Rogue and Warlock deep dive: poisons, daggers, Banes and demon pets, checked against the client

Rogue and Warlock talent tree paintings from the WoW Forever client

2026-10-08 · ForeverDB

Blizzard's class deep dive reworks Rogues around poisons, daggers and combat tricks, and Warlocks around Banes, revised Firestones and Spellstones, and pets that scale with their master. The Warlock talent list was first posted with Shaman talents by mistake; Blizzard has since corrected it.

On October 7 Blizzard posted its class deep dive for Rogues and Warlocks in WoW Forever, on the forums and as a full article. Below are the main changes, with numbers and names checked against the beta client. Wowhead also reported the post.

These are beta changes. Blizzard says class abilities and talents may continue to evolve throughout the beta test and are subject to additional changes.

The Warlock talent list on the forums was first posted with the wrong text (Shaman Elemental talents). Blizzard corrected it about 20 minutes later. Our news copy still holds the uncorrected version, so the Warlock talent details below come from Blizzard's corrected article. See the end of this write-up.

How talents work

The deep dive repeats how Forever's trees are laid out:

Talents become available starting at level 10 and continue using a familiar structure, including one-point milestone talents at 11, 21, and 31 points, now joined by a new 16-point milestone. To change your talents, including Legacy talents, visit a class trainer in one of the major cities. Dual Specialization also becomes available at level 40. Blizzard Entertainment, WoW Forever Class Deep Dives

Rogue: baseline changes

All poisons get more charges, and poisons can now be applied to weapons at the same time as temporary enchantments like Weightstones and Sharpening Stones.
Sap no longer breaks Stealth. Blizzard wants it used tactically when a group has too many monsters to tank safely.
Feint: threat reduction doubled.
Distract now also reduces affected enemies' Stealth detection for 10 seconds. Against players, it also tells them a Rogue is nearby.
Expose Armor (Expose Armor): armour reduction raised to match 5 applications of Sunder Armor at about the same level. It no longer stops Warriors using Sunder Armor on the target.
Rogues can now learn to equip one-handed axes.

Rogues can now learn to equip one-handed axes. This increase in itemization choices lets us make a more diverse offering of weapons and know that Rogues will still benefit. Blizzard Entertainment, WoW Forever Class Deep Dives

Rogue: talents

Assassination becomes a dagger and poison tree. Its new 21-point gold medal talent is Mutilate:

This 60 Energy Combo ability strikes with both hands as weapon damage from each weapon, but both must be daggers. This damage is increased against Poisoned targets and awards 2 Combo Points. Each hand has a chance to trigger various procs. Blizzard Entertainment, WoW Forever Class Deep Dives

Mutilate is in the beta client, which holds three spells named Mutilate Mutilate (the base plus two Forever ids). A new 31-point finisher, Venom, grants 30% increased poison damage and a 10% higher chance to apply poisons, with its duration set by combo points spent. Improved Poisons now gives a large chance for a poison not to spend a charge when it triggers.

Combat: the old Dagger, Mace, Sword and Fist Weapon specialisations are merged into one row 5 talent, Hack and Slash, which adds an axe bonus (axes get the sword effect, a chance at an extra attack; maces now ignore some armour instead of a stun chance). New 16-point talent Flawless Execution cuts Eviscerate's Energy cost by 10. Aggression now also boosts Backstab, to support a Backstab build.
Subtlety: three new high-end talents. Quietus (row 6) adds damage to Sinister Strike, Ghostly Strike and Hemorrhage below 35% health; Cutthroat (row 6) lets Backstab make your next Ambush usable without Stealth; Thousand Cuts (31-point) cuts the Energy cost of your next Hemorrhage or Backstab each time Rupture ticks, stacking up to 5. Sleight of Hand and Deadliness are removed.
Cold Blood and Premeditation both move from 31-point to 16-point gold medal talents. Vigor becomes a 2-point row 5 talent for the same total effect.

Blizzard's summary: Assassination specialises in daggers and self-buffing finishers, while Combat and Subtlety support all weapon types, with Combat on hard-hitting direct damage and Subtlety on combat tricks and Bleeds.

Warlock: baseline changes

Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom become Banes. Only one Bane can be active per Warlock on a single target, and everything that interacted with Curses now also interacts with Banes.
Curse of the Elements now applies to all magic damage. Curse of Shadows is removed.
Firestone (Firestone) and Spellstone (Spellstone) now apply Weapon Imbues that stack with other temporary enchantments like Wizard Oil. Firestone grants Fire damage and critical strike chance; Spellstone grants Shadow damage and spell haste.
Life Tap now scales with Spirit, with the Mana from Spirit stated correctly in the tooltip.
Drain Soul now has a progressive chance per tick to grant a Soul Shard, rising each time it doesn't happen until it is guaranteed.
Pets now scale from their summoner's stats.

Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom are now Banes. Only one Bane can be active per Warlock on a single target. All effects that interacted with Curses now also interact with Banes. Blizzard Entertainment, WoW Forever Class Deep Dives

Warlock: talents

These come from Blizzard's corrected article, not our stored forum copy (see below).

Affliction gains a new 31-point gold medal talent, Wrack, a Shadow damage-over-time effect that increases the damage the target takes from your other Shadow DoTs. New talents Malediction, Pandemic, Soul Siphon, Improved Drains, Malevolence and Soul Harvest (renamed from Improved Drain Soul) deepen the DoT and drain build. Removed: Improved Curse of Weakness, Improved Drain Life, Improved Drain Mana, Improved Curse of Exhaustion, Grim Reach and Dark Pact.
Demonology reworks pet synergy. Demonic Sacrifice is redesigned as the 11-point talent with 2-hour effects, Soul Link moves up to 21-point, and the new 31-point Demonic Pact stops Demonic Sacrifice being cancelled when you summon a different pet. New talents include Demonic Brand, Demonic Knowledge, Fel Vitality, Demonic Aegis and Demonic Energies, and Master Demonologist is redesigned. Removed: Improved Healthstone, Fel Intellect, Fel Stamina, Improved Subjugate Demon, Improved Firestone and Improved Spellstone.
Destruction adds a new 31-point spell, Incinerate, a 2.5-second Fire cast that hits harder on Immolate targets, plus a new 21-point Bane of Havoc that splashes 15% of your damage to a cursed target. Shadow and Flame rewards mixing Conflagrate and Shadowburn; Destructive Reach, Bane and Conflagrate all move earlier. Removed: Improved Firebolt, Improved Lash of Pain, Devastation, Improved Immolate and Emberstorm.

Blizzard's summary is that all three Warlock specs should now compete with other spellcasters: Affliction on crit-capable DoTs and self-sustain, Demonology on empowering the Warlock and pet together, and Destruction on mixing Shadowburn, Conflagrate and the new Incinerate.

The Warlock talent mix-up

The forum version of the post first listed Shaman Elemental talents (Convection, Concussion, Call of Flame and the like) under the Warlock Affliction heading. Community Manager Nethaera replied about 20 minutes later:

The incorrectly posted section has been updated and should now have the correct information pasted in. Nethaera, Community Manager

Our news copy of this post (site/data/news/posts.json) still holds the uncorrected text, so we have not quoted its Warlock talent bullets. The Warlock talent details above are taken from Blizzard's corrected article and will be reconciled on the next fetch.