Warlock Leveling Guide

[rfarris]

You might want to put ... 2/2 Fel Embrace to keep your pet topped up ...

Fel Synergy?

[gherkin]

You got me! Fel Synergy.

[gherkin]

Added a "Get this by 30" gear guide with links to other gear people can think about. Much of it is green AH gear, but the link will take you to more stuff that you might have access to.

[rojau]

Cant decide if I should go with my 77 male belf lock or my lvl 20 undead. The undead got the looks any animations but the belf got the levels..

Either way I leveled something like that from 71-77 with SL and felguard, works really well. Can pull infinite mobs and soloes any groupquest. Got a much harder time with my lvl 20 but I think its coming around.

[sah303136]

amazing guide, but i didnt notice a glyph section in the guide. i would suggest glyph of life tap. i just got it and it gave me 16 spell at lvl 27, so well worth it imo, esepcially if you have BoA like me (shoulders, chest, pvp wpn and double trinkets =D) because the shoulders and chest also give spirit and so does a few random offset peices i have. would also help ungeared people reach the 100 spell power by 32 rule of thumb.

[gherkin]

amazing guide, but i didnt notice a glyph section in the guide. i would suggest glyph of life tap. i just got it and it gave me 16 spell at lvl 27, so well worth it imo, esepcially if you have BoA like me (shoulders, chest, pvp wpn and double trinkets =D) because the shoulders and chest also give spirit and so does a few random offset peices i have. would also help ungeared people reach the 100 spell power by 32 rule of thumb.

Adding a glyph section now.

[rfarris]

At 54:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrbhMhoqAohk

Ending at lvl 70:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrbuMNoqAohktZx

Ok, I'm at level 60 now and I've made this build my off-spec.

Do you have a suggestion for the second major glyph to replace the felguard glyph that I have on my demo main-spec? (My other major glyph is Life Tap, of course.)

Thank you.

(Side note: Now that we can fly at lvl 60, it was a breeze to fly over to SMV to do the quest for Shadoweave Tailoring. According to notes in WowHead, that should have been a nightmare at lvl 60, but with a flyer, I flew over, dropped onto the altar, clicked the quest item and BOOM, I was a Shadoweave Tailor. Not only that, but after turning in I went over to start creating mats for my frozen shadoweave gear at lvl 70 -- 4 day cooldown -- and boy was I surprised to find out that there is no longer a cooldown on shadoweave cloth!)

[gherkin]

Grats rfarris!

Other glyph I'd use would be Siphon Life. You should never have to drain life again. But seriously, any glyph you choose will be a decent one. Other than Life tap there is no hard answer to which glyph to use.

[rfarris]

"If the target is at or below 25% health, Drain Soul causes four times the normal damage."

Does that mean that all the ticks that happen while the target is at or below 25% health, or does it mean that the spell must be cast when the target is at or below 25% to gain the bonus damage?

If so, is there an easy way to tell when it's time to Drain Soul? I watch the mob's health bar, but when things are hectic I wish it included the percentage of his health left in numbers, not just the graphical display.

[gherkin]

Does that mean that all the ticks that happen while the target is at or below 25% health, or does it mean that the spell must be cast when the target is at or below 25% to gain the bonus damage?

Any scrolling combat text addon will do this, including Mik's Scrolling Battle Text (MSBT). I highly recommend it, as the default config is quite use friendly.

[Spiteblade]

thank you for a great guide, read it a little less than a month ago while i was creating my lock, today i dinged 80

One thing I don't agree with though is switching to demo in early Outlands - found it very uncomfortable to play with, started getting health/mana issues. Switched back to Affli after about 5 quests and all the problems were gone, neither did it feel like I was doing something wrong. Guess I just love Affli too much

[sah303136]

gherkin, once again great guide, im loving my warlock again and i cant understand why i quit my first one xD im at 34 with 130 spell power with out enchants, i love it =D kudos man

[gherkin]

Great to hear guys!

@Spiteblade - I think you were killing too many things at once This isn't a bad thing, its just that a felguard build no longer has automatic self healing so you have to drain a bit more and pull a few less. I would hazard a guess that you had more than simply green gear when you hit outlands (heirloom or blues) as that can quite easily level the ramp up time.

Or perhaps blizzard has been busy watching where people who don't ramp up die, and nerfing that content. In my last few play throughs I've noticed a lot of little changes they didn't announce.

[Spamaspell]

Thanks alot Gherkin, this guide inspirede me to level up my 70 warlock, cheers

[rfarris]

Gherkin,

Hi. Farloc@Echo Isles checking in again. Lvl 65 now. Static Spell Power at 534, but with Fel Armor, food, and an elixir, closer to 800. At that level of SP, I've found that I enjoy the Affl play-style better than Demo, although I have dual-spec, so both are available.

I found your suggestions for Elite-killing with Demo/Felguard spot-on. I haven't killed the southern Naga boss in Zangarmarsh yet, but I took down the northern one without too much trouble. Also the one you call the Matriarch, although that's not what the Horde calls him.

The one I did have trouble with was the Rock Giants in the northwest of Hellfire Peninsula. I died several times. Once he spawned the adds, they killed my pet and then killed me. Or killed me first. lol

Eventually I figured out that if I switched over to Affl, used my Voidwalker with all abilities, dotted up the mob and then spammed fear I managed to kill him. I haven't needed to use fear in my Warlock career prior to this point, so it was a learning experience.

Is that the recommended approach to elites that spawn adds? Do you have any other pointers?

Thank you.

P.S. This (staff) item: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25494 is a quest reward in Hellfire Peninsula. 80 SP and 33 stamina!

[gherkin]

Good job on the spell power. In full greens you should have that much fresh off the boat in northrend, not at 65. You're ahead of the curve.
I include estimations on Fel Armor in my original numbers. When I say 800, I mean before Fel Armor as I have already taken that extra 300 into consideration. 800 including Fel Armor would not be sufficient to do more than 2 or 3 targets at a time in Northrend.

General Tip: Don't ride your pet's threat on add spawning mobs. Let him get a considerable lead. When the mob spawns something, your pet can then pick it up too without immediately losing aggro on the main target. All heals give threat, including Siphon Life and Health Funnel - you do not need to be dpsing the first target to lose aggro on it.

As Demo for those elites, your Felguard + Cleave can hold aggro on two mobs, but you have to time cleave to hit when the mob spawns. Basically, its too much work. I would suggest doing add spawning mobs as per normal, but having you kick the crap out of the add as it can't always be feared. It might hit too hard for this strategy, as you do not have Siphon Life at this level.

Alternatively, you could swap to the voidwalker for this fight. Pop demonic empowerment for the mini last stand, hit sacrifice and go to town on the add. The HP boost should let him live without health funnel a tad longer, you get a 3000+ hp shield, and master demonologist makes you take 10% less damage. You even have an AOE taunt for him to pick up two adds.

Affliction will win out on these fights because multiple Siphon Life ticks will keep you alive, providing you are smart about healing your pet and have enough gear for two siphons to outheal one mob hitting you.



That staff is only available to horde, and there is no comparable alliance counterpart. When the gap is that huge I tend to ignore it, as it slowly turns the discussion from "what gear should I wear" to "maybe i should have rolled horde..." and second guessing yourself is something more players need to do less.

[MestHoop]

finally got back to my lock and as most people said, when I specced demo at 55, it just felt like a step down :\
The damage from the felguard just doesn't feel up to par to the lost DPS and healing

Dual specced affli and doing fine in outland ATM (got full heirlooms and spellpower enchant on staff)

[rfarris]

I hit lvl 66 last night and moved to Nagrand. With a ton of SP, in Affli, I was back in extreme mode. I went over to Nesingwary's camp and picked up the roc and talbuk quests. I found a long string of rocs, started at one end, ran down, dotted each one, let the succubus take the first, UA'd the second, Haunted the third, and then started over.

In less than two minutes I killed the 12 rocs I needed for the quest. Then the same thing for talbuks. Two quests in five minutes. I am a killing machine! Even on my DK I didn't kill like this. And that was back when DKs were OP.

[gherkin]

I'll probably update the guide and offer two paths. One for the "Holy Shit I'm OP!" player and another for the "Leave me alone, I'm enjoying this solitude" kind.

I would love to hear from someone who does not have heirloom gear and zero dungeon blues and spec'd demo at 55. If a couple people can confirm that the difference is indeed major... :P

[Tronada]

Thanks Gherkin! I am using the guide but with heirloom items. I just hit 50 with 2 days played (inscription 185 and herbalism 280). I switched to Affliction before 30 and at level 29 popped into BG and got the Wrecking Ball achievement.

In the 40s I went to Tanaris and dropped some jaws of people watching me at level 45 pull the entire South Sea Pirate area.

People whisper me and ask me what my spec is after they see the trail of bodies I leave in my wake. I was able to kill faster than a two-man group (feral druid and arms warrior, level 49 and 48 respectively) farming the same pirates.

Thanks again!

Pudriente - Undead Warlock
Malfurion