The Warlocks Den - WoW Warlock Discussions

Dual Speccing F.A.Q
The who, the what, the why.

Requirements!

Minimum level 40
1000 Gold

Why Dual spec?
Firstly and most importantly any Warlock who wishes to have a dual spec should first think why? 1000g is money which, in a lot of cases, can be put to better use on enchants or gems to improve your DPS and damage done.

The best times for a dual spec would be when you wish to do two separate things in game i.e. wanting to continue questing and doing PvE content whilst at the same time doing battle grounds. You MUST decide which each of your two specs will be used for otherwise you will face lots of gold on constant respeccing. Now that you have decided on what your specs will be for, you should decide on what your actual specs are. It may be useful to use a talent calculator such as: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Alternatively you may wish to take a cookie cutter build from one of the posts on this site. I recommend looking at Fallenman's raid specs: Fallenman's 3.1 Quick Raid Spec Rundown! Or, if in need of help with a talent build that you have been working on: Talent Builds - Help - The Warlocks Den Forums

Once you have decided on the specs that you wish to use, also decide on what glyphs you wish to use. Glyphs no longer require proximity to a Lexicon of Power. To set glyphs, first select the specialization (primary or secondary) and activate the specialization. Now any glyph changes you make will apply to this specialization. Changing glyphs, like action bars, are free to change and do not require the purchase of a respec.

Inversely, respeccing will not modify any glyphs you have set to either specialization. Note: if you want the same glyph in both specs you must have two of the glyphs.

You are now ready to dual spec!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithgaar

One thing I would like to add is its not always you want a pve spec and a pvp spec. Personally I have my affliction spec for max dps and a 40/31 spec for when I need more burst damage for trash/adds/certain bosses.

And yes 1k gold is a fair bit but it is only a 1 off cost were chants will only last while you have the gear. So makes it very much worth it.

That it also allows you to try out new specs while maintaining your main spec. Say you read about this absolutly great spec and wanted to try it all you have to do is set your off spec as it and try it on your next raid. If it turns out to be epic fail your just one click away from being a spec you know works.

Duel spec opens alot of doors for a smart lock

Tip: For affliction folks who are torn between going 53/1/17 and putting points into Improved Health Stone - use your alternate spec for that. Prior to summoning health stones, you'll have to switch specs, lifetap once or twice, then summon the soul well. Then switch back and re-summon your pet. ~ XavronMG

How to Dual spec:
Now that you are ready to dual spec ensure that you have 1000g and are level 40 and head to your class trainers. i.e. for Human Warlocks head to the basement of the Slaughtered Lamb in Stormwind. Decide on your primary spec, most likely your PvE build as this is what you will spend your most amount of time on. Open up your talent screen and click on the 'glyph' tab. Insert the glyphs you wish to use for your primary spec.

Note: The glyphs inserted here will automatically take on your primary spec, your secondary spec will have no glyphs.

When done, we can begin. Talk to your class trainer and follow the onscreen instructions. When asked for 1000g accept and continue. You will be presented with a talent screen. Spend a moment to look at this. It is exactly like all other talent screens, however, on the right of the box there will now be two tabs. The top one represents your primary talent spec and the lower, your secondary spec. Make sure the top tab is selected and fill out your primary talent spec as normal.

Congratulations! You now have dual talents, and an extra 10 achievement points. Once you have purchased dual spec, there are now two icons on the top right of the talent pane, representing your Primary and Secondary talent builds. Utilizing a new interface option (Display -> Preview Talent Changes) you are able to preview and alter your new spec until you are happy with it.

Not only that, but your Evil Warlock mind has been expanded. Now, open up your talent tree again. Select your primary tab and select glyphs along the bottom. Check that the right glyphs are inserted. Now select your secondary tab and click the red box 'activate these talents' at the top of your talent box. A 5 second cast time will commence. Once complete you will be drained of mana. Open up your talent screen and select you secondary spec. Fill this out, once complete insert your glyphs.

Now that your skills are ready to use, talk to your class trainer again and learn any spells that you do not yet know. (But can learn obviously). Now set up your action bars for your secondary spec. Open up your talent screen again. Select your primary spec and activate this as before (clicking the “activate these talents box”). Once again talk to your trainer and learn any new spells that you can.

You should notice that your action bars are now empty again. (Or may hold pre-dual spec spells.) You should now proceed to set up your primary spec action bars. You are now complete.

Switching specs:

Select the secondary spec icon and activate the build. Now you can again configure talents, action bars, and glyphs. Switching specs has no special requirements other than those listed below (Places you cannot switch spec).

All you need to do is open up your talent screen. Select the talent spec tab you wish to use. Click the activate talents box. Your action bars should change ready for use. Done

Places you cannot switch spec:

Whilst in combat

Arenas

Battle grounds (except during preparation for the battle)

Using a macro to change spec: (Taken from wowwiki)

Open up the macro screen (by typing /macro). Create a new macro by typing a name for it and selecting its icon. Accept this and you will be left with the icon and a text box below. Copy the text below and "ctrl+v" is into the text box. Once complete drag the icon to your action bar. Now, when you want to switch specs you can just press this button

Code:

/script if (GetActiveTalentGroup(0,0) == 1) then    SetActiveTalentGroup(2); else  SetActiveTalentGroup(1); end

Respeccing

Even if you have purchased dual specialization, there is still a cost to respec. Switching between your specializations is free, but if you want to change one of your talent configurations after it is confirmed, you still pay the respec fee, and will require a class trainer. There is no fee to change your glyphs or your action bars - only if you wish to change the talents associated with a specialization.

To modify a specialization, find the appropriate class trainer. Be sure the specialization pane you wish to respec is active, then purchase the respec from the trainer. Now this specialization can be modified again.

Talent Dual Spec Q&A with Ghostcrawler
With the next content patch, we will be introducing a number of additions and changes to the game. One new feature in the works is the ability to set up two separate sets of talents, or "dual spec". While the complete feature may not be immediately available in the Public Test Realms (PTR) and specifics are still liable to change, we wanted to go over some questions with Senior Game Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street to find out more.

Nethaera: What is dual speccing?
Ghostcrawler: Dual speccing is the ability to save two separate talent specs, glyphs, and action bars.

Nethaera: Why are we allowing players to dual spec after all this time?
Ghostcrawler: We really felt like this was a great way to increase the flexibility available to players and encourage them to take part in more aspects of the game. To use just one example, some players like to participate in both raids and Arenas, which is awesome behavior that we want to promote. But, there are some talents which are more useful in one part of the game than another. Currently, players have to pay respec costs and go through the process of setting up the desired talent spec and action bars whenever they switch.

The new system makes this a much more logical process, saving on time and cost and allowing players to easily move from one aspect of the game to another.

Nethaera: How will you be able to set up a dual spec?
Ghostcrawler: Players will be able to visit their trainer and pay a one-time fee to be able to use it.

Nethaera: Can I respec only one of my talent sets, or will I need to respec them both if I reset one?
Ghostcrawler: When you reset your talents, it will look at the spec you currently have in use as the talent set you want to change.

Nethaera: Will you be able to switch gear easily to match your spec?
Ghostcrawler: At the same time we implement dual specs, we will also be setting up a gear system. The feature is called “Gear Manager.” It can also be used to just swap weapons or trinkets or put on that tuxedo to strut around town. It will not automatically switch your gear when you change your talent spec, but it will allow for an easy gear change between them. The feature may not be fully functional immediately in the PTR, but we’ll have more information to share about it before too much longer.

Nethaera: What about hunters? Often their pet talents are set up to match the talents of the hunter. Will they be able to switch their pet specs as well?
Ghostcrawler: We will wipe the pet talents. However we are going to remove the respec cost for pet talents so that players won’t feel like they need to jump through an additional hoop to respec their pet. In addition, we are going to provide hunters a new core ability to let them remotely access their stable on a long cooldown. This way if their exotic pet heads off to the stable, they will be able to get a different pet. We hope to be able to discuss this new spell in more detail when we get a little further along.

Nethaera: Will you be able to change your Glyphs as well?
Ghostcrawler: Glyphs will be tied to each talent spec so that if you switch between them, so too will the Glyphs. You’ll notice the UI will have changed a little bit so that the Glyph panes show up alongside the Talent panes now that they are associated.

Nethaera: What about hotbars? Will players be able to save them for the talent spec they’re running?
Ghostcrawler: Yes, you will be able to save hotbars and use them with your talent specs. It just saves your bars at the same time as it saves the glyphs and talents. If you want to switch to your other action bar, you will need to change specs.

Nethaera: Is there a way for players to choose their talents without them being saved? Currently, once you spend your talent point, it’s spent unless you pay the respec cost again.
Ghostcrawler: With the dual spec feature, we are going to allow players who respec to configure all their talents before they get saved. They will be able to allocate the points, then choose if they want to use that as their spec, rather than needing to carefully diagram out their talents ahead of time. This will allow players a little more freedom when deciding on the talents they want to pick and avoid costly mistakes.

Nethaera: Will players be confined to only setting up two specs
Ghostcrawler: We will be launching the feature with just two specs, but depending on how we feel it works out, we might consider additional specs in the future.

Nethaera: When can players expect to try out dual specs?
Ghostcrawler: Players will be able to try out the dual spec system on the Public Test Realms when they are made available. This has been a pretty big project with a lot of people working toward making it a reality in the game. We’ll definitely be watching the feedback and looking for ways of making sure the system works the way we all envisioned it to.

Dual Spec Posts of Interest:

Dual Spec? To what? DPS and...? A Blog post by Cormanthor
Dual Talent Spec Q&A with Ghostcrawler discussion thread

Credits
Thankyou to Bountyhunt for putting together the main portion of the guide. I just tweaked and prettied it up. Thankyou to XavronMG for their tip and Mithgaar for additional information.

April 26, 2009, 07:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bountyhunt Character Info Bountyhunt 80 Human Warlock Blade's Edge Euro PvE Guild: Companion's of honour	Re: Dual Speccing FAQ Guide O.o i Like the 'prettified' version:P

April 26, 2009, 11:17 AM	#2 (permalink)
AndTatties Character Info Dotdotrot 80 Undead Warlock karazhan Euro PvP Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/41/30	Re: Dual Speccing FAQ Guide Hi Awesome guide thanks for the information it was very helpful

April 26, 2009, 12:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
bobbo489 Character Info Lail 80 Undead Warlock Antonidas US PvE Guild: Legends Of Trust Talent Spec: 10/8/53	Re: Dual Speccing FAQ Guide One thing I did not read but have noticed when switching talent trees, If you have Master Conjurer and you are in the spec with that talent, when you switch out of it the firestone/spellstone switch back to being the regular version instead of the improved version. This also applies to the weapon you have it applied to if you happen to have it applied during spec swap.

May 01, 2009, 10:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
Cormanthor Status: Dot, 'Lock and Drop it! Character Info Cormanthor 80 Human Warlock Gnomeregan US PvE Guild: Knights who say Ni Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: Various	Re: Dual Speccing FAQ Guide There is a much shorter, more simplified way to write up the toggle macro now. Code: /usetalents [spec:1] 2; 1 This literally toggles between Primary and Secondary talents. To expand it a little for Warlocks in specific, you might try: Code: /usetalents [pet,spec:1] 2; [pet] 1 /cast [nopet,spec:1] Summon Felguard; [nopet] Summon Succubus This should (read: untested because I'm at work) swap talents from Primary (0/41/30 in my case) to Secondary (53/1/17) if you have a pet out, and summon the appropriate pet if you do not have a pet out. Switching talent specs dismisses your pet (at least for me) each time, so this system should work. My DK uses the same setup between Tank spec (primary) and DPS spec (secondary) by: Code: /usetalents [spec:1] 2; 1 /cast [spec:1] Frost Presence; Blood Presence __________________ Some days it just not worth chewing through the restraints

May 04, 2009, 11:14 AM	#5 (permalink)
XavronMG Character Info Xavron 80 Gnome Warlock Moon Guard US RP PvE Guild: Veritas Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 53/1/17	Re: Dual Speccing FAQ Guide Except that after you switch specs, you'll have zero mana... making it rather difficult to immediately pull out a pet without life tapping first. But thank you for the shorter spec switch macro. Now if only Talented would put a 53/1/17 number on my portrait so I could remember which spec I have active. (I've been doing too much "oops, was in PvP spec on that raid boss" or "oops, I'm in a battleground with my raid spec".)

May 04, 2009, 11:15 AM	#6 (permalink)
Rutiene Character Info Luxury 80 Blood Elf Warlock Deathwing US PvP Guild: Addiction Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 54/0/17	Re: Dual Speccing FAQ Guide If you use PowerAuras, you can have it tell you when you're in a BG or Raid in the wrong spec. Can also do that with MSBT. __________________ WWS: How To Analyze