Warlock!

[Mirari]

Hullo

Gonna roll a warlock this afternoon, partly because it seems to be a very interesting class with lots of cosy spells and demon abilities, and partly because it's the class I've encountered the very least.

So, since I'm quite clueless about warlocks (well, most classes if I'm gonna be honest ) could anyone give me some advice about different ways to specc a warlock?

Cheers mates

[Darksword]

i wanna be the first to say something

50 delete 20 retire ? hehe omg i feel so l337

i think its 30 chambering 44 hexing or somethign thats the cookie cutter? tho 50 hexing 20 chambering is ment to be better (cant remember what hte chambering line is called)

[edit] LOL forgot this was wow forum

ok i dont know tho i think alot go for the spell where the pet tkaes 50% damage which is ment to be really good <Shrug> sorry i was no use

[Mirari]

ok that's a daoc warlock then... and it's either 50 hexing 20 witchcraft or 43 hexing 30 witchcraft ;p

that last piece of advice is the one im thinking about tho, but would like some comments from experienced warlocks first

[Lakashnik]

demonology has just been given a boost in the last patch. mates respecd to it for pvp at 60 but he cant decide if he likes it or not.
i think its affliction spec that imps ur dots and gives u curse of exhaustion and dark pact etc. thats how he grinded up and says he missess dark pact more than anything. but spec whtever u like the sound of.
only 10s to respec 1st time now.

[Archeon]

Talent Calculator

Affliction Talents (33 points)

# Improved Corruption - 5/5 points
Reduces the casting time of your Corruption spell by 2 seconds.

# Suppression - 5/5 points
Reduces the chance for enemies to resist your Affliction spells by 10%.

# Improved Drain Life - 5/5 points
Increases the Health drained by your Drain Life spell by 10%.

# Improved Life Tap - 2/2 points
Increases the amount of Mana awarded by your Life Tap spell by 20%.

# Fel Concentration - 5/5 points
Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channelling the Drain Life, Drain Mana, or Drain Soul spell.

# Grim Reach - 2/2 points
Increases the range of your Affliction spells by 20%.

# Nightfall - 2/2 points
Gives your Corruption and Drain Life spells a 4% chance to cause you to enter a Shadow Trance state after damaging the opponent. The Shadow Trance state reduces the casting time of your next Shadow Bolt spell by 100%.

# Siphon Life - 1/1 point

Transfers 15 health from the target to the caster every 3 seconds. Lasts 30 seconds.

Level 38: 22 health every 3 seconds
Level 48: 33 health every 3 seconds
Level 58: 45 health every 3 seconds

# Shadow Mastery - 5/5 points
Increases the damage dealt or life drained by your Shadow spells by 10%.

# Dark Pact - 1/1 point
Drains 150 of your pet's Mana, returning 100% to you.

Level 50: 200 Mana
Level 60: 250 Mana



Demonology Talents (18 points)

# Improved Healthstone - 2/2 points
Increases the amount of Health restored by your Healthstone by 20%.

# Improved Imp - 3/3 points
Increases the effect of your Imp's Firebolt, Fire Shield, and Blood Pact spells by 30%.

# Demonic Embrace - 5/5 points
Increases your total Stamina by 15%, but reduces your total Spirit by 5%.

# Fel Intellect - 5/5 points
Increases the maximum Mana of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter by 15%.

# Fel Domination - 1/1 point
Your next Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, or Felhunter Summon spell has its casting time reduced by 5.5 seconds and its Mana cost reduced by 50%.

# Master Summoner - 2/2 points
Reduces the casting time of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter Summoning spells by 4 seconds and the Mana cost by 40%.

I'd say the Affiliation tree is the best to go down while your levelling, with Improved Lifetap and Fel Concentration you can kill mobs with minimal downtime by 'Drain Tanking' (using Drain Life while being hit by mobs) - and LifeTap in between fights to restore Mana.

Demonology is a popular secondary tree, mostly because it offers more 'bang for your buck' than the Destruction tree at lower levels (Improved Imp, and Demonic Embrace are both very useful) Edit: I put the best stuff in Bold format to make it easier to see.


When you get to higher levels and want to start taking PvP more 'seriously' - you can switch to an offensive build like Shadow Mastery/Ruin, or Master Demonologist/Ruin. The exact builds for those depend on your own personal preference, so long as they have SM(or MD) and Ruin.

Alternatly, you can go for a defensive build, which is essencially Soul Link.


I wouldn't recommend going for either of those straight away, the XX/Ruin build is very dependent on the armour you have (+Shadow dmg is non-existant at lower levels) - and Demonology (while not too bad), isn't really exceptional in any way. You can always respec at higher levels remember.


I'm not really sure what else to say aside from the basic pointers...

1. Use the Imp in parties, 'Blood Pact' stacks with the Priests PW:F and at higher levels adds a nice chunk of HP to everyone in the group. On top of that the Imp's DPS is respectable, even without the Improved Firebolt talent.

2. Soul Stone the main Resser either a Priest, or a Paladin - only S.Stone the Druid if you've got no other choice - his Res spell is on a 30min cooldown, so it's not very useful for saving a group from wipe outs.

3. Hand out HealthStones, especially to your groups tanks. Make sure they know what they are and what they do (be sure to point out that their on a seperate timer to health potions) - ask regularly if people need a new one.

4. Soul Stone the main Resser... NOT YOURSELF

5. Keep lvl1 CoR(ecklessness) on your cast-bar, it costs minimal mana - and most importantly, stops runners! You won't get much appreciation for it because the average player doesn't know about it, but then again you'll be going unappreciated for a lot of stuff.

6. A Soul Stone on the Main Resser, is akin to putting a Soul Stone on every party member.
A Soul Stone on your character, is akin to smothering honey on your ass and running into a cave of grizzly bears.


That's just the basics really, for more info i'd check out the WoW Warlock forums.. they're very whiney, but there are a few smart people there willing to help out new 'locks.

[Bibi]

Asmuch i have tested different talents and played with talent-calculator: the best PvP spec atm is 31demo / 20 destr.
Sadly is warlock most bugged character in wow and u dont have any escape spell to move avay from melee hits. If u can stand it - go for it and roll warlock - if not - pick something else - all other classes have option to escape.

[Whisperess]

Don't go for a PvP spec while leveling up. Respec when you're 60 (or when you feel "done" about getting your gear) and get the best of both worlds.

[Gat_Decor]

Originally Posted by Bibi

u dont have any escape spell to move avay from melee hits - all other classes have option to escape.

errmm can u explain that to me? thought Locks had 'fear' and tell me how a priest escapes from melee? 'fear' perhaps?

[Yoni]

Gat

Priest fear is instant cast... Warlocks isn't sadly although i do not find any problems in escaping if I am questing.

I usually have my vw out a quick sacrifice then a fear and then run run run :P

not much different to priest except the process with priest is a little quicker.

One thing i need to test is whether rogues can sap / stun through a sacrifice bubble (as they can through my priest one).... if anyone knows this I would be interested to know.... failing that ill test it when I get home

[Sissyfoo]

Do you learned warlockies have any tips on how to play a warlock effectively from the early levels onwards? I'm basically using my shadow bolt with my imp and blasting mobs to bits but it seems to be very inefficient.

[Bibi]

Originally Posted by Gat_Decor

errmm can u explain that to me? thought Locks had 'fear' and tell me how a priest escapes from melee? 'fear' perhaps?

Fear works dessent only in PvE and even there u have big chanche, that feared mob is comming back with 3-4 others. In PvE are warlocks very ok - i basically soloed ( about 95% i think ) my lock up to lvl 60, wasnt hard atall ( even in PvP server )
What i ment there was PvP. Priest AE fear is insta. Lock single is 1,5 sec cast without interrupts. As we know interrupts make castingtime longer or canceling it - so u have 0 change to get fear of against even bit skilled rogue. Nothing to talk anout AE fear - u newer gonna get it off in PvP. Plus - there are antyfear trinkets what are removing fear from chars.

[Yoni]

Sissy

I guess everyones style of playing warlock is a bit different.

I rarely use imp except in instances. 95% of the time if I am out questing and I am not being randomly attacked by horde I use VW, Co? (dependent on what the mob is and what I feel like doing), corrumption, life tap, immolation then drain life in the hope i proc an instant shadowbolt.

If there are horde about then either felhunter or succubus come out to play.

What build are you? I am heading towards the std SM / Ruin build

[Bibi]

Originally Posted by Yoni

One thing i need to test is whether rogues can sap / stun through a sacrifice bubble (as they can through my priest one).... if anyone knows this I would be interested to know.... failing that ill test it when I get home

Not very sure. If sacrifice sets u in comabat then they cant sap as sap works only on humanoids who are'nt in combat. Isnt that importent anyway, as rogue have option to pick fight and time for attack.

[Sissyfoo]

Originally Posted by Yoni

Sissy

I guess everyones style of playing warlock is a bit different.

I rarely use imp except in instances. 95% of the time if I am out questing and I am not being randomly attacked by horde I use VW, Co? (dependent on what the mob is and what I feel like doing), corrumption, life tap, immolation then drain life in the hope i proc an instant shadowbolt.

If there are horde about then either felhunter or succubus come out to play.

What build are you? I am heading towards the std SM / Ruin build

Ta. I've started using my Voidy now and it is much more efficient, especially on multiple mobs. I don't really understand the benefits (or the meanings) of the various different builds so I am just gonna go full affliction until I know what I'm doing.

[Yoni]

Personally I would go affliction to shadow mastery and then destruction to ruin.

I didn't think much of dark pact :/