Must-have PvP talents for warlocks in Cataclysm, Part 2
Destruction warlock PvP Just like in PvE, there's a lot of casting involved, although you're probably better off shelving the easily killed imp in favor of a succubus (against melee) or a felhunter (against casters). This means skipping on imp-centric talents and going for a lot of survivability. Destruction might also make the best use of Glyph of Shadowflame (major), which applies a 70 percent snare on affected targets.
Bane Basic cast time reduction. A bit hefty at three points, but a .5-second cast time shaved off the spells you'll cast often is a worthy investment.
Emberstorm Not quite as impacting as Bane, but its minute reduction to Incinerate's glacial casting time could come in handy. Two points here is optional. Just remember that you'll be casting fairly different spells in PvP compared to your high DPS rotation or priority in PvE.
Aftermath It's a small proc, but since you'll tend to use Rain of Fire for AoE situations such as crowding the flag, getting a 2-second stun out of it should be gravy. What makes this talent decent is the daze effect that gets rolled into Conflagrate.
Backdraft You'll be standing still and casting long cast spells a lot more often than either of the other two specs, so you'll want anything that gives you a bit of haste. This procs off Conflagrate and should allow you to stand still for shorter periods of time.
Shadowburn This talent is amazing for PvP because it gives you some sort of Kill Shot or Hammer of Wrath ability. If you time it right, you'll manage to refresh your soul shards pretty often on the battlefield.
Soul Leech You'll want every ability that heals you, so while raiders will want this for the replenishment buff, you'll want it for the sweet 4 percent health return from casting Shadowburn, Soul Fire, and Chaos Bolt.
Backlash The sad reality is that at some point in time, you'll get beat upon by some melee class. Make it worth your while by putting points in Backlash to proc an instant Shadow Bolt or Incinerate. It tends to proc fairly often, although it has an internal cooldown of 8 seconds.
Nether Ward and Nether Protection Excellent mitigation talents against spellcasters and you'll want every bit of protection in a PvP environment. The best thing for me about this talent is that it should remind you to always have some warlock armor up, as well as a Shadow Ward.
Shadowfury The absolute best PvP talent in the tree, available for a mere one point. The new Shadowfury has a shorter, 20-second cooldown and I probably don't need to remind you of how good a ranged, AoE, 3-second stun is for PvP.
There's nothing particularly striking about warlock PvP in Cataclysm, with the biggest change being the overhaul to the soul shard system. With the exception of a few spells here and there, you can stick to the same old tricks you've been using prior to the expansion.
Now get to the trainers and pick out your PvP talents, because next week we'll take a look at the outdoor PvP zone of Cataclysm, Tol Barad.
Zach delivers your weekly dose of battlegrounds and world PvP in one bloodthirsty column. Figure out the best talents for PvP in the expansion, depending on your class: death knight, druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock, and warrior.
