DS / Ruin A Warlock talent build . = General Build Information = DS / Ruin , also known as 7 / 21 / 21 + 2 , is an underrated jack of all trades build . Demonic Sacrifice ' s different buffs allows for the warlock to choose between three different playstyles : A heavy damage / nuking mode , an elementalist / AoE ' er mode , and a heavy regen mode . DS / Ruin is very solid in endgame raiding and most other aspects of the game . DS / Ruin puts its points 21 deep into both demonology and destruction for DS and Ruin of course , and in affliction 5 / 5 Improved Corruption , 2 / 2 Improved Lifetap , and usually the last two points are put into Suppression . The " Core " of the build ( ? / 21 / 21 + ) http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = AZdxczIbzZxx0tr0z = Playstyles = Felhunter Sacrifice . Sacrificing a felhunter will ultimately give you less mana than sacrificing a voidwalker ( 3 % of max health vs . 2 % of max mana ) , but it has the convenience of giving you mana directly so that you can continue casting nukes . Sacrificing a voidwalker is handy because it makes you less of a burden to healers and can be very nice while grinding , but it if you want mana you need to life tap constantly . Now with Life Tap gaining from + damage gear even a single Life Tap can put a well geared warlock onto the healing - alert radar of every priest in the raid . Since getting healing from multiple healers every time you Life Tap pretty much defeats the purpose of sacrificing a Voidwalker in the first place sacrificing your Felhunter instead can take a lot of pressure off of your healers . Succubus Sacrifice . Sacrificing the succubus pet gives the 15 % shadow damage buff . This maximizes the warlock ' s damage and allows him to play as a nuker / DPSer . Shadowbolt , DoT , Shadowburn , Death Coil damage is all buffed nicely . Imp Sacrifice . Sacrificing the imp gives the 15 % fire damage buff . This maximizes the warlock ' s AoE abilities by giving Rain of Fire and Hellfire more damage . It also buffs the damage of Immolate , Searing Pain , and Soul Fire . Along with Curse of Elements the warlock can choose to buff his fire damage output nicely . Voidwalker Sacrifice . Sacrificing the voidwalker allows the warlock a health regen of 3 % health every 4 seconds . Along with Improved Life Tap , the warlock has a very nice rate of health regen and a very nice health to mana Life Tap ratio . This is a nice playstyle for instancing , grinding , and raid bosses . This buff works nicely with the trinket reward from the ST warlock quest . You can summon a voidwalker at no cost ( no mana and no shard ) every 30 minutes , just as the DS buff wears off . = Advantages = The DS / Ruin build has the best raid damage available , second only to the ' DS / Rez ' technique . Also in endgame , non - sacrificed pets are practically useless and can be a liability ( besides the phase - shifted imp ) . NOTE : As of 1 . 12 the ' DS / Rez ' bug has been squashed . 7 / 21 / 21 + 2 locks enjoy all of the PvE goodies in the destruction tree , all of the early utility talents from demonology , 2 instant DoTs , and three solid modes to play in . = Disadvantages = DS / Ruin isn ' t the best PvP build . The succubus and felhunter are useful for their abilities in PvP . If you choose to play with a pet , some will say you have ' wasted ' the points in demonology by not utilizing DS . DS / Ruin lacks the burst damage potential of a deep destruction build , and the survivability of a deep demonology build . = Specific Talent Build Examples = This is the basic 7 / 21 / 21 + 2 build . http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = Ai0bZfxuuM0oZxx0tr0z Level 70 Variations . Assuming that this build is based around taking exactly 21 points into Demonology ( there is very little benefit from going further ) , and at least 21 points into Destruction , there are a number of different routes you can go beyond that . http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = AZdxczIbzZxx0tr0tVuV With this build you most often sacrifice the imp to give you + 25 % fire damage . Conflag + Emberstorm are musts , bringing you up to 32 points spent in Destruction . The final 8 points are debatable , this build is only interested in damage output , so these spare points go in Shadow and Flame and Backlash , but Soul Leech , Improved Searing Pain and Nether Protection would also be valid choices , especially for a PvP based build . http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = AV0bZdxczIbzZxx0tr0tVz You loose some of the power in the high end of the destruction tree to get instant cast Corruption and Improved Life Tap . This is how ever , a little counter intuitive since one of these Talents is strongly PvP based , and the other is more often used in raiding builds . It may well be that the 2 point in Improved Life Tap are better used to max the PvP centric Improved Searing Pain or Nether Protection http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = IqMrMRbZdxczIbzZxx0tr0z This is probably closest to the original concept behind Sac / Ruin . Unlike the 2 builds above , the Succubus is generally sacrificed instead of the Imp . One question this build raises , is that with 19 points in Affliction already , do you not want to continue on till you have Shadow Mastery ? ofc , this means not taking Ruin , which takes us out of the realm of this article . . .