Demonology Warlock

Is Demonology worth levelling?

Yes — joint best in the class. "Demonology is an excellent solo leveler because your demon can take a lot of pressure off you while you cast from range."

One cost, in the source's own words: "Unlike Affliction, this build does not take Improved Corruption, so Corruption still has a cast time", which means "setting up multiple enemies takes longer than it does for Affliction." Single target it is even; on packs Affliction is faster.

Your talent points

Level 20 — 11/0/0. ⚠ The most-cited source contradicts itself here. Both versions exist; here is what each is and which the rest of that page supports.

Version (a), from the prose: Improved Corruption 5 (Affliction) + Unholy Power 5 + Demonic Energies 1.

Version (b), from the same page's talent calculator: Unholy Power 5/5 → Demonic Energies 2/2 → Fel Vitality 3/3 → Improved Sayaad 1/3 — all Demonology, no Affliction points at all.

Version (b) is the intended build. The same page's stat section says "Fel Vitality also increases your maximum Mana by 15%", which is only true at 3/3, and its pet section discusses Improved Sayaad. The prose paragraph looks stale.

Level 30 — 21/0/0, one published build: Unholy Power 5 → Fel Vitality 3 → Demonic Energies 2 → Improved Sayaad 3 → Demonic Sacrifice 1 → Master Summoner 2 → Fel Domination 1 → Demonic Brand 3 → Soul Link 1.

A second level-30 build goes wide instead — 13 Demonology (the same core) + Bane 5 in Destruction + Suppression 3 in Affliction, buying cast speed and hit rather than depth. Both share the Demonology core; they differ on whether Soul Link is worth 8 points.

Rotation

1. Send the demon in — "Your demon should be attacking throughout the entire fight"
2. Curse
3. Immolate
4. Corruption — it has a cast time in this build
5. Bane of Agony if the target will live long enough
6. Drain Life when you need health. "The spell damage will also heal your demon through Demonic Energies"
7. Wand as filler at level 20
8. Life Tap when you need mana — "With Demonic Energies, this will also restore Mana to your demon"
9. Drain Soul for shards

Multi-target: spread Corruption and Bane of Agony while the demon holds the pack, then Rain of Fire.

Stat priority

Spell Power, then Hit, Intellect, Spirit, critical strike, Stamina, Haste.

Same order as Affliction, different reasoning at two places. Spell Power because "More spell damage also means more healing for your demon through Demonic Energies." Hit is flagged harder: "This build does not take Suppression, so you do not have the additional Hit Chance from the Affliction tree." Intellect is lifted by Fel Vitality's +15% maximum mana.

A stated limitation: "Demon scaling also needs additional testing to determine exactly how each of your stats affects your active demon."

Your demon

Same unlocks as every Warlock — Imp 2, Voidwalker 10, Succubus 20, Felhunter 30 — but "Your Demonology talents make every one of them stronger, so the best choice depends on what you are doing."

The Imp becomes viable here specifically: it "can run out of Mana quickly, but Demonic Energies helps significantly by restoring its Mana whenever you Life Tap."

What defines Demonology

What Forever changed for Demonology

• Demons now scale with your gear — "Warlock demons now scale with the Warlock's stats, making them deal much more damage and become much tankier."
• Seven new talents: Demonic Aegis, Demonic Energies, Decimation, Demonic Brand, Improved Felhunter, Demonic Knowledge, and the capstone Demonic Pact — "Your Demonic Sacrifice effect is no longer cancelled by summoning a different Demon pet. Resummoning the sacrificed pet will still cancel the effect." So you keep the sacrifice buff and a demon — just not the demon you sacrificed. The published reaction: "At last, we can play with our pet out instead of sacrificing it."
• Demonic Sacrifice lasts 2 hours (Classic: 30 minutes) and its bonuses swapped — Imp now gives +15% Shadow where Classic gave Fire, and Succubus gives +15% Fire where Classic gave Shadow.
• Master Demonologist was rewritten — Imp gives Fire damage, Voidwalker reduces physical damage taken, Succubus gives Shadow damage, Felhunter reduces magic damage taken.
• The tree was front-loaded: Unholy Power 4→1, Improved Health Funnel 2→1, Demonic Sacrifice 5→3, Master Summoner 4→3, Soul Link 7→5. Five removed: Improved Healthstone, Fel Stamina, Improved Firestone, Improved Spellstone, Improved Subjugate Demon.
• On the name Improved Sayaad: Sayaad is the demon family covering Succubus and Incubus. The talent was renamed; the summon spells are still Summon Succubus and Summon Incubus, and the talent's own tooltip still says "your Succubus' and Incubus' Lash of Pain."

At level 60

Unknown, and the specific gap is pet scaling: "Pet balance is one of the clearest areas to watch during beta… Demonology is much more dependent on its active pet than it was in original Classic", and nobody has established how your stats convert into demon output.