I get a lot of requests for Demo-lock guidance. So, I thought putting down a little compendium of demo-lock play suggestions might be useful. Part of the trouble with EJ is that one has to dig and dig and dig for guidance regarding the proper use of cooldowns, proc management, etc. While you paw through inane chattering about the optimal use of a phylactery proc with your felguard to give you another 100 dps. Those theoretical discussions of optimal raid dps buffing have their place, but they make it difficult to sort through and find an optimal spell rotation (really a priority list) for 3.3.3. In fact, I'm not sure that a good post with this sort of information exists in the Demonology thread at EJ.

Thus, I wanted to do just that: provide a more concrete recount of what to do in boss fights if you're a demo lock. Here's the thing though, it's reasonably complex. You'll need a bunch of addons to keep track of what to do. I'm including a section of my favorites at the end of this post.

I apologize for how pedantic this all is, but I'm sure it's better than, after whispering me in-game, seeing a wall of lavender shit up your chat window for 10 minutes, when all you wanted was for me to give you a simple rotation.

A disclaimer: I'm just reporting what I do. There may be more optimal ways to play out there, and if you've got a better way to do things, I'm all ears...but come with numbers (preferably from real parses or simcraft), not idle speculation.

First, I've used the term "rotation". There's no such thing as a demonology lock rotation. It's a priority list. That is, I'll give you a list of spells in the order that they should be cast. Often, items number 1 or 2 on the list are unavailable because they're on cooldown or if you were to cast them you'd be clipping a dot. In that case, you would move on down the list until you find a spell that's not going to clip a dot or is not on CD.

Second, the demonology priority list changes on the basis of two main varibles, creating four different priority lists you need to attend to. The two variables are these: whether you have a molten core proc up, and whether the boss is above or below 35% health.

Let's start off, though, with what to do prior to combat.

You have, essentially, four self-buffs to manage. 1. Fel Armor should be up 2. You should have a spellpower food buff 3. You should have put spellstone on your weapon and 4. you should have used a Flask of the Frost Wyrm. I always make sure that I see those four things prior to a boss pull.

Also, prior to the pull you should have your felguard out. You knew that already, but it's an important part of your (and everyone else's dps so have it out). One other related, and incredibly important, disclaimer: IF YOUR FELGUARD DIES during combat it is PRIORITY 1 to get another one summoned ASAP (unless he dies when the boss is less than say 2% health). Disregard all other priorities and get yourself a new pet if this happens.

Depending on your trinket, you should also be stacking spellpower (hellfiring w/ a spyglass or lifetapping to charge up an IotDS), also immediately prior to combat you should make sure to get your Glyph of Lifetap active. If your trinkets are all charged, and you have your glyph of lifetap (GOLT) active, then you're ready to go.

Ok. Beginning Combat:

I start off by popping Metamorphosis (META) then Curse of Doom (CoD) then Corruption (CORR) then Immolate (IMMO)--remembering that GOLT was already active. That's as close as you're going to get to a rotation all fight, sorry.

Now, what happens next is greatly dependent on the two variables I stated above.

If the boss is more than 35% health (i.e., you're not in decimate execution time) AND molten core is down you should follow the following set of priorities:

1. GOLT

2. META

3. CoD

4. IMMO

5. CORR

6. Shadow Bolt (SB)

If the boss is more than 35% health AND molten core is UP you should follow this set of priorities:

1. GOLT

2. META

3. CoD

4. Incinerate (INCIN)

If the boss has LESS than 35% health AND molten core is down:

1. GOLT

2. META

3. CoD

4. IMMO

5. CORR

6. Soul Fire (SF)

IF the boss has LESS than 35% health AND molten core is up:

1. GOLT

2. META

3. SF

Practically speaking what this means is that during a molten core execution phase, I don't bother with CORR or IMMO until after Molten Core is gone. Then I refresh my dots. I DO refresh dots during the SF decimate phase, but NOT if molten core is up.

If you were keeping track, that means there are no fewer than 7 buttons to regularly press. (Not including Pots of Wild magic which should be used during heroism, or if you somehow miss the heroism pot time, during the Decimate execution phase when you also have Metamorphosis active). For me, personally, that's a lot of buttons. Here's what I do to make things easier on myself keybinding wise.

Button 1: LifeTap , 2: Corr, 3: Immo, 4: SB, 5: SF, 6: CoD.

I leave my left hand on buttons 2-5 (pinky to pointer). This makes LifeTap and CoD only a one key stretch on the same row. That leaves metamorphosis and Incinerate (and pots and other demon functions) for ...um...clicking. Yes, I click...sometimes. I'll upload a screenshot of the UI in a second.

Addons: So, you need to know when Molten Core procs. I use MSBT (a scrolling battle text mod) which allows for a visual report of a molten core proc. And, I also use the player auras function of dotimer to tell me when, and how many, charges I have left on a molten core proc. Incidentally, I also use this to keep track of CoD, Corr, and Immo as well as GOLT.

To keep track of my META cooldown, I just use a mod called cooldownbuttons (or something like that) which has a visual counter on the metamorphosis button. If there's no numbers on it, it's available to be cast.

EDIT 2: Some other notes. If you want to absolutely max your dps out, you can get close to the boss and pop immolation aura. This works better on some bosses than it does on others. For instance, Marrowgar is positively perfect for popping Immolation aura while in demon form...you're close to the boss anyway...there's no adds to pull...why not pop it during every META. Same with Rotface.

However, Immo aura has some mechanics which (given certain ICC fights) have the tendency to cause raid wipes. Popping it during blood beasts on Saurfang, for instance, is gloriously stupid. Same thing during P1 LK. One tip, prior to charging into melee range set up your demonic teleporter so you can zoom back out and not lose tons of casting time running around. Mostly, immolation aura, while fun, is a relatively situational gimmick and isn't something you can rely on doing regularly for tons of dps. That said, it's a button I use enough for it to be clickable. It's especially fun to use on huge trash packs. I try to see if I can hit 60k dps. I often do, and then enjoy the rest of the fight from the floor.

EDIT: UI Screenshot added. See the gallery for a full-sized image.