1.0 - The Warlock
Warlocks are World of Warcrafts rendition of the classic soul-devouring life-stealing demon summoning class that everyone loves, or at the very least I do.  Quite honestly there’s nothing better than ruling the battlefield with massive amounts of life, ample damage resistance, and the ability to bring down multiple targets at once via a slow and painful yet inevitable death.

Warlocks rank amongst the caster class’s yes, but they stand head and shoulders above both Priest and Mage when it comes to sheer survivability.  Plus, due to an increasing emphasis on high health levels combined with reasonable damage, you’ll find that you generally fair better in the latter raid instances and become less of a target in PvP as well.

I find warlocks to be one of the more fun caster classes simply due to the large change of playstyle gained whenever alternating talent specializations, demonology, affliction, destruction – neither is even remotely similar unless running a largely hybrid build for say soul-link and destruction/affliction.

Sure, all builds of warlock will likely end up using the base-line spells such as shadowbolt, deathcoil, and the various DoT’s from time to time, but gameplay becomes dramatically different when you have use of a Felguard for interception-interruptions or when proccing an instant shadowbolt mid-fight via nightfall.

Then again running as an affliction build can be quite a bit more interesting, at least so far as Battlegrounds and AoE grinding is concerned.  Hiding behind an obscure bush, rock, or tree and throwing off DoT after DoT at unsuspecting players as they run by is a fun way to ruin other players day.

However, AoE grinding is one aspect I see very rarely utilized by affliction warlocks, likely due to the fact that it requires either immense preparation and practice or the assistance of a healer.  Nonetheless, it is indeed a viable method of leveling.

Through strategic DoT placement and pulling affliction warlocks can take on up to 5, 6, sometimes even 7 or more packs of mobs at a time, all it requires is necessary shielding, healing, and perhaps more than a little bit of luck.

Finally, destruction warlocks, my personal favorite as usual for I possess an immense obsession with the art of total annihilation, and nothing suits that better than a warlock knocking down targets in six seconds flat with some well timed and hopefully critical shadowbolts.

All in all warlocks have it great, all three talent builds are excellent for leveling, PvP, and likely even raiding to a certain point, making it an easy class to enjoy as you have no fear of picking the ‘wrong’ path for a given pursuit in game.

This guide is simply intended to provide a general overview of the Warlock class. For a for more in-depth resource on the warlock, check out the Killer Guides' Warlock guide.

Tradeskills

As with all caster classes, tailoring is the way to go, it’s just impossible to pass up on the massive gear upgrades available by the BoP (Bind on Pickup) set-item cloth armor craftable at level 70, many would even rank it higher than Karazhan and further raiding gear for quite some time.

Additionally, a commonly sought combination with tailoring is either one of the three gathering and thus money making professions – Mining, Skinning, and Herbalism – or either Enchanting or Alchemy and more rarely Jewelcrafting.

Either way you’ll do well as long as you pick up the tailoring skill prior to 70 and make certain to have whatever materials possible prepared ahead of time, otherwise it’ll be quite the money expenditure to achieve the crafted items in any reasonable period of time. If you take the Enchanting skill you will be able to disenchant many of those items you create with your Tailoring skill. Use or sell the parts to recoup some of the extreme costs of leveling Enchanting and Tailoring.

Check out our Tailoring guide for more information on leveling the skill, and check out Penn's Guide for in-depth detail on all of the WoW professions.

2.0 - Warlock Abilities
Warlocks are all-rounder engines of destruction, each and every tree open to us is specifically designed to improve our killing ability, just in a variety of different manners.  Additionally, each tree presents an increase to either our survivability, mass killing abilities, or PvP capabilities in its own manner, making them all viable choices for nigh any stage of the game.

Primarily I would say that affliction enhances killing speed in general PvE, that is to say grinding, leveling, dailies, etc.  It focuses entirely on our DoT’s and allows you to drain tank monsters basically ending fights with 100% life/mana.

Demonology enhances survivability without truly sacrificing much DPS comparative to other builds while leveling.  The differences however for those fully fel-guard specced will become more apparent once you hit 70/start PvP or PvE raiding.

Finally destruction is the premier raiding spec for endgame raiding, once you’ve achieved the required gear from medium-level raid bosses you’ll find that it pulls away from affliction for overall DPS.  Finally, destruction is a viable choice of build for Arena/battlegrounds.

Affliction

Affliction is the build I see most commonly either with leveling warlocks or those who chose to run the arena route having completed the leveling grind.  It presents an interesting and wildly powerful survivability strategy when combined with demonology for soul link.

Additionally affliction is the warlocks one true method of mass grinding through any given area of mobs.  This is accomplished by utilizing either personal survivability or a healer and proceeding to run through the target area, picking up as many mobs as possible to hold at once and proceeding to drain tank while the healer keeps you up.

End result if all goes well is a massive amount of XP and at the worst a fifteen second mana/life break before commencing pulls again. Then again once you've passe dthe leveling side of things and should you choose the endgame raiding path Affliction is still a highly viable build throughout the earlier and mid-rank raiding spectrum, only being noticeably surpassed by destruction far later once extreme gear is available.

Demonology

Demonology is one of my original favorite talent tree specializations and the reason I actually rolled warlock in the first place, demons.  Demonology gives you massive increases to all survivability, solo capabilities, and past level 50 an immensely capable pseudo-warrior pet to boot.

Initially the imp gives you a nice additional DoT, and improving it can be potentially useful at higher levels, just not while within the leveling process, not demonology.  Regardless, the initial talents of choice will be demonic embrace and likely fel intellect, the former giving you a massive health increase and dramatically increasing the viability of lifetap due to your new life pool.

Finally what is the crown jewel to some, rather the crown jewels, will be demonic sacrifice and soul link – both will provide immense improvements to your lasting power as well as damage dealt for hybrid builds such as destruction/demonology or afflicition/demonology.

All in all if you go purely demonology to 50 you’ll gain the support of a pseudo-warrior pet capable of tanking and dealing massive damage all at once.  The demonology tree is well rounded and very useful to first-timers or those favoring the more demonic side of operations.

Destruction

Destruction is the build of choice for both myself in PvP and endgame raiders for consistent high DPS, it’s also a hell of a lot of fun when blasting away people in Arena and BG’s with massive shadowbolt criticals or a conflagrate.

Leveling wise destruction loses some of its luster, mana efficiency goes down the drain early on and it’s
highly recommended that you either use it in a team setting/instancing or simply skip it entirely and go for affliction or demonology.

Destruction is very fun I must admit, but for leveling not so much – I’d only recommend taking this up if you really have to blow things up immediately or have already reached your high 40’s/mid 50’s.

This section is only an overview of Warlock leveling, check out our Warlock Leveling Guide for more in-depth information.

3.0 - Leveling
Considering all the multitude of grinds possible in this game, leveling a warlock is comparatively relaxing.  Likely you’ll never find yourself feeling too slow, quests too hard, or really any distress whatsoever considering how easy the process should be.

DoT’s take mobs down with a dual purpose of efficiency and effectiveness, our direct damage spells scale quite well once you pick up some +shadow damage, and of course we always have pets to make up for any given weakness within a fight.

But of course, like all classes the warlock has more than a few styles of leveling, and there’s always a way to maximize your XP per hour, avoiding spending any more time than necessary on the grind as a whole.

Affliction Warlock Leveling

56/0/5 Affliction Leveling Build

Leveling as affliction is the recommended build above all others, specifically for the reason that it becomes quite possible to attain an infinite level of grinding without fear of downtime whatsoever, a perk no other build can begin to offer.

Drain tanking is essentially the secret behind afflictions success, a strategy whereby you utilize Dark Pact, the 41 point affliction talent, in combination with drain life and lifetap.  Essentially what you do is drain life, dark pact or life tap for mana, and then proceed to drain life to recover any lost HP.

End result is that whether you life tap or dark pact you have practically endless mana reserves as well as recharging your life bar continually via drain life in each fight – Nothing works better for grinding and this is the most efficient, effective method of leveling for warlocks.

Demonology Warlock Leveling

4/57/0 Demonology Leveling Build

Demonology is the second fastest leveling warlock build and in many cases the easier depending on your proffered style of play.  By speccing into this talent tree you pick up large amounts of extra life which helps an extraordinary amount considering lifetap as well as numerous other survivability improvements.

Pets, by talenting up your summoned demons they become somewhat more than either crowd control (succubus) or a throw-away tank (voidwalker,) instead you can actually and effectively utilize the voidwalker as a reasonable tank to around level 30 or so should you desire, and switch off to the succubus if you find yourself pulling aggro more often than not.

Finally, upon reaching level 50 and beyond things just turn upwards as the felguard takes over tanking duties making the occasion of you being injured, much less killed, far rarer than ever before – Even better, it deals amazing DPS, making demonology a fair contender for leveling against affliction.

Destruction Warlock Leveling

0/21/40 Destruction Leveling Build

Destruction is indeed good at what it’s supposed to do, namely destroying things in spectacular and often speedy fashion, but that’s not what all leveling is about.  Leveling is about efficient, consistent, killing, and unfortunately this is where destruction falls flat.

Sure you can shadowbolt spam 2, 3, possibly even four mobs into the ground before resting, but throughout your downtime both affliction and demonologist warlocks are continuing to kill without downtime, leading them to vastly higher numbers when all is added up.

The only thing destruction has going for it is the ability to possibly solo certain bosses that are otherwise unkillable by those without destructions massive burst DPS, and even then it’s unlikely this evens things out on any noticeable level.

4.0 - PvP

5.0 The Gear
This gear is suited to a hybrid Demonology/destruction or demonology/affliction build looking to get into karazhan raiding or similar level dungeons, EX: Gruul, Magtheridon, etc.

Helm:

Battlecast Hood - Crafted
Demonfang Ritual Helm - Drop(Heroic Underbog)
Exorcist's Silk Hood - Vendor(18 Spirit Shards)

Neck:

Pendant of Dominance - PvP Honor Reward
Manasurge Pendant - Vendor(25 Heroic Badges)
Charlotte's Ivy - World Drop BoE

Back:

Shawl of Shifting Probabilities - Vendor(25 Heroic Badges)
Sethekk Oracle Cloak - Drop(Sethekk Halls)
Baba's Cloak of Arcanistry - Drop(Mechanar)

Shoulders:

Mantle of Three Terrors - Drop(Black Morass)
Spaulders of Oblivion - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)
Mana-Sphere Shoulderguards - Drop(Arcatraz)

Chest:

Imbued Netherweave Robe - Crafted
Robe of Oblivion - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)
Stormspire Vest - Reputation Reward(Consortium Revered)

Wrist:

Crimson Bracers of Gloom - Drop(Heroic Ramparts)
Shattrath Wraps - Quest Reward

Hands:

Gloves of Oblivion - Drop(Shattered Halls)
Energis Armwraps - Drop(Botanica)

Belt:

Sash of Serpentra - Drop(Steamvault)
Hierophant's Sash - Halaa PvP Reward

Legs:

Battlecast Pants - Crafted
Trousers of Oblivion - Drop(Sethek Halls)
Imbued Netherweave Pants - Crafted

Boots:

Imbued Netherweave Boots - Crafted
Shattrath Jumpers - Quest Reward

Rings:

Seal of the Exorcist - Vendor(50 Spirit Shards)
Seer's Signet - Reputation Reward(Scryers Exalted)
Band of Dominance - PvP

Trinkets:

Scarab of the Infinite Cycle - Drop(Black Morass)
Oculus of the Hidden Eye - Drop(Auchenai Crypts)

Weapons:

Continuum Blade - Reputation Reward(Timewarden's Exalted)
Runesong Dagger - Drop(Shattered Halls)
Mana Wrath - Drop(Mechanar)

Off-hand:

Hortus' Seal of Brilliance - Drop(Shattered Halls)
Star-Heart Lamp - Drop(Black Morass)
Lamp of Peaceful Radiance - Drop(Arcatraz)

Wand:

Wand of the Netherwing - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)
Nether Core's Control Rod - Drop(Arcatraz)

1-80 Warlock Leveling Guide
Once you have the right plan for how you want to play your Warlock, consider a full blown Warlock leveling guide to get yourself to 80 as quickly as possible. Among other things, this will let yoiu get into all that juicy endgame stuff just that much sooner.

Zygor's Guide is our guide of choice. Just pick your starting point and the guide automatically updates and advances as you complete quests, sets a waypoint arrow automatically, and includes all the important quest info. You will probably never need to look at your quest log again, much less browse Thottbot. Grab your copy here or read a review.