WoW TBC Warlock: A Quick Meta Guide

[@glorrin]

Does immolate realy help that much ? when I was playing a warlock in late t4 early t5 most of my gear was +shadow damage, is immolate still worth the gcd ?

[@KnotxD]

Hey! When I first looked into this myself, I was a little surprised also. But from what I understand, due to the higher base damage and shorter cast time, Immolate is pretty efficient and often optimal to maintain. However, later in the gearing process, it falls off as you get more spell power generally - again Shadowbolt just scaling way too well. That said, I would assume if you were say mostly Frozen Shadoweave + the off pieces found in karazhan for example, it may be that it is cut from your 'rotation' sooner. This in hindsight is something I should have mentioned, thanks for contributing this question!

[@MZhao-fl7qm]

just nope , bind your 1-9 key all sbolt

[@KnotxD]

@@MZhao-fl7qm Extra penitence, sounds good.

[@KnotxD]

So I just saw a great breakdown of immolate as Shadow Destro by Fierywind on Kargoz's Dark Portal Podcast. I'd recommend it. Essentially you take points out devastation and put them in improved immolate and take conflag as it's only 1 point and good to cast when forced to move. I'd highly recommend checking out the podcast here: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGTRopuhnbmjY9k

[@glorrin]

@@KnotxD thanks, currently watching it :)

[@jayce5421]

By far the best and clear warlock overview, aswell as accurate statements! Keep going buddy!

[@Sikdomeshot]

I'm so fucking excited for this expansion to come out. TBC was the very first time I played WoW and the nostalgia will be real!!!

[@KnotxD]

Same! I joined super late vanilla and didn't see anything but TBC is full nostalgia mode for me too, I can't wait. Hoping for positive announcements for it at Blizzcon next month!

[@Mo13GoW]

I appreciate that you adjusted for level 70 scaling, nice attention to detail. Great guide once again!

[@Crix_Gaming]

Very well put together Guide. :)

[@bikemellon]

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for - thank you

[@TheLinkHero1]

I really like these guides. Funny and informative.

[@IMZAMORAK]

paladin, prot and holy next. would like to see

[@craigferge4702]

the virgin immolate vs the chad shadow bolt

[@Caperfin]

Forgot to mention Shadow Embrace(affl talent) for tanks. Also, as we learn more about TBC-classic, boss fights intrinsically become shorter(knowledge is power) giving more credence to short cast spells, hell even conflag has its merits in move fights. Do you think we'll reach a point where Fire warlock deals more dps than Sbolt Lock? Something as simple as FlameBuffet(engineering) working properly would've made Fire warlock skyrocket in Classic. Similarly is BlackBook(trinket) if it would've been approached differently in Classic would also bolster Fire warlock dps, it actually might in TBC :)

[@KnotxD]

To be honest, shadowbolt scaling seems a little ridiculous, but I did also hear about the classic things that could have aided fire warlock in classic. It's worth noting that if done properly, the full fire destro build is still pretty strong - more than Affli after the initial stages for example, and is pretty similar to a mage on ST, as far as I can tell but there isn't too many logs of fire warlocks from private servers.

[@seanbailey8545]

Actually from playing many tbc Pserver launches, There is usually a lack of warlocks. It's mostly hunters I find an amass of. Or just melee.

[@peter-szaboerik4287]

Very true man, there will be more on after sime time, but at lauch they are needed everyhwere and there is not enough of em.

[@woopz6010]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Great video mate!

[@tsui1024]

Firelock is actually the theoretical higher single target dps spec with Immolate and Incinerate provided that you have Improved Scorch on the boss.(requires you to go have spellfire set though)

[@KnotxD]

That may be true, I've heard from some locks that FIre+Shadow is perhaps the way to go if tuning is quite easy, as you can ditch some of the more tanky talents that pure shadow usually takes for improved immolate and conflag for DPSing more whilst moving. I'll be very interested to see the post-launch developments of Warlock personally.

[@frankthetank9667]

Would love to see one on survival hunter

[@SargntSagara]

Resto Druid! Resto Shaman! Retri Paladins! Rogues! plssss Keep up with the videos! awesome content

[@imek8283]

great vid dude

[@kevinserrano1623]

Sounds like shadow destro lock with Jewel crafting and enchanting is gonna be it

[@bsho7450]

To mention... Blood Fury in WoW classic is only for melee damage and not spells.

[@cm9334]

It changed for tbc

[@blacksabbath2559]

thanks for the vidéo

[@MrBack1990]

Will lock be overplayed? Resulting in hard to obtain raid spots? Classic right now guilds/raiding dieing for locks. Will TBC be over amount of locks, resulting in being passed up on in the lfg or lf guild channel?

[@KnotxD]

Good question, I am not sure to be honest. On face value, they *should* be overplayed but some people have reported that Hunters are the most popular, with Warlocks not being overpopulated on private servers (see a comment by Sean Bailey on this video). That said, If I were considering warlock, I would at least assume they will be popular. That said, the only class you regularly take more of in 25mans are shamans. So, warlock is probably pretty safe in terms of finding a guild regardless of how popular they are.

[@Capabletango]

“As always %#$& 5’s” lol

[@obszczymucha1337]

I'll summarize Warlock in TBC for y'all: Spam Shadowbolts. gg

[@Kaasbaas1234]

What's the best pet for leveling dungeons and for raids?

[@GLaustra926]

Settle it for me - what horse race am I rolling for a pvp heavy Warlock? The amount of arguing I see of orc or UD is ridiculous.

[@KnotxD]

Honestly, I would always go UD for TBC PvP, there's so many fears to contend with by the most popular comps that it's close to having another trinket. Orc passive is still great but given the nerf from 25 to 15%, I think UD is the play. If in doubt - side with Klimp as a warlock and he plays UD ha.

[@GLaustra926]

@@KnotxD thank you sir appreciate the reply, I like looking at the UD better anyway so you’ve made up my mind

[@jujucasar2003]

You are much better off getting 2/2 grim reach. Improved imp doesnt do enough. Grim reach is way more important and might as well get shadow burn. 43-0-18.

[@AdvancedSquadLeader]

I'm going Undead for looks. Will focus on PvE. I'm a mediocre player. Will forgoing Orc put me way behind?

[@KnotxD]

Nah not way behind, you'll be fine

[@AdvancedSquadLeader]

@@KnotxD the numbers I have suggests a couple %

[@lserranoit]

Why 3 talents on nether protection? Just want to understand.

[@KnotxD]

For difficult encounters it's useful for survival but tbh it's mostly a hangover from the overturned private servers. You'd be best taking improved immolate and conflag instead for classic since the tuning is alot lower.

[@SoliiD]

Ok, but what is the best talent build to lvl?

[@dinospumoni5611]

Would you mind showing where you get these tbc parse leaderboards from. Ty

[@KnotxD]

Legacyplayers.com but they've completely overhauled the site and last I checked it was impossible to get rankings now

[@dinospumoni5611]

@@KnotxD ah gotcha, thanks either way

[@SeanFortress]

Will this be a good choice As first fresh char without any gold and items?

[@KnotxD]

Warlocks are really strong and have quite a few decent farms for gold irrespective of professions, so I think so.

[@KezJUNGLIST]

i had rust open in the background, was that c4 necessary i shit myself

[@vide0gameCaster]

What is the website for the TBC parses please?

[@chei86]

Enhancement Shaman pls

[@MrFree-vj8qj]

The devs were smoking crack when they came up with seed of corruption : dev1: sssss... Hey did you realize rogues have no significant AOE beside a talented long cd? Haha arent they useless in raids? They got the Spriest aoe hahaha Dev2: Shhhhhh... Yeaaaaa... lets give warlocks a third devastating AOE

[@WirRegierenRap]

what prof do i pick for my warlock`?

[@Dzeividz]

Did you even watch the video ffs...

[@WirRegierenRap]

@@Dzeividz sk my dc

[@egoish6762]

Still no mention of human giving more rep in the most rep grindy expansion ever. Difference between races is tiny, but everyone has to grind the reps.

[@KnotxD]

Faster reputation isn't performance, its just quality of life. The value of it is entirely personal, that's why it's not mentioned.

[@egoish6762]

@@KnotxD fair, though if you're amore casual player on ally side you lose less than 1% to be attuned with less effort and have the gear pieces faster. Once we're deep in TBC gnome is a tiny amount of int better but depending on who your target audience is human might be worth considering.

[@KnotxD]

@@egoish6762 For sure, I agree on that front. Alliance side there is a lot to be desired from racials for casters in PvE, so going for your favourite or the ease of life is definitely a strong option.

[@athieshgaming2659]

I think that you are missing one caveat in contrast with the other "meta chasin monkey" dps class and that is Threat. Your dps will only go as high as your tank can generate threat. Hunters get multiple full threat wipes a fight and a warlock will get a one time 50% threat reduction. In top guilds with baller tanks this might not be an issue but Hunters are more resilient to poor threat generation than warlocks.

[@KnotxD]

That's a good point for sure. Outside of metagaming quite aggressively, there are limitations due to threat. Hopefully they don't tune the bosses like 2.4.3, otherwise it will be a non-factor because tanks will be able to go full threat gear all the time - I remember 2.4.3 bosses falling over so easily towards the end of TBC.

[@athieshgaming2659]

@@KnotxD I hope they don't tune to 2.4.3 as well. Shorter bosses will also make threat less of an issue since you can Soulshatter earlier.

[@Crix_Gaming]

The length of the fight won't affect Shatter that much, because you don't want to Shatter early. The want to hold off on Shattering as long as you can without pulling. Because the longer you wait, the more Threat you're halving. For example, If you Shatter early at 20k threat, you just wasted your CD. Because yo'ure only halving 20k(to 10k) versus Halvign threat when you're up at 50k+. Alot of Warlocks issue with threat is that they're opening with Bolts right at start, then critting 1-2 and shattering because they've got threat. That just means soon you'll be right back on the Tanks ass and having to wait for MD's to come back up or for you to drop threat. As soon as Locks open correctly - Curse>Immo>Corr>Sbolts, sometimes tossing a second Corr, but you really shouldn't have to. Then you're able to pump much better and it pushes Shatter out even more. Threat is in our Hands for the most part - Assuming your Tanks are playing/gearing correctly.

[@jasonfreedman211]

lol f** 5's!

[@samueljosephfernald4663]

Imagine playing Alliance in TBC....