Warlock PvP FAQ/Guide

[Zeezus]

I have a question. I read/heard somewhere SB is normally only used when procced. What filler would be better to use between dotting things up if needed? Drain Soul/Life?

Precisely mate, Although drain life technically has a lower DPET than Shadow Bolt, its damage is spread out over three/four ticks so if you have to break the cast (which generally happens a lot in pvp!) you have still have done some damage to the enemy rather than if you were to break a SB cast where you would accomplish nothing.

It also has the benefit of healing you for 2% total health per tick... which is awesome

[Zeus11456]

Drain life is the best filler to do within dots. Not only is it sometimes very good to fake cast with it. If you are forced to stop the cast early, you will have gotten at least some damage out and healed yourself. Also drain life works with your fel hunters shadowbite damage. So if it uses shadowbite during drain life, the amount the bite does will go up.

[scorpious1109]

Nice, thanks for the conformation. I had a feeling it would have something to do with getting off at least some damage if you need to move suddenly. Liking Affliction pvp so far, having only pve'd on my Lock previously and only really ever pvping on my DK. This thread helped a lot, as well as a few other resources to pick up the basics in a short time.

[Zeus11456]

Thats my main goal. I know theres alot of other places to look. I've basically read every site and even gone to servers and asked warlocks on their opinion. So just trying to help out

[Darksaab]

Really good warlock guide and keep it up zeus

[Zeus11456]

thanks for the support

[Vardjavi]

Hey, nice intiative. Do you have any tips as to where there is only you (the affl wl) vs a mage, what to look for, smart tricks etc? I seem to have issues with both fire and frost mages...

[Zeus11456]

if you are talking about a 1v1 vs a mage, this is typically a very difficult fight for you. The biggest thing by far i would have to say is to not get counterspelled. Counterspelling them is very huge too. Good mages will come out with a nova ring on your pet and you will be prone to dying in the opener from full to like 40%. I believe a few duels ( i don't duel much) i soulburned during the nova or when my pet was ring and he came out of the nova/ring. I can't remember if this works. Typically though, this is a very hard match up and you will find you won't win much. Keeping tongues up and your dots + haunt is very big and keeping this up and spamming drain life is all you can do outside of counter spells and fears.


Another thing I like to do if the mage iceblocks, cast full dots onto ele and then recast on. If he sits in the block its really nice. Most of the time, mages will instantly come out when they see you cast on pet.


I will try to find more tips on 1v1 mage duels. WIll update if i find any.

[Connelly]

Q:Which pet do I use?
A: As affliction you should never have anything but a fel hunter out. The shadow bite damage is very needed now and you are only gimping yourself to drop it
[

This can be true in 1500-2000 bracket, but in 2k+ games you have to occasionally soulburn your imp out for dispels.

[Niberion]

Q:Which pet do I use?
A: As affliction you should never have anything but a fel hunter out. The shadow bite damage is very needed now and you are only gimping yourself to drop it

Soulburning an imp for defensive dispells, a succubus for a whiplash+cc or a voidwalker to save your life because your healer is out of range/cc'ed is necessary to survive, especially at higher rankings.

Q: What trinkets should I use?
A: From what I've personally used, and from what I've read, I have come to the conclusion that running double cataclysmic PvP trinkets is the best option unless you are able to get a cunning of the cruel.

You forgot about will of the unbinding....

As many people have asked... Why is Dragonwrath so low on this list?

The legendary staff is really out dated now. First off, its a 2h. You give up so much resil by using double pve wep slots. 2nd, the spellpower on the staff is very outdated as well. The weapon just doesn't cut it anymore compared towhat else is available. The proc rate, by much research, has been shown to do 3-6% of warlocks overall damage. This is just about on par with the Rathraks damage from the dot.

You are so wrong about this... Proc rate of dtr is still around 8-10% for warlocks so unless your pet is doing as much dmg as you, the dmg done by dtr can't be 3-6%
Not only that, but you are also missing out a crap load of secondary stats by picking rath.

[Zeus11456]

Honestly you should never have to soulburn imp. If you have to then one of you has put yourself out of position or made a mistake. I've talked to many top warlocks and I feel like I am correct on it. You lose so much damage and a counter spell. Losing a CS for this long will easily kill your team, along with the loss of 10-25k shadowbites.


Will of the unbinding is just so hard to keep up in PvP. It might be viable in RBGs, but in arena i feel it has 0 worth. It's still better in every situation to run a cunning of the cruel / Cata trinket.

I don't have a DTR, but from what I've heard from just about every thread made, DTR does not come above 3-6% of damage done. I literally read every AJ and skillcapped post and i check recount whenever i fight one. I'm not a number cruncher but that is what i have heard from literally any source so far.

I use this forum and a couple others to back me up. Last post of first page and 2nd page.

http://www.arenajunkies.com/topic/21...rath-vs-tier2/

Theres a bunch of others but i really feel like the legendary just doesn't cut it anymore. t2>rathrak outside of dotcleaves but rathrak>legendary.

[Zeezus]

Hey man wicked guide so far!

Is it possible to include a section for 1v1 encounters? Not necessarily dueling but when you come across certain classes in BG's/arena on your own (it happens occasionally!) - Would be nice to have a compendium of tips against the other classes.

[Zeus11456]

I can try to add one. I'm not much of a 1v1er but i can try somewhat. Will add soon enough.

[Niberion]

Honestly you should never have to soulburn imp. If you have to then one of you has put yourself out of position or made a mistake. I've talked to many top warlocks and I feel like I am correct on it. You lose so much damage and a counter spell. Losing a CS for this long will easily kill your team, along with the loss of 10-25k shadowbites.


Will of the unbinding is just so hard to keep up in PvP. It might be viable in RBGs, but in arena i feel it has 0 worth. It's still better in every situation to run a cunning of the cruel / Cata trinket.

I don't have a DTR, but from what I've heard from just about every thread made, DTR does not come above 3-6% of damage done. I literally read every AJ and skillcapped post and i check recount whenever i fight one. I'm not a number cruncher but that is what i have heard from literally any source so far.

Ok, gonna be clear about this.
Not petswapping when it's needed will also get you killed or prevent you from getting a kill. Not sure who you consider top warlocks but imo anything under 2.6k rating ain't top and arenajunkies is really one of the worst places to ask..... bunch of arrogant trolls happy they got 1 glad tittle or 2.4k+ in any bracket... >.>

As for will of the unbinding, 10sec to cast 1 harmful spell, even an instant counts...., can't be hard to keep that up unless you decided to stand in the middle of the arena for a whole game, soaking as much cc as possible.

DTR, it's a pve weapon...
Skillcapped and arenajunkies is pvp stuff....
Those arrogant pricks at aj know nothing about DTR, the damage from dtr as seen on recount is only from dots, direct damage is shown as the spell itself.
That being said, that 3-6% damage they talk about, is only from dots, not including any shadowbolts, felflames and whatever you've cast.
Also, double ua dispel, nothing better then a kill due this.

[Zeus11456]

Ok, gonna be clear about this.
Not petswapping when it's needed will also get you killed or prevent you from getting a kill. Not sure who you consider top warlocks but imo anything under 2.6k rating ain't top and arenajunkies is really one of the worst places to ask..... bunch of arrogant trolls happy they got 1 glad tittle or 2.4k+ in any bracket... >.>





As for will of the unbinding, 10sec to cast 1 harmful spell, even an instant counts...., can't be hard to keep that up unless you decided to stand in the middle of the arena for a whole game, soaking as much cc as possible.





DTR, it's a pve weapon...
Skillcapped and arenajunkies is pvp stuff....
Those arrogant pricks at aj know nothing about DTR, the damage from dtr as seen on recount is only from dots, direct damage is shown as the spell itself.
That being said, that 3-6% damage they talk about, is only from dots, not including any shadowbolts, felflames and whatever you've cast.
Also, double ua dispel, nothing better then a kill due this.

When i say i ask top warlocks i go and whisper them ingame and question things they say. You shouldn't need to pull an imp out ever. If you get trapped by then you should've took the trap. Any top comp really works for this. If people train the mage then you as the warlock sit by the shaman. Pulling an imp out just hurts so much you shouldn't have to do it.

I don't even know what kind of team you would expect to need an imp for.. If you do it for a melee cleave then you just killed massive shadowbite damage and a counterspell. How do you expect them to go defensive..

RLS/MLS you just let a lock or mage freecast and get full dots on everyone and uninterrupted deeps. Or even the shaman chain free casting.






have you not fought a good mls? I know that if you don't play perfect vs top MLS/RLS they can easily shut you down for a long time. Blanket into a full hex/fear while healer is deeped/feared/hexed. Any combo can drop it and you lose a whole trinket effect and it would be better to run something else in arenas. Like i said in Rbgs it can be good but arenas the worth just isn't there.





Like i stated before, the proc rate of the legendary after nerf + the loss of resilience is not that worth. In rbgs you can run it as you just pound damage everywhere. In arenas the amount you lose for the proc rate doesn't overweigh it.

I'm not going to change this as dozens of locks typically agree with how i feel on this.

Arenas outside of a LSD2.0 all would be better to use a 2200 wep or normal rathrak.. If you think i said the legendary doesn't meet the standards because the proc isnt that great im sorry. The loss of resillence along with that is also why. 361 resillence is a huge loss. If you use a 2200 wep thats like 400 sp loss for a proc thats not that great anymore. Normal rathrak still has more sp and the amount of damage it does just makes it good.

[aetti morkna]

good guide, should be stickied imo

[Zeus11456]

thanks for the support. It's my first time writing a guide type thing. It's not the best but It's something.

[Prag]

I've just started PvP'ing (and playing) my Lock in ~2yrs.

I'm not really sure who's quality and who's not, but maybe some suggestions on BG movies/streams to learn from would help us newbies out.

Also, I have -no- idea what macros PvP'ers have found to be helpful. Specifically pet-related ones. Any that you'd suggest for Mouseover?

The guide as-is is helpful though, and will grow exponentially more so as I advance in gear/skill. Thanks for your time!

[Zeus11456]

i can post some useful macros in a moment. I completely forgot about this.

Updated front page with macros.

[Prag]

Those are perfect, thanks!