Not using voidwalker?

[Aldgit]

Personally I loved the Voidwalker whilst levelling and early 70's, managed properly he can just sit there and hold on to Mobs whilst you quietly take them down with proper aggro management, irrespective of being Destro/Aff/Demon.

And with being inspired by the Naked Warlock project, I have been levelling a completely naked (apart from the acolyte robe for modesty) warlock called Aldnek. Now, for him (level 28 now) the voidwalker is ABSOLUTELY indispensable. I can still take on mobs 5 levels higher and win 9 times out of 10 with the talented VW and only have to run infrequently, and then his death is not in vain as I have that lovely bubble :-)

But, and here please don't flame me for saying how it works for a full T6 equipped guy as being iirrelevant, is how it works for my mains destro spec (can't wait to get back to demonoilogy in Wrath of the Lich King).

Farming: Sac Felhound and just blast everything, rare that they can reach me before they are dead and possibly will put one hit on me. This is unbelievably self sustaining and can kill every mob in an area 70-72 and still be at full health and mana at end :-)

Raids: Almost always Succubus sac for the damage, occasionally Felhound for mana critical ones, Imp if particualr damage spike issues somewhere. VW and VW sac just don't fit anywhere so far.

PvP: Wouldn't know I am afraid :-(

But - ROLL ON Wrath of the Lich King and bringing Demons in to far more utility, especially the VW, as, I am at Heart, a Demon Lock! :-)

[Utumaelen]

As a destruction Lock I still use VW a lot. Esp for farming shards or those Isle quests. Send in VW, COShadow, Immolate, (hes still got agro) then SB and drain the mob as it comes to me. 9/10 times I have a dead mob standing at my feet. Hes also really good to sacrifice for the health regen while doing farming, etc.

[Akivasha]

VW's still have uses. They can tank several mobs, while you nuke them one by one, drawing aggro of course, but better one than all of them. This is very usefl, even with the new and better spell pushback rules.

But except if am deeply Demonology specced for Felguard, just think and use the pet that is most useful for the situation. Especially if you have Master Summoner, you can adapt quickly even during the fight.

[RobotDevil]

I use the VW for boosting in low level instances. Otherwise I like the company of my felhunter. I'm an alliance warlock on an 82% horde pvp server - I need to be ready for gank attempts at all times.

[Beanee70]

I hit behind VW for a long time, even lvl70.
Curse of Agony->Immolate->SB spam
As damage increased, then hidden imp
SB->Immolate (they hit at the same time)->SB spam
Now as a 0/21/40 - I sac the VW for heath
SB spam

I tried sacing the felpup but I would need to eat for health at times. I dont carry anything to eat/drink anymore as a destro :D.

- Bean

[ydnandrew]

Obviously it depends on spec and situation.

• For sl/sl pvp it's 90%+ felhunter. The other 10% maybe VW (against melee).
• For affliction pvp almost 100% felhunter.
• For affliction soloing 99% imp for dark pact. 1% VW when I want to do some AOE farming or solo some level 50ish instances.
• For destro I usually sac the Succy in raids/instances, sac VW while soloing and in rare cases where I can't afford to lifetap a lot I'll sac the felhunter for mana.

I forced myself to stop relying on my VW around level 40 when I learned how to drain tank/iHoT/dark pact farm. I immediately noticed an improvement in efficiency and fun factor.

[Twista]

Originally Posted by DrkSnpr14

As destro, the VW is useless to me as is. After one incinerate, I've already pulled agro. Gives me a few seconds, but really, I'd rather have the imps stam buff.

^^ Ever since I went destro I never pulled my void out, I have my Fel pup out 90% of the time.

[Deathsum]

At level 63 I haven't used my vw since level 40 when i respec'd to demo. FG has been the the minion of choice when soloing and in instances. When doing instances, I will hold my FG back for protection of the healer or other clothies that might be drawing aggro (FG are great for CC when done right). If the tank is doing his job, I will send in the FG to off-tank a mob or 2 while i'm dotting and spaming SB.

From level 10-40 VW is a locks best friend in pve. After 40, I just really don't see the need for it. I may be wrong but unless bliz gives a little more back to the VW it's a thing of the past.

[Anij]

In lieu of starting a flame war, I hate to say it, but anyone managing to effectively use a voidy at level 70 an is either doing somthing VERY wrong or has some of the most piss poor gear avaialble. In the end it's about the different talent's trees and the style of how they grind. Even the succy translates into quicker kills and more efficiency in later levels as the dps of the warlock is too high for the voidy to sustain aggro, and by this time the combined dps of the warlock and succy means the mob is dead before it reaches the warlock anyways.

Affliction:Imp - Affliction excells at grinding multiple mobs. LOTs of mobs. Depending on gear level and quality, an affliction lock is going to be dotting up 4 to 7 mobs at a time, far too many for a voidy to effectivly tank. Dark Pact just screams imp. The imp as a mana battery is what allows the affliction lock to plug the holes in their mana bar that life tap and siphon life don't cover and practically guarantees no downtime, the other pets just don't have enough mana regen for this role. Using a voidy to tank a dotted mob is just less efficient and is killing your grind rate.

Demo: Fel guard - Why use a voidy to grind with instead of a fel guard. It's what you spent that 41st talent for. He's just as tough but puts out the dps of the succubus. In fact he's the reason you DON'T use the succubus. He does the same dps and holds aggro better then the voidy. No brainer.

Destro: varies- Destro probably uses the widest variaty of pets more than any other spec, however, the voidy is the the least likely to be used simply becauase his only viable abillity-torment just isn't enough to keep aggro off a nuking destro lock. Which pet is prefered by destro depends on build. For grinding, anything with the demo sac talent will either sac the voidy for health or fel pup for mana regen depending on personal preference. For pvp, the fel pup is considered hands down to be the best pet, though some prefer the succubus for cc ability, and a rare few the imp for stam.

For every type of build, I've just found a pet that suites the build better and is more efficient than the voidy. Having to wait for 2-3 torments before applying dps means your waiting 18 seconds before you even start killing a mob, this translates into almost 1 minute kill times for mobs. It would take forever to get to level 70 at that rate. And if you think you have aggro problems now in blues and greens, wait till your decked in purps from Kara. Affliction dot grinding 4-5 mobs is hands down the fastest way to grind, this type of griding however, just means your going to take a beating. It comes with the spec. If taking a beating isn't your thing then just suck it up and roll demo. It's what it does.

[neej]

Well, not everyone runs around in PvE specs...

As SL/SL in farming you will probably use VW as long a you have 1/3 Mana leech. You can DOT all the mobs and heal Voidy every now and then. No magic, but works.
Some farming spots with lots of spell-casters felhunter is indeed better.

Destruction can also rely on a VW rotation when you are not grinding humanoids that are 70-72 as you won't 1-shot them. I never sacced when grinding as Destro unless it were <66 mobs.

In PvP I just began to recognize how good the VW is in Arena 2s against Meele+Druid combos. You won't have a lot of changes to silence the druid anyway (no spell lock due to instant casts) and there is nothing to dispell. -10% Damage and the -10% Hit debuff on the other hand stacks quite nicely. Indeed, I change over to VW in those cases.

*** Information added 1 Minutes and 25 Seconds later... ***

Originally Posted by ydnandrew

• For sl/sl pvp it's 90%+ felhunter. The other 10% maybe VW (against melee).

Where is this world were only 10% of PvP foes are melee :-)...