Demon Warlock (or Demonlock) may refer to both any warlock deck that utilizes demon synergies, or the specific control warlock deck described in this article, which utilizes high-power demons, defensive early-game cards and removal, and Bloodreaver Gul'dan to create a huge tempo swing late game, followed by constant minion value and Siphon Life to wear down the opponent.
While demon synergy has existed since the beginning of the game, its lack of deck-defining cards and dubious identity has not made any deck built solely around them viable deck for most of Hearthstone's lifetime. After Curse of Naxxramas and prior to the first Standard rotation demon variants of Zoolock and Handlock were quite popular, thanks to Voidcaller, but both had primary win conditions other than it. Demonlock got notable synergies next time in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan with Krul the Unshackled, but it was not enough to make the deck widely popular. Decks with demons as primary win condition only became competitively viable with the addition of Bloodreaver Gul'dan in Knights of the Frozen Throne, as demons were given a win condition powerful enough. In the following expansion Kobolds and Catacombs, Demonlock was also given high power level cards, including Voidlord for its extremely high value, Skull of the Man'ari and Possessed Lackey for pulling high-cost demons, and general early to mid-game control cards like Lesser Amethyst Spellstone.
Warlock lost most of its control cards in the Year of the Dragon, turning Demonlock into a Wild-only deck.
Common cards[]
The following cards are usually in the deck.
Core cards[]
The following cards are played in most or all versions of the deck:
Cubelock[]
- Main article: Cube Warlock
The following cards are commonly played in the Cubelock version:
Handlock[]
- Main article: Handlock
The following cards are commonly played in the Handlock version:
Renolock[]
- Main article: Renolock
The following cards are commonly played in the Demon variant of Renolock:
Optional cards[]
The following cards are played more than occasionally, but not always: