Definitive Warlock Guide Vanilla WoW

Hello, my name is Firra and I'm pretty much a new Warlock player. Don't let that discourage you from reading further. The aim of this post/thread is to provide a one-stop shop for all things Warlock; how to level, any useful macros and addons, the best gear to have, and any other miscellaneous things. I will try to fix any typos and add any suggestions provided by you, the community, in the comments. I've been doing a lot of research into Warlock and I want to provide a central source for my findings for everyone.

I want to give a huge shout out to Xashe (from Nostalrious) as I read and took a lot of inspiration from his/her guide. If it wasn't for him/her, I wouldn't have ported and added to his guide. Additionally, another shout out to Guybrush for all of his wonderful work on Warlock gear spreadsheets.

This guide will focus mainly on PvE, with some elements of PvP during your leveling grind.

Prerequisites

Addons

Below are some useful addons for Warlock and in general:

• Chronometer
• Bagnon
• Lazypig
• Mobinfo2
• Questie

Leveling Guides

For leveling, I recommend following Joanna's guide, as it has really stood the test of time as being one of the best leveling routes. There's also an addon that helps leveling, called Vanilla Guide.

Macros

This is a Drain Soul macro; use this when you get a soul shard bag. It will delete a soul shard from the bottom right corner of your left most bag, which we will put as our soul shard bag. Use this macro as a finishing blow to every mob, as Improved Drain Soul will give you a 10 second buff to gain some mana back. 

/cast Drain Soul(Rank X)
/run local a=GetBagName(4); if a=="Core Felcloth Bag" or a=="Felcloth Bag" or a=="Soul Pouch" or a=="Box of Souls" or a=="Small Soul Pouch" then PickupContainerItem(4,GetContainerNumSlots(4)) DeleteCursorItem() else end

Replace X in the macro with your current version of Drain Soul.

This is a Shoot (wand) macro; You can bind it to a mouse key and spam it without turning off your attack. Casters are at a disadvantage because right clicking will default to using your staff instead of a wand.

/script if not IsAutoRepeatAction(X) then CastSpellByName("Shoot"); end

Replace X with the position of the skill on your hotbar (not to be confused with your keybinding).

Chapter 1: Leveling

Congratulations! You have chosen to play Warlock, now it's time to start leveling. Just grind your quests until level 10, and do your thing. Nothing special here. When you hit level 10, drop what you're doing and immediately and go complete the first checkpoint, listed in the Checkpoints section.

Killing Mobs

Ideally, you want to send your Voidwalker in to start tanking a mob, DoT it up, and when it's almost dead, send your Voidwalker in for a different mob. Rinse and repeat. Your goal is to kill kill kill without stopping. Sometimes, you have to kill 2 mobs at once. If this happens, one mob should be DoT'd and tanked with your Voidwalker. The other should be DoT'd and be feared. The moral of the story is to just DoT everything. Be careful using any lifegain including Siphon Life and Drain Life when you are attempting to kill 2 or more mobs, as you will draw healing aggro. If the kill is quick (< 20 seconds), just use DoT with Siphon Life and Corruption and use your wand. If it's a longer kill (> 20 seconds), DoT with Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption. Only reapply Corruption if needed, for mana efficiency.

Checkpoints (>> DO THESE <<)

Level 5 - Select Professions: See the Professions chapter.
Level 10 - Quest: The Binding - This grants you the voidwalker, which will be your best friend until level 60. If you do not have the voidwalker at level 10, you are doing it wrong!
Level 31 - Quest: In Search of Menara Voidrender - This quest gives you the Enchanted Gold Bloodrobe that can last you well into your 40s.
Level 35 - Quest: Knowledge of the Orb of Orahil - Make sure you take the The Completed Orb of Dar'Orahil route and grab the orb! This will last you quite a long while, and the active use is decent.
Level 40 - Quest: Summon Felsteed - Free mount.
Level 40 - Craft: Shadoweave Set - Craft / buy these items from level 37 to 44. This set is very useful and will last you into your 50s.
Level 50 - Quest: An Imp's Request - Take the Abyss Shard! It's forever useful. 

Skills

It's important to save your money as you are leveling; Warlocks don't need to purchase a mount, but we can spend our money on gear, so it's a very good idea to start saving now. 

 

Only purchase the following skills:

• Corruption
• Curse of Agony
• Siphon Life
• Life Tap
• Shadow Bolt
• Demon Armor
• Soulstone
• Healthstone

Additionally, only purchase the Voidwalker books. You can buy the upgrades to the other demons later when you turn level 60. It's also cheaper to do it this way too, as buying a level 6 skill book will automatically learn levels 1-5.

Talent Points

Levels 10-16: Affliction

10 - 11: Improved Corruption (2/5)

12 - 14: Suppression (3/5)

15 - 16: Improved Drain Soul (2/2)

 

Levels 17 - 24: Demonology

17 - 18: Improved Healthstone (2/2)

19 - 21: Demonic Embrace (3/5)

22 - 24: Improved Voidwalker (3/3)

 

Levels 25 - 47: Affliction

25 - 27: Improved Corruption (5/5)

28 - 30: Improved Curse of Agony (3/3)

31 - 32: Improved Lifetap (2/2)

33 - 34: Nightfall (2/2)

35 - 36: Grim Reach (2/2)

37: Suppression (4/5)

38: Siphon Life (1/1)

39: Suppression (5/5)

40: Amplify Curse (1/1)

41 - 42: Fel Concentration (2/5)

43 - 47: Shadow Mastery (5/5)

 

Levels 48 - 60: Demonology

48 - 49: Demonic Embrace (5/5)

50: Fel Domination (1/1)

51 - 54: Fel Intellect (4/5)

55 - 59: Unholy Power (5/5)

60: Demonic Sacrifice (1/1)

 

Level 60 Finished Build

When it's all said and done, your build will look like this.

Chapter 2: Professions

If you PvP and don't plan to do any raiding, take Engineering. If you PvE, take Tailoring. Those are the only rules. Your 2nd profession is really up to you. As for your second profession, here are some choices / highlights:

Gathering

• Herbalism - Easy to do while leveling. See node, gather node. Good source of income.
• Mining - Easy to do while leveling. See node, gather node. Good source of income.
• Skinning - Not worth doing on a Warlock, unless you are supporting another character.

Production

• Alchemy - A good source of income if you can land a few rarer recipes. Also takes a buisiness-like mind and mentality to watch the auction house and know when to buy and sell. Also gains access to transmutes. 
• Blacksmithing - Not worth doing on a Warlock, unless you are supporting another character.
• Enchanting - Unless you land a very rare recipe (+30 spellpower / +55 healing), you are only going to be making money off tips.
• Leatherworking - Not worth doing on a Warlock, unless you are supporting another character.

The reason we take tailoring for PvE is for the Robe of the Void, which is one of the best pre-raid chest pieces and can last you deep into the raid progression. Additionally, the Bloodvine items (Vest | Legs | Boots) from Zul'Gurub will be Best in Slot until Naxxramas. If you are PvPing, Engineering is useful for items such as Bloodvine Goggles.

Chapter 3: Gear

In general, prioritize your gear by Shadow Damage -> Spell Crit Chance -> Spell Hit Chance -> Intellect. Below are spreadsheets for the best Warlock gear, broken down by patch. Since Elysium will be released in this way, you can change spreadsheets as the patches get released. To use the spreadsheet, download a local copy. You can update your gear, buffs, and talents to see how much overall DPS you can provide.

Patch 1.2: Mysteries of Maraudon - Patch 1.2 Spreadsheet

Patch 1.3: Dire Maul - Patch 1.3 Spreadsheet

Patch 1.5: Battlegrounds - Patch 1.5 Spreadsheet

Patch 1.6: Blackwing Lair - Patch 1.6 Spreadsheet

Patch 1.7: Zul'Gurub - Patch 1.7 Spreadsheet

Patch 1.8: Dragons of Nightmare - No gear upgrades.

Patch 1.9: AQ20 / AQ40 - TBD

Patch 1.10: Storms of Azeroth - TBD

Patch 1.11: Naxxramas - TBD

Chapter 4: Enchants and Consumables

Don't be cheap! Make sure you get the proper enchants on your gear, to ensure progression and maximising DPS output.

Enchants:

• Head: Hoodoo Hex (18 sp / 10stam) > Arcanum of Focus (9 sp)
• Shoulder: Zandalar Signet of Mojo (18 sp)
• Back: Greater Resistance (+5 resist all)
• Chest: Greater Stats (+4 stats) > Major Mana (+100 mana)
• Wrist: Greater Intellect (+7 int) > Superior Stamina (+9 sta)
• Hands: Riding Skill
• Legs: Hoodoo Hex (18 sp / 10 stam) > Arcanum of Focus (9 sp)
• Feet: Minor Run Speed
• Weapon: Spell Power (+30 sp)

Consumables:

• Flask of Supreme Power - Recommended for progression
• Elixir of Shadow Power
• Greater Arcane Elixir
• Elixir of Greater Firepower
• Brilliant Wizard Oil
• Rumsey Rum Black Label

Chapter 5: Raid Talents

You should respec when you are ready to do dungeons and raids full time. You can keep the same leveling talents if you need to continue grinding money, reputation, or gear.

Choose one of the two options, whatever suits your preference:

• SM / Ruin - DoT everything with Corruption and spam Shadow Bolts. 
  Pros: Siphon Life allows for you to survive outside of dungeons and raids.
  Cons: Lower overall DPS than DS / Ruin
  5/5 Shadow Mastery
   
• DS / Ruin - Sacrifice your succubus and spam Shadow Bolts.
  Pros: Higher overall DPS than SM / Ruin, Can use Curse of Shadows instead of Curse of Agony
  Cons: Glass cannon
  5/5 Improved Corruption OR 5/5 Suppression

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