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Destruction Warlock DPS Statistics Priority and Reforging (WoW 4.3.4)

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Contents


In this article, we explain what the best statistics are for Destruction Warlocks (WoW 4.3), how the class benefits from each of them, and what your reforging strategy should be. We also detail what the various caps are and why they should be attained. The statistics priority is important as it influences reforging strategies as well as itemisation choices (gear, enchants, and gems).

Make sure to check our Gear Optimisation Guide, which serves as a support guide for this article. The other articles of our Destruction Warlock guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

1. Basics↑top

The stat priority for a Destruction Warlock is:

  1. Intellect;
  2. Hit Rating (until 17%);
  3. Haste Rating (until the soft haste cap, see below);
  4. Critical Strike Rating;
  5. Mastery Rating.

After you pass a gear level of 397 item level (full normal Dragon Soul gear), Mastery Rating becomes more valuable than Critical Strike Rating.

If you are unsure what the optimal reforging strategy is for this priority, please refer to the reforging section of our Gear Optimisation Guide.

2. Getting a Better Understanding↑top

2.1. Statistics Explanations

Intellect is your most important stat, which provides the most benefit; you should look for this stat in all of your upgrades, as point for point it surpasses any other stat. It provides you with Spell Power and a higher mana pool, and increases your critical strike chance.

Hit Rating is your second most important stat as it determines your chances to miss a target when casting a spell. Once you have reached the spell hit cap, at 17%, it is no longer necessary to increase your Hit Rating.

Haste Rating influences the cast speed of your spells and increases the number of ticks from your DoTs. After Intellect and Hit Rating, this is your best stat.

Haste Rating is only the best statistic until reaching the soft cap. For more details about this, read our detailed section below.

Critical Strike Rating increases the critical strike chance of all your spells.

Mastery Rating increases all your Fire damage. It is your weakest statistic.

3. Caps↑top

3.1. Hit Cap

As for all caster classes, after 17% hit chance, additional Hit Rating becomes useless. To reach the hit cap, you need 1742 Hit Rating.

3.2. Soft Haste Cap

+5% Spell Haste Raid Buff?Goblin?Haste Rating Needed
NONO3455
NOYES3294
YESNO2681
YESYES2527

3.3. Explanations about the Soft Haste Cap

As a Destruction Warlock, the more haste you have, the more times your DoTs will tick. This is especially important because Conflagrate Icon Conflagrate, your hardest hitting spell, deals its damage based on the amount of damage that Immolate Icon Immolate (one of your DoTs) does. It is, therefore, of paramount importance to ensure that Immolate ticks as many times as possible.

The importance of increasing your Immolate ticks, compared to all the other haste benefits is huge. This means that, once you have reached the maximum attainable number of additional Immolate Icon Immolate ticks, Haste Rating is no longer a desirable statistic. We consider this number to be 2 (it requires 30% haste). Reaching 3 additional ticks requires about 50% haste, which cannot be reached from gear alone.

At 30.77% haste, you will get 4 additional ticks of Immolate Icon Immolate when Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust, Heroism Icon Heroism, or Time Warp Icon Time Warp is cast. Therefore, 30.77% haste constitutes the soft haste cap as it enables you to always get 2 additional ticks of Immolate Icon Immolate under normal circumstances and 4 additional ticks of Immolate under the effect of Bloodlust, Heroism, or Time Warp.

When computing your soft haste cap, refer to the table above, where we took into account Time is Money Icon Time is Money (the Goblin racial), the 5% raid spell haste bonus, and Dark Intent Icon Dark Intent.

After reaching the soft haste cap, you should no longer prioritise Haste Rating, and instead go for your next statistics.




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