WoW Class Breakdown: Warlock

The Warlock class is the second of the support dps classes. Like mages, they are able to control or silence a crowd and have the ability to put out good dps. Unlike mages, Warlocks have a 20% healing bonus that applies to themselves and they also have more hp. A Warlock is different from a mage because the Warlock does not have the kiting or survival abilities that a Mage does.

The majority of the Warlocks dps comes from damage over time and it can be applied to one person or a whole team. One of the best things about damage over time is that a Warlock can be damaging various players and then control the healers or dps other targets at the same time. The bad thing about using damage over time is that the effects can be dispelled or cleansed by a Paladin or Priest.

A Warlock has two extremely powerful curses. One is the Curse of Agony; this is a powerful damage over time curse. The second is Curse of Tongues, which makes it to where anything that is cast takes double the time. For example: if a spell takes 1 standard action to cast, with the curse it would take the spell 2 standard actions to cast. This can be a very handy curse if the Warlock is up against other magic users.

Warlocks have a good variety of specs that are all viable in the Arena. One is the Felguard spec, the next is the UA spec and the last is the Soul Link Hybrid. Felguard Warlocks are named for their ability to have a pet Felguard. This creature is known for its ability to put out large dps and harassing the target. The Felguard also has the ability to intercept target players for 3 seconds; this is really good for shutting down healers.

The UA spec Warlocks are most widely known for their ability to make it where their damage over time cannot be removed or dispelled. They are able to do this because of an ability called Unstable Affliction. Unstable Affliction is an awesome ability, its is a damage over time that can silence a foe and do 3000 points of damage. The bad thing about this spec is that it does not have a soul link so it is unable to survive for long periods of time.

The Soul Link Hybrid Warlocks seem to be the most popular of the three specs. It seems to be a mixture of the UA and Felguard Warlocks. These Warlocks have the ability to drain hp from a foe and give it back to themselves without interruption. This type of warlock has less burst dps than the other two but their long-term dps is the same if not better than the first two.