Best warlock leveling spec for Cata

[gvt2000]

Title says it all, im torn between affli (no downtime, lots of regen) and Demon (lvl 10 felguard? yes please). thoughts?

[jealouspirate]

I've been wondering the same thing. In the end, all specs will be viable. It will really come down to playstyle. I think Affliction will still be able to take on the most mobs at once, but that isn't exactly necessary either. I'd play around with it a bit. Felguard at level 10 is definitely awesome.

[Invex]

Demonology would be the best leveling spec for lower levels, since you have a felguard at level 10. One dot and 1 hit of the felguard and the mon is down, as for higher levels I would probaly go with affliction

[Pridelock]

The warlock must be the easiest class to level as. All the specs have perks which make levelling up really quick compared with some of the others.

I prefer to level as demo letting my pet do the majority of the work. Well you are looting a mob your pet can be working on the next set.

I think its whatever you prefer to play - they are all good

[Deleted]

Every spec is going to be very similar. There really isnt a downside to destruction either so you should just go with what playstyle you like most. Personally I can tell you demonology is a very boring spec to level.

Pridelock: That statement was true some time ago but it really isnt anymore. Out of the 3 80's I leveled my warlock definitely wasnt the "easiest". I enjoy the warlock playstyle the most but there are far superior leveling classes now(feral druids or enhancement shamans I can tell from experience)

[Verzerrung]

Pre-Northrend Demo is just a mana drain and almost as much down time as a mage.
Aff will still be able to destry entire villages by just running around flailing your arms and come out with more health and mana than when you started.

[Izzeren]

Pre-Northrend Demo is just a mana drain and almost as much down time as a mage.
Aff will still be able to destry entire villages by just running around flailing your arms and come out with more health and mana than when you started.

I don't know if I agree with that answer or not. I am no warlock expert by any means and just start playing mine again last night. I have heirloom gear, just have 1 trinket for now, but I had no problems last night going from lvl 47 - 50 on my Lock specced as Demo. I never once ran out of mana or had to sit and eat anything. I ran most of the quest in Hinterlands and never slowed down. It may get worse once I hit outlands, but I just don't see that happening honestly.

[Hexme]

Pre-Northrend Demo is just a mana drain and almost as much down time as a mage.
Aff will still be able to destry entire villages by just running around flailing your arms and come out with more health and mana than when you started.

You are thinking of Destro most likely, my lock just went through outlands 2 days ago as Demo and I had 0 mana issues.

Tried Affliction here and there while lvln and it was a mana hog with soul swap and Succubus had mana issuse.

Demo just has a lot going for it to make it a worth while lvln spec

Fel Guard- lvl 10, outshines all of your demons for the longest time

Hand of Gul Dan- lvl 39 is when you get it i believe, i love this spell and once u get into outlands it hits like a truck

Fel Guards Fel Storm- lvl mid 40's if i can remember, combine FS with HoG you can pull multiple mobs easily

[Azutael]

I dont think any spec wil be "the best" anymore, they are all good now too be honest. So, play whichever spec you like the most.
Personally, I atm use destruction as typical solo and instance/raid spec. And demonology to do group quests etc.

[knumskul]

You are thinking of Destro most likely, my lock just went through outlands 2 days ago as Demo and I had 0 mana issues.

Tried Affliction here and there while lvln and it was a mana hog with soul swap and Succubus had mana issuse.

Demo just has a lot going for it to make it a worth while lvln spec

Fel Guard- lvl 10, outshines all of your demons for the longest time

Hand of Gul Dan- lvl 39 is when you get it i believe, i love this spell and once u get into outlands it hits like a truck

Fel Guards Fel Storm- lvl mid 40's if i can remember, combine FS with HoG you can pull multiple mobs easily

Why are you even using soul swap anyway? Aff lvling is just throw out 2 dots and flail your arms like and doll waiting for the mobs to die. The strength of aff is you kill lots of shit without ever stopping. Then you stop and loot for 10mins.

[TheNecrodeath]

Demonology is what I used and it took for ever to get that damn fel guard and since u get it at lvl 10 now lvling will be so sick. Demo is also great because it has good aoe dmg. Usually I let fel guard pull mass mobs and aoe and loot. That makes the questing go faster XD.

[SpacelySprocket]

What seems to be escaping people (or, rather they are unaware) is that the 80+ mobs in the new zones are nothing like the mobs they face until that point. In fact, not too long ago, Blizz doubled (I can't quite recall the exact numbers but it might be more) the damage of these mobs.

You do NOT want the 80+ mobs beating on you. They hit like trucks, and until you get deeper into leveling (82+) you'll be a bit lacking in the Stam department to take alot of hits. Pulling multiple mobs will likely get your pet and/or you killed faster that you'd expect.

With that in mind, I found Destro to be a great 80-85 leveling spec. Aftermath slow and Shadowfury kept mobs at a distance while Backdraft and Conflag output alot of damage very quickly. The mitigation of baseline (and glpyhed) Soul Link and Nether Ward/Prot
was great for when I was taking damage. And, liberal use of Soulburn CD's and Shadowburn to restock shards combined with potent healing from Soul Leech and Soul Harvest kept the downtime very minimal.

Demo was decent, but having weaker than Aff DoTs made chain pulling inefficient; and having slower than Destro nukes made it tedious as well. The Felguard's nice, but doesn't provide a substantial boost to the overall efficiency of the spec.

Aff is nowhere near as powerful with the SL changes. Like, I mentioned, having mobs beating on you is bad, and the ramp up time associated with Shadow's embrace means they'll hit you way more often as Aff than as either of the other 2. Again, combined with poor self-healing, this is not very optimal.

That all being said, play what you like. Each specc has ups and downs. I feel that Destro's up's outweighed those of Demo or Aff.

(Just as a background, I'm really trying to push for some sort of sever 1st, so my focus on the Beta has been levelng and what I can do to maximize it as best as possible. I've pushed each spec from 80 to 85 and these were my findings. Your mileage may vary )

[Jenerena]

I'm going to play either demo or destro 80-85. I have been demo since 3.3 launch and adore how it is now, so I'll most likely play demo. I'll spend most of the 5 levels in dungeons anyway, where I'm sure the cc from Aura of Foreboding, Axe toss, and spell power buff will be much appreciated.

[Nerraw]

Pre-Northrend Demo is just a mana drain and almost as much down time as a mage.
Aff will still be able to destry entire villages by just running around flailing your arms and come out with more health and mana than when you started.

I can't remember when Life Tap is available, but Soul Harvest makes mana in levelling almost a non-issue. Once you get Life Tap, you can just use it to get your mana back and then stand around for 10 seconds with Soul Harvest and voila! You're good to go again.

[mordred69]

Why are you even using soul swap anyway? Aff lvling is just throw out 2 dots and flail your arms like and doll waiting for the mobs to die. The strength of aff is you kill lots of shit without ever stopping. Then you stop and loot for 10mins.

Im sure its cause he glyph'd it so that way he can xfer a full stack of dots while keeping them on the current target...

[Calderis]

With the combo of Life tap and soul harvest there is no reason that ANY spec of lock should have downtime/mana issues unless they aren't paying attention.

Seriously, in any tree make a build with good utility, like you would for PvP, and just waltz through. I myself prefer Demo, but my Roommate plays aff. he levels slightly faster then me, but I can get out of some situations that kill him. Both have their strengths.

[demoncleaner]

Well from 1-80 it will be more of a toss up. Any spec will do it really. But like Spacelysprocket said..80-85 is an entirely different animal. You really wont be taking more than 1-2 mobs on at once because of the damage they do and their rather large health pools. To me the fastest leveling spec will be the one with the most single target burst as well as decent mana conservation.

That of course points to destro. It would seem that with demos mana issues and affs nerfed self healing destro will be your quickest ticket to 85.

[screwlewse]

Spacely is right on point here. I forced myself to use affliction for the cata zones and started at Vash'ir and got pounded really hard! Corpse runs galore. I had a mix of greens an blues when I got there and it felt like I had greys on. There is no point where I drain tanked more than 3 mobs at one time; and that only happend after replacing all my 80 gear. Usually I just focused on draining one at a time. It was tedious to say the least.

And regarding Outland, I loved going Demo there. Let my pet go and tank, drop a hand of Gul dan and watch them die while I pick flowers or something.

with that said.. I found that both do well leveling in general, but their play style are polar opposites. Demo is more hands off, where affliction requires constant attention to your surroundings and yourself. Check your health/mana grab another mob, refresh a dot on existing mobs (they dont all die by applying corr and boa). Depends on yer style imo. I like em both, but Affliction caters to my ADHD.

[Phuongvi]

I have this little warlock lvl 18 , im just lvling to see the new troll story

Affliction : UA + CoC + CoA + Voidwalker taking care of aggro and you can continue walking or just Drain Soul

[Loosh]

Affliction is too fun.

Dot dot dot. Everything. You don't even have to stop. Dot as far as the eye can see!
I've never slaughtered so efficiently, not even on my hunter.

It really makes you feel like a lock too xD