Warlock Classic Guide

The Warlock is the attrition class. You do not burst things down, you grind them out. Curses and damage over time eat away at your target while your Voidwalker holds it, Drain Life keeps you topped up, and by the time the mob realizes it is in trouble it is already dead. It is slower than a Mage and far safer, because a Warlock with a tank pet and Drain Life is almost impossible to kill while leveling.

At 60 the Warlock is a raid pillar for two reasons. First, the damage is real, with the SM/Ruin Shadow Bolt build putting up strong sustained numbers. Second, the utility is unmatched: Healthstones for every member of the raid, soulstones to battle res a healer, summoning to drag in the four people who are still flying to the instance, Curse of Elements and Curse of Recklessness to boost the raid's damage, and Banish to lock down a demon or elemental.

The cost is soul shards. Everything good a Warlock does (Healthstones, Soulstones, summons, the pet summons, Shadowburn) eats a shard, and you farm them by Drain Souling things. Managing a bag full of shards is part of the lifestyle, and a Warlock who runs out at the wrong moment is a sad sight.

The Warlock leveling experience is slow and steady and almost completely safe. Summon your Voidwalker, send it in to tank, then layer your DoTs: Corruption, Curse of Agony, Immolate, and let them tick the mob down while your pet holds aggro. Drain Life tops you off so you rarely stop to eat or drink. It is not fast, but you almost never die, and you can pull multiple mobs and DoT them all.

The big quality of life jump comes with your mount and your Felsteed at level 40, and again when your DoTs and pets come online in the talent tree. Affliction for the DoT damage or Demonology for the survivability both work, and many people run a Demonology lean while leveling for the tanky pet and the big health pool.

• Keep your DoTs rolling on multiple mobs to grind packs down while your pet holds one.
• Drain Life and Drain Mana keep you topped up so you skip most food and water breaks.
• Keep a stock of soul shards for Healthstones, summons, and your pet. Drain Soul finishing blows to refill.
• Use the Voidwalker's Sacrifice as an emergency shield, or the Succubus Seduction to crowd control a second mob.

The raid Warlock rotation is a layering act. You keep your curse up (Curse of Elements or Curse of Shadow for the raid damage boost, or Curse of Agony for personal damage if someone else has the raid curse), apply Corruption and your DoTs, and then spam Shadow Bolt as your filler nuke. With SM/Ruin your Shadow Bolts crit for double, so a long single target fight settles into a steady, hard hitting rhythm.

The debuff slot cap shapes Warlock play more than most classes. Bosses only hold sixteen debuffs, and your DoTs, curses, and Improved Shadow Bolt debuff all compete with Warriors' Sunders and everyone else. On a stacked raid you may drop some of your own DoTs and just Shadow Bolt, because the raid wide debuffs win the slots. Coordinate with your fellow Warlocks so curses do not overwrite each other.

Your utility is half your value. Make a Healthstone for everyone before the pull and remake them as people use them. Soulstone a healer so they can battle res themselves or someone else after a wipe. Summon the stragglers. Banish demons and elementals on the right fights. A Warlock who only watches the meter and forgets the Healthstones and summons is leaving most of the class on the table.

Spell hit comes first. You want to push toward the cap so your Shadow Bolts and DoTs land, because a missed Shadow Bolt is a wasted cast and a missed DoT application is a lost chunk of damage. Talents cover some hit, so most Warlocks chase a few percent on gear and then move on.

After hit, the priority is shadow spell damage, then crit (especially valuable with Ruin doubling your crits), then intellect for the mana pool. Sets like the dungeon caster gear and the various plus shadow damage cloth pieces carry you into the raid, where the tier sets and high end trinkets take over.

Consumables are a big deal for a class that lives on sustained casting. Greater Arcane Elixir, Elixir of Shadow Power, Flask of Supreme Power on the big nights, and the world buffs all stack up. The crit from Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer is especially nice with Ruin. Keep your shard bag stocked and your flasks ready.

Warlock PvP is about pressure and control. You layer DoTs that cannot be outrun, Fear to take a target out of the fight or to peel attackers off you, and Drain Life or Death Coil to stay alive while your DoTs do the work. Few things are more demoralizing than being feared, DoTed, and slowly drained while you flail.

Your pet is a real weapon. The Felhunter shuts down casters with Spell Lock and eats their buffs and shields with Devour Magic. The Succubus Seductions a target out of the fight. The Voidwalker tanks and shields you. Curse of Tongues slows enemy casting to a crawl, and Curse of Exhaustion (talented) snares runners.

The Warlock weakness is being trained by melee who line of sight your casts and stick to you. Howl of Terror is your AoE panic fear, the Voidwalker's sacrifice gives you a shield, and Death Coil both heals you and horrifies the target for a moment. Save them for when you actually get jumped, not the second your health dips.

Tailoring plus Enchanting is the standard caster pairing, giving you cloth gear, bags (which a shard hoarding Warlock badly needs), strong crafted pieces, and the ability to disenchant drops into gold and enchants. The two feed each other and keep your gear current.

Alchemy plus Herbalism is a great money and self sufficiency choice, letting you brew the spell power and mana elixirs you burn through and sell the surplus. Engineering is a fun PvP option for the bombs and gadgets, paired with Mining for the mats.

Whatever you choose, manage your soul shards and your bag space. The eternal Warlock struggle is a bag full of shards crowding out your loot, so consider a dedicated soul bag from Tailoring to keep them organized.

• Curses are a raid resource. Curse of Elements or Curse of Shadow boosts everyone's damage on the target. Coordinate so one Warlock holds the raid curse and others do not overwrite it.
• Healthstones and Soulstones are part of your job. Hand out Healthstones before the pull, Soulstone a healer for the battle res, and remake them as they get used. This is real raid value.
• Drain Soul finishing blows refill your shards. Tag low health mobs with Drain Soul to keep your shard bag stocked for summons, stones, and Shadowburn.
• The Felhunter wrecks casters. Spell Lock interrupts and Devour Magic eats shields and buffs. Bring it out against enemy casters in PvP.
• Mind the sixteen debuff slot cap. On a busy raid your DoTs may get pushed off, so sometimes the right play is to drop your own DoTs and just Shadow Bolt.
• Fear has a cooldown on diminishing returns in PvP. Repeated fears last shorter and shorter, so do not waste your fear early. Use it to peel or to create a kill window.