looking to get into some casual pvp

[Viggers]

i have never done pvp much. the occasional bg here and there, but probably no more than 1000 HK accross all chars (and most of those on my mage while leveling in wotlk) and i want to start doing some pvp on my lock. im used to playing aff and demo in pve, havent touched destro yet since mop hit.

im wondering if anyone can give me some pointers regarding spec, talents glyphs and rough 'rotation' for a new and terribly geared lock?
or point me to a resource for this information. thanks!

[pitakos]

you will enjoy doing casual pvp with any other alt class rather than lock. Unless you have some RL friends that will do arenas with you, dont expect to get to any team. Next season as the signs indicating will be the worst for locks, they are expected to be the least represented class...If you are not planning doing arenas and focus on rated battlegrounds though, then you will be ok.S12 locks were quite powerful in rbgs, and I dont think this will change in s13, despite the destro nerfs (and blood fear in general).We wont be as mandatory as in s12, but we will still be considered a good choice.

Edit:
For spec, for arenas the most viable spec will be affliction, but others will be considerable depending your setup.
For rbg all 3 can be good, with a slight advantage for destruction.

For glyphs, other than healthstone which feels mandatory, others are dependant to your playstyle and situational.

For talents, the change to Soul leech doesnt feel so great to give up on dark regen, but personally havent give it a shot.The change to Sacrificial Pact is supposed to benefit your pets survival, and even make it a viable option with GoSac.Unbound Will will be the to go option vs casters while Blood Horror maybe better vs melee cleave(expect many this season). Other than that nothing will change, all are situational to your team and playstyle

[Viggers]

Ok thanks, but i dont expect to be doing any RBG or arena tbh, i just want to do enough BG to get enough honour to have enough gear to be able to kill horde while doing dailies tbh

[pitakos]

yeah you should.5.2 quest area is ground mounts only, so you need pvp gear at least for dailies.You should start from now to get the cap before the release (but not waste any honor yet wait for the patch to get the new malevolent with honor)

[xskarma]

There's also new crafted PVP gear coming out that should help you a bit gearing up (if you have the cash to spend, though I don't expect it to be over the top expensive, something like a few k to get all of it)

[Mort459]

Ok thanks, but i dont expect to be doing any RBG or arena tbh, i just want to do enough BG to get enough honour to have enough gear to be able to kill horde while doing dailies tbh

If you're only doing random BGs, I highly recommend Destro. It can be INCREDIBLY fun to play and feel OP if you have good melee on your team and they have bad melee on theirs. The most CC you'll run into in randoms will still be dramatically less than that in RBGs and 3v3... hell probably 2v2 :P

[Viggers]

If you're only doing random BGs, I highly recommend Destro. It can be INCREDIBLY fun to play and feel OP if you have good melee on your team and they have bad melee on theirs. The most CC you'll run into in randoms will still be dramatically less than that in RBGs and 3v3... hell probably 2v2 :P

you are SO right! racked up 400 HK last night as destro. was a blast even in my terribad gear. but managed to get on use pvp trinket as well as the last head and gloves giving me 4-set. could feel a survivability and damage increase as the night went on now if only conquest wasnt so hard to get without being organised...

[meekus]

For random BGs, affliction has the best potential to let you do twice the amount of damage of anyone else. Quite boring though. Destruction on the other hand is a lot more fun and when geared up you will be able to see some quite insane numbers from chaos bolt and shadowburn.

Glyph choices should be burning embers, healthstone (great combined with dark regeneration) and conflagrate.

Talent choices should be dark regeneration, shadowfury (other alternatives can be good too), dark bargain or soul link (gives you 20% extra hp, great for healing with ember tap), blood fear, grimoire of sacrifice and kil'jaedens cunning (mannoroth's fury can also be good for BGs though, but running while casting is hard to give up once you have it ).

Many locks like this stat priority: 5% hit > mastery > crit > haste. But some might value haste higher since it helps with actually getting casts off.

[loki504]

There's also new crafted PVP gear coming out that should help you a bit gearing up (if you have the cash to spend, though I don't expect it to be over the top expensive, something like a few k to get all of it)

well the problem with the new crafted stuff mats wise there around 250g per item. but there also discovery. and that will make it pretty expensive in the ah the first few days.

[Viggers]

managed to get myself almost a full set of dreadful gear now, and have noticed amasssive buff to damage and survivabilty as expected. playing destro, amazingly fun. despite what i said i also formed a 3v3 team with some guildies (MW monk and arms warr) i have been playing destro, and its been good at low rating because i have been able to get casts off ..... im assuming this wont be the case as we climb rating?

[Mort459]

i have been playing destro, and its been good at low rating because i have been able to get casts off ..... im assuming this wont be the case as we climb rating?

Yes. You will be forced to use UR offensively, which hurts your survivability as well. I don't know enough about high end pvp to confidently suggest aff or demo for that comp.

[xskarma]

well the problem with the new crafted stuff mats wise there around 250g per item. but there also discovery. and that will make it pretty expensive in the ah the first few days.

Mhmm, the thing is though that the season won't start for a week while we DO have access to the new gear and discovery cooldown, so most people will probably have done a discovery or 2 (depending on what the discovery chance is (not checked on the PTR, tbh)) so there might allready be some competition for the items on the market when that first week is done. I don't think it will be completely terrible to pick up a few pieces.

[Shagina]

As someone decked out in full conquest gear, playing destro in randoms is amazing. A well geared lock can blow up just about anything in a global or two, making you able to turn the tide in almost any battle. Even with lesser gear you can still pump out some strong damage, especially during cooldowns. Once you get your hands on a PvP weapon you will notice a massive change, the increase in PvP power really makes a difference. For setting up kills you should pick an unsuspecting target (if possible, a healer) and throw a chaos bolt, two conflags and a stun or silence. Keep pumping incinerates or chaos bolts (if you got the embers) until they drop below 20%, then finish them with a shadowburn. Rotate between silence, fear and stun (or coil, if you picked that) to keep them from using defensive cooldowns or healing. Once you get it down you should be able to regularly place in the top on the killing blow list as well as keeping your deaths low.

Destro also really strong survivability, even without a healer. Dark Regen + glyphed healthstone gives a really strong hot, Unending Resolve will let you turn the tables on a melee with ease and Dark Bargain offers that clutch cooldown when you're in big trouble (though keep in mind that if you take too much damage you will still die once it runs out). Twilight Ward offers solid amounts of mitigation versus casters and a well placed portal can help you get out of a tight spot. If you use it with your gateway (provided you chucked it down earlier) you can easily be 100 yards away in the blink of an eye, should the situation call for it.

Experiment and play around, see what works and what doesn't. Eventually you should find a playstyle that fits you as destro has a few options (mostly in terms of which grimoire you choose, as it changes how you play. If you choose to play with a pet consider sac pact over dark bargain). Sacrifice is probably the best to go with when you're still getting used to the specc, less to keep track of.

[Viggers]

yeah i noticed, i managed to get wrecking ball with 25-0 in battle for gilneas last night! having a great time. is the pvp weapon really that good? 470 ilvl pvp weapon vs 504 sha-touched staff?

[Shagina]

PvP power is a bit more than half the value of int (which in turn is slightly better than spell power). The vast difference in spell power as well as the int increase from the sha gem might make your PvE weapon better in this scenario. I suggest you check the math yourself, give PvP power 0.6 when int is 1.