them.

Tips

• Start battlegrounds with a Felhunter by default; most fights involve casters.

Sources

Rotation, stat and matchup advice adapts these Classic 1.12 guides to the WoW Forever talent trees; talents, set bonuses and new abilities come from this site’s WoW Forever data.

• Icy Veins: Classic Warlock PvP Guide
• Icy Veins: WoW Classic Honor System Overview
• Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever What’s Next Panel Recap