Demonology in Forever is built on Demonic Pact. Before the pull you sacrifice your Imp for Burning Shadow, 15 % more Shadow damage for two hours, then summon a Succubus, and Pact keeps the sacrifice alive. The Succubus adds Master Demonologist, Soul Link and Demonic Knowledge, so four bonuses stack on every Shadow Bolt. Around it you keep your dots, a Bane and Curse of the Elements up, and Life Tap pays the mana with your health. On a one-minute single-boss fight the build does 810.9 DPS, 7th of 25 damage specs.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

• Any length of single-boss fight. Nothing waits for a long cooldown, so you rank 7th on one minute and 7th on three.
• Bonuses that stack. Demonic Pact and the sacrifice it keeps are worth 10.2 % of your damage, Master Demonologist 7.3 % and Soul Link 2.9 %. In Classic you had to choose between a sacrifice and a demon.
• Mana from your health. Life Tap turns 424 health plus your Spirit into as much mana, so mana rarely holds you back. Its line is worth 25.0 % on a three-minute single-boss fight.

Weaknesses

• Short fights against several bosses. Your three-boss damage is dots, and Bane of Doom needs a full minute to land. You rank 13th on a one-minute fight against three bosses and 8th on a three-minute fight against three bosses.
• Globals spent on mana. On a three-minute single-boss fight you Life Tap about 4.7 times a minute, and a healer has to give that health back.
• A long setup. Two ten-second summons, one costing a Soul Shard, come before the pull. If the Succubus dies, summon another Succubus: bringing the Imp back cancels Burning Shadow.

On every fight

On one boss Demonology holds its rank at every length, because its damage is a steady stream of Shadow Bolts with no burst to save. Against three bosses it climbs as the fight gets longer and the dots on every boss have time to tick: Corruption alone is 29.6 % of your damage on a three-minute fight against three bosses. The table switches this guide between fights.

Races

For the Alliance, Human leads every fight. Sword Specialization now gives 2 % crit to spells while you hold a sword, every set's Sageblade is one, and your Succubus inherits the crit. Gnomes follow with 5 % more mana and Eureka!.

For the Horde, Undead lead on two and three minutes through the caster version of Touch of the Grave: one spell in ten pulls 5 % of your maximum health out of the boss as Shadow damage. On one-minute fights the Troll is ahead, because Berserking at the pull speeds your casts by 10 % for a sixth of the fight.

What a Warlock brings to the raid

Your curse is the raid's: Curse of the Elements now raises every magic school's damage on the boss by 10 %, because Forever merged Curse of Shadow into it. A boss carries only one, so agree with your raid's other warlocks who curses which boss. With your Imp sacrificed you give your party no Blood Pact. Curse of Recklessness shows nothing because our simulator puts it in one slot with the raid's Faerie Fire.

Changes

Demonic Pact's result on this fight after each release of the simulator or the client data. Updates covers what each release changed.