Devastation Evoker DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.0.5)
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Devastation Evoker in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5). We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
Best Talents for Devastation Evoker in The War Within
On this page, we cover all the talents you have access to, explaining how each one is to be used. Some of these talents, active or passive, can make a huge difference in how Devastation Evokers is played, which is explained on our rotation page.
Some talents have a more versatile use in Mythic+ than in raids; if this is more your thing, we strongly recommend that you check the Mythic+ page.
The War Within Talent Builds for Devastation Evoker
Best Talents for Devastation Evoker
Best Single-Target Talents for Devastation Evoker
This build is optimal for pure single-target situations.
Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Best AoE Talents for Devastation Evoker
This is our recommended build for cleave and AoE scenarios in both dungeons and raids; this will work fine in Heroic/Mythic dungeons as well as Mythic+.
Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Best Solo-Delving Talents for Devastation Evoker
This build will be strongest for solo delving, minor adjustments can be made when delving in groups.
Talent Explanations for Devastation Evokers
Note that we do not explain EVERY Talent in the tree on this page. We only explain Talents that are part of our optimal builds for single-target and AoE. For full details and explanations of every Talent, please visit our Spells page via the button below.
Class Talents
Row 1-4
Obsidian Scales | A strong defensive button and a mandatory pick. |
Expunge | A short cooldown Poison dispel. |
Permeating Chill | A passive 50% Slow on Azure Strike and Disintegrate. |
Verdant Embrace | A short cooldown instant heal. |
Innate Magic | A passive 10% Essence regeneration increase. |
Obsidian Bulwark | A second charge of Obsidian Scales. |
Enkindled | An increase to Living Flame damage and healing. |
Scarlet Adaptation | An increase to Living Flame damage based on how much effective healing you have done recently. |
Quell | Our only interrupt ability |
Row 5-7
Instinctive Arcana | A flat percentage damage increase. |
Tip the Scales | A must-pick as it unlocks a different route through the tree and gives you one instant cast fully empowered spell every 2 minutes. |
Regenerative Magic | A small Leech gain, this point can be dropped for other utility benefits. |
Inherent Resistance | A small permanent reduction to Magic Damage taken |
Draconic Legacy | Large health gain. |
Extended Flight | Increases the Duration of Hover providing both offensive and defensive benefits. |
Blast Furnace | Increases the Duration of Fire Breath. |
Panacea | Gives your Emerald Blossom an instant heal at the start. |
Row 8-10
Unravel/ Protracted Talons | Unravel has incredible value against any shielded target, while Protracted Talons gives you an additional target hit per Azure Strike. |
Rescue | A great repositioning tool that will allow you and an ally to escape danger if used properly. |
Renewing Blaze | A great defensive that will make all of the damage you take in the next 8 seconds heal you for the same amount in the following 8 seconds. |
Leaping Flames | A considerable DPS increase and is a mandatory pick ensures that whenever you cast a living flame after a fire breath, you have an additional chance to proc Essence Burst. |
Aerial Mastery | Grants an additional charge of Hover giving substantial benefits to damage and mobility. |
Twin Guardian | Buffs Rescue to give both you and the person you grab a large absorb shield for a short duration. |
Fire Within | Reduces the cooldown of Renewing Blaze. |
Time Spiral | Grants you and all party or raid members a free use of your movement ability, for us this is Hover. |
Zephyr | Reduces the damage taken from AoE abilities by you and your 4 nearest allies, as well as a small movement speed increase. |
Spec Talents
Row 1-4
Pyre | One of our core abilities an AoE spender. |
Ruby Essence Burst | Causes Living Flame to have a chance at making your next Essence spender free. |
Azure Essence Burst | Causes Azure Strike to have a chance at making your next Essence spender free. |
Dense Energy | Reduces the Essence cost of Pyre and is mandatory to continue down the tree. |
Imposing Presence/ Inner Radiance | Imposing Presence reduces the cooldown of Quell and will be picked the majority of the time in situations where you never need to interrupt more than once every 40 seconds, taking Inner Radiance will yield to a small dps increase from Scarlet Adaptation. |
Eternity Surge | Our second Empower spell. |
Volatility | Gives Pyre a chance to duplicate and fire again on a nearby additional target. |
Power Nexus | Increases our Maximum essence by 1, to a new maximum of 6. |
Dragonrage | Our Major dps cooldown, instantly firing 3 pyres at nearby enemies and making both Living Flame and Azure strike give a guaranteed stack of Essence Burst. |
Arcane Intensity | Increases the damage of Disintegrate our single target Essence spender. |
Row 5-7
Ruby Embers/ Engulfing Blaze | A multiple-choice, but the only one you will ever pick is Engulfing Blaze as it is a large damage increase to Living Flame. |
Animosity | Increases the duration of Dragonrage by 4 seconds each time we cast an Empowered spell. |
Essence Attunement | Allows us to hold 2 stacks of Essence Burst. |
Heat Wave | A substantial increase to the damage dealt by Fire Breath. |
Honed Aggression | A minor increase to damage and is only taken in pure ST in order to allow us to progress further down the tree. |
Eternity's Span | Very strong the moment a secondary target is added, it doubles the number of targets hit by both Eternity Surge and Shattering Star. |
Eye of Infinity/ Event Horizon | Increased damage on your Eternity Surge or reduced cooldown. Both have very similar values and what is better for you will depend on your current gear. |
Catalyze | Makes your Fire Breath damage over time effect occur twice as often when you're channeling Disintegrate on the target. |
Tyranny | Gives us full Mastery benefits regardless of the target's health when we're inside Dragonrage or casting Deep Breath. |
Shattering Star | A short cooldown instant cast spell that increases the damage the target takes for a short duration. |
Row 8-10
Burnout | Grants both the initial hit and the damage over time effect of Fire Breath a chance at giving you an instant cast Living Flame stacking up to 2 times. |
Spellweaver's Dominance | Increases the multiplier on our critical strikes from 200% to 230%. |
Focusing Iris/ Arcane Vigor | Increases the duration of Shattering Star or gives you a guaranteed stack of Essence Burst when you cast it, both are good but the free stack wins out. |
Titanic Wrath | Increases the damage of Disintegrate and Pyre when consuming a stack of Essence Burst. |
Hoarded Power | Gives you a chance to not have your Essence Burst stacks consumed when using them. |
Power Swell | After casting an Empower spell, you will get double Essence regeneration for 4 seconds; this ability does not stack or extend, so make sure to space your empowered spells apart. |
Causality | Causes both of your Essence spenders to reduce the cooldown of Empower spells. Disintegrate will reduce the cooldown by .5 seconds each time it deals a tick of damage, and Pyre will reduce it by .4 seconds per target hit up to a maximum of 5 for a 2-second reduction per cast. |
Scintillation | Gives your Disintegrate a 15% chance to cast an Eternity Surge for 50% damage each time it ticks; this proc will not extend the duration of Dragonrage or give you the increased essence regeneration from Power Swell. |
Iridescence | Each time you cast an empower spell you'll gain a short buff increasing the damage of your next 2 spells that are the same school, Fire Breath buffing Living Flame/Pyre, Eternity Surge buffing Azure Strike/Disintegrate/Shattering Star. |
Rotation
Certain talents require changing how you play and your rotation in varying amounts. We will go over the strengths of those talents here, but if you want to know how to use those talents in the rotation, follow the link to the Rotation page, where we go through the rotation or priority system we follow.
On the topic of Eye of Infinity/ Event Horizon, you will want to sim your character to be sure, Event Horizon has a more forgiving playstyle when it comes to your Dragonrage extends and I would recommend taking it even if it is a minor loss until you are very comfortable with the spec.
PvP Talents (War Mode)
Opting into War Mode makes you eligible for open-world PvP but also grants you the following benefits:
- World Quests at maximum level have 10% increased rewards (30% if you are Alliance).
- You gain 10% increased Experience while leveling (30% if you are Alliance).
- Allows you to earn Conquest Points towards weekly gear rewards.
- Grants you to use PvP talents in the open-world.
With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended that you enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself eligible for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.
PvP Talents for Devastation Evokers
There are no PvP talents for Evokers that increase your total damage output. Therefore, the PvP talents you choose are entirely up to personal preference.
Changelog
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Adjusted for TWW.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Reviewed and checked for TWW Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6, added Eye of Infinity specific information.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Added new Template.
- 15 Jul. 2023: AoE specific talent wording adjustment.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated talent trees for Patch 10.1.5
- 01 May 2023: Updated both talent trees for Patch 10.1 and updated spell information.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 06 Feb. 2023: Fixed typo for Unravel.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Changed talent trees from damage focused ST/AoE to Raiding and Mythic+ with descriptions of changes that can be made when necessary.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 15 Nov. 2022: Page added.
More Evoker Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide is written by Blueprint. He is a long term high-end raider in the Oceanic guild Honestly, originally maining a Paladin. He has since swapped to Devastation Evoker since its inception and is a frequent theorycrafter in the Evoker community. You can find him on Discord as blueprint1990.
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