My friend and I are going to be playing a Warlock and a Mage come release.
All of the leveling guides I have found online for either class have only addressed builds efficient for solo leveling, but my friend and I never really plan to play without each other.
The typical leveling builds showcased focus on strategies that I worry may be less efficient in a group (Of course, I haven’t played Vanilla, so it’s possible these concerns aren’t accurate). Warlocks lean on Damage over Time effects that lose efficiency if enemies die quickly under fire from 2 players. Meanwhile mages kite using freezes and slows that my Damage over time and Aggro could disrupt. Can a voidwalker hold aggro between a mage and warlock?
All that in mind, would you recommend different leveling strategies for these classes when played together in a group? Would other builds be more efficient?
Might want to consider a Destro build. It’s burst damage, like the mage, so between the two of you things should drop like flies. I wouldn’t even worry about the VW in that situation, he can barely hold aggro off just the warlock. Bring out the imp and nuke nuke nuke until nothing is left but a smoldering crater.
It won’t work for absolutely everything, but for the most part it should go fairly smooth. And fast, I should think.
If enemies die too quickly for dots to matter, then consider destruction. Immolate is a nuke with a fast 15s dot attached. Shadowburn is an instant with a fast CD and usually gets your shard back. At 11p, you can get 5% discount, faster immolate casts, and the shadowburn.
I second Destro + Imp if you partner with a mage. With good positioning, you can even have mobs running around in between the three of you and never getting a hit in.
If you want to spec Improved Fire Bolt, remember not to put more than 1 point into it. Unless they’ve “fixed” that old issue in Classic:
I watched a video of two mages at level 14 and they were killing packs of 10 to 12 mobs level 12 to 13 using double aoe, double frost nova. Looked sweet.
I rolled Warlock with my Mage friend from the start of Vanilla. Can’t say I remember much of that, but, i’d start with 5/5 corruption, then build your imp a bit on Demon, throw the rest into destruction, improved firebolt,
Use curse of elements to buff yours and your mages damage. All set!
I’d say frost for the mage, just for the snares while you both go ham on nukes…
And yeah Destro will probbably end up better with a mage, the combined TTK (time to kill) per mob should be VERY fast, and the mage food can help alleviate the lock’s lack of mana efficiency (and the mage is going to need to drink as well)
Yeah, destruction will be best for leveling with a mage. You can nuke with him. Dot spec will just have him doing most of the work as you won’t get many ticks in.
Well that’s kind of good news. Destruction does seem like more fun, but what would that rotation look like while leveling? Just go HAM with immolate and shadowbolt or would I be wanding to stretch out mana more.