The Warlock Guide

Warlocks are a very powerful class, with the ability to place numerous curses upon opponents crippling the opponents efficiency and ability to strike back. Many times a warlock can end a fight with full life as they have the ability to drain the life and mana of their opponents.

1) Useful Warlock links

“Please be aware that Blizzard does not offer support for any customizeduser interface modifications. Before speaking to a Game Master in-game, pleasebe sure to uninstall any User Interface modifications.” (from the Policiessection of the main website, I include this so you know you can’t page a GM overa bug with a mod).
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?sectid=21 -Warlock Mods & Addons

To use an addon, open My Computer, then open the C: drive, then open ProgramFiles, then World of Warcraft, then Interface, and finally the Addon folder.Download the addon and drag and drop it into this folder.

http://www.warcraftmovies.com/viewclass.php?id=8 -Player Videos

Warlock Quest Links:
http://thotbott.com/?qu=1470 or http://thotbott.com/?qu=1599 -Imp quest
http://thotbott.com/?qu=1478 or http://thotbott.com/?qu=1685 -Voidwalker quest
http://thotbott.com/?qu=1507 or http://thotbott.com/?qu=1717 -Succubus quest
http://thotbott.com/?qu=1801 or http://thotbott.com/?qu=1798 -Felhunter quest
http://thotbott.com/?qu=4738 -Enchanted Gold Bloodrobe
http://thotbott.com/?qu=4967 -Orahil staff or orb
http://thotbott.com/?qu=4490 -Felsteed
http://thotbott.com/?qu=8422 -Soul Harvestor, Abyssal Shard, or Robes of Servitude
http://thotbott.com/?qu=7603 -Infernal quest
http://thotbott.com/?qu=7583 -Doomguard quest
http://thotbott.com/?n=618465 -Set of Dreadsteed quests

More Warlock Resources:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?… -Forum thread for Warlock FAQ
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?… -Forum thread for Warlock Macros
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?class=Warlock -Warlock Spell List

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2) Class Role

“Warlocks were mages that delved too deeplyinto the roots of demonic power. Consumed by a lust for dark knowledge, they’vetapped into chaotic magic from beyond the world. The Burning Legion now feedsthem its powers, allowing them to channel destructive energies and call uponthe powerful emissaries of their demon masters.” (Quoted from Blizzard)

As Warlocks we will play differently in different situations, not to mentionthe great variety of play styles that the different talent builds will give us(explained in Talent Guide). There are, however, a few common themes that peoplelook for when choosing a warlock for their group.

In PvE you’ll find yourself striving for efficiency in combat. Careful use ofDrain Life and Lifetap can ensure that you are always at or near full healthand mana at the end of each fight, which reduces your downtime to zero. Whilethe Voidwalker is generally the best pet for this, some talent builds will allowyou to use other pets and drain tank for high efficiency.

In PvE group combat, you’re going to be focused on utility and damage. Warlocksare loved in instances for their soulstones, which can revive the priest (andtherefore the entire party) after a complete wipe and for our ability to banishthe elementals found in the Molten Core. On top of that our imp, succubus, andfelhunter step up to the plate as great assets to the group with the imp providinghis health buff to everyone in our party, the succubus with her ability to seducehumanoids, and the felhunter with devour magic to remove negative magical effectsand spell lock to interrupt enemy casters. On top of all that utility, warlockscan be formidable damage dealers with ranged nukes in the 1000-2500 range.

It is in PvP that our variety starts to play its biggest part. Our talent buildswill make us range from ferocious damage dealers to highly defensive tanks. Itis in PvP that claims are never made as to the playstyle you expect in a warlock.

There are some frustrations you will also inherit as a warlock. First and foremostare Soul Shards. These are reagents used in many of our spells, including almostall of the utility spells that raid/groupmates will ask us to cast (Ritual ofSummoning, Healthstones, Soulstones, ect). The only way to get these shards willbe to farm them off of enemies that grant xp or are honorable kills. This becomesa heavy burden when it takes a lot of time farming the shards since you’ll needmany, and inventory space since they do not stack.
Although this burden has been eased somewhat by Blizzard (see Patch Notes), itis still our chief frustration in the eyes of many. Another frustration is whatsome perceive to be a lack of defensive spells. While some will say that we haveall the defensive spells we need, there are others who say we are the cloth wearingclass that is most open to attacks.

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3) Talent Guide

There are a few main cookie cutter builds, and a few gimmik builds. Warlocksare blessed with tons of viable variation in their talents, so you’ll have tofind the niche that best suits you. All builds will have a few variations wherepeople pick up this or drop that, so these are just samples. That being said…

(After each build description you’ll find a list of Questionable Use talents.These are talent points spent that either are made irrelevant by the purposeof the build, have no significant use, or are thought to be either of these thingsby many people.)

• HeavyAffliction-Dark Pact
This is hailed as the leveling build. Your DoTs will be very effective, you candrain tank for added damage, and your voidwalker will hold agro like a champ.This build also features Dark Pact, which is handy in raid and group situationswhen you can afford to use different demons (especially the Imp) to supplimentyour mana and avoid downtime altogether.
Questionable Use: None

• HeavyDemonology-Soul Link
This is great for survival. If you want to be hard as nails to kill and you likedemons, this is the build for you. For absolute survival, pull a voidwalker outwith soul link on it to mitigate 40% of incoming damage, which you can sack fora 2000 shield (twice). The ability to add to your health through drain tankingis really useful here since your health is so hard for an enemy to take away.
Questionable Use: Fel Stamina, Unholy Power, Demonic Sacrafice

• HeavyDestruction-Conflag
This is easily our most damaging spec. This spec is very much PvP oriented asbeing highly damaging is bad for agro reasons in PvE as well as fire damage notbeing as helpful in end-game instances.
Questionable Use: None

• Nightfall/Conflag
This is a split shadow/fire build. It has no problem putting out damage, andwhen one class of spells is interrupted it can switch to the other. As nightfallis a cornerstone in this build, you’ll want to land Corruption right out of thegate in a fight.
Questionable Use: None

• SM/Ruin
This is a very balanced build. For PvP you’ll do good damage with shadowboltsand your DoTs. For PvE you are doing shadow damage, which is effective in end-gameinstances. Some say that this build is somewhat dependant on +damage gear.
Questionable Use: None

• SM/DS
This build is demonless. This makes it extremely shard efficient, since you’llonly need a new pet every 30 minutes or when you die. Your damage potential isvery high as you can sack a succubus for the biggest percent gains to shadowfrom talents available in any of the builds. The major drawback of this buildis it’s wasted talents. 10 talent points are spent buffing up your pets so thatyou have the points necessary to get Demonic Sacrafice, but you’ll rarely havethe pets out to enjoy their buffs.
Questionable Use: Improved Imp, Improved Voidwalker, Fel Stamina

• MD/Ruin
This build is a sort of variation from the SM/Ruin build. While many do use thevoidwalker sacrafice, this build allows you to sacrafice the succubus and thenhave her rezzed (or rez her yourself if you have jumper cables) and keep the+15% buff from sacking her. Essentially what you trade from SM/Ruin is the addedDoT damage from Affliction and the choice of pet when using the succubus trickin exchange for added survivability (you are a demonology build) and pet utility.
Questionable Use: None

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4) Demon Guide

• Imp

This demon does not require a shard, grants boosted stamina to all groupmates, has moderate damage (awesome damage with improved firebolt), and has awesome regeneration rates (making him ideal for Dark Pact users). His main drawback is his low health. Anything that casts AoEs will toast the little guy, and regardless of him being your first demon his mana cost is still staggering.

• Voidwalker
This guy is a tank. He has the highest stamina and armor of all the pets, a strong taunt, and can be sacked for a damage shield (which is dispellable). At higher levels he may have problems holding agro from us, but a few points in Improved Voidwalker will remedy that. He also serves a PvP role for Demonology warlocks as his sacrafice buff (3% of total health every 4 seconds) is phenomenol, and he adds a lot to damage mitigation with soul link and his demonology buff.

• Succubus
This pet has a dual use. Very reasonable damage is used sometimes in drain tanking for PvE purposes and her seduce ability is golden in PvP (she can charm any humanoid for a small duration).

• Felhunter
This is our anti-caster pet. He has spell lock (interrupt and silence), devour magic (dispell), and high resistances to all schools of magic. This pet is often used as a wingman in Warsong Gultch as his devour magic spell can remove almost all snare effects on the flag runner (the hunter ice block trap, a mage’s cone of cold, the druid root, a priest’s mind control, ect).

• Infernal and Doomguard
These pets are acquired through special quests (see Useful Warlock Links) and are not worth the effort at this time. The Infernal cannot be used in instances, and the doomguard requires the sacrafice of one of the people who help to summon him. On top of this, these pets will not remain under your control and will periodically break free to attack you and your party. If you do insist on using these pets, keep in mind that Curse of Shadows will decrease their resistance to Enslave Demon.

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