Unless it’s one of the last options, should an Affliction Warlock sit a base? A lot of players in Blitz seem to think they should. But when looking into it, the best Warlock to ever play the game, possibly the best player ever, says that they shouldn’t.
"In Battleground Blitz, Affliction Warlock primarily focuses on dealing as much spread damage as possible. Crowd control is not a focus, and dealing as much damage as possible in team fights is an Affliction Warlock’s strength. If left alone, Affliction Warlocks can deal some of the highest DPS output of any class and rot the enemy team.
Affliction Warlocks should not defend a base and should try to avoid small scale skirmishes, instead opting for big team fights."
So Chanimal seems to think it’s not a good idea. Who should I believe? Is Chanimal right about Affliction Warlocks, or do the Blitz players have more knowledge about it than Chanimal?
Edit: This was a joke. Obviously Chanimal the best Affliction Warlock to ever play the game is right. Obviously he knows more about Affliction Warlocks than any of you.
Not entirely sure but for what it’s worth I know that affliction warlocks do more damage when there are more targets. They can funnel that damage into a target which generates good overall kill pressure too. I don’t know if this what makes the deal though.
I think the true answer is just that it’s situational. Like, for example, should they be attacking in both FC and node maps?
The advise is still useful though because, for example, it means that at the beginning of any blitz you’ll want to go mid and do big damage, so going places like Blacksmith in Arathi Basin, Market in Deepwind Gorge or the mid clash in FC maps
I don’t see how they would perform in attacking a FC in Twin Peaks/WSG though
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Like with everything, it depends.
Warlocks have an advantage in defending on blitz maps as they have a pet that can interrupt capture if they get crowd controlled. They also can have a lot of survivability to live until help arrives.
But there are other classes that are better at defending.
One shouldn’t deal in absolutes though. “Always” and “never” are losing strategies. I remember someone awhile back (I think it was actually a warlock) saying their class should never carry the flag in WSG. Turns out, since no one else was going for the flag, they just sat there waiting for someone else to pick up the flag because “their class should never carry the flag.”
Ultimately, anyone is better than no one, and the person I want defending is the person who actually wants to defend as I know they’ll probably do a better job at it then someone who is doing it begrudgingly only because they were told to. If that happens to be the affliction warlock then so be it.
Blitz isn’t a premade, we don’t have the luxury of deciding how others will play. All we can do is adapt to the hand we’re dealt in any given match.
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Most games, it’s literally just me guarding the base.
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Generally, I go where the enemy healers are on my afflock to UA with rampant and make them miserable.
You can defend flags pretty well as aff.
Put down port/gate and stand away from the flag.
Pull out your favorite pet and tell him to stand near the flag.
Send pet on anything that tries to cap.
Spam corruption or jinx to stop caps.
You can usually CC and long enough for flag to cap or team to help.
It doesn’t matter at headless chicken mmr sometimes is the thing
Sometimes you adjust or just spam lose bases
Or have to play a bunch more and hope somebody else does their job
Warlock CC is really good for hitting bases, though
Something to remember, though, is that damage is a means. You pressure or kill players and take the flag, objective, node, whatever.
If you just press fear on somebody then click the flag and take it that’s better than doing 100m dmg and not killing anybody.
It just depends.
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I wouldn’t say never… but they are worse picks then a hunter or rogue.
A warlock really doesn’t wanna duel a rogue ( the most likely attacker). They also have no hard immunes or escapes against multiple attackers and struggle to spin a flag.
They excel in teamfights…that said pre 2k mmr. You will win more games agreeing to sit when no one else will.
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Hunter>ret>ferals are the go D to sit bases.
If none of them is avaiable then you might try the rogue as D.
If none of those exists in the team, well, you prolly already lost anyway might aswell leave a pet on and just sit a base.
If you want to sit a base as a warlock go demonology. Aff and destro should never sit.
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Hunters are not good sitters unless bm, almost everyone is mm right now. Best sitters are sub rogue > bm > ret > other rogues > other classes like demonology. A druid stealth is ok but they have no way to defend a node. Their only defense is they get an opener. Most classes in game can cc them, they trinket, use another cc and they lose base. A warrior would be better because they can at least break a sap/fear. This is why the meta is warrior spins mid base with healer. Not because he can kill a healer 2v2 but because he has the extra “trinket” to spin if need be. Dks are also the other one becauee their defensive breaks stuns. Just like how the classes that go spin lm with healer tend to be soemthing like a mage because they can blink when knocked off. Also having an assa rogue sit is basically asking to lose the game
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You have a pet. So your being sapped doesnt mean you cant spin.
just pull the succubus out and sit if you’re forced.
Guys, I this was a joke. Obviously Chanimal, the best Warlock to ever play PvP is right about this and is way more knowledgeable about this than any of you.
Affliction Warlocks should never sit and defend a base alone unless something went wrong and they have to.
One guy here was talking about defending FC on flag maps. Which is weird because I didn’t mention those. The thread was about sitting and defending a base alone.
A couple guys mentioned Warlocks have a pet. I think everyone that comes to this forums knows that Warlocks have a pet. So that’s weird too. The thread is about an Affliction Warlock sitting and defending a base alone. The thread wasn’t do Warlocks have a pet or not. Of course they do and of course one would have it out. So that doesn’t really add or subtract anything to what we are talking about.
Another guy thought he was a Jedi or something.
If you want to win, it’s never a good idea to have an Affliction Warlock sit a base. If they have to that means the starting comp was really bad for your team and you are probably going to lose. Like not having an FC on a flag map. Or it means someone didn’t do or messed up doing what they were supposed to do. Then the Affliction happened to be there and sat the base, but that other player should come back and do it.
This wasn’t even a question though, it was a joke because at low mmr people do not know. It is something everyone should know, unless new to PvP. Some of you are high experience and I am very surprised you didn’t know.
Maybe the people answering you are experienced enough to know that in random battlegrounds and blitz you don’t get to choose your teammates and you have to adapt to the hand you’re dealt.
The answer to your question is that an affliction warlock shouldn’t sit a base unless there’s no one else who would be better at it who is willing and able to defend more effectively than the affliction warlock and that the affliction warlock would be more beneficial to have elsewhere over the other person who would be defending in their place.
Should an affliction warlock be chosen to defend a base on domination maps if there are others who are playing a class and spec that make a better defender and are willing and able to sit said base and the warlock is willing to leave the base to go elsewhere and that warlock would be better for the team to have elsewhere than the other player?
Yes.
However, a big key part of this is if the warlock is willing and able to swap off of defense and another player is willing and able to take over on defense. As you cannot force people to do what you want, if the warlock is the only one willing to sit a base, then they should. Unless of course you think it’s fine to leave that particular base undefended.
That’s nonsense. Aff aoe is the same pressure and any other class aoe. If it’s a few players vs a single lock, that lock is dead
Warlocks make decent sitters (regardless of the spec) but they are usually more valuable in the team fight.
They have the cc, range and a succy that can sit in stealth and spin until you call for help.
As warlocks don’t have stealth they lack the ability to be able to ghost and sneak up on another base like a rogue, druid or even a hunter.
Warlocks are great for team fight (more so than sitting) so generally you would be wanted there, your ports, cc and curses really help to win team fights.
P.S. Blitz is so troll, hunters / rogues telling me as a warrior should sit so they can go play team fight. Some people just don’t want to sit so they will try to tell anyone else to do it.
