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The Warlock’s guide to victory 1-30
By Cadavor
The Warlock is possibly the most exciting and complicated class to play in
World of Warcraft. This guide is being put together to talk about both solo
play and grouping with friends from levels 1 to 30. We’ll discuss the early
pets, some of the more effective curses, soul shards, and tradeskills.
Soul Shards
Quite a few of the Warlocks’ greater abilities rely on a commodity called a
soul shard. These can be created for the cost of a little mana, by casting
Drain Soul on a creature, and having that creature die while Drain Soul is
still…draining their soul. This places a soul shard in your inventory
(assuming you have space). The Drain Soul spell can be interrupted, so you
will have mixed success with a monster beating on you while in mid-cast.
Soulshards are used to create your Voidwalker, your Succubus, healthstones,
soulstones, and are also used in the Ritual of Summoning, which sucks a party
member to your location, with the help of two groupmates.
Curses
One of the key abilities that distinguishes a Warlock from all others is our
ability to use a wide variety of curses. Curses are unique from spells in the
fact that only a single curse can be active on any one target. You can curse
multiple targets, but each target may have only one.
Properly used curses can turn a destined failure into a near victory. They
truly can make the difference in battle between having a warlock and not.
Curses at the higher levels get fairly complicated and deal with resistances
and whatnot, so those will be covered in the next guide – here, we’re
focusing on the 1-30th level curses.
Curse of Agony – this curse line causes a specified amount of damage over a
30-second time period - Great for soloing standard mobs.
Curse of Recklessness – Increases the target’s attack power, but decreases
their armor seven times greater than the increase in attack power – so if
attack was increased by 10, armor was reduced by 70.
Curse of Tongues – This curse, used primarily against casting targets,
forces the target to speak in tongues, slowing their cast time by 50%. It
lasts for 30 seconds.
Curse of Weakness – this curse is invaluable against named targets – it
reduces their damage output by a specified amount based on the level of the
spell, for two minutes.
Group overview
While there are certain to be debates on what is an effective group,
traditionally groups are formed with the following roles – a healer, a tank,
and damage classes. The warlock can fall under both tank and damage
classifications – a tank being the one that’s supposed to generate a lot
of hate to have the monster attack them, and the damage class
because…well…certain pets in certain situations put out great damage and
add quite a bit to the group. Warlocks also bring quite a bit of utility to
groups – after level 20, you can resurrect fallen comrades (with some
advanced planning), supply your damage-prone friends with healthstones, and
even summon groupmates to the group from across Azeroth! All for the cost of a
few soul shards – more to come on those later.
Warlock Pet overview
The key to being a solid warlock is knowing which pet to use at which time.
Each type of pet has its’ own strengths and weaknesses, and leveraging these
at the right time could turn an almost guaranteed death into a win for you or
your group. Conversely, using the wrong pet (or pet ability) at the wrong time
could spell disaster. On your adventure, you’ll acquire three types of pets
before hitting level 30 –
The Imp – quested at level 2
Our beloved first pet, the Imp specializes in ranged damage. It’s
particularly effective once you start acquiring upgrade tomes for him. The Imp
cannot take much damage, and can run out of mana fairly quickly in the early
levels, requiring a minor break in between strings of war.
The Voidwalker – quested at level 10
The Voidwalker is the definitive warlock pet for solo play, or a group that
needs something to engage fisticuffs, either as primary or backup to a
warrior/paladin/shaman. The Voidwalker does minor damage, but can stand
toe-to-toe with the best of baddies in your level range, can regenerate health
quickly, taunt multiple enemies, and even sacrifice themselves to save their
master. The Voidwalker is the center of solo play for the Warlock, and also a
great substitute for a warrior/paladin/shaman/hunter if you wish to group with
a few non-melee friends.
The Succubus – quested at level 20
While fun to look at, the Succubus is not just eye candy. She’s a rogue, and
most effective when positioned from behind the target. She is used primarily
as large damage when the warlock is in a group of friends when there is
someone else available to keep the monster’s concentration on them. The
Succubus cannot withstand damage, and seems to mitigate as poorly as the Imp
does, especially as the monsters start to hit harder. Special abilities of the
Succubus include the ability to reduce the amount of hate she generates,
effectively pushing the monster off of her if being attacked.
Soloing
The Warlock has somewhat of a difficult time soloing until aquiring the
Voidwalker at level 10. Your Imp can’t really handle the onslaught of even
the weakest of foes, runs out of mana fairly quickly, and likes to fight from
a distance. Your best bet to solo at this point is to attempt your hardest to
have only one enemy engaged at a time.
While soloing, damage-over-time spells (or DoTs) are your best friend. They
allow very efficient damage-to-mana-spent casting, and can often kill a
fleeing enemy with that final tick of damage.
Only solo with your succubus if you encounter low hitpoint, low damage-output
enemies. As she’s less tolerable to harm, she’ll put you in a bad
situation if you don’t kill your enemy fast. Besides, she’s meant to be
behind the enemy – her primary special ability, Backlash, can only hit from
behind.
Your Voidwalker becomes your best soloing friend. He’s made of pretty strong
stuff – here’s the way to be most effective with him:
For standard encounters (nothing tricky with the enemies) - pull the target
back to you with your Curse of Agony. This curse does damage-over-time, and
stacks with your other DoT line of spells. As it gets close to you, start
casting Affliction – another damage-over-time spell. Right before the target
hits you, put your voidwalker on it. If done right, the voidwalker should
engage right before Affliction lands. At this point, do nothing until the
target turns to attack your voidwalker. Once the target has its’ attention
focused on big blue, lay a Corruption on it – the third damage-over-time
spell you have in your lineup. To recap –
Pull with Curse of Recklessness
Cast Corruption
Send in voidwalker
Cast Affliction
By this time, your target is or should be at half-health, and can be easily
finished off with a shadow bolt, a lifetap, or a life drain. You’ll be
extremely close to full-mana, and your voidwalker pet should be pretty full as
well.
For larger foes with more hitpoints (or higher dps), you may want to reduce
the DoT line by leaving off the Affliction and finishing it off with multiple
low-hate-inducing Shadow bolts or fast-casting high-hate-inducing Searing
Pain. You could also pull the target in with Curse of Weakness, which reduces
their damage output. That shouldyou’re your voidwalker enough time to live
while you hurl shadow bolts at the target and defeat it.
Grouping
The Warlock really can wear several different hats when in a group – they
can act as the damage-dealer, the tank, and even the healer and resurrection
specialist, to some extent. As mentioned before, your voidwalker can fill the
role of a tank in a group – just make sure to have the group wait to engage
until the target turns to attack the voidwalker.
Supply your group with Healthstones. Healthstones heal various amounts of
hitpoints at a single right-click (depending on the level of the spell), only
cost one soul shard each, and can be given out, one at a time, to each member.
They are on their own reuse timer, so you can use the healthstone, a potion,
and First Aid to heal mid-battle, one after another. Warlocks can only create
one healthstone at a time, and you can only keep one in your inventory at a
time, so you have to create one and pass it to a groupmember, then create
another one and pass it, etc. Each cast consumes a soul shard.
If your group already has a designated tank, you’re going to want to break
out your Imp or Succubus pet, situation-depending. If the tank is good, and
can position themselves to be on the side of the monster opposite your
succubus, use her. If the tank really IS a tank, and isn’t too smart in
positioning around the target, just use your imp for consistent damage.
If your group already has a tank, but may be adventuring into an unknown area
or in an area where the monsters are a bit higher or more tightly packed
together, the voidwalker may be required. Keep in mind that while this reduces
your damage contribution to the group, it could very well mean the difference
between life or death if 1) the main tank dies or 2) your group has a problem
dealing with additional enemies pulled into the group.
Ritual of Summoning
The Ritual of Summoning is a great ability, and can be extremely useful in
bringing lost comrades into your presence, or bringing a latecomer into a deep
dungeon with you if the entrance has already respawned. The Ritual of
Summoning works by having the warlock cast the spell (consuming a soul shard),
and then two groupmembers need to right-click the portal that’s created, and
not move. If either the Warlock or the groupmembers move, the spell will get
interrupted, and the attempt can be retried.
Soulstones
Using a soulstone is somewhat of a complicated process to understand the first
time you attempt to use it. The soulstone is placed on a groupmember before
they die, and if they fall in a specific timeframe, they will have the option
to resurrect themselves. It functions as a buff that lasts for 30 minutes.
Limitations of this ability –
It can only be cast on one member over a 30-minute timeframe.
Here’s how it works.
Create a soulstone by having a soul shard in your inventory and casting Create
Soulstone.
Target the groupmember you wish to protect/resurrect if killed.
Right-click the soulstone from your inventory with that groupmember still
targeted.
Targeted groupmember receives a soul buff, and if killed, will be resurrected.
That’s all there is to it!
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