The Warlocks Den - WoW Warlock Discussions

Raid Composition Guide (version 3.3)

How to build a raid for optimum success is a question that haunts all raid leaders at some point. What classes are needed? Do I need to organize my group composition within my raid? What is that pesky warlock really worth to me, and should I ask him to respec for the raid?

Raid Size
If you are running 25 man raid content, your job as Raid Leader is both easier and much more difficult. You have less to worry about as far as getting all the good buffs, due to the overlapping nature of most buffs. If you can hit the key buffs in the first two groups, the other three are gravy, right? Now to just herd the cats to the bath…
Running 10 man content is where getting all the right buffs gets a lot harder. At least leading the raid itself is easier. This guide will focus on 10 man content. 25 man guilds can use this as a bare minimum set, and edge out a little better setup from there.

Classes and Races
Just because warlocks are the coolest cats in the raid, it doesn’t make them irreplaceable. But you just can’t crank up the Roflcopter without certain classes at the table.
1) Shaman. No ifs, ands, or buts. Raiding without one will cost you Heroism / Bloodlust and 5% spell haste.
2) Paladin. They bring blessings – two of which are unique: Kings and Wisdom. Their judgements of Light and Wisdom are also unique, and the only unique debuffs at that. If you can get two paladins, great. At least bring one.
3) Druid. Mark of the Wild is unique, stacking with Kings. And the auras they provide are great additions to any raid.
4) If your druid is not a Moonkin, get a Shadow Priest and either a Warlock or Unholy Death Knight.
5) Demonology Warlock gives the strongest spellpower buff in the game once you're past about 3k spellpower and have a strong crit rate.
6) If you're alliance, get one Draenei for each group in your raid for an added 1% to hit.

Tanks
My recommendations for the two tanks you need are Warrior (Main Tank) and Paladin (Off Tank). Obviously this choice is gear / skill dependant, but assuming near equal gear and skill, handling adds and multiple mobs is typically easier as a Paladin. Warriors can pull it off, but they have to change out of the 'cookie-cutter' tank spec to do so.
If you have other tank spots available, invite a Death Knight (Unholy or Blood for the best buffs) and a Bear.

Heals
Here's where you want your Shaman, if possible. Couple this with a Discipline (or Holy) priest, and your heals should be good to go. Assignments are gear and skill dependent here as well, but assuming equal gear / skill, have your Shaman heal the tank with the most people nearby. The Discipline Priest is great for healing the tank taking the most damage. Some groups prefer (or need, depending on gear) a third healer. If that is the case, sub out your least contributing* DPS for a Holy Paladin or Restoration Druid. I've seen Holy Pallies popping 16K – 20K crits in Naxx25 level gear, practically rezzing the near-dead tank in the process. Druids are masters of the heal over time, giving insta-cast heals in high movement fights. In 25 man groups, allow for about six healers.
* Least contributing does not necessarily equate to lowest DPS. Look at the buffs they provide as well, to see what you will be sacrificing.

DPS
Here's where we come in. And we are a vital part of a well balanced raid group. Demonic Pact is where it's at though, not the standard deep Destruction builds we've all seen. Metamophosis Warlocks also bring the Crit Strike debuff, allowing your mage to drop scorch altogether. I picked four ranged DPS, and two melee. You may find that a different balance works well for you, but balance you must! Your ranged DPS threat is based on them being at range. They will likely have to hold back if they have to stack on the tank for the fight mechanics. But having too many melee hurts your raid DPS on fights with boss AoE's and such. Having a balance in your core group minimizes this drop in DPS.

TLDR:
Here's a sample raid composition from the tool at MMO-Champion.

I used a Prot Warrior for the armor and attack power debuff.
The Prot Pally dishes out Kings on everybody but himself (he gets it from the other Paladin) and Sactuary on himself. He also judges light on his target for the health feedback.
I played a Meta 'Lock for the Demonic Pact buff, as well as the critical strike debuff, healthstones and a soul stone.
I picked the Disc Priest for the main tank heals, stam and spirit buff and the armor buff on healing.
I put the Shammy on heals to provide Bloodlust / Heroism, a second armor buff on heals (non stacking, but they aren't healing the same people), the agi/str totem (Strength of Earth), spell haste (Wrath of Air), mana return (Mana Tide), and those nice Chain Heals that keep my DPSers alive.
The Balance Druid provides Mark of the Wild, spell crit buff, +hit and -armor from Improved Faerie Fire, increased spell damage taken, a melee hit reduction debuff, and a haste buff shared with the Ret Pally.
The Ret Pally is a big buffer here as well. They bring the second blessing for everybody, a flat 3% damage increase, replenishment, crit strike debuff, and Judgement of Wisdom.

The remaining three DPS don't bring quite as much to the table due to overlapping buffs.
I brought the Marksman Hunter for the attack power buff, and if he has a Rhino pet, the bleed damage bonus is nice. He can also help with a healing debuff and the melee hit reduction debuff.
The Combat Rogue is there primarily for the physical vulnerability debuff, but he can also help with the healing debuff and armor debuff on the offtank's target.
The Fire Mage (any spec would be fine, so long as DPS is good) is here for the Int buff. That and I like the food and the portal home is awfully convenient. You could sub out the mage for a kitty cat and get a melee crit strike buff and a better 3/3 ranged/melee balance.

Buff Categories
Here's the way it lays out. There are about 37 categories of buffs and debuffs that don't stack. Some are unique, some are shared by three or so classes. Not all buffs / debuffs are equal! Here's the breakdown, matrix-style:

Buffs	DK	Dr	Hu	Ma	Pa	Pri	Ro	Sh	Wa	Wr
Agility and Strength	Any							Any
Armor%						H/D		Res
Attack Power					Ret					Fur
Attack Power%	Bl		Mk					Enh
Heroism								Any
Damage%			BM		Ret
Damage Redux%					Prot
Haste%		Bal			Ret
Healing Rcvd%		Res			Prot
Health									Des	Fur
Intellect				Any					Aff
Mana (blessing)					Holy
Melee Crit		Fer								Fur
Melee Haste	Fro							Enh
Replenishment			Sur	Fro	Ret	Sha			Des
Spell Crit		Bal						Ele
Spell Haste								Ele/Res
Spellpower								Ele	Dem
Spirit						Any			Aff
Stamina						Any
Stat Add		Any
Stat%					Any

Debuffs	DK	Dr	Hu	Ma	Pa	Pri	Ro	Sh	Wa	Wr
Armor (Major)			BM(p)				Any			Prot
Armor (Minor)		Fer	Any(p)						Any
Attack Power		Fer							Aff	Any
Bleed Damage		Fer	BM(p)							Arms
Cast Speed			BM(p)	Arc			Any		Any
Crit Strike					P/R		As	Ele
Healing			Any				Any			A/F
Health Restore					Any
Mana Restore					Any
Melee Attk Spd	Fro	Fer			Prot					Prot
Melee Hit Redux		Bal	Any
Phys Vulnerability							Com			Arms
Spell Crit				Fi/Fr					Aff/Dem
Spell Damage	Un	Bal							Any
Spell Hit		Bal				Sh

For help in-game, check out RaidComp.

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Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.