Demonology Warlock Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Diabolist vs. Soul Harvester

Posted 2024/08/18 at 2:58 PM by NotWarlock

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Blood DK
Frost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid

Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk
Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination Rogue
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Demonology Warlock in the War WithinHero Talent Showdown: Diabolist vs. Soul Harvester Diabolist

Strengths

Weaknesses

Hand of Gul'danTouch of RancoraRuinationDiabolic RitualDemonic CircleSoul-Etched CirclesUnending ResolveInfernal BulwarkInfernal Vitality Soul Harvester

Strengths

Weaknesses

Succulent SoulDemonic CoreSucculent SoulGorebound FortitudeFriends In Dark PlacesWhat's Changed? Diabolist Soul HarvesterAnd the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Diabolist (Winner)

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Diabolist (Winner)

Diabolist is just a much more thematic talent set for Demonology. You get to have big demons out doing big demon things. What's more fun than that?

Soul Harvester just falls flat for me, whenever I see the Soul proc it doesn't quite pop as much as seeing three different demons come out of the void and do their thing.

Difficulty: Soul Harvester & Diabolist (Tie)

Neither set of Hero talents truly modify the rotation of Demonology but instead help enhance our normally used abilities to another degree. Without rotational changes both sets of talents are plug and play.

Defensiveness & Utility: Diabolist (Winner)

Movement is king and Diabolist gives us movement utility with a stronger defensive set of enhancements, more damage reduction when pressing our big cooldown is huge and being able to reposition your Circle even just for the movespeed buff is way better.

Soul Harvester on the other hand lacks the additional movement and while the enhancement to Dark Pact I think is personally better and more usable in most situations, both Gorefiend's Resolve and Eternal Servitude are extremely underwhelming.

Leveling: Soul Harvester & Diabolist (Tie)
Neither Hero talents really build upon a strong foundation for leveling, thus both will perform generally the same for leveling. If there is an edge it is EXTREMELY slightly towards Diabolist simply because the AoE nodes for Soul Harvester are reliant on chain pulling mobs to have a greater effect.

Mythic+: Soul Harvester & Diabolist (Tie)

Similar to leveling, both sets of Hero Talents can perform very well in AoE, though with more limited Demonic Core generation, Soul Harvester may be more reliant on proccing its AoE from killing low health mobs than its counterpart in Diabolist which has no additional requirement for their AoE.

Raid: Diabolist (Winnerish?)

Again within a raid environment Diabolist has the edge due to additional movement and more versatile defensive nodes while bringing a good set of enhancements to both AoE and Single Target allowing you to be a lot more flexible in raid.
Soul Harvester has extremely good funnelled single target which, despite lacking better defensives and movement utility, may be enough to push it ahead in raid, though movement is extremely desirable in most facets of raiding.

Best Overall: Diabolist (Winner)

While Diabolist may be the Hero talents you will see played more often just due to an overall better set of enhancements and more Demonology themed gameplay, it has gone through a big amount of tuning overall so that it isn't wildly better than Soul Harvester. Sure, you'll see the majority of players playing Diabolist but you are equally able to play Soul Harvester for minor concessions. Tuning for either set of talents can sway this quite easily but for me, even if it means less damage, I'm bringing out the demons to play no matter what.

Hero Talent Feedback Diabolist Soul HarvesterBase Demonology Warlock Gameplay & TalentsShould You Play Demonology Warlock in the War Within?DoomNether PortalHero Talent Guides for the War Within Launch

Comment by EuAmoPinguinsDiabolist is a great win, him being ''stronger'' than his rival is just destiny.Comment by JunnarDiabolist is so cool. Now let it be great in terms of damage please :)Comment by ChaxtonDiabolist is the "right" hero talent here. DEMONOLOGY should be all about summoning the biggest, most horrendous freaks from hell, and Diabolist does just that. If only it randomly summoned Jaraxxus, Eredar lord of the Burning Legion.Comment by KlerAntLooks tastyComment by ImportedrainDiabolist is the "right" hero talent here. DEMONOLOGY should be all about summoning the biggest, most horrendous freaks from hell, and Diabolist does just that. If only it randomly summoned Jaraxxus, Eredar lord of the Burning Legion.Comment by felcommandoDoes Not even play the game anymore? Let alone demo lol

Like no flame but I swear he hasn't played warlock since legion, surely we should have someone who actually plays the spec creating the writeups?Comment by markdallI gotta say “well done” to wowhead. This series has been very good to read, down to all of the comparisons linking to each other.

Thank you for these articles!Comment by olokloDiabolist is so cool. Now let it be great in terms of damage please :)Comment by UnholyarmyDoes Not even play the game anymore? Let alone demo lol

Like no flame but I swear he hasn't played warlock since legion, surely we should have someone who actually plays the spec creating the writeups?Comment by Olympus3129I gotta say “well done” to wowhead. This series has been very good to read, down to all of the comparisons linking to each other.

Thank you for these articles!Comment by KrysteenI've had great fun with Diabolist in the beta and I look forward to playing it live.Comment by felcommandoDoes Not even play the game anymore? Let alone demo lol

Like no flame but I swear he hasn't played warlock since legion, surely we should have someone who actually plays the spec creating the writeups?Comment by 2550147Who comes up with this stuff?Comment by TarekuYou dont need mobs to die to benefit from shared fate though, just spread it with demo cores through Quietus

Dont get me wrong I also think Diabolist is great, summoning stuff and what not, but the article just has wrong information in itComment by Mag1tekFor leveling, I'd actually rate Soul Harvester as a bit better. Open world killing for Demo often revolves around tagging as many mobs as you can, gathering them up in a clump on your Felguard and blasting. The Shared Fate node helps ensure that once the first mob in the clump dies, it will start an AOE cascade with Doom procs that will cause the entire clump to collapse at once.Comment by TwilightImpSoul Harvester should have the void thing behind your back at all times, else the visual is midComment by ZithorianHow about gauging the trees according to offensive strength instead of just spouting off about defenses and utility the entire time. Locks don't have issues with either.
However, locks DO have issues with damage right now as ALL three specs are in the bottom 10% with demo being the VERY bottom by a LARGE margin. In fact, some tanks would rival demos damage atm. Instead of being honest like the guy who did the prot pally guide, you chose to say "there's been disagreements about tuning." No there hasn't, demo just HASNT been tuned high enough to even be viable. They had to buff some of the "big demons" over 1000% to get them where they are at now and they are still underwhelming. Visuals are trash and no one even takes doomguard anymore bc it was nerfed 5x over. Doom was changed, yes, but it's only being taken bc the other cornerstone talents are JUST AS BAD.
Don't act like you did a good job, you didn't. You failed miserably.Comment by PerrycoxHow about gauging the trees according to offensive strength instead of just spouting off about defenses and utility the entire time. Locks don't have issues with either.
However, locks DO have issues with damage right now as ALL three specs are in the bottom 10% with demo being the VERY bottom by a LARGE margin. In fact, some tanks would rival demos damage atm. Instead of being honest like the guy who did the prot pally guide, you chose to say "there's been disagreements about tuning." No there hasn't, demo just HASNT been tuned high enough to even be viable. They had to buff some of the "big demons" over 1000% to get them where they are at now and they are still underwhelming. Visuals are trash and no one even takes doomguard anymore bc it was nerfed 5x over. Doom was changed, yes, but it's only being taken bc the other cornerstone talents are JUST AS BAD.
Don't act like you did a good job, you didn't. You failed miserably.Comment by ZithorianHow about gauging the trees according to offensive strength instead of just spouting off about defenses and utility the entire time. Locks don't have issues with either.
However, locks DO have issues with damage right now as ALL three specs are in the bottom 10% with demo being the VERY bottom by a LARGE margin. In fact, some tanks would rival demos damage atm. Instead of being honest like the guy who did the prot pally guide, you chose to say "there's been disagreements about tuning." No there hasn't, demo just HASNT been tuned high enough to even be viable. They had to buff some of the "big demons" over 1000% to get them where they are at now and they are still underwhelming. Visuals are trash and no one even takes doomguard anymore bc it was nerfed 5x over. Doom was changed, yes, but it's only being taken bc the other cornerstone talents are JUST AS BAD.
Don't act like you did a good job, you didn't. You failed miserably.