The Warlocks Den - WoW Warlock Discussions

So you want to start raiding…

We have a lot of the same questions pop up on these forums. Many that I frequently see are asked by people that are either just starting raiding or not very far into there raiding careers. While pretty much all of these questions are answered on these forums, I don’t think we have anywhere that a new to raiding warlock can go and have most of his questions answered in 1 shot. So I figured I would start a post where we can put in all of the basic questions for locks that are about to start (or have recently started) raiding. so if you see anything that I missed or that is incorrect (I’m sure there is a lot of that heh) please feel free to post it, as well as anything that you think should be included.

First, let’s start off with a couple frequently asked questions…

Q: How much +spell hit do I need in PvE or what is +spell hit used for in PvE?
A: Spell hit is used to mitigate a mobs chance to resist a spell. It is NOT used for partial resists, it only determines if the spell is initially resisted or not. Every mob has a base 1% chance to resist any spell you cast that can not be countered. Since this is a raiding QA, we are assuming the player is level 70. A level 70 mob will have a 4% chance to resist. This chance increases with the mobs level, so a level 71 mob has a 5% chance to resist, 72 has a 6% chance and a 73 (raid boss) has a 17% chance to resist. No, that is not a typo. All but 1% of this can be mitigated through spell hit. Roughly 12.6 spell hit = 1%, so 202 spell hit will max you out at 16% and allow you to hit raid bosses 99% of the time. An affliction lock can offset this by taking the suppression talent, which adds 10% +hit to all affliction spells (note, this means that shadowbolt, immolate and soul shatter do NOT get the benefit of suppression)

Q: What should my cast order be?
A: On longer fights, because each of our dots lasts for a different amount of time, a cast order is basically impossible. The idea is to keep as many of your dots ticking as possible at all times, refreshing them as they end (that is important. Do NOT refresh a dot before its last tick as you will lose that ticks worth of damage), and filling in the spare time with shadow bolts, life taps and mana taps. So it boils down to what is the cast order that works best for you, in whatever situation you find yourself.

In shorter fights, when your dots will not have the time to tick through their full duration, you should concentrate more on shadowbolting than on casting all 5 dots. For example, you could cast unstable affliction (the cast time / time before damage is dealt allows the tank to build a bit of agro) and then spam shadow bolts.

Q: Which faction is better, Aldor or Scryer?
A: looking at it solely on the basis of gear, Scryer is the better faction for warlocks. But in the end, it will boil down to what you want to get from your choice. If Aldor has patterns or recipes that you want more than the items from Scryers, then you should choose Aldor.

Q: My guild mate is a warlock (or mage) with the same gear as me, but he is destruction and does way better than I do on the damage meters! Why?
A: In early raiding, a destruction build will out DPS an affliction build when you look at the overall damage done for the raid. But when you look at the damage done on the fights that count, the boss fights, your properly played affliction build will dominate the damage meters when compared to any other equally geared player. Leave the trash to the mages.

Q: What minimum stats should I have before I go into Kara?
A: This is going to vary greatly, depending on your guild. If your guild is clearing Kara easily, they will be able to pick up some of your slack if you are under geared. If you are in a guild that is just starting Kara, then you want to have the best stats available. But (assuming an affliction build) at a minimum, you will want at the very least (repetitive much? yep!) 600 (unbuffed) + spell damage (with pots, food and oil you can raise that significantly for a short while) and 50 to 74+ spell hit.

Warlock Raid Purpose:
Is, quite simply, DPS. Yes, we may occasionally have to enslave a demon or use a different curse and our stamina buff is nice to have, but for the most part, we just deal out damage at an astounding rate on bosses. That being the case, we should gear and spec ourselves accordingly.

Builds:
Full Affliction. Yes, that pretty much covers our build options for early raiding. At least, if we want to maximize our DPS potential on boss fights, and our usefulness to the raid itself, we will be affliction.

The warlocks Den has a few spectacular threads on raiding builds, but the one we should be concerning ourselves with is the full affliction 41/0/20 build, and its variants.

To be brief, if you have the following talents you will do significant DPS regardless of what other talents you take…

AFFLICTION TALENTS

Suppression
Imp Corruption
Imp Drain soul (less threat!)
Grim reach
Empowered Corruption
Amp Curse
Siphon Life
Shadow mastery
Dark pact
Contagion
Unstable Affliction

DESTRUCTION TALENTS

Imp Shadow Bolt
Bane

Gear
Gear is pretty important to a raiding lock. The main stats affliction locks should be worried about are +damage and +spell hit. Don’t worry about crit just yet, as it is not nearly as beneficial to you as damage or spell hit is. (see this thread for the numbers and explanation).

Canadienpimps gearing your warlock guide is exceptional in its pre-raid helpfulness when it comes to damage, as well as listing the gear available in Kara (and beyond).

Below is a list of choice gear that is either so high quality that you won’t be replacing until you venture into tier5 level content so it is well worth getting (these items are in italics), or it is gear that is easily available pre-raid and has +spell hit on it. You will not need everything on this list to raid; it is just a small list of items that are desirable.

Crafted gear
Frozen Shadoweave Set BoP so you have to be a tailor and craft these yourself.
Spellstrike set head and legs that you can get crafted for you.
The FSW and Spellstrike set will last you well into tier 5 level dungeons.
Girdle of Ruination is something that can be crafted for you as well, though you may want to wait and pick up the belt that is available from badges (see below)

Dungeon and quest gear available…
Gloves of Oblivion easily replaced in kara by (preferably) The Handwraps of Flowing Thought or alternatively the Tier 4 Voidheart Gloves, but the oblivion gloves have a lot of +hit on them and may prove useful in boss fights until they are replaced.
Brooch of Heightened potential, The Black Stalk or Nether Core Controllers Rod. This wand is almost as good as the Trisfal Wand that drops in Kara, and is much easier to get.
Lamp of Peaceful Radiance which will probably be replaced by a badge reward off hand or a staff.
Sash of Serpentine badge reward belt (see below) will replace this

Badge rewards
Icon of the Silver Crescent 41 badges
Orb of the Souleater 25 badges
Voodoo Woven Belt 60 badges
Studious wraps 60 badges
These 4 pieces are well worth having. None of them will be replaced for quite a long time.

Rep reward gear
Scryers Blood Gem
Seers Signet

PvP Gear (no arena needed)
Gladiator Spell blade or Gladiator War Staff I would strongly suggest picking one of these up. The grind for honor doesn’t take all that long. Which one you get depends on your personal preference, a good solid case can be made for picking up either of’em.
Vindicators Silk Cuffs or Vindicators Dreadweave Cuffs either one with a +hit gem.

This is by no means an end all list of gear available. Nor is it a list of gear that you absolutely have to have in order to be effective to raid (though the craftables are really really hard to justify not having). This is a list of gear that you, as a new raiding warlock, can look over and get some of the items from in order to have maximum raid impact from the moment you step into Kara.

Enchants, Inscriptions and Thread
Once you get some gear that you will be keeping for awhile, you need to put enchants, inscriptions and thread on it.
Bracers will get +15 spell damage
Gloves will get either +20 spell damage or +15 spell hit
Weapon will get +40 spell damage. You also have the option of Soulfrost but the mats for that are rather daunting, and I would STRONGLY advise you not to bother with it yet.
For your chest, you can get either +150 health or +6 all stats
Boots can have Boars Speed (9 stam / slight speed increase) or Fortitude (+12 stam)
Your pants should have either of the spellthreads – either Mystic +25 spell dmg and 15 stamina or Runic +35 spell damage and 20 stam
Fort your head, you need Sha’tar rep in order to pick up the Glyph of Power 22 spell damage and 14 spell hit
You shoulder inscription will depend on what faction you choose.


Gems
You have a few options when it comes to gems, but I personally suggest that you use either Veiled Noble Topaz (4 spell hit and 5 damage and is theoretically the best bang for your buck until you get hit capped) or Great Dawnstone (+8 spell hit) in most of your gem slots. You can safely ignore most socket bonuses, the exceptions being +hit and +spell damage. If you want to keep your socket bonus, then use the Glowing Nightseye for blue and the Veiled Noble Topaz for yellow and red. Obviously, if the gear you are gemming is not going to last for awhile, just throw in the cheap versions of these gems!