Below you will find my concepts for a Warlock Destruction rebuild given the new level parameters revealed at Blizzcon, 1-50; Talents from 10-60. Eventually I will move through all the specs/classes, but this is to give an idea of what kind of things I feel make a 'complete' class, combining classic wow designs with some modern mechanics and philosophies.
Stealth Edit: 7/19/19 - Updated Build and played with formatting for future posts.
Stealth Edit: 11/4/19 - Updated with new Blizzcon level ranges
TLDR: Destro has had an extremely limited toolkit over the years, but at the same time several of its abilities are considered core to the Warlock class. Created a spec hook with a āCycleā mechanic introduced by BFA trinkets and tied the Mastery into that, creating a natural ebb and flow to Destro damage and giving them ability hooks to modify that. Destro wont have many spells re-introduced, but several of its core skills have instead been worked into other specs. Warlock spec is now heavily defined by 1-10 pre-spec, with post 10 trying to work more on iterations.
Destruction Advancement and Core Abilities: 1-25
1: Soul Shards (Passive): You maintain a collection of Soul Shards, which are used to power some of your spells. Soul Shards are consumed to cast your most powerful abilities. While out of combat you regenerate up to 3 Soul Shards.
1: Command Demons: You learn to conjure and command demonic and other extraplanar beings.
1: Summon: Imp: Summon an Imp under your command that casts ranged Firebolts. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
1: Shadow Bolt: Release a bolt of energy, dealing Shadow damage.
2: Eye of Kilrogg: Summon an Eye of Kilrogg that binds your vision to it. The eye is invisible and moves quickly but is very fragile. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
2: Immolate: Burn your enemy, causing Fire damage immediately and additional Fire damage over 18 seconds.
3: Unending Breath: Allow an ally to breathe underwater and increases swim speed by 20% for 10 minutes.
3: Corruption: Corrupt the targetās form and soul, dealing Shadow damage over 14 seconds. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
4: Fear: Strike fear into your enemy, disorienting them for up to 20 seconds. Damage may cancel the effect. Limit 1
5: Summon: Voidwalker: Summon a Voidwalker under your command that can taunt and withstand heavy attacks. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
6: Create Healthstone: Conjure a healthstone that can be consumed to restore 25% health. Conjured items disappear if logged off for more than 15 minutes. Will summon a Soulwell if in a group
6: Soulstone: Store the soul of the target raid or party member, allowing resurrection if they die within 10 minutes. Can be cast on a dead target to resurrect them with 60% health and 20% mana. Can be used while in combat.
7: Health Funnel: Sacrifice 25% of your maximum health to heal your summoned Demon for twice as much over 5 seconds.
7: Drain Life: Drain life from the target, causing Shadow damage over 5 seconds and healing you for 500% of the damage done.
8: Ritual of Summoning: Begin a Ritual to create a summoning portal, requiring the caster and 2 allies to complete. This portal can be used to summon party and raid members.
8: Demonic Gateway: Create a demonic gateway between two locations. Activating the gateway transports the use to the other gateway. Each player can use a Demonic Gateway only once per 1.5 minutes. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
9: Empowered Summoning: Your next Summon spell is instant. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
9: Empowered Demon (Passive): Your summoned Demon or extraplanar being gains an activated ability, replacing Empowered Summoning while the pet is active.
10: Felsteed: Summon a Felsteed to serve as your mount
10: Cycle of Destruction (Passive): You gain a charge of Destructive Energy every 2 seconds, capping at 10 for 5 seconds, then decreasing every 2 seconds before turning off for 5 seconds, naturally cycling every 50 seconds. Destructive Energy increases your spell damage and reduces the damage you take by 2% for each stack.
10: Incinerate: Release a stream of Flames at your target, dealing Fire damage. Incinerate critical hits generate 1 Soul Shard. Can be cast while moving.
10: Burning Rush: Increase your movement speed by 50%, but also damage yourself for 4% of your maximum health every 1 second. Movement impairing effects may not reduce you below 100% of normal movement speed. Lasts until canceled.
11: Conflagrate: Trigger an explosion, dealing Fire damage. Generates 1 Soul Shard.
12: Soul Leech (Passive): All Single-Target damage done by you and your minions grant you and your pet shadowy shields that absorbs 8% of the damage dealt for 15 seconds, up to 10% of your maximum health.
13: Rain of Fire: Consume 3 Soul Shards to conjure bursts of flame from the sky over 8 seconds.
14: Shadowfury: Stun all enemies within 8 yards for 3 seconds.
15: Summon: Succubus: Summon a Succubus under your command that can seduce and disable your enemies. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
16: Curse of Exhaustion: Curse the target, reducing their movement speed by 30% for up to 30 seconds, or up to 5 minutes on a nonheroic target. A Warlock can only have one curse on their target at a time.
17: Ruin (Passive): Your critical strikes with your Single-Target spells grant you a charge of Destructive Energy. If Destructive Energy has no stacks, a critical strike jumpstarts the next cycle, instantly granting you 2 stacks of Destructive Energy.
18: Chaos Bolt: Consume 1-3 Soul Shards to unleash a devastating blast of energy to deal Chaos damage, which is guaranteed to critically strike. The more Shards consumed the more damage Chaos Bolt will deal.
19: Banish: Banish an enemy Demon, Aberration, or Elemental, preventing any action for 30 seconds. Limit 1. Casting Banish again on the target will cancel the effect.
19: Enslave Demon: Enslave the target demon up to your level, forcing it to do your bidding for up to 5 minutes. You cannot have a Demon enslaved while you also have one summoned.
20: Hellfire: Consume a Soul Shard to begin channeling bursts of Flame that deal Fire damage to enemies within 8 yards every second for up to 9 seconds.
20: Dreadsteed: Summon a Dreadsteed to serve as your mount
21: Shadowburn: 2 Charges. Blast a target for Shadowflame damage. If the target dies within 5 seconds and yields experience or honor, Shadowburnās cooldown is reset. Generates 1 Soul Shard.
22: Havoc: Mark the target for Havoc for 10 seconds, causing your single target spells to also strike the victim for 60% of the normal initial damage.
23: Fire and Brimstone (Passive): Casting Incinerate on an enemy with Immolate causes Incinerate to also hit all enemies near the target for 40% damage. Incinerate generates a Soul Shard if it hits at least three additional enemies.
24: Incinerate (Rank 2): Incinerates that do not critically strike have a chance of sending out a second flame that deals 50% damage.
25: Summon: Felhunter: Summon a Felhunter under your command, able to disrupt the magic of your enemies. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
Destruction Warlock Advancement and Core Abilities: 26-50
26: Curse of Weakness: Curse the target, reducing their physical attack damage by 10% for up to 10 seconds, or up to 5 minutes on a nonheroic target. A Warlock can only have one curse on their target at a time.
26: Curse of Tongues: Curse the target, increasing their casting time by 30% for up to 10 seconds, or up to 5 minutes on a nonheroic target. A Warlock can only have one curse on their target at a time.
27: Bane (Passive): Conflagrate/Fiery Rift reduces the cast time of your next Shadowbolt or Chaos Bolt by 30%, stacking up to 3 times for a 90% reduction. Your critical strikes have a chance of granting you a charge of Conflagrate/Fiery Rift.
28: Chaos Bolt (Rank 2): The damage of Chaos Bolt is further increased by your Critical Strike chance.
29: Embers of Argus (Passive): Your demons gain the damage bonus from your Cycle of Destruction.
30: Dark Soul: Infuse your soul with Unstable Power, increasing your critical strike chance by 30% for 20 seconds.
31: Conflagrate (Rank 2): Conflagrate/Fiery Rift gains an additional charge
32: Firestone (Passive): Whenever you or an ally consume a Healthstone you created you generate 2 charges of Destructive Energy. If used while at maximum stacks, the pause duration is extended by 5 seconds. If used while you have no Destructive Energy, it jumpstarts the next cycle, granting you 2 charges of Destructive Energy.
33: Cataclysm: Call forth cataclysmic force at the target location, dealing Shadowflame damage to all enemies within 8 yards and afflicting them with Immolate
34: Shadow Bolt (Rank 2): Shadow Bolt now gains twice the bonus damage from your Cycle of Destruction.
35: Summon: Infernal: Summon an Infernal from the Twisting Nether, impacting the target area for Fire damage and stunning all enemies in the impact zone for up to 2 seconds. The Infernal serves for up to 30 seconds, dealing Fire damage to all nearby enemies and generating a Soul Shard every 2 seconds. Costs 1 Soul Shard.
36: Curse of Recklessness: Curse the target, increasing the physical damage they take by 5% for up to 5 minutes. Nonheroic enemies are emboldened and will not flee. A Warlock can only have one curse on their target at a time.
37: Cremation (Passive): Immolate causes the target to gain a stack of Cremation with each tick of damage for 10 seconds, stacking up to 20. Conflagrate/Fiery Rift and Incinerateās chance to critically strike is increased by 1% per stack of Cremation.
38: Drain Life (Rank 2): Drain Life now deals Shadowflame damage and channeling it causes Immolation on the target to tick twice as fast.
38: Health Funnel (Rank 2): Health Funnel restores additional % health, based on your Destructive Energy.
39: Ruin (Rank 2): Your critical strikes while Destructive Energy is fully empowered increases the duration of the pause by 2 seconds.
40: Mastery ā Chaotic Energies (Passive): The Cycle of Destruction is disrupted by chaotic energy, granting additional % damage and damage reduction per stack, based on your Mastery.
41: Moment of Entropy: Pause the Cycle of Destruction for 5 seconds. Moment of Entropy does not cause a global cooldown and can be used while casting or channeling other spells.
42: Havoc (Rank 2): If the enemy dies while subject to Havoc, Havocās cooldown is instantly reset.
43: Hellfire (Rank 2): Critical hits with Hellfire grants you a charge of Destructive Energy.
44: Corruption (Rank 2): Corruption does not cost a Soul Shard while you are at maximum or at no charges of Destructive Energy.
45: Ritual of Doom: Summon a ritual alter for 1 minute. If you and at least two other allies channel at the alter it summons a Doomguard that will serve as your pet for up to 5 minutes. One of your allies assisting in the ritual will die, horribly. Costs 1 Soul Shard.
46: Curse of Elements: Curse the target, increasing the magic damage they take by 5% for up to 5 minutes. A Warlock can only have one curse on their target at a time.
47: Chaos Shards (Passive): Every Soul Shard you spend has a 15% chance to be refunded.
48: Demonic Circle: Summon a Demonic Circle for 15 minutes. Costs 1 Soul Shard. Can be used while your Eye of Kilrog is active, placing the circle at the eyeās location.
48: Demonic Circle: Teleport: Teleport to the location of your Demonic Circle and remove all movement impairing effects. Destroys the Demonic Circle.
49: Cremation (Rank 2): Hellfire and Rain of Fire/Orb of Annihilation generate stacks of Cremation.
50: Corrupted Cycle (Passive): Each tick of Immolation and Corruption has a chance of reducing the cooldown of Moment of Entropy and Havoc by .5 seconds.
Destruction Talents
Heat Death: Every time you cast Shadowbolt or Incinerate you gain a stack of Heat Death. At 5 stacks your next Shadowbolt deals Chaos damage.
Intensity: Shadow Boltās cast time is reduced by 5% for every charge of Destructive Energy you have.
Reverse Entropy: The duration of the pauses of Destructive Energy at 0 and 10 stacks are increased by 5 seconds, causing it to naturally cycle every 60 seconds. During the pauses you gain 15% Spell Haste.
Aftermath: Conflagrate burns the target for additional Fire damage over 6 seconds and the critical strikes of Conflagrate generates an additional Soul Shard.
Fiery Rift (Replaces Conflagrate): 2 Charges. Rip a fiery hole in time and space, damaging the target and generating a charge of Destructive Energy. Generates 1 Soul Shard.
Soul Fire: Release flames into an enemyās soul, dealing Fire damage. The cooldown of Soul Fire is reduced by 2 seconds for every Soul Shard you spend. Generates 1 Soul Shard.
Demon Skin: Your Soul Leech shield now passively recharges at a rate of .5% of maximum health every second and may now absorb damage up to 15% of your maximum health.
Entropic Barrier (Replaces Soul Leech): 100% of all Chaos damage you deal is converted into a barrier that absorbs damage, up to 25% of your maximum health. Whenever an Entropic Barrier is broken it cannot be reformed until your Cycle of Destruction reaches 0, at which point your Chaos damage once again converts into a barrier.
Dark Pact: Sacrifice 20% of your current health to shield you for 250% of the sacrificed health for 20 seconds. Usable while suffering from control impairing effects.
Armageddon Rain: The duration and radius of Rain of Fire and Hellfire is increased by 10-30%, increasing with your Destructive Energy.
Orb of Annihilation (Replaces Rain of Fire): Conjure an orb of energy and bombard the target location, dealing Chaos damage to enemies within 8 yards. The orb leaves behind fel desolation for 8 seconds, which deals Fire damage to enemies within it every second. Consumes 3 Soul Shards.
Channel Demonfire: Launch 15 bolts of felfire over 3 seconds at random targets afflicted by your Immolate within 40 yards. Each bolt increases the duration of Immolate on its target by 2 seconds, dealing Fire damage and additional Fire damage to enemies within 8 yards of the target. Consumes 1 Soul Shard.
Grimoire of the Destroyer: Your Infernal can be summoned permanently, however it no longer generates Soul Shards.
Grimoire of Supremacy: While you have an Infernal active, every Soul Shard you spend increases the damage of your Chaos Bolt by 8%
Grimoire of Sacrifice: Sacrifice your demon companion for power, gaining its Empowered Demon ability, and causing your spells to also deal additional Shadow damage. Lasts 1 hour or until you summon another demon companion.
Gift of KilāJaeden: Your demonic allies gain chaotic empowerments. The basic attacks of pets, including Firebolt, Lash of Pain, Consuming Shadows, and Shadow Bite deal additional Chaos damage. Your Infernal and Doom Guard gain an aura that deals Chaos damage to nearby enemies every 2 seconds.
Unbound Chaos: While in combat whenever you lose a stack of Destructive Energy you release a burst of energy, dealing Chaos damage to enemies within 4 yards.
Chaos Wake: Release waves of flame that cascade away from you, inflicting Chaos damage to all enemies caught in its wake and additional Fire damage over 12 seconds. Consumes 3 Soul Shards.