I’m kinda having a bad time on my lock, I’m going Demonology due to the synergy with the Orc passive (and Soul Link and the Succubus demon bonus seems amazing) and I just kinda feel like trash
PvP, I’m hardly able to cast a spell, I suffer from so much delay either through hunter pets clawing me or other reasons, and Fear feels so fickle (And running into a bunch of Warriors who just Zerk Rage and chop me)
Mesmerize has been helpful, and my Succubus does solid DPS, but I just find myself unable to cast anything once fighting actually starts
I feel fine in PvE, it’s just PvP I feel like fodder, and I’m not too sure what to do about it
Anyone have any hot tips for surviving in a PvP world as a Demon Lock?
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Instant casts are your friend. Get into the hunter’s dead zone and stay mobile. The pet will be annoying but not deadly. The hunter will go down soon enough.
Main thing is, when it comes to hunter, attack 1st
Yeah, locks seem weak that I’ve seen thus far, between my pet and myself they just melt. But I have no idea what kind of gear the ones I’ve encountered have been wearing, but even some 4-5 lvls higher went down pretty easy, their dots did wear me down, but not fast enough to kill me.
If you’re gonna beat a hunter you have to play the deadzone.
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Most likely just your playstyle is why you’re losing. Demo spec shouldnt die tbh. While your succubus might do better damage, VW is the best PVP pet you have for your level. Make sure u have instant cast corruptions and just dot them up. Spam DL if you honestly cant get anything else off. Master summoner is a must for demo spec as it keeps you alive.
Things get better at max level when you can actually move into other trees that give u decent spells. Right now tho your spec basically just rots others in PVP. so you’ll need to find a way to keep yourself alive.
No pushback in VW bubble btw
Also dont underestimate Searing pain, quick casts with efficient mana usage
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Thanks for the advice folks
Yeah, getting into deadzone against hunter would help but I don’t have the mobility to stay there if I’m wanting to cast spells
VW for PvP does seem like the best idea, though, Sacrifice is a lot of extra help and Master Summoner can get another out relatively quickly without taxing mana for more Sacrifice, seems like the best plan to avoid all the pushback I get otherwise
Will try that when I get on today
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The issues with hunters and warriors are things we can’t stop and the same goes for rogues. There are way we can help mitigate these issues though.
As for hunters, using your succubus to seduce the hunter while you fear the pet is extremely helpful for getting casts off. Then you can cast a SB into Immolate, dots and drain. The same can be done for rogues, seduce the opener, then make some distance if they didn’t get a crippling poison proc, then SB into fear, then dots and drain while refreshing fear.
Warriors are dependant on getting the opener. If you attack first, then you’ll probably win. But if they do, then they have a huge advantage. Our biggest strength in pvp is fear spam and warriors counter that. I’ve often died to a warrior but SS’ed and was able to finish them off due to their lack of self heals. Just seduce often to try and get them off you and try to survive berzerker rage. If you have the oppertunity to summon, your voidwalker is much better than the succubus against warriors.
Good luck on the dark path.
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Demon Lock is going to be really tough for hunters… I remember when playing my lock (60 at the time, ~t2 gear), I was farming for herbs in Felwood and came across a geared hunter. This is how I killed him:
-Seduced hunter.
-Fear pet, cast shadowbolt, dot, dot, dot, then continue casting shadowbolt until dead. I took some claws to the face but was able to get the job done.
- With pet dead, turn around; seduce is coming to an end, cast curse of elements, start casting soul fire, soul fire pops off, cast curse of shadows, instantly run close enough to cast fear. As target is feared, began dotting and shadowbolting (basically treating it like I would any single-target fight) and killed the son of a gun.
This won’t always work, especially if they are beast-spec, which a lot of hunters are during the leveling portion of the game, but if they aren’t, you’ve got a fighting chance.
A couple notes on playing lock in general:
-When your succubus is out, It’s really important to understand when it’s appropriate to actually use your dots. Your most reliable source of damage will be your bolt spells, as you do not want anything ticking in case you want to seduce and the ticks can also cause your fear to end early.
-Once you’ve reached a point where fear/seduction is no longer an option, you want to use your quick summon talent (if available) to pull out the next-best pet. More often than not if will be your voidwalker, as the shield can be down-right massive if specced into it, and he can deal some damage to boot.
Balancing fear/seduction is an art form… you will get better over time. But I would recommend doing a different spec if you want to be good at pvp. Shadowburn is an absolute beast of a spell in pvp, and fel concentration in affliction (in addition to all the other things in affliction that help you in pvp) can be nasty in a pinch.
Don’t give up. Warlock PvP has a massive learning curve, so give yourself a break.
Hunters will always be a problem though, and so will priests. Classic is very rock/paper/scissors pvp and a lot of times there will just be classes you cannot win against because of their toolkit.
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You don’t have spellstone or howl of terror and death coil yet. These will all make life a little easier. Once you have:
DEATH COIL-INSTANT fear 3 sec damaging opponent and healing you for the amount 476.
SPELL STONE- heals you for 900 and removes all magical affects
HEALTHSTONE-1200 HEAL
HOWL OF TERROR- GROUP FEAR 10 SECONDS
FEAR- 20 SECOND OR 25 I CANT REMEMBER
SACRIFICE- ABSORBS 1931 DAMAGE.
With all that said, i have done my homework but i have never played a warlock in PVP. With all of the above, it should be easier to play than my shadow priest was.
H
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It’s not. Shadow priest has a much more reliable toolkit.
The spell stone requires a gear slot which isn’t always available, and it’s not very good to boot. The healthstone is useful, and so is death-coil, but death coil isn’t available until 40.
Howl of terror cast time is way too long - fear is the name of the game in this instance. Sacrifice is fine, but sacs your pet (obv), and can be dispelled by priests. It’s also assuming you’re using a voidwalker (which you really should if you’re just running around the world/leveling).
Lock is probably one of the easiest classes to play, hardest classes to master.
Give it a shot Dargaad, you’ll see the shortcomings quickly in PvP situations.
Yeh, im worried too…lol. Not over hyped, believe me…
last go i was a Rogue and was trying to make rank 12. I got to 9. This go, i want to make rank, but i doubt i will invest the time to get to rank 9-10. This time i will do raids and gear out that way. Then i will hit the PVP battlegrounds.
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If his forum level is correct, hes too low level to even have a spec really.
Anyway, at low level, just use your VW if you unless you really need seduce. Sac it for the shield, it blocks casting knockback. Fel dom to get another one out. Sac it too when you need to. Between the double shields and healthstone you should win most fights.
Hunters are really good against casters anyway…
Warlocks are not an easy class in pvp… you lack mobility. Possibly the class with the worst mobility actually.
Use your cc to your advantage… seductions and fears. DoT your target up and play the long game.
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It seems most have covered this already but I’ll chine in.
Do not go Succubus for leveling on a pvp server 100%. Your bread and butter as a demo/aff lock is instant casts, fears, and drain life. Possibly using Nightfall procs depending on your level/spec.
Succubus will only help for the first couple seconds to set up an immolate or fear and that’s it.
VW will give you a MASSIVE shield that makes you immune to pushbacks, and if you’re demo you can summon another one straight away basically giving you 3-4 lives (if you your SS up) when fighting someone.
As a lock you aren’t looking to two shot anyone yet, which is what the Succubus is mainly used for. If you get jumped what you should do is hit your instant casts while you run toward your enemy > cast fear > hit drain life if you’re lowish or hit shadow bolt if you’re not. When those fears break and if you get really low sac the pet and be ready to summon a new one with fel dom.
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Unless its a BM hunter with bestial wrath up. Then the pet is going to kill you.
Warlocks are like warriors they get a lot better with better gear. You should put your first 21 points in affliction to get siphon life and then go down demon to get fel domination. Death Coil will improve your world pvp life a lot don’t be afraid to open with it.
Locks are not all that squishy. That and there are a few CC options available
Going off my vanilla memory, not sure how it plays in 1.12 demo warlocks were unkillable against anything that couldn’t remove your VW bubble (priest and shaman are only ones that can remove I believe).
Go with VW, if you get ganked SAC VW for bubble fear and dot up enemy. Insta cast another VW once first shield drops if it’s still looking bad SAC VW again for another massive bubble.
If it’s a priest, especially a dwarf priest you’re probably screwed, warriors may give you a problem but that should also go away by 42 when you have death coil. You luckily don’t have to worry about shamans purge since you’re horde
You’ve just been dealing with inexperienced/bad locks. Warlocks are the gods of world PvP and even a half decent one wouldn’t lose to a hunter.
Pro tip against warriors. DS your voidwalker immediately. Shields neuter our rage generation, and a rage-starved Warrior is a dead warrior.
Always carry a Healthstone ready to go. Between health stone and sac shield you basically have two on demand pots at all time, giving you significantly more staying power in a 1v1 situation than basically any class.
A lot of this is also your level. You don’t have your full toolkit, are likely in quest greens and junk.
At 60, I can’t think of a single class that has an easy time bringing down a SL Demo lock in a 1v1. Even shadowpriests, the runner ups for unmatched dueling power have trouble with locks and their many spell counters/shields/dispels/self-heals/CC.
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Things definitely get easier when you pick up death coil. Warriors and rogues in particular are going to give you a real hard time until you get that. It helps a whole hell of a lot if you are the one initiating since it eliminates their stealth/charge advantage, but personally I tend not to be the aggressor.
Hunters I actually find to be pretty easy. They can’t heal so your dots are guaranteed to chew them up, they have to kite you to keep you out of the deadzone which limits their dps, and if you get a fear off they are pretty much screwed. I fought off a neverending legion of them when trying to grind in Azshara last night and didn’t lose to any of 'em, even the 60s. Hell, even if you do lose they’re still almost certainly going to die too.
And be glad you’re on Horde, at least. If a class can be undead and isn’t a warrior, my experience is that 95% of the time it is indeed undead. It’s a real pain.