Devastation Evoker Beginner's Guide

This is intended to be a simple guide to the basic rotation and dynamics of the spec that gets you up and running without requiring more advanced optimization.

Information on hero talents will be coming soon, but in general know that overall they add a minor layer on top of how each spec plays, and most of what’s here should be applicable regardless.

Talent Build #

This is a simplified talent build designed to avoid complex interactions and skip unnecessary abilities. While not optimal in all cases, it should be a great way to get started learning the spec and should work reasonably well in world content, delves, dungeons, and raids. Abilities and talents not chosen in this build are not described here, and the rotation information assumes you’ll be using the build.

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Resources #

Essence – Evoker’s primary resource. You’ll start with 6 points of essence that will regenerate over time. You’ll spend essence on Disintegrate for single-target damage and Pyre for AoE damage. Your filler spells will also occasionally grant Essence Burst, which removes the Essence cost from your next Disintegrate or Pyre.

Mana – Devastation Evokers have a mana bar, but practically never need to think about it.

Empowered Spells #

All Evokers have access to Empowered spells. For Devastation this includes Fire Breath and Eternity Surge. These spells can be “charged up” by holding their key, then activated at four different levels of power. These charging levels often involve tradeoffs rather than just getting stronger, so you’ll need to consider the best level to target based on the situation. You can also use Tip the Scales if you want to quickly cast an empowered spell at its maximum level.

Core Abilities #

Living Flame – Can be used as either a healing or a damage ability. See the utility section for the healing aspect of the spell. Damage-wise it’s a short cast to deal moderate damage to the target. More importantly it can grant Essence Burst. Activating Essence Burst is the core of your rotation so you’ll be using this as filler in single target to try and gain one.

Azure Strike – The AoE counterpart to Living Flame. It does minor instant damage to the target and two nearby enemies. It has a chance to grant Essence Burst, and you’ll use it as filler in AoE to do so.

Disintegrate – Spend 3 Essence to channel for a short while dealing significant damage to the target. You’ll want to prefer using it via Essence Burst, but you should still use it without if you’re full on Essence. Your main goal in single target is to cast as many Disintegrates as possible.

Pyre – Spend 2 essence to deal minor damage to the target and surrounding enemies. You’ll want to prefer using it via Essence Burst, but you should still use it without if you’re full on Essence. Your main goal in AoE is to cast as many Pyres as possible.

Fire Breath – 30s cooldown. Empowered spell that does initial damage and applies a damage-over-time effect in a cone in front of you. Starts out with most of the damage done over time, but front-loads more into the initial damage as the empower level increases. Unless you’re in a situation where you urgently need large, quick AoE damage you’ll usually just use level 1. As Fire Breath does damage over time it can grant Burnout, making your next Living Flame instant.

Eternity Surge - 30s cooldown. Empowered spell that does AoE damage, affecting more targets with each empower level. In single target you’ll always use level 1. In AoE you’ll want to charge it up only as much as needed for however many enemies you’re fighting. This is a great ability to use with Tip the Scales.

Cooldowns #

Deep Breath – 2m cooldown. Fly to the targeted location doing substantial damage to all enemies along the way. Use this when a burst of AoE damage would be helpful, especially if moving to the destination would be helpful anyways.

Tip the Scales – 2m cooldown. Makes your next empowered ability cast instantly at full charge. For Devastation this is mainly useful for quickly using Eternity Surge on a large group of enemies.

Dragonrage - 2m cooldown. Does several Pyres on nearby enemies, then makes Essence Burst guaranteed for 18s and applies Mastery: Giantkiller regardless of the targets health while active. This will let you cast a ton of Disintegrate or Pyre. You can extend the duration by using empowered spells up to 4 times. The idea is to make sure both your empowered spells are available before using this, cast it, use both, then use them again immediately once they’re re-available to get the 4 extensions.

Effects #

These are some of the more notable effects, interactions, and passive talents that you should be aware of. It’s not covering effects (even if they’re very strong) that provide flat bonuses or that don’t require much thought to use, and it only includes those used in our recommended build.

Mastery: Giantkiller – Your Mastery will cause you to do more damage to high-health enemies, with the degree of the effect increasing with more Mastery points. You’ll gain the full benefit on all enemies while Dragonrage is active. Since you’ll need to damage enemies regardless of their health level this doesn’t too directly change your gameplay, but in group settings know that all other things equal you’ll do better targeting fresh enemies rather than almost-dead ones.

Causality – Each Disintegrate cast reduces the cooldown of your empowered spells (Fire Breath and Eternity Surge). You’ll still want to use them whenever available so it won’t dramatically change your play, but know that you’ve got an incentive to fit as many casts in as you can.

Rotation Overview #

This is an overview of the core rotation. It’s not a strict priority order but rather an outline of how the different abilities interact and are used. It assumes you’re using the recommended talent build above.

Single Target:

AoE:

Defensives #

Obsidian Scales - Reduces damage to yourself by 30% for 12s. 2 charges with a 1.5m cooldown. Use this actively anytime you’re taking damage or expecting to take damage soon.

Crowd Control #

Quell - Ranged interrupt on a 40s cooldown.

Tail Swipe - Knocks upward and interrupts enemies in a short area around you. 1.5m cooldown.

Wing Buffet – Knocks away and interrupts enemies in front of you. 1.5m cooldown.

Mobility #

Hover - Launch forward and hover with increased movement speed for 10s. While active you can cast (non-empowered) spells while moving. 2 charges with a 35s cooldown. With the short cooldown and two charges you can have this active a lot of the time, so don’t hesitate to use it to speed up movement and keep up with healing while on the go.

Utility #

Living Flame – Can be used as either a healing or a damage ability. See the core abilities section for that aspect of the spell. Healing-wise it’s a short cast to do minor healing to the target. Occasionally useful if you need to do emergency off-healing, or to heal yourself while solo.

Emerald Blossom – Minor AoE healing around the target after a short delay. 30s cooldown. Another emergency off-heal option, or an aid to Living Flame for self-healing.

Blessing of the Bronze – Group buff that reduces the cooldown on everyone’s primary movement abilities by 15%. Keep this active on yourself and your group at all times in all content.

Cauterizing Flame – Removes all bleed, poison, curse, and disease effects from the target and does minor healing. 1m cooldown. This is a powerful way to clear some difficult-to-remove effects so look for opportunities to use it.

Fury of the Aspects – Bloodlust-alike.

Renewing Blaze – Heals back all damage taken for 8s but spread out over the duration. This means that damage sufficient to kill you outright won’t be stopped, but otherwise a very powerful self-heal on a 1.5m cooldown.

Return – Out-of-combat single-target resurrect.

Glide – Use your jump key while midair to slow your fall and glide forward. Limited combat utility but wonderful for getting around the world and effectively lets you avoid all fall damage.

Quality of Life #

Soar – Lets you act as your own skyriding mount. Same 1.5s cast as mounting up and works identically once you’re in the air, so this is really just an aesthetic/flavor ability.

Visage – Toggle between your dragon and human forms. While in human form you get a boost to out-of-combat health regeneration. Enabling Chosen Identity will automatically swap you to human form when you leave combat, which you’ll want to do for the health recovery bonus.

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