Warlock

Affliction: DoTs and drains

• Row 1: Improved Life Tap (+20% mana), Suppression (up to +5% hit, -20% threat), Improved Corruption (instant, +10% damage).
• New Soul Harvest: a kill under your Drain Soul gives +100% mana regen for 10 s, with full regen while casting.
• New Improved Drains: +20% to Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack.
• New Pandemic: +100% crit damage bonus on Corruption, both Banes, the drains, Siphon Life and Wrack.
• New Malevolence: +5% crit chance on Shadow spells.
• Nightfall: Corruption, drains and Wrack can proc an instant Shadow Bolt.
• 16-point: Curse of Exhaustion, moved up to row 4, now a 30% slow.
• Row 5: Siphon Life, and New Soul Siphon (drains +12% per other Affliction effect on the target, max 36%).
• 31-point: New Wrack, a 6 s Shadow channel that also makes your other Shadow DoTs on that target hit 10% harder.

Demonology: you and the demon

• Row 1: New Unholy Power moved up (+10% pet damage), Demonic Embrace (+15% Stamina, no longer lowers Spirit), Improved Health Funnel.
• New Demonic Energies: your spell damage heals the pet (15%) and Life Tap also fills the pet's mana.
• New Fel Vitality (+15% pet health and mana, +15% your mana) and New Demonic Aegis (+30% Demon Skin/Armor).
• 11-point: Demonic Sacrifice, reworked into a 2 h buff. Imp +15% Shadow damage, Voidwalker mana regen, Succubus or Incubus +15% Fire damage, Felhunter health regen.
• 16-point: Fel Domination (needs Master Summoner).
• New Demonic Brand: Searing Pain brands the target and your pet's next attacks deal bonus Fire or Shadow damage. Shadow damage is high threat, so a Voidwalker gains threat and an Imp does not.
• New Decimation: Soul Fire cooldown -90%; Shadow Bolt or Searing Pain on a target under 35% makes Soul Fire faster and shard-free for 10 s.
• 21-point: Soul Link, moved up from 31 (pet takes 30% of your damage, both deal +3%).
• New Demonic Knowledge: extra spell damage for you and the pet, scaling with your level, while a demon is out.
• Master Demonologist, redesigned: Imp more Fire damage, Voidwalker less Physical damage taken, Succubus or Incubus more Shadow damage, Felhunter less Magic damage taken.
• 31-point: New Demonic Pact. Summoning a different demon no longer cancels Demonic Sacrifice, so you keep the Sacrifice buff and a pet.

Destruction: Fire and Shadow burst

• Row 1: Destructive Reach (+20% range on Destruction spells), Improved Shadow Bolt, Bane (-0.5 s on Shadow Bolt, Immolate, Incinerate; -2 s Soul Fire).
• Row 2: New Molten Skin (-10% damage taken), Cataclysm (-10% mana cost), Aftermath (Immolate +50% initial hit; Conflagrate dazes).
• Ruin moved to row 3: +100% crit damage bonus on Destruction spells.
• 16-point: Conflagrate, moved up from row 7.
• 21-point: New Bane of Havoc. 15% of the damage you deal to other targets is copied to the Baned target (one target, 5 min).
• New Shadow and Flame: Conflagrate gives +10% Shadow damage and Shadowburn +10% Fire damage, 20 s each. At 5/5 Conflagrate keeps Immolate and Shadowburn refunds its shard.
• Pyroclasm: stun chance on Soul Fire, Rain of Fire and Hellfire.
• 31-point: New Incinerate, a 2.5 s Fire nuke, +25% damage on a target with your Immolate.

Levelling spec

• Affliction. Icy Veins, Method and Conquest Capped all pick it.
• Why: instant Corruption, Bane of Agony tags a mob instantly, DoTs tick while you move, and Drain Life plus Siphon Life heal back what Life Tap spends.
• Demonology is the safer second pick (strong pet, more mana spent).
• Destruction is the weakest leveller. Icy Veins says wait until 40 (Shadow and Flame plus Incinerate) before playing it.

Roles (dungeons and raids)

• Every spec is ranged DPS. There is no warlock tank or healer.
• Affliction: best when mobs live long enough for DoTs to tick (elites, bosses); fast dungeon pulls die before it pays off.
• Destruction: front-loaded damage suits fast dungeon groups; Bane of Havoc is a two-target cleave.
• Demonology: Blizzard built Demonic Brand so a Voidwalker can hold threat. Treat it as a pet tank for solo and small groups.
• Raid ranking at 60: unknown until the first logs (raids open 9 Dec).

Rotation: Affliction

Rotation: Demonology

Rotation: Destruction

Raid rotations and every build as a tree: Warlock builds.

Stats

• Spell power first (Icy Veins, Conquest Capped).
• New Hit and crit are each one stat for spells, melee and ranged.
• Hit: 4/5 Suppression (4%) is enough to never miss mobs your level or lower.
• Crit: DoTs and drains can crit in Forever; Pandemic and Malevolence make crit worth more for Affliction.
• Spirit: New Life Tap now scales with Spirit.
• Haste (Spellstone, Berserking) speeds casts, not DoT ticks.
• Stamina: health to tap and drain-tank with.
• No hit cap number is published for 60. Do not chase one yet.

Key changes vs Classic

• New Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom are Banes. One Bane per warlock per target, alongside one Curse.
• Curse of the Elements now covers all magic damage. Curse of Shadows is gone.
• New Pets scale from your stats.
• New Firestone (Fire damage, crit) and Spellstone (Shadow damage, spell haste) are weapon imbues that stack with Wizard Oil. Firestone at 28, Spellstone at 36.
• New Drain Soul gives shards from its ticks, with a rising chance each tick. Casting another spell interrupts it.
• Hellfire (learned at 30) can now crit. It still damages you as well.
• Ranks far below your level get less spell power and a lower talent proc chance. Keep current ranks on your bars.
• Wands no longer scale with spell power, and you must stand still 0.5 s before the wand fires.
• Your current pet is stunned while you summon a new one.
• Incubus: a male option for the Succubus at 20, not new in Forever (Classic Era has had it since 2022); the talents treat them the same.
• Talents start at 10, with 1-point milestones at 11, New 16, 21 and 31. Respec at a class trainer in a major city. Dual spec at 40.
• Ritual of Summoning is the only way to summon players.

Race choice (Horde, racials after the 26-27 Oct pass)

Horde warlock races: Orc, Undead, New Troll. Skyborne cannot be a warlock.

• Orc: Blood Fury +10% attack and spell power for 15 s, now on a 2 min cooldown; New Command is back (+5% warlock pet damage); Shatter Curse now removes Curses and Banes, then -5% magic damage taken for 8 s; Hardiness (-20% stun duration).
• Undead: Touch of the Grave (30% chance on damaging spells to drain up to 5% of your max health, once per 15 s, not from DoT ticks); Cannibalize returns health and mana; Will of the Forsaken (charm, fear, sleep).
• Troll New: Berserking +10% cast and attack speed, now 15 s (casts only, not DoT ticks); Regeneration +20% health regen; Rapid Regeneration, a 6 s channel for 50% of your max health, 3 min, broken by moving, acting or taking damage; Beast Slaying +5% vs Beasts.
• Quick picks: Demonology → Orc (the only pet-damage racial). Levelling comfort → Undead (Conquest Capped's pick).
• PvP ruleset: Method rates Orc's Hardiness and Shatter Curse, and Undead's Will of the Forsaken, for PvP stuns, curses and fears.

Professions and gear

• Tailoring + Enchanting is the pick (Icy Veins, Method, Conquest Capped).
• New Tailoring makes bind-on-pickup Filigreed Shadow and Flame pieces (gown at 15, leggings at 20, circlet at 25). Shadow suits Affliction, Flame suits Demonology and Destruction.
• Enchanting makes the Lesser and Greater Magic Wand and turns your Tailoring leftovers into mats.
• Cooking (bonus-XP food) and First Aid are worth the secondary slots.
• Wand to chase: Gravestone Scepter, a Blackfathom Deeps quest reward.
• Pre-raid and BiS lists: none yet. Level-60 gear was never in the beta (it capped at 30). We post a list after launch.

Sources Blizzard beta notes · Blizzard deep dive · Icy Veins · Method · Conquest Capped · client data 1.60.1.70009

Talent rules

• First point at level 10, 51 points by 60.
• 1-point milestones at 11, New 16, 21 and 31 points in a tree.
• New Talented Legacy perk: up to 5 extra talent points (Icy Veins). The builds below leave them out.
• Respec at any class trainer in a major city. Dual spec at 40.
• Calculators: Icy Veins · Wowhead
• Every build below opens pre-filled in the Icy Veins calculator from its link.

Affliction 40/11/0 (levelling, Icy Veins' pick)

Open in calculator

• Suppression 4/5 first: you stop missing mobs your level or lower.
• Icy Veins dips into Demonology at 31-41 for Demonic Sacrifice, then takes Wrack at 51.
• Alternative: Method and Conquest Capped stay in Affliction and take Wrack at 40. Pick that if you want the channel sooner and don't need the Sacrifice buff.

Demonology 20/31/0 (levelling, pet-led)

Open in calculator

• Voidwalker plus Demonic Brand tanks; Soul Link at 30 makes you hard to kill.
• Demonic Pact at 40 lets you keep the Sacrifice buff and still run a demon.
• PvP ruleset: Conquest Capped picks Demonology for "a tougher demon and safer pulls", especially on PvP realms, and calls the Felhunter (30) "the best pick on PvP realms".

Destruction 6/11/34 (from 40 only)

Open in calculator

• Icy Veins: level as Affliction, then respec to this at 40, when Shadow and Flame and Incinerate are both online.
• Bane of Havoc plus a second mob is your cleave in dungeons.

Dungeons at 30 (Icy Veins beta builds)

The level-30 dungeon builds from Icy Veins' PvE guides, played in the beta.

• Calculator links: Affliction 30 · Demonology 30 · Destruction 30
• At 60, before raids, the 51-point levelling builds above are a fair starting point for dungeons.

Raid (level 60 theory, untested)

! Nobody has played past 30 in Forever and raids open 9 Dec. These come from wowtbc.gg's Forever PvE guides (read 31 Oct; the pages show no update date). Plans, not proven builds. We recheck them in launch week.

Affliction 35/11/5 (Wrack)

• wowtbc.gg also lists a Shadow Bolt Affliction build 31/0/20.

Demonology 2/31/18 (Fire Imp)

• Same split with a Shadow Succubus instead of the Imp. No Demonology raid rotation is published yet.

Destruction 18/0/33 (Incinerate)

PvP (level 60 theory, untested)

Destruction 0/13/38 (RankedBoost)

• One source, built on beta client 70450. Low confidence until people play 60.

Classic Era for comparison

Long-standing Classic Era builds on the Classic tree, from Icy Veins' Classic guides (the PvP one read off its build image). They show where the Forever builds came from; don't copy them into Forever.

Macros ! unconfirmed

! Forever's macro syntax is not documented anywhere yet. These are standard modern-client conditionals; test them in game first.
Pet attack plus Corruption:

#showtooltip
/petattack
/cast Corruption

Mouseover Corruption (DoT a second mob):

#showtooltip Corruption
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Corruption

Focus Fear (keep a second mob locked down):

#showtooltip Fear
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Fear

Cooldown Manager (our suggestion)

• New The Cooldown Manager is in beta, off by default. Turn it on under Options > Gameplay Enhancement.
• Our layout, not a guide's:
• Essential row: Conflagrate, Shadowburn, Soul Fire, Death Coil (42), Howl of Terror (40).
• Buff row: Shadow Trance (Nightfall proc), Shadow and Flame buffs, Blood Fury or Berserking.
• Leave Demonic Sacrifice off; it lasts 2 h.
• ! Known issues (Blizzard, 24 Sep): Bane and Curse tracking drops when you drop and re-take a target, and Healthstone and pet cooldowns can't be tracked. Spell ranks now show as one entry (16 Oct).

Sources Blizzard beta notes · Blizzard deep dive · Icy Veins calculator · Icy Veins levelling · Method · Conquest Capped

New Forever changes that matter for levelling

• Curse of Agony is now Bane of Agony: one Bane plus one Curse per target, so you DoT and curse the same mob Live
• New Life Tap scales with Spirit Live
• New Drain Soul can give a Soul Shard on any tick, not only on the kill Beta
• New Pets scale from your stats; your current pet is stunned while you summon a new one Live / Beta
• Wands no longer scale with spell power and fire only after 0.5 s standing still Beta
• Ranks far below your level get less spell power: keep the spells you press on current ranks Beta
• New Riding training gives you a mount, but Summon Felsteed still exists at 40 (see Class quests) Live
• New Troll Warlock is new for Horde. Races: Warlock guide

Spec by level

• 1-9: no talents yet (from 5 with the Legacy perk Talented). Imp, Immolate, then Corruption at 4 and a wand from 5.
• 10-40: Affliction. Icy Veins, Wowhead, Method and Conquest Capped all pick it. Instant Corruption, Bane of Agony tags a mob at once, DoTs tick while you move.
• From 30, rank 3 Drain Life beats any wand as the filler, so you drain-tank (Wowhead).
• Demonology is the safer pet-led pick: Wowhead calls it "a weaker Affliction" until Demonic Brand at 25-27, then the demon holds threat and does a large share of the damage. Conquest Capped prefers it on PvP realms.
• 40: Dual spec opens. Icy Veins' Affliction dips into Demonology 31-41 for Demonic Sacrifice; Method and Conquest Capped take Wrack at 40 instead.
• Destruction is the weakest leveller (Conquest Capped: drink after almost every fight). Icy Veins: only from 40, once Shadow and Flame and Incinerate are online. Build: Warlock builds
• Dungeons: Affliction pays off on mobs that live; fast pulls die before DoTs tick. Destruction's front-loaded damage suits fast groups.

AoE: what works in Forever

• Solo: fight 2-3 mobs, not packs. DoT the second mob and Fear it while the demon and your DoTs kill the first (Wowhead, Conquest Capped).
• Icy Veins for packs: Corruption on every mob (instant from 18), Bane of Agony only on mobs that live long enough.
• Rain of Fire (20): Icy Veins uses it on packs a tank holds. Wowhead says skip it and use Hellfire.
• Hellfire (30): now crits, but burns you too and draws heavy threat. Icy Veins and Conquest Capped: only with a healer behind you.
• Seed of Corruption: in no Forever source or trainer list.
• No Forever source covers solo warlock AoE pulls. Green mobs also give less XP, so big low-level pulls pay less.

Talents: Affliction (main build)

• Icy Veins' order, 40/11/0, same as Warlock builds (calculator links there).
• Suppression 4/5 first: you stop missing mobs your level or lower.
• Want Wrack sooner? Method and Conquest Capped take it at 40 and skip the Demonology dip.
• Forever trees: 7 rows, 51 points. New The 16-point talent sits in row 4 (needs 15 points in the tree): level 25 at the earliest, 20 with Talented. Affliction's (Curse of Exhaustion) is not in this build.
• Talented (Legacy) gives each point up to 5 levels early. Dual spec at 40.

Talents: Demonology (pet-led)

• Icy Veins' order, 20/31/0, same as Warlock builds.
• Demonic Brand: Searing Pain marks the target; the demon's next 6 attacks deal bonus damage, and Shadow damage adds threat (Voidwalker).
• Fel Domination (28) is the 16-point talent: with Master Summoner your next summon is near instant.
• Soul Link (30): the demon takes 30% of your damage. Demonic Pact (40): keep the Sacrifice buff and a demon out.
• Instant Corruption only arrives at 45-49 here. Wowhead mentions a respec if you want it early.

Talents: Destruction (respec at 40)

• Icy Veins' 6/11/34: level as Affliction, then respec to this at 40, once Shadow and Flame and Incinerate are both online. Full order on Warlock builds.
• Conquest Capped calls Destruction the weakest leveller: expect to drink after almost every fight.

Rotation: Affliction

Rotation: Demonology

Trainer visits

Spells and ranks by level (beta client). Up to 20, train whenever you are in town: most even levels add something.

• New ranks of Corruption, Life Tap and Bane of Agony come every 10 levels; Drain Life every 8 (22, 30, 38, 46, 54).
• Keep current: Corruption, Bane of Agony, Life Tap, Drain Life (your filler from 30), Fear (32, 56), Demon Skin/Armor, Healthstone, Soulstone.
• Rank 1 is enough (Wowhead): Drain Soul (shard farming), Curse of Recklessness, Searing Pain if Affliction.
• Skip (Wowhead): Curse of Weakness, Drain Mana, Subjugate Demon, Soul Fire, Firestone for Affliction (Spellstone from 36 instead). Wowhead also skips Rain of Fire; keep it if you run dungeons with a tank (Icy Veins).
• Why: a spell you never press is wasted gold, and an old rank of a spell you do press loses spell power.
• Costs: not published for Forever. Wowhead: rank 1 Immolate costs 10 copper at level 1, so vendor your starting gear first.

Class quests and demons

Beta covered 1-30. Quest names from RestedXP's Forever guide and Wowhead's Forever database.

• Imp (1-4): a quest, not known from level 1. Orc/Troll: Vile Familiars from Ruzan, Valley of Trials (6 Vile Familiar Heads). Undead: Piercing the Veil from Venya Marthand, Deathknell (3 Rattlecage Skulls).
• Voidwalker (10): do the Undercity version: Halgar's Summons (Ageron Kargal, Brill inn), Creature of the Void (Egalin's Grimoire from Perrine's Chest), The Binding (Carendin Halgar). RestedXP sends Orc/Troll warlocks to Tirisfal for it. The Orgrimmar version runs through Skull Rock; Method and Conquest Capped call it the dangerous one.
• Sayaad (20): Succubus or Incubus (talents call them Sayaad). Orgrimmar chain: Devourer of Souls (Gan'rul Bloodeye), Blind Cazul, News of Dogran (Crossroads, then Ken'zigla in Stonetalon), Ken'zigla's Draught, Dogran's Captivity, Love's Gift, The Binding with Dogran's Pendant.
• ! Conquest Capped: pick one of the two; grimoires don't carry over between them.
• Felhunter (30): Seeking Strahad, three parts of Tome of the Cabal, The Binding at Strahad Farsan in Ratchet. Reward: Summon Felhunter and a Box of Souls (16-slot soul bag). ! Conquest Capped puts the tome parts in Hillsbrad, Thousand Needles and Wetlands (contested, no Horde flight point).
• Felsteed (40): Summon Felsteed needs level 40. Wowhead's guide lists it at the trainer; Wowhead's database still holds the quest to Strahad Farsan in Ratchet. ! Whether you also need riding training is not published.
• Orb or Staff of Soran'ruk (25): Doan Karhan, The Barrens; fragments drop in Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep. Staff: +14 Stamina, +34 Fire and Shadow damage.
• Demon spells (Blood Pact, Torment, Sacrifice, Consume Shadows, Lash of Pain) are Grimoires from the Demon Trainer beside your class trainer.

Soul Shards and sustain

• Shards feed Healthstones (Method), Ritual of Summoning and demon summons (Wowhead). The Imp is free (Conquest Capped); a fresh Sayaad costs a shard (Wowhead).
• New Drain Soul rank 1 on a mob your demon is tanking can give shards from any tick; you no longer need the killing blow.
• Bags: the 20 quest gives a Small Soul Pouch (14 slots) !, the Felhunter quest a Box of Souls (16).
• Keep a Healthstone in your bags; Soulstone the healer at the start of a dungeon.
• Life Tap when health is spare, ideally while walking to the next pull. Don't sit at full health with mana missing.
• Taking damage pushes back Drain Life; Fel Concentration gives a 70% chance to ignore it (at 59-60 in the Affliction build).
• A dying pet: a bandage or resummon usually beats Health Funnel (Wowhead).

Gear and stats

• Spell power, then Stamina (health to tap), Intellect, Spirit (New Life Tap scales with it).
• New Hit and crit are one stat each for spells, melee and ranged. 4/5 Suppression covers hit against your level.
• Wands: Lesser Magic Wand (req 5), Greater Magic Wand (req 13), from Enchanters or the Auction House. Gravestone Scepter (29 DPS Shadow wand) is a choice from Blackfathom Villainy in Blackfathom Deeps.
• New Caster weapons now carry spell damage. Warlocks can use staves; RestedXP trains them at the Thunder Bluff weapon master.
• New Tailoring's BoP Filigreed Shadow Gown (15) suits Affliction; the Flame one suits Demonology.
• Weapon imbues: Spellstone (36, Shadow) for both specs; Firestone (28, Fire) only for Demonology until 36.

Professions, camp and consumables

• Tailoring + Enchanting (Icy Veins, Method, Conquest Capped): BoP Filigreed gear, plus wands and disenchanting.
• Cooking: New crafted food adds +5% kill XP to Well Fed Beta. First Aid for bandages.
• Camp: a Leatherworker's Camp Tent tops rested XP up to 5% of a level Live. Wowhead's caster picks: Mana Well, Incense Candle (Intellect), First Aid Kit (Stamina), Camp Chair (crit).
• Legacy: Thrill of Adventure returns 1% health and mana per rank on kills outside dungeons; Talented for alts. See Legacy system.
• Macros (focus Fear, mouseover Corruption, pet attack): Warlock builds. ! Test at launch.

Common mistakes

• Clipping DoTs, or putting your full set on a mob that is about to die. Wand it.
• Wanding on the move: you must stand still 0.5 s first.
• Fearing into another pack. Fear has 20 yd range; fight away from packs. Wowhead: Curse of Recklessness makes a feared mob ignore Fear and come back.
• Letting Demon Skin or Demon Armor drop (Method).
• Keeping low ranks on your bars: they lose spell power.
• Hellfire solo with no healing.

Route

• Orc / Troll: Durotar 1-10, then RestedXP sends warlocks to Tirisfal 10-12 for the Undercity Voidwalker, Silverpine 12-14, then The Barrens. See Horde 1-22 in Levelling.
• Undead: Tirisfal 1-12 (Voidwalker in the Undercity), Silverpine 12-14, The Barrens.
• RestedXP stops at Orgrimmar's trainer around 16-18 and at 20, where the Sayaad chain runs through Crossroads, Stonetalon and the Barrens alongside its 17-22 questing.
• 22-60: no verified route; see 22-60: zones by level in Levelling. Plan the Felhunter (30) and Felsteed (40) trips to Ratchet.

Dungeons

• 15-25: Ragefire Chasm, Ruins of Lordaeron, Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep (Soran'ruk fragment). Deadmines only for the 15-25 Legacy point.
• 24-32: Blackfathom Deeps for Soran'ruk fragments and the Gravestone Scepter. See its post in Dungeons.
• Learn Ritual of Summoning at 20: no summoning stones in Forever. It needs you plus 2 party members.
• Bring Hellfire from 30 for tanked packs; a healer has to cover you.
• Blizzard says dungeons must not be the fastest way to level. Legacy pays one point per final boss in each bracket.

Unverified until launch

• Everything past 30 (beta cap), including the Felhunter chain and the Felsteed quest versus trainer.
• Riding cost and level, and whether the Felsteed needs riding.
• Small Soul Pouch from the level-20 quest; Sayaad grimoire rule.
• Rain of Fire for dungeons: Icy Veins and Wowhead disagree.

Sources Icy Veins Affliction · Wowhead Affliction · Wowhead Demonology · Method · Conquest Capped · Conquest Capped quests · Blizzard deep dive · Blizzard beta notes · RestedXP · client data 1.60.1.70009