What more could you want in a class? Warlocks have the damage, the control, the terror, and big demon things doing their bidding. They have all the tools and do well in PvP.

This page is an overview of Warlock PvP. For more detail on builds, tips, etc. click though to the pages linked below, on the individual specs.

Contents

• Affliction Warlock page
• Destruction Warlock page
• Demonology (page not available yet.)
• Stats that all Warlocks want
• gems required by all Warlocks
• enchants required by all Warlocks
• BG & PvP Tips for ‘locks
• Tips for specific classes
• Skill Capped Warlock Videos

 

Warlock PvP Specs

Keep in mind that this page covers Warlock PvP in general. For the actual builds and details click through to one of the following pages. You can also scroll down to our tips section, below.

And if you need to get your Warlock to max level ASAP (and you’re not sticking with low level PvP) then check out Zygor’s leveling guide.

• Affliction is generally “the best” of the PvP specs, but it depends on your game, your groups, and you. You deal primarily periodic damage and with that can keep up a lot of pressure. Affliction PvP page.
• Demonology is all about your pets and you becoming a Demon. You’re a lot stronger in demon form than out of it, which is one reason that it’s not the PvP spec. If you can manage your pets well and your Demon form equally well then you can do Ok. (We don’t have a Demonology PvP page up at this time. Gear up as if you’re playing Destruction.)
• Destruction is less about constant pressure and more about direct damage and burst. Destruction PvP page.

Some Warlock PvP How To Videos

These are each long, but complete.

Talents at 1:14 and PvP Talents: 15:32
Azerite Traits at 22:18, Essences: 25:01, and Stats, Enchants, & Gems: 30:51
Corruptions: 33:03, Rotation: 36:17, and Races: 39:18

Talents: 1:38 and the PvP Talents: 14:50
Azerite Traits: 22:38 and Essences: 28:04 and Stats, Enchants, Gems: 34:14
Corruptions: 35:57, Races: 39:46, Rotation: 43:01

Talents at 2:11 and PvP Talents: at 19:22
Azerite Traits at  27:22 and Essences at 33:46, and your Stat Priority, Enchants, & Gems: at 38:34
Corruptions: 40:50, your Rotation: 43:29, and your Races: 48:38

 

Warlock Stats, Gems, and Enchants for PvP

Generally speaking you want: Int > haste > mastery > vers. > crit

Anytime you have a choice between an Int gem or enhancement, and one for another stat, go Int. DO try to have all available gems and enchantments. Leave none empty.

• Int is your spellpower and is a direct damage add. More so than Mastery, since it adds to all damage.
• Haste speeds everything up, including casting.
• Mastery is generally an increase to some part of your damage, but faster is better.
• Versatility increases your general damage and reduces incoming damage.
• Crit strikes do 150% damage.

At top level you can enchant your only  rings and weapons. At lower levels you can enchant other gear. Gem slots are very uncommon in high level gear.

 

A “How To” for the BattleGrounds (And other PvP)

Any effect mentioned that you can ‘Eat’ is referring to Devour Magic, not that you should sit there and take it. Most of this was originally posted on the wow forums and it’s reprinted, edited, and updated here.

Also check out Skill Capped for Warlock PvP  “How To” videos and forums. Membership is required, but it’s only $4 a month.

Much of this also refers to any class that you are playing.

GENERAL RULES OF THUMB

Be A Friend To Healers

We’ll just start off with this: all healers are your friends. I do not care if he is from a different server and has a silly name, he is your friend. Bad people are going to try to hurt your friend.

Be A Friend To Rogues, DKs, Warriors and Hunters

Warriors, DKs and warlocks are all highly visible classes. Any combination of the classes can completely shut down any healer or group of healers or just create a nice big ball of chaos that can pull groups off of towers or return a flag.

A Warlock and a Hunter can kill anything. If you see a well-geared, well-played representative of one of these classes, you should stick by him, as he can save your behind.

Be A Friend:

Any class meshes well with your class in a BG. Any class. Backup is backup. If you supply no backup, you cannot complain when you receive none. You have Fear, Fear saves lives. Use Fear to save lives, and earn yourself backup. There’s 10-40 people on the other team, did you honestly think you could do this by yourself?

Protect the flag-carrier.

Support people taking or defending critical points. Assist the Hunter who’s getting beat up by a Mage and maybe next time he will save your life when he notices it is about to end.

Whether they do or not is entirely up to them, if you do it, people will probably notice. You may find yourself suddenly getting heals even if you’re pugging it. Clouds of melee that despise you may suddenly find themselves getting bum-rushed. Any backup is good backup.

Do Not Stop Moving

A stationary target is an easy target. If you are not casting, you are moving. Do not stand still any longer than it takes to complete the cast. You can stand around when you’re waiting to res.

His Trinket Is Probably Up

Always expect to lose your first CC. Always. You’ll cast it, he’ll break it, and then you or your partner casts the next one.

Get the basic PVP Trinket FIRST

This is your first purchase with Honor points: spend the honor points and get the pvp trinket (escape from roots/slows/effects) with a 2-min CD. First. Before you even consider anything else, you get that trinket. You don’t need the super expensive one, but you do need that trinket. It makes a massive, massive difference. At level 90 you can just buy it off the Auction House: Crafted Malevolent Gladiator’s Medallion of Tenacity

There Is No Best BG Spec

Really, there isn’t. Any spec is potentially workable. Some specs have certain advantages others lack:

• Demo’s Meta effectively removes physical DPS as a serious threat for 30 seconds at a time
• Affliction’s instant fearbomb is devastatingly effective and the dots are brutal
• Destro’s wall of burst nullifies threats before they even know they’re threats and Shadowfury is a brilliant way to snag initiative

..but to be completely honest, there is no ‘best spec’ for BGs.

(That said, the best spec will vary with expansions, patches, and your skill and gear.)

Since you are in PVP, you should have Soul Link.

General Tips

If specced into Grimoire of Sacrifice wait until you use your Felhunter’s (FH) spell lock before sacrificing the FH. The grimoire resets the cooldown of spell lock, so you can get a second off fairly soon.

Blood Horror is great vs Warrior teams. Make sure you eat his Spell Reflect first, perhaps with Curse of Elements, so that your Blood horror is not reflected.

Consider creating a macro with /cancelaura Blood Horror in it, just in case.

Affliction:

• Affliction: When DOTing a mage don’t Soulburn the DOTs onto him, since his Mage Armor will reduce the duration by 35%. Instead, copy the DOTs from a different target onto the mage to bypass the Mage Armor.
• Agony is strongest DOT at 10 stacks and weakest at one. Agony retains its stacks when copied to a new target. Keep it refreshed and swap when it hurts the most.
• Dark Soul: Misery – try to line it up with a trinket proc for more fun.
• Soulburn: Demonic Circle: Teleport – great for kiting, port to healer (when he’s scattered) to eat a trap, as a Freedom effect, or for a burst of speed to get into range for a Fear.

BG/PvP Tips

• Keep your eyes open.
• Swivel your camera a lot. Keep looking over your shoulder like you are a paranoid freak.
• Try to be as aware of as many things as you can.
• Warlock survival in BGs relies entirely on keeping control, and you will lose control if you are surprised.
• If you see a rogue go stealth, assume he is coming for you (because he probably is.)
• At any given moment, a stealthed druid or rogue can and will jump on you out of nowhere.
• Keep your eyes open, keep moving and be prepared.
• Locate their healers and get on them.
• Locate your own healers and protect them.
• At any given moment, Hunter shots can and will start punching you out of nowhere.
• At any given moment, you can and will be death gripped into a pile of melee.
• Look over your opposing team on the scoreboard and recognize what COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN at any given moment, and prepare for it.
• If their team is melee-heavy, stick to a group.
• If there are rogues, be ready for a gank.

Open Lines of Clear Communication Win BGs

• Unless you have a full preset, you obviously can’t ever expect your whole team to have instant communication, so /bg is just going to have to do.
• Call incs with NUMBERS. Add details, such as numbers and class on the incomming. Also add where. If it’s a bunch, just say something like “Ally zerg inc farm.”
• Ventrilo is a big help with team communication. Get a microphone, too. This is essential for any serious team PvP.

Recognize Your Opponents

• Half your ability to seize and retain control is your ability to visually recognize what’s coming after you.
• Does the warrior have a shield?
• Hunter has a dinosaur?
• The Shaman’s DW’ing?
• Paladin with a 2h weapon?
• DK surrounded by tiny little maggots?
• If you are caught offguard, you are probably going to die.

Know Your Terrain

Jeddia of Icecrown says: Pay attention to details of the terrain. Be aware of places where an enemy can’t walk directly to you (a steep hill), or where they have to go around a bit to get to you (tower areas, bridges, etc.). Fences are interesting things sometimes…

Also, understand where the enemy players will be rezzing. AB is a fine example of a BG where knowing the enemies’ next rezz spot can win or lose an entire match. You tend to see your teammates going directly for a node that will be crawling with enemies in sometime under 30 seconds…and will ultimately lead to useless slaughter. This wastes valuable time that you could use to defend a node or reclaim a contested one.

In WSG, if you and your mates go rolling into the enemy FR and slaughter 8 enemies – don’t grab the flag and go out past the GY… Unless you enjoy being insta-zerged out of thin air.

The terrain in WSG is so prime for warlocks. My personal favorite thing to do in WSG is to sit at the top of our ramp (above our zerk hut) and waylay would-be flagrunners. You can usually get them feared before they even realize you’re there. Half the fight is finished before they even dismount. And they spend time fighting you and hopefully never get to the flag itself – while your team is (hopefully) getting theirs.

Less Talk More Fight

Enough is enough. BG chat is for calling incoming, not telling some guy from Suramar he’s a scrub because he didn’t heal you exactly when you wanted to be healed.

By the way: First complains, least skilled. No exceptions. The first person to say “you guys all suck” when you are losing is the worst player on your team. No exceptions.

FIGHT DIRTY

These people want to kill you. You are a warlock. They all hate you. They are going to go out of their way to harm you as deeply and as earnestly as they can, and then they are going to /spit and /lol at your corpse, because everybody hates warlocks. They hate fear, they despise dots, your felhunter is a rage magnet and your deathcoil (now Mortal Coil) once made the entire wow population cry floods of bitter tears for over a year.

If you have it, there is no reason not to use it. If it will score a kill or a prevent a warrior from dancing on your corpse, do it. Cooldowns come back up.

Fear is your single greatest weapon.

Warlock Fear is the arguably the single best pvp CC in this game. Ranged cast, long duration, zero cooldown, permits damage. Find your fear’s damage cap and ride it. Don’t follow a fear with a nuke, you’re going to break your fear; what is wrong with you??

Keep in mind that PVP CC’s are kept in check through diminishing returns (DR) – your first fear can last as long as 8 seconds, your second only 4. Third fear lasts 2 seconds and then you cannot fear him again for 15 seconds. Howl of Terror is a Fear, so even though it only lasts 8 seconds, your second, single-target Fear is only going to be 5 seconds, tops.

Fear and seduce share DR.

Improved Fear Happens When The Fear Breaks.

Nightmare happens after the trinket. Unless he can shrug slow effects, Imp Fear guarantees five seconds of a slowed target.

KITE.

Hit melee with your dots and then RUN AWAY. Stun them, slow them, fear them, load up the dots and then RUN… AWAY. Keep out of Melee range. Keep OUT of Melee range. Be very aware of Death Grip and Charge ranges.

DEATH POD COMES FROM THE SKY

You already knew this, but your Infernal is an easy cast and a 10 minute CD, he does respectable damage when he comes down, and accompanies it with 2-second AoE stun. He has a strong melee attack and a constant aoe fire aura.

He’s also a fifteen-foot tall rock monster covered in bright green flames. He is immune to fire, non-paladin fear and stuns, he has a hearty healthbar and decent armor and, again, he is fifteen feet tall.

Infernal is a chaos engine. He stomps around in your enemy’s faces and almost completely obstructs their view, screwing with their manual targeting, and his fire aura drags stealth out of hiding, plus you can (and immediately should) Soul Link him.

You drop him on tons of enemies. Zergs, turtles, wherever there are a lot of red names is exactly where you should drop him and if you can swing it, the absolute best time to drop him is – and this really cannot be stressed enough – when your enemies do not know you are there.

SURPRISE! ROCKMONSTER!

Paladins can chew him up and spit him out and of course enemy Warlocks can banish him, so be ready for this. Also keep in mind that if an entire Zerg focuses on him, they’re going to shred him. But then again, he’s only going to last 60 seconds anyway. If they took the time to kill him, you have successfully wasted their time.

Trees Are Asking For It

When a Druid is a tree, he is saying “please, if it’s not too much trouble, could you banish me repeatedly and then fear me until the DR on banish wears off? I’d be ever so grateful.” Do it.

If You are A Tailor, You Can Make Nets.

Why don’t you have a hundred of these in your bags, right now? It is a three-second immobilization that will save your life against CloS’ed rogues, Berzerking warriors and shelled/lichborned DKs.

Nets stop flag carriers. They stop people from riding past you on horseback. They stop people from running towards you or away from you. Nobody ever expects it. Sometimes people blow their trinket to get out of it. They last three seconds and have a 1min cd. If you are a tailor, you can make them.

Tracer Bullets Point Both Ways

Heorlic of Bleeding Hollow says: There is a distinction between spells that give away your location, and spells that don’t.

For example, as Horde, you start off in EotS by rushing MT. You’re by yourself, because it takes everyone else 30 seconds to finish capping FR, and to figure out where you’re going. Meanwhile, you’ve looped around behind MT, and standing in a ditch, fully dotting EVERY ALLY THERE.

(I run as affliction) Cast UA, Corruption….next target. Fear if you want, and are close enough. These spells have no animation that indicate the direction from where they came. With spells like Haunt and Shadow Bolt, they will know which direction you are, and it won’t take them long to find you.

I’ve run healers oom healing themselves doing this, since they didn’t know where the damage was coming from. My favorite place is in the many ditches/cliffs in EotS, though there are several bushes in WSG and other BG’s that work quite well.

Be careful about dotting up classes with pets (DK, Hunters, Warlocks), as if their pet is on Defensive, that will give your location away.

TELEPORT

Jeddia of Icecrown says: Demonic Circle – This spell, while shunned by PvE’ers as “utterly useless” is one of the single greatest things to happen to PvP warlocks since Kate Beckinsale came over the other night – naked. Oh wait, that was a dream. Regardless, our teleport is awesome when properly utilized.

In world PvP, I put it in a tree if I can. Or up on monuments, statues, walls, etc.

In AB, the mine roof, farm house, LM anywhere slightly hidden, bs house (if only we could still get on the roof!). Also, you can do really constructive things like: Place it on the road above the mine. Then jump off, cast an insta dot on someone below and teleport back up before you’re outta range of it.

In WSG, it’s obviously fantastic in the forts. Top floor or 2nd floor, and you got yourself a recipe for serious enemy aggravation. They’ll figure it out eventually (or you’ll get shredded by a couple of pissed off hunter pets), but it’s fun while it lasts.

In Eye of the Storm, I put mine behind the towers, not in them. First they’ll look inside, then they’ll be confused and look around more. But by that time you are nearly healed and recovering from your giggling fit and can let the violence ensue.

Elizander of Bonechewer says: Here’s a quick and cheap trick with regards to melee and elevation. If you’re on a relatively low cliff (one you can jump off) just toss Demonic Circle on it when melee is after you. Jump off. Melee follows. Teleport back up. Melee dumbfounded. Works great on the bridge in arena and works great in EotS (tower edges), SotA (run into a turret area), and many other areas. Let them enjoy a nice 5-10 second stroll while 3-5 dots are ticking on them.

If they are DK, do not gloat on the edge of the cliff. You will get Deathgripped. 😛

 

NOTORIOUS D.P.S.

This is a little dated, but the general ideas are still good.

ROGUE

If his cooldowns are up and yours are down, you will probably die.
Trinket the first stun immediately, or wait for Kidney Shot – looks like a pink fist – and then instant CC – that is Shadowfury, Howl of Terror, Felguard Smash, and get the hell away from him. It is acceptable to trinket the first stun, but you need to follow it with instant CC, right away

Do not blow trinket on a sap or you will be stunned again almost immediately and probably die. If you have instant HoT, blow it as soon as you’ve trinketed and immediately Fear – to catch him if he trinkets out of the Howl of Terror. Mortal Coil or Shadowfury if you don’t. Teleport away if you have a pad in reach, too.

Get distance. If he is in melee range he’s going to do something terrible to you. Any Rogue can sap, garrote (this is a silence,) cheap shot, kidney shot (the Combat version last for about an hour,) blind, and gouge you.

CloS is four seconds. Count three and cast fear if you have distance, count four and Mortal Coil if you don’t. Also think Nets. Run away. Watch for the buff to fall of and put your dots back on. If you cannot get away, you will probably die.

He Is Going To … Pop out of nowhere and stunlock you into oblivion. If your trinket is down, you will probably die.

Depending on talent choice he can either teleport to your position or sprint (across the entire battlefield.)

Use CloS and vanish to retake initiative. If your trinket and aoe stuns or fears are down, you probably die.

Blind you. It will break as soon as anything hurts you, sometimes you do not have that long. If your trinket is down, you will probably die.

Sap you. GET OFF YOUR HORSE. DO NOT TRINKET.

Kick/Gouge/Arcane Torrent (Blood Elf) you to interrupt your casting or garrote you to silence.

Devour Magic Eats: Absolutely nothing.

You will probably die. Unless you can gain distance and DOT him up to keep him out of stealth. Cloak will wipe the DOTS, but you’ll probably see him again, soon enough.

HUNTER

First step is to see them FIRST.

If he catches you unawares he can completely shut you down. If you can, get in close and fear or shadowfury to fear or Mortal Coil to fear.

You’ll notice ‘fear’ is a key ingredient to success. If permitted to maneuver, Hunters are very well equipped to control a fight against a caster until you die from it. Also note that some hunters can become completely immune to all CC, if he and his pet suddenly become huge and red, stop fearing. Drain Life might save you, death coil won’t.

He Is Going To … FD (Feign Death,) clearing him as your target. Be ready to manually retarget him.

Screw you up with traps. If you see him crouch for half a second, he just dropped a trap. Do yourself a favor and don’t walk there. Don’t follow the same path the Hunter takes, in case there are traps.

Pick you apart from range. Try to close the gap, but if you can, try to fear him. He is very well-equipped to annihilate you before you can get close enough to fearbomb, so watch yourself.

Devour Magic eats: Frost Trap

Death Knight

DKs will annihilate you if you can’t keep out of their reach. Unfortunately, he’s really good at getting you into his reach, and we have limited ways to stop it from happening. Sometimes they have pets, which can be mildly annoying.

If he has a pet up he’s Unholy, which means decent DoTs. (In Warlords of Dreanor only Unholy DKs have pets.) If he has an insane health pool then he’s Blood, so will be hard to hurt.

Nets are amazingly useful when they throw up anti-magic shell or lichborne, otherwise do everything you can to keep them feared and slowed and as far away as you can.

Kite like it is your job to do so and you are being paid very well to do it.

Silence them. A spell-locked Death Knight is a worthless Death Knight for three seconds, silence robs them of their ability to hurt you..

Save MC or fears for the deathgrip.

Army of the Dead has Avoidance now, but SoC on them is still hitting everything around them.

Their Death Coil is pretty strong and they’ll want to hit you with it while you’re kiting. If they lose their DC to your shadow ward, they have just wasted a large portion of Runic Power.

They have way high melee burst, high health and multiple damage mitigation cds. If he outgears you significantly then you’re going to die.

He Is Going To: Silence you. Eat it.

Chain you. Eat it.

Slow you. Eat them.

Deathgrip you. Save your defensive CDs for it.

Anti-Magic Shell. Net him and run.

Lichborne. Net him and run.

Interrupt you.

Anti-Magic Field. Fear him out of it.

Devour Magic eats: Chains of Ice, Strangulate, Mark of Blood.

WARRIOR

Times change, specs alter, but there will always be at least one Warrior spec that shreds Warlocks. They are the epitome of toe-to-toe combat and you are wearing magic toilet paper. Do not stand and fight, run away. Kite him for everything you’re worth. Sound familiar? He has no ability to remove any of your DoTs, he has limited damage mitigation cds, what he has is weaponry that is larger than you are.

He charges and once he closes the gap he’s going to hamstring you. The hamstring is worth trinking out of.

Fear has very limited use on a Warrior, as all of them can shrug fear and become immune to it at least once, and he’s going to use that CD against you, because he knows you are going to Fear him.

That effect is gone after about ten seconds, though, and all of those abilities have CDs, and those CDs will not always be up.

Deathcoil and CoEx, Shadowfury and Seduce, Deathcoil and Intercept. Keep him at reach and kite him around with your dots ticking away.

All warriors can interrupt.

If you see: One 2h weapon: He is probably Arms, and can Mortal Strike for enormous damage that will cut your healing. He gets a free MS or Slam crit after his charge, and he can Bladestorm, during which he will spin for constant AoE weapon damage and be completely impossible to CC at all. Run or teleport from Bladestorm.

Two weapons: He’s Fury. Keep as many dots on him as you can and Mortal Coil after his Intercept – if you MC before the intercept, he’ll be right back in your face as soon as your one useful defensive measure against him wears off.

All Warriors now have Spell Reflect. Spell Reflect has a very distinctive graphic – when you see It, STOP CASTING unless you really wanted to see what your deathcoil feels like. It only lasts for 5 seconds, wait it out, or bounce Devour Magic or Spell Lock off of it.

Prot has the least defense against Fear.

RETADIN

The paladin with the 2h is Ret and he comes with massive Holy burst and strong spells that specifically affect demons. If he is targeting your demon, fear him or you lose the demon.

He can fear your demon.

He can self-heal (and sometimes actually will), has no less than two stuns and an invincibility bubble, as well as myriad CD self-buffs that will dramatically increase how badly he can hurt you.

You can eat all his stuns. He is going to rely on his ability to stun you so he can blow a few CDs and knock your brains out. Don’t let him do this. Using Devour Magic on pally stuns is absolutely key, eat one, trinket the next and he suddenly has nothing but his bubble.

Spell Lock is worth blowing on them, it removes a lot of their ability to hurt you.

Outside of his bubble, he can’t be immune to fear at all, so fear him. Repeatedly. He can’t dispel curses, so your curses can be useful (PvP talents,) particularly as he has very limited ranged ability. If you have it, put UA on him first to dissuade him from even bothering to dispel, otherwise he’s going to strip off anything he can.

The Bubble

Yes, he is going to bubble. He’s going to become briefly invulnerable and, by the time it wears off, he’s going to be at full health. There is nothing you can do but pray a priest is nearby with a mass dispel and run away. The icon for his bubble is a pinkish-yellowish shield-looking thing. You will know exactly when his immortality will wear off, because you can watch the buff tick down.

When it is almost off, cast a fear. If you time it right, he is suddenly feared the very moment he was able to be feared and hey presto, you have retaken initiative.

He is going to:

Stun you. Eat the stun.

Bubble. Run away and grudgingly accept that he’s going to be at full health before it wears off.

Lay on Hands. There is a chance that he will suddenly be at full health and there is nothing you can do to stop this from happening.

Devour Magic Eats: Absolutely everything they do save bubbles.

MAGE

If he significantly outgears you, you are probably going to die. This is a pure ranged dps class that is noted for having more and faster burst than you, as well as multiple escapes.

He is going try his best to make you explode as quickly as he can, so you need to seize initiative immediately. He can blink behind you and ruin a cast, he will become invincible and shed all dots at least once, he probably has a silence and at least a ranged interrupt, and, and this cannot be stressed enough, more and faster burst than you.

What we have over them is a much better pvp cc. It is a lot harder for a mage to seize control of a fight than it is for a warlock. Mages have a lot of ways to run away and several AOE movement impairments, but they don’t have Mortal Coil and they don’t have fear.

They have a polymorph (you can eat).

For Destro, this is pure burst-on-burst with one side possessing superior cc. For Demo and Aff, if he’s well-geared or well-played, this might be a significantly rougher and briefer fight than you might prefer.

Don’t let him cast.

Affliction:  copy the DOTs from a different target onto the mage.

Oh god he’s Arcane: Remember the part about not letting them cast? Don’t let him cast.. His instant burst is really a lot of damage, if you cannot keep him from casting at all, he is going to hurt you. Spell Lock, seduce or stun to gain and regain initiative, and just don’t let him cast.

Mirror Image: Oh my god suddenly there’s four mages! Three of them are standing completely still and casting at me! One of them is bouncing around spamming arcane explodey! Only one of them has buffs! Which is the real mage?

Dispels: All curses. You can force him to blow a GCD by hitting him with CoT.

Fire Mage has a Pyro Proc: eat it.

Devour Magic Eats: Everything. Poly, slow, impact, frost nova, silence, scorch, everything they can do, you can eat. Except ice block.

SHAMAN

Elemental Shamans have an instant, fire-based, nuke with a DOT. Eat Flame Shock to prevent this from happening. Expect to lose at least one spell into a grounding totem (PvP talent,) fear them out of their totem garden and pour on dots.

They have only weak interrupts and no silence, what they have is a lot of burst and a couple of fairly dangerous novelties. Warlocks are especially strong against Ellies in all forms, but a skilled or well-geared operator can and will surprise you.

Elemental Shamans have an AOE knockback. Be very careful fighting an Ellie near a cliff.

Enhancement Shamans Dual Wield and will run right towards you. Deathcoil, fear, net, hot, shadowfury, do whatever it takes to keep him from reaching you. He has no intercept but he can roll up on you in traveling Wolf form, and he’s going to frost shock you (you can eat frost shock) or drop an Earthbind near you to keep you from getting away.

Enh shammies are like guided missiles. When they arrive on target, they will severely damage or destroy that target. If they do not reach their target, they are wholly useless. Whatever you can do to keep them out of melee range is a good thing to do.

One large plus is that because Enh needs to physically close distances to DPS, they often don’t give themselves enough time to drop valuable totems, such as Grounding or Tremor. You should pay very close attention to that.

HOLY CRAP WOLVES: Yeah, they’re really annoying. You can shadowfury or HoT them if you have the time, but mostly really run away.

All shamans can heal. All can turn you into a frog.

One last thing on Shamans – if he has not released yet, he might suddenly come back to life. Take all shaman insignias.

Devour Magic Eats: All shocks.

DRUID

Feral Druids can be as deadly as rogues. They have at least two stuns and brutal physical DPS but lack Cloak of Shodows and Vanish. Feral Druids can be immune to Fear, as well as passively resistant to Fear. If a Feral has jumped you out of thin air and has Berzerking up, you will probably die.

Trinket the stun and Deathcoil and then run. Nets and such have limited effect, as he can shed them by turning into a bear and then charging you and stunning you again.

Pretend the mean kitty is a cross between a warrior and a rogue, because that’s what it is. Fight them the same way. Kite, dot, CC whenever you possibly can.

Boomkin Druids are at a disadvantage against us, our CC is better and they can’t heal in laser chicken format. Fear them and dot them or seduce them and blow the hell out of them. If he cyclones you and tries to time a starfire, spell lock, seduce it or have your FG intercept.

His burst is very fast and if permitted to cast freely, he will chew through your health like it was a delicious bar of chocolate.

Like with Mages, just don’t let them cast.

Boomkin have an AOE knockback. Be very careful fighting laser chickens near cliffs.

Druids in Animal forms cannot be Seduced

Dispels: All curses, sheds all snares and slows by changing shape.
Devour Magic eats: All Boomkin dots, snares and stuns except Cyclone.
Devour Magic does not eat any Feral dots, stuns or snares.

Shadow PRIEST

This is another class we’re strong against.

Shadow Priests in PVP, and I mean absolutely no disrespect, are kind of like very stripped-down affliction warlocks. They have strong shadow dots and several shadow-based nukes – one of them is an instant and it hurts pretty badly – and a killer channel, as well as constant health regen through dps.

They have a silence you can eat, a procced stun you can eat, and an instant AOE fear you can also eat. You can eat almost all of their dots and you can eat Mind Flay right off of you.

Shadow ward, try to aim spell lock for the VE but any shadow spell will do. UA to prevent dispel and keep in mind that an affliction warlock can out-drain him.

As with any caster, your CCs are better. Keep control and keep his casting to a minimum.

All Priests can Mind Control. If you have been MC’ed near a cliff, he is going to try to pitch you off of it.

Dispels: All magic-based effects.
Devour Magic Eats: Almost every CC, dot and buff they have.

WARLOCK

Okay, so:

Demonology: Fear the lock and banish the FG, pour on damage while he lacks SL. Treat Meta like you treat a Tree: if he popped demon on or near a Warlock, he is asking for it.

Destruction: Strip away Immolation and spell lock the Chaos Bolt. Fear and CoT, be ready to be seduced.

Affliction: Ride the devour magic macro for everything it is worth, whatever your dog eats is good. Stop the Haunt and be ready for a lot of fears. Aff vs. Aff, traditionally, the first one to stick a fear will win.

WHAT DO I DO ABOUT WILL OF THE FORSAKEN?

If he’s undead, you’re going to lose an extra fear or seduce, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
If he’s an undead rogue, I feel for you, I honestly do.

Keep non-Fear/Seduce CCs handy – nets, for example, will help a lot.

==AIM FOR THE PRIEST==

Warlocks are now and have always been particularly strong against enemy casters. Their healers are their most valuable team members by a wide, wide margin, and because of this they absolutely need to die first.

Every time.

A good rule of thumb is that DPS will not die until there are no healers left. It is your job to make sure the healer dies first.

Whenever dealing with any healer, your first and last order of business is to keep them pressured. The longer they are feared or healing themselves, the less time they are spending healing the Ret that is ravaging your side.

A “Win” isn’t always a kill. Distracting a healer until his target dies on him is a win, even if it costs you a res timer. Especially if the healer’s target is carrying a flag or obliterating your team.

Please remember – a healer who is healing himself is not healing the dps. (Apart from Priest’s Binding Heal, which heals the Priest and the Priest’s target. Spell lock that.)

Even if you can’t kill it, if its heals are too strong, if it”s practically immortal and omg nerf op, fear it.

Enemy healers are not your friends.

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