Much like all the previous expansions, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight introduces a variety of changes and new additions designed to spice things up and make classes and specs feel more unique. Some of these changes have been hit or miss in the past, but in the case of Destruction Warlocks, you can expect them to be mostly good in Dragonflight.

Thanks to the new talent trees, Destruction Warlocks, along with pretty much every other spec, have more options than ever before when it comes to creating their builds. Whether you want to focus on single-target, AoE, or some combination of both, there's going to be a build in Dragonflight that will fit your preferred playstyle like a glove.

What's New With Talents In Dragonflight?

One of the biggest new features added in Dragonflight is the revival of classic talent trees similar to the ones we've had during the game's first couple of expansions. That said, Dragonflight's talent trees are arguably better because they're a little more complex and each spec gets access to two of them, which gives you way more options to work with.

Due to the fact that the new talent trees are a bit overwhelming for new players, Blizzard decided to add Starter Builds for each spec that can easily be accessed, imported, or exported from inside the new UI. Going with one of the Starter Builds will save you some time, but we still recommend creating your own or modifying builds you find online because it will help you get familiarized with Dragonflight's versions of your favorite specs.

Warlock Class Talent Build - Dragonflight

The Warlock tree is shared between all three specs and is largely identical regardless of which one you're going to play. However, that doesn't mean you should use the exact same build for every spec. There are quite a few talents here that are useful to Destruction Warlocks, in particular, but aren't necessarily ideal for the other two specs. The build below covers the most important ones and is primarily meant for players who want a good mix of utility and DPS, though you can easily move a couple of talents around if you want to focus on one area more than the other.

Row 1:

There are three talents available on the first row, one of which gets unlocked automatically. Namely, Demonic Circle. Aside from that, you’ll want to grab Fel Domination while you’re here. Burning Rush is also good if you want more mobility, but we’re going to skip it for this build.

Row 2:

From the second row you’ll only want to pick up the two Soul Leech talents: Demon Skin Rank 2 and Fel Armor Rank 2. If you picked up Burning Rush earlier it wouldn’t be a bad idea to invest a couple of points into Fiendish Stride and skip one of the two aforementioned talents.

Row 3:

You want to spend two talent points on this row, the first of which should go into Curse of Enfeeblement. Next up you have a choice node where you’ll need to pick between Howl of Terror and Mortal Coil. They both revolve around fear, but one is AoE while the other is single-target. That said, the single-target talent, Mortal Coil also heals you for 20% of your maximum health, so we recommend going with that one.

Row 4:

From the fourth row we’ll want to grab almost everything, though you could skip one or two of these talents depending on your playstyle. Flat buffs like Demonic Embrace and Demonic Fortitude are always a must in our opinion, so we don’t recommend skipping those. Meanwhile, Demonic Inspiration and Wrathful Minion are both used to buff your pet and are generally pretty useful. Plus, we need them to unlock a couple of talents on the next row. As far as Banish is concerned, it’s a very useful spell but it’s pretty situational. We took it for this build but feel free to skip it if you don’t think you’re going to get much use of it.

Row 5:

Demonic Gateway is a great utility spell so we’re picking that right off the bat and then we’re also getting Sweet Souls from this row for a bit of extra healing from our Healthstones.

Row 6:

Next up we have Dark Pact, which is a must-have for any build. We’re skipping Shadowfury since it isn’t very useful outside PvP and then all we have left is a choice between Strength of Will and Dark Accord. Both talents affect Unending Resolve so feel free to go with the one you like best, but we think Strength of Will is a bit better.

Row 7:

The next row starts with another choice node and this time you’ll have to pick between Ichor of Devils and Frequent Donor. We suggest sticking with Ichor of Devils since it will greatly reduce the amount of health you need to sacrifice when using Dark Pact. From this row, we’re also grabbing Accrued Vitality Rank 2 and Lifeblood Rank 1. If you skipped Banish earlier, you can spend that extra point on Lifeblood Rank 2 instead.

Row 8:

We locked ourselves out of the right side of the tree at this point so we’re sticking with Fel Synergy and Soul Link on this row.

Row 9:

We’re not massive fans of Resolute Barrier so we’re skipping it in favor of Grimoire ofSynergy Rank 2, Profane Bargain Rank 2, and Soul Conduit Rank 2. If you do want to get Resolute Barrier, make sure you skip Profane Bargain instead of the other two because you’ll need those to unlock all three capstones.

Row 10:

We wanted to grab all the capstones with this build but feel free to skip Grim Feast if you want to invest an extra point elsewhere because it’s the weakest of the three. Meanwhile, Soulburn is arguably the best capstone so definitely don’t skip that one. Finally, for the choice node, we went with Inquisitor’s Gaze over Summon Soulkeeper. The damage is lower, but it’s going to be more consistent.

Destruction Warlock Talent Build - Dragonflight

The Destruction tree is where you'll find the most important spells and passives for the spec. Many abilities have been converted to talents in Dragonflight so you'll want to focus on acquiring and improving your core spells before you do anything else. This particular build is meant for players who want a relatively balanced mix of single-target and AoE, but just like with the other tree, feel free to switch talents around if you want to specialize more in a specific area.

Row 1:

The first row only contains Chaos Bolt, which is mandatory to unlock the rest of the tree.

Row 2:

Next up you’ll want to grab Conflagrate and Rain of Fire since those are two of your core spells and then you’ll have a choice between Reverse Entropy and Internal Combustion. Reverse Entropy is an easy pick since it affects all your spells while Infernal Combustion only affects Chaos Bolt.

Row 3:

Backdraft and Pyrogenics are both great for creating some extra synergy between your spells so grab both of them. As far as the choice node is concerned, you could go either way since both talents do something similar, although one is reliant on RNG. Havoc is better but Mayhem is a passive, so you’ll have one less spell to worry about if you go with that one.

Row 4:

Things are starting to get pretty interesting here as you’ll have no less than three choice nodes and we recommend spending a point into each of them. We love synergy so we’re going with Roaring Blaze for the first node but that extra charge of Conflagrate isn’t bad either if you want to grab that instead. The next choice is simple depending on whether you picked Havoc or Mayhem on the previous row. Since we went with Havoc, we’re going to grab Cry Havoc here but if you went with Mayhem make sure to grab Pandemonium instead. Finally, the third node is a choice between improving Rain of Fire and unlocking an additional AoE spell. We want the extra spell so we’re going with Cataclysm over Inferno. Before we move on to the next row, make sure to also pick up Channel Demonfire if you want to add yet another good spell to your arsenal.

Row 5:

After spending so many points on the previous row we’ll need to be a bit pickier on this one. As mentioned earlier, we like flat buffs so Backlash is a no-brainer and then we’re also getting Soul Fire to have an extra option for single-target damage. Shadowburn wouldn’t be a terrible alternative either, but you would need to spend an extra two points on the next row to get the most out of it. Finally, we’re going with Raging Demonfire Rank 1 but feel free to upgrade it to rank 2 if you don’t mind skipping Backlash or Soul Fire/Shadowburn.

Row 6:

Most of the talents found on this row aren’t great, but we do like Flashpoint Rank 2. Besides, it’s mandatory for unlocking the next rows.

Row 7:

Since we locked ourselves out of the left and right sides of the tree earlier, our choices are very simple here. Eradication Rank 2 and Ashen Remains Rank 2 both improve Chaos Bolt, which isn’t necessarily the best spell in the Destruction Warlock’s arsenal, but you will use it a fair bit.

Row 8:

Here we have two very good spells in the form of Summon Infernal and Ritual of Ruin so we’re going to grab them both while skipping Diabolic Embers.

Row 9:

This row contains a lot of good talents, but we’re running out of points so we can’t get everything. On the left side of the tree, we went with Crashing Chaos Rank 2 but infernal Brand Rank 2 would be a better pick if you find yourself relying a lot on your Infernal for damage. The other two talents you’ll want with this build are Madness of the Azj’Aqir Rank 2 and Burn to Ashes Rank 2, both of which will give you some extra AoE and single-target damage. The remaining two talents are pretty good as well, so feel free to experiment with this row because every talent here is useful in one way or another.

Row 10:

We wanted to have all the capstones here just like with the Warlock tree, but alas, you can only get two of them regardless of which talents you pick. We ended up going with the two choice nodes and picked Rain of Chaos for the first one and Dimensional Rift for the second node. But just like with the previous row, all the talents here are pretty good so don’t hesitate to switch things around and see what works best for you.

When it comes to PvP talents, the world is your oyster. Destruction Warlocks have a lot of good PvP talents to choose from but with this build, we recommend going with any combination of Bonds of Fel, Casting Circle, Nether Ward, Bane of Fragility, and Bane of Havoc.

Import Destruction Warlock Loadout Codes

With the new Import Loadout feature in the Talent menu, copy the code below to get this build on your Destruction Warlock.

Stay tuned for more Dragonflight content in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, make sure to check out our Dragonflight pre-patch survival guide to get up to speed with all the other changes coming with the new WoW expansion.