The end is so close I can taste it. We have pounded away for sixty levels of pure warlock badass soul burning, shadow casting fury. Now we are armed with an epic ground mount and ready to tear through Outlands and Northrend. Our first few quests in outlands are behind us and we were rewarded with some new outstanding gear and can’t wait to burn through Outlands and hit Northrend HARD.

Talent School Specializations

Once we reached level 50, each school was rewarded with a talent that will be defining your soling capability. The affliction school received Unstable Affliction, a powerful DOT that we’ll work into our rotation immediately. The demonology school received the Felguard, a personal tank who never tires and doesn’t get mom aggro or has to afk to bio. Finally the destruction school got Shadowfury, a powerful AoE with stun effect great for both PvE and PvP.

Over the next 20 level we’ll hit 3 major landmarks. The first is obtaining your epic riding skill for land mounts. Based on your server's economy and leveling speed most will not get that until about level 64. That was about my average, but then again, I didn’t put a huge priority on it. After leveling many toons, although it is a great addition and helps a lot, it wasn’t a top priority of mine. The entry into Outland has many quests in a relatively close proximity and it is much easier to continuing questing and naturally acquiring the money to get it. The second big land mark is going to be hitting the 77 mark and being able to fly again. The third and final big milestone is hitting eighty, where the game begins!

Rotations

The rotations won’t change much from our previous rotations. Although each school has some nice additions, the rotations and philosophy stays relatively the same. The only exceptions may be anyone enjoying the demonology school. The Felguard is going to be a major part of your soloing from here on out. The affliction school will add Haunt into the rotation as a starter. Destruction is going to keep the same rotation but add some utility if needed to stop multiple mobs.

Affliction

Level 41-60 gave you good rotations to use. We just have to update it slightly to get the most out of all of the abilities available. The main change would be to add Haunt as an opening to your rotation. This is going to buff your dots and also heal you by end of the battle. The replaced health is going to allow you to use a lifetap or two before the haunt expires, essentially ending the battle with about the same health and mana as when you started. The demon is still just there to hold aggro away from you while the mob dies. You won’t see a lot of dps from you minion. Most situations you will see the mob break free from the demon with about 25% health left. A little distance between you and the battle means you are a drain life away from the finish. You most likely will not even get hit for the majority of the time. So lets layout the new rotation:

1.    Send Pet (Voidwalker)
2.    Cast Haunt
3.    Cast Curse of Agony (instant)
4.    Cast Corruption (instant)
5.    Cast Unstable Affliction
6.    Cast Siphon Life (instant)
7.    Cast Shadowbolt/Drain Life –(important to use nightfall procs to cast instant shadowbolts)
8.    Refresh DOTs as needed and Life Tap (twice if possible)with Mob at around 30% health
9.    <25% health finish with drain Life and/or Drain Soul

Demonology

By now, your felguard is able to hold aggro for most of the battle since they scale so well with the warlock. At level 73, I am able to lead and follow with three shadowbolt and not lose aggro from the felguard as long as I throw 2 DOTs up during that time. Now, throwing three shadowbolts isn’t the most efficient way to fight but one is certainly able. Instead, to be more efficient, I start with a shadowbolt, then get my dots up and running, then lifetap to replace any mana I used and to top off my pet, then drain life to replace till battle is over. The Felguard is very powerful and the majority of its damage is based on melee and cleave. Intercept will do some of the damage but very little, it exists mostly to provide the stun. The demon also benefits from buffs. As you are out there soloing, be sure to buff your pet when possible. Any scrolls you do not use such as stamina or strength should be put onto your demon. There are also some nice buff foods like sporeling snacks, kibblers bits and spiced mammoth treats that can add to your pets health and damage. The chart above, represent a pull where I was able to lead with a shadowbolt cast, apply 2 DOTs for 3 ticks each and cast 2 more shadowbolts at level 74. I would never use this rotation consistently, because I am throwing to many shadowbolts and would have to stop and drink too often, but this was doing as much damage as I could do. With that said, my demon still provided 25% of the overall damage. During a typical rotation of:

1.    Send Felguard
2.    Cast Curse of Agony
3.    Cast corruption
4.    Cast shadowbolt
5.    Lifetap
6.    Drain Life

The felguard would account for about 35% or more of the overall damage. Knowing that, you want to pay as much attention to buffing your Felguard as you buff yourself. Its survival and performance is key to you strolling through northrend like a walk in the park.

Destruction

After some extensive testing, I have yet to find a better rotation than the one in our previous guide. The only difference for the next few levels is to replace your first Incinerate with a chaosbolt.  No matter how I adjust my rotation I find myself drinking and eating much more often as a destruction warlock. Don’t get me wrong, I love the big hits. But for the sake of soloing some quests I don’t feel it’s the most efficient - certainly the most fun though. I am able to blast down most enemies before they reach me, and if they do, I often proc a Backlash.

1.    Send Voidwalker or Imp
2.    Cast Immolate
3.    Cast corruption (instant)
4.    Cast Curse of Agony (optional)
5.    Cast Conflagrate (instant)
6.    Cast Chaos Bolt
7.    Cast Incinerate
8.    Cast Incinerate

Soloing Philosophy

While I am out questing, I often hit the zone. I get so immersed into the story and my quest objectives that guild chat often flies by the screen with me none the wiser. The relentless banter in general chat channel goes wizzing by with little notice. I often map out my paths and try and time my returns to quest givers with just enough bag space to accept rewards, sell the junk and move on again. Of course I have a level 1 alt character I am constantly mailing items to so I can keep bag space at a maximum. But then it happens, the inevitable group quest. The speed bump. Although these can be quite fun, why does it always seem to hit my quest log when I am alone, late at night and not a soul online to help? My strategy of hitting every quest in a zone gets destroyed every time! Of course, I am stubborn, who cares if it says recommended 3 players? What kind of warlock would I be if I didn’t try? A word of advice….try. Try to do it, but don’t let it hold you up. At this stage of the game, we are able to do most multiplayer quest by ourselves, but not every single one. I always like to give it a shot, but don’t let it be your speed bump. Sometimes there are quests worth banging your head against a wall for but most of the times they are not worth it. If after 2 attempts you are not close, move on. There is no shame in it. You can always go back with some friends later.
Be careful of distractions like mounts. Yes they are useful. But they can also be expensive. Once you have multiple characters, it becomes a lot easier to get the mounts at the appropriate level. Here are a few pointers about warlocks and their mounts.

1.    The epic riding mount has a quest that can be completed at level 60.
2.    The same mount can be purchased at your trainer at level 61. You must buy the riding skill to train in the Summoning Skill.
3.    Your Basic flying skill can be purchased at level 70 for approximately 800 gold.
4.    The epic flying skill can be purchased for 5,000 gold at level 70.
5.    Once in Northrend, you cannot fly, regardless of skill, until level 77.
6.    At level 77, you must buy “Cold Weather Flying” to be able to fly in Northrend for 1,000 gold.
7.    “Cold Weather Flying” Only requires the basic flying skill, not that epic flying skill.
8.    You can enter Northrend at level 68.

The point I am making here is simple. If at level 68, you are not able to afford the flying ability, don’t worry, you can’t use it anyway. I headed straight to northrend at level 68 with no flying skill. By the time I was level 77, I still was poor but had plenty of quests to keep me busy. I eventually got to the point where I needed my flying skill to progress and had very little problem obtaining the funds.