Summoners in World of Warcraft will soon have more fun again. With Battle for Azeroth, the demon warlocks are getting a makeover!
Demonology warlocks have been in a bad position in World of Warcraft since Legion. They lost their Metamorphosis – a powerful, temporary transformation into a demon with cool extra abilities. The reason was the introduction of demon hunters, who also mastered Metamorphosis. To give demon hunters another unique feature, it had to be taken away from warlocks.
This led to Blizzard giving the demonology warlock a rework with Legion. Instead of becoming a demon themselves, the number of summoned demons was increased. These had to be empowered every few seconds, and it took a long time for the warlock to ramp up and deal damage. Or, in short: Demonology has not been fun for many players anymore.
Now that the Burning Legion is more or less shut down, new leaders are needed for the demons – and evidently, the warlock is taking care of that! With Battle for Azeroth, they will be able to summon more demons than ever before. This refers not only to the number of different creatures but also to the amount of simultaneously active demons. It will often happen that 8, 9, or even 10 demons beat down on the opponent at the same time.
Which new demons there are in detail, we have revealed in this article.
Get rid of the ballast, bring in the fun!
The best news first: Demonic Empowerment is completely gone. This spell was used to grant all active demons 50% speed and additional health for 12 seconds. Since demons were summoned constantly and had a short lifespan, it almost took mathematical precision to cast the spell at the optimal moment. Often, warlocks spammed it “by feel” and it never really felt meaningful.
Also completely gone is Demonic Wrath. This spell was channeled and caused all summoned demons to deal damage around them. This was of little help when a significant portion of the demons consisted of ranged attackers who weren’t even close to the enemy masses.
The missing spells have been replaced by cooler mechanics or special DPS cooldowns with noticeable effects.
- Imp Explosion is now available for every demon warlock – Those who want to throw their imps at the enemy and make them explode will surely have a lot of fun.
- The Demon Commander summons a strong demon that enhances the duration and damage of all other demons.
Imps have gained more significance, as with Imp Swarm it is possible to summon up to 5 at once. Whenever the imps attack, there is a chance to gain a stack of Molten Core, which in turn reduces the cast time of Soul Fire – a particularly powerful fireball with high burst damage.
These changes are intended to make the demon warlock feel much more active and exciting to play. Whether that really works in reality will be seen in the coming weeks and months as more players enter the alpha and beta of Battle for Azeroth.
