New JUICED Demonology Build & Warlock MIGHT Be Meta!

The video discusses the potential for Warlock, specifically Demonology, to become a meta spec in Mythic Plus, highlighting a new emerging build that offers an alternative to the traditional Doomguard/Doom playstyle. The speaker notes a personal shift towards more M+ content this season, coinciding with Warlock's improved performance. Observations from class leaderboards and overall run leaderboards show an increasing presence of Warlocks in high-level M+ compositions, often alongside Brewmaster, Restoration Druid, and DK. While some bugs like the Felltorm bug and potentially Demonic Brutality are currently boosting Warlock performance, Demonology is still considered strong in M+ due to its damage profile. It offers strong stack cleave, consistent AoE, good cooldown damage with Tyrant, and high single-target potential, being one of the highest simming single-target specs in the game. The talent breakdown shows that the M+ build doesn't significantly sacrifice single-target damage, retaining core talents like Impang Boss, Infernal Rapidity, Spiteful Recon, and Demonic Knowledge. The new build further emphasizes single-target damage by pathing through Vofiend and Marco Farah, which are more single-target focused than Doom and Doomguard. Warlock's utility, including double kick (though its impact is debated and it will change in a future patch), Banish, Weakness, and Tongues, is also highlighted as valuable depending on the dungeon. The Foulmouth ability, allowing for curses, weakness, or exhaustion of packs, is particularly strong. The speaker anticipates a potential shift in Warlock's standing if current bugs, like the Felltorm bug or Demonic Brutality, are fixed. The video then introduces a new emerging Demonology M+ build, contrasting it with the traditional Doomguard/Doom build that has been prevalent since launch. The new build, which the speaker believes will become the "de facto" choice, plays Forgien (Far) and Vofiend, moving away from Doom and Doomguard. This build reallocates talent points from Demonic Knowledge and focuses on dog-based talents such as Dreadlash, Carnivorous Stalkers, Blighted Maul, and Ring of Tyranny. The key synergy here is that with Ring of Tyranny, Tyrant can extend Dreadstalkers, enhancing dog damage and Tyrant's uptime. Simulations are presented to compare the old Doomguard/Doom build with the new dog-focused build across single-target, five-target, and ten-target scenarios. In a five-minute single-target sim, the old build (with Demonic Knowledge, Doom, and Doomguard) sims at approximately 94,000 DPS. The new dog build sims about 6,500 DPS higher, demonstrating a significant single-target gain. The damage breakdown shows Dreadstalkers jumping from 3.2% to 6.9-7% in single target with the dog build, and Tyrant's contribution increasing from 6.7% to 8.5% due to Ring of Tyranny's extension effect. The new build also boasts a much lower cognitive load compared to the old one. The Doomguard/Doom build requires weaving Doom on multiple targets and managing Doomguard cooldowns, which can be annoying. In contrast, the Vofiend ability in the new build is passively tied to Dreadstalker casts, which are often free due to Demonic Calling. The build feels synergistic with talents like Carnivorous, Blighted Maul, and Dreadlash, enhancing dog damage and interactions. The speaker also mentions a variation of the new build that incorporates the Fel Armaments talent (which causes the Felltorm bug, where the fel guard continuously casts Felltorm), as explored by player Metro. While this variation might result in a slight single-target DPS loss (around 3.5-3.7k), it still outperforms the initial Doom/Doomguard build in single target and provides extra AoE due to the bug. However, for pure single-target emphasis, the dog-focused build with Vofiend and Far is preferred. In five-target and ten-target scenarios, the differences between the builds are much smaller, often within the margin of error. For five targets, the Doom/Doomguard build, the dog build without Fel Armaments, and the dog build with Fel Armaments are all very close, with only about a 5k DPS difference at around 420k-424k DPS. The speaker argues that sacrificing a small amount of AoE DPS (e.g., 5k out of 440k) is well worth the 6k single-target gain provided by the new dog build, especially since single-target gains are more relevant at lower DPS numbers. For ten targets, the builds are again very close, ranging from 690k to 704k DPS. The dog build without Fel Armaments is slightly lower, while the Doom/Doomguard build is almost identical to it. The build with Fel Armaments sees about a 15k gain in mass AoE, but the 6k single-target gain from the pure dog build remains the most relevant overall. In summary, the speaker recommends the new full dog build (Dreadlash, Carnivorous, Blighted Maul, Infernal Rapidity, Impang Boss, Vofiend, and Far) over the traditional Doom/Doomguard build. While it might not represent the absolute maximum in upper-percentile AoE damage, it is very close to the best overall builds, significantly easier to play, and offers a substantial single-target DPS increase. The speaker encourages players to try this build, especially if they are new to Demonology or looking for a more "starter-friendly" yet effective option. The Felltorm bug, if utilized, can provide additional AoE, but the core dog build still offers strong performance. The video concludes by emphasizing the customizable nature of Demonology and its overall solid performance in the current meta.