Introduction
This thread is a compilation of sites useful for understanding Warlocks, whether you’re just starting with the class or you’re looking to improve your play.
It also goes into some detail on how to look through logs from Warcraftlogs in order to spot basic problems in aid of analysing your play.
Community Sites
Lock One Stop Shop
Basically the Warlock bible and should be your first stop when picking up Warlocks or starting to improve your play.
Contains guides for all specs written in collaboration with several theorycrafters, sim data on talent combinations, trinkets and azerite traits, all maintained by said theorycrafters and other prominent Warlock players. Links to some streams of prominent Warlocks, both focusing on PvE or PvP, as well as home to large posts of feedback from Gahddo, which is a good read.
Council of the Black Harvest Discord
Click the above link to join! (Link summary doesn’t show the server name unfortunately)
Discord Server run by Tibles, Gahddo and Motoko for the Warlock Community.
Huge hub of discussion about each spec, dedicated text channels for asking for help and PvP, etc. Definitely a good idea to keep an eye on for pins in each spec channel for important posts marked by the mods, as well as just discussion involving theorycrafters and top players.
Raidbots
A site that uses SimulationCraft to present an easy to use simulation tool.
Allows you to simulate characters by its armory or using a SimC string to compare talents, generate stat weights or comparing and/or finding the top gear based on a SimC string.
Warcraft Logs
warcraftlogs.com
The most popular WoW log site for raiding, with a growing M+ section.
Crucial tool for analysing your own raid performance and understanding how other players are playing well. Also a very handy tool for seeing what talents specs typically take, which specs are being typically played on certain encounters, as well as the general performance of the class/specs compared to all others (which you should take with a grain of salt when trying to improve).
WoWAnalyzer
An analysis tool for Warcraftlogs logs.
Helpful for getting some general pointers on individual logs and presenting a lot of the raw information contained in a given log in a more concise and consumable format.
Wowhead
Huge site for your general WoW needs.
Not specific for Warlocks, but has a lot of general information on raids, dungeons, etc, a shareable talent calculator (which also displays the top used Azerite Traits and Talents used in raids per encounter/difficulty) , the Azerite Finder for searching for gear with specific traits. Also a great resource for PTR updates and the like.
Logging and Analysis
How To Log
An old guide written by Hedo is still relevant, so I’ll summarise the set up for logging but link it here for those interested in reading a bit more about the interface for viewing logs:
Set up
To Stop Logging
Quick Log Analysis Points
Here we will detail some basic things to look into when analysing your own or someone else’s logs, as well as how to find this information when looking at logs.
DoT / Debuff / Buff Uptimes
To make sure we get the most out of DoTs as well as some buffs and debuffs, we may need to look at the proportion of time that they are active. This can be seen in the “Buffs” and “Debuffs” tabs.
Cast Counts and Cast:Hit Ratios
It can be helpful to examine the amount of times certain spells are cast compared to others, if only to ensure that someone is following their ABCs (Always Be Casting). Cast counts can be found both in “Damage Done” and “Casts” tabs.
Because Destruction has Havoc, we also might examine the Hit to Cast Ratios of certain spells to make sure we are cleaving efficiently where possible. We can see the number of hits and casts in the “Damage Done” tab.
Cooldown / Buff Usage
An important part of playing any spec is making sure you’re using your Cooldowns. A basic thing to check is that you’re using them as often as possible. You can view the number of times you’ve cast Cooldowns similar to other spells as described above. WoWAnalyzer also has a great feature allowing you to see how many times you could have cast a CD and how many times you did cast it (which can be seen in the “Abilities” tab).
Another important aspect of analysing using Cooldowns and some buffs is what you’re casting before and during their effects. WoWAnalyzer again has a feature under the “Cooldowns” tab that shows you your casting sequence after major Cooldowns. You can also see casts before and after by using the Zoom feature in Warcraftlogs (clicking and dragging on the timeline) to filter down to casts a few seconds before and after casting the CD or gaining the buff.
How To Ask For Help
Whether you post in this thread or start your own thread, make sure that when you ask for help with your play that you link relevant logs where you can. If you want some general help, you should post logs from a full clear or some Single Target raid encounter. If you want help with a very specific encounter, providing at least one log for that encounter is helpful, multiple are even more helpful for comparisons.
If you don’t have permission to post links, you can force your link to not hyperlink (which isn’t allowed for anyone below Trust Level 3 on the forums) by wrapping the link in the ‘grave’ character (the one on the same key as Tilde). An example is show below, you can view it by quoting the below links:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/us/jubeithos/aldeen
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/BNr2acp1CWYnh637
There are plenty of Warlocks on the forums that can help you look through your logs and help you improve your play, never be afraid to ask for help, but provide logs wherever you can so we can help you as much as possible!
Closing Lines
I’ve reposted this post for the new forum layout and to get rid of the old Legion posts attached to it so that this can be a fresh slate for BfA and onward.
If you have any suggestions for additions to this post, or find anything incorrect or misleading, please let me know!
I’ll also be using this post to mess around with the new Forum post formatting, so if you also see any formatting that’s off (particularly hanging tags or weird spacing, please let me know!
![:kissing_heart:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/kissing_heart.png?v=6" ":kissing_heart:")
