Demo vs Destro (PvP)

Classes Warlock
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Hello, so after clearing the new zones and Jaina questline, I took more or less something of a break from WoW, especially from PvP.

Only coming back recently I’d like to get back to action and I really can’t decide on my spec.

For some background, I have always considered myself mostly demonology warlock, even in Legion, despite dissaproving the changes made to the spec and I have stayed as such up until BFA. However trying Demo now, it certainly still has its characteristic qualities, which I will get to later, but it just feels weird. For whatever reason my damage simply isnt doing it and the playstile about pushing the demons in and repeating can get annoying sometimes which has kinda driven me away from demo and made me ask a question, which spec do I want to play.

Now for some background, to give you basis to answer my question, I will list some reasons why I like both specs. (disclaimer: After implosion was nerfed in Legion I played Affliction almost until the very end of the expansion, and to be honest I NEVER want to touch that again, so regardless of whatever state the spec is in, I do not really care about it)

So first of all Demo

+I feel comfortable, I know my spec and even though we went from Meta, to spamming empowerment, to demonbolts, I know the spec and as such I am aware of its strenghts and kinda confident with it

+Amazing CC chains, one of the reasons why the spec is comfortable is the CC, if I am correct Demo has the biggest CC possiblities out of all the specs and I really value my safety and ability to CC players

+Tankiness, despite the fact I do not see Warlock as any ultra tanky casters as the devs and many other people imagine, I cant deny soul link is powerfull tool, especially with Demon skin I feel much safer as demo with its “tanky” nature.

+Complexity, I dont really want to play too easy spec, despite the fact I feel like I’ll have to steel the organ from the local church to have space for all my keybinds, I really value complexity

-Repetetive playstile, especially since I (maybe by my own fault) cant pull too much damage (im usually around 4-5th in damage meter), my HoGs feel as if I am “dumping” them into enemy without any real consequenses and any real effect expect for being annoyed by it myself

-Hardcasting, its not as big problem as people think but I dont think I need to explain too much here

-Not much damage, as I affirmed previously. I admit this might partially be my fault but still, I heard destro is beast in comparison and all the warlocks I see on the top are either destro or aff

-It doesnt look as cool as destro, lets be honest this is not a good reason, but it is good enough reason for me. Especially since I got green fire destro looks cooler and more cinematic

Destro

+Damage, I heard destro is really good and strong and I like that, chaos bolts both feel and look nice

+Satysfying and fun, building up chaos bolts and dumping them into enemy is really fun and doesnt get boring

+Conflag roots, theres not much to say but I really like this PvP talent and I think any protection against melee is appreciated.

-Not my spec, now I admit I do not play destro much, I certainly understand the appeal but it was never my spec, this could however change

-Lack of good pet, I dont mean to hate on Felhunter but Wrathguard is really good pet and I’d kinda miss him

-Less CC, peep what I said about demo

-Bit on the simpler side, ok maybe there is some hidden potential in destro but to me it seems like pretty simple spec honestly and Im not sure im looking for that necessarily

-Less defense, now I am not exactly sure how less that is, but Id really hate to die often and Im kinda afraid of this, I havent really dared to step into arena even as demo in BFA yet but nevertheless, less is even less

Alright so I listed my points, to note, I am glad for any responses at all but to people who wanna respond “Play whichever you enjoy the most”, I say thanks however I must also say that this is exactly the reason why I am deciding between these two only, because I only enjoy these two, and I am kinda indecisive person by nature so I’d appreciate if you guys looked at my pros and cons for each spec and told me which I should I pick for BFA PvP, still either way I am glad for any responses, thanks a lot

2

Destro is the only somewhat pvp viable spec for locks.

Not exactly true: havoc plus mortal coil and conflagrate roots means that destro has CC that is at least as good as demo.

Destro is quite tanky too if properly geared (basically, getting a lot of mastery, which is also the primary dps increaser). Take into account that demo does not have demon armor.

It is as much a problem as people think once you go into arenas and have two melees tunneling you. Demo is simply not a real option due to that.

This is true. Destro is not that much fun at all right now. Is a 3min build, that can deal massive damage with infernal plus dark soul. The thing is, its enough damage to basically make it one of the most powerful classes in the game right now. But that is about it. Outside of that window its pretty useless.

2 Likes
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First of all, thanks for reply, help is much appreciated.

Indeed, so I heard. As for BGs I was doing fine as demo but this is something I should really consider.

It is true, conflagrate roots are fun and infernal is there too, but demo can also have coil and with axe toss and grimoire felguard it seems demo has slight edge here but Havoc is big deal with conflag, I can imagine

Im glad to hear, I was kind of afraid here but I guess it was because I did not try destro too much and to be honest, demo tankiness was kinda overrated to begin with

I think with CC it could be possible, however definetly not ideal, so I guess destro is the winner here

To be honest that concerns me a bit, I can definetly see destro is way better than demo, however I am not sure if it will be fun.

I feel like I must definetls try destro to see how it fits me, if it does not I’ll just return to demo and play it until I get to the point when it becomess impossible to play and then switch to destro.

Either way, thanks a lot for help.

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The problem is that you have a lot of CCs, but no that much burst. So even if you are able to chain your ccs, you won’t deal enough damage to kill anything.

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If you manage to get a pumped up tyrant up and running properly you will destroy anything.
My record is 450% dmg increase and that gave him 45k hits and about 90k crits. 450% is tho quite unlikely in rated PvP but 300%+ is perfectly doable. What comes to mobility, I dare to say that with proper demonic core management demo has a lot better mobility than destro.

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If I should compare demo to destro I would say destro is way better than demo in any aspect. More burst, more tanky (mastery + armor), more CC (coil + spamming fears cos he doesnt need to prepare his “goes”). Destro is just way better and you need to be stupid as me to play demo …

Btw : playing with tyrant is kind of worthless :stuck_out_tongue: It’s just so simple to avoid that dmg.

2 Likes
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I really am not sure right now.

It’s clear destro is much better, demon armor is great and green fire goes with my MoG.

However it’s also not bad to play worse spec and make it worth something.
I have also always been demo lock but not sure if thats worth missing on cool destro stuff.

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