Warlock Raiding Guide[Kara to BT] menu

User Tag List

Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. #1
    whyte_boi's Avatar Active Member
    Reputation
    15
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    77
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Warlock Raiding Guide[Kara to BT]

    Warlock Raiding Guide
    Hi and welcome to my Warlock guide for all aspects of BC Raiding from Karazhan to Black Temple. Hope this is helpful to some people, and hope you enjoy reading!

    Guide Outline:
    ------------------------------------------------
    I.Important Warlock Stats
    Hit (and easy gear to get when your just starting out)

    Damage
    Crit
    Haste

    II.Specs
    Affliction
    Destruction
    III. Gear
    - Gemming and Enchanting
    - Sets and Bonuses
    IV.Warlock's Role and Utility in raiding
    - Curses
    - Tanking

    ------------------------------------------------
    I.Important Warlock Stats
    These are the stats in order of importance(In my opinion).
    1.Spell Hit
    2.Spell Damage
    3.Spell Crit
    4.Spell Haste
    5.

    1. Spell hit

    • 1%= 12.6 spell hit


    • cap=202 spell hit

    The need for spell hit is very high with PvE warlocks. Warlocks sadly do not have a spell hit talent for its most important tree(destruction). Early on with raiding(when your just starting karazhan), Suppression can benefit warlocks with affliction spells(DoTs) but geting the spell hit cap from gear/gems should ultimately be the first thing on the warlock's agenda.
    The spell hit cap is 202, anything over is a waste of gems/itemization. Many people(noobs) disagree with this and think crit or even pure damage is more important, but the problem is if you can't HIT then you can't CRIT or DAMAGE.The thing i found that helped me the most when i just hit 70 was choosing scryers and getting the spell hit trinket, and enchanting my gloves wisely with the +hit enchant. Be wise when you gear up, dont sacrifice 40 damage for 15 hit.. Just keep the goal of 202 in mind.If your in a raid with any Draenei (shaman would be best) you get 4 % Spell hit from the Draenei's Inspiring Presence and a Totem of Wrath from the shaman.

    Important/Easy to get items/enchants
    Weapon/Wand/Trinket
    Scryer's Bloodgem (+hit Trinket)
    Enchant Gloves-Spell Strike
    Warpstaff Of Arcanum
    Star-Heart Lamp
    Greatsword of Horrid Dreams
    Nether Core's Control Rod
    Helm
    Demonfang Ritual Helm
    Spellstrike Infusion (Spellstrike Set) -helm
    Neck
    Brooch of Hightened Potential
    Shoulder
    Mantle of Three Terrors
    Spaulders of Oblivion
    Back
    Sethekk Oracle Cloak
    Chest
    Robe of the Crimson Order
    Bracers
    Crimson Bracers of Gloom
    Gloves
    Gloves of Oblivion
    Belt
    Sash of Serpentra
    Pants
    Trousers of Oblivion
    Spellstrike Pants
    Boots
    Extravagant Boots Of Malice
    Ring
    Ashyien's Gift
    Seal of the Exorcist
    Gems-Great Dawnstone, Veiled Noble Topaz
    2. Spell damage


    This is the next important stat for us,especially with affliction. In early karazhan it is good to have 600 shadow damage minimum but it is easy to achieve at least 1000(with fel armor) with the Spellstrike and Shadoweave sets. Seeing how getting money is cake nowadays with all the dailys available I recommend everyone tries to get the Spellstrike and Shadoweave sets because they can last you for quite a while. As Affliction, DoT's get a larger bonus from +dmg than SB.
    .
    Shadow's Emrace (Shadoweave Set)
    Spellstrike Infusion (Spellstrike Set)
    Spell damage coefficient - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

    3. Spell crit

    • 1% spell crit is equivalent to 22.1 spell crit rating.

    Spell crit is pretty much useless until deeper into raiding when you are Destruction. As Destruction you gain a total of 8 % crit to Destruction spells from talents(5 % isn't shown on the character page however)
    Most peple don't socket pure +Crit because it never is that important.

    4. Spell haste

    • 1% spell haste is equivalent to 15.7 spell haste rating

    Spell haste is a weird stat to talk about. It is complex because it scales with how much your other stats are (crit, dmg). So if those 2 are low you won't see much improvement from haste. Because of this, warlocks don't really bother with much haste until Sunwell, where it really starts to shine [IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/grig/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]If you really want to try gathering haste pieces, the most you find are located in Zul'Aman. However the haste on the pieces from ZA give a big expense to your damage and crit so they aren't very good pieces.The only really good pieces(and thus exceptions to my last comment) are the Fetish of the Primal Gods and the ring from the 3rd chest event which is one of the best rings in game for +hit casters.

    5. Spell penetration
    This stat is pretty much useless for PvE so do not bother with it.

    Stamina, Intellect

    There really isn't a reason in PvE to gear up for these stats specifically unless your creating a set for tanking for fights such as Leotheras, Kael'Thas and later on illidan. These stats will improve as needed on their own as you gear up through raiding.

    II.Specs

    Affliction

    You will be Affliction from Karazhan until TK/SSC. This is because the level of gear needed for destruction to be viable starts in those instances.

    The common spec is 41/0/17
    You get 3 points to spend on imp HS or whatever you may want.
    Talk with the warlocks in your raid guild. It is common to set up talents to have 3 different ranks of Healthstones at one point in the raid (one warlock with 0/2, one with 1/2 and one with 2/2).

    This spec is pretty good DPS in the earlier raids but it falls behind in T5/T6 content. The utility of this spec however doesn't. It is nice to have an affliction warlock at all times (even in Hyjal/BT) due to the utility of the spec( Malediction and Shadow Embrace). If all the locks in your raid are destruction and you particularly enjoy Affliction, have a talk with your raid/guild leader and try to set up something. If you want to be of even more utility, you can spec those 3 leftover points into Improved Imp and ask to be put in the tank group to help with +stamina.

    There is another affliction spec common with more endgame raids which is 40/0/21. This spec helps because later on you will find out that with the gear that you have, Ruin will outdps Unstable Affliction.

    Curse/Dot Rotation As 41/0/17
    DoT's are all about uptime and keeping them up constantly. There are certain rotations that help keep up uptime and give you time to sneak in a few shadowbolts as well. Lifetap and Dark Pact in between rotations as needed.

    This is the rotation: Cast the assigned curse>Immolate>SL>UA>Corruption.
    It is a good rotation because it provides good uptime. When you are refreshing do it in this order as well. Remember when your refreshing Immolate to start 1.5 seconds before it expires. A good idea, when UA/Corruption are running out, is to start immolate one tick early so you have time to refresh the other two. This resets the rotation with almost no loss in dps. If you don’t do this, Immolate will always stay behind your UA/Corruption combo, which gives about 3 seconds downtime with each cast.

    The only time you want to drop a DoT from your rotation is when you see that your debuffs are getting bumped off the debuff table(raid bosses have a 40 debuff limit). In this case I recommend you drop Siphon Life.
    Destruction

    There are two common specs for endgame destruction.
    Shadow Only
    Shadow/Fire
    I recommend straight shadow because there is a lot of +shadow only dmg gear in t5-t6 content and it really doesn’t benefit a Shadow/Fire build.

    When to switch to destruction: The spec performs best when you are hit capped(or very close to it) , have 1100 shadow dmg and 23-25% crit chance (with talents). If you don’t have these numbers, Affliction is usually a better choice for overall raid dps.
    Here is an utility Spec
    Malediction/Ruin
    This is an Affliction/Destruction spec which is more of an utility spec. It helps the raid more than just straight DPS. Malediction and Shadow Embrace are worth a couple hundred points off your DPS.
    III.Gear/Selection
    WoW Warlock DPS Spreadsheet is a good website when your evaluating gear upgrades. The thing you always have to keep in mind is being hit capped but do not make ridiculous sacrifices to other stats to keep hit up.


    Gems
    When you’re gemming gear you want the important stats: damage, hit, crit, or haste. The thing you have to judge for yourself is set bonuses. For example if you have a piece of gear with a red and blue socket and it has a socket bonus of +6 stamina, you’re better off putting a straight damage, or dmg+hit/crit gem in the blue socket to help you more.
    Balance is important with gear, and gems. The best way to maximize your overall attributes it to balance your stats wisely. Stacking one stat with the exclusion of others is not a good idea.
    Meta’s
    Chaotic Skyfire Diamond is very useful and popular among warlocks. It adds +12 spell crit and provides a 3% bonus to all critical damage. With ruin however, this ends up being a 9% bonus as a result of Blizzard’s weird system. It requires 2 blue gems, which is not a problem. I recommend Glowing Nightseye(+dmg and stamina)
    Enchants
    Here are the common enchants for PvE Warlocks.
    Head: Glyph of Power
    Shoulder: Inscription of the Orb/ Discipline
    Chest: Exceptional Health or Exceptional Stats
    Legs: Mystic Spellthread or the Epic Runic Spellthread
    Bracer: Spellpower Ridiculously expensive L
    Cloak: Subtlety
    Gloves: Major Spellpower
    Boots: Boar’s Speed
    Rings: Spellpower –Only works if you yourself are an enchanter. No one else can do it for you
    Weapon: Major Spellpower for early on raiding.
    Soulfrost or Sunfire later on when you have a good weapon with no upgrades soon.

    Set Bonuses

    Tier 4-Voidheart
    Voidheart is useful for the lower raid instances(labeled T4 instances). A good advantage is that some pieces come with spell hit. You do not need the whole set, the 2 set bonus is very nice for the time, but the 4 piece is rather horrible.
    Tier 5-Corruptor These pieces are obtained in SSC and The Eye. The 2 spec bonus is nice for Demonology, and more specifically the soul link tanking spec(when your on leotheras for example). 4 piece bonus is nice for Affliction, but at that point in raiding you will probably be destruction and have no use for it.
    Tier 6-Malefic The set drops from Mount Hyjal, Black Temple, and Sunwell Plateau. The 2 set bonus is pretty much useless, its only good towards Affliction locks(but these are rare in t6 instances). The 4 piece bonus is the best in the game for warlocks. It gives a 6% additional damage bonus to all Shadow Bolts and incinerates. You get over 100 dps increase after obtaining the 4 piece t6 bonus.

    Best Trinkets(IMO)
    Skull of Guldan –Amazing equips and a fantastic use.Especially for deep destro. Drops off Illidan.

    Hex Shrunken Head – Really high bonus damage and good use. Drops in ZA



    IV.Warlocks Role in Raiding

    To start here are a couple of useful addons. Go to Curse.com to get these

    1.DBM

    Every raider should have this addon. They help with timing in boss fights and with certain events. You can get it here



    2.Quartz
    This mod helps you time your next cast. It determines latency and helps show you how haste is affecting you. It helps you cast “faster” because it starts casting the next spell immediately after the first finishes. It also has an enemy cast bar which is very useful.


    3.DoTimer
    This addon is great for warlocks. It helps keep track of dots on mobs and on your cooldowns. A must have for any warlock in a raiding environment.

    4.Necrosis
    This mod helps with keeping track of shards, soulstones, and summoned pets. Get this or Shard Ace.

    5.Omen
    An improvement on KLH threat meter. It helps with managing threat and everyone in the raid should be using the addon and be on the same version.

    6.SW Stats/Recount
    These keep track of your damage done, dps, and other stats in the raid.These are useful for showing your crit, miss/resist and many other useful rates. It shows where there is room for improvement and it is good for evaluating yourself and “stepping up” your game when you see yourself low on the meters.

    Consumables
    Flasks/Elixirs: Flasks provide a better increase in DPS but they obviously cost a tad more. The flask warlocks use is Flask of Pure death, which provides +80 shadow/fire damage. If your using elixirs, you have a choice between Adept’s Elixir and Major Shadow Power for Battle. Guardian elixirs pretty much blow. You have a choice of +16 mp5 , 250hp and 10 hp5 , +30 int/spirit. You are better off flasking. It is not only an improvement in stats/DPS but they also persist through death.If you have a wipe night learning strats on a new boss, flasks are usually better and might even cost less.

    Weapon Oils. You have a choice between brilliant wizard oil(36 dmg and 14crit) or Superior wizard oil (42 dmg). I recommend that if you have the money, spend the little extra to get the brill oil.
    Food Buffs: +23 spell damage foods are the way to go. There are many versions of this: Blackened Basilisk, Poached Bluefish, or Crunchy Serpent). You may also use a Spicy Crawdad when you have a tanking role, but this is very rare.

    Curses

    CoD or CoA?
    CoD is almost always better as a curse, with overall DPS. It allows for more casting time, because you are not refreshing your CoA. CoA should only be used when you run the risk of pulling agro when the minute is up on CoD or if the boss is going to die before the minute is up.

    Curse of Elements: A very useful curse, should be first on priority in raids. It not only helps warlocks but all mages and shadow priests in the raid benefit also.

    Curse of Recklessness: This is a must-have also, it helps with melee dps substantially, increasing it by around 7%. Warriors Demo Shout almost completely negates the AP bonus the boss/trash gets so it is a win/win situation.

    Tanking Roles

    Leotheras For this fight you need 365 fire resist. You can get this fairly easily from the badge items and you get +70 from master summoner and pally aura. Get soul link and park a felhound outside of whirlwind range, but close enough to you to get the buff. Try to keep as much spell hit as possible as it helps with overall threat and curse of doom. Use spicy Crawdad/ flask of fortification for this fight. As soon as the pull starts and Leo breaks, land a Doom on him. Three seconds before Demon form starts, begin casting a soul fire. Spam searing pain after. Allow your raid to begin dps when you have at least 10k threat.13 seconds before demon form ends, begin casting doom again. Repeat as needed. When he splits, pick up demon and tank him till the raid kills the human form.

    Kael’thas –Calpernian
    Tanking for this is as easy as it gets. Spec whatever you want but do not pick up nether protection. Go to the back of the room and wait for the Hunter MD. Spam searing pain and that’s pretty much the whole fight. You don’t “need” Fire resistance but having a little bit won’t hurt.
    In phase 3 make a macro:
    /use Staff of Disintegration
    /cast Shadowbolt
    Use that with every cast pretty much. No point in searing pain because no one is dpsing her until later on in the fight when the other advisors are dead.

    Illidan

    For Illidan you need the Shadow Resistance cap maxed out. The crafted Mother gear should be enough to get you going. For the spec, use whatever you want again, but make sure you do not pick up Nether Protection. 10 seconds before demon form make sure you are in max range. Start searing pain spamming as soon as he changes. Do this until the first fire volley. At that point back up until you’re 60 yards away from him. This helps because if you get a demon, the raid can kill it before it gets to you. When you’re at that position(the 60 yards away) you don’t need to do anything for the rest of the phase. Toss shadow ward for that extra help. Rinse and Repeat. Soulstone yourself after phase 2.

    That’s it for the guide. Hope you enjoyed reading and good luck raiding , fellow warlocks!

    Warlock Raiding Guide[Kara to BT]
  2. #2
    urowndad's Avatar Member
    Reputation
    12
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    137
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    cool guide i got no lock atm, but +rep for the nice help ure giving to others

  3. #3
    coldmrn's Avatar Member
    Reputation
    44
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    348
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Very good guide indeed
    +2 rep

    But imo on those Blues for starting Karazhan i'd still go with some S2 cause thats very good gear with good set bonus's.


  4. #4
    whyte_boi's Avatar Active Member
    Reputation
    15
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    77
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Yeah Merciless is alright...for PvP.
    Set bonuses? + resil and reduced fear..
    No real use in PvE
    Dreadweave shoulders are nice though because of the +hit
    I guess in a way its better than greens, and its good enough for kara if your in a guild that has it on farm, but if your in a new guild thats just starting out kara,(not many of these guilds left), then your better off farming those heroics.

  5. #5
    Frissle's Avatar Member The Pope of Darkness CoreCoins Purchaser
    Reputation
    9
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    110
    Thanks G/R
    0/1
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    thanks for this guide, will use it btw +rep

  6. #6
    Serus's Avatar Member
    Reputation
    1
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    48
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    This is a good guide. My advice to any new warlock is to work on the pvp gear as it is easy to get. Spec full demon and thats an easy 1k dps in any raid. This is by far the best way to break into T5 raiding as a new warlock.

  7. #7
    FeersumEnd's Avatar Member
    Reputation
    7
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    22
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Very nice guide. + rep

  8. #8
    xLIFEx's Avatar Member
    Reputation
    17
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    65
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    did you write this all?

  9. #9
    Adrenalin3's Avatar Banned
    Reputation
    219
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    656
    Thanks G/R
    0/0
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    This thread is the same thing as: WoW Forums -> Guide to Warlock Raiding in BC (patch 2.4.3)

    He just copied them in different orders and re-wordered some words.

  10. #10
    Android32's Avatar Banned
    Reputation
    66
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Posts
    281
    Thanks G/R
    8/17
    Trade Feedback
    0 (0%)
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    +rep. i use this guide ALOT as i main a lock on excal.

Similar Threads

  1. [Warlock] Affliction Raiding Guide (with glyphs)
    By dammongorian in forum World of Warcraft Guides
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 01-12-2009, 03:32 AM
  2. Warlock Raiding Guide[Kara to BT]
    By whyte_boi in forum World of Warcraft Guides
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 08-17-2008, 02:10 AM
  3. [Warlock] DS/SF Raiding Guide
    By oxymoron1c in forum World of Warcraft Guides
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 04-10-2008, 10:59 AM
  4. Warlock PvP Guide
    By Bossman4 in forum World of Warcraft Guides
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 11-15-2006, 07:41 AM
  5. Raiding Guide
    By Amedis in forum World of Warcraft Guides
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-19-2006, 11:40 PM
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:17 AM. Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3
Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Digital Point modules: Sphinx-based search