1. [3.3.5] Warlocks PvP Guide

    I. Introduction

    Made 100% by me for Arena Tournament&Molten Community. Was originally posted on old AT forums where it hit ~70.000 viewers and helped many people, not only Warlocks.
    https://www.twitch.tv/mercedesa
    https://www.twitch.tv/mercedesa

    Feel free to discuss below and contribute to improve this guide.

    II. Table of Content

    I. Introduction
    II. Table of Content
    III. An overview of the main 2 specs
    IV. Talents
    V. Stats
    VI. Gems
    VII. Enchants
    VIII. Gameplay
    IX. Pets
    X. Tricks
    XI. Useful macros and addons


    III. An overview of the main 2 specs

    Affliction

    Affliction excels at keeping multiple targets under constant pressure. As an Affliction specced Warlock you don't want to tunnel and burst one target from beginning to end. You must make your enemies suffer and crawl in agony. Spread dots on everyone, keep them under pressure and make them panic. Once someone in under 25% the game is in most cases over but do not celebrate too early.

    Destruction

    If you like having the opportunity to global anyone, doing incredible amounts of constant burst and peeling alot better you should play this spec. Is more viable than Affliction and a less to care one. If you get CSed on Shadow tree you can freely cast your damage abilities but you cannot cast fear. Destro is superior vs Spellcleaves because of Nether Protection yet more easily to counter as a team with a dispeller.

    IV. Talents and glyphs

    Since we're talking about 3v3, there are only 3 specs viable more or less for Warlocks. 2 of these one are Affliction based and one for Destruction.

    CoA spec
    This spec is good when playing most MCH comps since no one will let you have 100% uptime on targets and you are the only one who is gaining advantages of CoE.



    OBS: For shadowcleave (affliction/dk/healer) you should pick up Glyph of Howl of Terror.

    CoE spec
    Normal Affliction spec. Superior when playing RLS and Spellcleaves because the pumped damage will be alot more and in a shorter time than MCH.



    Destruction
    Nothing more to say. Standard Destruction spec for 3v3.



    V. Stats

    So you got your talents and your glyphs. Now it's time to get some gear. In case you are wondering what stats you want on your gear and spec, look below.
    THESE STATS ARE OUTDATED (THIS WAS THE META IN 2013 WITH 226/264 GEAR). JUST PLAY 1358+ RESILIENCE EVERY GAME

    Affliction CoA spec stats
    Since the chance to be the target of your enemies is higher you should aim for more resilience instead of haste



    Affliction CoE spec stats
    You will want to sacrifice a little bit of resilience and Spell Power for haste since you will have better peels in comps you will play with this spec (talked above about this).



    Destruction spec stats
    Destruction is a lot stronger spec for surviving spellcleaves and has more peels vs meelecleaves so you can drop resilience and get more haste.



    VI. Gems

    Meta: Trenchant Earthsige Diamond (25 SP + 10% stun reduction)
    Red: Runed Cardinal Ruby (23 SP) or Reckless Ametrine (12 SP + 10 Haste).
    Blue: Shattered Eye of Zul (10 haste + 12 SPen) or 12 SP + 12 SPen. Here depends of your playstyle. I recommend Eye of Zul gems.
    Yellow: Quick King's Amber (20 haste) and Mystic King's Amber.

    Since you'll want only the bonuses of your Head and Legs for your red gems you can put only yellow gems on chest.

    VII. Enchants

    Head: 29 SP + 20 Resil
    Shoulders: 23 SP + 15 Resil
    Cloak: +35 SPen
    Chest: 20 Resil
    Wrists: 30 SP
    Hands: 28 SP
    Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle
    Legs!! 40 Resi + 28 Stamina
    Feet: +15 stamina and minor speed increase
    Weapon: +63 SP

    VIII. Gameplay

    Warlocks are the brain of every team they're in. They can do the most damage and good CC chain. With a good lock in the team you can be able to reach high ratings.
    FEAR.FEAR. FEAR. This should be your in-game love as Warlock. The secret in winning is not pressure, is how long you can lock other team, preventing them to peel or heal. Fear can be used as a peeling spell, an interrupting spell and a KILL TIME spell. You'll never get kills without a CC only if the other team is bad. Focus on getting CCs in order to score the kill.

    Reflects/Interrupts and Groundings
    Yes, the most annoying part of arena is when you get reflected/grounded on your Chaos Bolt/Haunt + Death Coil combo or when you want to cast the 'final' fear on healer in order to score the kill on one of the DPSes and you get interrupted. That's why is mandatory to fake all these things. Get a timer addon for all (I recommend Afflicted3) and always fake cast these counter effects. Fake, fake, fake. Keep in mind: a reflected/grounded chaos bolt/haunt/death coil makes you a shame for warlocks community.

    Warriors faking interrupts! Berserker Stance:
    You are tunneled by a warrior and he has the interrupt ready. He goes into Berserker stance so he can interrupt you without 1h+shield. What's a lock to do? There are 2 options: fake cast in 0.1 time like start to cast a spell and then IMMEDIATELY cancel it. He probably stays focused on pummel bind awaiting you to cast; 'cast a non-important-tree' spell (EG: you're destro and managed to get a fear on healer while going for 3rd one and warrior is on you. Cast a Shadow Bolt. It will hit for same damage as an Incinerate if it lands or if he interrupts it you can do your rotation with fire spells).

    Usage of portal
    Never get pinned on your portal. Is the worst place you can be forced to fight as a warlock. Usage of portal is different and depends on situation. Use it when warrios are out of charge/intercept or rogues are out of Shadowstep to be able to get pressure/be topped up. VS Warriors beware! Never use portal when Bladestorm is up and you're getting pretty low or they already got a good kill set-up on you. Portal can be used to avoid CC too. My favourite thing is to port AoE fears (Howl, Scream). However, porting a Mage Polymorph while you're novad for 7 seconds and the fight is at the other pillar of your port is a major waste of teleporting. Why? You'll be novad in your portal for 7 seconds, incapable to do anything and he can Polymorph you for full when you get out.

    Usages of Devour Magic
    The ability that give Warlocks OPness. Use it careful when your team is dropping, use it offensively when you're in killing phase and pray to God when you're using it to dispel major CDs. Offensive Devour Magic: you're casting Haunt on a warrior in middle and he has 1h+shield. Is it obviously that he's going to reflect, no? Before Haunt ends on about -0.1 do a Devour on warrior so your spell won't back fire to you. Same goes for grounding. IT'S FORBIDDEN to use it in this way when they're in pressure and they will probably get CCs on someone in your team. Don't be stupid, don't be rushy.

    The gates are open! First thing you do is putting portal at a pillar and getting away of it. Now you must decide whether you use Fel armor or Demon armor. Use Demon armor vs meelecleaves or MCH with a MSer (eg. WLP,WLD,HLP,HLD) and Fel armor vs spellcleaves and non-MS MCH comps. Now this is the moment where the game is decided 50% (believe it or not). Either you wait for them to rush you or you'll rush them. Is like in RL, who do the first punch will mostly with the fight. I like to stay back with my healer (around the middle) while the other dps goes in and is setting up targets for me. EG: with a shaman I let him to purge targets first; with a warrior I wait to get slows and Rend on them; with a DK I wait for slows and diseases on everyone. Don't bring the fight in your starting area or around the portal. Always push in. The only moment you should "retreat" is when you want to bait one opposite member to outrange their healer. Keep in mind that setting up and starting the game strategy is not the same with the defensive play.
    The defensive 'stance' should come when:
    a) 2 of your team members are CCed (this includes you too). Devour Magic didn't get the supposed CC? Spell lock on CD? Which one of you is free? What can he do to prevent damage or the incoming CC? Talk with your mates about these things and decide who should use the trinket or defensive cooldowns.
    b) Your pet is dead. No Fel Dom. What to do? Can they peel your resummon? How long for Fel Dom? The answers provided help you deciding whether playing def or setting up.
    c) They dropped one of you under 40%. No matter what your pressure is, take time to peel properly. Analyze the situation and take the best decision. EG: 2 of their DPSes go for your healer. You and your teammate go for their healer and you have your Spell Lock ready. Now, assuming both healers have the same def CDs what will you gonna do? Will you decide to CS one of the DPSes to peel or the healer in order to try getting a kill? CS the DPS! There are plenty of opportunities so your team shouldn't risk anything. You will get the momento again later.

    Devensive Warlock Play:
    Analyze your CDs, fear DRs on opponents and HP of your team. When you're forced to go defensive do anything to stabilize the team and counter-attack them. Spam Curse of Tongues on casters, Curse of Weakness on meeles. Spam fear on everyone untill is full DRed. Shadowflame, Shadowfury are not allowed to be available in desperate mmoments. Death Coil can be used too to gain few seconds. IT DOESEN'T MATTER what you do if you feel there is a SMALL possibility to lose the game as long as you can keep everyone safe.

    The difference between good locks and average locks is knowing when to go DEF STYLE and when to go KILL MODE.

    Affliction
    Unstable Affliction is the most powerfull spell of the spec. You have to have it on the target you focus aswell on other targets. It offers dispel protection of your magic debuffs and deals a good amount of damage. If you ever cast a fear on a DPS from other team make sure you put UA as a protection. You create a moment of hesitation amongs the dispellers in that team. The moment "Should I dispel it or not?" comes and you can get important seconds in setting up the kill. Immediately after the fear you should focus now getting dots on dispeller. Why? Imagine full dots + a UA dispel. That's ~10k damage in a global and makes the switch on him inevitable. If you cannot get any dots (grounding, CSes, CCs, LoS) don't be shy to just spam Curses and Corruption on everyone. There will come the moment to cast something do, don't be rushy.
    Haunt is the only spell providing a considerable direct damage and self healing also. Haunt + Demon armor + Healthstone and Drain Life filler should get you from 50%-100%. Keep in mind. Is a spell that should have priority when you're dropping. Is very important to never cast Haunt in Warrior's Reflect or Shaman's Grounding. Is an avoidable and important waste.
    Corruption. Corrupt all targets in arena! Pets, opponents, gargoyle, mirror imagines, elementals. Corruption must be up 24/7 on all. It gives Shadow Trance procs a.k.a. no-casting-time Shadowbolts.
    Searing Pain or Drain life?
    Drain Life is the main filler. When full dots are up and the setting phase is over, use it. Searing pain does more damage and is a fire treed spell so if you get CSed on it, you can still get pressure by shadow tree. Drain Life is channeled so it can go through LoS and it can give Shadow Trance procs. Searing Pain should be used only to bait interrupts. EG: One opposite member is low and one of the others have CS ready. You can risk to fake their CS or cast Searing Pain. Think about it. The possibility that they will instant interrupt you is very high as they are expecting you to cast something to harm their low member. So cast Searing Pain and /lol at them.
    Drain Life for Corruption. This is a must-do move that I know many warlocks missed it. Corruption's full duration (18 sec) can be reached in 3 ways: by casting Haunt, Shadow Bolt AND Drain Life on someone already corrupted. Yes, Drain Life makes 14 sec Corruption up to a 18 sec one. Is a good new way to start the dot rotation with 18 sec Corruption. More damage with only 0.1 channeled cast of Drain Life.

    Destruction
    Immolate is the main spell of this tree. In order to do your damage rotation you have to keep this spell up. You can cast Conflagrate only with Immolate and Shadowflame up yet I don't recommend casting it with Shadowflame only for desperate kiting measures and Incinerate and Chaos Bolt do 10% more damage with Immolate up. Now let's talk about Chaos Bolt. The most powerful 3.3.5a warlock spell. It can pierce through all absortion effects and shields and does a high amount of damage. CB must be on cooldown 24/7 but as well as Haunt, don't get reflected on it or grounded. Is a shame for a lock to get -4k HP while warrior uses only 10 rage to reflect that. Is pretty hard to handle as Destro vs dispeller teams. You can get good momentos with Shadowfury stun but you must bait them to be alltogether in order to get Immolate up and do the rest of rotation. Won't talk about Destro because I find it only viable with a Mage (MLS/MLP) since people learnt how to counter it in 3v3.

    IX. Pets

    Felhunter. Offensive and devensive dispel, Spell Lock. Fel intelligence. Enough. Main pet in both specs.
    Voidwalker. Well, Voidwalker should be used in more special situations. Later
    Imp. Never.
    Succubus. This pet can be good only in FEW situations to be at least as good as a Felhunter. You have to be Seduction specced and geared (0/3 Suppression and 3/3 Improved Succubus + additional hit gear to be hit-capped) because 1.5 cast is useless. Succubus works as a desperate measure to CC or to bait interrupts/charges. When you get pinned on a place and the healer is LoSing your fear you can do nothing but wait for Shadowfury. So here's when Succubus is a bit better with the 0.5 Seduction cast. However, the pet is fragile in 3v3 and meant to be tunneled by all teams. A good situation when Succubus can be used is MLS vs ATC match-up. Your Mage should get all traps of shaman then or it's a lose after the 2nd full trap on shaman.

    X. Tricks

    Two fears
    You should always take advantages of Howl of Terror being a different type of fear than Fear. That so, you can Fear on target and Howl the other/others so you can get a 3vs1 situation.

    Two silences and dispells
    You cannot kill them or stop the kill on one of your mates with only one CS. Fel Dom another Felhunter so the Spell Lock CD will be resetted and you can CS the same player again or another one to end their pressure.
    You didn't dispel a CC on your partener and you MUST do it in order to survive. You need that but you missed in first place. Fel Dom the Felhunter and try again.

    Voidwalked shield
    You're low and you need few more seconds to get healed up to a decent HP. You know you can win the game after this critical momento. Fel Dom a Voidwalked and use it's Sacrifice shield to spare some seconds. If you're using it vs Mages be sure you have Detect Invisibility on you so they have a chance to not steal the shield. Spam the trash debuff until they get it.

    Shadowflame undispellable
    You chased the player to fear him and you cannot get it. You're frustrated. If you have your Spell Lock ready put pet to attack that target. If you just shadowflame him to slow he will probably already spamming dispel on self. He's not dumb. Be smarter. Shadowflame + Spell Lock him in order to 70% slow him for 3 seconds while you have time to Fear him and also re-Fear his trinket if he uses it.

    XI. Useful macros and addons

    Fear arena1
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@arena1] fear

    Fear arena2
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@arena2] fear


    Fear arena3
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@arena3] fear


    Target arena1
    Spoiler: Show
    /target arena1


    Target arena2
    Spoiler: Show
    /target arena2


    Target arena3
    Spoiler: Show
    /target arena3


    Fel armor or Demon armor in one macro
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip
    /castsequence fel armor, demon armor


    Dispel DPS in 3v3
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@<<insert DPS name>>] devour magic


    Raid Mark the Felhunter and other raid pets
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip
    /cast summon felhunter
    /script SetRaidTarget("<<petname>>", 7)
    /script SetRaidTarget("<<other pets name>>",8)


    Focus Curse of Exhaustion
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip curse of exhaustion
    /cast [@focus] curse of exhaustion


    Focus Devour Magic
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@focus] devour magic


    Focus Curse of Tongues
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip curse of tongues
    /cast [@focus] curse of tongues


    Devour Magic HEALER 3v3
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@<<insert healer name>>] devour magic


    Focus Banish macro
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip banish
    /cast [@focus] banish


    Banish anyone macro:
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@mouseover,harm] Banish
    /stopmacro [@mouseover,exists]
    /castsequence [@arena3,exists] reset=0.2 0,0,0,0,0,Banish
    /castsequence [@arena2,exists] reset=0.2 0,0,0,0,Banish
    /castsequence [@arena1,exists] reset=0.2 0,0,0,Banish
    /castsequence [@arenapet3,exists] reset=0.2 0,0, Banish
    /castsequence [@arenapet2,exists] reset=0.2 0, Banish
    /castsequence [@arenapet1,exists] reset=0.2 Banish,nil


    Focus Corruption (to cover fears)
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip corruption
    /cast [@focus] corruption


    Devour Magic on pet
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@pet] devour magic


    Devour Magic on me
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip devour magic
    /cast [@player] devour magic


    Shadowfury alert in party. Useful to announce to prepare your mates to get CCs while the opponents are in SF. Must be raid and you're the Raid Leader.
    Spoiler: Show
    #showtooltip shadowfury
    /rw SHADOWFURY NOW
    /cast shadowfury


    Pet attack @ mouseover
    Spoiler: Show
    /petattack [@mouseover]


    Want shoot @ mouseover
    Spoiler: Show
    /cast [@mouseover] shoot



    Addons
    This is a matter of choice, whether you use them or not. I do use it. Here's a link:

    Download my add-ons

    Also you can check this link to see some cool effect scripts:


    My UI:



    As a last word. I feel that the huge step that helped me in arenas is the fact that I started using Focus and Target Arena1,2,3 macros.
    It helps alot with controling everyone in arena and that's what a Warlock's to do. Control and outlast opposite team's CDs. Is all about the quality of the gameplay.


    The guide was made 100% by me. I've a twitch channel where I stream mainly Warlock playstyle.
    https://www.twitch.tv/mercedesa
    Edited: July 29, 2022 Reason: gear


  2. Very decent thread.

    2.5k destro lock here blackrock server

    I like your affliction guides but your destro guides need work

    Overall very good guide for beginner and intermediate level locks.

    Thank you for sharing.

  3. very good guide indeed, thank you

    i just have a question about hit rating, i see you have got about 38/58 hit rating only.
    isnt it important to get about 100 hit to reach 4/5% ?

  4. As you can see I take 3% hit talent in Affliction on every spec so I think I'll get overhitcapped if I would go for what you're saying. And if I'd not be overhitcapped then I just like taking some risks. Thanks everybody!

  5. Hi Mercedesa,

    Thank for your Guide.

    But as you're a High rated Affli Warlock, i wanted to ask you how to deal against Hpal/Awar is 2 setup.

    I used to play in AT too before merge, no matter what comp i run whether it's with a Rsham, a Rdruid, or a SubRogue and it's litteraly IMPOSSIBLE for me to beat them. im struggling as **** to break 1.6

    War just tunel me as ****, Hpal is out of my range dispelling even if i use curse of exhaution him not matter what the dot is ( UA, Corruption, etc...)
    Im trying to drag him middle with all the slow and damage full Warth War can do on me, but he just goes out of combat, mount up and join another pillar
    My Healer in the other cant even leave me for one sec or else Warrior OS without rektstorming ( so, i cant even port )
    2s is totally full of these Hpal/Awar heroes whereas i hold my own in soloq ( im between 2k - 2k1 ) so i think im not that bad.

    Even Hpal/Dk is more easier to deal with....


    As Affli, i play in 2s with CoE spec and my stats are pretty similar to yours here.

  6. Why would you go with him in middle? Just for his healer to los you more ? :D
    Kite around pillar. Get dots up then Shadowflame for kiting. Fake the reflects. If you're doing it right, pala will have to come to throw a shock/shield/cleanse so you can profit of that and get a howl or ur healer to get a CC. Get a timer on HoJ and use your devour magic to get sacred shield. It's a lot easier with rsham because of the perma-purges, slow.
    Practicing you'll see no comp is unbeatable for affliction+rsham/druid but it takes time. It's about chances to succeed which are 70%-30% for PW :D play more, ggs, gl

  7. Why would you go with him in middle? Just for his healer to los you more ? :D

    What i wanted to say is im trying to drag the Hpal on middle to land him a fear...

    Kite around pillar. Get dots up then Shadowflame for kiting.
    This is exactly what im doing, but his pal just run in the other pillar ( as usual i just face them in Nagrand Arena :( )
    Im kitting war with shadowflame and stuff, but as i said he's on full dispell by pal.



    Thx ayways for the tips. but still thinking Hpal/Awar is strnger than affli/rsham or else there would have be more Lock and not this huge and ridiculous amount of Hpal/awar.

  8. Amazing guide. I started playing lock after the server restart, never played lock before. Which of these two aff specs are better for 2s CoA or CoE ?

  9. Amazing guide. I started playing lock after the server restart, never played lock before. Which of these two aff specs are better for 2s CoA or CoE ?
    This is kinda late, but CoA spec if ur partner is melee or heals, and CoE if ure running with a caster.

    @Mercedesa: thanks for the great guide. Cheers!

  10. enjoyed this guide myself. It's well written and the information is presented in a nice way (with screenshot and stuff). i myself play demonology and there is not a single bit of info about it, yet the general warlock strategies and tactics apply.
    one question: how exacly does the Banish macro work ? do i just mash it and it banish any possible target from the enemy team? what if there is rdruid Tree and warlock pet at the same time ?

  11. Hello and thanks for the kind words. Banish macro doesen't work anymore. I use focus Banish macro only now.
    Gear is a bit outdated but still good to go. You can now achieve 1000 haste at cost of some spell power but it's fun especially for those that enjoy fast ticking dots. I'll update it soon.

    As for Demonology part, I don't find it fun or viable. People can succeed with it as they did with, hmm.., fire mages? but I personally don't believe in it nor like it.


  12. Bumping myself for the good of all warlocks out there :)

  13. May 5, 2016  
    Bumping myself for all y'all warlocks out there

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