Season 15 Discussion + Warlock PvP Guide

[jtth]

Affliction for mass damage, but I mostly end up FCing as demo.

[salovia]

both are viable, affliction is the main spec for any serious rated bgs you might consider atm though, and your job is simple enough .... rot everything literally.

Do you just soulburn -> swap -> swap -> swap -> etc... everything? do you not worry about burst or target calling?

[jtth]

Do you just soulburn -> swap -> swap -> swap -> etc... everything? do you not worry about burst or target calling?

Don't worry about it. Just refresh when something procs or when DS is off CD. Just get dots on everything. Your second duty is to cover fears with UA. Monks kill themselves.

[Lucidious]

Another demo pvp nerf? First the Fel flame mana nerf "all specs" and now this? Will blizz not be happy until every warlock specs affliction for pvp? God I hate that spec >.<

[Hypoxia]

what rotation u guys using in rgbs?

[junn]

Really important to spread big dots in RBG's, meaning buffed, extended by pandemic, and agony at 10 stacks. While not always possible, when it does happen your dmg will skyrocket.

Usually I'll engage on whatever comes closest (sometimes a pet even), and SB:SS that, followed by channeling MG to get agony stacked to 10. By this point, you will usually have jade spirit procced (and tailoring chant if you have it). Pop all your cd's, and do another SB:SS on that target, and then regular ss everything.

Obviously its pvp and it takes some improvising, but this is the ideal. Most of these procs last long enough that if they get dispelled or you screw something up you can just SB:SS again, followed by regular SS.

On top of this, I will haunt the kill target as my TC is calling it.

I havent been dotting pets in RBG's, even though I always would in an arena situation. You have enough targets to dot with 5-10 players around you.

[dirkhudsucker]

pve affliction and destruction both work.about pvp?affli in arena and destruction in combat.

[Rhodianni]

What talents/glyphs do you guys run in RBGs?

[Zephonix]

Hello guys! first thanks for watch this post..
I've made a bet with a friend he is currently lvling a warrior and i am a warlock ilvl 556 but we will battle at the same ilvl
I've never done pvp in MoP but in old Expansion i was i just need some advices for this patch.

What are the best spec to kill a warrior in PVP?

Thanks!

I moved your thread to the PvP sticky, as the question belongs in that thread. You're more likely to get an answer here, and it keeps our forum tidy. Please try checking if your question can be posted in the stickies before posting next time. :-)

- Alarinth

[Goosy]

Can´t say i´ve met any r1 warriors, but just for the lolz even after the nerf you should be more then able to just kite his ass while laughing killing him with demonology.

Getting kited is always humiliating, since its a friend of yours that would be the go for me atleast.

[Werst]

The problem in killing a warrior is that he has half a dozen ways to prevent you from casting on short CD so "juking" is nigh pointless, is immune to your CC 30% of the time, and can stay on you pretty easily. Plus the spell reflect thing being useable while a spell is in the air always sucks....yeah I know it can be server latency but a good warrior is experienced at doing just that. Your anti melee tool of blood horror gets reflected if the warrior is any good.

Aff can't finish a warrior since 2nd wind > aff's dots. Destro can but you probably need 2x shadowburns back to back. Demo has pet pressure but outside of its 2m 2x chaoswave burst has little serious damage. Warriors are just kind of the overlords right now and they have always countered warlocks. Yeah 1v1 demo is good but in any rated play situation killing a warrior is probably done by someone other than the warlock.

[Phookah]

The problem in killing a warrior is that he has half a dozen ways to prevent you from casting on short CD so "juking" is nigh pointless, is immune to your CC 30% of the time, and can stay on you pretty easily. Plus the spell reflect thing being useable while a spell is in the air always sucks....yeah I know it can be server latency but a good warrior is experienced at doing just that. Your anti melee tool of blood horror gets reflected if the warrior is any good.

Aff can't finish a warrior since 2nd wind > aff's dots. Destro can but you probably need 2x shadowburns back to back. Demo has pet pressure but outside of its 2m 2x chaoswave burst has little serious damage. Warriors are just kind of the overlords right now and they have always countered warlocks. Yeah 1v1 demo is good but in any rated play situation killing a warrior is probably done by someone other than the warlock.

You can't reflect a spell that is traveling to you, it's already considered casted, there is just a small delay in the actual damage done.
If it looks like this happens, its a latency issue.

[wholol]

Hello guys! first thanks for watch this post..
I've made a bet with a friend he is currently lvling a warrior and i am a warlock ilvl 556 but we will battle at the same ilvl
I've never done pvp in MoP but in old Expansion i was i just need some advices for this patch.

What are the best spec to kill a warrior in PVP?

Thanks!

I moved your thread to the PvP sticky, as the question belongs in that thread. You're more likely to get an answer here, and it keeps our forum tidy. Please try checking if your question can be posted in the stickies before posting next time. :-)

- Alarinth

Hi, you can beat warriors in any spec atm, you simply need to know how to counter their gameplay by proper usage of abilities, there is no real way i can tell you since there is no set rotation, it's mainly improvisation, but I'll try to give u advice as best as I can.

For starters, the easiest spec of the 3 is actually destro, I havent played demo since last season but Im pretty sure it can still beat warriors, affliction is tougher than the other two but I've beaten quite some warriors with that 1v1.

Since you are new to locks and u want to win vs your warrior friend ( I'm guessing that's the reason you posted in the first place ), is to go destro:

I wont say anything about gear, ofc better gear is ... well, better. so gear up fast

Talent wise, there are several options, some go with SL / GoSac but I prefer DB vs warriors in a duel, ill explain why after this.

Of course the standard talents I'm using are: dark regen /shadowfury( more on that below ) / dark bargain /blood horror/ Sac / KJC ( more on that below ).

Ok so, shadowfury and coil are both good, I take shadowfury because the cd is shorter and it's a more reliable CC source since it cannot be reflected, some prefer coil for the heal , and it's a viable option tbh, but I do not want any DR with blood horror even if it is minor.

Dark bargain, although some other options are viable like going SL / sac or even SL/ void with supremacy which can be better survivability ( use this in case you are desperate for the win ), I pref dark bargain simply to counter his burst cds (banner etc..)

KJC : although double DS is pretty good , I doubt u need more than 1 for this duel, imo being able to cast incinerate while moving is going to help u a lot for kiting even if felflame is a viable filler to spam while moving , I pref spamming inci when there's at least 10 yards or more between me and the warrior simply for the added benefits of extra ember bits and well, a tad more dmg obviously.

Besides that you should know that mastery is our greatest secondary stat ( in pvp at least, plz dont get into the haste vs mastery debate , we're talking about destro fighting a warrior 1v1 nothing else) , so work on those reforges/ gemming ( not going into details just giving you an idea, check armory or ask around if u want more details on gems/ reforges).

ok glyphs, most people are using healthstone/ conflag/ and Eternal resolve one ( though I think for this duel specifically you could go for portal instead since u might need UR active for some rough situations).

Finally the duel , obviously you should be ready with circle and HS, sac a void if you're playing with a talent choice similar to mine,and it starts.

obviously warriors gonna charge u, do not have blood horror up on u preemptively any warrior with a brain will just pop reflect and then charge u resulting in a horror reflect onto yourself, keep it for later.

u should be able to throw a single spell at him before he charges, that spell should be conflag , why ? 2 reasons , 1) you get some embers 2) the warrior is slowed and that is crucial for this next part.

Basically at 1 sec after the duel the situation should look like this : warrior is snared by your conflag, you are stunned by the charge.
the first thing u do after you are out of stun is use howl of terror, why ? you force the warrior to use berserker rage to break that fear, it has a 30 secs cd and gives him 6 secs of fear immunity, basically you force him to use it so that u can actually fear him after it's down , since he wont have it up for another 24 secs.

remember this well, the goal in that duel is not to NUKE him like some people here suggested , u need to outlast him, meaning any full embers are going to be used for ember tap period, the warrior cannot heal prior second wind, and until he gets there u just need to make sure u are always on top, and this is how u do it.

after howl he will zerker rage , note that you should be moving away from the warrior at ALL times, no excuse, remember the warrior is still snared by your conflag and even if he breaks your fear with rage he is still snared and u are well out of he melee range, while moving throw an incinerate at him since u can cast while moving, if he's still in melee range throw felflames instead, conflag whenever the snare is down, keep him snared as much as u can, you should both be slowed since he will prolly have hamstrung you the moment he charged, but since you are both slowed and u are moving away he shouldnt be able to touch u.

while you are casting incinerate there is a very high change he will use spell reflect on u, remove reflects with felflame and make sure elements is on him,now all of this is about 3-4 secs into the duel , nothing has started yet.

if he's on u and u need to peel , time blood horror with his swings, dont pop it randomly , it's impossible to reflect it if you pop it the moment before his swing lands.
so kite around casting incinerates or felflames, conflag on cd after that point , once he's in melee range again with his second charge you time blood horror the moment before he swing lands, he will get horrified ,there is a very high chance he will trinket it ( if he doesnt just keep casting incinerate while moving AWAY from him ).

If he trinkets , teleport . he has no charges anymore, all he has is leap, he will use it to conver the distance , once he does shadowfury on him and fear him, he CANNOT break this is anyway, you should be low on health, use ember taps to fill you up, do not use CB at all, this duel isn't about that, keep your Dark soul for when the warrior hits second wind, it only takes 1 shadowburn to kill him with a conflag -> shadowburn.

Note: do not teleport anytime unless the warrior has already charged u (twice with double time ), meaning u get charged once, u use a CC whether howl or shadowfury to peel , use shadowfury into fear if the warrior has used berserk rage before, howl works too , both help u peel, time them well.

Note 2: u still have dark bargain and dark regen/ HS, these are only to be used when the warrior pops reck/skullbanner/ trinket etc, basically u should ask your warrior friend to use them before the duel so u know how they look like, the warrior will generally glow red if anything this is the most noticeable feature( as well as the banner next to him ), once he does u pop DB and try to use whichever tools you have up at the time, shadowfury or howl or bloodhorror, though most of the times he will have berserker rage up on him while cds are up, so dont use howl, remember he might use his cds REALLY early in the fight like the moment he charges u, stay calm dont panic, simply counter his cds with yours and u will not die, never forget to ember tap to heal, usually u should cover the dmg taken through dark bargain ( after it's duration has expired ) by using Dark regen/ HS combo, this will just counter weight all dmg taken during it and fill you up ( you can use it while DB is still active if u are low on health , and dont forget your command pet ability which is like a last stand, pop it while dark regen is up and throw in an ember tap to just go 100% hp in 2 secs).

Tip: you can havoc the warrior while he skull banner is up and spam anything into the banner to destroy it while still dealing dmg to the warrior, this will give u some nice extra embers.

PS: if you arent using ER glyph ,you can use UR either at the start or after u've used DB to help mitigate some more dmg , you should also always use twilight ward after dark bargain since it absorbs the dmg ( dmg is magical), remember these.

Now the finisher, after all that you are constantly outranging / CCing and healing through his dmg, the warrior will hit 35% and lower and second wind kicks in basically you need one of 2 things to finish him, either blood horror or shadowfury, if u have these you make sure you have at least 1 ember to shadowburn, more if necessary try to throw some felflames to get him to like 30% ish , then pop full cds ( dark soul trinket etc), shadowfury or blood horror him, you can do 2 things :

the riskier yet guaranteed kill. chaos bolt him while he's CCed , if u have at least 2 embers i'd suggest u do this, since u can just CB -> shadowburn and he's dead.

lesser risk strategy : while CCed , incinerate -> conflag -> shadowburn he should be dead or like 2% hp left which u can finish off with a felflame.

Phew, to tie up loose ends, trinket either a fear or a charge while he's snared , this will also remove hamstring, meaning he's snared , you aren't, kite away , it forces him to use a gapcloser which gives u more room to use things like port and other cds.

I hope this mini guide helps you , you can beat warrior with the other specs but I cba making another huge post atm, it was long enough already , I hoped it would be smaller, let me know if this works out for u, u should be able to beat most warriors this way ^^

Edit: i made some grammar mistakes, cba fixing them sry also I didn't use gates in the guide, u don't need it tbh, if u use it on top of what i just said it's like a guaranteed win .

[Deleted]

There are a lot of strategies for beating warrior and different combo. I will suggest SL cos it gives more mitigation during the whole fight, and also service using succubus and the little void for a 4 sec disarm.
Isn't easy the succubus strastegy: position is really important, your succubus must stand far away from you, so it can't be cced, and your portal far away from both(like a triangle).
At the first charge use pet seduce, keep the distance , dot him incinerate conflagrate, he will use a gap closer cc him with shadowfury or bloodhorror or with a knockback, if he trinket use portal, than u can follow wholol's advice!

I don t know if this is fixed, but as affly u can use this combo. Sl+ grimoire of supremacy and void lord! Your pet has got a ability that scale with your shadow damage and is triggered by the damage that is shared with soul link. Your pet is gonna destroy the warrior.

[Deleted]

Hi.. ive been away most of this year, only done bit part PvP with the time I have had.. got lots of time now and am going to be doing full on arena.. im Affliction mostly. can anyone gimme some tips/hints on stats and talents and anything else locky as I see some things have changed since I came back a week or so ago ?? ill be doing 3s mainly. I like 2s too but not bothered bout 2s.. cheers

[Nerraw]

Doing 2s right now. Can someone please shoot me?

[Deleted]

Using soul link in 3v3 is a pain... Pet are dying istantly against all the comp. They are too squishy.

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@niberion i saw all the top affly lock running with a full haste build, also gemming for haste, aiming for 7078 haste treshold. What u think?

[jimmy valmer]

Are aff locks useless now? They had their dots nerfed to hell and substituted it with a channel to get yourself locked out. Multi dotting probably tickles now in pvp.

I know they have that dispel protection that helps other dot classes but just being there for the dispel protection does seem rather pointless.

[Nicola]

Using soul link in 3v3 is a pain... Pet are dying istantly against all the comp. They are too squishy.

- - - Updated - - -

@niberion i saw all the top affly lock running with a full haste build, also gemming for haste, aiming for 7078 haste treshold. What u think?

Really? I'm still seeing most people running around with full mastery :/
Going for a haste threshold is not worth it as far as I know.

Are aff locks useless now? They had their dots nerfed to hell and substituted it with a channel to get yourself locked out. Multi dotting probably tickles now in pvp.

I know they have that dispel protection that helps other dot classes but just being there for the dispel protection does seem rather pointless.

Affliction is very strong in 3s right now if played correctly, I'd go as far and say it's the best it has been so far this expansion.

[Deleted]

In the pvp ladder the top warlock are gemmed and reforged haste. i think is worth going for an additional tick because our dot last for the entire duration on the target and also u get 10% more chance to get a soulshard, and ofc faster cast on: fear hunt UA. Btw for now i'm running full mastery ^^