The Shadow Compendium - Warlock PlaystylesFollow

Name: Dark Draining
Minimum Level: 40
Mandatory Talents: Dark Pact 1/1, Fel Concentration 5/5
Boosting Talents: Improved Corruption 5/5, Shadow Embrace 5/5, Unstable Affliction 1/1, Demonic Embrace 5/5
Description: Similar to Regular Drain Tanking, this technique varies in what pet is used (Imp) and for what purpose (Mana Generation.) For preparations the Imp is called out and put on Passive, he is sent into Phased mode so he can not be forced into combat -- allowing his high SPI to continue mana generation while the fight proceeds. Load up the enemy with your available DoTs (usually safe to avoid using SL although it is a viable option with the exceedingly high amount of mana available to a Dark Drainer.) As the enemy reaches you and your DoTs are layed out switch to wanding (which produces enough DPS to effectively work as an additional DoT - is still a bit lower than Drain Life, however.) As your health lowers by taking hits, switch from wanding to Draining Life. The goal here is to end up with 90-100%hp at the end of the fight - you will find your personal balance with a few practice rounds. As the fight comes to a close (if the monster is running while dotted or has died) Dark Pact the Imp until either he is out of mana or you are full mana. Can be cast on the go towards the next mob. Yellow mobs this tactic produces litterally 0 stopping time and a relateively fast paced kill (usually 5 seconds longer than a good Mage kill).

Edited, Jun 24th 2007 6:41am by tzsjynx

This is probably only available to lowbs, as mobs get harder to kill as time goes on (and your imp gets easier), and I've never really levelled a lock...but I found some mechanicals seemed to be immune to my VW taunt, and I decided to break out the imp. The goal was to kill them without either of us taking a hit. I present...

Pickling
Minimum Level: 2
Mandatory Talents: N/A
Boosting Talents: (Anything that will help yours or your imps damage and/or survivability)
Description: The objective of this technique is to take out mobs without you or your imp ever taking a hit. This is what I used to level from 2-10, and to take out any mobs that are immune to my VW taunt and fear for one reason or another (some mechanicals are), or if I somehow ran out of soul shards and was left with only an imp (and no fel concentration). The task is to get the mob to run back and forth between you and your imp without ever getting into melee range. I usually would start at 60-80 yards away, and tell the imp to attack, as I run/strafe (making a 45 degree angle) to the target and start casting once I'm close enough. Once you time it just right, you can get the mob to come to you when it's ~6-8 yards away from your imp, and then stop casting at just the time for it to get within 6-8 yards of you before turning back to the imp. It's hard to do, but if done right can lead to 0 damage taken.

This sticky needs fixing to get rid of this piece of misinformation. The minor run speed enchantment does not stack with any other run speed enhancement.

Honestly, I know I'm not the best lock around here at all, but I would like to submit the Destructo Lock.

At this time, I have all points in Destruction Spec, minus Aftermath. Any melee damage causes SB to insta-cast and will usually crit. Additionally, there's a good chance that the SB will also return health. Damage bonuses become insane after TBC gear comes into play, not to mention crit ratings. Curse of Shadows or Elements boosts damage more. The first time I saw Soul Fire crit was during a Hellfire run, at level 64, which hit for 4k of damage. I haven't had much time to play that old char anymore, but leveling a new lock now. While it's not mana efficient in any way, the bonuses from Imp gives more stam for Mana Tap, and in PvP/Arenas, with a good healer at your back, you're damn near invincible. To top it off, Undead race benefits from Will of Forsaken, making it that much harder for another lock to land Fear. Just my 2 cents.

Shadow Mage / Firemancer
Minimum Level: 26
Mandatory Talents: 2/2 Intensity
Boosting Talents: Ruin, Shadow Mastery, Demonic Sacrifice, Master Demonologist, Destruction tree in general
Description:
This playstyle is leading back to the origin of Warlocks, that of mages who delved too deeply into the shadow arts. You are a nuking warlock, and depending on your optional talents, you will work with shadow or with fire. If you have Demonic Sacrifice, a sacrified Succubus or a sacrified imp will boost either magic, while a sacrified felhunter will let you nuke longer. Your focus on direct and burst damage is great for raiding and PvP.


what do you recommend you spent your talent tree points on the way to the boosts? It interests me to be some kind of destruction spec. I've had a warlock that was demonology but over time it got very mundane.

Edited, Mar 11th 2008 6:51pm by parlafunkadelic

Noob lock here, first character in WoW, and still learning (actually just starting to research and put more thought into my role).


After trying Affliction and Demo 60+, I finally am getting familiar with the Destro-role. I just hit 69.

After being steeped in Affliction, I began associating locks with shadow damage, and it took a while in Destro to realize how fun a firemancer role can be, especially when dealing damage to other locks, undeads, etc.

With crit between 20-25% (depending on what I'm wearing), I can get some impressive chains with:

Immolate > Incinerate (x2) > Conflagrate

That could translate into something like:

700~1200 > 900~2000 (x2) > 500~1000 = 4k or so damage in about 6 seconds (barring instant cast cases). There's a good chance they'll be either dead or dazed after that, in which case I can finish them off with quick Shadowfury, or a Death Coil/nuke.


Basically a burst-fire-crit combination that works fine in PVP or grinding, but not sure how it will play out in Raids/Dungeons.

Open to advice or suggestions.

Name: 2v2 Duelist
Minimum Level 70
Mandatory Talents: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?tal=0500000000000000000000350030103000000000000505020510200510501351
Description: A build my friend uses, it's generally Imp, Nuke, Dead. I threw in the instant Corruption to quickly stick on your enemies for a quicker down fall. The Fel Intellect is really nice, getting you mana and increasing the times your Imp can bolt. The Fel Domination is nice if your Imp gets owned.



A good thing to do to this build is change the Imp theme to Succy and go half affl half Destro.

SoC can be on multiple mobs. In the tooltip, it means that you can't have SoC and Corruption up at the same time. From what I've read, this post is flawless.

This is a significant variation to the Drain Hunter.

I am currently a level 54 straight Demon speced lock. I have always gone Aff/Dem build for PvE soloing, but tried the straight Demon build and the Drain Hunting works to perfection.

Name: Demon Drainer
Level Req: 40ish
Mandatory Talents: Skill:HERBALISM, Fel Synergy, Demonic Brutality, Mana Feed, 5/5 Master Demonologist, Demonic Empowerment, etc (anything that improves the tanking qualities of the VW)
Boosting Talents: All extra points to improve your DPS. Demonic Aegis a given as critical

Description: The herbalism skill gives you a free healing spell that makes your downtime nearly zero. The mana feed guarantees the VW never runs out of agro spell mana. At level 48 I was taking 6 pulls of level 45-46 mobs. Last night (level 53) I did a 9 pull of lvl 45-47 pirates in Tanaris.

Play Style:
1) target mob, send VW, slap three dots, activate Dem. Empowerment as available
2) repeat step 1 for everything you can find.
If you gain agro,
3) activate the VW's Sacrifice ability, send VW on mobs that are on you.
If shield drops and you still have mobs on you
4) AoE fear. Drain Life for the kill on weak opponents
5) AS NEEDED: Tap for mana
5a) when life is low use herbalism healing first.
5b) second round of tapping, use Demonic Coil for about 3/4 lifebar
5c) third round of tapping use health potion
5d) fourth round of tapping use bandage
5e) fifth round of tapping use health stone
5f) go back to 5a, the cooldowns are done by now
6) syphon soul here and there to keep your shard count healthy

Top priorities in heat of battle - you do not take damage! Your health is your mana, not damage soak. In my 9 pull I took no more than 3 hits on myself. (many hits against the sacrifice shield, which I cast twice during the battle) If you gain agro, sic the pet on that mob ASAP! With the spec mentioned, the pet WILL gain agro very soon, and with Mana Feed he will never run out of mana.

Sidenotes:
I finished the 9 pull with full life and 3/4 mana. It took all of 6 minutes and I went straight into another 4 pull right after the battle. (after recasting health stone and looting, I was full mana)

I have been favoring INT, STA, and spell power gear, in that order. Spirit is a distant fourth. It's not about the speed of the kill, its about the staying power. INT gives me a big enough mana bar that I can do what I need to do. STA gives me enough health that I can tap 4 times on a full health bar.

I always keep my soulstone active with a backup waiting in my backpack. since level 20 I have had to use it only twice and I have never died after soulstone recovery. This is another key "No Downtime" feature to the build.

As the toon grows, I plan to add metamorphosis to the build as yet another "I Win" button, then start putting my remainding points into affliction, mainly to get the imp lifetap.

I love my lock. I hope y'all can find some useful info in what I have come to learn about it.

Morguent 54 Lock


Edited, Jul 23rd 2009 1:28pm by Mourgan

Edited, Jul 23rd 2009 1:59pm by Mourgan