Warlock Class Discussion

Baddwin

Baddwin

New Member
Well as the newly elected Warlock class leader (thanks, everyone...I think ;) ), and in the interest of breaking the Paladin's monopoly of this forum, I wanted to start a thread for the...ahhh...less 'goody-two-shoes' among the Redeemed population - the Warlocks.

I know that there are only a few of us at high level right now, but I've seen quite a few lower level Warlocks on over the past few weeks, and I wanted to make a place where all of us could share questions, answers, ideas and discuss the class in general.

A little background on me: I've been playing WoW since open beta, and have played multiple characters, both on the horde and alliance side. My list of characters, other than Baddwin, includes a 60 Shadow Priest, a 52 Mage, a 47 Rogue, a 45 Hunter, a mid-30s Druid and a low 30s Shaman. Alt much? I do.

Baddwin grew up as a Demo specced Warlock, and I absolutely loved it. At 63 I took a leap of faith and respecced Affliction to get a bit of a better perspective on what the other talent trees had to offer. I didn't think it was possible, but I love that spec even better.

As far as Warlock resources, I'd highly recommend the Warlock's Den as a great place to go for Warlock information. It's got a very active, low-flame forum, and a good database of information on quests, spells, pets, and such.

I want to encourage all of our Warlocks, regardless of level or experience, to feel free to post anything here related to the class, specs, spells, pets, tactics, or favorite grooming methods, and also would encourage anyone else to participate and help us all to figure out how best to play with a Warlock and how to get our Warlocks playing well with the rest of our classes.
 
The last time we were grouped we were in a SL group. You out DPS'd me. I had my pet included in the meter (as I always do). How did you do it?!?!?!?!
 
Would this be a bad time to mention that I keep my pet on passive? :p I suppose assertions of my l337ness would be received by disbelief. And that's just by me - I know you wouldn't believe it. =)

As I recall, I did outdamage you, but it wasn't by much. I believe you said you were SM/Ruin specced? I'd check the armory, but it's being petulant at the moment. As an Affliction Warlock (spec here), I truly shine in multi mob fights. I did much better single target DPS when I was Demo specced, but can do way more DPS as affliction with multiple mobs than I ever could have dreamed as Demo in any situation.

In an instance, I'll generally DOT up the skull with UA, CoA (unless I'm with Quantam, then it gets CoS), Corruption, Siphon Life and Immolate. Then I'll go to the next mob, and get them DOTted, as well. Then it's back to the skull and help to drop it. When it goes down, I'll switch to the third. That way, I usually have full sets of DOTs ticking on at least two mobs at the same time. Depending on how well the tank is holding aggro, I can sometimes keep DOTs on 3 mobs. More than that, though, is just getting cocky, and is very likely to get me killed.

It plays COMPLETELY differently than with my old spec, and the biggest challenge has been learning to balance maximizing DPS without pulling aggro on everything we're fighting. I'm still learning the fine balance, but don't usually do too badly anymore (thank goodness for Soul Shatter!). I try to stay right at the edge, though, so will occasionally pull a bit of aggro, but have enough HP (over 11K now with my Imp, Fort, Kings, and MotW) that I can take a few hits and drain tank long enough to get a heal or have the tank taunt the mob back. And there is ALWAYS something to do. Boredom isn't an issue for me in instances. :D

The other thing I love about this spec is that with th Imp on passive, it stays phase shifted and always keeps its non-combat mana regen rate. That way, I can Dark Pact mana from it almost anytime I get low. I suppose I could run out of mana if I tried, but it'd be hard to do. If the Imp is low, I can simply Life Tap and Siphon Life and Drain Life will have my health filled back up in no time. I was dueling Cobethan a couple weeks ago, and the fight turned into one of those classic 5 minute Pally duels. Halfway through, he says, "How do you still have mana??" Hehe, go, go Imp mana battery!

I feel like I've got decent gear, but am continuing to look for better +dam and +STA pieces. I think I'm up to about +550 dam with Fel Armor up, although I was probably a bit below +500 when we did that Shadow Labs run. I was as worried about +crit when I was Demo (and if you're Ruin specced, I'm sure you put a lot of effort into keeping your crit rate up), but since 90% of my damage comes from DOTs, crit is mostly useless to me now. I'll take +hit and penetration, but +dam comes first. And because of Dark Pact, +STA gets huge priority over +INT, although I'll take whatever Int comes along for the ride.

Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
 
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