How are warlocks in PvP?

[BarelyLegalBear]

Hey guys, i started back recently and i finally got my hunter to 100 (mainly for PvE) and i decided that i'd level my PvP toon pretty soon. I did main a druid for PvP in MoP and it got boring this expac. My question is, how are warlocks this season? Are they decent? I've seen quite a few good ones and for PvP i was thinking of playing either Affliction/Demo because i feel as if destro has to sit still too much. Is the mobility bad? I also like that it is close to hunter as in having a pet with me most of the time. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[Thelxi]

Mobility is terrible yes, especially coming from your hunter, but affliction is very strong atm. Demo is shit after the demonbolt nerf.

[BarelyLegalBear]

Mobility is terrible yes, especially coming from your hunter, but affliction is very strong atm. Demo is shit after the demonbolt nerf.

Yeah, i'm so used to being able to kite for days, even on my druid i had that capability. Will take time to adjust but i wanted to do something a little different instead of rolling FotM.
What makes affliction superior to the other spec and how is the damage once you're geared? I love doing lots of damage ^_^
Also, little off-topic, but isn't demo the goto spec for most PvE situations?

[Itisamuh]

Casters in general are pretty crappy right now in WoD, and even aside from that warlocks are in the same boat as the last few expansions. Affliction has a few unique perks that make them valuable in 3v3, and those perks prevent them from being buffed in general stand alone PvP, where they suck. They do well in 3v3, but that is because they have a pocket healer to keep them alive, a pocket DPS to do the actual threatening burst to the enemy, and a tiny closed in area to make easy use of portals. Destro has horrible damage and mobility now, and demo is only marginally better. If you want to have mobility and be strong on your own merit, stick with your hunter for PvP.

[BarelyLegalBear]

Casters in general are pretty crappy right now in WoD, and even aside from that warlocks are in the same boat as the last few expansions. Affliction has a few unique perks that make them valuable in 3v3, and those perks prevent them from being buffed in general stand alone PvP, where they suck. They do well in 3v3, but that is because they have a pocket healer to keep them alive, a pocket DPS to do the actual threatening burst to the enemy, and a tiny closed in area to make easy use of portals. Destro has horrible damage and mobility now, and demo is only marginally better. If you want to have mobility and be strong on your own merit, stick with your hunter for PvP.

Well then, that's sad to hear...ughh! I may just stick it out for PvE then, i've seen demo do quite well in that area, so it might just have to be that way.

[Nofo]

warlocks are pretty strong for most part especialyl once u get the gear flowing u can yolo in demo and 2 shot a people with demobolt with CDs and trinkets up and affliction is aflliction idk how else to describe it considering its been pretty strong since wotlk

[Tya]

Warlocks are great if you want to spend your life refreshing dot/fear timers. And by warlocks, I mean affliction, as the other two specs just don't work. Used to love warlock PvP, now can't stand it. Wouldn't recommend.

[Shamran]

It depends on what you're looking to play. If you're aiming at top end 3s, Affliction is, as ever, in a decent position. Few specs can apply the same amount of spread pressure, which is sought after in many 3v3 comps, but you're dependant on somebody actually keeping you alive since your survivability isn't the best; especially if you can't establish gates which a lot of teams will actively try to prevent. In 2s, Affliction is doable in certain comps. Ideally, you'll partner a healer, preferably a rDruid, which'll allow you to stay alive long enough for dampening to help your constant dot pressure secure a kill. A lot can go wrong before that happens, though, so generally, warlocks aren't in a great place when it comes to 2s. Destruction is... well... Destruction, and Demonology has lost much of its potency with the DB nerf. Even before that, Demo was a tad fickle because of how low your pressure was outside of DB phases.

[Phoenexis]

Warlocks are great if you want to spend your life refreshing dot/fear timers. And by warlocks, I mean affliction, as the other two specs just don't work. Used to love warlock PvP, now can't stand it. Wouldn't recommend.

Very true. The gameplay literally rewards you for getting locked out, not kiting and eating CC. Peeling is limited and one-dimensional and the rotation is straightforward with no complexity or multi-tasking anymore.There are a couple of demo locks out there, and to be honest I think it's the only spec that could provide potential fun. Even then though it's heavily burdened by the fact that you barely get the chance to get casts off, as your success depends solely on Demonbolt.

And let's not even talk about Destruction... The way they've designed it in WoD is just saddening...
But yeah, Affliction is still one of the top specs in 3v3

[Christonya]

About the second or third best caster, and one of the best classes in the game. This assumes we're talking about 3s. However if you just intend to do BGs, then they sorta suck... You basically just get trained all to hell.

[Kagami]

Affliction Warlocks are pretty strong at the moment. My horde main is a Warlock and while they are not very good in 2vs2 because melees train you to death, you can really shine in 3vs3 and BGs. DoT everyone and be number 1 in damage all the time. =P

[Trematode]

Affliction Warlocks are pretty strong at the moment. My horde main is a Warlock and while they are not very good in 2vs2 because melees train you to death, you can really shine in 3vs3 and BGs. DoT everyone and be number 1 in damage all the time. =P

Exactly what this person said, if they buff our mobility anymore then people would complain like no other. Affli locks are pretty damn good right now, just ask any hunter.

[DeadmanWalking]

If you are just doing Ashran don't worry about it, you usually move in a cloud of players and nobody will pick you out, if its red its dead. 2's and 3's however are entirely different, you will get rolled hard.

[Illiterate]

Locks are fine until a melee looks at you

[Deleted]

Casters in general are pretty crappy right now in WoD, and even aside from that warlocks are in the same boat as the last few expansions. Affliction has a few unique perks that make them valuable in 3v3, and those perks prevent them from being buffed in general stand alone PvP, where they suck. They do well in 3v3, but that is because they have a pocket healer to keep them alive, a pocket DPS to do the actual threatening burst to the enemy, and a tiny closed in area to make easy use of portals. Destro has horrible damage and mobility now, and demo is only marginally better. If you want to have mobility and be strong on your own merit, stick with your hunter for PvP.

What the hell is "general standalone PvP?" Warlocks are really strong in 2v2, 3v3, 5v5 and RBG, what else do you want? They are not strong in 1v1 vs. melee, but that's really far away from what balance is about.

Aside from that Warlocks indeed lost the ability to kite and their CC is worse now, which makes them less fun to play. On the contrary their spread damage is insane.

Warlocks are currently the strongest DPS caster now, in total strenght only inferior to mages (which are more a CC caster though). And in the brackets where it counts (3v3, RGB) they are even stronger than Hunters. Even in 2v2 Warlocks counter Hunters pretty well.

That said, casters in general are harder to play than melee currently because you have to work around interrupts and melee having high uptime on you. But once you get used to that, you will be fine. There are very rare occasions in 2v2 that a melee is able to outdamage me in total damage, even if the melee trains me all game. The weakness of Locks in 2v2 is really finishing power (burst), but not survivability and not overall damage.

As for specs: Demo and Affli are both viable currently. Demo can still blow someone up on its own during burst with CDs up. Demo is harder to play than Affliction though because it requires lots of coordination to get that burst off and not be interrupted. But at high skill levels, Demo is pretty good in comps like LSD and Shadowcleave.

[Deleted]

They're shit, all ranged classes are shit at pvp except for hunter.

In before arena heroes who never step outside Stormshield on a pvp server nor do random bgs, duels or any kind of pvp that doesn't involve lodging a healer deep up your butt.
Oh it seems I was too late for the latter. Oh well, enjoy your predictable staged pvp environment where other players do the healing, cc-ing and dps-ing for you, while thinking you're good at pvp.

[Phoenexis]

They're shit, all ranged classes are shit at pvp except for hunter.

In before arena heroes who never step outside Stormshield on a pvp server nor do random bgs, duels or any kind of pvp that doesn't involve lodging a healer deep up your butt.
Oh it seems I was too late for the latter. Oh well, enjoy your predictable staged pvp environment where other players do the healing, cc-ing and dps-ing for you, while thinking you're good at pvp.

Are you kidding? This game was never balanced around bgs, duels or random fights. It's balanced around 3v3 first and foremost. I'm not saying that playing as a warlock isn't disgusting at the moment, but they aren't "horrible", they're very strong (affliction to be specific).

[Cempa]

The casual player will have more fun playing Hunter or Frost DK. To get the same results with a Warlock you need twice the effort and skill...

You can do really well 2v2 or 3v3 or RBG/BG but you need to know what you are doing and manage the pet/sac pet really well...Otherwise just play low keybind...low management builds and be happy..

[Deleted]

Dont listen to ppl that says warlocks are shit because those ppl are just shit at playing warlocks or blizzard changed something and they dont like it and then blame it on locks being bad... They might not be the best 1v1 in the game, but in arena they are really good if u know what ur doing.

1v1, duels and wpvp is the kind of pvp that happens most often, not your arenas and in your best comp no less. Not sure what is the point of choosing a pvp class just to win at the rarest kind of pvp and get smashed everywhere else.

[Phoenexis]

1v1, duels and wpvp is the kind of pvp that happens most often, not your arenas and in your best comp no less. Not sure what is the point of choosing a pvp class just to win at the rarest kind of pvp and get smashed everywhere else.

I don't know, playing what used to be one of the most skill-based aspects of the game? Fighting with team-mates with whom you'd develop insane synergy and perfect your team play as much as possible?
I don't know about you, but beating a rank 1 team after having played insanely well is much more satisfying than beating 3 under-geared and clueless players.