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Warlock Battle StyleFollow

#1 Nov 29 2004 at 3:39 AM Rating: Good
Being a long time MMORPG Veteran, I thought I'd throw my current solo battle style out there; I am level 12 at the moment so I will be listing the spells I have. I also have 2 talents in fast casting Affliction spells; this will come into play later in the lesson. I have passed this info on in game numerous times and it seams to help folks, so here it goes.

My number line up.

1. Weapon attack (Staff, I have no wand yet)
2. Immolate (Rank 2) Long cast spell
3. Corruption (Fast Cast!!)
4. Curse of Agony (Instant cast)
5. Shadow Bolt (Rank 3)
6. Curse of Weakness (Curses do not stack, they override each other) Rank 2
7. Fear
8. Demon Skin (Rank 2)
9. Health Funnel
10. Drain soul (Gets you a soul shard)
-. "Use Health stone" shortcut
+. Summon Imp

First, Summon your Imp, it had better damage than your Voidwalker, then create a healthstone and make a shortcut to it (Free 100 HPs) and drag a shortcut to the - slot. Then bring up your Demon Skin. Then get a good distance away from a mob (Bad Guy).
1. Pull weapon.
2. Immolate, your longest cast DoT, (Damage over Time spell) this will aggro the mob and it will come chasing after you.
3. Corruption, DoT 2, do to the Fast Cast Talent this spell lands on the mob before it gets to you.
4. Now that the mob is on top of you, Curse of Agony. (Curses are Instant Cast!)

Now you are beating on the mob, your Imp is beating on the mob, and 3 DoTs are going to town on the mob. This guy is at a severe disadvantage now.

5. Immediately after the mob hits you, initiate a Shadowbolt. The spell will get bumped once or twice, but as soon as it goes off, the mob is right next to dead.

If you need soulstones initiate a #10 "Drain Soul" when the mob is almost dead.
If you get in trouble, throw "Curse of Weakness" at your assailant to lesson its whooping on you, "Fear" that bugger and start running, and click your healthstone for 100 HPs.

This style has served me well thus far; I will try to throw a higher level version of this out when I get higher level. Also a party guide when I start partying.



Edited, Mon Nov 29 04:34:23 2004 by SterlingEdge
#2 Nov 29 2004 at 7:08 AM Rating: Good
Mine strategy is


Summon Voidwalker
get him to attack, when hes halfway there use shadowbolt(this does damage and while the beast is coming for you the void aggro's him which gives you extra time to cast spells)
continue doing shadowbolt till dead....very simple
or just get to where the enemy is at like
(|||||______________) HP then start doing your souldrain (whatever its called) if you need soul shards


for party instance playing

get void out
do curse of agony to pull (or wand)
get void after him
do all yoru other DOT's in any other order
then i usually just sit back and watch the damage, or you can do shadowbolt, but im a lazy warlock :)

just learn to use your pet commands by keyboard like ctrl-1 to attack and ctrl-2 to make him fall back after pulling


-Troase
#3 Nov 29 2004 at 12:13 PM Rating: Good
I use a combination of these two styles.

I send the Voidwalker out to pull the mob, then call it back to me so the mob is in range, as Troase suggests. This makes sure I stay out of the spawn areas and keeps the mob's rage on the Voidwalker for the first several seconds of the fight. It also gives me a slight edge on running away from the fight if too much heat aggros on the Voidwalker; I just have it stand and fight while I run.

Once the mob is within range, I unload the DoT spells on it and blaze away with Shadow Bolt as Sterling suggests.

Because of this strategy, I've used all of my Talents (so far) on improving my minions.
#4 Nov 29 2004 at 8:58 PM Rating: Good
what works well for me is to summon Succubus. I pull with Curse of Agony, let Succ. attack and gain hate. Then i cast Corruption, which slowly whittles the hp down. Then I cast Immolrate (sp?) which usually draws hate to me after all the DoT which has occured. But by then I am halfway done cast Shadowbolt, and if that doesn't finish off the monster I wand it to death or cast another Shadowbolt is necessary. If i need soul shards i make sure the mob is about to die, so im not constantly hit and the channeling reduced.
#5 Nov 30 2004 at 6:50 PM Rating: Good
My strategy (at lvl 14) is pretty different from what people are posting here. I never get down in health... I'm not ever really at risk of dying either. It's very efficient and I am almost at full health / mana at the end of the fight.

What I do is pull with the debuff... (mobs attacks are lessened by 6 with each attack)... it's instant cast and I right away send in my Void Walker. Then I cast the long dot on the mob and the imolate dot. (the long dot is the grey one... hrm). The mob still hasn't left voidwalker.. and my void walker hasn't really been damaged much at all either.

Now since I have full health... I cannabolize some health to mana 2 times usually... (even though I still have 75% mana).. and cast a shadowbolt if the mob is tough, and then Drain life from the mob to give life back to me. (which is another dot basically but it gives you health back) . ((health is mana))

That's it. The mob never touches me... my voidwalker has at least 75% of his health.. and I am over 80% on health / mana myself at the end of the fight... and I can do it over and over and over.

If you get an add. (additional mob) attack you... have your void walker attack that additional to get aggro on that mob. (I debuff him aswell to make his attacks attack less).. and then have your pet go back to the original mob. (which never left the voidwalker the whole time). Then just do them one at a time.

I can take on 3 mobs this way... (though it's not the most efficient way to do it.).

Health is not what keeps you alive untill it is at 20%. Health is another Mana reserve for you to canabalize. Life-Steal = Mana steal. I use it during fights all the time.

You end up with near full or sometimes absolutly full mana / health at the end fights this way. Your voidwalker will have about 75% of his life (he has massive amounts of hit points). But he regains health back fast. If you were fighting 2 mobs you should be about less than half life for both of you. (sometimes down to 20% life for your voidwalker if the extra mob was pretty high level.

I can solo stuff 2 levels higher without risk. (though that is not efficient). I can kill Kodo Beasts easily. Good times.
#6 Dec 02 2004 at 7:10 PM Rating: Decent
Just a FYI, once you curse the 2nd mob, the 1st curse drops on the first mob since one warlock can only have 1 curse up at any given time
#7 Dec 07 2004 at 5:47 AM Rating: Decent
That's not true - you can have 1 curse up per mob.
#8 Dec 07 2004 at 7:10 PM Rating: Decent
Quote:
Just a FYI, once you curse the 2nd mob, the 1st curse drops on the first mob since one warlock can only have 1 curse up at any given time


Not true.

Many of time i have Cursed different mobs at the same time, thats how I CC.

Okay this is how i solo.

1) Cast Immolate
2) Send pet
3) cast the dmg reducer(grren with sowrd >:\)
4) cast the other dot(the face with the vomit)
5) wand it
6) if still at about half life, immolate again
7) if not, Drain soul(or after you immolate)



Okay grp...

Cast dmg reducer, then i send pet, then immolate, (on all mobs) CC with pet, then cast reclace about at 25% health.

#9 Dec 08 2004 at 11:50 AM Rating: Decent
My style is similar to Opnotic's and I never have a problem unless I'm taking on mobs much higher than my level (at level 17, many level 20 mobs resist my spells). The only difference is that I haven't made much use of the Life/mana steal spells.

The Life-Drain spell works very well at knocking the health down on the mobs.
#10 Dec 08 2004 at 2:24 PM Rating: Decent
I like to cast my longest lasting DoT's first so there's less chance I have to recast one, and the target is taking as much damage as possible over the duration of the fight. This order almost never changes, but I might use my pets differently in different situations.

So:
1) Curse of Agony (30 seconds, plus increasing DoT)
2) Corruption (27 seconds)
3) Immolate (15 seconds)

Then:

Imp:

Hotkey Z for pet command fireball, while he's warming up I cast CoA to pull target away from other mobs. Mob aggros imp; I follow up with Corruption, and Immolate, then use searing pain to pull threat onto me and finish off the mob.

Average fight time = 13-17 seconds. Very mana efficient, but both pet and caster take damage. Might have short downtime if Imp needs mana recharge, and for gods sake never leave the little bastage on aggressive mode! Always on Defensive. Even passive in some instances.


Voidwalker:

Hotkey Z for pet command attack. If he's going after only 1 target, I may pull with CoA to draw target in as Blueberry seems to run so bloody slow. Follow up with Corruption and Immolate, then depending on strength of mob, and chance of adds, I'll cast either shadow bolt, or use wand to finish of mob.

Average Fight Time: 20-30 seconds. Very health efficient, can be a mana ***** if having to use shadowbolts. (I'm not a powerleveller so this is my preferred pet for grinding)

Note: It's very possible for your VW to take on multiple mobs at once, but it gets trickier for each level the target is relative to your own, and you may have to fear off one or two if they are equal or near equal to your level. When using Torment, send in VW first, stand back, and cast DoT's on first target. Then use the TAB key to switch to new target, Hotkey Z for Pet Attack on new target, then DoT the new one, continuing until you've placed DoT's on all targets. By then the original target should be dead or running, use Health Funnel as needed. When you get the Suffering Grimoire, at level 24 this becomes much easier.

Succubus: Similar to Imp. Hotkey Z for Pet Attack, if it looks like there might be adds, use CoA before pet gets there to pull mob away from a potential gangbang. Threat will be on pet, get behind mob and cast Corruption and Immolate. Now stand directly behind mob, and cast Searing Pain repeatedly to pull threat onto yourself, and watch now that targets back is to her, Sucky makes quick work of him with Lash of Pain.

Average fight time: 14-19 seconds. Very mana efficient. Very little downtime. Caster has to take a bit of damage, possibly best PVP choice at 26. Not recommended for mobs equal to or above casters level.


-$.02
#11 Dec 10 2004 at 3:39 PM Rating: Decent
I just wanted to add a suggestion so that you're never low on mana. When soloing (usually with my Voidwalker) at levels 12-20 and fighting mobs my level or one or two levels higher or lower, I NEVER ran out of mana during a fight, and I was casting all 3 dots and Shadowbolting/Life Draining until the mob was dead. The way I did it was load up on Spirit increasing armor. While most of my stats were mid-20s to mid-30s, my Spirit was over 60. This helps mana regeneration immensely and as a result, I never wanted for mana.

I bought the gear at AH for roughly 6-10sp per item. Each item gave me 4-6 Spirit.
#12 Dec 17 2004 at 10:17 AM Rating: Decent
Around level 30, I developped the following tactics for myself keeping in mind my talants selected:

When solo against 2-4 level higher then me mobes, I lead with Immolate, send pet(Imp or VW), CoA, followed by Corruption. Then Lifetap, Syphon Life, Lifetap, Drain Life. Repeat Lifetap, Drain Life untill mob is dead. If mob is by himself, after using the above tactics I will finish the fight with nearly full heal and mana. If there is more then one mobe, I shoot insta cast shadowbolts each time Night Fall procks to speed up the kill.

In groups, it is all situational. Mobs usualy die fast so I just stick 2 insta cast dots on all of them if I have time Rain of fire or just use the Wand. Or just use Drain Soul to make more Healthstones and Soulstones for the party.
#13 Dec 26 2004 at 7:16 AM Rating: Decent
24 posts
I tend to alternate style, depending on if I solo or grouped. I am normally grouped with my guild members. I am a lvl 46 destruction warlock and normally use the Imp.

Grouped setting
I normally do most of my exp in instances which mean many multiple mob pulls.

I wait for the tank to get agro and assist him using my imp. I cast Curse of Weakness on the other monsters (i.e. the monsters not being killed atm will hit the tank for less dmg) I continue back to the assisted monster and cast Curse of Shadows/Elements or Curse of Recklaceness if they are runners.

I then begin my nuking. Sometimes it's Shadow based, which is Shadowbolt, Shadowburn, or Deathcoil. If I see an "Improved Shadowbolt" staus on the monster, (this means good chance to crit) I do Shadownburn, and Deathcoil.

If I do fire based magic. I normally prefer Curse of Elements to be up. I use Imolate, Confligate, Searing Pain, Imolate, then Searing Pain.

Solo
I pull the monster with Coruption, then curse of weakness,. I send my imp in. The imp pretty much has aggro, but I normally get it back with Searing Pain. Dot's proc and a nuke, it's dead.
#14 Dec 30 2004 at 9:00 AM Rating: Decent
At level 20, I just gained my succubus, so I don't have a tactic for it yet. Generally, while soloing, I plant my dots(immolate, corruption, and curse of agony). Now, depending on if I have the imp(no soulstones) or the VW, I do different things. If using the imp, or if my VW is hurting for health(multiple enemies in a row) I generally fear kite. This works best for beasts in open areas that won't bring friends back. Send the mob running with fear and hit it with spells while it runs(it tends to run out of range though, but the DoTs are still ticking). I never chase, though I let my imp chase it. This is an excellent way to get soul stones while out in the field.

While in groups, I will use the VW only if we do not have a tank(though sometimes I will backup tank with it), otherwise, I use the imp for it's fireshield and bloodpact abilities. The added stamina has saved my tank more than once.
#15 Dec 31 2004 at 6:31 AM Rating: Decent
NOrmally when i solo i use my void walker. My tactic is as follows: Run up to casting range of mob and cast curse of agony, Turn away from the mob, hit ctrl+1 sending him in to gain agroe, hit mob with corruption, then cast immoluate, wait a couple of seconds then toss in a shadow bolt (you can chain 2 shadow bolts before imoluate and Curse of agony die off), if needed right before mob bolts hit him with curse of reckless.

If you really feal daring you can pull out your imp and fear dot 2 or 3 mobs at once. (I dont suggest doing this in areas with tons of mobs), however this extreme and good to learn for when you get adds while soloing. For instance....you pull a mob and have it fully dotted up and you get an add. You can hit escape wait for add to strike you (gaining him as your target), hit the new mob with corrption, fear, as he jolts away nail him with curse of agony, then redot the 1st mob and hopefully you can finish him off before fear wears of. If not re-fear/Dot second mob...until both mobs are finally dead. You will take a beating using this technique but can be very helpful if you practice or learn this style. It have saved my rear-end several times even with 2 mob adds.
#16 Dec 31 2004 at 8:11 AM Rating: Decent
The only problem is that you can only have fear cast on one opponent at a time. Once you cast fear on a second mob, it will wear off of the first mob. Fear juggling though is almost essential and can save you in solo or your entire party if things go really wrong(Like the Deadmines erk). I prefer to leave my VW out while I fear kite and just have it ready to intercept when the mob comes back. He's generally a big, bubbly blueberry of uselessness though. ^_^
#17 Jan 02 2005 at 4:42 AM Rating: Decent
I

1 pull with Corruption
2 cast CoA and send pat to attack (usually VW)
3 cst immpolation after my pet has him suficiently aggroed.
4 go up and attack him in melee or cast drain life/soul/mana whatever you need
5 if the pet is some psycho dmg thing dont do this. start throwing Shadow Bolts at it.
6 if its a umanoid start casting Life drain or soul drain while he rns off befor he gets attention of others.

I dont use Shadow Bolt much cause it causes way too much aggro
#18 Jan 04 2005 at 11:46 AM Rating: Decent
I use Succubus on most mobs. If the mobs are a few levels higher or there's too many of them, I'll bring out VW. Succubus does a lot more damage than the Imp (according to my Cosmos DPS parser which shows 30-33% vs. 10-12%), never runs out of MP and has better defense. If you spec right, you add 24% damage and reduce lash of pain cast time by 50%. I respec'd recently and took out my points in Improved Imp because I never use him anymore (except to get my first shard of course).

I want her to tank most of the fight so I hold back just a little. I'll usually grab aggro at the very end of the fight but never take enough damage to effect me. She regens HP so fast, it's not a problem letting her tank.

Here's my typical fight:

Pull with CoA (instant)
Pet Attack
Corruption (instant)
<wait for 2 hits to land from Succubus>
Immolate
<wait for 1 or 2 hits to land from Succubus>
Wand it to death

If I want something dead fast, I'll hit it with a ShadowBolt before using the wand. This is the best way I've found to keep my downtime low while keeping DPS high.
#19 Jan 05 2005 at 1:53 PM Rating: Decent
*
220 posts
Nice post. Can't emphasize enough that the right order to initiate actions and spells is critical. Would only add that make sure that imp is on defence (looks like spiked shield).
It, the imp, doesn't have a lot of hit points and you dont want it grabing aggro. If that happens you are likely to loose him during battle, and then your dps goes down fast.
The voidwalker is the opposite when you solo - he has more hp than the Warlock - so you let him take the damage. I'm only lvl 14 so far ... groups depend on mix of players is all I can say so far.
Have fun.
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