This is a compilation [jumble) of old guides and good-to-know for (mostly) raiding as a warlock that I have lying around. Since there are not many guides on these forums that cover the basics I thought I could post this. Some things might be abit outdated. Feel free to point such things out and I can edit it. This compilation is aimed towards players beginning to raid as a warlock. Hopefully some parts will be useful for someone. Some things are missing: BiS-raiding gear, resistance gear and macros and addons.WARLOCK THREAD
EDITION II, MMXV
INTRODUCTION
GEAR & STATS
TALENTS & ABILITIES
AoE & FIRE ABILITIES
BUFFS & CONS
RESISTANCE GEAR
Introductionin November 2015 the Live Update was launched. With it came the new debuff limit system that greatly affects warlocks. A partial revamp has to be made to the standard gear, talent and spell rotation setups.
Thus, I bring to you the Warlock Thread II!
Gear & StatsThere are currently three main stats for warlocks; Hit, Crit and Spell Power.
Hit (Chance to hit with spells)
A level 60 warlock will have a 17% chance to miss their spell against a level 63 mob (boss level). The warlock can reduce the chance to miss to a minimum of 1% chance to miss. The last percent is unavoidable, setting the maximum potential Hit percentage from gear to 16%. Additional Hit beyond 16% is useless.
A decent amount of Hit is vital to any caster. Warlocks should aim to reach 16% Hit or thereabouts. But trading Hit for other stats will be necessary aswell.
Hit is arguably the most important stat to focus on because it affects all the other stats; Crit and Spell Power is useless if the target is resisting your spells.
Crit (Chance to get a critical strike with spells)
Crit is gained from Intellect (~60 Int = 1 Crit) and direct Crit from gear and buffs. Crit doubles the damage of your spells and triggers the Improved Shadow Bolt talent. Therefore one warlock's Crit benefits all other warlocks plus the shadowpriest through the increased shadow damage.
Spell Power (Damage done by magical spells and effects, Spell Damage, SP)
Spell Power is the reliable base of the damage-increasing stats. It is simply increasing the damage of spells. However, spells only recieve a percentage of the total Spell Power to balance it out. Some examples of Spell Power Coefficients:
Shadow Bolt: 85,7%
Corruption: 93,6%
Shadowburn: 42,9%
Calculation: Spell Damage*Coefficient+Base Damage
Other StatsThere are a few other stats that affect a warlock, namely Intellect and Stamina. Intellect is directly affecting your dps, however slightly, and is generally just a bonus attribute when chosing between the three primary stats. Stamina is only affecting survivability.
Spirit and mana regeneration (Mana per 5 sec.) are not considered useful at all. All mana regeneration is done by Life Tap.
Talents & AbilitiesThe current base spells for a warlock is Curses, Shadow Bolt, Shadowburn, Corruption and AoE and fire abilities.
CursesOnly one curse per warlock can be active at one target. Curse of Shadows (CoS) and Curse of Elements (CoE) are the only currently viable curses. They do not stack so only two warlocks per raid are assigned on these curses. Special cases will call for Curse of Weakness and Curse of Tongues. Curse of Recklessness is a rather special curse with some limited use. It's core functionality is to decrease the armor of targets (buff melee DPS). Other beneficial uses can be to buff other players (during Mind Control).
The curses are highly prioritized since they increase all damage done to the target.
Shadow BoltShadow Bolt is the core ability of a warlock. This is the majority of the damage output. Shadow Bolt crits benefits all players with shadow damage spells thanks to the Improved Shadow Bolt talent.
ShadowburnThe implementation of Shadowburn is twofold. It is an effective execute-like-ability for small creeps and dying mobs. It can also be incorporated into the spell-rotation. Whatever the case is it is a useful ability to have.
CorruptionCorruption is no longer part of the primary spell-rotation for bosses due to the debuff limit. It is still useful during trash, adds, and any situations where there are targets with less than 16 debuffs.
Area of Effect & Fire AbilitiesRain of Fire deals rougly half of the dps that Hellfire does. Hellfire is naturally preferred whenever the circumstances allow it. A general rule of AoE-abilities are to make sure that mobs are tanked before engaging, or death will be swift.
Searing Pain and Immolate are only viable on targets with shadow immunities/reflections or when the circumstances prevents the use of Shadowbolt.
Best-In-Slot Gear GuideThe following items are gathered from other peoples lists, the database, and my personal experience.
When several items are listed in the same equipment slot the first item is generally the better alternative.
I have not included items that are similar or (more or less) equal to already mentioned items.
Some items that appear in the first two lists are also present in the Best-In-Slot list. Because they are very good.
Some items that are found in dungeons and 20-man raids are just marginally worse than the BiS items. Cloak of Consumption/Cloak of the Devoured and Scepter of Interminable Focus/Royal Scepter of Vek'lor for example.
Items such as those are very efficient are definitely worth the time to get.
Pre-Raid GearHeadShouldersChestWristsHandsWaistLegsFeetNeckFingersTrinketsMain HandOff-HandRangedBack20-Man Raid GearThere is some incredible loot to be found within ZG and AQ20. Also, ZG is essential in getting your head-, shoulders- and legs-enchants.
WristsHandsFingersMain HandOff-HandRangedBackVery niche itemsThere are some items that are useful only in special situations.
TalentsThe current standard talent specialization is
Demonology/Destruction (DS/Ruin, 7/21/23)The abbreviation stands for Demonic Sacrifice/Ruin, which are the important talents in the end of their respective trees.
The core talents are briefly described below.
AfflictionSupression: Spend as many points in this to reach hit-cap with curses. (if you have 12% hit from gear: spend 2 points in this for 4% extra hit.)
Improved Corruption: Makes Corruption useable.
Improved Life Tap: Warlocks spend alot of time with Life Tap. Decrease that time with this talent.
DemonologyImproved Healthstone: Useful.
Demonic Embrace: Useful.
Master Summoner: Useful.
Demonic Sacrifice: This is the core talent of this spec. It boosts either your fire or shadow damage. It is not compatible with active demons.
DestructionImproved Shadow Bolt: Very big DPS-boost in raids. Affects all shadow damage.
Bane: Decreases the time to cast Shadow Bolt.
Devastation: Very important.
Shadowburn: Useful.
Destructive Reach: Useful.
Ruin: Huge DPS-boost.
The secondary spec is
Affliction/Destruction (SM/Ruin, 30/0/21)The core talents are briefly described below.
AfflictionSupression: Spend as many points in this to reach hit-cap with curses. (if you have 12% hit from gear: spend 2 points in this for 4% extra hit.)
Improved Corruption: Makes Corruption useable.
Improved Life Tap: Warlocks spend alot of time with Life Tap. Decrease that time with this talent.
Grim Reach: Useful.
Nightfall: Potentially very rewarding DPS-wise. It is pretty unreliable on bosses though.
Shadow Mastery: The core of this spec.
DemonologyDestructionImproved Shadow Bolt: Very big DPS-boost in raids. Affects all shadow damage.
Bane: Decreases the time to cast Shadow Bolt.
Devastation: Very important.
Shadowburn: Useful.
Destructive Reach: Useful.
Ruin: Huge DPS-boost.
Buffs & ConsumablesThe following consumables are very important for warlocks and a sufficient amount should always be available during raids.
Damage ConsBasic damage-increasing cons. Should always be available.
Survivability ConsFor special encounters, like C'thun and Anub'Rekhan.
Special ConsFor extra demanding encounters like Patchwerk.
Optional ConsContinues below