'Lock progress assistance please.

[Reason]

This has to do with my spec and my gear, so I created a seperate topic for it. So far, this is the spec I have with my lvl 32 'Lock. 7/8/8 (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=AV0bZ0xhZVh) I quest all the time with my VW so this is why I have went this route. I also use Life Tap like it is going out of style for questing purposes. It helps with a lot less down time like I'm used to with my mage.

My new few points are going to go into Bane to make it 5/5. Then I'm planning on picking up Shadowburn. That should take care of me up to lvl 35. This is where I run into the problem of not knowing what would help me out the most. I thought about putting points into Soul Siphon, Fel Intellect, and Devestation. Just not sure on what would help me out the most. Any suggestions on this would help.

Next is my issue of gear. I've been mainly looking for +sta and +int stuff while leveling as +dmg gear isn't plentiful yet. For any of you who have higher level locks like John Sr. and Anita, I'm wondering if you all concentrate more on +dmg stuff and whatever stats come with the item, that's ok? Or, do you look mainly for +sta and +int gear concentrating on one or the other?

Anywho, things are coming along very well so far on my 'Lock and Jamie has been helping me out a great amount. I've also learned that when I'm fealing a bit bored, use Fear and instantly, I'm on my toes again. lol. So far, I've found out I can take on around 5 mobs in a row. Found that out the hard way though trying to stay alive while taking on 3 at one time.

Anywho, sorry for the long post. :) And thanks in advance for the words of wisdom if anyone can provide some.

Have a great day everyone and see you all in game on Saturday (I'm out of town until then.)

God bless,

Chris

[Angus_Og]

As far as talents go, I would also pick up Devistation, Suppression, Curse of Agony, Nightfall and Empowered Corruption as the next talents to get after you finish off Bane and Shadowburn.

As for gear, for now stick with the +sta items. I would vary between +int and +dmg if you have to make a choice. As you found out you can make up alot mana if you have alot of stamina, Life Tap ftw.

[example42]

Pre-60 specs are all about your play style. There is no "good" leveling spec. If you like your VW, then some demonology is good as is focusing on lower-agro dots in the affliction tree rather than direct damage from destruction. If you are keen on dropping mobs fast at all costs, then go destruction. Leveling is your chance to really learn about the different ways to play the class. Warlocks are a very diverse class and experimenting now will really help you in the long run.

That said, I think I would go something like this (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0500200000000000000000050300000000000 000000055000010000000000000) for myself while leveling. If it were me, I would then feed points into afflicition or destruction based on your play style. Personally, I would probably go affliction mostly. If you do this, choose your talents based on whether you want harder hitting DoTs or better drain-lifing. That's generally your choice at each level of the affliction tree.

You might consider respecing to pick up the Felguard at level 50.

I would focus on +stam and +int gear. Dreamweave is the only +dmg gear really worth it before 60.

[Wend]

I went total demonology (just cuz I wanted too) and thereby concentrated on +sta gear as a primary with +dmg secondary. Let me tell you though..this is NOT the way to climb up the damage meters. Although it was great for soloing, most of your damage is DoT's not instant casts so by the time you get into instances you hardly have time to DoT a mob before it's dead. Seriously..if you want to be a uber dmg machine don't go demonology and then prolly concentrate more on +dmg gear like you did with your mage.

[Odale]

If you want to dominate in the damage meters, then go Affliction with Demonic Sactifice. Concentrate on +damage items and stamina. I got hosed lastnight, not once, but twice by a lock in Zandalar armor from ZG and some miscellaneous blues. He said he had ~400 spell damage. My warlock's ctprofile is in my signature, and I can max out at +555 spell damage, and 21.somthing% to crit.

Your damage is all in the spec. The talents at the bottom of the Demo tree arent that bad for +damage however.

[Reason]

If you want to dominate in the damage meters, then go Affliction with Demonic Sactifice. Concentrate on +damage items and stamina. I got hosed lastnight, not once, but twice by a lock in Zandalar armor from ZG and some miscellaneous blues. He said he had ~400 spell damage. My warlock's ctprofile is in my signature, and I can max out at +555 spell damage, and 21.somthing% to crit.

Your damage is all in the spec. The talents at the bottom of the Demo tree arent that bad for +damage however.



I'm just a little confused here. Do you mean to go with Demonology and get Demonic Sacrifice, or did you mean to say go Affliction and put the wrong talent in there?

[Odale]

30.21.0 is a good spec for damage at level 60. Sac the succy for 15% more shadpw damage off your dots.

[example42]

Many locks swear by Demonic Sacrifice for damage. I don't buy it. Everything above DS in the demonology tree is pretty much worthless if all you are going to do is sac your pet. SM/Ruin still seems to be the DPS powerhouse with 11/0/40 or 10/0/41 being pretty much equal if you have +550 damage or more.

The key to lock damage in a group or raid is all about judging how long a mob will live. In 5-mans you can normally get by with corruptions and shadow bolts. For MC trash you should be using one round of all DoTs (CoA, Corruption, etc) and maybe a second round on some pulls. On ZG trash mobs you will probably end up using a lot of searing pain as for mobs last long enough to make DoTs and shadow bolt spam worth it. Well timed shadow burns and conflags (if you have conflag) also give a big boost to lock damage in short battle. Locks are all about timing.

[Odale]

Currently, I am 0.11.40. I dont have Conflag, I skipped it and went for Shadow and Flame (shadowbolts recieve 20% more bonus from +damage). Ruin helps that alot. As a destruction lock, most of my damage comes from them. If I were to sac a succy, thats 15% more damage comming out of those shadowbolts.

[example42]

0/21/40 will be pretty uber in once the xpac comes out, but what is 0/11/40 giving you right now? You lose insta-corruption and imp life tap which are HUGE. What is so great in demonology that you are going 0/11/41 right now?

[Angus_Og]

Just for my 2 cents, I went 20/0/31. I grabbed empowered corruption and Conflagrate. And if I am lucky not to die to often, I do very well in MC. My ranking in dmg went up between 6-8 spots, from trying to break into the top 10 to always ending my day in the top 5. The #1 lock in our group has a 41/0/10 build and if he is not #1 he is #2 in the raid. Unfortunately we also have 2 demo locks and the others that come in are new to L60.

I personally have just over 300 +dmg.

[Reason]

Talking with a few other locks, I decided to change up my spec a bit. I've heard that speccing all affliction while grinding helps out a ton due to the extra damage from the main DoT's. Here is the route that I've decided to go. 28/0/0 (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IVMrioszs) for my level 37 'Lock. At level 50, I'll respec to pick up the Felguard. Until then though, I'm going to stay with the Affliction tree. I'm still trying to get a hold of learning this class. It's a toughie.

[example42]

I think what makes the class so challenging is you have 3 very viable trees but each comes with its own play style. To really be an expert at the class you have to be a master of min-maxing DoTs, spells, mana, etc. It's very hands-on and while you can shadow bolt spam and do OK, to really excel requires a lot of work.

[Reason]

Just giving an update on my 'Lock progression, and I have a separate question as well. Current build so far: 35/0/0 (www.wowhead.com/?talent-bc=IVMrioszqp) DoT grinding with Siphon Life and Drain Life has been wonderful.

My question is the following. Instead of the Felguard lvl 50 respec that I was planning on, I'm going to be going with Unstable Affliction. When I go to put Unstable Affliction on the taget, is that going to remove any current DoT that I have? Meaning, this is what I currently do. Cast Siphon Life to pull the target and send in my VW, CoA, Corruption, Life Tap, Immolate, Drain Life until dead. Now, once I pick up Unstable Affliction, are any of my previous DoT's going to be cancelled out, or is this going to be another DoT added onto the target?


Thanks for the help so far everyone. :) I'm enjoying my new 'Lock rather well.

[example42]

Unstable affliction is it's own DoT. It doesn't erase any others. It is pretty useless for PvE though due to the mana cost and cast time. You can already kill 90% of grinding mobs with just a Corruption, Agony, and Immolate. A Drain Soul or Drain Life can be used to speed things up a little. Adding another DoT means the mob will die faster, but be far less mana effecient.

[Reason]

Unstable affliction is it's own DoT. It doesn't erase any others. It is pretty useless for PvE though due to the mana cost and cast time. You can already kill 90% of grinding mobs with just a Corruption, Agony, and Immolate. A Drain Soul or Drain Life can be used to speed things up a little. Adding another DoT means the mob will die faster, but be far less mana effecient.



UA doesn't really cost that much mana. With level 50'ish spells taken into consideration:

lvl 50 UA: 270 mana
lvl 54 Corruption: 290 mana
lvl 48 CoA: 170 mana
lvl 50 Immolate: 295 mana

The same lvl UA vs Immolate, UA costs less mana and does more damage by 100, with a decreased cast time. Only down fall is that it takes an extra 3 ticks.

[example42]

Right. I'm thinking a post-63 world where immolate isn't optional (due to incinerate).

[Angus_Og]

One thing I did read, just as a fyi, the felguard is suppose to get a little buff when TBC comes out.

As for specs, I like the idea of playing around with all 3 specs for awhile while leveling. It gives you a decent idea of what your play style is and what tree is best for you. As deedlyt stated, each tree is viable for all aspects of WoW. Some slightly better than others in areas, but if that is not your playstyle then it will just hurt you in the long run.

[Reason]

One thing I did read, just as a fyi, the felguard is suppose to get a little buff when TBC comes out.

As for specs, I like the idea of playing around with all 3 specs for awhile while leveling. It gives you a decent idea of what your play style is and what tree is best for you. As deedlyt stated, each tree is viable for all aspects of WoW. Some slightly better than others in areas, but if that is not your playstyle then it will just hurt you in the long run.


One of the things I guess I was worried about and why I kind of put the Felguard on the back burner was that I wasn't sure on how well it would be at holding agro. I really didn't want to waste 25g (10g for the first respec and 15 for the 2nd) just to find out. I did want to try it, but didn't think it would be worth it in the long run.

[Angus_Og]

From my understanding from demon spec locks is that it holds it a little better then a Void. But also remember that once you start going beyond 60 and learning new skills for the Felguard it will probably be much better tanking then the Void. Plus it does have the nice charge.

[Baddwin]

Felguard holds aggro well. I'm 62 now and have been Demo since my first talent point at level 10. I'm actually thinking about trying out the other trees between now and 70, just because I really don't know what I'm missing. (After all, I still have my 1g respec available. ;) ) He definitely has taken a hit since 2.0 came out, but I entirely expected that. I'd say he's pretty well balanced now. In the aggro department, I can pull aggro from him when spamming shadowbolts, but it isn't usually before the mob is nearly dead. If I give him a few seconds to build up threat (with a single DoT ticking - usually CoA, as I gave up Imp Corruption when 2.0 came out) I have very few aggro problems, even allowing for an add or two.

One thing I'd recommend, though, is waiting to respec for the Felguard until at least 52-53. At 50, he won't have charge or cleave, and without those skills he's going to be a lot less effective. I'd hate for you to spend the gold to respec only to get a subpar Felguard, spec back out, and never really experience what he brings to the table.

Personally, I love Demo since 2.0. MD, DK, SL and DT are a major contributor to damage output. I noticed a significant increase in damage output after the new talent trees came out due just to these. And I'm very durable. Between DE and SL, I'm a not-very-squishy squishy. :p I've usually got more health than the tank (if much less damage mitigation...) It's a very strong tree.

I do still want to play with the others, but will have to be VERY impressed with them to not eventually come back to Demo. I love having 3 good talent trees to pick from.

Baddwin
62 Gnomelock
Redeemed

[example42]

I've gone demonology for leveling, but have noticed the felguard getting progressively weaker. His DPS and armor is not scaling well with the mobs he is fighting. Don't get me wrong, at 67 he is still doing a pretty good job but he's not the powerhouse he was at 60.