Definitive Classic WoW Warlock Leveling Guide

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Pet Follow/Drain Soul Macro:
/cast Drain Soul(Rank 1)
/run PetFollow();

[@Aixynwo]

Hellowz Staysafe I have also done some fiddeling around with speedleveling Warlocks and I find this pretty useful. I only dealt with Undead starting zone so everything I say kinda comes through that filter. Some random things I think you could look into / add: Imp Mechanics This is only until you get your voidwalker, but will make a significant difference for those few levels. If you do not micromanage your imp it may happen, more often then not, that your imp is straggling behind you. Sometimes the Imp will get aggro when it crits with its fireball spell, if the Imp is behind you the mob will run through you and the shadowbolt cast will cancel because the mob is behind you. It can be very annoying and should be countered by something I call triangulation: When you engage a mob you use the pet attack so the Imp starts casting and then you move your character slightly to the side so that you will still keep casting if the mob runs past you toward the Imp. The mob, your character and the imp should form a triangle. In addition to this you can do something I call aggro-juggling: Basically you intentinally juggle threat between you and the Imp. You let the Imp shoot the mob first so it gets aggro, then you hit it with a shadowbolt so you get aggro and the mob starts running back to you, if god is on your side the Imp will now hit / crit the mob with its next fireball and take aggro again. This can be done with more spells, obviously, and effectively just make the mob run back and forth and never really hit you or your pet. Aggro juggling depends a little on lucky crits at the right time, but when the stars align you’ll beat mobs without getting a scratch yourself. Voidwalker quest patterns I spent quite a bit of effort figuring out a good questpattern in Tirisfal Glades that avoids the areas for Voidwalker quest until I hit level 10. The point of this is that you should only run once to the area where you get your Voidwalker, thus reducing some traveltime. So save up the quest in proximity to the Voidwalker quest and then hit them all once you get level 10 and are on your classquest. I dont know if this is doable / as smooth in Alliance zones, but in Tirisfal its 100% possible to make a good questingpattern for it. (I did not know gnomes lack their own Voidwalker quest, I find this straight up racist of course! It should be enough punishment being vertically impaired.) Mobtagging in crowded starting zones One of the main disadvantages of being a Warlock early on is that your mobtagging sucks. BUT since you armor spell actually outheal some mobs dmg you can just go up and melee mobs to tag them. After you got the tag, your engage in aggro juggling with your Imp buddy and win. Emphasize important spells and their new ranks I’m mostly thinking of lifetap here. At least as Undead you can reach level 6 in the 1-5 zone and thus learn lifetap before you set out in the big world. Level 16 is next Lifetap and aligns conviniently with the talents, getting next rank of lifetap and the two talentpoint is a big deal and dropping by your class trainer at 16 should be a high priority.

[@StaysafeTV]

Cheers for the comment, going to pin this so others can read through it !

[@weeabooshunter4759]

only played undead starting zone? what a scrub

[@Regunes]

Weeaboos Hunter try to play undead zone with a class relying on fear

[@foxmulder8955]

with void walker aggro play, fear, life tap, life drain, pet heal and a decent spirit stat warlock can fight a never ending war with always 3 or 4 mobs aggroed simultaneously, tho it requires quite a bit of apms and running around. It's pretty intense

[@anticoomer]

This is about the most extra unnecessary shit I have ever seen lol

[@WorgenatorWoW]

Been practicing speed talking too?

[@cazabrow1967]

I'd probably name this the warlock FAST leveling guide. Recommended for vets who didn't go into the specific itemization rather than people who wanna enjoy the bulk of Classic. I've done it before on Light's Hope but i'll enjoy it more on official servers - building professions, making gold and having it when upgrades are most optimal than having far less gold and no skills to rely on before 60.

[@HamsterWheelGaming]

Very informative and well constructed guide, keep up the good work!

[@bobbykotick1163]

shill

[@ericcorso]

This was a cool watch simply because it offered a unique take on playing the game, which is why Classic WoW is so amazing. Personally, I choose SP>Stam>Int>Spr. For me, using a wand is almost always preferable over Shadowbolt. Unless you just received a new rank and have an older wand, or during certain overpulls/elite fights. It might take a couple seconds more to kill a mob, but depending on the level of wand/rank of Shadowbolt, it might be faster. And it is going to help your VW hold aggro longer and keep your mana higher. I find that drain life between life taps and prioritizing life tapping while running between mobs reduces downtime greatly. These reasons, combined with HP as a cushion for world PvP encounters, won't have me switching to spirit stacking. But, I can see how never having to drink or eat would be an effective way to speed level.

[@squaw5488]

Hi Staysafe, great vid! If I could make a small suggestion: Your macro will always make your vw follow you, even if you are trying to drain soul a feared mob while your vw is building agro on another dotted mob. You could modify it so that your vw only follows you when you are both targeting the same mob: /script if UnitExists("pettarget") and UnitIsUnit("target", "pettarget") then PetFollow("YOURNAMEHERE") end; /cast Drain Soul(Rank 1)

[@crushjobmedia1451]

I was wondering about this, thanks!

[@cerrajeromental6484]

Thanks dude!!

[@mkmac909]

Many people say to use talent builds like this but I just never found it useful because on populated servers like Nost was and later when I played lock again on Kronos there is just so much PvP. Go deep demo for soul link after 9 points in affliction for corruption (5), Suppression (2), Life tap (2). then after you get soul link go back to affliction. another one is to start with 7 points affliction and have a 0.8sec corruption while no pvp around and then go demo until level 26, put 2 points in corruption to get 5/5 and then at level 29 you get fel dom. you will be into pvp zones now and it really helps. put 6 more points into demo to get master summoner and then spend all the rest of your points going into affliction until 60. If you think you are going to be able to farm mobs freely with max up time regening mana you are mistaken. stack stam above all. people like to gank warlocks because they are so squishy and easy at low levels. you dont get death coil until 51 ish. people get surprised when you use 2 or 3 void walker shields during a fight +health stone +bandage

[@WeallAreAdults]

true, but if you are fast and ahead of the pack i'd suggest going afflic with dark pact for mass chain pulling, if you slack then go demo for wpvp

[@ChairmanMeow1]

totally agree with this. I feel like guides like this assume you are playing on a pve server almost. soul link is invaluable on pvp servers, its the most important talent even imo.

[@jaednhowlar2359]

I played a human warlock (im sorry) when i first started playing wow, it was perhaps my 3rd character to 60, and I agree with the spirit. it was the first class that opened my eyes to power grinding, and i found myself without half the quests done and going faster than any class before.

[@tylerdurden8191]

Brilliant pet trick for pulling desired mob from group, (not all classes can do this) Excellent guide. Thanks for making the video!!

[@damagepy]

I never used spirit in vanilla, went for shadow damage, and with stamina as stat. Never used improved drainsoul. I sent pet, dot up then drainlife which draws agro but mob dies before reaching me. then lifetap while getting next monster and drainlife always charge my health up even if I had 25% and can draintank 2-3 mob without losing hp while they are dotted, 40+ doesnt even need void, I use imp as passive just to darkpact, I can tank alone, high hp and lots drain also helps if got ganked... when multidotting I always start with siphon life... and I never use wand, faster kills with sb and drainlife :) Also I never skip profs, making shadoweave set and later felcloth items is a big help.

[@jeremywright5036]

Well obviously you have to stop and make shadow weave set to get your spell damage, but is doing this the FASTEST way to get to lvl 60? I don't think so.

[@damagepy]

@@jeremywright5036 making the set is only a few minute (patterns are learnable from trainer in Stormwind). At around level 37 I usually went to northwest dustwallow marsh to the spider cave (36-39 mobs) and farmed shadow silks for almost an entire level, also nice money from gray drops plus lots white spider meat which gives 12 stamina food later. No time or XP lost. Also around 40 I just farmed trolls at hinterland for cloth and wildvine for the dreamveawe gloves (and swamp of sorrow monsters for heart of the wild)

[@WeallAreAdults]

Staysafe sucks with warlocks really... you only need 3/5 surpression, 0/2 drain soul, you want siphon life asap and dark pact with felhunter for chain pulling or imp . so much mis info

[@damagepy]

@@WeallAreAdultsYe I did that but used void (passive, all skill off) for mana sucking and for sacrifice if I get ganked or in trouble. Chainpulling, no downtime, dots, drain, repeat... :)

[@dominiciacano9789]

Vxtra I read void tanking + sb/wand on every forum, but I am in 100% agreement with you. I am glad I am not the only one.

[@scpWyatt]

Why get demonic embrace if it increases Stam but at a cost of spirit? With your guide, you say spirit is best, so why pick the talent that reduces it?

[@Bloodinhoo]

Negligible downside compared to 15% stamina.

[@Kikeron]

Thanks for your effort. Please let me give some input and my own tips. 1. If you say spirit is that important, take 3/5 Embrace and 2/2 imp HS. 2. Do not underestimate Fel Intellect. VW runs out of mana easily. 3. I think 3/5 suppression might be enough at start. You can fill it up later if you need the points to go lower. 4. I suggest Necrosis. It has a nice shard management feature to delete excess shards. There is a macro for this as well but I don't have it handy now. Thanks again!

[@WeallAreAdults]

Fuck spirit, you go for siphon life and dark pact first spirit is out of the question all you want is stamina and intellect, Man up and drain tank 10+ mobs without downtime.

[@tylerace7306]

Great video, great tips. Consider updating in light of your new info you've obtained from beta access. Example exp in instances is much better in classic than in Pservers. And professions can be leveled when going over a boat ride for example. Or waiting for the tank in instance entrance. You can work mat farming into your leveling route for drop you will know you need. Spider silk. Etc. If you are not going for server first... You can still level faster than 95% of other players and have decent quality of life and helpful to your server's health as a whole by leveling tailoring and being available to make bags for cheap in AH

[@wythore]

I've put together both your macro and the one on the Nostalrius Warlock leveling guide. /cast Drain Soul(Rank 1) /run local a=GetBagName(4); if a=="Core Felcloth Bag" or a=="Soul Pouch" or a=="Box of Souls" or a=="Small Soul Pouch" then PickupContainerItem(4,GetContainerNumSlots(4)) DeleteCursorItem() else end /run PetFollow(); With this, not only do you use the method Staysafe explains here, to trigger the Drain Soul mana proc, but also deletes (when full), the rightmost item on the leftmost of your bags (use this only when you're using any type of Soul Pouch); in other words, when your Soul Pouch is full of Soul Shards, it will delete the last shard on that bag, thus freeing 1 space which will be occupied by the newly created Soul Shard when you use this macro. This way, you will constantly have your soul pouch full of shards, and no extra ones will be sent to your regular bags :)

[@SebKrogh]

In classic it seems VW does so much less threat that even with imp VW, using him to level seems like a bad idea, as you will have threat 98% of the time anyway - so might as well go with a high dmg pet? Drain tank?

Interesting build. When i leveled my warlock at the end of vanilla I instead went with a drain-life emphasized build where i used succ for dps&mana battery since vw couldnt hold aggro for shit. To my memory it worked really well (grinding most of the way to 60 by multidotting), but I was pretty bad back then so who knows.

[@WeallAreAdults]

that is the best way to level a lock, or with felhunter for mana battery.. this guy does not know what he is talking about. and pro warlocks go demo/destro because of wpvp ;)

[@RashieHunTeR]

Woah a youtube vid from Staysafe, this is bonkerz!

[@StaysafeTV]

EXPECT MANY MORE ! :D

[@abdulkek4821]

finally the only really good vanilla content creator is going ham. You and ofc that iolwtf

[@Alexandros.Mograine]

why skip skinning? it always stays up with your lvl and makes you alot of gold on the way

[@ausrus]

Hardly matters, but suppression should be picked up before imp life tap since your low ranks of life tap are so small 20% doesn't really matter.

[@socharis4760]

Helpful tip/trick when it comes to professions. Yes, I agree not to level them till max level, but pay the 9c and get herbalism for the the Track Herbs. There are a lot of quests that this helps you with all the way to 60.

[@327ish]

Thanks again for more info for classic lock staysafe. Haven't played my lock since vanilla and can't wait to make another, but honestly I forget most of the shit I learned back then haha

[@Mattallica13526]

In all the time I’ve played warlock I’ve never peeled my pet off while using drain soul and it still triggers the effect

[@TRicKyDicKy93]

In my experience, improved Drain Soul isn't worth it. You will have infinitely better grinding sustain by going 5/5 Improved Drain Life. Just use this rotation: CoA > Corruption > Siphon Life > Life Tap > Drain Life > Life Tap > Wand. You are Life Tapping twice per monster but only suffer the GCD of one Life Tap because you can instantly go into wand attacks without waiting for the GCD of the second Life Tap. You can also substitute the wand attacks with Nightfall SB procs when applicable. With this method you will never go below 80% HP or MP on single monster grinding. I grinded 38-40 in Swamp of Sorrows with this method and only ate/drank once because i pulled like 7 mobs. I've used the exact build in this video and when I dropped improved Drain Soul & CoA for Improved Drain Life the difference was night and day. An an added bonus is you don't have the pain of the excess soul shards :)

[@Priam66]

My advice, once you are lvl5/6 get a wand, after that get a new wand every 8-10 lvls. Rotation: Corruption then Immolation then wand to death. Rinse and Repeat

[@foxmulder8955]

i used to always be in combat with 3 to 4 mobs when leveling warlock. With ccs and pet management warlock can be insane in solo leveling, with life tap and life drain and a lot of running around to keep your health and mana positive. It is actually more intense than 1v1 pvp with decent gear (apply dots on enemy, sacrifice your pet if needed, win).

[@jujucasar2003]

Very informative but im pretty sure having 3/3 agony for lvling is worth it u generally get most of agonys duration in the mid lvls. Can prob just swap out 2 pts in exhaustion for it. Also i think at lvl 60 getting demonic sacrifice 30-21-0 so u can sac a pet for dungeons but keep the void for for questing would be optimal as well.

[@veng3r663]

I just got a new Gnome double-theme character Warlock up to Level 11 without using any attack spells. She didn't get her first Imp until Level 6 over on the Human newbie area side and she's NEVER died either so far. :)

[@lucianosimmons3003]

great guide man. TY for your time, energy adn effort. much appreciated and helpful for new locks for classic... now if you have any help for these 6 hours queues that'd be even more helpful lol.

[@Teristar1]

This is awesome! I can’t wait to prescribe speed levelling now

[@user-ng3zu5kh9p]

As warlock player i was doing tailoring every level, so when i hit 70 lvl in Burning Crusade, i was max tailor and i realy enjoyed all the wasted time, it was awesome, yes i didnt lvl up faster but i Explored and enjoyed every single moment, so enjoy lvling with profession guys, dont be hurry to hit 70, cuzz youll be usseles

[@fittiskogen]

Денислав Методиев its lvl 60 now mate

[@brucekentallen]

Before elysium launch, I tested some builds on k2, I used the imp Mana battery build with dark pact and didn't go deep into demo tree, it was pretty good. On Ely, I didn't rely on the void that much since it can't hold aggro anyway, and stamina was my primary stats, I could dot entire packs and drain their lifes all at once, and my 1 to 60 time was pretty great considering I couldn't rush ahead of the "pack" b/c IRL issues but still, I like tinkering with shit like this and I'll definitely try your spirit/void memery

[@DaweMannen]

I would like to see you doing a speedrun, 1-60 just speed up and maybe have a talk over of things to think about in diffrent areas and quests :)

[@WeallAreAdults]

he won't be fast with this build... no dark pact and he rolls with spirit gear lmao. you want high stamina above all then intellect, Always go for siphon life and darkpact first then demo. you are a god with darkpact. and if on pvp server you roll demo / destro spec to not get ganked 24/7

[@anjunzhouJack]

@@WeallAreAdults dark pact.... you are joking right.

[@ilikevidzz]

Good to see you back m8. It's been a while since you posted some WoW vids

[@britneyspheres7yearsago11]

I never really took aggro from my voidwalker. Rather, the void spamming his taunt made him go out of mana which sucks. So I manually started taunting. It is annoying because sometimes I have to manually taunt every creature I came in contact with. But it means my void never runs out of mana to heal itself. The talent which makes taunt better seems bad (if you actually spam taunt). The other thing I wanted to mention is IMPROVED DRAIN SOUL. Make sure to get a macro that removes the unwanted soul shards from your bag. There was a time when I had to manually delete a shard as part of my rotation ;-) in Deadmines.

[@Williaem00]

I've been leveling on Kronos full demonology . Just hit level 30. Demo is nice because voidwalker is very strong and I bring out a new minion quickly .and if shit hits the fan, fel dominiation saves your life . Sacrifice as well

[@Keyfromtheend]

Great video! Hopefully you will make more warlock based vanilla guides. Either way I've subscribed.

[@suhail1200]

Forgot the main thing , choose orc or undead if u want to pvp.

[@ForumcoldiArchon]

Orc one is actually not working in vanilla wow unles the pservers fixed it. It got fixed with either mid bc or even wotlk. It’s a dead stat as you don’t resist stuns at all.

[@mikenassar9444]

Appreciate the guide was very helpful! Can I ask what debuff timers you are using? I am having a hard time finding anything reliable in that category. Thank you!

[@OrcBit]

Great guide!

[@rajyjeske2504]

When i level I never buy gear i just use what i find and on my rogue i usually just go for the item with highest agility, then stamina. At one point in the mid 40s i realized most of my gear was high agility/spirit and i was regenerating all my hp between pulls. Only time i ever had to eat was when i accidentally pulled more mobs than i meant to.I sort of fell in love with spirit, I was told its a meme but i think its very much underestimated. Funnily enough i was theory crafting up a warlock leveling spec and thought about using imp drain soul and stacking spirit. Then half hour later i find this video. I was expecting you to talk about a demo/ruin spec or something. Still not sure if this video is a joke but i want to try it.

[@multiestonian]

Thank you for this guide, helps me out alot. Will def recommend this video to my fellow beginner warlocks. ;)

[@KullSSBM]

I disagree w/ not taking skinning / enchanting when you're leveling. I think the only concern would be skinning/disenchanting taking your inv space, but thats going to be made up for with good money you make on the auction house with a bank alt later on. Despite that, I'm curious about your reasons on not taking these professions in particular. Great guide!

[@Riecheck]

Damn great video. Wish there was a video like this for warrior! =)

[@G315HA]

6:00 OMG that is Chibiusa!

[@Henry-ij7rd]

I used to call the leash kill thing "mob fishing" I would pull them out of s group with a spell and take them to where I could kill them easier

[@fb6248]

I wish I would have seen this guide instead of listening to my friends. I said spirit was a great stat to begin with to level and everyone told me intellect and stam. I never cared to think about using the drain soul talent because i was worked up in how i would build end game that I didn't think how easy it would be to just pull off pet before killing. The VW talents would have been so insanely good. If you are going to play a warlock in vanilla ever, listen to this guy, most other build guides seem like someone who played too long ago to remember.

[@kimsandmoen4657]

Good guide man! Appreciate your opinions!

[@killval849]

A genuine question. Why is improved drain soul so important if you are literally just sending voidwalker in, corruption mob, then wand? Like by the time you finish wanding you should have full mana since you literally only cast corruption right? So why is there such an emphasis on spirit and drain soul when you literally cast 1 spell 98% of the time? I only leveled a Warlock to like 44 or so on classic but I really only used drain soul when I needed soul shards, never every mob to get that proc that improves mana regen.

[@WeallAreAdults]

it isen't usefull.. his spec sucks really. You don't need 5/5 (only 3) surpression, you don't need amplify curse, and def not imp drain soul. You want siphon life and dark pact then you go to demo, or after siphon life go for the demo HP talent then straight to dark pact. the moment you dot more then 4 mobs you become a god and you can't die unless you afk

[@killval849]

YESSS^^^ this is the way I go, I do get amp curse though for PvP encounters and the like.

[@Dedrohauf]

Awesome stuff! Perfect timing for me

[@scottcavill4807]

I'm just going to take my time and enjoy the game

[@soul_vicex]

Succubus quest also rewards you with a soul shard bag!

[@serkan9970]

you say spirit is top and stamina is bottom on prio, then why do you take the -spirit +hp talent from demon?

[@andreberg8606]

the tradeoff is minor

[@Slippils]

A spirit-stacking build should do 2/2 Imp. Healthstone when going down Demo tree and only 3/5 Demonic Embrace. It still cuts your spirit a bit, but is better than Improved Imp and you really just need 5 points to get down the tree. Or don't stack spirit at all, look at how the class's mechanics work together then realize you should stack stamina instead.

[@Henry-ij7rd]

Nice guide easily understandable and relevant thanks

[@perwiratempur]

Can't wait for classic!

[@MattMorrisINTP]

Vanilla WoW player here... 2 words: Drain Tank

[@WeallAreAdults]

yeah he doesn't know what he's talking about :D

[@Miley_00]

@@WeallAreAdults what do u mean?

[@russelladams9147]

This is an great guide - unfortunately, Light's Hope Northdale with 8-12 k population, means most questing is pointless. Any chance you have a grinding guide? ty

[@leglonglon]

Thanks for this very insightful and comprehensive guide. I'd like to have some fun in world pvp while leveling. Is there a leveling spec that is decent for both pve/pvp ? Would be awesome if you could share some basic strategies for low lvl pvp. Thanks in advance for your reply.

[@TheBeardbeard]

the spec hes giving you in this would be ideal for that as well, since its primarily aff which is the best spec for just about everything

[@angell1387]

I have been playing Warlock for a long time now and i have to say stacking stamina is the way to go db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#IV0iVRboZ0xh is the talent build i always used from 1-40+. the rest is all up to you nothing would really matter unless u are trying to get Fel domination/Master summoner. Life tap siphon and drain life is key you can tank up to 5 mobs your level just because of the insane healing you get, your a tank This build even helps a lot in pvp since u have twice the hp anyone has at your level all you would do is dot drain life and wait for that juicy nightfall proc. and encase of failure void sac and health stone. On the side note you should be leveling First Aid seriously needed for no downtime. And as a tip if money is an issue just get lots of lower tier food/hp per sec or look for a mage its not about being cheap but to be efficient and comboing Drain life and life tap you can go on for several pulls one after another it wont matter cus for every mob u kill u life tap dot and drain life.

[@Hecto_Pascal]

If spirit is so important, than why invest 5 talent points only to reduce it by 5%? the 15% stamina shouldnt be that good regarding its your last wanted stat (prioritywise).

[@ivanl.8715]

Life tap > spirit

[@mola4everyourz]

I really hope they will make soul shards stack at least 5-10 per stack. This would tip the odds of me playing lock.

[@Pukwudgie_Surprise]

Spirit is useless unless you're waiting out of battle for Regen.

[@gizmo3846]

Seeing as this is a speed leveling guide, spirit is going to reduce your downtime by increasing your regen.

[@urbanemordant4414]

Lol if you're a carebear this is good advice. Real warlocks play on pvp servers. Thus they never use a voidwalker, after they get a succubus. Kite everything with dots and drain life when necessary. 5/5 uninterupted channeling is a must.

[@urbanemordant4414]

@@mejin831 seriously? I said it was good advice for a pve server. Then I spewed some bs about "real warlocks". There are no real warlocks. It's just a game. However I was trying to help as well. If you're leveling a lock on a pvp server, some of his advice is bad. Like not going through the succubus quest or the felhunter quest. If you don't have a succubus out and hidden, you will get destroyed by rogues. Seduce will save your skin. I learned that the hard way in vanilla. I would love to see him do a video about how to level on a pvp server. I watched the entire video, it brought up some interesting ideas. I think he did a good job, I just wish he would've pointed out that this plan isn't the one you want to follow on a pvp server.

[@frazerrhughess]

Hey SS I have a question. I am leveling a vanilla lock right now, I’ve yet to cap anything since I started a week ago, and I’ve tried most classes. Am I enjoying the lock so much bc it’s leveling is so much more effective than other classes? And is playing a lock at cap feel way different than it does leveling them? Thanks for your content big fan!

[@CaffeineInjected]

so if the voidwalker is starting to have threat issues at 20 why wait until then to get imp void ?

[@Migemat]

I think a lot of things are innacurate in here or not at all optimal for speed levelling up to level 60. putting points in life tap before improved drain soul is a mistake, your gold flow probably wont allow you to drink and eat up all the time and the dungeons youre running healers often dont have the mana pool yet in their levelling specc to keep you up while life tapping. I'proved drain soul is always the choice here as it keeps you going while levelling without downtime. Also near the end going further down into demonology after the voidwalker talents while consistently neglecting your base ability in dungeon runs is kinda weird: put 10 points into destruction to increase sb damage and reduce casting time and it will greatly increase your dos, even while levelling. Since siphon life is such a mana draining spell and only gives back the health pretty slowly I wouldnt make it a priority after getting nightfall and head into the destruction tree for 10 points. by then you will start running dungeons like zul farak , maraudon, possibly ST if you want to and not having to rely on other classes to do the actual dps in your run can be quite nice instead of spending all your points further down the demonology tree to eventually get 16% increased pet damage that wont even change the fact that your VW can hold aggro on dotted mobs but start casting shadowbolts and after 1 or 2 hits youll over aggro your VW. if you want to do fast levelling at all you shouldnt do quests that are more than 2 levels above anyways unless youre in a group where things like the reduced resist wont latter that much, i much rather but 3 points into that, 2 points into drained soul and leave life tap and the remaining 2 points like they are so you can get to your imp VW and shadowbolt points faster.

[@leglonglon]

Interesting read, ty bro.

[@ZanathKariashi]

Warlocks don't eat or drink. They Bandage. 1-5 is the last time a Warlock ever touches food or water to his lips that isn't a Buff-food.

[@Migemat]

That is if you're not levelling tailoring for your dreamweave/shadoweave items later on, otherwise you'll need all the cloth you can get for levelling tailoring

[@Kikeron]

I think if you want to level fast you should not do dungeons. Maybe only ZF or the ones from 50 and on. So, having faster SB is not that useful.

[@Regunes]

Neglecting Life tap uppgrade is a mistake. Every 5 life tap, tell yourself you lost an additionnal mana gain, especially with rank2 kicking in at lv16. I think i would do 3 corru, 2 Suppress, 2 life tap, 2 soul link, 1 suppress and 5corru before demonology About shadowbolt... meh If your party need burst, use searing pain. The tank will handle pretty well if you re cautious

[@Liberty-or-Death-1776]

How would this guide change if you intend to "drain tank" rather than let your pet tank? If you Siphon Life on multiple mobs do they all heal (the more you curse the more healing you get?), is Siphon Life enough to rely on and use Drain Life only as a "just in case" skill? If you drain tank two or three at a time with your pet just doing damage would you still prefer voidwalker or a different pet?

[@Wonderchills]

Great video as usual Staysafe! As a warlock main I never even consider the dramatic effect that spirit has on DS - awesome tip, cheers!

[@theXops9]

This is how you lvl a warlock slowly my advice go 5/5 corup then 3/5 supress then full destro until you hit ruins the. Back to afflic this will make you wayyy more viable to wpvp

[@jujucasar2003]

In your more recent stream june 29 2019, you were leveling with the imp till lvl 40. Is this because even with improved void ur pet doesn't hold aggro much so just getting ur points in affliction sooner and just pumping dmg to 1 mob and fearing a 2nd (if another aggros) would be more optimal?

[@andrejcagalj4089]

Why people always want to rush? Biggest reason i cant wait for classic is because of the jurney. I hate retail because everything you do before max lvl dont matter, and classic is not that. But that is just me. Man who like to enjoy in games

[@foxmulder8955]

vanilla wow can't be "rushed" by today's games standards. Even with the fastest methods everything is still very slow and you will be running around half of your game time.

[@wwecollin]

very good video. thanks alot!

[@auhocix]

Playing in x0.75

[@Knif3Point]

Great video thank you!

[@ruiolavo2426]

about the improved drain soul. I'm also practicing for Classic Wow, and Improved Drain Soul does not work most of the time, even with killing blow. In your video, i can see it didn't work aswell. I understood till now, when my bag is full and there is no space for the Soul Shard, it won't proc, but i didn't understand yet the other times it doesn't proc, if it is 100% chance to it. So, if you know anything about it, appreciate it. Also, great guide, thanks.

[@senismarsenis9678]

Zzzz..

[@ArkOvu]

not sure whether to role a hunter, warlock, or rogue first. I'm swaying towards starting with hunter

[@jimminielsen3107]

Exhaustion will be 45% not 75% if i am not mistaken.

[@chrisness]

I’m curious do you think gathering professions is a waste of time for non-warlocks who don’t get a free mount? Will I have enough gold from quests to buy mount without professions? ‬

Just curious.. What are we sopposaed to stay safe from?

[@dasse1588]

That example you did. Do you think that'll be possible in retail classic? Or is that like a private server thing. 8:00

[@andrei281193]

I'm leveling a Warlock on Light's hope and I saw a lot of people saying spirit is bad and that Curse of Agony isn't worth 3/3. Can we get on common ground or can someone suggest another guide for Warlock leveling on vanilla? Please help a newbie :D

[@slanwallander9087]

Though I don't disagree with what is the logic of your guide you take the fun out of the levelling process . Best advice to any new player just have fun and learn ,explore ...don't get too serious .

[@anonymousjeffry1864]

Spirit for warlocks? What about Lifetap and Drain Life?

[@foxmulder8955]

You still use those but spirit reduces the need to life tap

[@Regunes]

Septical about the spirit stat, even your fel stamina says so, Warlock need stamina for leveling but maybe it s just me not understanding the stat spirit. About picking 5/5 corru from the beginning, it s better to only get 3 since its primal use in pve is to not throw away a gcd for it. I would wait until "elite quest" where mobility is really relevant to pick the 5/5. The curse of exaustion is an interesing pick... and even if this curse is almost worthless at lv60, it can have it uses earlier on for leveling. But considering curse of exaustion comes at the cost of Curse of agony and improved curse of agony, i still doubt of its utility. This aside, it is a strong guide, would have been better with a "leveling plan" linked to it (ex dun morogh 1-12, Westfall 12-?? Etc)

[@Regunes]

Also Hit% is a tremendously good stat, but having +6hit% at level 16/18 is far enought.

[@PaRaNoYaization]

skip quests, professions? faster? Guys this game is awesome enjoy it and don't be hurry up

[@krispyish1598]

PaRaNoYaization yeah but when you've already done it, and or don't like leveling it is good to find a faster way.

[@MalonzeProductionsGaming]

Krispyish ive leveled 3 toons back in van. And 4 in van private servers. I still rather enjoy the leveling since its 50% of the game. It IS the game. End game is just a bonus. Just like any other game, if you have unfinished parts you feel compelled to try to do them. If you rush and do it all, then what else is there? Thats what made van and bc great cause very very few actually finished everything. So the majority of people always felt they could keep going higher and keep progressing

[@TheRdamterror]

when he is 60 he wil have to go back and do al that lowlevel stuff haha

[@Justaguyyoutubin]

He specifically outlines his assumption, that you are using his guide TO level faster. If you are not, then move on. This guide isnt for you. If he outlined that the guide was for "Silly Fun with Friends for Screenshots and RPing", I would simply move on and not leave a comment.

[@Steve-ze3kl]

Justaguyyoutubin 0:33

[@johnver9245]

Siphon life can be applied while an other of your curses is present on the target? For example you can apply siphon life and curse of agony at the same target?

[@rkocourek1977]

disagree on skipping gathering. skinning should be grabbed because you're killing things anyways and vendoring leather is much easier to earn gold to buy bags which you will DEF need.

[@nasarharis5453]

The best warlock lvling guide so far

[@VirusVanquisher]

Anyone who is using drain soul is NOT using a wand properly! Abuse the 5 second rule and you will see that drain soul is worthless outside of getting a soul shard. Insta dot 5/5 corruption, then CoA followed by wand till mob is dead. Mana will NEVER be an issue and throughout the leveling experience wand does more dps than all your spells.

[@i_boole6639]

I'm pretty sure that improved drain soul is better than supprestion or improved lift tap

[@Neonsilver13]

Improved drain soul is useless, you will always be quicker by just lifetaping a few times than relying in anyway on spirit based mana regeneration. In fact spirit is only usefull for mana regeneration in battle, if you can get out of the 5 second rule. Something a dd won't do. If you are low on health/mana just carefully pull a single enemy and kill it mainly with drain and siphon life. A skilled warlock won't have any downtime between fights at all, because he is using his enemies to regenerate himself. They can use the healthstone as well, since the cooldown is short and the warlock can conjure them it's perfectly valid to use them instead of eating food. The points in the void walker aren't very usefull as well, you will draw aggro anyway, however unless you pull an enemy that is either an elite or a few levels higher than you, the enemies will most of the time die about the same time you pull aggro. If the enemy is stronger it is a lot more effective to just use fear on them. The same goes for the curse of exhaustion, fear or succubus seduction (if you don't put a dot on the enemy) serves the same purpose of getting distance to the enemy. Something I only realized at level 60 in classic is that the warlock can kill multiple enemies at the same time quite easily with his dots. Pull one, put curse of agony, corruption and siphon life on it, than pull the next and do the same. Once you have a few (have to experiment in regards of equipment and enemy strength). Finish them off with drain life and the occasional instant shadowbolt due to the high chance of nightfall procs. If done right you won't even lose much if any health during the fight and if you run out of mana you can regenerate with siphon life + drain life while pulling a single enemy.

[@flawbertrobert]

Your last paragraph is what made me raise my eyebrow at this video - that is exactly how I leveled my 1 warlock I made, dotting everything at the same time and surviving through drain tanking. IDK, I've never tried to speed level though and have only trekked to 60 once with a warlock so as wrong as I feel about the efficiency of this guide it's hard for me to be certain...

[@brucekentallen]

Neonsilver13 you've perfectly described my leveling experience, I've had a blast just dotting everything and draining life and using sb procs

[@Bloodinhoo]

Funny. How did you guys level prior to Darkpact/Nightfall then? Because all i'm seeing is mention to deep afflitalents. You DON'T lifetap away before level 30, because you don't have the spellpower for a draintank build. You use Imp. Drain Soul because you need the mana back for non-stop killing, and if you lifetap, you waste time sitting for food or bandage. Then, you end up ganked and well, you died.

[@Neonsilver13]

First and foremost, I never played on a pvp server. That is something I probably should have mentioned. Without the risk of being ganked you can obviously play a little more risky and without that risk you can easily walk around without getting to 100% health/mana after each battle. I'm pretty sure bandaging would be about as time efficient as waiting for mana regenerating through drain soul. I also wrote that you would have to experiment with the amount of enemies you can handle for that sort of playstyle. Not sure why you even mention Darkpact, the pets as mana batteries is even more useless due to them having a limited amount, no good way of replenishing their mana, you getting a rather low amount of mana from them and making the pets completely useless and siphon life isn't that deep in the affliction tree either, you can have it at 30. However here a more save playstyle. It should work well on a pve server, I never played on a pvp one so I'm not making any claims for that one. Try to get only single enemies at a time. Pull the enemy with Immolate and send your voidwalker to him. If there isn't a risk of the walker pulling more enemies you may send the walker in first. Then put corruption and curse of agony on the enemy and continue with shadowbolts. By the time you get aggro, he should be already almost dead and in a pinch you could carefully use fear. If you use fear be ready to cast curse of recklessness to prevent it from pulling more enemies. Once dead use lifetap one or two times and repeat. If your health gets low kill a few enemies with using drain life instead of shadowbolts or use bandages, healthstone or food. On higher levels you can use siphon life and deathcoil to regenerate health as well. This should work without improved drain soul and without improved voidwalker. If you have skilled it, it might be usefull to use curse of exhaustion and keep the enemy in fear. But I don't have any experience with it, since I never used it. For elite enemies you could send you voidwalker in and then focus on keeping it alive and only use one or two dots. It takes some time but should work with most of them. However if you have the room just keep them in fear.

[@WeallAreAdults]

The moment you get siphon life you shouldn't rely on voidwalker at all! ,either you sacrifice him when chain dotting mobs, or you use the imp for extra HP, you ALWAYS go straight for siphon life. You don't need improved drain soul. you don't need 5/5 surpression only 3. You need 3/3 agony You don't need amp curse Just go down to dark pact, the moment you have this you'll want felhunter!!!!!! the more mobs you dot the easier it gets and dark pacting means endless chain dotting, you can go insane with this even up to 15+ mobs if you choose to use void instead of felhunter then you go to demo, for the last levels. And if you really want to be pro go straight Ruin spec it'll save your but in wpvp

[@jeffroden4129]

Ok. I've been leveling warlocks since day 1 of WOW. Some things you say are correct. But you are WAY off thinking your build is the fastest. Destrustion till around level 35 or so. At that point using spell damage and stamina you can go affliction siphon life build. IF your smart you go for humanoids 3-5 levels lower than you and you can kill them non stop. and I meen run as fast as you can with your 3 DOT's on each one non stop. This is unbeatable by any class. Ive done this for years. people freak out of how fast I level. It's a shame it has not caught on to this. NO class can out level this build oeriod. It's not easy and will take time to figure out. I guess i'm gonna have to make a video on it. Check it out

[@himalaYAK1983]

So do you do any quests at all or really *only* kill mobs that are 3-5 levels below you all the way from level 35 to 60?

[@karmsander]

But why not get gathering professions like skinning and herb while leveling

[@1fetoch1ful]

If i make a gnome warlock and then run to elwynn forest to level there instead, will there be any problems with my warlock trainers/quests etc? Thanks for some good content!

[@fittiskogen]

1fetoch1ful no my good sir

[@o0TraceuR0o]

What about a build for leveling but also keeping in mind that I wanna pvp while lvling

[@Roofhack]

If Spirit is so important, then why Demonic Embrace (which lowers it)? Or at least only keep it to 3/5?

[@tigga1231]

Roofhack my thought exactly, lol. You out first 5 points in demonology to increase stem and lose spirit, then say stam/int is less valuable than spirit.. locks have no talents boosting regen during fights or between based on spirit, unless you're standing around waiting for 5 sec rule to kick in. Just silly

[@ZanathKariashi]

Spirit is only important if you're running Improved Drain Soul. You can do without it but it requires a Bandage build to make up for it since you bandage to refill the health you're spending to life-tap back to full. (Eating and Drinking is simply too slow compared to Tapping + Bandaging). the ISD build is better if you're running a Tailor, since you'll be hurting on cloth until you skill out of 1 so the other can have full access to it. But Bandage spec needs to rush for heavy wool+, Linen to wool bandages are extremely weak on healing. if they do progressive patches, then tailoring is weaker as most of the good stuff is end-game, where as a lot of nice tailorables while leveling most people think of from 1.12.1 servers don't exist or are significantly weaker.

[@Cri11e]

Doesn't your voidwalker get a hp % based on your own hp? Only reason I can think of.

[@tylerdurden8191]

you have to put 5 points somewhere, and by it's very description it is a 'trade off' you lose this but gain this other thing. Very few talents in any class or spec take away. it's a strange talent no matter how you slice it.. but according to his video his reason is primarily to have that 'survivability' of sacrifice void. And for those of us on a PvP server that void sacrifice is king!! even so it seems like it would make sense for improved health stone /2 and skip imp (not used according to this guide) and only /3 for Demonic Embrace

[@mattrandall9577]

Because this guy is a fool that’s why lol

[@pompeet3932]

nightfall does not proc from siphon life

[@attackfinch8397]

Awesome guide, can't wait o level a warlock come Classic!

[@billyumbraskey8135]

nightfall doesnt proc off siphon life... it procs from drain life.

[@metermaide1726]

Keep Yourself Safe :)

[@jeffessondiniz4379]

Very well bro, like 👏👏👏