| Talent Builds - Information Center Housing all the information threads about common builds |
 |
June 19, 2007, 03:50 AM
|
#1 (permalink) |
|
|
Am I crazy or just stupid?
Okay folks, here's the deal: I've been playing WoW for about 2 months and have a level 51 warlock specced for affliction. I have respecced a handful of times already looking for something that works for me. What I am finding so far for myself is that many of the mid-tier talents that seem to be so popular with others just don't cut it for me. I would love for someone to point out how these talents can benefit me more because right now I'm just not seeing it. Most of my time is spent solo grinding. I'm in the minority here because I really like grinding with my voidwalker. I know he doesn't do much damage, but he holds aggro like nobody's business while I do all of the damage. I also really like his ability to self heal after a fight so I'm not having to funnel. He's my buddy. I leveled from 46-51 in Un'Goro, fighting mobs mostly 3-4 levels above me, and not sweating one bit. If I draw 2 or 3 I might have to use a health stone or sacrifice the VW just before he dies, but I usually make it out fine and get some big time XP. I recently respecced 42/0/0 to get UA. I do not have nightfall or grim reach. This is my first time with dark pact and I'm beginning to wonder if I should lose it next time I respec. I'm so used to draining life, mana and soul and life tapping that I rarely need dark pact. And since I like to let my VW cast his own spells to hold aggro there's not always a guarantee that he'll have plenty of mana. I had nightfall for a while and was very frustrated by it. Sure, it's a lot of fun to have an instant shadow bolt once in a while, but it often didn't come till my mob was almost dead anyway and by the time I got to the next mob nightfall had faded. If I feel like an instant nuke I'll spec for shadowburn. The thing with that, however, is that I would have to invest 11 points where I wouldn't get much use out of the first two tiers. What I am thinking is investing those extra talents in demonology to improve my longevity, and (maybe) go all the way to master summoner so when things get really tight and I have to sacrifice the VW I can just get him (or any other minion) right back with a .5 second cast and keep fighting. I also seem to value points in ImpCoA and Empowered Corruption more than most. I see a lot of people leave one or both of these out. I think CoEx would be nice since I'm on a PvP server and never know when I'll be jumped. Other than that I haven't decided entirely how many points to allocate to Suppression and Shadow Embrace partially because I'm not entirely sure how they work and how much is enough. This is one of the reasons I have not posted a tree. I'm open to suggestions and valid arguments as to why grim reach and nightfall, as well as 11 points toward shadowburn are good ideas. I'd also like to hear opinions as to whether there is a better place for me to spend the 1 point I have on dark pact if I really don't use it all that often (though maybe I just need to learn to use it). Thanks in advance. |
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 04:33 AM
|
#2 (permalink) |
|
Character Info
Darkblayde 70 Undead Warlock Tanaris US PvE Guild: Renewal Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 48/2/11 |
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
grim reach is awesome. the farther you are from the mob you are fighting, the farther it has to go to hit you, the less health you lose. some people don't like nightfall, this is understandable. i like it because it can proc 2 or 3 times in a row, and is a nice bit of extra dps for instances or can be used to finish off a mob on whom the dots have worn off. CoEx i don't actually use all that much, except in a PvP situation. the ability to fear someone away from you and slow their return time helps a lot, especially with those annoying stunlock rogues. as for dark pact, this is typically used with an imp and a lock who draintanks. the reason people use dark pact is that it eliminates the need to lifetap and then drain the health back, you are basically getting free mana. on another note...if you are into using your voidwalker to tank for you, you might consider respeccing into demonology. this will buff your voidwalker abilities, and give you access to a new tank pet if you take the tree far enough. just my two cents worth
__________________
"But isnt the felhunter like the 41pt Demo talent? he said affliction." --Xarzang, WoW forums |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 04:51 AM
|
#3 (permalink) |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
I would have a tree something like this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IqMrVRfkqtbo If you don't like Nightfall just put them in Improved Curse of Agony. I used a build like this with the exception of fel concentration because I always levelled with a friend hunter and didn't really need it but if you solo alot I would definetely have it. Regarding Dark Pact I didn't use it alot while using my VW either but if you are running an instance with an Imp Blood Pact battery it is awesome... And when you are in a pinch that extra mana without losing health may save your butt. At 55 or 56 I would then respecc to this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=NVZ0gczIizzesu the FG will blow your mind away. And help alot while levelling in OL (Not to mention with sneaky rogues  )
|
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 06:50 AM
|
#4 (permalink) |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
If a warlock drops dark pact, he's not fulfilling his potential as an afflock. Your attachment to your voidwalker is limiting your damage capabilities. Its ok if you enjoy it though.  Emp corruption is essential for any lock. And every lock must have +damage. No ifs, buts or maybes. Imp Curse of Agony is ok. Nothing great. Grim reach is unessential but nice. Nightfall is unpredictable but provides a point of interest. Getting the Shadow Trance message can be very exhilarating when you're standing over dead mobs. 11pts in destro is great because you will need to shadowbolt spam for instances and raids. If you don't do any of that at all, skip it. Shadowburn is great for finishing off mobs. Getting master summoner and fel dom sounds great but you shouldn't depend on 2 sacrificed voidwalkers to beat mobs. PvP wise, its alright. |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 07:12 AM
|
#5 (permalink) |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
Im around your level (53) and i play affliction like how you changed to. it plays quite differently to what your used to, ie pet hold aggros while you do dot damage. the difference is, you tank instead of your pet. you stay safe above 80-90% hp because of your Siphon life and Drain life even against mobs 2 or 3 levels above you. so mobs should die faster than your old spec because you're using a succy which does more damage than a vw. |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 09:36 AM
|
#6 (permalink) | |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
Quote:
Before respeccing, i would try drain tanking with imp out.... get some shadow damage gear and give it a few days, if you still dont like it after that time, then it might be good to spec to demo |
|
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 04:54 PM
|
#7 (permalink) |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
Thanks for all of the advice. I'm not disregarding any of it. I originally started in demo, which maybe is why I'm so used to the VW. My main reason for not pursuing the felguard is that I hear from othr warlock that instead of them inflicting all kinds of damage on the mob they turn into a healer for their pet. Sounds kind of boring to me. I will experiment with the imp and succubus tonight when the server is back up. Do I turn off any of their instant casts, and if so, which ones? I would assume that I'd have to turn something off if I'm going to steal their mana between fights. As for gear, I've read through Canadianpimp's gearing guide and have heavily invested in damage gear. At level 51 I'm currently at +212 damage (shadow and spell combined), which is pretty good according to his guide. And I do understand grim reach gives you extra distance in your casts, but is 6 yards really worth 2 points? It just doesn't sound like much to me. |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 05:39 PM
|
#8 (permalink) |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
http://www.wowmb.net/forums/showthre...ght=grim+reach http://www.wowmb.net/forums/showthre...ght=grim+reach |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 06:12 PM
|
#9 (permalink) |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
I leveled as a complete Demonologist 5/45/11 and recently re-specced to affliction and it took me a little while to get used to using the other pets. I used to hate pulling my imp out in instances, but now I primarily want that pet out. If you keep your imp on passive, he just sits there out of combat, and regens mana, which is really nice on boss fights. While out farming I try to fear tank, dot up the mob, send the succy and drain them down. Leaving fights with full health and mana ftw |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007, 07:35 PM
|
#10 (permalink) |
|
|
Re: Am I crazy or just stupid?
Again, thanks for the replies. I'm getting a lot of good view points. I did notice that Canadianpimp only rated grim reach 4/10 for PVE, which is my main use. Yes, I play on a PVP server but 99% of my fights are against mobs. I agree with his assessment that 6 yards just isn't a very big deal against most mobs. As for fear kiting, I have a very difficult time safely fearing most any mob, unless I have already killed everything around it. Typically if I fear one mob they bring several back with them. So far my experiments today with my imp out have been horrible. I fought some undead mobs in Western Plaguelands and got my butt kicked. I unintentionally drew 3 mobs 1-2 levels above me. That's not usually a big deal at all with my VW. With my imp I just couldn't drain fast enough to keep myself healed. When I put him on passive my DOTs didn't tick fast enough to kill them all before they killed me. When I let the imp firebolt he ran out of mana so I had nothing to dark pact from. I won't give up on him in just one day, but so far it's not looking good. |
|
|
|
| Bookmarks |
| Tags |
| crazy, stupid |
| Thread Tools | |
|
|
