How the build works
This Destruction Warlock build mixes faster casts with burst. Bane takes 0.5 seconds off Shadow Bolt and Immolate. Aftermath raises Immolate’s initial damage by 50% and makes Conflagrate Daze the target, slowing it by 50% for 5 seconds. Conflagrate consumes your Immolate for an 88 to 110 Fire damage hit, and you reapply Immolate right after.
Ruin doubles the crit damage bonus of your Destruction spells, and Agonizing Flames adds 10% damage to all of them plus 10% crit to Searing Pain. Shadowburn is an instant finisher; if the target dies within 8 seconds you get a Soul Shard back. The 21st point goes into Fire and Brimstone, the first point you can spend in row 5, for 8% more crit on Conflagrate.
The main disagreement is Ruin. The most common talentsforever order and one guide take all five ranks by 30. Another guide prefers Cataclysm (10% cheaper Destruction spells) and Destructive Reach, arguing crit is too low at this level for Ruin to pay off. If you run out of mana often, try that version.
Leveling tips
Put levels 10 to 14 into Bane, 15 to 19 into Aftermath and 20 to 24 into Ruin. Shadowburn comes at 25 and Conflagrate at 26. Before Conflagrate, the loop is Immolate, Corruption, Shadow Bolt and a wand finish.
From the late twenties, the loop is Immolate, Conflagrate, Immolate again, then Shadow Bolt or wand, with Shadowburn as the killing blow. Destruction burns mana faster than Affliction, so Life Tap whenever your health is high and use Drain Life when you need to recover. Keep a Voidwalker out until you are confident with pulls. In dungeons, this is the Warlock spec with real AoE.
Changes in WoW Forever
Destruction changed a lot from Classic. Bane now also speeds up Incinerate, Aftermath is about Immolate and Conflagrate, Agonizing Flames is a flat damage talent, and Bane of Havoc and Fire and Brimstone are new. Molten Skin (10% less damage taken) is new in row 2, and Incinerate becomes a talent at the bottom of the tree.
Toward level 60
Provisional. The most planned level 60 Destruction build is 5/11/35: Suppression 5, Demonic Embrace, Fel Vitality and Demonic Sacrifice in Demonology, and a deep Destruction tree ending in Shadow and Flame and Incinerate. This plan has more agreement than most, but it is still a calculator plan from the level 30 beta.
