WoW Warlock Guide

The Warlock class in WoW can be extremely powerful in raids and pvp. They are all about ranged spell DPS as well as pet attacks. Warlocks do not have any real raid healing abilities and no tanking abilities whatsoever. They do have a few very unique and useful abilities that they can use for raiding and other situations. Warlocks can be a somewhat confusing class and are somewhat hard to master but if you can get the hang of it you will be dominating.

Some pros to playing a warlock are the fear ability, which is so useful in both player vs player and raiding. Warlocks are also an extremely fun class to level and play and are able to kill mobs very quickly. They also get to have their own pets which makes leveling even easier to have a pet take all the damage that you would be receiving while you stand back and cast spells with no damage taken. They can have some of the highest DPS you’ll see in raiding if played correctly, spec’d correctly, and geared correctly. Warlocks have a lot of Damage over time spells which if you use correctly can allow you to not have a whole lot to do after these spells are used. Warlocks also receive a very cool looking mount at level 30 from their trainers called a Dreadsteed.

All classes do have their faults however. The warlock is restricted to only cloth armor which makes them highly vulnerable in pvp, although they do have some good abilities to prevent quick death allowing them to kill their opponents before they kill them. They need to learn A LOT. Warlocks are a very complicated class and require a lot of reading and comprehension of different warlock and warlock pet abilities to be successful in pvp and raiding. They are somewhat relient on their DoTs (Damage over Time spells) and dont have a lot of burst damage.

What Racial Abilites are good for Warlocks?

Warlocks are limited to 5 total races that they are able to play. Two of these are on the Alliance side which would be the Human and Gnome and three of these are on the Horde side which consists of Orc, Undead, and Blood Elf. When selecting your race you should keep in mind that it isn’t a huge decision but can make a small difference in whatever it is you plan on doing (PvP, raiding) so if you feel that one race is just extremely awesome feel free to pick that race as it isn’t going to have a huge impact on what you do.

Starting with the Alliance the first of the two races we’ll do is the Human. The increased spirit by 3% is alright, the Every Man for Himself ability is extremely useful in PvP as it will remove all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character. The second and last is the Gnome, the increased Intellect by 5% is good to have since Warlocks do use mana while they are fighting and the escape artist ability is useful in pvp because it will remove immobilization or movement speed reducing effects which is very important since you are already restricted to cloth so if you’re being slowed down and a melee class is on your tail you aren’t going to be able to escape and may die very quickly if you aren’t able to fear them away.

Now for the three Horde races available starting with the Orc. The orc is a great race to play as a warlock, starting with the Blood Fury ability which will increase your spell power for 15 seconds by an amount depending on your current level. Also the duration of stun effects is reduced by 15% which is good in PvP for getting out of tough situations as you are restricted to cloth and are highly vulnerable. In addition to all that the damage dealt by your pets will be increased by 5%. The Undead race is really only useful in PvP as the only decent ability it has is Will of the Forsaken which will remove fear, sleep, or charm effects which is a very good PvP ability but thats about all you get. The Blood Elf is a decent choice because of the Arcane Torrent ability which will silence nearby enemies and regenerate 6% of your mana making this a good choice for both PvP when you have casters near you that need to be silenced and in raiding when you need to regenerate mana and have already used everything else you have.

Which talent spec should I choose as a Warlock?

The warlock’s three different talent specializations are Affliction, Demonology, and Destruction. I’ll start out with the Affliction specialization. Affliction is a spec you should choose if you are good with managing your Damage over Time spells, curses, and drains. Also the Affliction spec has better mana regeneration abilities so if you tend to run out of mana a lot this is a good selection. Some of the useful talents in the affliction tree would include Siphon Life which will heal you instantly for 40% of the damage you deal with the Corruption spell and will do an additional 5% damage. The Malediction talent will increase your spell damage by 1/2/3% and increases the periodic critical strike chance of your corruption and Unstable Affliction spells by 3/6/9%. The Everlasting Affliction talent will grant your Corruption and Unstable Affliction to gain an additional 1/2/3/4/5% of your bonus spell damage, and your Drain Life and Haunt spells have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to reset the duration of your corruption spell on the target. The last talent you will learn is Haunt which sends a ghostly soul to the target, dealing 645 to 753 Shadow damage and increasing all damage by your shadow damage-over-time effects on the target by 20% for 12 sec. When the Haunt spell ends or is dispelled, the soul returns to you, healing you for 100% of the damage it did to the target.

Next is the Demonology spec. This will focus more on your pets and things that will benefit the raid more then you yourself. Early on you will learn some talents that do just those things, Improved Healthstone will increase the amount of health your healthstone restores by 10/20% and Improved Imp will increase the effect of your imp’s firebolt, fire shield, and blood pact spells by 10/20/30%. The Demonic Knowledge talent increases your spell damage by an amount equal to 4%/8%/12% of the total of your active demon’s Stamina plus Intellect. The Demon Tactics talent increases the melee and spell crit chance caused by you and your summoned demon by 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%. The Demonic Pact allows your pet’s critical attacks to apply to the Demonic Pact effect to your party/raid members which will increase spell power by 2/4/6/8/10% of your spell damage for 12 seconds. The final talent you learn is Metamorphosis which will allow you to transform into a demon for 30 sec. This form increases your armor by 600%, damage by 20%, reduces chance you’ll be critically hit by melee attacks by 6% and reduces the duration of stun and snare effects by 50%. You also gain some unique demon abilities in addition to your normal abilities. This ability has a three minute cooldown.

The final talent spec is Destruction which will focus more on your direct damage spells as well as how fast your pet will attack. The Emberstorm talent will increase the damage done by your fire spells by 3/6/9/12/15% and reduce the time it takes to cast Incinerate by .05/.1/.15/.2/.25 seconds. The Soul Leech talent will give your Shadow Bolt, Shadowburn, Soul Fire, Incinerate, Searing Pain, and Conflagrate spells a 10/20/30% chance to return health to you equal to 20% of the damage dealt. The Shadowfury talent will give you the Shadowfury ability which will cause shadow damage and stun all enemies within 8 yards for 3 seconds. Empowered Imp will increase damage done by your imp by 5/10/15% and all critical hits by your imp will have a 33/66/100% chance to increase spell critical strike chance for your next spell by 20%. The final talent you learn is Chaos Bolt which will send a bolt of chaotic fire at the enemy which will deal fire damage based on your level and spell power.

What stats are important for a Warlock?

The warlock uses a lot of intellect mainly, can also use some stamina and spirit. Other than that you will want a lot of spell power and critical strike rating as well as haste rating. And as with any DPS class you will want to be hit capped otherwise your DPS will suffer. If you plan on PvP you will want a lot of stamina as well as intellect and a lot of resillience as you are stuck wearing cloth armor you will need all the help you can get to escape close range melee attacks because they will be the end of you.

What professions should I choose as a Warlock

As with any class professions are mainly personal preference and whatever you really enjoy doing. The suggested professions for a warlock are tailoring and enchanting, you will have a lot of good cloth armor that you can make for yourself as well as enchants. There is always the bonuses you receive from some gathering professions like the crit bonus received from Skinning or the Toughness ability which will increase stamina (received from mining) can be useful for pvp as well.