Sweet Looking 80 'Lock(taken from a wallpaper at worldofwarcraft.com)

Ever feel like your Warlock just don’t hold a candle to most of the other classes?

The first time I created a Warlock, it was obvious that being a “cloth-er” sucked for PvP play.  Even if you had the Voidwalker or Felhunter out for the fight, everyone can just focus on you.

It’s completely and utterly annoying, but it did open my eyes to what was missing.

If you want to build a Warlock of supremacy, then you will have to do three or maybe even four things.  The first two things that are a must is checking out your talents and getting the best gear possible.

Well, let’s just start with those and discuss the other two in a few minutes.  For now, open up your Affliction, Demonology, and Destruction trees.

The Strengths and Weaknesses

Most Locks choose their Affliction tree from the get go.  It’s because this entire section is devoted to making all your spells faster, and boost crit strikes during battle.  Since the Curse of Agony and Corruption spells take off damage during specific durations it’s important to buff them up a little bit in the beginning.  Seriously, the very first Affliction talent is the Improved Curse of Agony, which gives you 10% more damage during the cycle.  Then the 3rd one on the first row is Improved Corruption.

Hey, it’s a great way to start out playing.  Unfortunately you will find that the higher levels require a little more help then faster spells and a hope for crit strikes here and there.  We do like the Affliction tree, but not all of it.  Many of the abilities in there will not be needed during game play.  Plus, you’re missing out on a large amount of armor.

Demonology

Okay, if you want to set up your armor then head to a trainer and respec.  You will want to set up the Demonology tree for two reasons.  Number one is because there is an extreme need for a tank during the later leveling stages.  If you already have 40 points available for talents, work your way down the tree and make sure you can summon a Felguard.  While you’re there spend 5 more points getting the Metamorphosis spell as well.

What you’ll find is a pet with some sick armor and a Warlock that can transform into a demon (for 30 seconds) gaining a 600% increase in armor.  Add in all the extra spells that are gained and you will find yourself taking over fights with a vengeance.  The only downfall to all of this is that your spells cooldown times are much slower then if you had the Affliction tree built up.

Mixing It Up a Bit

Now that you have focused on Demonology and find yourself with left over talent points, start looking in the other trees to increase your spells and abilities.  Here is a small list of things to include in the Affliction and Destruction trees.

Affliction

Improved Curse of Agony (2/2)
Improved Corruption (5/5)
Life Tap (2/2)

Destruction

Improved Shadow Bolt (5/5)
Bane (5/5)
Shadowburn (1/1)

With a few ranks trained in Shadowburn, you’ll be laying down some heavy hits of 300 damage, 400 damage, all the way up to 665 damage at rank 8. Get this off after a critical shadow bolt and you’re looking at 685 damage instant cast spells that can be equally handy in PvE or, of course, PvP where burst damage rules.

Earlier we wanted to tell you a couple other things that are important to for your Warlock.  If anything, you must have the Grand Master First Aid tag.  Since it will allow you to make the Heavy Frostweave Bandages, this will only help you and your Felguard.  Last but not least, load up on as much Epic gear as possible.  If you can’t find any or just haven’t got the gold or time, then stick with your solid performing blue equipment until you’re able to learn how to make more gold. In the end this will help increase your armor, stamina, intellect, and spirit, which means you improve your leveling times, loot gathering ability and PvP power.

[adrotate group="4"]

Related posts:

1. Warlock Leveling Guide: The Affliction Spec Leveling Up With An Affliction Spec So you want to...
2. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Voidwalker The Voidwalker – without question the most used pet by...
3. Afflication Warlock Casting Rotation: Mid Level Welcome Warlocks – today I’m continuing my recent series into...

Definitely the most pretty pet in our arsenal, but does the Succubus have a place in our Warlock leveling strategies? And where do they fit in group PvE, solo PvE and PvP? Keep reading & find out!

First up, most of us will do our leveling in a solo situation, so how do we use the Succubus to best effect in solo? Well… most of the time, you’ll find you won’t. The Succubus is great for damage output with her Lash of Pain, and will out damage the Voidwalker with ease… however, without the taunting ability of the Voidwalker, you’ll find you still cause too much damage with your curses (by some margin), and you’ll end up being the tank for the Succubus.

This actually has a name in WoW lore, “drain tanking”, in other words, you let the Succubus do most of your damage, and then you siphon life from the Succubus to keep your own health up. Not recommended, again since you can out damage the Succubus with your curses, and drain tanking is nowhere near as efficient as rolling with a Voidwalker who can heal himself after combat.

So my strategy recommendation is, in solo PvE, leave the Succubus at home unless you’re fighting mobs 2 or 3 levels lower than you, and you just want to clean them up as quick as possible.

For group PvE strategy, the Succubus becomes a bit more handy… You can send her out to cause damage without so much concern about her needing to hold aggro, since you’ll have a tank on board to do that for you. The Succubus can also do enough damage to “out aggro” your team’s tank at times, so soothing kiss in group PvE can be useful for ensuring she stays alive and the groups tanks keep taking the hits which the Succubus cannot.

In PvP the Succubus is a tricky beast, and using seduce can make an opponent fume with anger… but is it as good as the Voidwalkers sacrifice, or the Felhunters anti magic?

I personally don’t think so. Fire specced Warlocks can be great to use with the Succubus, and seduce can be very, very handy when a rogue hits you from the shadows, but for sheer survivability, I’d go with the Voidwalker… and for anti magic, anti caster duty, the Fel Hunter shines in a way the Succubus cannot.

So, if you’re into PvP, AND you have a good destruction build, then yes, roll with the Succubus, seduce, and burst damage all the way to the bank!

The Succubus – a great all around pet which can be handy in almost any situation… but your pretty Warlock pet will certainly be best used in group PvE, and in PvP for the destruction specced among us!

[adrotate group="4"]

Related posts:

1. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Felhunter Welcome back to Pet Week, where today we'll be talking...
2. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Imp Welcome to Day 1 of Pet Strategy Guide Week for...
3. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Voidwalker The Voidwalker – without question the most used pet by...

Lets talk about why.

Firstly, for solo PvP the Voidwalker reins supreme as the only pet you should be considering choosing until much later in your WoW career, or unless you’re facing a very specific type of enemy (like casters for the Felhunter to much on).

I still see level 80 Warlocks all over the place running about with Voidwalkers, because they’re the easiest pet to use, they get you out of the most trouble (see my post on how to use Warlock pets), and they level you the fastest by tanking for you.

What does that mean… tanking for you? The Voidwalker for Warlocks is like a portable damage shield and personal bodyguard. While you throw mountains of damage at your opponents, the Voidwalker keeps them occupied until they’re a smoldering mound of shadow dust on the ground.

The Voidwalker does this by “taunting” your enemies. Every time you need to take on an enemy who would run into melee with you and kill you in 5 or 6 solid hits, the Voidwalker steps in and takes those hits (and many, many more) for you. The Voidwalker is TOUGH, and will never let you down when questing and grinding at your level (and even a few levels above quite easily).

A few tips for using the Voidwalker when you’re questing solo…

While the Voidwalker is an amazing pet for keeping the enemies blades off your back with his taunt powers, you still need to be careful how much damage you cause, otherwise the Voidwalkers taunt won’t hold, and you’ll find yourself under attack.

So, I recommend that to start with you set your Voidwalker on defensive stance. This means that as soon as you attack an enemy, your Voidwalker will be off after them, and will automatically taunt and attack them to keep the enemy off of you.

Next, when using your curses and damage over time spells, you need start with curse of agony, and then hit them with Immolate. Stop right there… and wait. Your curse and Immolate will keep on damaging the enemy, and your Voidwalker will keep the aggro of the enemy monster. After a few seconds, the monster will be sufficiently “angry” with the Voidwalker, and you can continue casting at it.

For optimum leveling efficiency, I recommend you buy the absolute best wand you can afford. A good wand will cause close to as much damage as your shadow bolt spell, but won’t cost you ANY mana! If you need a hand making a little extra gold to buy a good wand, I recommend Luke’s Gold Secrets. He knows his stuff.

The trick with leveling with the Voidwalker isn’t just staying alive or killing stuff the fastest, its killing it the most efficiently… And that means making sure you don’t SLAM the monster you’re fighting right from the beginning, because you’ll cop a ton of damage and have to rest a lot, which will slow your leveling down. It also means being conservative with your mana, which is why I recommend a good wand to help you conserve mana for your expensive curses and Immolate spells. If you burn through all your mana too quickly, you’ll simply find yourself needing to rest, and again, that’ll slow you down.

Let your Voidwalker take a ton of punishment, and then use his consume shadows ability after the fight to heal him up… its much faster than healing yourself, and much faster from a leveling standpoint.

If you do this right, you should find yourself almost never needing to sit down & rest, and when you do its only for a very short time.

PvP with the Voidwalker!

Boy do I love PvP with the Voidwalker. I must admit here to having a slight passion for PvP, and for annoying other people with “cheesy” tactics… and that is, using the Voidwalkers “sacrifice” ability.

Sacrifice, while killing your pet, means you gain a huge damage shield for a short period of time… and if you’ve played ANY PvP, you’ll know that a short amount of time is all you need to either live or die.

This is not a complex tip – simply make sure you have a good collection of soul shards at all times, sacrifice the Voidwalker pet, and start raining curses on every enemy player you see! You’ll get a ton of kill assists, and a good number of kills yourself… all the while being protected by the sacrifice you made earlier.

The Voidwalker, like most of your pets will benefit from taking points in the demonology tree, but honestly, I think the affliction tree is a much better pick, especially at lower levels.

When do you want to take the Voidwalker? Definitely while soloing – its like your own personal warrior tank. And definately in PvP… the sacrifice ability is great for avoiding death while dealing out DoT’s. And definitely in PvE with groups who don’t have tanks. Just avoid taking him in groups when you already have a few tanks – just break out the Imp!

[adrotate group="1" banner="3"]

Related posts:

1. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Succubus Welcome to the third pet week post on how to...
2. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Imp Welcome to Day 1 of Pet Strategy Guide Week for...
3. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Fel Guard Welcome to part SIX of my Horde Warlock Strategy Guide,...

Today we’re talking about the Imp… not my favorite pet by a long shot – but definately not one to underestimate. And then there’s the fact you’re going to be using the little guy a lot for the first 10 levels until you strike it rich on the Voidwalker!

The Imp is the first pet you acquire, and he’s a ranged DPS pet (DPS is damage per second), meaning he’s great at dishing out plenty of damage from a distance, but unfortunately he can’t take much punishment thanks to his low hit points.

The Imp isn’t great in solo questing & grinding situations, mainly because he’s fragile and can’t manage the anger levels of monsters you fight. This means if you happen to annoy a monster by doing a lot of damage to it, the Imp isn’t going to be able to get the monster off of you if you get a little out of your depth.

So be careful of anger management using the Imp! To do this, order your Imp to attack the monster you’re after first. This will let him build up a bit of anger using his damage points before you step in… I usually let my Imp hit the enemy with 2 or 3 blasts before I step in with my damage over time curses. Curses are good for keep aggro low, so feel free to land as many as you like.

At this stage I’ll usually stand out for a short while, letting the Imp continue to hold the aggro of the monster. If your Imp starts getting too badly beaten, hit the monster with everything you’ve got, and he should snap over to attacking you instead.

This fine balancing act is what fighting with the Imp is all about, you’ll get it from a few minutes of practice, just be mindful of trying to keep the health levels of both you and the Imp as high as you can.

In PvP the Imp is practically useless. Given the short time PvP lasts for, and the fact that his group health buffing spell is difficult to use with an unorganized team, it means you’re running around with a pet who can’t take damage, has trouble dishing a lot out fast enough, and is generally just a burden.

To get the most out of the Imp, you’ll need to put plenty of talent points into the demonology tree… Just look for the Imp and general demonic enhancement talents and take the pics you want. I won’t waste your time (or fun) by telling you some ultra strict “here’s what you need to take” guide, unless you care about leveling about 5 minutes faster per level at level 60. Didn’t think so!

So where does the Imp excel? Group based PvE! That’s just normal player vs monsters playing with friends if you’re not down with the lingo… and its where the Imp does his most work. You may have noticed your Imp has two buff spells that help you out, one, a health buff, and the other is a fire shield.

When its just you and your Imp this addition isn’t anything worth writing home about, but when you have 4 other people with you who are all getting a health buff, as well as a ranged caster, the Imp will suddenly (and almost surprisingly) become your best friend.

So remember, keep that little guy on a short leash, order him around a lot, and make sure you’re careful with balancing aggression while using him.

[adrotate group="1" banner="3"]

Related posts:

1. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Succubus Welcome to the third pet week post on how to...
2. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Voidwalker The Voidwalker – without question the most used pet by...
3. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Felhunter Welcome back to Pet Week, where today we'll be talking...

I’ll talk about how to use pets in PvP, how to use pets in PvE, talents, builds and other interesting ideas and tips that relate to using your Warlock pet to level you fast!

Warlocks are my favorite class- a warlock was one of my first ever classes, and I’ve loved every minute of leveling him all the way to 80. Part of the reason I’ve loved the journey of leveling my Warlock is the range of pets available to him, and the process of unlocking them as I’ve gone up in levels.

Each Warlock Pet also has a distinct feel and look about them… some are butch and hardcore looking, some terrifying, and some easy on the eyes. Apart from their physical appearance though, the Warlock pets you have available to you serve a variety of different purposes for you in World of Warcraft, and can make you one of the most flexible classes around.

PvP with a sacrificed Voidwalker, PvE in the early levels with the Imp, and the end game with the Doomguard… all priceless fun, and not to mention powerful.

The Warlock, along with the Hunter is usually hailed as the fastest leveling class in World of Warcraft, and if you’re keen to sail through the levels I recommend you take one — you’ll enjoy it!

So stop in tomorrow where I’ll begin the “Warlock Strategy Guide Week” with the tinniest, most annoying, and… powerful (you heard me!) Warlock pet of them all… The Imp!

Related posts:

1. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Succubus Welcome to the third pet week post on how to...
2. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Imp Welcome to Day 1 of Pet Strategy Guide Week for...
3. Horde Warlock Strategy: Pet Week – The Infernal Welcome to the Infernal Horde Warlock Strategy Guide! This is...