Demonology 101: the Infernal
by Zach Yonzon 
Sep 16th 2008 at 1:00PM
Alright, we've covered all the basic pets on Demonology 101, including the Felguard talent from the Demonology tree. Today we'll take a look at one of two gimmick pets that hardly see any actual play -- the Infernal. The Infernal is a pet summoned through the Inferno spell and isn't technically a Warlock pet in the traditional sense. With a 20-minute cooldown to the spell, think of it as an emergency pet like a Shaman's Elemenals.Unlike an Elemental, however, the Infernal can be controlled with traditional pet commands but has no special abilities. Used purely for amusement purposes as the standard pets perform better in most situations, it gets even more left behind in Wrath of the Lich King as there are no new talents or abilities that make it more useful.
Using the Inferno spell also costs a reagent, the Infernal Stone, which costs 50 Silver. Other than entertainment in the Battlegrounds and outside Auction Houses, there's little purpose to using the Infernal. You can theoretically use it against numerous mobs, but also remember the 'only usable outdoors' restriction. The only good thing about this particular demon is that it is a 1.5 second cast (down from 2 seconds) AoE stun.
While several talents in Demonology increase the pet's effectiveness -- from Stamina to Intellect to Critical Strike chance -- it benefits from no special effects from talents like Demonic Empowerment or Master Demonologist. Furthermore, the 5 minute duration and being prone to diminishing returns on Enslave Demon make this demon less of a useful pet than it is one of the Warlock's best parlor tricks.
Filed under: Warlock, Analysis / Opinion, Talents, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Feralclaw Sep 16th 2008 1:06PM
Also note that currently in live, a level 70 warlock summoning still gets a level 50 infernal, which makes it utterly useless, since the stun and immolation effect gets resisted 90% of the time.
Deep.Grave Sep 16th 2008 1:14PM
Note: back when the infernal was 70, you could use Demonic Sacrifice on a normal pet and then bring him out for extra dps. That was the plan on Archimonde at least... until I got air bursted >.
Teactor Sep 16th 2008 1:16PM
Might as well use a non-combat pet, you get less resists...
Lur Sep 16th 2008 5:20PM
Perhaps you should read the PTR patch notes:
Infernal: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour. Duration reduced to 1 minute, down from 5 minutes+. Health increased by 30%, damage increased by 60%, and armor increased by 30%.
Doomguard: Health increased 20%, mana increased 24%.
Looks like they're trying to make them more useful for those situations where your minion just went down and it would be great if you could have a heavy hitter to soul-link with in 1.5 seconds.
Lenz Sep 16th 2008 2:09PM
Well, the infernal maybe. I don't think anyone will be starting a Ritual of Doom or hope for a lucky Curse of Doom for an emergency Doomguard.
matt Sep 16th 2008 2:17PM
I guess it *might* be useful if you're not demo or Fel Domination is on cooldown.
Zach Sep 16th 2008 6:13PM
Hi Lur,
Interesting. I'm in Beta, so I can't test the PTR (go figure), but in Beta it's a 20 minute cooldown for a 5-minute demon. 1.5 second cast. I think it works better than the PTR version.
Elmo Sep 16th 2008 5:22PM
in my guild Warlocks use these on MH trash, they say it's good AoE
Might aswell be a secret competition to who kills most healers before the raid leader get's angry...
Saelorn Sep 16th 2008 1:37PM
This thing saved me once. It managed to hold the attention of two enemies after a particularly grueling gauntlet; with me as affliction and no pet to speak of, the incredibly short casting time saved me. Granted, I don't recall it lasting very long against those level 54s, but definitely long enough for a bandage and drain life.
Liljon Sep 16th 2008 5:23PM
You can still use it in sunwell for Brutallus, it doesn't remove Demonic Sacrifice buff and increases your dps by a fair amount(200ish dps I think) even if brutallus resist lots of his attacks
Galla Sep 16th 2008 1:41PM
It can be pretty sneaky in world pvp too.
Hanako Sep 16th 2008 5:23PM
When leveling my lock in Outlands I often did elite quests as destruction with this little combo:
VW -> DoT's and start burning, when VW loses aggro sacrifice and continue DPS, when sacrifice is almost done summon Infernal for stun -> then soulshatter to drop aggro onto Infernal and start again. Sure I could only do it only every hour, but it was quicker many times than searching for someone on non-peak times.
heath Sep 16th 2008 5:24PM
i disagree with the OP as you're forgetting one huge detail.
its a 2 second summon. for those that don't have the instant-cast talent (or its on cooldown), this is huge. even with an instant-cast demon:
a. go in with your VW
b. sac him, instant-cast another VW
c. sac him, bring out your 2sec infernal
that's actually a pretty big deal.
IMO, the infernal was built for add duty in BM.
the 1 minute duration is a huge nerf though...utterly unnecessary imo.
Zach Sep 16th 2008 6:13PM
Hi heath,
I believe I mentioned that. The only good thing about it is that it's a 1.5 (not 2) second AoE stun.
Nova Sep 16th 2008 5:25PM
The only fun times I've had with this pet are when I go into a low level zone and use his AOE to kill little jr players and to kill people in Shatt.
I think this is the only way to kill other players in shatt. what you do is summon your Inferno put him on stay next to a person you think is AFK then walk a good distance away. Do not walk to far away though because he will despawn. Once you think you are a good distance away summon your usual pet making the Inferno break his link to you. He will then try to run to you but as long as you run a bit further away from him he will give up and run back to the place you put him on stay. He will then countinue to attack anyone close enough to his aggro radious which should be that player you put him on stay next to.
Oneiroi Sep 16th 2008 6:10PM
They really should adjust these so people actually use them more often. I mean why have a practically useless demon? It would be great if they just added this to the rotation of regular summonable demons.
I didn't even know this one existed for the longest time.
Jolly Sep 16th 2008 6:11PM
I've seen this used to grief people in AV. Just outside the tunnel as the game started, his AoE prevented the entire raid from mounting. Really annoying - nerf please!
thebvp Sep 16th 2008 6:12PM
@Jolly:
Not only that, locks can also commit suicide before the game starts and res up ahead at the graveyard.
The raid stall is more entertaining, though. ;)
Ikarus Sep 16th 2008 5:46PM
I thought there was a post some months back by one of the devs or CM's that they had plans to buff the infernal and doomguard to be more useful. anyone else recall that?
CDS Sep 17th 2008 3:05PM
Yes, it was Eyonix aand he said
"We do plan to make improvements for both the Doomguard and Infernal at some point in the future, quite possibly in Wrath of the Lich King."
"It's hard to say right now. We'd like for warlocks to have a reason to use them in places that just aren't major cities. :P"
So no firm promise and they left themselves plenty of wiggle room to get out of it.