The Art of War(craft): Three kinds of warlocks and how to kill them
Zach brings warmth to your day with a regular weekly dose of good, old-fashioned PvP. Like a comforting hot cup of cocoa with little pink marshmallows in the shape of stars. And battle axes. And skulls.
We'll take this opportunity in the lull between Cataclysm news to continue our introductory guide to killing this and that. Sure, it'll be radically different from now and the next expansion, but it should ultimately be useful to help a lot of beginners getting their feet wet (or bloodied) in the Battlegrounds until then. And believe me, the Battlegrounds is where it's going to be at. So take this opportunity to immerse yourself in the Battleground experience before Cataclysm shakes things up.
We left our guides hanging with an introduction to warlocks and the usual abilities they employ on the battlefield. Today we'll wrap things up with a closer look at the three specs. The fun thing about Wrath is that Blizzard made an earnest effort to make each warlock spec feel and play differently from each other, going so far as to tailor certain pets to work better with a specific spec. It was in Wrath where felpuppies became affliction warlocks' best friends, and destruction warlocks were encouraged to hang out with imps. Demonology, as always, had their burly bodyguards. After the jump ... how to spot them and, hopefully, squish them.
Affliction
Almost always, an affliction warlock will have a felhunter out, particularly in the Battlegrounds where the numbers make countering specific classes less important. The pet alone won't reveal the warlock's spec, however, and the most tell-tale sign will hurt: a cast of Haunt or Unstable Affliction. Both have a reasonably interruptible 1.5 second cast time, and it's best to interrupt rather than dispel because both spells were designed to work against dispel effects. Unstable Affliction, in particular, was created specifically to counter dispels. The best way to counter them would be self-heals, preferably HoTs, or shields. For classes who don't have self-healing, counter with a good offense.
It should be noted that affliction PvP works with very few spells with long casting times, relying mostly on instant cast DoTs and even an instant cast AoE fear with Improved Howl of Terror. This affords them a great deal of mobility. They'll cast DoTs on the run and only occasionally stop to cast Haunt, which will refresh Corruption. This is why the casting of Haunt or Unstable Affliction are the best opportunities to get in a Counterspell or a Kick.
The basic idea is to engage them up close, although remember that they have instant Howl of Terror to use in a pinch. Be mindful of their placement of a Demonic Circle, if any, as mentioned in the first part of this guide. Affliction warlocks who PvP will have Curse of Exhaustion, which they will employ against most melee classes, as opposed to the Curse of Tongues they'll typically use against casters, so it won't be as easy to get or keep them in close range. Note that all affliction PvP warlocks will have improved range. Most of them will also pick up Improved Fear, which appends a short snare component to Fear -- but it's just a bonus, as no warlock uses Fear as a snare and because Fear causes unpredictable positioning. They're more likely to cast a glyphed Shadowflame.
The popular SL/SL (Siphon Life/Soul Link) warlock spec of Burning Crusade lives on in some form in the Haunt/SL spec, which means affliction warlocks can be a bit tough with a combination of mitigation and self-healing. With increased resilience through the duration of Wrath, warlocks are no longer as squishy as they used to be even after homogenized stamina across cloth items. Keep on the offense, and kill or control their pet. You might need to kill their pet twice because most PvP builds across all three trees will pick up Master Summoner from demonology, allowing them to get their pet back immediately for continued mitigation.
Demonology
Demonology warlocks are easy to spot. Either they have big, bad, musclebound demons beside them or they are the big, bad, musclebound demons. Most of the time, they'll open with a Felguard Intercept, which sets them up for their attacks. They aren't too commonly found in PvP environments, however, but they do have their charm. The same rules apply -- engage them at close range, interrupt their spells with a casting time, and pound them into submission. Virtually all PvP builds across all specs employ Soul Link because of its accessibility near the top of the tree, so you should expect some hardiness, particularly from a warlock with a high hp Felguard absorbing some of the damage.
Unlike either affliction or destruction, demonology is basically a cooldown spec which shines best when the warlock uses Metamorphosis. They do more damage, are tougher to kill, and even have more survivability against melee classes (i.e., rogues, their kryptonite). That said, they aren't immune to crowd control in the same way beast mastery hunters are under the effects of the Beast Within. Also, most warlocks hesitate to actually use Metamorphosis in battle because it invariably invites focus fire. Big, shadowy, burly demons tend to attract a lot of attention.
More importantly, warlocks in demon form are even easier to crowd control with their new classification making them legal targets for Banish and Turn Evil. Speaking of Turn Evil, paladins are highly encouraged to have their fun with Glyph of Turn Evil now while the fear effect still affects warlocks. Turn Evil won't work against metamorphosed warlocks come Cataclysm. Their increased vulnerability to crowd control only adds to the reasons why demonology isn't very popular in the Battlegrounds.
In the small chance that you do encounter a demonology warlock, reverse the tactic of keeping them close when they metamorphose. They deal more damage up close because of additional abilities gained such as Shadow Cleave and Immolation Aura. Waste their cooldown by applying any crowd control effect you might have such as a stun to eat away at the 30 to 36-second duration of the spell. They are considerably at their strongest during this period, so do what you can to mitigate their assault. Demonology warlocks are pretty much middle-of-the-road, with less survivability than affliction, and less firepower than destruction. Rejoice when you see one on the battlefield, because they'll tend to give you less problems than either of the two other specs.
Destruction
Destruction gained a lot of ground in Wrath and has become an extremely popular spec for PvP. Although they get the most offensive punch from imps, these demons are extremely easy to kill and so aren't often brought out unless they can snipe away from a distance (on the other hand, imps don't cost Soul Shards, making them pretty painless to summon again). More often than not, destruction warlocks employ a succubus in combat as they can always use Seduction to create some distance between themselves and their target.
You could say a destro lock's style is the opposite of an affliction warlock. If affliction works through slow burn and mostly instant DoTs, destruction is all about massive crits, applying Immolate and making their enemies explode with Conflagrate. If there's time, they'll squeeze an Incinerate in between. This is why a succubus is integral to their playing style -- they need to apply Seduction to keep their targets in place while they cast the 2 second cast Immolate and 2.5 second cast Chaos Bolt. Those seem like pretty long cast spells but destruction has plenty of tools to pull them off without interruption. They have Shadowfury, an AoE stun, the succubus' Seduction, in addition to a warlock's normal Fear, Death Coil, and Howl of Terror.
Destruction will be about crowd control, casting a long spell, then using Conflagrate, and maybe Chaos Bolt for good measure. Good destruction warlocks will be a handful, as they employ quite a number of methods of crowd control. They also don't need a lot of time to bring an opponent down because their spells provide massive burst. If you can manage to interrupt them, go for fire spells to lock them out of their most potent punch. Just remember they're likely to cast Fear in case they get locked out of the fire school, so be prepared.
If you can, try to apply some form of crowd control long enough to eliminate their succubus. Taking Seduction off the table should give you some more opportunities to bother their casting. Destruction will have a lot of stationary time because of their long cast spells, so take advantage of that. Keep track of their Shadowfury cooldown, a 20 second interval between stuns that they'll use frequently. Oh, and if you're melee, beware of Backlash. Get the jump early, because going down to even 70% against a destro 'lock can quickly prove fatal.
General notes
As powerful as warlocks are when it comes to crowd control, they're equally susceptible to it and have few options against them. Don't let warlocks dictate the fight by unleashing Fears and, in the case of destro, Seductions and stuns. Although they have some versatility to handle things in close range, they're still casters and as such operate best at long range. Don't let them have that advantage unless you feel you can out-cast them yourself. The best warlocks can be a handful for almost anyone, even rogues, and if you're not a healing class it's all about a race to the finish. Because of their quickly stacking DoTs or surprising burst, strike fast and early. There have been many times when a dead warlock gets the last laugh by finishing off their opponents with a lasting DoT. That's alright. As long as you send them to the graveyard first.
delivers your weekly dose of Battlegrounds and world PvP in one crazy column. Read about how to defeat your most feared opponents -- Death Knights, Druids, Hunters, Mages, Paladins, Priests, Rogues, Shamans, and Warlocks. Of course, PvP is going to change a whole lot come Cataclysm. But Zach's got you covered there, too.
