WoW Forever Warlock Leveling Guide & Talents

Introduction

Welcome to our Warlock Leveling Guide for World of Warcraft Forever. I’m Roguery, a Retail Tank and Affliction Warlock main and I have played World of Warcraft consistently since 2006. Check out my content over at:

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This guide will cover everything you need to know to level a Warlock in WoW Forever, including our recommended Talent Build.

Guide Contents:

• Strengths & Weaknesses
• Recommended Leveling Talents
• Best Races for Warlock
• Playstyle and Core Abilities
• Key Spells & Levelling Milestones
• Best / Suggested Professions
• Other Warlock Leveling Info

Strengths & Weaknesses of Warlock in WoW Forever

Recommended Leveling Talents for Warlock in WoW Forever

We recommend leveling as Affliction, but all three specializations are completely viable. Demonology activates a little later in the game so is not the best for early leveling. We have included talent builds for all three specs, which on low levels have a lot of similarities.

Affliction

This Talent Build prioritizes taking 4 points in Suppression, which means you are guaranteed to never miss enemies that are the same level as you. The next 5 points go into Improved Corruption to make your Corruption instant cast and deal more damage. Then we put a final point in Suppression, to more consistently be able to hit enemies that are higher level.

The next points are placed in Pandemic. In Forever, Damage over Time abilities (DoTs) can critically strike. Pandemic increases the critical damage from 50% to 100%. Even with a low chance to crit, with so many DoTs this adds up to a lot of damage.

We fill out the Improved Bane Of Agony to increase its damage, and also let us access the next row to fully fill out Malevolence, increasing the Critical Strike Chance of all our DoTs except Immolate.

Once you Reach level 30 you will be able to take the Siphon Life talent, another DoT that heals you.

Demonology

The Demonology build starts by taking 4 points in Suppression in the Affliction tree to avoid misses against targets the same level as you. Then place 5 points in Unholy Power to increase your pet damage.

The next points are placed in Fel Vitality to increase the Health and Mana of your pet. We then place 2 points in Demonic Energies to help keep the pet alive and keep their mana healthy.

We then place 2 points in Master Summoner, which increases the cast speed and reduces the mana cost of summoning a demon. Mostly this helps us recover if our pet dies, or if we die and need to resummon it.

The next points are placed in Demonic Aegis, and a single point in Demonic Embrace. This increases your tankiness, which can help keep your pet alive through Health Funnel if needed.

The level 29 and 30 talent points should go into Demonic Brand, to help with your pet keeping threat.

Destruction

The Destruction build starts with 4 points in Suppression, to guarantee hits on targets the same level as you. We then recommend placing 5 points in Bane to reduce the cast time on commonly used abilities.

Aftermath increases the initial damage of Immolate, making you a little more bursty. At level 24 you will gain the iconic Shadowburn ability, which makes you a lot more bursty. Then place the next 4 points in Ruin to increase your critical strike damage with Destruction spells.

At level 29 you can access the Conflagrate talent, which will let you burst single target enemies very effectively. At level 30 place your talent point in Ruin.

Best Races for Warlock in WoW Forever

While Race choice matters a lot more in Forever than in Retail, we still recommend playing the race you prefer rather than something you visually don’t like. However if you are open to suggestions, these are ours:

Alliance

On the Alliance side Warlock has two choices: Human and Gnome. Both are incredibly strong compared to their horde counterparts.

Gnome

Gnomes have access to Eureka!, a cooldown which increases the damage of your next 3 casts, and reduces their cost by 50%. This is particularly powerful for Destruction and Demonology, and a bit less impressive for Affliction. Gnomes also have Expansive Mind, increasing your mana pool by 5%. As some of our spells are particularly expensive, the extra mana is a nice bonus.

Escape Artist is also great if you are snared and need to get out of a sticky situation.

Human

Humans have Sword Specialization, granting 2% critical chance while wielding a sword. This is very powerful for both Affliction and Destruction who both like a lot of crit. Humans also get an increase to Spirit, which only really buffs Life Tap.

Human also have Will To Survive, which is arguably the strongest PvP racial in the game.

Horde

Horde has three choices for warlock, Orc, Undead and new to Forever Troll.

Orc

Orcs can activate Blood Fury, which is a great damage cooldown increasing spell power by 10% for 15 seconds. However, Orcs also have the Axe Specialization racial which warlock can’t take advantage of at all.

Hardiness and Shatter Curse are great for PvP and PvE content where you may end up stunned or need to remove a curse or bane effect.

Undead

Undead Warlock is a great leveling choice, Cannibalize being updated to include mana regeneration reduces your need for food and drink in your bags. Their new Touch Of The Grave passive does a fairly decent amount of damage and keeps you healthy.

Will Of The Forsaken is great for breaking any Charms, Fears and Sleeps you may encounter in PvP or PvE content.

Troll

The Troll Berserking racial can be okay for Destruction Warlock, but the cast speed doesn't affect damage over time abilities, which is what so much of Warlock's damage consist of. Rapid Regeneration is great, as you can use Life Tap to get your mana back, and then Rapid Regeneration to regenerate your health.

Regeneration is a nice passive that lets a small amount of our health regen to happen in combat. Finally Beast Slaying is a nice bonus when questing in zones with a lot of beasts, like The Barrens, and can possibly be useful in the endgame; but it is a poor racial compared to universal buffs like Weapon Specializations.

Tier List

The Table below shows what we think are the best and worst classes for Warlock in WoW: Forever.

Warlock Playstyle and Core Abilities

At low levels all three warlock specs play in a similar way.

Level 1-10

Starting at level 1 you will have access to Shadowbolt and Demon Armor. You can also learn Immolate from the trainer for 10 copper, which we recommend doing as soon as possible. Early on Shadowbolt is very expensive, and you will be waiting for mana and using auto attacks fairly often to finish off enemies.

Make sure you apply Demon Skin as it increases armor and regens health, keeping you going. We recommend using Immolate to engage enemies, and then using Shadowbolt and Auto Attacks to finish them off.

Already at level 1 you will have access to a quest to unlock your first demon, the Imp. Once you’ve learned the Summon Imp spell, make sure to keep it out at all times for the damage.

Make sure you pick up the Grimoire of Blood Pact at level 4 from a Demon Trainer. At level 4 you can also learn Corruption and Curse Of Weakness. At this point we recommend applying both Immolate and Corruption to your target, before finishing them off with Auto Attacks and Shadow Bolt.

At level 6 you will be able to learn Shadow Bolt Rank 2 at the warlock trainer and Life Tap. Shadow Bolt Rank 2 will do significantly more damage but also cost more mana. Make sure to replace Rank 1 Shadow Bolt on your bars with the Rank 2 version in your Spellbook. Also, now that you have Life Tap, make sure to carry food so that you can Life Tap to get your mana back and then eat to restore your life.

At level 8 you will learn Bane Of Agony. With the changes in Forever, this spell will instantly tag a mob, making it great to pull with if you are in a busy zone. The rotation doesn’t really change at this point other than adding Bane Of Agony to the pull.

At level 10 you can learn Drain Soul. This is a key part of the warlock kit, allowing you to get Soul Shards, which are used in a variety of Warlock spells and abilities. You will also be able to do the class quest to unlock the Voidwalker. The Voidwalker is a large upgrade over the Imp, since it can tank mobs for you.

Voidwalker Quest

If you are at the trainer in Orgrimmar and pick up the quest to unlock the Voidwalker, it will take you into Skull Rock (death cave), which is a particularly scary area. We recommend heading to Undercity and unlocking the Voidwalker through the Undead quest as it is much easier.

For Alliance both the Ironforge and Stormwind trainer quests are fairly easy, with the Stormwind one being slightly faster. We would recommend doing whichever is closest when you hit level 10.

Levels 10+

Now you are level 10 you can start specializing into whichever spec you want to, and depending on which one you pick your rotation will be different. For all three specs make sure you use pet attack before attacking the enemy to make sure they are attacking the pet.

Tip: Get a wand as early as possible as this saves your mana and allows you to keep killing mobs without much down time.

Affliction

For Affliction apply Immolate, Corruption and Bane Of Agony and then either use a Wand or Drain Life to finish enemies off. We recommend using your wand over Drain Life unless you need the health.

Demonology

For Demonology you can apply Immolate and Bane Of Agony. Then use Shadow Bolt and Wand to finish off enemies. Once you have access to Searing Pain use this as well, although be very careful of pulling threat from your pet until you put a point in Demonic Brand. Once you have a point in Decimation, you can start using Soul Fire to finish off enemies whenever Soul Fire is free and doesn't cost a soul shard.

Destruction

For Destruction apply Immolate, and use Shadow Bolt or Wand to finish enemies. Once you have access to Shadowburn, make sure to use this just before enemies die to be refunded the Soul Shard. When you hit level 29 and have Conflagrate: apply Immolate, use Conflagrate then reapply Immolate, then use Shadow Bolt or Wand until an enemy is low enough to finish off with Shadowburn.

Key Spells & Leveling Milestones for Warlock

Warlock has some very important levels where it learns some powerful abilities. We have outlined the ones you should prioritize learning from the Warlock Trainer and upgrading, we have included the level you first learn them and if they are for a specific spec.

Best / Suggested Professions for Warlock

Crafted gear is very impactful in WoW: Forever. Alongside this you also have camp buffs that can also make you a lot stronger. For that reason we recommend taking Tailoring and Enchanting as a Warlock,

Tailoring

Tailoring can craft some very powerful BoP cloth gear. Depending on the specialization you are playing you will want to craft different gear. Destruction and Demonology mostly use fire damage, whereas Affliction uses a majority Shadow Damage. For example, for Affliction you will want to craft Filigreed Shadow Gown as it has a large amount of Intellect and increased Shadow Spell damage. For Destruction or Demonology you will most likely want to craft Filigreed Flame Gown which has Fire Spell Damage instead.

Enchanting

Enchanting pairs very well with Tailoring, as you will be crafting a lot of cloth items just to level up Tailoring, which you can then disenchant. While there are no BoP wands which enchanters can craft early on, you can craft some powerful staves.

Other Warlock Specific Leveling Info

• Getting a Wand early on definitely improves your leveling experience as you use less mana and have less down time.
• Make sure to maintain Demon Skin or Demon Armor at all times for health regeneration.
• Don’t be afraid to use your health as a resource, since you have strong abilities like Drain Life to recover your health.

We hope our Warlock Leveling guide for WoW Forever was useful to help you know where to spend your talent points and how to get the most out of the class whilst leveling. This guide will be updated to cover 1-60 shortly after the full release of WoW:Forever so make sure you bookmark the page to check for updates.