Welcome to the Smolderforge Support Community! Go ahead and register a new account or login to a current one already made. Please post in the correct forums and be kind and respectful to others!
Greetings, aspirant destruction warlocks. I shall not waste your time with shitloads of opening words, so let's just say that I had nothing better to do with my life at that stage and therefore I have decided to come up with this. Well, let's get straight to bussiness.
Some music that would fit a destru lock PvP video to listen while reading: - CLICK -
Please note that the content below is the way I'd do things, those are my preferences and taste. I'm not saying that they are the only possabilities, they are just the best for me.
Last edited by Horrorfever on 21 Nov 2014, 04:40, edited 23 times in total.
0/7/54 AFTERMATH A standart destruction spec, you get the best you can get from your destruction three, this one specificily including the aftermath kite opportunity that may come really handy versus melee and the improved searing pain talent which is great and really underrated nowdays. May spec cataclysm instead of Improved Shadow Bolt but I don't really think that Cataclysm is worth it.
5/7/49 IMP CORRUPTION The infamous improved corruption spec wich gives you a good extra dot you can combine with curse of agony, I preferably don't like it since I rely on seduction and I have a way different playstyle. However this is probably the best spec to be used against one of your hardest enemies - the frost mage due to the fact that corruption combined with immolate and perhaps agony - implying they don't remove it is a big help in getting down his shields so you can actually do a reasonable ammount of damage. May spec cataclysm instead of Improved Shadow Bolt but I don't really think that Cataclysm is worth it.
0/13/48 DEMONIC AEGIS My spec, you go a little bit deeper into the demonology tree for the sake of stats boosting yourself and your pet plus getting demonic aegis which will help you get the best spell power possible. Great for people that want to roflstomp everything and enjoy high damage. May spec cataclysm instead of Improved Shadow Bolt but I don't really think that Cataclysm is worth it.
0/17/44 MASTER SUMMONER This is an arena spec even tho' some people tend to use it as an anti rogue spec aswell - for the sake of fel domination > voidwalker sacrifice. The only real downside in it is the lack of Soul Leech. You may get that one point in improved health funnel instead or you may prefer to spec 3x some pet instead of demonic aegis depending on taste playstyle. May spec cataclysm instead of Improved Shadow Bolt but I don't really think that Cataclysm is worth it.
0/21/40 DEMONIC SACRIFICE A batteground spec, similliar to the destru pve spec yet not fully. This spec is only worth it in battlegrounds since without shadowfury you'd get roflstomped anywhere else. However with demonic sacrifice and therefore no pet you will deal insane ammounts of damage. May change something inside the destruction tree for the sake of nether protection of soul leech. May spec cataclysm instead of Improved Shadow Bolt but I don't really think that Cataclysm is worth it.
Last edited by Horrorfever on 25 Sep 2014, 13:59, edited 3 times in total.
As a destru you should focus on resilience, crit chance - haste and spell power. (edited cuz Vic)
~12K HP; ~9K MANA; ~1100-1200 Bonus Damage; ~24-26% Crit Chance; ~100-150 Haste Rating ~400-450 resilience; ~4% spell hit rating is a good stats to aim for. You can of course get a better one but you are going to need some high quallity gear.
Please take a note that I'm not saying that these are the only possible gear setups for a destruction warlock. I believe those are the best ones, however.
Enchanting should be easy, spell power on everything, resilience on chest, spell penetration on cloak and most importatly +40 spell power on weapon (thanks Fearless), do not use sunflare since like it or not you are also going to be using your shadow spells, which gives you a slight boost in them especially if you are specced for the Improved Shadowbolt and eh.. you get overall better Death Coil heals, even.
You should socket in order to fill up the stats you are lacking, let me give you a couple of suggestions anyway:
Now, if you really want to try-hard and piss of a hella lot of people, there are plenty of profession-made items that can boost your stats and/or your overall performance.
Please note that in order for this macro to work you will have to first get your pet in combat (like make it attack the Shaman first and them spam the macro), otherwise you risk the pet standing idle and doing nothing.
#why not
/cast Fel Domination
/cast [nomod] Summon Felhunter
/cast [mod:alt] Summon Succubus
/cast Soul Link
Feel free to change the pet names and the modifiers accoring to your taste and preference. You will need to spam it if you are a Sl/Sl in order for the Soul Link to be casted.
/cast [target=mouseover,exists,nomod] Fear; [mod:alt,target=focus] Fear; [nomod] Fear
If you have a target and no mouseover = cast at target.
If you have a target and a mouseover target = cast at mouseover target.
If you have no target but a mouseover target = cast at mouseover target.
If you have the focus modiflier key pressed, nomather if you have a target, mouseover target, both or none = cast at focus.
Huge thanks to Selitha for making it work, the idea still remains mine, however!
Feel free to make multiplie macros that way just by replacing the spell name. Curse of Tongues, Agony, Death Coil and Banish work great with it!
Quartz is a modular approach to a casting bar addon.
Really useful, especially the fact that it has a pet cast bar. That way you can time your seductions perfectly. (Shadowbolt and seduction comming in right after, for instance.)
A really, really great work by Shacka, it is easy to configure and it contains all the nessasery addons you'd ever need for PvP anywhere. It is also light and reminds of the original Blizzard interface.
For more 2.4.3 addons please visit snowolf or try out the Smolderforge's Addons Thread.
When it comes about addons & ui it should be competely up to you, your taste and preferences and this is exactly the reason why I did not put much of a content in here. I only suggested some stuff you may find useful.
Last edited by Horrorfever on 21 Nov 2014, 03:11, edited 6 times in total.
A destru chain is a perfect combination of your abillities combined with your damaging spells in order to bring a target down in no time.
There are many ways to perform a destru chain, here are some:
Seduction/Fear > Curse of Elements > Soulfire + Insta Shadowburn Afterwards > 2nd Seduction/Fear > Shadowbolt > Shadowfury > Immolate > Death Coil > Incinerate > Conflagrate > Shadowburn
Curse of Elements > Shadowfury > Immolate > Death Coil > Incinerate > Conflagrate > Shadowburn > Fear/Seduction > Soulfire > 2nd Fear/Seduction > Shadowbolt
I hope you get the point, feel free to get creative with it.
Of course, a PvP trinket can always fuck up your destru chain, so procceed with caution. I personally believe that it's a good thing to open with Soulfire and the big guns, since the enemy player will either trinket to avoid them and therefore stay defenless or suffer them , loose a lot of HP and find himself in trouble.
Soulfire is both your best opener and finisher due to it's high damage and 5-8k crits. A good player will never let you cast Soulfire freely at him.
Searing Pain is the most underrated spells by beginner warlocks. It's an excellent spell for bursting downa gainst low health heals, drain life and such for the simple reason that it's quick to cast, it crits for 1.5-2k and it can do so quite often, especially if you have the improved searing pain talent.
The combination of a Shadowfury and Shadowburn is a good finisher due to the quick cast of the Shadowfury and the instant Shadowburn. Gives you a kick kill on running away low hp targets and works great combined with the Improved Shadowbolt talent.
The said above combination is only supponsed to be working as a finisher, in any other situation - do not waste the small CC shadowfury is giving you for an instant cast, do a small cast instead.
The combination of Immolate + Conflagrate is also a small, good burst due to the instant conflagrate right after the 1k immolate. It is good to immolate twice, and what I mean is: Immolate > Insta Conflagrate in order to get down a solid ammount of damage and also the opportunity for another conflagrate later on > then Immolate again, letting it tick down the target untill it's 2nd Conflagrate time. Repeat afterwards.
You cannot win the fight without those, long casts like they are called. Every time you have the opportunity to do one - such as target silences in CD's, you are in kiting range, the target is controlled or whatsoever - > go hard with them. It's preferable for them to be your main cast against players like shadow priests. Only Incinerate when the target is immolated.
Death coil can be used both defensively and offensively. Defensively as in case of getting range of your opponent and giving yourself a slight heal and offensively in case of continueing your destru chain or simply in the need of an extra CC that will allow you both a heavy cast or a short one (+dot preferably), depending on preference and situation.
Having your target all dotted up is also a good finisher especially in cases where your enemy is trying to run out of range for the sake of his own safety, or when you find yourself CCed with your target on low hp. Also the best idea against Cheat Death specced rogues.
Add corruption to the dots if you have the improved corruption spec.
Curses are also a big part of your game, Curse of the Elements is your best choice to be used when your targets is CCed and you plan to nuke/destru chain it down, due of the damage increase.
Curse of Tongues is another great tool to boost your bursting, especially against healers. They will eventually find themselves in low-hp and even if you don't have anything in the armoy to interrupt their healing you will have great chances to burst them down faster than they will heal themselves due of this curse.
Feel free to combine the said spells above in any kind of a rotation and use them differently in different situations, in the way they demand it.
Last edited by Horrorfever on 19 Dec 2014, 07:40, edited 9 times in total.
Pet control is your best friend, make sure you binded all of your pet abillities including the follow and stay one. There are opponents you will need to have your pet far from hugging you yet in casting rage in order to avoid it getting controlled, while you may need it to keep attacking another opponents in order to prevent them get them out of combat for instance.
The IMP is the most useless pet in PvP. It can only be used pre-duel in order to fire shield yourself before summoning another pet, don't even think about using it futher.
The Voidwalker is quite rarely used in PvP due to his lack of good abillities. It can however be used in order to pre-Sacrifice Shield yourself before a duel/arena and perhaps if you are using the Master Summoner spec for the sake of survival in a late fight.
PREFERED AGAINST
Hunters (specificly BM)
Feral Druids (not the only option for a pet to be used)
The Felhunter is one of the best pets due of his dispelling and silencing abillities. It's the warlock's best friend in most of the fights. It is almost impossible for a desturction warlock to have a fight that long for the Felhunter to OOM, even without the Mana Feed talent.
PREFERED AGAINST
Mages
Priests (may also use a Succubus against a Shadow Priest)
Druids (may also use a Succubus or Voidwalker against a Feral & Succubus against a Balance)
Shamans (may also use a Succubus against an Elemental & Enha)
Warlocks
Holy Paladins
Retri & Shock Paladins (may also use a Succubus against those)
The Succubus is the other option for PvP as a destruction warlock, her seduction abillity combined with Soothing Kiss makes her extremely useful against most melee classes and perfect for 1versusMany fights due to the extra CC comming of seduction (like seduce one target, fear another). CC however comes with a price and she will be OOM after a few Seductions. Please note that Seduction & Fear share the same DR. Also note that Seduction will break upon /any/ damage.
PREFERED AGAINST
Rogues
Feral & Balance Druids (not the only option for a pet to be used)
Enhancement & Elemental Shamans (may also use a Felhunter against those)
Warriors
Shadow Priests (may also use a Felhunter against one)
Retri & Shock Paladins (may also use a Felhunter against those)
Marksman & Survival Hunters (may also use a Voidwalker against those)
Last edited by Horrorfever on 21 Nov 2014, 04:12, edited 14 times in total.
The destruction spec was never prefered in arena, simply becouse it really isn't that good for it. It may work to some sort, however. If you and your partner are really good and most importantly play well togheter.
The good side of a destruction in arena is that it doesn't really rely on an alive pet (due to no Soul Link), however you really want to have one still.
The best pet is the Succubus for the sake of the CC chain. Seduce one target, fear another.
The Felhunter may be prefered against mage combs for the sake of dispelling polymorph. It always comes in handy if you are playing with a rogue, since thanks to Paranoia you will always win the stealth fights.
Good mates for destru warlocks in 2s are: Deep Resto Druid; Restokin Dreamstate Druid; Discipline Priest (Healers); SHS Rogue, HARP Rogue, Fire Mage, Frost Mage (DPS)
Destruction in a battleground is always a reason to panic due of its high DPS and opportunity to burst down any flagger/healer in no time.
Not really much to be said here, just try to abstain yourself from running into crowds and faceroll on damage spells.
Don't try to carry a flag, too.
Warriors are one of the easiest opponents for you as a destruction warlock, simply becouse of Seduction. Do not always rely on that too and therefore never underestimate a warrior. A good warrior can still anihiliate you in seconds due to your low armor and lack of defences. Your job against a warrior is to try to keep him controlled as much as possible with seductions and other control abillities such as Shadowfury and Death Coil, while of course giving him all the DPS you have. In the opener, where you will hopefully get a seduction try to position yourself in kiting range. You can do two kiting methods against a warrior. The first and in the bast case scenario is that he will not hamstring you and therefore not lower your movement speed, in this case you should use the seduction time to position yourself at max range before you start casting and chaining him down. The second one is the version where you will get charged and hamstringed on opener. In such case getting max range is imposible, instead position yourself in a rogue kiting position - not close enough to be hit by his melee abillities and not too far in order to avoid getting charged. Whenever you are death coiling him, try to chase him before stopping to cast in order to avoid a potential trinket and charge. Watch out for Spell Reflections, they can be the game changer for him. Pet Control may be crucial, do your best not to get your pet feared.
Always use Curse of Weakness on his Spell Reflect. (It will give you -attack power, irrelevant debuff to you)
Place your Succubus to stay somewhere near the fight, yet make sure that she is out of range of his fear, but in range for a Seduction. (Once he uses his fear you may get her into the fight for the sake of Soothing Kiss)
Curse of the Elements is your best use against a warrior, simlpy becouse it's a damage fight. (With Curse of Agony you risk ruining potentially needed seductions; you may switch to Agony + Corruption if you have the IMP Corruption talent after Seduction/Fear gets on DR)
Use your PvP trinket for a hamstring freeze due to IMP Hamstring talent or a stun. (If you are reaching low hp)
A good paladin will cleanse immolate, so conflagrate instantly after one.
HOLY
A holy paladin is another easy target for you, yet do not underestimate him again. A good holy paladin may extend the fight for so long untill you eventually find yourself OOM and on low hp - basicly helpless. Both the Succubus and the Felhunter can do the desired effect against a Holy Paladin, even thought a Felhunter is preferable due to the simple fact that your Succubus will most likely find herself OOM in late fight and potentially when you need her most. You will not OOM a Holy paladin, therefore try to mana conserve somehow, using more of Searing Pain due of its low mana cost sounds like a good idea. Try to keep Curse of Tongues refreshed whenever you need it in order to prevent him from quick healing. Another good advice is not to use your cooldowns - such as shadowfury and death coil for the sake of a destru chain and burst, but instead use them to interrupt his healing attempts, since even if you have Curse of Tongues up - it is still pointless if you have nothing to interrupt the heal with. Your best bet is to try to save your death coil for after his bubble, since its pretty useless before that if you look at the big picture. Watch out for Fear/Seduction DR - you don't want to find yourself trying to interrupt a heal with one of them and get an "Immune" combat text in return.
Swap between Curse of the Elements & Curse of Tongues according to the situation.
Try to first-aid yourself during his bubble.
Save your PvP trinket for late fight and after his bubble for the sake of a survival attempt of his interruption and therefore a kill. (since it will not make a difference before bubble)
Late fight, Lifetap in advance. (otherwise you risk finding yourself OOM during a nuke attempt and therefore fail it)
SHOCKADIN
The shockadin is way harder than the holy paladin for you, simply becouse just like you can destroy him in seconds - so can he. A good Shockadin will most likely prefer Wings instead of a Bubble, but don't rely on that. Due of the fight expected to be shorter than one with a Holypaladin and him expected to prefer to do more DPS than healing - a Succubus is preferable. Try to get the first hit with an early seduction, if he decides to do the same thing he will most likely stun you and begin his bursting - pay attention that a good shockadin will kill you in five seconds. Here is what you can try to do against his bursting attempts: The perfect idea is to seduce him the moment he stuns you and begins bursting you down. Then, he will most likely use his PvP trinket in order to carry on with the nuke. Once he does that you have two options: What I believe is the best one is to trinket whatever is remaining of his stun, instantly death coil him and healthstone yourself in order to avoid another quick burst and a suprising loss, and afterwards continue destru chaining him down. Due to his preference of wings and early pvp trinket - he is defenceless. Blow your full CDs and give him everything you've got, just make sure to get a kill. Since if you don't you will also find yourself defenceless and risk him comming back at you but this time to finish you off. The second one is to perform another seduction during the moments that remain of his stun. The problem I have with this one is that.. yes you will save a PvP trinket, but you will be unable to finish your destru chain to to the DR of your Seduction and Fear, therefore he will most likely survive and come back. You will have a PvP trinket but no abillities to counter his with afterwards making it completely wasted. The previous sentence is however the best option if he prefers to bubble instead.
Swap between Curse of the Elements & Curse of Tongues according to the situation.
Use your PvP trinket only for a kill opportunity. (unless it's crucial for your survival)
Make sure to pull your Succubus away in order to get it back invisible if he bubbles. (then he cannot fear it)
Try to first-aid yourself and don't be shy to use a healthstone. (don't wait for low HP to healthstone, it may be too late)
RETRIBUTION
Even thought the retribution paladins are extremely nerfed and considered really weak - never underestiamte one as a destruction warlock. He is far more dangerous than a warrior to you due to his bigger control, cleansing abillity and of course bubble. You don't want to stay at one place against a retribution paladin, incase he doesn't slow you with a seal of justice - try to make him chase you around while in order to bypass time for your cooldowns and DRs on him. There is not much to say here, keep trying to chain him down while keeping him controlled with Seduction or Fear. Try to save your PvP trinket and death coil for after the bubble. Incase he chooses to use Wings - just chain him down, giving him everything you have.
Try to pull your Succubus back in order to get it invisible during his bubble. (in order to avoid her getting feared)
First aid yourself in every opportunity you have.
Use your PvP trinket only for a kill opportunity. (unless it's crucial for your survival)
Curse of Elements is your best choice. (Since Curse of Agony may ruin your control and it is highly unlikely for him to try and heal himself without bubble; you may switch to Agony and Corruption if you have the IMP corruption talent after Seduction/Fear gets a DR)
Don't blow your trinket on Rep. (unless it's a 110% kill)
Survival and Marksman hunters shoudn't be a problem for you, yet do not underestimate them aswell. Good ones can easily defeat you if you decide to slack off, so pay attention. The Succubus is your best bet against a Survival and Marksman hunters. Your job is to use your abillities, such as seductions, shadowfuries and coil in order to get close to him and hug him, that way he will be in melee range and be unable to use 90% of his abillities. BM hunters on the other side are a huge problems for you - literally your only shot is the Voidwalker, preferably start the duel by sacrificing a voidwalker and summoning another. The rest is to hope on Backslash and critical strikes, since he will get you down in no time. Don't try to control his pet, it's not that much of a long fight so it's pretty the damage of it is pretty irrelevant, it also helps you with Backslash procs.
Use Will of the Forsaken(undead only) upon CC String. (against survival hunters)
Trash buffs such as Shadow Ward will help your backslash. (prevent from getting it dispelled)
[Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite] and using them to run out of Line of Sight may be your only shot against a good and well geared BM hunter. (you can also try to nuke down his pet while LoSing the hunter, since it will most likely follow you)
Use your Backslash instantly, even thought of the Trash Buffs. (otherwise you risk loosing it)
Curse of the Elements is once again preferable. (you can swap to Agony when you get Seduction/Fear DR)
Get a Curse of Weakness on his pet.
Double(one Sacrifice before accepting duel, then summoning another Voidwalker for the fight itself) or triple (if you have the Master Summoner spec)Voidwalker Sacrifice is your only hope if you decide to face to face a good and well geared BM hunter.
BALANCE
Balance Druids strike fear in many people's hearts due to their quick spell casting combined with high damage. You sir, are not one of those people simply becouse of the Curse of Tongues and it being so OP in 2.4.3. Both the Succubus and the Felhunter can do just a fine job against a balance druid, even though the Felhunter is preferable since a good Balance Druid will most likely play with forms for the sake of a Bear Stun and of course - avoiding getting Seduced. It's a damage fight once again, your job is to deal more damage than he does for a short ammount of time. That will force him to use all his defences leaving him helpless. This is when you just destru chain him down. Please note that a good Balance Druid will try to run out of range in order to heal himself, do your best to stick near him the whole fight.
Keep Curse of Tongues refreshed. You can only switch to Curse of the Elements once he is controlled for the sake of a bigger and therefore more certain finishing nuke. (you don't want to let him cast freely)
Save your PvP trinket for a late fight and a kill opportunity. (an early trinket for the sake of the continuation of burst is a sure loss against a good Balance)
FERAL
It's a RNG fight from the very beginning. Both you and the Feral rely on crit luck and procs. On the opener try to get him out of stealth by spamming your Anti-Stealth Macro, using Rain of Fire, Howl of Terror and Hellfire. Once that happens Your job is to keep him controlled as much as possible, don't hesitate to spam fear. Here is the tricky part. All three - Succubus, Felhunter and Voidwalker are good against a Feral in their own ways. The Succubus is good becouse of her soothing kiss, slowly lowering his DPS and the opportunity to catch him off guard out of form and help your destru chain, a good feral most likely will not allow that happening. The Voidawlker is a good survival choice becouse of his Sacrifice and you really may need it since Feral has OP damage, especially on clothies like you. The Felhunter may be crucial into spell locking a cyclone he will most likely win the fight with. Nonetheless, chosing the pet should be wise and depend on your taste and preference plus both yours and his playstyles. My advice is to start with a Master Summoner spec and a Felhunter, then eventually summon and sacrifice a Voidwalker when shit hits the fan. Spec it for Soul Leech instea of Nether Protection.
Swap curses - Curse of Elements when he is controlled, Curse of Agony(combined with Corruption if you have the IMP corruption talent) for endings and/or preventing him to restealth and Curse of Tongues when he is out of form and/or about to heal or cyclone you. (have to be timed perfectly)
Try not to blow your PvP trinket early. Try to save it for an attempted lifesaving cyclone of his. (unless its crucial for your survival)
Try to predict his feral charges and fake cast them.
RESTO
Felhunter is the best pet to be used to to its silencing and dispelling abillities, also considering the fact that this is a long fight and the Succubus OOM's quickly. Please pay attention that a good resto druid CANNOT be nuked. What you have to do is to conserve mana, yet putting pressure on him with spells such as Searing Pain while also fear spamming and constantly mana and life draining. This fight may take more than ten minutes. Keep bursting and draining and spamming untill he pops all his defensive cooldowns, finish him off with a destru chain.
Curse of the Elements is your best pick on this one. (may swap to Tongues if you can predict clones and casted heals, or when he decides to get aggressive and cast at you)
Do your best to save your trinket as much as possible. (an early trinket will be a complete waste)
First-Aid yourself in every possible opportunity.
Try to predict his feral charges and fake cast them.
Late fight, Lifetap in advance. (otherwise you risk finding yourself OOM during a nuke attempt and therefore fail it)
Watch out for Grounding & Tremor totems.
Use your Backslash instantly. (a good shaman will purge it)
Try to fake-cast his Earth Shocks.
ELEMENTAL
Many people fear Elemental shamasn due of their haste and high damage. You sir, just like against balance druids - are not one of these people simply becouse of Curse of Tongues and it being so OP in 2.4.3. It's a damage fight once again, your job is to do more damage than him in a short period of time while also trying to keep Curse of Tongues up in order to prevent quick heals. Once he uses all his cooldowns, just destru chain him down. Both the Succubus and the Felhunter are suitable options against such an opponent and the choice completely depends on your playstyle, taste and preference.
Spam your totem-killer macro.
You can swap between Curse of the Elements and Curse of Tongues depending on the situation. (even though Curse of Tongues is prefered)
ENHANCEMENT
It's a quick fight that once again.. kiiiind of.. depends on RNG in the face of crit luck and procs. An enha shaman can destroy you in seconds so you have absolutely no time to slack off. Once again your simple goal is to do more damag than him in a short ammount of time while keeping him controlled as much as possible. Both Succubus and the Felhunter are reasonable options here. The Felhunter is capable of landing a key silence while the Succubus will provide you the free cast time you may just need to defeat him. Pay attention that you must have destroyed his Tremor Totem before trying to Fear or Seduce him. The Voidwalker is not an option since he can purge your Sacrifice.
Spam your totem-killer macro.
You can trinket his frost shock. (if you are really desperete and need to run, waiting on CDs)
Curse of the Elements is prefered.
RESTO
The Felhunter is a must if you want to win this fight. If you use it and do it properly your victory is 90% guaranteened. Use it completely offensively in order to dispell his Earth Shields all the time. In the rest of the time just keep Curse of Tongues on him all the times and keep bursting him down in order to avoid quick heals. It is recommended to conserve your death coils and shadowfuries for heal interuptions rather than combining them for the sake of the destru chain, save that for the closing moves - once he has used his PvP trinket and Nature's swiftness.
Spam your totem-killer macro.
Late fight, Lifetap in advance. (otherwise you risk finding yourself OOM during a nuke attempt and therefore fail it)
You can swap between Curse of the Elements and Curse of Tongues depending on the situation. (even though Curse of Tongues is prefered)
Never hug your pet, put it to stay somewhere near the fight in a way that it is in range for a Spell Lock/Seduction yet out of range for a fear comming in.
A good priest will dispell immolate, so conflagrate instantly after one.
Use your Backslash instantly. (a good priest will dispell it)
Keep refreshing your Shadow Ward(even though he will most likely keep dispelling it)
Try to save your PvP trinket as long as you can.
Late fight, Lifetap in advance. (otherwise you risk finding yourself OOM during a nuke attempt and therefore fail it)
Swap curses, use Curse of the Elements and Curse of Tongues according to the situation. (permanent Curse of Tongues may be better against a discipline priest)
DISCIPLINE
The Felhunter is once again a must, not only becouse of his dispelling and silencing abillities but becouse of his big mana pool. This is a long fight, therefore if you plan to use a Succubus you will risk her finding herself OOM late fight, potentially when you most need her. Please take a note that just like a good resto druid, a good discipline priest CANNOT be nuked. It's once again a long and a boring fight. What you have to do is to use your Felhunter both offensively and defensively depending on the situation and of that who has the edge at the mooment, while trying to conserve as much mana as possible, while applying slight pressure with Searing Pain. The rest of the fight for you is a lot of fear spamming and mana and life draining. Once the priest has used his defensive cooldown and his getting low on mana, your best shot is to catch him unshielded, dispell his cleanse and destru chain him down.
It's likely to be more of a three minute fight, so Spellstone early. (use it on Silence if he is a really offensive disco - speccing silence)
SHADOW
While the Shadow Priest it nothing to be feared of with any other warlock spec, he can give you plenty of troubles as destru. Both Succubus and a Felhunter can do the job against a Shadow Priest. Choosing which one to use is completely depending on your playstyle, taste and preference. I myself prefer the Succubus unless its an undead priest. Don't make it a mana fight, as destru you are much more likely to find yourself OOM and on low HP unable to Life Tap first. Kill him before he kills you. While in other fights you may use way less of long casts such as Shadowbolt and Incinerate, they should be your main DPS against a Shadow Priest, relying on quick spells is not an option since they cannot overcome his shield, renew, pom and shadow healing drain spells combined. Try to get him without shields and a PvP trinket and then destru chain him down. Your best shot to force a trinket is to try to destru chain early. Try to do that by taking his shield down with searing pain and then going for the nuke.
Use your Spellstone on dots peak. (unless he silenced you defensively, trying to save his life and you have a kill opportunity)
A mage is one of your hardest opponents, you are going to need a lot of practice in order to defeat a good mage, especially a frost one. However nor Arcane, Fire or Pyro mages should be underestimated since they can also destroy you in seconds. A felhunter is a must against any mage where you will have to use it both offensvely and defensively (dispell wise), according to the situation. Try to dispell your frost novas and slows(arcane mage) from a defensive point of view aswell as his cooldowns (such as Icy Veins) from an offensive point of view. Deciding how to use it should be determined by the observation of who has the current edge in the fight.
Pet Control may be crucial. Make sure that your pet doesn't get frozen or controlled in anyway. (otherwise you risk finding it out of range for a silence)
Use the cancelaura macro to get rid of your Nether Protection. (before he spellsteals it)
Control him as much as you can, don't be shy to spam fears.
Swapping curses is hard against a mage due to a fact he can dispell them at the cost of a global cooldown. You will have to try and predict him, for example when he feels like casting you should get a Curse of Tongues on him, when he is all about instant spells and/or it is your turn to cast at him - use Curse of Agony (implying he doesn't dispell it) combined with Immolate ticks. (Corruption is also a big help, making the IMP Corruption spec the best against a mage) That way the dots will tick down his shields and you will actually be able to do some reasonable damage.
Make sure that you are near him before Death Coiling (otherwise he may dodge it with an Ice Block) and also make sure he has no shields up (otherwise you will receive no heal from it as the shield will msot likely abosrb the damage)
Use your Spellstone on Improved Searing Pain Stacks or frost novas (depending on mage spec) in order to avoid getting shattered. (feel free to waste your PvP trinket on a frost nova aswell)
Try to banish the pet of a frost mage while he is controlled. (an early silence on banish will most likely be a lost fight for you)
If you can make a choice, get your fire school silenced, that way you will still have your shadow one and therefore be able to control him in order to bypass time.
Immolate and Conflagrate instantly after since he can block any time and you help yourself with bringing down his shields. (immolate again after a conflagrate and let it thick till its time for another conflagrate)
First-aid yourself if possible.
Constantly Shadowfury and Shadowburn him. (to once again help yourself in bringing down his shields and therefore help your overall damage done)
Don't be shy to use a healthstone.
Try to time your nukes and controls when Curse of Tongues is about to get off you! (a good warlock will never allow it to get off)
SL/SL
It is extremely unlikely for you to defeat a skilled SL/SL warlock due to the fact he can just curse of tongues and loldot you, dramaticily lowersing your efficiency. The Succubus and the Felhunter are both good options against a SL/SL warlock. You basicly need your pet in order to interrupt his drain life spams. While some people may say that the Succubus is useless against a SL/SL warlock, they are right. Yes, he has both WOTF and a trinket making the Suduction duration vanish. Your point against such an opponent however is not to keep him Seduced for a long time, but merely to interrupt his drain life. The benefit of using a Succubus is that you can do it anytime you want, unless you are suffering DR from it, and she also OOM's fast. The Felhunter silence, that you are going to use for such interruptions on the other side has a 24 second cooldown, it is kind of too much. You get the dispelling spells of the Felhunter aswell as it will not OOM. Another benefit of the felhunter is that after a drain life interruption in the face of silencing his shadow school you are making him completely helpless, and you can give him hell in these 8 seconds. Well not that much of a hell if you still have curse of tongues up on you. So which is the better pet? With a Felhunter you can still get futher drian life interruptions with fear, you can always dispell his fears. Now that we have cleared why Felhunter is the better pet, let's move onward. Don't even try to kill the pet, he can always summon another one. The next debate here is wether to try and banish, fear after and keep it controlled in anyway or just let it autoattack you, risking silences. The only benefit of letting it wander free is the chance to proc Backslash and thats a free shadowbolt straight into the warlock's face. You will ever get silenced against a good warlock, that is unavoidable, so here is my suggestion. After the first silence, let it continue chasing you, incase he doesn't pull it back of course and pray for Backslash procs. If you are somehow able to track his Spell Lock cooldown - addons do a fine job doing that, you can always banish it just a couple of seconds before the spell lock is refreshed, that will give you ten seconds of freedom. The rest of the job is not that complicated - conflagrate instantly after an immolate since a good warlock will get it dispelled. Go with long spells during Nether Protection, since at that time he is pretty helpless against you. Try to save your shadowfury, death coil and fear DR's for drain life interruptions instead of using them to help your burst.
Use a master spellstone on dots peak and/or you have nothing else to interrupt drain life with. (the two things usually happen togheter)
Keep refreshing your Shadow Ward.
Curse of Tongues is your best pick. (since a good sl/sl will actually cast)
AFFLICTION
The way of fighting an affliction lock is pretty identical to the way of fighting a SL/Sl warlock. The only difference is that most Affliction Warlocks don't spec Soul Link, so they take higher damage, however they do more damage aswell. Go hard on Nether Protection, instantly conflagrate, use a Felhunter and banish his before his silence cd's are over - keep it on you for backslash sake beforehand.
Keep refreshing your Shadow Ward.
Curse of Tongues is your best pick.
Never use a Spellstone with Unstable Affliction on you!
DEMONOLOGY
Demonology spec is probably the best pick for 1v1 fights as a Warlock. You are extremely unlikely to defeat a good demonology warlock. Once again thanks to Curse of Tongues dramaticily lowerising your efficiency. Once again you will have to be using the Felhunter, and use the same technique against his pet, that if he is using a felhunter aswell. If he is using a Felguard - you will have to do your best to banish the Felguard and fear it afterwards. It will give you backslash procs but the damage is too much. Go hard when your Nether Protection procs and instantly conflagrate when your immolated, if he is using a felhunter. Save your fears for interrupting drain lifes, since you are going to need your shadowfury and death coil to interrupt other casts of his, since a demonology warlock casts way more than a SL or Affliction one.
Keep refreshing your Shadow Ward.
Curse of Tongues is your best pick.
Use a master spellstone on dots peak and/or you have nothing else to interrupt drain life with. (the two things usually happen togheter)
DESTRUCTION
I have always hated destruction vs destruction for the simple reason that it is the most RNG fight ever, usually the ones that get the luckiest and/or most Nether Protection procs will win the fight. Good tips against a destruction warlock however are not to allow your felhunter attacking him in order not to risk a backslash. About his pet you can use the same technique as the other warlock specializations felhunters. Once again, go hard when Nether Protection procs and instantly conflagrate after an immolate since a good warlock will dispell it. Be extremely carefull when you are bursting, what I am trying to say is don't just go facerolling a spell after a spell, since his Nether Protection may proc at any time causing you have an empty trip or even waste your cooldowns. Try to silence his shadow school and do not interrupt his incomming fire casts with Shadowfuries, fears or anything you've got.
Keep Curse of Tongues up at all times.
Keep refreshing your Shadow Ward.
A rogue is your HARDEST opponent. Quite honestly a destruction warlock will /never/ defeat a really skilled and/or full CD using rogue. It's just the way it is. But, you can always try, right? A lot of people say that Succubus is useless against UD rogues due to their racial as they prefer fighting with a voidwalker. They are wrong. Even if the rogue will most likely waste both his trinket and racial on seduction making it pretty useless, you will actually be able to cast sometihng later on. If you use a voidwalker he will most likely trinket your death coil and wotf your fear, not giving you /any/ room to breath. The Succubus makes that room, after his cooldowns you are free to shadowfury, death coil and even fear or re-seduce if you live long enough for the DR to reset. Try to get him blow his racial and trinket on the opener - keep spamming seduction whenever it is possible. Once he does that it is your turn to do some damage. Usually, you will have to save your PvP trinket for his blind, but there are some rogues that will prefer to blind your Succubus, in that case you will want to trinket the Kidney after Cloak of Shadows. If you trinket a kidney before it he will simply cloak of shadows and vanish away, then reset the fight and you will most likely end up death. It /may/ be worth it if the blind on your pet expired by then, so you will have to pay attention to everything going on in the fight. Pay attention that it happens fast. You may have to trinket early some times, trinket late at others or trinket a blind at third ocassions.. A good idea is to use the Master Summoner spec, start with a Succubus and do a Summon Voidwalker Sacrifice late fight, pay attention that a good rogue is able to kick Fel Domination. Do not underestimate the HARP or Multi rogue specces. Any rogue spec counters you and is able to destroy you in seconds. Against a non-SHS speced rogue your chance is to get him away with death coil and control him as much as possible, by not allowing him to get anywhere near you. Do your best to get a dot once Cheat Death procs and/or is about to proc. Instantly conlagrate after an immolate since he can CoS at any time.
[Tidal Charm] is probably the best trinket choice against a rogue.
[Powerful Anti-Venom] can be a great help for you. (try to use it against Mind Numbing poison and only when you have a window of opportunity for casting, use it wisely)
Please note that I did not write specific rotations merely than simple basics. I done that becouse over the course of the gameplay your opponent can always do something and/or something may happen that will send your rotation go to hell. You will need practice and experience in order to be able to get a real understanding of your class and your opponents and also predicting them. I only gave you the blueprint, it is up to you to build a victory!
Here is a link to Zukuu'samazing destruction warlock dueling guide. It's basicly the same thing I wrote above except for made into a video and actually showing some gameplay. Enjoy watching. PART 1 PART 2 PART 3
And if inspiration and/or motivation is what you seek, I give you the one and only - DRAKEDOG
Last edited by Horrorfever on 21 Nov 2014, 04:10, edited 8 times in total.
Sometimes, your Succubus may bug/glitch into a channeling seduction animation and unable to perform anything else. You can fix that by putting her on stay, the glitch shall be no more and you should be able to resume her regular activities.
A well timed control (like Seduction) can get your opponent 3 shotted. Since as a destru you should always have backslash specced - watch out for it. The second it procs - > seduce your target, put Curse of the Elements, Cast Soulfire and send an insta Shadowbolt (backslash still up) at your target right after the soulfire. Finish him off with Shadowburn. (Works great with Gul'Dan trinket.)
If you have a Fel Domination spec you have the opportunity to do something really nice. Say you are starting the fight with a Succubus. Seduce your target two times while of course DPSing it, instantly afterwards summon a hunter and silence him while he is trying to cast whatever the hell. (Double pet roflstomp)
Try to keep your Shadow Ward up at most fights, since it works great as a trash buff (Combined with Detect Lesser Invisibillity and Unending Breath). For example if you have all three - you will be able to backslash a hunter and a priest before they try to dispell it.
If you have to choose - have your fire school silenced so you can keep your control spells avaidable, that will allow you to bypass time while the other guy is going hard at you.
When you get experienced enough you should be able to predict your opponents, that will give you the opportunity to constantly swap curses. Let's say you are facing a healer (someone you don't want to cast), so you are thinking Curse of Tongues. Here is what you do: You start with some CC (like Seduction) and Curse of Elements (MOAR DMG), you keep giving him a hard time and when.. one time will come that you should be like - "If I was on his place - I'd heal myself right now" - This is when you swap back to Curse of Tongues and watch out for slow heals you could easily interrupt. Then you control him again - swap again and etc, etc..
Why spec Improved Shadowbolt? Becouse Cataclysm (5% less mana usage is pretty useles) and the Improved Shadowbolt is.. pretty OP? Once you get a Shadowbolt crit you can carry on with your burst as your shadowburn and shadowfury (yeah you use them you are not only a incinerate robot) get more damage. Not to forget your death coil will deal more - and that means more healing from it, aswell (thanks Vicarious).
Of course, use Rank 1 Rain of Fire & Hellfire.
Only Incinerate when the target is immolated. Only then it deals more damage. In all other occassions go for the shadowbolt (including backslash procs).
Feel free to start duels and arenas by summoning a voidwalker, sacrificing it for the shield's sake and then summoning your main play pet. (A must for arenas)
When fighting a mage, make sure you are near him (hugging him) when you are about to Death Coil, otherwise he can Ice Block dodge it, also make sure that his shields are down, otherwise he will get coiled but you won't get healed from it.
Tailoring nets and Engineering net trinket work on Cloak of Shadows!
If you are using a felhunter against a Paladin, dispell him instantly after he stuns you in order to get rid of his seal and therefore lower the damage on you.
In the opener against a Warrior, try to position your Succubus between you and him and spam Soothing Kiss, that will get him in combat and prevent him from battle stance charging.
Last edited by Horrorfever on 27 Sep 2014, 00:26, edited 16 times in total.
I am about to change towns and begin my first year in university therefore I don't know if I will even be able to play at first, and even if I am my time will decrease greatly. It won't be the same, therefore consider this as my legacy to Smolderforge (no I'm not quitting).
Thanks to Dntryme for his assistance and his banner!
If you believe that I have forgot something or done an error somewhere, please feel free to let me know. Any sort of constructive criticism is always welcome, however I do not guarantee that I will agree to your corrections.
Incase that I may have actually forgot or messed up something - everything is a subject to change.
Please note that the linked items stats are probably innacurate for 2.4.3 becouse wowhead.
