With the launch of World of Warcraft: Classic, many players are revisiting some of their favorite old classes, while others are playing new ones never experienced prior to their changes in subsequent expansions. As a Warlock, you play an outcast from the perspective of most races, dabbling with demonic forces that have caused horrendous trouble in the past. As a pure damage dealer, you can be a master of destruction, affliction, or cruel taskmaster to powerful demons who fight for you.
What Role Does A Warlock Fulfill?
As a Warlock, you are a ranged DPS machine, and nothing else. You place yourself far away from danger and begin throwing spells out, along with one of your demons, which vary depending on the situation. In dungeons it might be an Imp for pure damage, or another demon for the utility offered in charming an opponent or burning their mana. Outside of combat, Warlocks can perform a Ritual of Summoning to summon party members at another location. They can also create Soulstones to provide a quick resurrection, which can be tremendously helpful if cast on a tank or healer in a dungeon. Healthstones can also be made and distributed to the party, providing a consumable to make the healer’s role a little easier.
Is Warlock Leveling Easy Or Hard?
Warlocks are perhaps the easiest class to level, besides the Hunter class. Both receive immense assistance from their pets, and fight safely from a distance. Warlocks also have a unique set of spells that can keep them in the action almost indefinitely without the need to stop for food or drink. They can Life Tap to restore mana, and then Drain Health from an opponent to replenish the sacrificed health. Early in the leveling process, at level 10, the Voidwalker demon becomes like a second skin, providing ample tanking protection from enemies and sparing your soft, cloth-armored body any real damage.
At level 40 and 60 they have access to class exclusive mounts. Note however that the epic version of this mount is gated behind a long series of quests and expensive materials, so the free ride only comes in the first mount.
PvE Potential For Endgame
As Warlocks are a pure DPS class with some great utility both for their allies and against opponents, it is not difficult to find a group in need of your services. Later in the game, debuffing an opponent or raid boss with Curse of Elements is of great importance, as it boosts the damage of Frost and Fire Mages by 10%.
As for talent choices, Destruction is likely still the best option, though it makes your Warlock a bit of a glass cannon, and one needs to be careful of their aggro. In contemporary WoW this is not an issue, but now in Classic it is again problematic to pull a boss away from a tank if one does not pay attention. With this in mind, some players will choose a talent split of 21 points into Demonology, 21 into Destruction, and 9 into Affliction. By sacrificing the Imp, one bolsters their Fire damage, which is what the Destruction tree is boosting at the same time.
PvP Potential
Warlocks can be frustrating opponents in PvP, because one must contend not only with their broad toolkit, but with a demon that is a constant thorn at our side. A capable affliction Warlock can apply their Damage Over Time (DoT) spells while running, since they are mostly instant cast, set their pet on an opponent, and cast Fear if they do manage to close the gap. In no time at all, an opponent will be dead or simply run away rather than deal with this vicious loop of spells and being feared.
Racial Choices To Optimize
In terms of pure optimization, to maximize the potential of a character, the Alliance turns to its Gnomes. The racial passive, Expansive Mind, applies a 5% bonus to their base intellect, which means that the longer a fight goes on, in either PvE or PvP, the more damage they do. In PvP they also have Escape Artist, which can help immensely to survive when snares, roots, and blink are unavailable.
For the Horde, there is far more leeway in choosing between the Undead and Orcs. Trolls would be ideal thanks to their racial passive, Berserking, but they cannot access the Warlock class. As a result, the Undead are useful because of the racial passive Will of the Forsaken, which deals with Charm, Fear, and Sleep. In PvP, that is a massive help in addition to Fearing an opponent.
Orcs, meanwhile, have access to Hardiness, which helps prevent the impact of stuns, and Command, which increases the damage of their pets, which are their demons.
In theory, Command would be the deciding factor, but endgame Warlock PvE often demands that the demon be sacrificed to provide a damage buff. For this reason, one is freer to choose between Undead and Orc as they like, with little impact to the outcome in either PvE or PvP
Best Professions For The Warlock Class
Warlocks are similar to Mages and Priests in regards to the broad range of professions they can select, depending on their needs. First time players in WoW: Classic may want to take dual-gathering professions while they level to sell materials at the Auction House. Skinning and Herbalism for example while questing will always fill your bags with much needed crafting materials, which are always in demand.
Tailoring and Enchanting also go well thanks to the ability to disenchant crafted cloth items. This is a slow grind to be sure, but a great endgame combination, and Enchanting is always in demand.
Finally, Herbalism and Alchemy are also good choices, but more for the long-term gold making potential. In the endgame, you and everyone else will be needing consumables for PvE, and there will always be demand for them at the Auction house.
With viable endgame builds and easy leveling compared to other classes, the Warlock is a great choice for new and veteran players. Many players also love the lore associated with being a Warlock, which demands a certain rejection of social norms to embrace the same demonic energies that enslaved the Orcs and drove them to Azeroth. Other players will usually look past this for a bite of that sweet Healthstone candy. It’s a win-win.
Sources: Wowhead.com, Brady Games World Of Warcraft Official Strategy Guide