MOGRIM'S SCHOOL FOR WARLOCKS Much of this material is information used and combined from the ages, combined here to help create the best warlock possible. I filtered the information to make sure it is still relevant. I’ll do my best to keep this as up to date as possible. (Sticky and edit rights please?) If you want to ask me about anything you can message me here / send an in game tell to Crushbone.Mogrim // Crushbone.Croaksmore // Crushbone.Florensia // Crushbone.Lamentations 1) Warlock AA Character Traits: Acid is the Grand Master Choice, I have a screen shot of the Focus Effect Choices. Mogrim’s AA Specs: Focus Effects are mostly straightforward. I don't care for Shroud of Bertoxxulous, and -10 Hate on Nullmail doesn't mean anything in raid. I go with Boon of the Damned because it doesn't hurt sending extra hate and reducing the chance I draw unwanted attention, and really... a slight chance to reduce stun/root or a little more combat speed are all less important to me. Suggested AA Spec Mogrim's Current AA Spec Overall, the variance between good AA specs on warlocks should be minor. The main thing is you're going to want to put 90 points in the Sorcerer Tree, 82 Points in the Warlock Tree, 46 Points in the Shadows Tree, and split the rest between your Heroic and Dragon Trees. This is because the benefit from what you can buy in the Heroic and Dragon Trees well out paces what you can get in the first 3 Trees. Reasoning: The Sorcerer Tree is the only one with some debate really. Currently I'm grabbing the cast speed and reuse line to allow me some extra gear flexibility. I trust my healer so I'm not grabbing Ward of Sages in my normal spec. I've got a backup spec that grabs more flexibility. Note that if enough of your gear forces you to get ability recovery speed, you should start sliding points out of Mental Recovery into Runic Barrier. The Warlock Tree is also fairly obvious. The INT siphon isn't worth it anymore, and if you're spec'd right side, you're forced into Soul Siphon in the bottom row. The Shadows Tree is straightforward. There are a few points to bounce around. If you're going left side of the prestige page or hybrid, give Flames of Velious some love. If you go hard right side, don't. Everything else is obvious. You could drop the boost to absolution for max health, and its a pretty decent chunk of health. The Heroic Tree is a lot different than we used to be. Chains is so good we definitely want it. Also max out mystic overflow and stick extra points into potency/crit bonus. I spend around 80 points in this tree now. The Prestige Tree Is back up for debate. AOE content absolutely feeds the right side, and it is even viable on single target content. This is because the large chunks of ability mod that we get causes Toxic Assault/Caustic Detonation to grow a lot more than Noxious Influx has grown. In addition, the conversion gives you extra Crit Bonus which plays into burst stacking - (using Focused Casting, Clicky Temps, Spellbind, with and Time Warp, and unloading a 180 increment nuke). Hybrid costs way too many points on the top of the page to be that great. You really need to go all out one way or the other. If you go down the right side, grab the two middle "endlines" as well, and load up everything on the right side trees except the hate reduction. If you go down the left side, you should grab all possible points on the left side and put the leftover 2 points in Miasma. 2) Optimizing Gear (General rules when selecting gear) 1) Critical chance needs to be at 100 higher than a mob’s critical avoidance to critically hit 100% of the time. Priority is hitting 100+ the critical avoidance of the mobs your raid is fighting. 2) Your cast speed should be capped or very close to the cap in raid with proper buffs. Check what you’re at in raid, and make sure you’re right above 100. Going over 100 now turns into Spell Double at a fairly strong rate, and should affect your logic when adorning and reforging. 3) Potency and Crit Bonus are both good, so get as much as you can without breaking the first 2 rules. I'd put a slightly higher priority on Crit Bonus because auto attacks can now do a significant amount of damage, and because Focused Casting benefits more from higher Crit Bonus. 4) Ability Reuse is the same as Spell Reuse, except it affects things like call to guild hall and stuff as well. Overcapping has almost no benefit, although there are a few fights with some reuse debuffs if you fail to joust/etc. I aim to be at 100 while buffed in raid. 5) Ability mod comes in big chunks, especially if you reforge meaningless stats into it. I prefer moving MA because Attack Speed = extra hits = extra procs. Just choose whatever gives you the best return. Once your auto attack reaches 3.6 seconds, you're not likely going to benefit from Attack Speed unless you can start getting large chunks of Flurry. I do not expect to see this happening any time soon. A raid-geared warlock should aim for between 30k-35k. Much more than this and you'll only see benefits to your biggest spells. Much less than this and a lot of your medium spells are being neglected. 6) Use Stat Mounts/Food&Drink/Potions&Scrolls whenever you go into a group/raid zone. 7) Make sure whatever you do, that your set up is able to keep you alive sufficiently.
3) Casting Order: Here are some key points: 1) Get in a rhythm with your Illusionist and Troubadour with buffs, especially Time Warp. 2) Figure out if Time Warp will come early and plan your Focused Casting to be used in sync with it. Since TW is the whole group, it will be tempting for the Illy to use it right away. If you're left side spec'd, the Illy should make sure you've stacked 3 increments as to not waste it. If you're right side spec'd, the Illy should wait until you've got about 138 increments so that you can have a full charge by the time it lands. However, if TW is down at the start of a pull, use your Focused Casting right away. Also get used to timing your Illy’s TW Macro and when the first spell of your TW rotation hits to happen as close to the time TW is active as possible. You want to maximize how much you get out of your spell double attack time. 3) Always have Upbeat Tempo. 4) Never cast Dissolve. Don't use Master Strike (unless you're using the neck) in raids. Or Word of Force, Sunbolt, or Static Discharge. Dark Pyre is now a very low priority spell once you get to 30k mod. 5) Prioritize Freehand Sorcery on your biggest hitters. Biggest priority is the endline nukes if you've got 180 increments and are spec'd on the right side prestige page. I have Plaguebringer and 180 nukes Macro’d to always use Freehand if it is available. 6) Dots are affected by Spell Double Attack. 7) If all else fails, try Null Caress. 8) Generate increments. Cataclysm is your friend, even if not the top priority, if it can hit multiple targets and bring up your big nukes faster. Also when charging, Dark Siphoning w/ your myth turned OFF is godly. 9)Cast Dark Infestation, Netherlord, and Acid Rain. The attacks from the swarm pets actually do pretty decent now. All 3 function better on sustained AOE fights. All 3 spell double when Focused Casting / Time Warp is up (even if the ability first comes up after the pets are already out there) Other things to keep in mind: 1) Acid can't be resisted, ever. 2) Thunderclap and Bewilderment can be cast while moving. 3) Spell Weapon Auto-Attack does proc Grasp of Bert, but unless you've got an extra concentration slot, don't use it on yourself. 4) Dark Aggravation should be cast whenever it is up, but currently it does not spell double attack. 5) Keep track of time intervals on dot-wiping mobs. If they are about to wipe their dots, prioritize your non-dot spells if possible. Don’t waste a Focused Casting right before a dot wipe. 6) If you're spec'd down the left side, get 3 increments right away, and keep them up. Use a beneficial tracker to see how long they have left to avoid needlessly casting Occult Bolt. 7) If you're spec'd down the right side, Rift is worth casting even single target if its casting instantly or almost instantly. Take advantage of it! Here is an example of a ROUGH casting thought process Pre Cast: Pre Cast Item(s) Gift of Bertoxx Eternal Damnation/Netherealm Curse of Darkness On incoming: Curse of Void Vacuum Field Top Priority: Acid Dark Siphoning (w/ myth OFF if right side prestige) Big Single Target Hitters: Plaguebringer Dark Aggravation (whenever up) Apocalypse (with Myth turned on) Thunderclap (very high priority when you can be close) Bewilderment Aura of Void (+Occult Bolt, if left side prestige) Fillers: Flames of Velious (if left side prestige becomes great as mob's health decreases, only used as a filler spell if right side prestige) Encase (filler spell, only used if right side prestige) Distortion (filler, good spell if left side prestige) Dark Pyre (low priority filler spell, but you will find yourself using it still) Situationals: Blast of Devastation (High priority when you can be close and especially if you can hit multiple targets) Rift (AOE fights and when cast time is fast due to right side prestige) Absolution (Linked encounters. Otherwise filler on single target) Concussive Blast (AOE fights, right side increment charging, triggers procs, also functions as a four spot deaggro to close a Time Warp + Focused Casting burn) Cataclysm (AOE fights, whenever you can hit 2 or more) Nullify (Rarely used, large encounters only) Dark Nebula (Rarely used large encounters only) Thought Process: Keep Acid going at all times, and cycle in your big hitters around prioritizing it. Build increments if right side, maintain 3 increments if lest side. Focused Casting/Timewarp Advice If you're going down the left side, these temps will last longer which may cause you to adjust your priorities. If you're going down the right side, you'll want to hit your free casting spells and big nuke if possible.
4) Useful ETC Useful Mounts Include: Get the Signature Questline Mount, or ideally the Sig Questline x2 Bonus Mount. End game players will get the Zlandicar mount from clearing wings 1 and 2 of ToV. Useful Food and Drink: Either the Draconic Oracle stuff from SS, the Celestial stuff from Moats, or the Spectral Residue stuff from bonus mobs. Useful Potions and Scrolls: \aITEM -1092978621 -177991949:Celestial Elixir of Intellect\/a \aITEM 1707567859 634570348:Acerbic Elixir of Intellect\/a \aITEM 1489842149 679491227:Quel'ule Arcane Destruction\/a \aITEM 684938096 -217585375:Quel'ule Cocktail\/a Useful Pre-Cast/Situational Items Pre Cast \aITEM 1404480392 1404470735:Words of the Dread Exarch\/a *** \aITEM -1297514009 -1607929519:Runed Guard of the Sel'Nok\/a *** \aITEM -1310260490 -1196404962:Silversilk Robe\/a \aITEM 429146157 -116541914:Eszadra, Twisted Wand of Zek\/a \aITEM -6772741711643278045:Coalesced Planar Essence\/a \aITEM -1346328095 575763798:Vishras Ribbon of Gallantry\/a Heals (In Combat) \aITEM -832957907 79789387:Bottled Breath\/a \aITEM 224284379 1897019379:Bottled Intellect\/a \aITEM 965301096 -930467165:Honor of Pantrilla\/a Misc \aITEM -1602232641 1410454266:Trakanon's Gaze\/a \aITEM 1245327863 1830637966:Icy Dragon Essence\/a ***\aITEM 785984728 1962981189:Totem of the Draconic Oracle\/a *** ***The trigger-chance books share a reuse timer, as do the crafted essence and totem***5) AdornsAdorns for maximizing DPS: Color coordinated! Whites/PurplesHead: (+Int) (Potency and Crit Bonus)Shoulders: (+Int) (Doublecast)Chest: (+Magical Skill) (Potency and Crit Bonus)Forearms: (+Casting Speed) (Potency and Crit Bonus)Gloves: (+Magical Skill) (Potency and Crit Bonus)Legs: (+Casting Speed) (Potency and Crit Bonus)Feet: (+Magical Skill)(Potency and Crit Bonus)Neck: (+Int)Earring: (+Resists or +Sta)Ring: (+Resists or +Crit Chance or +Abil Mod)Wrist: (+Casting Speed)Waist: (+Int)Primary: (+Crit Bonus)Secondary: (+Crit Bonus)Cloak: (+Casting Speed)Charm: (+Casting Speed) Purple Effect Adorns Currently, these are the viable Purple Adorns for Warlocks. \aITEM 685078887 -1750554418:Winds of Obol\/a\aITEM 1229574853 1331612953:Truespirit's Legacy\/a\aITEM -1447365765 1216938077:Magnitude\/a\aITEM 1533686943 -1753367601:Overbearing Onslaught\/a\aITEM 1454875537 -1180389998:Bolstered Attributes\/a\aITEM -860191440 731983400:Screams of Battle\/a\aITEM 362671589 -277116512:Wild Swings\/a\aITEM -109799479 -191844749:Harrowed Madness\/a6) Spell Weapon Info: Spell weapons give us a decent extra bit of damage. Plan your spell weapons stats based on what you'll have in raid. 1) Get Attack Speed to roughly 160-170. This will give you a 3.6 delay. It doesn't get better than this. From that point on up to 200, Attack Speed is worthless. 200+ converts to Flurry.2) Get MA to 100-120 MA soft caps at 120ish, and anything beyond that is quite a diminished return.3) If 1&2 are accomplished, DPS is the way to go. It stacks really nicely and can add up quickly.In my current gear with reforging and leveled green adornments, I can reasonably be at about 100AS, 500DPS and about 100MA.Overall, going way over 30k ability mod self-buffed won't accomplish too too much, because a lot of the smaller spells will start capping.7) Other Useful Info:The Warlock WW Chat Channel is: butcherblock.warlockchannelFor a deity, really you can pick between Ro, Bertox, and Anashti Sul. Blessing: Anashti = Hand of Death (10min damage proc) Bertox = Touch of Decay (10min boost to disease spells)Ro = Ro's Fury (10min damage proc)Miracle: Anashti = Undying Fury (25sec of 20 Flurry and 33 Double Cast)Bertox = Bertoxxulous' Curse (1min of 100 potency)Ro = Incinerate (huge nuke when mob under 50% health)~Extra thanks to Nune, Zelox, and Daray.
Disclaimer: If you're a heroic warlock only, please note your buffs (or lack thereof) may need to vary from this in order to compensate. It isn't a big difference, but a few subtleties exist, such as adjusting your Dragon AA endline to account for having no troub, etc. Feel free to post any questions and I'll try to answer them as much as possible!
Definitely spell bind - you should have upbeat tempo which doesn't stack w/ the Ancient Fury. Haven't an alternate aa build for heroics when there is no troub and no illy isn't a terrible idea though. That said... if there is no troub and no illy, they should have a ranger not a warlock.
What are these "troubs" you speak of? In all the heroic content I've run with my warlock, I've only seen these mythical beasts twice. And I had to beg, yes literally beg, them both to take UT off themselves and put it on me. Our raid force already has a full mage group, so when I get to take a break from the warden, I'm always put in a tank group, with a dirge if I'm lucky (hey VC is something...) and no other support. In my case, would you recommend using Ancient Fury, or just sticking with the Spellbind/Chains setup? I really like chains and I don't want to give them up... and I haven't really noticed a DPS difference with Acient Fury or without (although that fault may be all mine). Here's my warlock if you want to check her out... always open to any and all suggestions... http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/450973935498
To be fair, with the cap going up to 350, you will have enough to get 2 heroic endlines and 2 dragon endlines without sacrificing any of the endline abilities in earlier trees. Though I wish Ancient Fury was something more universally useful.
Right - this is something we should both petition. All scouts will have a viable option of 2 end-lines in the dragon page, but for Sorc's that won't really be an option.
Your goal should be (if raiding) to have enough reuse and recovery that when you add Upbeat Tempo/appropriate group buffs you hit 100% on both **in your raid group** For me, this means I aim for 75% reuse and technically 35% recovery - if you use a Forerunner's Cognizance for +15% reuse and +15% recovery speed and add in Upbeat Tempo and Troub buffs, you'll hit cap. I am generally @ 50% recovery solo at the moment, but I might slightly change my AA accordingly.
Hi Mogrim! Thanks for this great write up! Hope you don't mind. I'm doing a social push for this at 4PM PDT today (3/26/2014), so keep an eye out for it on our official social channels.
