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Contents

Introduction to the Warlock

Warlocks are one of the greatest powerhouse classes of the game, they have high damage, high survivability, a pet that offers support (and complaints) through damage, tanking, crowd control, etc. Above all, the Warlock offers efficiency. 

A well played warlock past the level of 20 or 30 will likely never run out of mana and will be a leveling machine.

The Warlock is a fun class to play as well.  You have the ability to solo quests that normally require groups. You have fear, death coil, and soul stones for a self resurrection should you die out in the wilderness while questing – All of these contribute to making the class a great choice for anyone.

Read on and find out how to keep your warlock on the path to maximum efficiency as one of the games fastest levelers.

Buffs and nerfs: With the release of the 4.0 patch Warlocks became devastating. Some would even say way overpowered. Then the nerfs hit. That's pretty much the way of things after big patches. Because of that we won't comment here about the "flavor of the week" and instead concentrate on Warlock basics.

You can likely plan for similar ups and downs in Mists of Pandaria and whatever follows that expansion.

The Short Warlock Leveling Guide

Race: Play what you like, the racial differences aren't that great. If you have to be efficient, though:

• Alliance: Gnome for the mana pool and escape; or Human for the rep gains and the escape.
• Horde: Orc for the pet and personal damage increases, troll for "Berserking" and extra damage to beasts.
• Pandarens cannot be Warlocks.

The Build: Demonology

The Pet: for most situations, just use the Felguard.

Stats:

• Stack Stamina at lower levels until survival isn't an issue
• Then stack Int. for the rest of your leveling and end-game experience.
• Secondary stats: Hit (to 17% cap) > Mastery (Lev 80+) > Haste > Crit
• Just say no to Str, Agility, Spirit.
• More about gear, stats, demons, etc.

Gear

• Int and Stam all the way.
• If you're Ok with PvP do some so that at 70 you can buy the epic PvP gear from the Legacy Arena Vendors. 1,500 or so honor should get you a nearly full set.
• If you have Heirlooms, lose them at 77 and buy Cataclysm gear. Keep the Guild heirlooms (Helm & Cloak) and send the others to alts.
• 81+ put the heirloom Helm and Cloak back on till 85. Send them away when you enter Mists.
• More about gear, stats, demons, etc.

Gems

Gems slots are very uncommon while leveling unless you're in higher level dungeons. There are a few pieces that will pop up, though. If you want to bother gemming (it's far from essential while leveling) then go for the "Brilliant" gems, for the Int. No others, unless you need the Stam.

Enchants - Some useful enchants can often be found on the Auction House for very little gold. Grab them if you like. Every little bit makes your leveling a bit faster. Pick enchants in this order

• Stamina (if you need more,) then Int > Spellpower > Haste

Professions

• Stick to the gathering professions, pick two: Herbalism, Mining, Skinning.
• If you're rich then Tailoring and Enchanting make a good match.

Tips:

• Always log out in an Inn to get the rest XP when you come back.
• Join a level 6+ guild for the XP bonus and other perks.
• Carry the biggest bags you can afford
• Stock up on healing & mana potions
• Keep some buffing potions or scrolls.
• Always push yourself to see how much you can handle.
• Get a speed leveling guide to go even faster.

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Warlock Races:

Unless you're going for every last drop of efficiency then the choice of race doesn't matter much. Go for the weird (Gnomes) or pretty (Orcs) or whatever.

Pandarens, from Mists of Pandaria, cannot be warlocks.

Human or Gnome?

If you have to be efficient and Alliance, go Gnome. You'll never go back. ;)

• Human: Outside of PvP Humans have no abilites that would improve their being a Warlock. For PvP though, the Escape ability is very nice. Increased rep gain is nice if you will be faction grinding.
• Dwarf: Stone Form washes away bleeds and such and also reduces damage by 10% for a few seconds. Just the thing for when that Rogue Garrotes you.
• Gnome: Gnomes have increased mana pool. Their Escape ability is useful in PvP and occasionally elsewhere.
• Worgen: Their Sprint-like ability is generally useful and their 1% increased chance to crit is a nice, overall DPS increase.
• Nogo: Draenei - Squids can't be warlocks.
• Nogo: Night Elves - The shadowy forces behind the Warlocks have conspired to keep Nelves out of their ranks.

Orc, Undead, or Blood Elf?

If you have to be efficient and Horde? Orc. Arguably Undead for PvP.

• Orc: Damage by your pets is increased. In PvP you have some resistance to stuns. Blood Fury increases your spell damage and is great for those times when you need some extra burst damage.
• Undead: No special Walock abilities, though their corpse consumption and underwater breathing have situational use. The ability to remove far, sleep, and charm has some PvP use and situational use otherwise.
• Blood Elves: the Belves don't have any special Warlock abilities either, though Arcane Torrent can restore some mana. Being a 'lock you will probably never need to use it.
• Trolls: Berserk increases casting speed. Your damage Vs beasts is nice while leveling. Reduced duration of movement impairing effects is good in PvP and has its uses elsewhere.
• Goblins: Fear and Rocket Jump, a pretty nice match. Rocket jump is a nice escape from those pesky melee types.
• Nogo: Tauren: apparently being fuzzy disqualifies one from being a Warlock. Or maybe it's the horns, since the Draenei can't be 'locks either and Nelf ears certainly qualify as horns.

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Warlock Talents for Cataclysm

The world changed with WoW 4.0 (and it will again in Mists of Pandaria) and all previous builds were wiped out in a instant. Warlock mechanics didn't change much, unlike Hunters and Paladins, but all the spells and talents got quite the overhaul.

Abilities no longer come in ranks, rather they scale with your level. So your Spell of Dot Destruction no longer has 12 ranks, just the one, and it increases in power as you level.

At level 10 you get to pick your first talent. Pick wisely, though, for once you pick that talent you are locked into that specialization until you have spent 31 talent points. After that point you can branch out into the other trees.

Note that you do not have to buy whichever talent is at the end of the tree, you just have to spend the 31 points. Hate Matamorphosis (you fool!)? Then skip it, spend a point in something else. Then buy something in affilication/destruction, if it suits you.

Mastery is a trainable ability you learn at level 80. It adds a bonus to whichever tree you are specializing in at the time.

See our individual class spec pages for more details on that and other material appropriate to end-game play.

Mists of Pandaria will be totally revising the talent system. You will pick your spec normally and each spec will give you ten or so specific abilities, in addition to all the class abilities. For talents, you get six tiers of three talents each. You can pick one from each tier, for six talents total at level 90.

The talents can be taken by any Warlock spec. To sum up:

• You will have your Warlock class abilities
• You will have ten or so abilities specific to whichever specialization you pick
• You will, eventually, pick six talents out of 18 possibilities.
• Talents are abilities no longer have ranks, in the same way that spells no longer have ranks. You pick a talent and you have the whole thing, rather than having to spend up to three points in the thing.

Demonology Leveling Spec

Demonology is the spec that we recommend as your leveling spec. Not that Affliction or Destruction are by any means bad, it's just that Demonology is faster and easier than the others.

Your basic abilities for having the Wisdom to pick Demonology are:

• Summon Felguard - Summon a big, gnarly, battle-axe wielding thing to do your dirty work.
• Demonic Knowledge - 15% more fire and shadow damage
• Mastery: Master Demonologist - Your demon's damage is increased, as is your while you are in demon form.

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Affliction Warlock

You're a master of shadowmagic and have an assortment of Fears, Drains, and DoTs (Damage over Time spells.) Traditionally Drain Tanking has been a feature of this specialization. You and your pet work in close synergy to bring down the opposition.

• Unstable Affliction - This is a DoT which, when dispelled, damages and silences the dispeller.
• Shadow Mastery - increases shadow damage.
• Mastery: Potent Afflictions: (obtainable at level 80) increases your periodic damage. Stacking Mastery Rating will increase this effect.

Affliction Warlock Leveling Spec for Cataclysm

Note: This build skips talents that are obviously just for PvP or groups and assumes that most of your leveling will be solo. Some remarks have been added in case you are doing a lot of groups. Also, this build is intended to get to Haunt ASAP.

While leveling you take the talents in this order. To see the final build, click here.

Click here to get to 85, fast

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Demons, Gear, Buffs, Etc.

Demons

At level 1 all Warlocks will get an Imp as their pet. At level 10 the Demonology spec will get the Felguard. At level 10 you also get the ability to actually control your pets.

Your Demon	Level	info
Summon Imp	1	link	Throws fireballs, complains.
Summon Voidwalker	8	link	Tank, but not a dungeon tank.
Summon Succubus	20	link	DPS, and crowd control
Summon Felhunter	30	link	Group mana buff, eats spells, casts silence
Summon Infernal	50	link	Lasts 45 sec., attacks target of your Bane of Agony/Doom spells
Summon Doomguard	58	link	Same as Infernal

Gear wise you should find things quite simple, the stat that Warlocks need is: stamina, in massive amounts. Stamina is far more important than any other stat as it increases survivability as well as providing mana due to lifetap.

Secondly, having achieved massive amounts of stamina, +Int becomes important. 

Mastery doesn't appear on gear until level 77. Don't worry about it until the end-game, at which time it may or may not be useful, depending on your spec.

At level 77 drop all of your old gear and buy yourself the Cataclysm gear. It's much better. When you hit level 80 Dugi's guide will help you blast through the Cataclysm zones.

• Intellect - 1st in importance. With 4.0 Int is your spellpower now, in addition to mana pool and a tiny bit of crit.
• Stamina - get all that you can. Always.
• Resilienceis only useful if you're PvPing. If you are, then it's right up there with the first two stats.
• Hit rating - Essential for raiding (17% needed) and useful for leveling and PvP.
• Haste is an important stat for any Walock. It doesn't appear until higher end gear, though.
• Crit rating is nice, but Haste is probably better overall.
• Spirit - useless with 4.0.
• Agility provides a bit of defense, but Int and Stam are far more useful. Skip it.
• Strength is of absolutely no use to a Warlock.

Get a wand, especially at low levels. It's much less useful in raids or PvP, but for leveling it's fast and easy damage with no mana cost and no ammo cost. Great for all those times when the mobs will be running away from you. Some find it less useful at higher levels, but still nice every now and then.

Decent wants also have Int and Stam.

Heirloom Gear for Warlocks

Have a high level character? Buy Heirlooms from your guild and/or the Honor and Justice Point vendors.

At level 70 do some PvP and get a full set of the Level 70 Epic PvP gear. This will keep you will geared until level 77...

At level 77 buy your Cataclysm green gear and send most of your heirlooms to the next alt. Keep the level 85 pieces, that you bought from your guild, for when you hit 81.

At 81 put the head and cloak pieces back on.

Enchants: While you're leveling skip enchants unless you're rolling in gold and/or have gear that you will keep for awhile. If you are going to anchant your gear then I'm sure you have already figured out your priorities: Stamina > Int > Haste > Crit

Don't forget to enchant your Heirloom items, if you can afford it. Get the best enchants that you can put one a level 1 item. You may have to ask you pocket 'chanter or ask in trade.

Gems: Every once in awhile, while leveling, you will find gear with gem sockets, especially at higher levels. If you decide to use these then the priority is the same as for enchants.

• Red: Brilliant Inferno Ruby = +40 Int. Put this into any sockets on your gear, unless the socket bonus is greater than 20 int.
• Have a ton of gold? Put in a Brilliant Queen's Garnet (+50 Int) instead.
• Meta: If you find a head piece with a meta socket, then stick a Burning Shadowspirit Diamond into that socket.

Professions: Skip all crafting professions while you're leveling since they're very expensive. If you do have a ton of gold then tailoring is a good skill to get. You can buy the enchants you need for a lot less gold than you'll spend leveling that skill, so skip enchanting. That said, tailoring and enchanting can work well together. You disenchant your extra greens that you make with Tailoring and use the parts for Enchanting.

• Herbalism is a nice gold maker and will provide mats for your Alchemy skill, if you take it. This skill will give you a small heal over time (HoT) spell which, with 4.0, includes a Haste effect.
• Mining and Skinning are nice money makers, as well. Mining will also give you a Stamina bonus.
• Cooking will allow you to make some useful buffing foods, so is highly recommended.
• Fishing is a nice supplement to cooking, but takes a lot of time.
• First Aid is essential, even with your health taps. Keep it maxed at all times.
  
  
• Once you get your crafting skill to the 500 range...
• Alchemy will allow you to make tons of useful potions, and yoy get added benefits from your own potions. so that skill might be worth it.
• Tailoring 500 gets you Lightweave Embroidery for your cloak.
• Jewelcrafting allows you to make self-only gems that add 67 Int points, rather than the usual 40 (or 50.)
• Enchanting allows you to put a +40 Int Enchant on each of your rings.
• Engineering will allow you to make a lot of very useful gadgets, including Synapse Springs, which will add 480 Int for 10 seconds, on demand. Nice for bursts.
• Inscription - You get some nice shoulder enchants: Inscription of the Earth Prince adds Stam and Dodge, while Felfire Inscription adds Int and Haste.
• Leatherworking - Bracer enchant adds 130 Int, 80 Int over the next best enchant.
• Blacksmithing - Can add an extra gem socket to gloves and bracers. Drop an Int gem into those sockets.

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Warlock Leveling Tips

• Int, Stam, and Spellpower
• It certainly isn't essential to keep your gear 100% up to date, though it will help. If you have a ton of gold then go for all the upgrades that you want. Otherwise only upgrade when the new piece is a definite improvement over the old one. Check our gold guide if you need gold tips.
  
  
• Whether you're questing, dungeoning, or PvPing you need to stay stocked:
  • Have the biggest bags you can afford
  • Keep stocked on healing & mana potions
  • Buffing potions or scrolls are nice, though they don't stack with each other.
  • Some foods buff stats. Keep a nice stack handy.
  • Bandages can come in handy.
• If you're questing then the easiest way to go is to get a guide. Barring that, grab all the quests in an area and use the map to group them. Knock of all the quests over there, then hit the next batch.
• Do as many quests at one time as you can. Save the travel quests for a time when you are going "over there" anyway.
• You can also Recruit a friend (RaF) for 3x XP.
• Use RaF and combine it with dungeon and/or PvP leveling for blindingly fast 1-85 times.
  
  

The fastest possible leveling? Since you're DPS (Damage) you'll queue as that with the Random Dungeon Finder tool. Recruit a friend for 3x XP. Use Zygor's while questing.

What you will be doing is questing with your friend while you wait for your dungeon queue to pop. Finish the dungeon, go back to questing, rinse and repeat all the way to 85. At 3x XP that won't take very long.

Questing is much more efficient than grinding for gaining XP, if you group smiliar quests together so you can do more than one at the same time. If you can, always log out in an Inn to earn the "rest XP bonus."

Dungeoning is great XP if you like to group and you like the dungeons. See our dungeon guide for more. You can get better gear that you will be likely to get otherwise. With most of the dungeon quest-givers now being inside the dungeon and with the Dungeon Finder tool making travel unnecessary, it can be an easy experience. It's not a lot faster than questing, you being a DPS type, but it has its virtues.

The only downside is if the groups don't work for you or you don't work for them.

Dungeon groups also tend to move pretty fast, so if you're fast and efficient and don't mind the groups then it's a good way to go.

PvP leveling can be awesome, if your side wins, but it's not bad even if you lose. If your side wins then it's even faster than dungeon leveling.

• Don't fight in the middle of the battlefield.
• Do fight at the flag or at the flag carrier or at the tower or at the tank. For example, in Eye of the Storm or Arathi Basiin, if you look at your buff list you will see a buff that gives you more honor for fighting at the flag.
• Don't fight in the middle of the battlefield.
• Don't cry about how much (fill in the blank) sucks.
• Do ask for help guarding/protecting/carrying whatever. Sometimes you'll actually get it.
• Don't jump into or fight in the middle of groups by yourself.
• Don't fight in the middle of the battlefield.
• Do stay with your allies and help them out. Solo fighters don't last long.
• If you don't know what to do then follow someone who seems to know and stick with that person.
• Don't fight in the middle of the battlefield.

What to do while leveling:

1. Tank and Spank: Let your pet hold the mob's aggro while you burn it down with spells. Only useful with Voidwalker and Felguard.
2. Drain Tanking: You DoT up the mob, set your pet on it (any pet) and use Drain Life while it beats on you. You'll stay healthy and the mob drops. It's even better if you pet can hold the aggro.
3. Be careful of Fear spells. Mobs running around may cause other mobs to notice you and attack. If you're not careful it's easy to be overwhelmed.
4. Keep an eye on your DoT timers so that you can always have your DoTs up on the things you're killing.
5. Targets that are feared tend to run and collect other mobs, which means that fear is more useful, generally, in PvP than while leveling. Glyph of Fear helps with this.