Warlock Leveling Guide

[Lucifersam]

I was surprised the affliction spec could also pull really good dps in dungeons and stuff while leveling. After you get incinerate esp. you can really light shit up.

This is me at lvl 64 with 600sp all quest reward no boa gear, the black stalker in UB



http://img687.imageshack.us/i/afflicdps.jpg/

[Kultjo]

yo gherkin!
great guide, but imo there's a tiny flaw in your affliction spec whatsoever. the lvl30 spec should look like this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxMou0ho
i removed the 2 points from improved drain soul because you dont need the aggro reduce while soloing (and it also doesnt matter in lower instances because you can drain tank several mobs if your tank sucks) and the mana regain from the talent sucks anyways because you don't use drain soul unless you need shards.
instead, i recommend speccing into imp curse of agony because a 10% dmg boost to our second strongest damage ability for only 2 points is pretty big. i also took one point from soul siphon (c'mon, 6% with corr and coa up) and put it into amplify curse because it allows you to pull off your corruption 0,5secs fast if you do a coa->corr rotation (which you should).

second point: lvl1-29 section
you state that big blue fodder's taunt should be turned off. i disagree. since your only self heal is drain life at that time (meh, you have to channel that spell and therefore cannot run around pulling more mobs), you must avoid as much damage as possible. bind petattack and petfollow to keys you are comfortable with and use your pet actively!
if i wanna pull several mobs, i always send my pet (with taunt turned on) on mob #1 and let it hit 1-2 times and one taunt while i cast corr/coa. then i switch my target to mob #2 and do the exact thing again, again and again. with that method, my pet gets a good start on the mobs and by the time i get aggro the mobs are almost dead.

---
some tips for leveling:
most people do their leveling with james horde leveling guide (which is really good i think), but it's not the fastest way. it involves a lot of traveling which decreases your xp/hour by a big deal! when youre lvl30 you are an unstoppable killing machine (with the right gear), so the fastest way would involve more grinding. e.g. at lvl 30 i would start/continue in hillsbrad, doing all the quests james recommends you to do. the quests around the crater of dalaran require lvl33/34 so you go to the southwestern end of the hillsbrad zone and grind your way east along the shore back and forth in the murloc camps. they should die from coa/corr + little petdmg alone and you should have no trouble handling 3-5 mobs at the same time. if you grinded some levels (it took me about 30minutes per level at the murloc camps) you continue questing. do not fear a little grind while questing. do not only pull "most wanted badass mob for quest x", pull all the mobs in and around the camp. stay a little longer in that camp if you feel that the mobs are going down like nothing and respawn really fast. stay in the zone until all the 'good'(good in a sense of xp/hour) quests are done and continue to arathi highlands and do the exact same thing again. good grinding camps are all 3 farms in the zone, the cave in the northeast and the troll area in the southeast. you should leave the zone at lvl40+. result: 10levls with virtually no travel time! if you would have been following james guide, you would have travelled your ass off to 1k needles, stranglethorn, hillsbrad, arathi highlands, desolace, dustwallow marsh, ashenvale back and whatnot other place. if grinding pisses you off do some dungeons for gear upgrades or focus more on questing.
and remember: do not loot corpses unless the mobs drop certain quest items or unless you feel like you really need the cloth/gold/randomshit.

---
one thing that pisses me off with my affliction lock is doing random dungeons. you queue for a dungeon while melting faces at ultra speed, you wait a few minutes, you enter the dungeon, you wait for the tank to pull. and wait. and wait. it sucks.
sure you can just pull and tank a whole pack of mobs while your healer has no problems keeping you up (<3 demon armor), but people always complain about damage dealers pulling mobs. yesterday i did scarlet monastery(armory) with my lvl36 warlock and had a decent group. well, almost decent because the tank was really slow so i always kept pulling the next pack of mobs. i avoided overpulling while watching my healers mana carefully (he always stayed above 70%) and we got through very quick without anyone dropping low or going oom until the tank and his rogue friend plus the healer (?!) began to cry that i should stop pulling mobs because it would make no fun at all(the rogue stated that he could not use stealth if i do chain pulls and that it would be a great dps decrease for him). luckily they couldnt kick me yet so they decided to let me die on the next pull but that didn't also happen because i could seduce one mob and draintank the others to death. so they just kept yelling and whining while the shaman and me cleared the rest of the dungeon. :/

cheers

[confracto]

I've also found looting a chore while leveling affliction.
I think someone a few pages back mentioned the same thing.

really, this is not bad.
it's good.

And the points in improved drain soul are for mana regen, not threat reduction.
if you're affliction, and loading on spell power, it gives you a lot of mana back (I've experienced about 1/5 of my man returned for quickly casting it before dots do the job).

[Kultjo]

you should never ever cast drain soul unless you need shards because
a. it requires you to stand still
b. it does no damage unless you channel it 3 or more secs
c. you don't need the extra damage! if the mob does not die from corr/coa geht more spellpower
d. mana should never be an issue. spec into dark pact if you have downtimes

[gherkin]

The reason I don't take imp curse of agony is because of the amount of damage at that level.

Agony is 4x9 + 4x15 + 4x21 = 180 damage

Assuming the target dies before you reach the 21 damage ticks, just for sake of argument, your 10% of 180 damage (18) turns into 10% of 96 damage (10). 10/180 = 5.5% increase for two talent points. It's not that I think its a bad talent, but if your Agonies are unable to tick to their fullest you're getting half the value per point than advertised.

I take improved drain soul because not everyone has Heirloom gear - if you have 5-20 spell power by lvl 16 (without enchants or heirloom gear) I'd be surprised. This makes your drain soul tick for less. Casting drain soul now and then for some mana return is a good thing at this point.

you should never ever cast drain soul unless you need shards because
a. it requires you to stand still
b. it does no damage unless you channel it 3 or more secs
c. you don't need the extra damage! if the mob does not die from corr/coa geht more spellpower
d. mana should never be an issue. spec into dark pact if you have downtimes

It seems to me that you're reading this from a lvl 30+ stand point while commenting on the sub-30 leveling spec. Again, not everyone has spell power gear that early, nor do they have access to dark pact.

The guide is intended to be accessible to all players and I need to take that into account. If you're smart enough to realize that you don't need talents A, B, or C, then don't take them. It's not a cookie cutter guide, it's meant to take the confusing parts away from leveling and ensure that you are "doing it right". There are more questions in this thread about talent pick order 40-50 than just about any other topic, and that's the target audience.

However, I value the feedback, thank you.

[Cearat]

So, i got around 28 SP in lvl 21, pretty low, i think, so should i get glyph of life tap? With that it would make my SP ... 39?

[gherkin]

Yep. 28 is about average for lvl 21. At 24 you start finding massive upgrades. Check the front page for various quest items across the world, as well as stuff you can farm or buy on the AH relatively cheaply. If you need money, farm Copper Ore - it usually goes for 1-2g per 20, more if your server isn't filled with alts.

[NAme0alt]

I love destruction after level 70

[saker]

i changed from affli to demo at 52 and its a lot faster killing
in my opinion

[confracto]

is that faster killing 1 guy, or 8 guys?
cuz yeah, I suspect affliction would be slower on single target.
but if you do it right, it shines at pulling everything in sight as you run away,
which ends up being faster overall.

[saker]

i changed becouse i lvled 1-52 as affli i wanted change

[Lyndrael]

i wonder what rotation you use while lvling in instances. just dot dot tab dot dot tab dot dot tab , then spam shadowbolts ?

[hobbydaggy]

Gherk so far your guide has been very very helpful, however upon my return to the game i remembered that my account got hacked about a year ago, and since i was playing on a different server that my 42 lock was on, all her gear except the robes she was wearing (Enchanted gold bloodrobe) is all the gear she had, so i was wondering if my gear for my level is going alright and if my rotation/kill style is good.

I mostly just agony, corrupt, immol (if i need too) watch my felhunter kill drain life and tap out and drain again watch it die.

I only have 123 SP so i know i need more but im lvling too fast and not getting any improvments to acquire much =(

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...ock&cn=Calypso

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your time and your guide =)

[gherkin]

@Lyndrael: Tanks pre-50 don't have a lot of aoe threat. Dot Dot Shadow bolt spam, then next target when its dead. After lvl 50 or 60, go nuts with dot-tab.

@Hobby: You will be fine, you just won't be a "killing machine" for a few more levels. It gets better around lvl 52, then you replace all your gear in outland. Pay attention to your health, and do what feels right. You'll get there in time

You might want to get the Darkmoon Deck for the blue staff, and browse the auction house for anything with +Spell Power. Don't go overboard, as you will upgrade it eventually.

[rollie9]

Awesome guide, I just made a lock (fully decked out with heirloom gear and 30 sp on staff). He is at level 14, and he has 54 SP. Grinding is easy, and quests to kill shit go by super fast. The only thing I am having trouble with is my pet stealing aggro. At 14, my blueberry only has the taunt button, which is disabled. I always have to cast immolate on the first couple mobs so that they can keep following me. Is this supposed to happen/any advice?

[gherkin]

Awesome guide, I just made a lock (fully decked out with heirloom gear and 30 sp on staff). He is at level 14, and he has 54 SP. Grinding is easy, and quests to kill shit go by super fast. The only thing I am having trouble with is my pet stealing aggro. At 14, my blueberry only has the taunt button, which is disabled. I always have to cast immolate on the first couple mobs so that they can keep following me. Is this supposed to happen/any advice?

He will get in the first hit or two, and then your corruption and curse of agony tick and you get aggro back.

Find a single mob at the same level as you, and cast both at it and let your pet run in. Time how long it takes for you to get aggro back. I'm going to guess 4 seconds.

[Stijn]

Hello,

is http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrburhoiA0hkt0M still correct? In the guide you say that you should get it at level 70, but it only requires level 65.

[Shockk]

Thank you for this guide.

I started a warlock alt a few days ago, and although I already enjoyed the feeling of the class, your instructions turned into a blast. I didn't have that much fun leveling since a very long time.

/bow

[gherkin]

Thank you for this guide.

I started a warlock alt a few days ago, and although I already enjoyed the feeling of the class, your instructions turned into a blast. I didn't have that much fun leveling since a very long time.

/bow

Thank you, that was the goal. Not many classes can turn leveling into a game in itself. Mages are a close second, but they are very unforgiving if you screw up.

I also enjoyed leveling a warrior, mostly due to Charge and Pummel. It's a giant metal gauntlet as an icon, and I can just imagine fighting a caster and being all like "What's that garbage you're sayin' at me?!? SHUT YO MOUTH /pummel" After being a lock for so long, this was very, very satisfying

Shadow Priests are interesting once you get shadowform. Enhancement shamans with good weapons and windfury (30+) are neat too. Boomkins at 60+ and Death Knights have fun procs. Hunters, Paladins, Rogues, and Shamans/Druids/Priests not fitting the above criteria are very methodical in how they approach leveling, and if you don't do it the exact same way every single time, one or two mobs at a time, it gets painful quickly.

Hunter: Pet, Serpent, Auto, Auto, Arcane once pet has enough threat, mob dead soon.
Paladin: Run in, hit Judgement and auto-swing until 40, then add Crusader strike till 50, then add Divine Storm and become nay-invincible, but still tedious due to button spamming limitations and mana issues.
Rogues: If you don't stun it past lvl 30, you will almost die every single time. You're that squishie.
Shaman: Autoswing, Shock, and Lightning Shield until 30. If you level elemental, you have no way to regen mana unless something is hitting you in the face, which is the opposite of a ranged spec.
Priest: Dot Flay Blast Wand until 40. Holy is a viable leveling spec due to smite spam, but... it's smite spam :P
Druids: Feral is stealth, pounce, rake, claw, rip, repeat until mangle, then you just spam mangle three times and it dies. Boomkin is boring until you max out the tree around 60 and get some gear, when it suddenly becomes very potent and fun to play.

[Bigchipper]

Hey Gherkin....just checking in from the last time I posted a couple of pages back. Can you look over my spec and gear and give me healthy criticisms? http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...of&cn=Loosefur

With regards to your post above...I'm having a blast playing Warlock...it's so much more engaging than my Paladin (well...except for ICC heals). This toon is leading DPS in every dungeon (usually 700-800 DPS at this point) I play and can solo all 2-3 man quests. I was never this OP as a 64 ret pally.