Destro is SUPER outdated. I've come up with some ideas for an update to the spec

Classes Warlock
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Greetings! My name is Reverence and I’ve mained Destro lock for about 20 years now in WoW. I am a PvPer with history in PvE having Multiple AOTCs across multiple Xpacs and Mythic Progression (I also have a couple logged world first heroic kills if that counts for anything) as well as Warcraft Movies Hall of Fame from my PvP Montages, and I would like to believe that makes me qualified just enough to offer up some ideas for a refresh on Destruction Warlock. As I said in the title, the spec is very outdated for the modern game and I have some ideas in mind that I think would be a good and healthy revamp for the spec to make it more enjoyable to play in both PvP and PvE.

Firstly I would like to address the issue of dmg around the spec. As it is right now in PvP, destruction is basically a 1 button andy if you get right down to it. Chaos Bolt is the only button that does any meaningful/impactful dmg right now. Maintaining Immolate or Wither on a target doesn’t really do much for you besides generate resources (soul shards) so here’s a list of changes I would make to Destruction (This is going to be a long list)

First up I would like to see Chaos bolt nerfed just a little bit, maybe about 10% and put on a 10 second cooldown (now before you start hollering, bear with me, I got more ideas to make up for this)
Buff the output of Conflag by about 25% and Shadowburn by 20%
Buff Immolate by 10% and Wither by 25% (for PvP) and 15% for PvE
Buff Incinerate by 15%
Buff Soul Fire by 40%, make it cost 1 Soul Shard/Ember, and change Decimation to no longer make it a super fast cast, but instead reduce the cast time by 0.5 seconds and make it not cost a Shard/Ember and give it a 5 second internal CD on its proc chance.
Lastly bake Flashover into Backdraft. For those who are unfamiliar, Flashover just made it so Backdraft could stack up to 4 times instead of 2 and also made Conflag give 2 charges of backdraft instead of 1.

These are just baseline damage changes I would like to see made for the spec but I have changes to the class that would be beneficial to the spec as well including a new resource spender. First before I list these I would like to have a personal cosmetic preference brought back for no reason other than aesthetic and unique spec identity: Burning Embers. Those would be just cool in general to have back for Destruction as it was just aesthetically pleasing for the spec.

New resource spender would be the return of Ember Tap, but this time lets limit it to 3 charges, all on a 1 minute CD and each use requires 1 Shard/Ember and would heal for 25% hp over 10 seconds. This way you would have some self sustain in combat if you’re taking light dmg, and you it also uses your resources so you can’t triple tap and then go cast a chaos bolt. The reason for 3 charges on a 1 minute CD would be so that you can’t just spam it as many times as you want so long as you have resources like you could in MoP, this is aimed at keeping the spec in line but giving it a much needed tool for defense in areas where Destruction tends to not fare so well on its own defensively, like Delves or in Solo Shuffle/Blitz or rated 2v2 and 3v3.
As a result of bringing back this ability, It would conflict a bit with Dark Pact, I would argue then that it becomes too powerful defensively, SO I suggest giving a nerf to Dark Pact. I believe a 20 to 25% nerf to the damage absorb is a good place to start, and if it still is too much, then give it a further nerf.

Next I would like to see a change is a change to Shadowfury to make the Darkfury Talent a better and more appealing option as right now it just makes the area of effect for Shadowfury larger and it reduces its cooldown.

Lower the cooldown of Shadowfury from 1 minute down to 45 seconds and make the cast time a baseline 1 second cast time (down from 1.5 seconds)

What this will do is it will make Darkfury a much more appealing option to players both in PvP and PvE as Shadowfury would now have a faster cast time and a 30 second cooldown with the Darkfury talent. The faster cast time would be beneficial in mainly M+ because tanks and other dps often have a bad habit of either knocking mobs or pulling them out of the shadowfury area before your cast is complete and causing you to either have to restart your cast or often times miss it which creates a lot of frustration for the lock. I would also benefit PvP players by still being interruptible and also allow destro to perform setups more often, which in a world where solo gameplay is growing ever more popular, this would be a big change for the spec.

Next up I would like to discuss our casting issue, and it’s just that, casting. Quite often times in every aspect of the game (Raid, M+ and PvP) you find yourself being ranged while you’re casting. So a fix I propose for this would be another resource spender because I need to keep overall balance in mind.

I propose the return of Kil Jaeden’s Cunning. Make this ability have 2 Charges, and 1 minute cooldown and cost 1 Shard/Ember and be unaffected by Global Cooldown (Like Shimmer is for Mages). The ability would let you cast while moving for 6 seconds, still susceptible to interrupts (so be careful how you choose to use this in PvP) I would have originally proposed 10 seconds, but I think that would be way too overpowered and given the addition of precog in PvP, that could lead to some pretty toxic and really unbalanced moments.

This would help destro overall with being able to avoid incoming mechanics while casting in PvE without needing to unnecessarily lose dps output. While also just keeping it in line still with other classes. My reasoning behind the addition of this ability is that mages are able to opt into Frost Floes and use 1 charge for 1 cast and can cast while moving. This would be beneficial to warlock for getting off that 1 chaos bolt or getting that 1 needed Fear while you’re trying to kite for your life.

So to summarize overall, these are the changes that I think would help Destruction find it’s footing in the modern iteration of WoW while also keeping it in line with balance. My goal wasn’t to make the spec crazy overpowered but I wanted it to at least feel better to play in the modern version.

Let me know what you guys think of these ideas and let me know if you have an idea or 2 of your own that you think would make a find addition to the spec (please be reasonable, nobody wants another Retpocalypse) I fully acknowledge that some of the dmg changes could be overpowered, but remember my suggestions for resource spending and also the change listed to make Bolt a 10 second cooldown.

Edit: I thought it a good Idea to summarize all the changes listed for anyone who might have gotten lost on the way

Nerf Chaos bolt by 10% and make it a 10 second Cooldown
Buff the output of Conflag by about 25% and Shadowburn by 20%
Buff Immolate by 10% and Wither by 25% (for PvP) and 15% for PvE
Buff Incinerate by 15%
Buff Soul Fire by 40%, and make it cost 1 Soul Shard/Ember and the listed recommended changes to Decimation
Lower the cooldown of Shadowfury from 1 minute down to 45 seconds and make the cast time a baseline 1 second cast time (down from 1.5 seconds) to make Darkfury a better more attactive pick
Add Ember Tap, Cost 1 Soul Shard/Ember 3 charges, 1 minute CD each charge. Restores 25% hp over 10 seconds
Add Kil Jaeden’s Cunning, Lets you cast while moving for 6 seconds. 2 charges, 1 minute CD, Costs 1 Soul Shard/Ember and be off the GCD
Nerf Dark pact by 20-25%

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I mean, you said it’s outdated and all I read was the same stuff, but redistributing dmgs everywhere, so nothing feels impactful, and our main spender feels like a wet noodle.

I agree that destro feels a bit meh , would like to see something done with the way the spec deals dmgs because it feels out of theme, nothing about destro feels “destructive”, you do not feel a frenetic gameplay with huge nukes, and you do not feel that you are decimating your target, i got an idea a while ago about just overhaul the spec in a way that the more dmgs you deal the more you cast the more your dmgs increse and the cast times are faster then your spells turns into massive nukes that just deletes your target, or at least feels like it.

It would be something like, cast X incinerate X inmolates X chaosbolt, and then u gain access to let’s call it “peak of destruction” that turns your spells into let’s call it “supreme incinerate” that turns your incinerate into a beam of flame just like Guldan in Nighthold, immolate turns into lets called “cremation” a dot that amplifys your fire dmgs while doing high dot dmgs and exploding at the end of it for X dmgs you deal while the upgraded immolate was up, that dot cannot be mantain, you may even throw in the mix utility spells like shadowfury/deathcoil/darkpack/UR something like shadowfury tramsform into “blazingfury” that stuns your target for 1 more sec, during that time your crit/dmgs is increase by X and after the stuns fades the target is rooted for 2 secs, darkpact could heal you and make the shield bigger also exploding and knocking stuff off.

That’s a way to rework the spec, make it fun, interesting, and not obsolete

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Honestly frost mage has the gameplay style I’d like to see for Destro. Their overall damage is meh, but the way it’s dealt is very spikey and good for quickly dispatching fragile targets.

The buildup to a glacial spike/flurry/shatter combo feels impactful and fun. It’s a shame Destro can’t feel that way.

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Im okay with Chaos Bolt returning to a CD.

But it needs to hit HARD
Cost no shards
Pierce absorbs
Fast cast time

Ya know, how it used to be.
It’s not Chaos Bolt if it’s not deleting 1/2 a health bar in PvP or causing the yellow crit number to fill half your screen raiding.

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What do you mean, CB hits really really hard in PVP, I’m in full green gear and I was hitting 3-2.5 M bolts on pvp yesterday vs entirely gear players, CB is threatening if you chain 2 that’s a defensive for sure, the problem is that the fantasy on it is lacking, yes I throw a fat bolt at you and magically disappear 40% of your hp cool, the journey to that its meh and the visual on it is also meh, don’t get me wrong watching some one eat a fat cb is orgasmic but man it could be waaaaaaay better, destro should re-take its place as king of control in PVP right now its okish and that’s no bueno

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I have to admit I disagree with your proposals. I strongly reject your proposition to nerf Chaos Bolt and bake the damage into other spells. The whole fun part about Destruction has always been hitting extremely hard.

With that said, the reason Destruction feels outdated in PVP isn’t because of the spec itself, but because every other class has so many micro-ccs, interrupts, and methods to avoid Destructions damage.

Yesterday I played a Solo Shuffle match with two Restoration shaman, a Warrior, an Elemental Shaman, and Outlaw Rogue. It makes it almost impossible to get a Chaos Bolt off so I don’t get to fulfil the specialization fantasy of Destruction’s chaotic damage profile. Too many specializations have so much micro cc and mobility that we can no longer “outtrade” cooldowns on Destruction to eventually get an opportunity to outrange and hardcast against adequate players.

Destruction needs mobility or another spell which will allow offensive hardcasting without us having to sacrificed our defensive.

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This is a far cry from old destro.
CB had a CD that took at least 1/2 a player’s health will full resilience… if you let the warlock get the cast off.

Conflagrate could do close to same damage if immolate wasn’t dispelled.

It ignored PW:Shield, AMS, deterrence and other absorbs.

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Something I suggested and think would help immensely especially in mobility.

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whenever I play destro teleport always feels out of place. Its not really like a shadowpriest where you need to telegraph tank positioning, or hunter/balance where you can creep to the outside, it feels more like you’re positioning like an evoker in midrange, being able to clump a bit more than other classes and just using teleport to help create gaps as mechanics call for it… which just doesn’t really seem to hit the mark for what destruction should be?

I think destruction could shift more power into mid range, something like channel demonfire or cataclysm being a cone, incinerate/bolt are fine as max range, I’m not saying the spec needs to be stunted to evoker level of attack range, but having incentives to play in the midrange and consequently balancing the defensive & mobility kit more around that actually being the normative playstyle. Like I think it was a ridiculous design direction making meta a demonology talent instead of destruction, why would a warlock “become a demon” just so they can go around controlling other demons.

Maybe it would be too much like DH if destruction became the metamorph spec, but I think malevolence kind of shows how they can incorporate minor forms of demonic enhancement instead, so either in the form of mobility, mild cleave/hellfire aura, living bomb style chaos bolt splash instead of havoc as an option. I think the spam nature of chaos bolt is just turning destruction/balance/mm into copies of one another where it feels like you’re just shifting the filler responsibilities. Destruction could easily maintain the ability to poke long range, but become deadlier the closer you let them get.

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Yup so many of the old lock abilities had really cool interactions with different things, with qol usages.

Really feels like the class in general has moved backwards instead of forward.

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