World of Warcraft: Destruction Warlock PvP Post 3.1

Destruction Warlocks rejoice! Now is that time that you've been waiting for. As World of Warcraft has developed, we've seen some major changes in the way that Warlocks have done business. A lesser known WoW fact about Warlocks is that, in beta, they were able to wear leather. I know, all of you non-Warlocks reading this are shouting at your computer screens right now due to this outrage, but relax. They didn't end up being able to wear leather after all. What they can do though, is pump out some awesome damage and do some really neat things, especially if you spec Destruction. This is World of Warcraft after Patch 3.1. This is the World of Warcraft you Warlocks have the waiting for.

Right of the bat, if you check out the Destruction tree, you're going to find some jaw dropping talents. Take for instance the Tier 1 Talent "Improved Shadow Bolt". It takes 5 points to boost it all the way up, and not only does it make your opponents take 5% more damage from Shadow Bolt, you're going to see a debuff slapped on them that is so good, it'll even make your Shadow Priest friends do more damage to them.

Moving right along, you're going to want to take Shadowburn. Some Warlocks spec Destruction just for this spell. Yes, it takes a soul shard, but it's INSTANT insane damage. It might as well be titled: "The spell that does as much damage as shadowbolt...only instant." This is an amazing spell and I've yet to see any Warlock spec destruction without taking it. Warlocks aren't like Mages. We don't get that many instant spells. Mages come equipped with Dragon's Breath, Fire Shock, Blast Wave and so on and so forth. The ability to have a spell that does massive instant damage is a welcome commodity in the Destruction Warlock's arsenal.

When we go on down the line, we come across a little talent called...Soul Leech. Hmmmm, what could that be. Oh, it's not much. It only gives a couple of your spells a 30% chance to steal 20% of the damage you just did to them and heal you for that number. This. Is. Insanity. I've never seen such an efficient spell. Not only do you damage your opponent, but now you heal yourself while doing so. This pairs up nicely with the rest of the boosting talents in Destruction that make you do X% more damage. Now a fraction of that percentage goes to heal you as well. Not too bad at all.

Shadowfury. Wow this spell is expensive, but it's another amazing spell. It does a boatload of damage, it stuns everybody in the range of it for 3 seconds, allowing you to do what you will with them. Also...it's instant cast. This + Shadowburn makes you a deadly foe even in close quarters. Like I said before, Warlocks don't naturally get all kinds of instants like mages, so if you've taken Shadowburn and Shadowfury, you're well on your way to being a burst damage machine. Wariors, Enhancement Shaman, and Feral Druids are going to be in for a big surprise when they think they've got you beat in close quarters and you unrelentingly blast them for 2500 damage of instants.

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