[PvE Guide] Destruction in Legion 7.1.5

#1 - July 10, 2016, 8:22 a.m.

Introduction
Hedo is switching mains in Legion, so I'm going to take up maintaining a Destruction guide, compiling theorycrafting information into one place to build an informative PvE reference.

Foreword
This guide will be an iterative work on my part, so there will need to be revisions as time goes on and more players figure things out/perfect sims for theroycrafting. Feel free to point out anything you feel isn't accurate, especially if you've got any sources to show as much, as well as anything that might be missing from this guide. [Anything in square brackets is either super WIP, needs confirmation or more info].

Table of Contents
1 - Legion Changes

1. Soul Shards

2. The Scepter of Sargeras2 - Stats and Gearing

1. Stats and How They Affect You

2. Racial Bonuses

3. Tier Bonuses, Legendaries and Other Notable Items

4. Stat Builds, Gems and Enchants3 - Talents and Artifact Traits

1. Talents

2. Artifact Traits

3. Artifact Relics

4. What About Glyphs?4 - Rotations

1. Basic Single Target Rotation

2. Basic Multi Target/AoE Rotation

3. Opening Sequence

4. Advanced Rotation5 - Useful Addons and Macros

1. Addons

2. Macros

3. Logging6 - Sources

1. Data and Sims

2. Sources7 - Conclusion

Navigating this Guide
To find a specific section of this guide, use ctrl+f (Find...) and search for "[Section]-[Subsection]". For example, if you wanted to find the section on Artifact Traits, you would search "3-2".

Section 1 - Legion Changes

Destruction has seen a few baseline changes worth mentioning before delving into the rest of the guide. Most of this will be touched on in more detail in the Rotation section.

1-1 Soul Shards
The biggest change coming with Legion is our secondary resource. We no longer have Burning Embers (R.I.P. 2012-2016) and have moved back to using Soul Shards. Soul Shards are not partially filled by non-Shard spending abilities and you can have a maximum of 5. Soul Shards degrade/regenerate to 3 Shards outside of combat.

Conflagrate and Immolate are now our main source of Soul Shards. Casting Conflagrate gives you a Soul Shard and Immolate has a chance every tick to reward a Shard (15% chance on tick, doubled if the tick Crits). Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire are our baseline Shard spenders, costing 2 and 3 shards respectively. And don't worry, Rain of Fire actually does damage now.

1-2 The Scepter of Sargeras
We no longer have weapon drops in Legion, but we have a spec specific Artifact weapon: The Scepter of Sargeras. This staff serves as our character progression throughout the max level experience in Legion, providing a number of Traits ranging from a new ability, Dimensional Rift, to increases in damage to several spells (See section 3 for more details). Throughout Legion, you'll earn Artifact Power and Artifact Knowledge, which increases Artifact Power drops for that character, that can be used to gain Traits. There are also hidden effects that the Artifact has. A list of all know hidden and PvE relevant effects can be found below... when some are discovered.

Section 2 - Stats and Gearing

2-1 Stats and How They Affect You
Intellect:

Increases your Spell Power at a rate of 1 Int = 1 SP.

Spell Power increases the damage done by all of your spells.Critical Strike:

Gives most of your spells a random chance to deal additional damage (around double in PvE).

Increases the damage dealt by Chaos Bolt at flat rate (eg. 20% Crit rating increases Choas Bolt's damage by 20%).Haste:

Reduces the cast time of all your spells.

Increases the rate at which Damage over Time spells (Immolate) tick.

Reduces the cooldown of Conflagrate charges.Mastery:

Causes your spells to deal a random amount of additional damage, up to a percentage.

Also causes damage you take to be reduced by a random amount, up to between a fourth or fifth of the percentage above.Versatility:

Increases all damage and healing done by a percentage.

Reduces the damage taken by half of the above percentage.Multistrike...?
Multistrike has been removed in Legion and has been replaced by another stat on old gear.

2-2 Racial Bonuses
Alliance
Dwarf:
Might of the Mountain - Increases your critical strike damage/healing by 2%.
Gnome:
Nimble Fingers - Increases haste by 1%.
Human:
The Human Spirit - Increases all secondary stats by 2% from all sources.
Worgen:
Viciousness - Increases critical strike chance by 1%.

Horde
Blood Elf:
Arcane Acuity - Increases critical strike chance by 1%.
Goblin:
Time is Money - Increases haste by 1%.
Orc:
Blood Fury - Increases your Spell/Attack power by 2243 (at level 110) for 15 seconds. 2 minute cooldown.
Troll:
Berserking - Increases your haste by 15% for 10 seconds.
Undead:
Touch of the Grave - Your spells have a small chance to deal extra damage to the target, healing you for the same amount.

2-3 Tier Bonuses, Legendaries and Other Notable Items
Order Hall Set - Vestments of The Black Harvest
This is a set of ilvl 810+ gear earned through your Class Hall campaign. These pieces of gear can be upgraded to 840, except shoulders which are ilvl 850.

2 Piece - Increase your out-of-combat regeneration in outdoor Broken Isles zones.
4 Piece - While you are below 35% health you take 50% reduced damage in outdoor Broken Isles zones.
6 Piece - Intellect increased by 500.
8 Piece - Spending a Soul Shard has a chance to increase your Mastery by 2000 for 12 seconds.

The Arcway and Court of Stars Sets
In the Mythic-only dungeons, The Arcway and Court of Stars, there are several 2 piece sets; one for each armour type and two for every class/spec.

Journey Through Time - Trinket and Neck: The effect from Chrono Shard (trinket proc) now increases your movement speed by 30% and grants an additional 1000 Haste.
March of the Legion - Neck and Finger: Your spells and abilities have a chance to deal an additional 27200 to 36800 Fire damage.
Nightwell Arcanum - Head and Shoulders: Your spells have a chance to increase your Haste by 3000 for 15 seconds.

Tier 19 Set - Legacy of Azj'Aqir
This set will not be available until The Nighthold raid is opened.

2 Piece - Casting Chaos Bolt reduces the cast time of your next Chaos Bolt by 40% for 4 seconds.
4 Piece - Conflagrate gains an additional charge and its charge cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds.

Legendaries
In Legion, Legendary items have been introduced as world drops, giving you a bonus similar to Epic world drops of old. They can range from bonuses for any class, ranged, Warlocks or Destruction specifically. They currently drop from PvE bosses, World Quest Chests and PvP strongboxes. You will start only being able to equip one legendary at a time, increasing to two through your Order Hall research.

Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus - Neck - All Classes: Every 30 seconds, gain an absorb shield for 25% of your max health.
Sephuz's Secret - Finger - All Classes: Successfully applying a loss of control effect, interrupt or dispell grants you 70% increased movement speed and 25% Haste for 10 seconds. This effect may only occur once every 30 seconds.
Kil'jaeden's Burning Wish - Trinket - DPS: Launch a vortex of destruction that seeks your current enemy. When it reaches the target, it explodes, dealing a critical strike to all enemies within 10 yds for 1121640 Fire damage.
Norgannon's Foresight - Feet - Warlocks, Priests and Mages: Standing still for 8 seconds grants you Foresight, allowing you to cast while moving for 5 seconds.
Pillars of the Dark Portal - Legs - Warlocks: Demonic Gateway now casts instantly and you can use Demonic Gateways twice before triggering a cooldown.
Alythess's Pyrogenics - Finger - Destruction: Enemies effected by your Rain of Fire take 10% increased damage from your Fire spells.
Odr, Shawl of the Ymirjar - Back - Destruction: Enemies marked by your Havoc take 8% increased damage from your single target spells.
Feretory of Souls - Waist - Destruction: Casting a damaging Fire spell has a 10% chance to generate a Soul Shard.
Magistrike Restraints - Wrist - Destruction: Chaos Bolt has a 20% chance to strike an additional enemy within 30 yards.
Lessons of Space-Time - Shoulders - Destruction: While you have a Dimensional Rift open, all your damage is increased by 10%

2-4 Stat Builds, Gems and Enchants
These priorities will change based on Talent choices, Artifact progression and target counts. The priorities and enchants/gems suggested below will provide a good stat priority for most situations.

Stat Priorities
Haste is currently our best secondary stat by a large margin, likely due to Immolate tick and Conflag recharge interaction. Crit is our second best stat, whilst Mastery and Versatility are more or less similar with Vers pulling just ahead of Mastery. In short:

Haste > Crit >> Vers >= Mastery

Note: If you invest heavily in mastery, you will experience huge swings in damage from fight to fight based on how lucky you are. If you would rather have a more consistent build, consider avoiding Mastery in favor of other stats

Gems
Currently, socketing Haste gems should be your priority. You may also have one Saber's Eye of Intellect in your equipped armour, but these are expensive, so socket these wisely.

Enchants
For Ring enchants, Haste should also be your priority. Cloak enchants are main stat, so use Intellect.

Neck Enchant
Mark of the Hidden Satyr is currently our best neck enchant.

Food, Flasks and Pots
You should be using Haste food, Flask of the Whispered Pact and Potion of Deadly Grace or Potion of Prolonged Power (these are about neck and neck in performance, PP pulling ahead on multitarget).

Section 3 - Talents and Artifact Traits/Relics

3-1 Talents
Talents have been through a significant rework in Legion; there are many more Talents that effect your DPS throughput now and not in a "Pick Your Different Flavour of AoE/Single Target/Cleave Talent in this Row" structure either. As such, there are a lot of different set ups for a lot of different situations where you'd want to change talents; many different setups may even excel on a per Boss basis. My aim with this section is to provide an optimal pure ST build and the basis for a dungeon build, then examine each row to show why you would deviate or stay with the suggested Talents on each row.

Talent Calculator: http://legion.wowhead.com/talent-calc/warlock/destruction

Suggested ST Build
Tier One: Backdraft (Roaring Blaze w/ T19 4pce)
Tier Two: Empowered Life Tap
Tier Three: Demonic Circle
Tier Four: Soul Harvest
Tier Five: Demon Skin or Dark Pact
Tier Six: Grimoire of Service
Tier Seven: Channel Demonfire

Suggested Dungeon Build
Tier One: Backdraft
Tier Two: Empowered Life Tap
Tier Three: Shadowfury
Tier Four: Cataclysm or Fire and Brimstone
Tier Five: Burning Rush or Demon Skin
Tier Six: Grimoire of Sacrifice
Tier Seven: Wreak Havoc

Tier One:

Backdraft: Casting Conflagrate reduces the cast time of your next two Incinerate or Chaos Bolt casts by 30%.

Roaring Blaze: Conflagrate increases your remaining Immolate damage on the target by 25% until Immolate is refreshed or expires.

Shadowburn: Blasts a target for 316% Spell Power. Generates 1 Soul Shards plus an additional Shard if the target dies within 5 seconds. Replaces Conflagrate, 12 second CD.Discussion: In Single Target, Backdraft pulls ahead of Roaring Blaze, but falls behind with Tier 19 4pce. Roaring Blaze beats Backdraft in prolonged cleave, specifically with Wreak Havoc, but constant target switching will see Backdraft get better results. Shadowburn is currently very niche and is only a good pick where you can get 2 shards incredibly consistently (basically every 12 seconds).

Tier Two:

Reverse Entropy: Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire restore 35% of your maximum mana and Chaos Bolt's cast time is reduced by 0.5 seconds.

Eradication: Chaos Bolt increases damage dealt to the target by 12% for 6 seconds.

Empowered Life Tap: Life Tap now grants you 10% increased damage for 20 seconds. This duration can pandemic (max 25 seconds when refreshed).Discussion: Empowered Life Tap is currently the best all around talent, pulling ahead of the others in ST and remaining strong in other scenarios. Eradication is a solid cleave talent (unsure if this pulls ahead of ELT yet). Reverse Entropy currently isn't worth the saved GCDs over ELT.

Tier Three:

Demonic Circle: Summons a Demonic Circle for 6 minutes, allowing you to teleport to its location and remove all movement slowing effects. Limit 1. 0.5 second cast.

Mortal Coil: Horrifies an enemy target into fleeing, Incapcitating them for 3 seconds an healing your for 20% maximum health. You will be healed even if the target is not effected by the Horrify.

Shadowfury: Stuns all enemies within 8 yards for 4 seconds. 1.5 second cast time. 30 second cooldown.Discussion: Demonic Circle is going to be your go-to for raids, unless you specifically require a stun. Shadowfury is good for dungeons, specifically in Mythic+. Mortal Coil's heal can be useful, but for the most part is too niche for general PvE use.

Tier Four:

Fire and Brimstone: Incinerate now hits all enemies near the target.

Cataclysm: Conjures a cataclysm at the target location, dealing 700% Spell Power Shadowflame damage to all enemies within 8 yards and afflicts them with Immolate. 3 second cast. 45 second cooldown.

Soul Harvest: Increases the damage of you and your pets by 20%. Lasts 10 seconds, increased by 2 seconds for each target afflicted by Immolate, up to a maximum of 30 seconds. Casting this does not incur a GCD.Discussion: Soul Harvest is your best choice for ST and cleave. Cataclysm is a strong AoE talent in most situations, with Fire and Brimstone being preferable when AoE damage needs to be dealt with little set up.

Tier Five:

Demon Skin: Your Soul Leech now recharges by 1% maximum health every second, and you may now absorb up to 20% maximum health.

Burning Rush: Increases your movement speed by 50%, but also damages you for 4% of your maximum health every 1 sec. Movement impairing effects may not reduce you below 100% of normal movement speed. Lasts until cancelled.

Dark Pact: Sacrifices 20% of your current demon's health to shield you for 400% of the sacrificed health for 20 seconds. If you have no demon active, your health is sacrificed instead. Usable while under control impairing effects.Discussion: You should use Demon Skin or Dark Pact in raids unless you need the movement speed of Burning Rush for a very important mechanic, but most of these can be handled similarly with Demonic Circle. Demon Skin gives the most value when incoming damage is frequent and Dark Pact will present the most value when damage is infrequent and very high (its also far stronger with GrimSac given it will use your Health Pool instead of your pets). In dungeons, Burning Rush is desirable when flying through easier dungeons (especially low M+), but you lose a fair amount of survivability, so use at your discretion.

Tier Six:

Grimoire of Supremacy: Doomguard and Infernal can now be used as permanent pets.

Grimoire of Service: Summon a second demon for 25 seconds that deals 100% increased damage. 1.5 min cooldown. They will additionally perform their utility action on summon.

Grimoire of Sacrifice: Sacrifice your current demon to gain Demonic Power, which causes your spells to sometimes deal 100% Spell Power Shadow damage to the target and enemies within 8 yards. Approx. 20 RPPM. Lasts 1 hour or until another permanent Demon pet is summoned.Discussion: Some important things to note about this tier: Sacrifice no longer gives you a spell on Command Demon, so choosing which demon to summon does not matter as this talent prevents you from using a pet's Command Demon ability without re-summoning. Also, Supremacy changes Lord of Flames to be activated on an Infernal's Meteor Strike ability (which you should turn off auto-cast to control when it is used).
For AoE or stacked cleave, use Sacrifice. In ST, Service and Supremacy are practically neck and neck, with Service pulling ahead slightly in all scenarios and still being preferable in burst.

Tier Seven:

Wreak Havoc: Havoc now lasts 20 seconds and has no cooldown.

Channel Demonfire: Launches 15 bolts of felfire over 3 seconds to random targets afflicted with Immolate. Each bolt deals 64% Spell Power Fire damage and dealing 32% Spell Power Fire damage to all nearby enemies.

Soul Conduit: Each Soul Shard spent has a 20% chance to be refunded.Discussion: Channel Demonfire is best for ST or whenever burst AoE is required. Wreak Havoc should be used when there is significant uptime on a second target. Soul Conduit is currently only better than the other two for sustained AoE or ST encounters with high movement.

3-2 Artifact Traits
Artifact Calculator: http://legion.wowhead.com/artifact-calc/warlock/destruction/AqSCImA

Active Ability - Dimensional Rift
The first trait you receive with the Scepter is Dimensional Rift. This is an instant cast spell with 3 charges and a 45 second cooldown. This spell will open one of three rifts, chosen randomly, to deal damage to your current target. This can be in the form of a huge chunk of Fel (Chaos Tear), a rapid fire succession of Shadowfel bolts (Unstable Tear) or a slower slew of Shadow bolts (Shadowy Tear). These currently appear to not have infinite range and will cease dealing damage if their target moves out of their range. Use of this ability will be covered more in the Rotations section.

Golden Traits

Dimension Ripper: Incinerate has a 5% chance to grant a charge of Dimensional Rift.
Lord of Flames: Once every 10 minutes, your Summon Infernal (Infernal's Meteor Strike with GrimSup) summons 3 extra Infernals for 25 seconds.
Conflagration of Chaos: Conflagration has a chance to guarantee your next Conflagrate critically strikes, and to increase its damage by your critcal strike chance.

Other interesting Traits

Soul Snatcher: Chaos Bolt has a 5% (+5% for each addition level) to refund 1 Soul Shard.
Demonic Durability: Reduces the cooldown of your Unending Resolve by 30 seconds.
Eternal Struggle: After casting Life Tap, you take 3% (+3% with each level) less damage for 6 seconds
Planeswalker: Transporting through your Demonic Gateway increases your movement speed by 30% for 6 seconds.

Golden Trait Shortest Paths
Getting to each Golden Trait the cheapest way possible is rather simple with the Scepter. The following are the shortest paths to each starting from Flames of the Pit (the trait immediately following Dimensional Rift).

Flames of the Pit --> Devourer of Life --> Residual Flames --> Conflagration of Chaos

Flames of the Pit ---> Eternal Struggle ---> Burning Hunger ---> Lord of Flames

Flames of the Pit ---> Master of Disaster OR Fire From The Sky ---> Demonic Durability ---> Fire and Flames OR Soulsnatcher ---> Chaotic Instability ---> Dimension Ripper

Following these paths in any order will not increase the total amount of Artifact Power you need to unlock all 3 as quick as possible so long as you only get one of the two traits in both forks in the Dimension Ripper path.

Suggested Trait Path
To get the most out of your early Artifact Traits, you should look to get Impish Incineration (Lord of Flames path, detour after Eternal Struggle), then Lord of Flames, then Conflagration of Chaos, and lastly Dimension Ripper before filling out the rest of the Artifact.

For those looking to min-max their path: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/146682707756187658/214946089294364682/ARTIFACTFINISHFINISH.png

3-3 Artifact Relics
Artifact Relics are drops from the world, dungeon bosses and raids that enhance your artifact in two ways. They provide an item level boost to your Scepter, increasing its stats. Relics also add a rank to one of the traits in your Artifact that have multiple ranks, further increasing the benefit they provide. You will start with 2 Relic slots and unlock a 3rd by completing your Class Order Campaign. Selection of which relics to use will mostly come down to ilevel when leveling, so prioritise higher ilevel relics until you can be picky about the traits the relics buff.

3-4 What about Glyphs?
The glyph system has been reworked and Major Glyphs have been removed; all glyphs are now cosmetic only.