World of Warcraft - Warlock Guide

Warlocks primary source of DPS (damage per second) comes from their spell casting. As a caster, warlocks are given a variety of damage, defensive, and crowd controlling abilities. This portion of the guide reviews the basic warlock spell casting abilities.

Warlocks have two main sources of spell damage: shadow and fire. A majority of a warlocks spell damage comes in the form of damage over time or more commonly known as DOTs. When entering combat, a lock will generally put their three main DOTs first before casting burst damage. These spells include Corruption, Curse of Agony, and Immolate. By putting damage over time, the warlock must outlast their opponent as this damage is slow. As the warlock progresses, they can gain additional DOTs such as Siphon Life and Unstable Affliction.

Although DOTs are a lock's main form of dps, they are very efficient at burst damage. The main spell for burst damage is called Shadowbolt which has a 3 second cast time and produces shadow damage based upon the warlock's level. As the warlock progresses, they can choose talents which will reduce the casting time of Shadowbolt by 0.5 seconds. This reduction in casting time is very valuable as it will help the warlock burn his opponent while the DOTs slowly reduce health points. Other spells which the warlock can use for burst damage are Incinerate which has a 2.5 second casting time and Soul Fire. Soul Fire has the longest casting time (6 seconds) but offers the most burst damage DPS. If the warlock decides to progress down the destruction talent tree, they can choose an instant cast burst spell called Shadowburn. This spell is useful because of the zero cast time however it costs a soulshard to use. If the target dies from Shadowburn damage, the caster will have the soulshard refunded. In general, warlocks rely on Shadowbolt as it has the best combination of DPS as well as a short casting time.

A unique feature to warlock spell casting is the use of fear. Fear is a spell which causes your opponent to flee in terror for a specific period of time. Warlocks have 3 forms of fear: Fear, Howl of Terror, and Deathcoil. The Fear spell is the most basic. It causes a single target to run in terror for a set period of time in which the target cannot attack, cast, or heal. A common tactic is to cast multiple DOTs and then cast Fear. While the opponent is running away, the DOTs create damage while the warlock can begin casting burst damage. Howl of Terror is another fear spell which has the same effect as Fear however, it will cause multiple targets to flee. Deathcoil is an instant cast spell which not only causes the opponent to flee, it will return a certain amount of health to the caster. Deathcoil's duration is short however it is crucial to a warlocks survival. A common combination during PvP is to cast Deathcoil first, add DOTs, then repeatedly cast Fear. (Note: As of the most recent patch, any damage to a feared target will increase the likelihood of fear breaking. Warlocks should take this into consideration when entering combat as fear is not as controlling as it once was).

Not only do warlocks have the ability to do burst damage, they can also drain damage with channeled spells. The warlock has two abilities to do this: Drain Life and Drain Soul. Drain Life will transfer a certain amount of health every second to the caster. A common tactic for warlocks is to cast DOTs, have their demon hold agro, then use Drain Life. This technique is called "drain tanking" and is a highly effective means for damage. Drain Soul is not used very often in combat except to harvest soul shards. If a target dies from damage created by Drain Soul the caster will create a soul shard. Soul shards are important for other abilities such as demon casting.

Warlocks are very efficient at DPS due to their different spell casting abilities. It is important to try all forms of spell casting to see what style fits you best. Also, different spells and abilities are used for different situations. As a warlock, you will be asked to do numerous things from DPS to crowd control. A true warlock master can utilize all skills at ease and will do so to help out themselves or a group.