An interesting guide from Mr. Jodok, which is intended mainly for young warlocks. You will find here tips for character development during promotion. Of course, talents will change significantly, which means this guide will not be so relevant, but the principles of the approach to leveling will remain unchanged.

Dark personalities, magicians who have taken the wrong path. . To begin with, I would like to note that Warlock is not a class for beginners. You simply will not be able to realize yourself and be successful if you start your path with it. So, if this is your first experience playing WoW, it’s better to choose a different class. So, what can Warlock offer you:
– Wide range of “splitting into atoms” options.
– An almost endless “blue strip” of mana, and if you are Aflic, then also health.
– Comprehensive power over demons, the opportunity to enjoy all the joys of the “dark side of power.”
– Wide range of control over the enemy.
- And many many others.

Well, so you, succumbing to temptation, decided to create your own Warlock. And, of course, we need to choose the appropriate race for your alter ego.

For the schedule this is:

Blood Elf > Orca > Undead.
And a little information: The racial bonuses of the Blood Elf are more suitable for playing in the Destro-Afli spec, but if you want to run in the Demonologist, it’s better to take the Orc.

For :

Human > Gnoma

Now that character creation has come to an end, the main question arises - where to go? Kill the enemy slowly but surely, possess a demon, gaining a very serious ally, or destroy him with fire, leaving behind only heaps of ashes? The choice is yours.

So, to level up your Lock, I consider only 2 branches - Witchcraft and Demonology. Destruction is likened to the Arcana branch of magicians - mana quickly flies away, there is practically nothing to hammer with at low levels. As with , Destructive Sorcerers only become meaningful at high levels when you can get your hands on some tasty talents.

Witchcraft:

– Safely kill any mob of your level.
– With the advent of the DP (Dark Pact - Dark Alliance) with the Fel Hunters as a tame demon, you will completely forget about what drinking and eating are.
– Unlimited scope for Grinding (Killing mobs in batches). You are in no way limited in the number of mobs on you. You finish one, the other dies at the same time. At the same time, you always have 100% health due to significant healing and 100% mana.

Demonology:

– The demon is your main weapon. Your tank.
– The need to save your mana.
– Worse than in Sorcery, but still available grinding opportunities.
– Possibility of solo completion of any group quests.
– A very significant bonus to Spell Damage, Crit and Haste at high levels.

Now I will give a detailed breakdown of talents for each level. My opinions and advice may not coincide with the opinions of other players. Still, everyone scatters their talents individually for themselves, for their own way of playing. So, if you are confident in your abilities, you can skip this point.

I prefer to level up in Sorcery - we have very serious healing and the ability to level up, gank, grind. I will provide leveling to raise your Warlock to level 80.

Our style of play: Scatter pillboxes - Fire of Sacrifices, Corruption, Curse of Agony. We use Life Tap (hereinafter referred to as LT - Life Tap) and drain the last health from the enemy with Life Drain. Demon – Voidwalker (Demon of the Abyss).

10-14 – Improved Corruption 5/5. Our main DoT, which will also give a chance to proc an instant ShB (Shadow Bolt, Dark Arrow).

15-16 – Soul Draw 2/2. We are improving our main healing after LT.

At level 15, it becomes possible to take the first large and small symbol. I prefer to take the symbol of Corruption (large) and the symbol of endless breath (small).

17-18 – Improved Life Tap 2/2. Everything is simple here - we improve our LT - mana becomes almost infinite.

19-20 – Improved Curse of Agony 2/2. We are improving our second DoT.

21-23 – Focus Fel 3/3. It will allow our spells not to slow down when hit by mobs. With the advent of the Fel Hunter, we will be tanking the mobs ourselves. This talent will allow us to freely drain souls and life from our enemies, and then also finish them off under blows.

24 – Suppression 1/3. At this stage it is a passing stage. As you know, the chance of hitting a mob of your level is 96%. With this talent we will have 99%.

25-26 – Twilight 2/2. 4% chance with each tick of Corruption or Drain Life to instantly throw a ShB at the enemy. With the symbol at level 15 from the Corruption tick, the chance increases by another 4%. As a result, as much as 8% chance of instantly throwing a ShB at the enemy. At high levels, when you grind 5 mobs at a time, each will have a full set of DoTs, including Corruption. As a result, Shadow Trance will be available on every pack.

27-28 – Limit of Darkness 2/2. Everything is easy here - the farther the mob is from you, the more DoT you will have time to throw at it before it can run. At high levels, when grinding, you will not be able to leave your place at all to collect the pack.

29 – Suppression 2/3.

30 – Life Drain. Now Corruption heals us by 50% of the damage dealt. An irreplaceable thing on the grind.

At level 30, it becomes possible to take another large symbol. I take the Life Drain Symbol, which will increase your healing by another 25%.

31 – Suppression 3/3.

32-34 – Aggravated Damage 3/3.

35 – 39 – Power over Shadows 5/5. We buff Otheal again, improve the main damage and mana regen ability of our main demon - the Fel Hunter.

40-41 – Seasoned Fel Hunter 2/2. The final buff for our main demon. Now, with his main damage output, our little dog will regenerate 8% of his mana. With the advent of DP (Dark Pact - Dark Alliance), we can steal mana from a pet without fear of leaving him without it.

42 – Dark Alliance 1/1. This ability can be serenaded. Now our mana becomes truly infinite.

43-47 – Infection 1/1. Everything is clear here - we are improving our main damage abilities. Also, the talent is a passing talent for Unstable Sorcery, so you’ll have to take it anyway.

48-49 – Evil Word 2/3. Damage and Crit are one of our main stats, especially since Aflik doesn’t have much crit even at high level.

50 – Unstable Affliction 1/1 . Now we leave the Sacrificial Fire to the destructive sorcerers. Unstable Affliction not only casts faster, but will also have the ability to crit from the next level.

51 – Pandemic 1/1. Everything is simple here - now our main dots are also criticized.

52-54 – Embrace of Death 3/3. Now, if you still managed to bite off more than you can swallow, you will heal even faster. Also, you won’t have to update all the pillboxes on a mob with a low amount of HP.

55-59 – Continuous Affliction 5/5. We are strengthening our dots by 5%. Also, Wandering Spirit and Drain Life refresh Corruption on the target, allowing us to also save mana.

60 – Wandering Spirit 1/1. A spell after which any Afli Lok blossoms before our eyes. Now we have 3 dots and a direct impact spell. Not only does the Wandering Spirit itself deal direct and good damage, it also increases the damage from our pillboxes by as much as 20(!)%. And that's not all, after completion, Hound heals us for 100% of the damage dealt. He also knows how to embroider on a machine.

61 – Evil Word 3/3. We're maximizing our crit talent.

Now the Witchcraft branch is over. We easily grind mobs by sending Wandering Spirit, Unstable Affliction, Corruption and Curse of Agony on them. We don’t run out of mana because of DP and TP, and we don’t run out of HP because of Hound (Wandering Spirit) and Life Siphon. Now it's worth thinking about throwing the remaining talents into Demonology.

62 – 63 – Fel Bonds 2/2. Sometimes the mob doesn’t immediately attack our carcass, but rather chops off a little piece of our dog. Now, even without the Health Channel, when grinding, our Doggie will be able to not give up.

64-66 – Demonic Robe 3/3. We increase our amount of health.

67-68 – Wide Channel of Health 2/2. Now, even if the mob is stuck to the Dog and doesn’t want to pay attention to you, we will not lose our four-legged friend.

69-71 – Fel Energy 3/3. Although 3% mana is not much for us, 15% intelligence for the dog will mean that its Bite will regenerate more mana, which means we will be able to use DP more often.

72 – Bundle of Souls 1/1. Now it is simply impossible to kill us. 20% of all damage goes to the demon, the demon is healed by our DoTs, if things are really bad, we use the Health Channel.

73-75 – Demonic Aegis 3/3. Let's buff our Fel Armor. Now we receive 30% more SPD.

76-78 – Demonic Cruelty 3/3. We are introducing a tank for group quests in the form of the Abyssal Demon.

79 – Fel Ascendancy 1/1. We get the opportunity to quickly rebuild our Tank in case of danger.

80 – It’s time to respec for Endgame and my advice will be meaningless.

Congratulations, you have developed your master of horror and fear to possible level heights. I hope my guide helped you in some way. Thank you for your attention. Good luck to you in the vastness of Azeroth and beyond.

19 694

A Destruction Warlock is a true pyromaniac that combines the power of Fire with chaos leaving behind only ashes of their enenies. Demons of the Twisting Nether are of great help here, too.

Introduction

Basic information on the spec:

A Destruction Warlock utilizes 2 key resources — Soul Shards and Mana. There are always 3 Soul Shards when out of combat. You can have the max of 5 of them. They are spent on strong spells and on summoning pet demons. Unlike the other specializations, in this one, the Soul Shards are separated into 10 Soul Shard fragments. Mana is used as a resource for any spells.

Let’s take a closer look at the weakest and the strongest aspects of this specialization:

The weakest aspects:

• Great damage in any combat type;
• Nice switching;
• An ability to provide the raid with emergency mobility through Demonic Gateway;

The strongest aspects:

• Relatively low mobility which has an extremely negative effect on the damaging.

Glossary

AoE
Buff
Burst
GCD
Debuff
DoT stands for Damage over Time.
DPS
Cleave
Cooldown
Melee and Range
Trait

For Russian players, WoW existed initially in foreign languages ​​only. Since the original language for the game is English many terms are still being derived from the English titles for settled mechanics and many abilities.

AoE(Area of ​​Effect) is basically the area where this of that effect is activated regardless of whether its damage or healing. This command is usually used to act in a team/raid on several targets. It is also used to describe any ability of a Boss with the aforementioned effect.
Buff stands for any positive effect. Always reflected to the left of the mini-map, by its upper edge.
Burst is an ability to do – in multiple ways – massive damage within a short period of time.
GCD(Global Cooldown) is the overall ability recovery time.
Debuff stands for negative effect. By default, it’ reflected to the left of the mini-map by its lower edge.
DoT stands for Damage over Time.
DPS(Damage per Second) is a measure that reflects the damage done within one second.
Cleave is an ability to damage secondary targets through damaging the main one with no (or minor) loss in the damage done to the main target.
Cooldown(often CD) primarily refers to the ability recovery time. Can be often applied to bursts and various protective abilities.
Melee and Range. Melee is the close-range combat zone, also used in the titles of all the classes and specs that do effective damage in this zone. Range usually refers to a zone that is not a close-range one and is used, respectfully, in the titles of all classes and specs that do effective damage remotely.
Traitis a name for the ‘talents’ your azerite armor has.

Main abilities

Offensive abilities

Talents

General information. On achieving several new levels you’ll get access to new talent ‘Tiers’. Talents may have different effect on abilities: add new features, replace old ones, modify passively different effects and spells. Talents can be changed in Sanctuaries or any recreational zones. However, if you don’t have any of those places nearby you can use the Codex of the Tranquil Mind which allows you to switch channels within a minute. You can't change talents in combat. You can’t change a talent if the talent you’ve picked in the last Tier is on Cooldown. You’ll have to wait until it’s restored first.

Tier 1. Lvl 15.

Azerite traits

In BFA typical sets were removed and Azerite armor took their place. Now every chest/helmet/shoulders have a few rings traits. You will need to collect the best traits. First of all you need those that grant maximum profit as 1 in the armor. When you stack up traits only the first one grants an effect, the rest increase your damage. These traits would be the best for you:

• Crashing Chaos . Grants a good burst damage on a single target but not that great for cleave fights. Basically it is used for a single target.
• Flashpoint . A great talent for fights with targets that have more than 80% hp for long time or just for fights with adds.
• Chaotic Inferno — buffs your Chaos bolt and sometimes allows you to cast Incinerate instantly.
• Rolling Havoc is good as Flashpoint at multidot encounters.
• Loyal to the End is a very powerful tool at new raid, which gives you lots of Mastery. It is very good trait, so we recommend you to stack this one.

The next traits are not that great but still could be used:

• Chaos Shards
• Bursting Flare

You can use chart on herodamage.com , or sim the difference on raidbots.com .

For those who use AzeritePowerWeights addon, there is a command with approximate stats of traits:

(AzeritePowerWeights:2:"herodamage.com - Stacks_1T_T24":9:267: 444=10, 575=8.19, 526=7.81, 562=7.77, 522=7.75, 193=7.70, 82=7.63, 432=7.32, 196 = 6.85, 232 = 6.74, 501 = 6.60, 505 = 6.26, 460 = 6.25, 192 = 6.16, 480 = 5.84, 521 = 5.76, 30 = 5.68, 481 = 5.66, 479 = 5.57, 504 = 5.53, 486 = 5.30 = 5.30. , 492=5.30, 483=5.15, 157=5.15, 195=4.97, 478=4.93, 495=4.92, 489=4.92, 485=4.65, 488=4.62, 494=4.62, 131=4.41, 523=4.26, 4 82 =4.21, 194=4.19, 576=4.15, 561=4.13, 487=3.40, 493=3.40, 498=3.31, 560=3.05, 156=2.99, 500=2.91, 21=2.87, 459=2.73, 31=2.46 , 22=2.32, 18=2.31, 499=1.93, 490=1.83, 496=1.83, 461=1.80, 497=1.72, 491=1.72, 541=1.66, 462=1.59, 431=0.09:)

Essences

MAJOR

• Condensed Life-force (Source: Eternal Palace drop)– becomes best option at level 3, also has a perfect line up with your burst.
• Memory of Lucid Dreams (Source: Nazjatar questing) — your standard choice until you get CLF lvl 3.

MINOR

• The Crucible of Flame (Source: Heart of Azeroth level)– nice extra damage during the fight. Should be used with CLF at major slot
• Vision of Perfection (Source: “Operation: Mechagon” drop)— one of the best minor essence, but it should not be used with CLF in major trait.
• Essence of the Focusing Iris (Source: Mythic+ dungeons) – cool option, if you can keep stacks of haste from main target

Rotation:

For general conception, take a look at the overall priority list:

On 1 -2 targets:

1. Keep up Immolate on the target 100% of the time.This debuff can be put with Cataclysm if you have this talent. .
2. Chaos Bolt to avoid soul fragments overcap.
3. Cataclysm
4. Channel Demonfire every cooldown (if you have this talent)
5. ON 2 TARGETS: Use Havoc on the second targets as often as you can. Saving up 2-3 soul fragments in advance and at least 1 stack of Conflagrate in the moment of usage. While Havoc is active you need to cast not less than 3 Chaos Bolt and 2 Conflagrate.
6. Soul Fire every cooldown (if you have it)
7. Chaos Bolt
8. Conflagrate , can be used while moving but never let 2 charges be up
9. Incinerate to generate Soul fragments.

Cooldowns management:

Summon Infernal — a pretty simple burst, in most of the cases you should use it every cd. When playing with Dark Soul: Instability , you should use this ability every cooldown, but before using it make sure that your Immolate was cast recently and also you should have 4+ souls fragments. Try to use Chaos Bolt while bursting as often as you can. It is important to generate soul fragments attentively.

When playing with Grimoire of Supremacy and Dark Soul: Instability , it is optimal to combine these 2 cooldowns when it is possible. The important factor in this situation is the fight duration.:

• If combat lasts less than 190 seconds, use Dark Soul: Instability every cooldown.
• If combat lasts 190-250 seconds hold Dark Soul: Instability for the second Summon Infernal.
• If the fight lasts 250-380 seconds, hold Summon Infernal for the third Dark Soul: Instability .

A few rules for AOE:

1. Rain of Fire is a bigger priority than Chaos Bolt on 3+ targets considering that mobs will leave the range of an ability.
2. Rain of Fire is a bigger priority than Chaos Bolt for Havoc on 5+ targets.
3. Immolate should be kept on up to 8 targets if they would live not more than 6 seconds..
4. Although Immolate has less priority than Rain of Fire or Chaos Bolt .
5. Havoc is good to use on a pack of not less than 4 targets.
6. If Grimoire of Supremacy is taken and you Summon Infernal on AOE and not on a single target then you should hold Havoc until the last 10 seconds of

26 534

Warlock “Affliction” uses the souls of opponents he defeats as fuel for his powerful dark magic. Just like any other specialization, “Sorcery” has the ability to command various demons. We talk about this and that in our WoW guide Afli Lock.

Introduction

Basic information on spec:

The “witchcraft” warlock uses 2 main resources - soul fragments and mana. The number of soul fragments outside of combat always tends to 3. The maximum you can have is 5. They are spent on powerful spells and summoning demon pets. Mana is used as a resource for any spells.

Pros:

• Good damage to a single target due to the deaths of additional targets
• Good consistent damage in battles with multiple targets due to multi-dotting
• Good mobility
• Demon Gate can be useful for a raid to increase mobility

Minuses:

• Fairly weak burst
• A bad switch to a priority target, especially if it has just appeared, since it takes some time to accelerate the damage on it

Dictionary

Dictionary

AoE

Buff

Burst

Gir

GKD

Debuff

DoT

DPS

Cleve

Cooldown

Miles and range zone

Trait

WoW for Russian players initially existed only in foreign languages, since the native language of the game is English, many terms to this day are formed from the English names of established mechanics and many abilities.

AoE- (from the English Area of ​​Effect) literally - this is the area in which the effect occurs, whether damage is done in this area or healing is performed does not matter. Typically this abbreviation is used as a command to deal damage in a group/raid to multiple targets. It is also used to describe any boss ability with the effect described above.

Buff- positive effect. By default it is displayed to the left of the minimap along its top edge.

Burst— (from the English Burst), an ability that allows you to inflict a large amount of damage in a short time in various ways.

Gir— (from the English Gear) is essentially equipment.

GKD— (short for English Global Cooldown) is the total recovery time of abilities.

Debuff- negative effect. By default it is displayed to the left of the minimap along its bottom edge.

DoT— (from English Damage over Time) is an effect that causes damage over time

DPS— (from the English DPS — Damage per Second) is a value that reflects the damage dealt per second.

Cleve— (from the English Cleave) the ability to inflict damage on secondary targets by inflicting damage on the main target while having no loss (or with minimal loss) on the main one.

Cooldown- (from the English Cooldown, you can often find the abbreviation “CD”, or “kdshki”), the main meaning is the recovery time of the ability. Also often used in relation to bursts or various defensive abilities.

Miles and range zone- (from the English Melee and Ranged, respectively) Miles - means a melee zone, also used to name all classes/specs that deal effective damage directly in this zone. Range (can also be found “range”) usually means a zone that is not a melee zone, and, accordingly, is also used to name all classes/specs that can effectively deal damage from a distance.

Trait— (from the English Trait) the name of the “talents” of your artifact.

Basic Abilities

Offensive Abilities

Talents

General information. As you reach several new levels, new “tiers” of talents will open up for you. In each such line, you can select only one talent at a time. Talents can influence abilities in different ways: add new ones, replace old ones, passively modify various effects and spells. You can change talents while in sanctuaries or in any recreation areas, however, if there are no such places nearby, you can use the tome of the serene mind, which will allow you to change talents within a minute. Talents cannot be changed in battle. A talent cannot be changed if the talent chosen in this tier is on cooldown; you will first have to wait for it to be restored.

Tier 1. 15 lvl

• Twilight . Damage from Corruption can allow you to cast your next Shadow Bolt instantly for 25% increased damage.
• Soul Stealing. A 5-second channel that deals Shadow damage. Enemies below 20% health take 100% more damage. If the target dies while under this effect, you gain 1 Soul Shard.
• Death's Arrow. Fire a bolt of death at the target, dealing damage equal to 30% of the remaining damage of the target's periodic effects. With Absolute Corruption, 14 seconds duration is taken into accountDamage.

Azerite traits

A new system of traits on items has been introduced in BFA. The Helm, Shoulders, and Chestplate are now special Azerite-enhanced items that have multiple rings with so-called traits that provide various combat buffs.

We will try to collect several specific top traits.

The following traits will be our priority:

• Inevitable doom . One of the strongest traits. Buffs damage both on a single target and on AoE/multi-shot, giving a strong burst potential due to strengthening Life thefts.
• Sudden attack . An excellent trait for fighting with multiple targets (3+), as it greatly reduces the time needed to accelerate the damage from Agony and greatly increases our damage. Can be used with talent for maximum effectPainful torment .
• Destructive genius . A good trait in all situations.
• An insidious agreement . A very strong trait when you have 50% health or more, but it loses effectiveness if you frequently receive large amounts of damage, and is completely dangerous at very low health levels.
• Also in patch 8.1 the trait was addedPandemic spell - it can also be used, especially well suited for battles with multiple long-lived targets.

If a controversial situation arises, you should use the chart on herodamage.com , or figure out the difference yourself using the good old raidbots.com.

For those who use the addon AzeritePowerWeights , a line with approximate strength values ​​of a particular trait is also available:

(AzeritePowerWeights:1:"herodamage.com - Stacks_1T_T23":9:265: 183=10, 562=9.96, 123=9.10, 494=8.60, 488=8.60, 479=8.48, 157=8.30, 522=8.09, 526 = 8.04, 478 = 7.99, 230 = 7.68, 193 = 7.62, 82 = 7.62, 194 = 7.50, 485 = 7.49, 504 = 7.22, 482 = 7.20, 425 = 7.02, 505 = 6.92, 196 = 6.82, 483 = 6.79 , 501=6.74, 523=6.70, 442=6.65, 426=6.60, 481=6.49, 195=6.27, 489=6.23, 495=6.23, 192=5.83, 561=5.52, 498=5.34, 480=5.09, 3 0 =5.04, 521=4.94, 156=4.83, 492=4.73, 486=4.73, 500=4.43, 31=4.04, 22=3.82, 493=3.81, 487=3.81, 499=3.20, 459=2.97, 21=2.76 , 560=2.75, 18=2.69, 462=2.53, 497=2.51, 491=2.51, 541=2.36, 461=2.20, 490=1.71, 496=1.71)

Dealing Damage

The standard start of the battle will be as follows:

1. We use Battle Potion of Intelligence to the pool.
2. Using Wandering Spiritbefore the pool if the talent is taken, otherwise - Arrow of Darkness.
3. Agony
4. Damage
5. Life Drain , if talent is taken
6. Black Soul: Suffering
7. Damage trinket used, if available, as well as racial bursts
8. Unstable Affliction either up to 5 stacks on the target, or until the soul shards run out.
9. Summon the Beholder of Darkness .
10. Mastery or Intelligence trinket used, if available
11. Death Arrow if talent taken
12. We continue to deal damage, following the usual priority

Ability priority in battle:

1. Racial abilities and trinkets used by CD
2. Wandering Spirit on CD if the talent is taken
3. Support on target Embrace of Darkness , if talent is taken
4. We support Agony
5. We support Life Drain , if talent is taken
6. We support Corruption
7. Phantom Singularity per CD if the talent is taken
8. Blight per CD if the talent is taken

Warlocks are able to summon demons to fight on their side. At the beginning of their journey, they can only control demon servants, but as they increase their knowledge, the warlock discovers the demons of the abyss, seductive succubi and terrible fel hunters who strike everyone who stands in the way of their master.

Warlock Talents in Legion 7.0.3, 7.1 and beyond

Warlocks gradually weaken their opponents with dark magic and diseases, which leads to their death. They are guarded by their pets, which allows the warlock to attack the enemy from a distance. These sorcerers are very weak physically, so they are not able to wear heavy armor. However, do not forget about the servants who are ready to expose themselves to enemy attacks.

• Type – fighter;
• Indicators – mana, health, soul fragments;
• Weapons - one-handed swords, daggers, wands, staves.
• The armor is fabric.

Pet warlocks are able to subjugate demons to their will: thereby they fight on their side and protect them from enemies.

Summoning - warlocks are able to summon not only bloodthirsty demons, but also other characters to help.

Ranged combat - warlocks have a power that curses opponents, reducing their attack power, slowing them down, and making them weaker. In addition, they are able to replenish their health reserves by stealing it from their enemies.

Demonic Resources - Warlocks can use Hot Embers, Soul Shards, and Demonic Fury to enhance their own spells, making them more deadly and faster.

With the help of talents, warlocks increase the severity of abilities and curses that deal periodic damage (Affliction), as well as the power of combat spells (Destruction). In addition, they are able to strengthen their demonic servants (Demonology).

Guide to Destro Lock in Legion (Destruction)

Warlocks in the Destro tree have received the following major changes:

• Dimensional Rift (3 charges, 45 second cooldown)
• Ignition and critical hits of Sacrificial Fire gives us .
• Chaos Bolt (2 shards), Rain of Fire (3 shards) and Summon Doomguard (1 shard).

Dark Souls have been removed, and Summon Doomguard's cooldown has been reduced to 3 minutes.

Grimoire of Sovereignty now allows the use of permanent Summon Doomguard instead of improved pets.

Guide to Afli Lok in Legion (Affliction)

The basis of Lok Aflic in the Legion is bunkers as the main source of damage, rather than targeted damage:

• 5 instead of 4 fragments.
• We get a new ability called: Harvest of Souls.
• Haunting Spirit has become a talent and Unstable Affliction now costs 1 shard.
• Dark souls have been removed.
• Grimoire of Sovereignty now allows the use of permanent Doomguard instead of upgraded pets.

Guide to Lok the Demonologist in Legion

Demonology in Legion became a specialty based entirely on pets with a handful of new abilities and improved old ones.

Next on our list of classes and specializations is the Warlock. In these notes, we'll talk about class-defining personality traits, discuss new ideas, and introduce the core combat abilities of each spec. Our goal is to formulate general concepts on the basis of which new talents and artifacts will subsequently be developed. So what does it mean to be a warlock in World of Warcraft?

Warlocks are the most versatile and insatiable of spellcasters. They claim to be dedicated to a good cause and there is no evil in their actions, but despite this, they strive to master dark magic and gain limitless power over demons... which makes even their closest allies wary of them.

Warlocks do not hesitate to peer into the Abyss and use the chaos within to unleash it on their opponents in battle - their most powerful abilities are fueled by the souls of their victims. The powerful dark magic that warlocks practice allows them to manipulate both the body and mind of their opponents. With the help of fire magic, they are able to call hellish rain from the sky, burning everything in its path. They summon untamed demons from the Void, which they use for their own purposes or sacrifice if the warlock so desires... such a sacrifice strengthens the caster and protects him.

Warlocks have long occupied a special niche in the history of the World of Warcraft. However, while Destruction and Affliction warlocks followed their own well-defined paths, Demonologists strayed too far from their original values. With Legion, we want to highlight the existing themes of Affliction and Destruction warlocks and return Demonologists to their original ability to summon, harness, and empower demons.

We also felt that Warlock resources were too confusing and didn't provide much value to the game. We decided to bring the warlock's main resources back to a single standard and leave only mana and soul shards. Finally, demons have always served a variety of purposes, but many of them were too niche and most of the time demonologists only used one or two. We want Warlocks to once again embrace the diversity of Demons, so we've buffed the various abilities that feed off their power, as well as tailored their capabilities to each spec.

Witchcraft

Affliction Warlocks are masters of the dark arts, but unlike Shadow Priests, who only cast their most monstrous spells when backed up against a wall, Warlocks revel in the terrible pain and suffering of those touched by their fel magic. They delight in corrupting the minds of their victims and forcing their souls into agony... such endless torture ultimately destroys any opponents. Even seasoned warriors who deal blow after blow to warlocks can fall into the trap they set and watch helplessly as the very life is drained from them by the spellcaster.

Warlocks revel in the terrible pain and suffering of those touched by their fel magic.

Game process

Playing Affliction Warlocks has always met our needs, but we want to avoid a situation where damage over time abilities are treated as boosts to channeled single-target spells. This specialization is based on the use of spells that cause damage over time. It is these that we are going to strengthen, while other abilities should fade into the background. We're going to change the Affliction warlock rotation to make damage over time spells stronger, but players will have to decide how best to use them.

Mechanically, we've decided to change the way Soul Shards are collected and spent to better accommodate damage over time. Soul Shards are now accumulated for each Agony effect applied to the target, and not just for the last use of the Corruption spell. This is how we want to motivate players to apply damage over time effects to as many targets as possible. Soul Shards can be spent on the incredibly powerful Unstable Affliction ability, which deals damage over time. This should help bring these types of abilities back into the minds of players.

Finally, to maintain thematic consistency, we decided to make Drain Life the primary placeholder spell rather than Baneful Grip or Drain Soul. It suits this spec better because it stays in the background rather than downplaying more important spells. In addition, it adds a fair amount of self-healing, which also fits perfectly with the concept of specialization.

To give you an idea of ​​how Affliction warlocks will perform in combat, here's a quick overview of their main combat abilities.

• Damage
  • Curses the target, causing them to die for 14 sec. takes damage from dark magic.
• Agony
  • Cost: 3% mana, range: 40 m, applied instantly.
  • Inflicts increasing suffering on the target for 18 seconds. causing her massive damage from dark magic. The target initially receives small damage, which increases over time. When the Agony effect is updated, the current damage remains the same.
  • When Agony deals damage, you have a chance to accumulate a Soul Shard.
• Unstable Affliction
  • Costs: 1 soul fragment, range: 40 m, cast time: 1.5 sec.
  • A particularly treacherous spell that for 8 sec. deals significant damage from dark magic.
  • If the target dies, the warlock receives a soul shard back.
  • After dispelling the spell of Unstable Affliction, the caster receives significant damage from shadow magic and becomes numb for 4 sec.
• Stealing Life
  • Costs: 3% mana +4800 units. mana per second, range: 40 m, supported spell.
  • Drains life from an enemy, dealing moderate Shadow damage and restoring 18% of the caster's health over 6 sec.
  • Drain Life damage is increased by 50% for each Corruption, Agony, and Unstable Affliction applied to the target.
• Mastery: Potent Cantrips
  • Increases damage from Corruption, Agony, and Unstable Affliction spells by 62.5% (based on the Mastery bonus from equipment).

• Infection
  • Passive ability
  • After using the Unstable Affliction spell, you can within 3 sec. reapply it without wasting resources.

Demonology

Demons by their nature are leeches on the body of the universe, but demonologists have learned to redirect the energy of these evil creatures onto the battlefield. Warlocks collect the souls of defeated opponents. Those who study demonology use the power they bestow to absorb the energy of the Abyss and call upon the creatures of Chaos from the Void. This practice is often considered sinister and unsafe, but demonologists have absolute control over the creatures they summon. Demons unquestioningly obey the will of the warlock, who feeds them until he sends them back to where he called them from.

Demonologists have learned to redirect the energy of evil demons onto the battlefield.

Game process

Despite the fact that all warlocks can summon demons, it is demonologists who are able to summon them in crowds that sweep away the enemy, as well as strengthen their pets. We moved away from this mechanic for many years, and eventually came to the point where the warlock himself turned into a demon. With Legion, we have the opportunity to change this specialization the way we want it, and again give the Demonologist control over demons, rather than the ability to turn into them.

We also felt that many of the mechanics in the Demonology specialization were not intuitive, so we decided to make significant changes to them. For those who played the Demonologist Warlock in Warlords of Draenor, the changes coming in Legion will seem quite significant. To keep this specialization fun and enjoyable, and to make sure we get back to the basics of Demonology, we'll need as much player feedback as possible during the beta.

To give you an idea of ​​how Demonology Warlocks will perform in combat, here is a quick overview of their main combat abilities.

• Dark Arrow
  • Cost: 6% mana, range: 40 m, cast time: 2.5 sec.
  • Hit the enemy with a Darkness arrow, dealing minor Shadow damage. Allows you to accumulate 1 soul fragment.
• Summon Sinister Hunters
  • Costs: 2 soul shards, range: 40 m, cast time: 2 sec, cooldown: 15 sec.
  • The Warlock summons 2 Sinister Hunters who will attack for 12 sec. attack the target.
• Hand Gul" given
  • Costs: from 1 to 5 soul fragments, range: 40 m, casting time: 1.5 sec.
  • The Warlock summons a demonic meteorite full of wild imps, which within 12 sec. will attack the summoner's target.
  • Deals up to significant shadow damage to all enemies within a radius of 8 m and summons up to 5 wild imps. The damage and the number of summoned demons depend on the number of soul fragments absorbed.
• Demonic Empowerment
  • Costs: 6% mana, cast time: 1.5 sec., cooldown time: 12 sec., 3 charges.
  • Empowers up to 3 active warlock demons with dark energy for 12 sec. increasing their speed and health by 50%.
  • Primarily affects strong demons.
• Mastery: Master Demonologist
  • The Demonic Empower spell also increases the damage your demons deal by 50% (based on your gear's Mastery bonus).
• Rock
  • Costs: 2% mana, range; 40 m, applied instantly.
  • Curses the target, inflicting massive Shadow damage over 20 sec. after use.
  • When dealing damage, it accumulates soul fragments.
• Demonic Wrath
  • Cost: 2.5% mana per second, channeled spell.
  • Your demon is simply bursting with demonic energy. Once every second All enemies within 10 yards of any of your demons take minor shadow damage.
  • Each time Demonic Wrath deals damage, the Warlock has a 15% chance to generate a Soul Shard.
  • Can be kept in motion.

• Implosion
  • Cost: 6% mana, applied instantly.
  • All of your Feral Imps are thrown towards the target and explode, dealing moderate Shadow damage to all nearby enemies.

Destruction

Warlocks, who command the power of destruction, use spells in battle that invoke pure Chaos. In this they are more similar to Fire Mages than to other warlocks - if not for the desire for destruction, which the magicians of other orders despise. Warlocks with the Destruction specialization unleash a blinding rain of shadow, fel, fire and Chaos magic on their victims, burning their bodies and killing their souls. They don't need much begging to strike down their opponents with the forces of Chaos, they rejoice at the destruction they cause... They cling to every opportunity to reduce the world around them to ashes.

Warlocks, who command the power of destruction, use spells in battle that invoke pure Chaos.

Game process

The Destruction Warlock mechanics already reflect the theme of this specialization, and with Legion we just want to bring the existing gameplay to perfection. We are not going to significantly change the functionality of the resource mechanics, but the resources themselves will change: we decided to remove hot coals and bring back soul shards. Not only will this bring consistency across all Warlock specs, but it will also complete the triumphant return of Soul Shards, which have always been an iconic resource for the class.

To give you an idea of ​​what the Destruction Warlock will be like in action, here are some of his main abilities.

• Incineration
  • Cost: 6% mana, range: 40 m, cast time: 2 sec.
  • Burns the enemy, dealing moderate fire damage.
• Sacrificial Fire
  • Cost: 6% mana, range: 40 m, cast time: 1.5 sec.
  • Burns the enemy, dealing minor Fire damage instantly and major Fire damage after 15 sec. after use.
  • When your Immolate critically hits, the Warlock has a 30% chance to generate a Soul Shard.
• Setting fire
  • Cost: 2% mana, range: 40 m, applied instantly, reload time: 8 sec., 2 charges.
  • Causes the target to explode, dealing moderate fire damage and allowing you to accumulate a Soul Shard.
  • Also activates the Backdraft effect, reducing the casting time of Incinerate and Chaos Bolt by 30% for 5 sec.
• Chaos Arrow
  • Costs: 2 soul shards, range: 40 m, cast time: 2.5 sec.
  • Fires a bolt of Chaos, dealing massive Shadow damage. Chaos Bolt always deals critical damage, and your critical strike rating increases it.
• Chaos
  • Cost: 8% mana, range: 40 m, applied instantly, cooldown: 20 sec.
  • For 8 sec. marks the target with the Mark of Chaos, after which spells directed against single targets will also hit the marked target. The maximum number of targets is 1.
• Mastery: Chaos Energy
  • The damage of spells in the Destruction category increases by up to 40% (depending on the Mastery bonus from equipment). Spells and damage are determined randomly.

• Directed Demonic Fire
  • Cost: 4.8% mana, channeled spell, cooldown: 12 sec.
  • Fires 15 arrows of felfire over 3 sec. Set fire to enemies within a 40 m radius. Each arrow deals average fire damage.

We hope you enjoy these Warlock changes!