Warlock vs mage which one is stronger lorewise?

[Amarys]

Warlocks are often mages who seek more power, and fel is inherently stronger than arcane.

So the average warlock is stronger than the average mage

Nah warlocks are mages who don't wanna spend years or even decades to gain that power and just want a quick, easy way. Warlocks using fel are basically like monkeys with a gun vs a human with no weapons as mages. So yes, at first the monkey has more raw power and can just shoot the human but over time, the human can build a better weapon or outsmart the monkey.

[Razion]

No....They were warlocks. You can easily look that up.

You're right, I can: Archimode and Kil'Jaeden were mages first, until Sargeras promised them great power if they bent the knee and when they did, turning into warlocks and being granted their boon by Sargeras, Velen was the only one who saw the terrible price they were paying for their choice.

[shoc]

Between a Warlock and Mage of equal skill, the Warlock wins 100% of the time. It's said time and time again that power from Fel magic comes very easily with little to no skill, while Arcane Magic is practically a science that needs to be studied rigorously. In the long term though, the unskilled Warlock loses, either by destroying themselves or getting themselves enslaved by the very demons they tried to command.

[Venziir]

Arcane and fel are equally strong overall. However, becoming a mage is more difficult than becoming a warlock. Warlock just has a deal with a demon that empowers him while mage needs to study a lot to be on the same level. Average warlock is more powerful than average mage but he doesn't understand the power he uses, giving mage a way to defeat him. Consider a duel between a trained fighter and idiot with a gun.

The Pantheon were utterly destroyed by fel in a matter of seconds, and they were arcane beings. In fact, arcane is susceptible to fel.

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No....They were warlocks. You can easily look that up.

They became warlocks because of Sargeras' teachings.

[Harbour]

Strongest known warlocks are Kil'jaeden and Archimonde.
Strongest known mage is Medivh.

Imo Kil'jaeden and Archimonde are stronger than Medivh.

[kenn9530]

I was thinking, they both use int and cast spells. Are warlocks just mages use Fire shadow and demonology, instead of arcane frost fire. Or its totally new school of magic?

If they have same knowlodge of their class ( same int, mastery etc.) who would win 1v1 duel to death in lore?

Ps. Do not answer like sargeras is warlock, medivh is mage. Answer questions for avarage ones.

A mage could use any school of magic they wanted as long as they learn it, a mage could use fel magic if they wanted and not be considered a warlock just like demon hunters use fel magic.

Warlocks are mages just defined by what they do, they are not really any stronger just because of fel and the player warlock themselves use a very limited amount of fel magic anyway.

[Mehrunes]

A mage could use any school of magic they wanted as long as they learn it, a mage could use fel magic if they wanted and not be considered a warlock just like demon hunters use fel magic.

Warlocks are mages just defined by what they do, they are not really any stronger just because of fel and the player warlock themselves use a very limited amount of fel magic anyway.

This is completely backwards. Mages are defined by their arcane power source as seen in, I dunno, their description on WoW's site (they use Arcane even when forming their Water Elementals). The same site that when describing Warlocks mentions two different power sources right from the get go and as seen in the story that's not actually the end for Warlocks. Shinfel and Zelifrax were dabbling in the magic of Twilight Hammer and Ritssyn and Zinnin went into Sulfuras to discover the secrets of Ragnaros' power.

[kenn9530]

This is completely backwards. Mages are defined by their arcane power source as seen in, I dunno, their description on WoW's site (they use Arcane even when forming their Water Elementals). The same site that when describing Warlocks mentions two different power sources right from the get go and as seen in the story that's not actually the end for Warlocks. Shinfel and Zelifrax were dabbling in the magic of Twilight Hammer and Ritssyn and Zinnin went into Sulfuras to discover the secrets of Ragnaros' power.

Arcane magic is used by pretty much everyone that uses magic to some extent, arcane can be moulded to do almost anything, arcane is dark magic its what the void is made from and its the lifeblood of the planet and titans. Fel just amplfies magic by weakening yourself or others.

Titans are the most powerful beings in WoW and their source of power is arcane, sargeras just buffed himself to be more powerful with fel, so any mage could easily do the same. Sargeras isnt a warlock when he can do everything a warlock can.

[Syegfryed]

Fel can do almost everything arcane do, i think with the exception of creating food, if the nether is something i think time magic would also be possible with fel.

Arcane is more stable and can do more things because of that, Fel is way more destructive and is "super effective" to arcane

Warlocks generally, are either shamans or mages who seek more power and destruction, more accessible and more risk, Kadhgar with a scepter who buff him was even with gul'dan.

Azshara, power pretty sure was also something related to the well of eternity, so i would not call her fair game.

[matrix123mko]

The Pantheon were utterly destroyed by fel in a matter of seconds, and they were arcane beings. In fact, arcane is susceptible to fel.

Azeroth is more powerful than Sargeras. Strength between specific titans vary, especially if one of them uses both arcane and fel. You have to remember that if someone gathers multiple power sources, he becomes powerful.

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These energies are probably the key.
Fel and Arcane are both different cosmic energies, that were never ranked in power. So assuming that Mages have the same control over Arcane as Warlocks have over Fel, the most reasonable answer is:

Equal, depending on the individuals.

The risk that comes for Warlocks is the tradeoff for ease of accessibility, not for greater power.

Pretty well said. However, warlock often has more power because his power is the power of demon he had deal with. Mage's power is his own. So basically a mediocre warlock who is not particularly powerful or intelligent can defeat powerful mage if his demon is powerful.

[Rexosaurus]

^

Warlocks in the Warcraft story have also been shown at times to last longer in a fight because they can draw power from said demonic pacts, or in some cases use their own blood (portrayed in-game by Dark Pact/Life Tap). Meanwhile, a Mage relies entirely on their own power and training (at least that's how they used to be portrayed), so once they were drained of mana they typically needed to use something to rejuvenate themselves such as food/potions. Warlocks also have access to demons that feed upon magic such as felhounds/felhunters which can make them a natural counter to unprepared Mages.

Having said all that, I think that it really just comes down to the individuals in question and who Blizzard wants to win for story purposes.

[DemonHunter18]

Azshara, power pretty sure was also something related to the well of eternity, so i would not call her fair game.

pretty much although she is still regarded as the greatest sorcerer this world has ever known.

could be an empty hype.

[Zephi5315]

compare the strongest mage to the strongest warlock in the lore.
Azshara vs Gul'dan

[Razion]

How was that unaided she had the freaking Tidestone to work with.

Dang, I forgot about the Tidestone. I guess that kind of ruins that.

[Mehrunes]

Arcane magic is used by pretty much everyone that uses magic to some extent, arcane can be moulded to do almost anything, arcane is dark magic its what the void is made from and its the lifeblood of the planet and titans. Fel just amplfies magic by weakening yourself or others.

Titans are the most powerful beings in WoW and their source of power is arcane, sargeras just buffed himself to be more powerful with fel, so any mage could easily do the same. Sargeras isnt a warlock when he can do everything a warlock can.

This is all sorts of wrong. First of all, that Arcane "can be moulded to do almost anything" is neither here nor there in regards to whether Mages use more than Arcane. Secondly, Shamans, non-Balance Druids Priests, Monks, Paladins and, to a large degree Warlocks, don't use Arcane. Arcane is also not a dark magic and it most certainly not what the Void is made from. Void, as the name quite clearly implies, is made from Void (which outright predates Arcane as a cosmic power). Arcane is only the lifeblood of one planet, Azeroth. Not because it's a planet but because it's a Titan in nascence. So counting planets separately while listing Titans immediately afterwards is redundant.

And the Fel is also not something that amplifies some other magic, it's a magic source of its own. Warlocks aren't using Arcane and then sprinkling if with Fel for a boost. They are using Fel (or Shadow, or whatever gives them the most power). Which applies to Sargeras as well. He got completely imbued with Fel when he shattered Mardum. He didn't just "buff himself with Fel to be more powerful". And given how he wasn't a Mage prior to that, even putting aside the falsity of your premise here, the conclusion that "Sargeras did it so any Mage could easily do the same" doesn't even follow from it.

[mickybrighteyes]

Entirely depends on setting and what tools are being used.

Warlocks are typically the same as mages or WERE mages prior to being warlocks but with their efforts directed in a different school of thought or something akin to "safety off" so theoretically a mage and warlock with similar levels of understanding/practice might make the warlock "stronger" in terms of power available. Granted almost any time we have such a comparison the warlock is also a threat to themselves where the mage is less likely to inflict life threatening backlash upon their own physical/spiritual form.

At the same time we also have warlocks that make themselves "weaker" due to reliance on something else which may be a "patron" entity or some forcibly controlled being.... or hell, some ritual magic that needs to be set up (but this one is also true for mages).

In the end, mages and warlocks only vary based on who's writing the story and what magical feats are being used. Someone might go "but mages have access to time magic" to which I would say that is really dependent on what rules we're adhering to. schools of magic and their restriction to classes is something that isn't so concrete in the lore and quite honestly outside of the nightborne such degrees of proficiency were not shown among the masses (besides the timewarp spell which i judge as more of a gameplay effect to better provide a high demand buff to other classes beyond "shaman"). There might also be "slow" but that's a far cry from calling mages as a whole to having a supreme control of "time"...

As for fel vs arcane as schools. That's one route to argue but remember that casters are not a single school that they practice.

[Syegfryed]

compare the strongest mage to the strongest warlock in the lore.
Azshara vs Gul'dan

isn't a fair comparison since Azshara was bumped with the well of eternity power

if you compare her with Sargeras, Kil'jaden or Archimonde, who are arguable warlocks, maybe it could be fair game

[Terongor]

Azshara is the most prominently powerful "naturally talented" mage in the setting, and meanwhile Gul'dan is indisputably the most powerful "naturally talented" warlock in the setting.

In terms of power that "any" mage or warlock could possess, they represent the pinnacle of what they can accomplish.

Gul'dan's greatest feat was raising the Tomb of Sargeras.
Azshara's greatest feat was displacing all the water of Zin'Azshari.
(Jaina's flood that threatened Orgrimmar required outside help, if it was stronger so irrelevant as far as feats go to the topic.)

Obviously Zin'Azshari as a zone is a lot larger than the Tomb of the Sargeras on the outside - but on the inside and all the collective landmass it has, the Tomb itself can be quite large. Without pixel measurements of the Tomb to compare to Zin'Azshari, I would tentatively say the zone of Zin'Azshari would be larger and so we can probably tentatively say Mages are more powerful.

Warlock power is quick and easy.
Mages have to study for theirs.

Warlocks can pull from an entire dimension and from endless armies for their power. But this power has never been enough to topple Azeroth. And yet, Malygos in the Eye of Eternity cites its power as being enough to destroy the world ten times over. So, even if we're extending Warlock powers as far as they can go, as far as what has been represented and what is known, while Warlock power is impressive for what you can get immediately the universe seems to kind of indicate perpetually that Mages are stronger when it comes to an average joe who works hard - that the easy path is dangerous, and not worth it, and comes with consequences. Warlocks are almost never the heroes of the story. And by the nature of us, the heroes, and our incessant penchant for victory in the setting, it's no wonder if Warlocks are perpetually portrayed as weaker - that's just their lot that they've thrown themselves in with at least until such a time that Sargeras actually leads the Crusade to put an end to the Void once and for all, anyway.

Edit:
If you're just trying to find the most powerful int based class again, Velen fought off foes that Gul'dan also had trouble with - so considering how we need measurements to determine whether the water displacement of Zin'Azshari by Azshara or the Tomb raising by Gul'dan is greater, we can at the very least know that Velen is stronger than Gul'dan canonically. So, if anything, Priests stronger than Warlocks confirmed basically. And since Mannoroth cites Azshara as being weaker than Archimonde, Kil'Jaeden, and Sargeras, this probably puts Velen ahead of Azshara as well. So Priests, probably stronger than Mages too.

You could argue alot of Azsharas power came from bathing in well of eternity which is titan blood while gul'dan maybe had legions power backing him up but getting exposed to blood of a titan seems to wonders powerwise just look what azerite seems to do.

[Alcsaar]

Mages, because they have control over time. Theoretically they can pretty much hax their way to victory by using their time-related spells. There's not much you can do when your opponent can erase any damage they take, significantly increase the speed at which they attack, etc.

Warlocks are literally just stronger mages. They are mages who become Warlocks quite literally for the pursuit of more power. There is not anything stopping a Warlock from also using magery to impact time.

[Terongor]

Khadgar wields Atiesh, which is said to grant the wielder "power unending". For the purposes of a fair judge of mage potential by itself, I think Azshara's water displacement is probably the greatest unaided mage feat (prior to her being empowered by N'Zoth). Khadgar and Gul'dan being equal doesn't really settle the debate of which is more powerful, so I think comparing Azshara's water displacement feat to Gul'dan's feat of raising the Tomb is the best measure we can get in terms of evaluating potential of the classes at this point. Both Jaina and Lor'themar have cited Azshara to be perhaps the most powerful sorceress Azeroth has ever known.

The audio drama specified Khadgar could hold gul'dan off while KJ told Gul'dan not to fight khadgar most of time and even punished him for it and Khadgar had studied gul'dan for decades giving khadgar huge strategic advantage.