Warlock Customization: More Grimoires! And other stuff

With the addition of the new warlock customization system, I’ll be creating a new part of this post above the old, to keep for posterity.

So we got a customization system on the barbershop!

Reiterating the short and sweet asks:

  • Please give warlocks the ability to speak Demonic once more. This was removed when Demon Hunters were added, and it doesn’t make sense given presumably demon summoning rituals are in demonic.
  • Similarly, given we summon the Voidwalker/Voidlord, I would argue we should be able to speak Shath’yar given Void summoning rituals are in Shath’yar presumably.
  • Please fix the Wrathguard dual wield. Give the Shivarra her other weapons back, also consider also letting her wield stuff from our backpack as well (eg each hand picks a random weapon from our bag; if there’s only one 2-hander it’s four of the same weapon, etc)
  • Similar to how the Infernal was made customizable, please let Demonology’s Demonic Tyrant CD and Affliction’s Darkglare CD be customizable. Let this be how we get the Observer “back” for at least Affliction. This has been confirmed for 10.2.5!!!
  • Ideally even, let Soulcage, Summon Vilefiend, and Grimoire: Felguard be customizable separately
  • More models, ideally using some boss models for options
  • last but not least, adding more baseline “demonic” customization for each race; with Manaari skin tones coming for Base Draenei, I think it would be nice to get demonic options for all the races where available. The new Zandalari warlock NPCs have long nails for example, or loosen the Demon Hunter options, etc.

But first, during the 10.1.5 PTR, the devs said this:

And during the Community Council Interview from July 14 said

That is to say, ALL warlock pets must fit within a “silhouette”.

As I said on PTR, this is extremely limiting for warlock fantasy and pet options. We have only a few dozen demon/aberration models within the game which caps to a few hundred with each recolor counted separate.

Moreover, it’s simply not particularly sound to remove the 11 year old Observer vs the 7 year old Darkglare. In fact, given the Darkglare is used for one of Affliction’s PVP Talents, the argument makes even less sense imo. The Darkglare should’ve been the one to be changed, for example for the long-asked Inquisitor demon instead.

I really urge Blizzard to reconsider this; losing our Observer really sucked for a lot of us who were attached to them and what they represented in the lore and memories of gameplay with them (eg their importance in the eternally celebrated Green Fire questline). The silhouette argument does not reasonable hold for the Succubus, “half naked overly sexual humanoids” cannot be held as a fundamental design principle for the pet options of the Succubus slot lmao

But sure, even if we go with that, we thus have the following arrangement:

  • Imp = Ranged DPS Slot with Dispel = small caster silhouette, eg Ganarg, Wyrmtongue
  • Felhunter = Melee DPS Slot with Silence = animalistic quadruped, eg Felbat, Urzul
  • Succubus = Melee DPS Slot with Channeled CC = overly sexualized humanoid, eg Satyr, Imp Mother (yeah you read right, she thicc, lets not hold demon women to unreasonable body standards)
  • Voidwalker = Melee AOE Slot with Tank capacities = Large, “elemental” type body Aberrations or Void themed, eg Sha, N’raqi
  • Felguard = Melee Cleave DPS with Tank capacities and Stun/Silence CC = humanoid “warrior” type, eg Aranasi, Wickermen

and the Cooldown Pets:

  • Infernal = larger models ideally already burning or radiating energy
  • Demonic Tyrant = Caster humanoid
  • Darkglare = Floating caster, monster but could be humanoid imo
  • Vilefiend = same as Felhunter, animalistic quadruped
  • Grimoire Felguard = same as Felguard, humanoid warrior type
  • Summon Jailer = floating humanoid ideally with implied AOE theme

So reconfiguring my table below of pet options we DON’T have but COULD have, bolded the ones I really want personally as options (note: once again this list is done via my personal opinion and discretion! if you disagree with an allocation feel free to comment to add it):

Demon or Aberration Common or Unnamed Elite Named Elite or Unique Rare or Boss Model Possible Slots
Annihilan aka Pitlords No Yes Infernal
Antaen No Yes Infernal
Bilescourge Yes Yes Felhunter or Imp
Aranasi Yes Yes Succubus or Felguard
Demon Spiders Yes No Felhunter
Darkhound Yes Yes Felhunter
Doomguard Yes Yes Demonic Tyrant
Doomlord Yes Yes Demonic Tyrant
Felbat Yes Yes Felhunter
Felbeast, Felstalker Yes Yes Felhunter
Fiends (Terrorguard, Terrorfiend, Fearfiend) Yes Yes Demonic Tyrant
Imp Mother No Yes Succubus
Inquisitor Yes Yes Darkglare, Demonic Tyrant
Jailer Yes Yes Voidwalker, Succubus
Manaari Eredar Yes Yes Demonic Tyrant (he’s already one, just more options)
Gan’arg Yes Yes Imp
Mo’arg Brute Yes Yes Voidwalker, Felguard
Fel Lord Yes Yes Felguard
Overfiend Yes Yes Voidwalker
Observer :frowning: Yes Yes Darkglare
Satyr Yes Yes Succubus
Ur’zul Yes Yes Felhunter
Void Terror Yes Yes Felhunter
Wyrmtongue Yes Yes Imp
Void God Yes Yes Voidwalker
N’raqi standard Yes Yes Felguard
N’raqi C’thraxxi Yes Yes Voidwalker
N’raqi K’thir Yes Yes Darkglare, Demonic Tyrant
Merciless One Yes Yes Darkglare
Sha - shaling Yes Yes Felhunter
Sha - larger Yes Yes Voidwalker
Sha - boss models No Yes Voidwalker
Void Revenant Yes Yes Voidwalker, Darkglare
Void Caller Yes Yes Voidwalker, Darkglare
Voidwraith Yes Yes Voidwalker, Darkglare
Wickerdogs Yes Yes Felhunter
Wickermen Yes Yes Succubus
Wicker Behemoths Yes Yes Felguard
Wicker Brutes Yes Yes Infernal
Beastmen Yes Yes Felguard, Succubus
Beholder Yes Yes Darkglare
Fleshbeasts Yes Yes Felhunter
Haunt / Psyfiend Yes Yes Felhunter
Devourer Mites Yes Yes Felhunter (nonflying)
Devourer Brutes Yes Yes Infernal
Devourer Riftkeepers Yes Yes Darkglare, Demonic Tyrant
Slimes Yes Yes Voidwalker, Felhunter
House of Plagues Brutes Yes Yes Voidwalker
House of Plagues Queen Yes Yes Succubus, Darkglare
Revendrent Sin Manifestations Yes Yes Felhunter
Ardenweald Boggarts Yes Yes Voidwalker
Fungal Constructs (Nazmir, House of Plagues) Yes Yes Voidwalker
Blood Elemental (Nazmir, Revendreth) Yes Yes Voidwalker

Excluded from this list are the wide variety of Boss-Only models of pets we already have, such as, using two quick examples:

  • Imonar, who is a Fel Lord (Mo’arg) Demon, thus perfect for the Felguard

  • The Coven of Shivarra models, who are all Shivarra as we have



WoWhead guide for the pet grimoires

Old Post below, click the arrow to read

Copy pasting from my Shadowlands Compilation thread in the warlock forums lol

Consider:

Short and sweet asks:

  • Please give warlocks the ability to speak Demonic once more. This was removed when Demon Hunters were added, and it doesn’t make sense given presumably demon summoning rituals are in demonic.
  • Similarly, given we summon the Voidwalker/Voidlord, I would argue we should be able to speak Shath’yar given Void summoning rituals are in Shath’yar presumably.
  • Please fix the Wrathguard dual wield. Give the Shivarra her other weapons back, also consider also letting her wield stuff from our backpack.
  • Also back in Cataclysm, we were told an Incubus glyph is coming for Succubus. Surely a blood elf male model can be demon-ified for this end? WE’RE GETTING AN INCUBUS Y’ALL

A copy of the Hunter Tame/Stable system, where either within the Dreadscar Rift (Class Order Hall, would breathe life into past content) and/or next to the Warlock Trainer in every major city, there would be a “Grimoire” that functions like the Warlock stables.

Enslave Subjugate Demon becomes like Tame Beast. Enslave Subjugate Demon simply is never used. Literally never used. Only time it has been used in recent memory was as a gimmick within the Class Order Hall (where we didn’t actually Enslave Subjugate the mob, we just cast the ability and was auto-controlled into releasing us) and the Warlock Green Fire Questline (the Pitlord, which nowadays is irrelevant given gear level and the “of the Black Harvest” title no longer exists) and one of the adds in the Arcway dungeon during Legion. One of the times it was useful was to banish one of the mini-bosses in Hellfire Citadel, but then that was nerfed.

Each current demon becomes a “slot”:

  • the Ranged DPS with Self-Dispell slot (Imp)
  • Tank and AOE slot (Voidwalker)
  • Melee DPS with CC slot (Succubus)
  • Melee DPS with Interrupt and Dispell (Felhunter)
  • Demonology Melee Cleave and AOE DPS with Tank and CC functions (Felguard)

Every time you Enslave Subjugate a demon it gets assigned a name you cannot change without dismissing that demon or Enslaving Subjugating the same mob again, following the same way all our default demons have assigned names and we have to pay to replace them. The only demons we could not “release” would be our default demons, maybe, I don’t know.

This would follow the logic that all demons are actually pre-existing beings. Our Wrathguard is an Eredar; he lived on Argus and had a family. They each have a “True Name”.

And canonically, knowing a demon’s true name gives you power over that demon:

Within the game there are already “families” of demons, and given the Voidwalker is a Void being ie aberrations families too. In fact, in the new Leveling Experience, we gain the ability to summon a Voidwalker by “completing” a ritual via a grimoire to summon a Voidwalker from the Void while a Void portal hurts us.

In fact, within the lore and earlier versions of WoW, grimoires were within the Warlock fantasy, whether was quest items where we enslave demons to learn them, or to empower some talents/spells:

Within the narrative, the only thing that prevents a warlock from Enslaving Subjugating a demon is our power. In Legion, we Enslaved Subjugated the Eredar Twins via a Bloodstone (which canonically is a fragment of Old God power), in the Legacy of the Masters questline (Green Fire quest), we Enslaved Subjugated a Pit Lord when fighting Kanrethad at the end scenario, and to begin with as it stands we already Enslaved Subjugated an imp, a succubus, a mo’arg (Felguard), eredar (Prince Malchezaar, Demonic Tyrant, Wrathguard), a darkglare, an observer, a shivarra, a fel imp, a voidwalker, a voidlord (separate from the Void Lords that in canon cannot manifest in reality), a felhunter, an infernal, and an abyssal, and a variety of other demons through the Demonology Talent Demonic Portal (including Ur’zuls, and Felbats, and more).

Furthermore we are now the Netherlord of Dreadscar Rift, First of the Black Harvest, with a small demonic army at our disposal.

Arguably, the only demons/aberrations we should be unable to tame at this point after defeating the whole Burning Legion, N’zoth and all the other Old Gods, and various beings otherwise, are the ones that even the Burning Legion wouldn’t summon and Sargeras wouldn’t enslave.

In the case of Demonology, the way the spec could be “unique” with regards to this hypothetical system is while Affliction and Destruction can Enslave Subjugate Common demons and aberrations, Demonology as a spec can Enslave Subjugate Elite/Named Elite demons and aberrations.

Perhaps with a singular Destruction exception of their being able to Enslave Subjugate Elite Demons for the Infernal CD, and Affliction being able to Enslave Subjugate Elite Demons (or Aberrations?) for their Darkglare CD. But Demonology could Enslave Subjugate Elites for whatever demon slot.

Note, this is my (OP’s) allocation of slots and isn’t a consensus by any means. Sources are Wowpedia’s Demon page and Aberration page.

Demons Sex or Non-Humanoid (VA) Common or Unnamed Elite Named Elite Proposed Slot
Annihilan (or pit lords) Male No Yes Infernal
Antaen Male No Yes Infernal
Bilescourge Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Aranasi Female Yes Yes Succubus
Demon Spiders Beast Yes No Felhunter
Darkhound Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Doomguard Male Yes Yes Darkglare, Tyrant
Doomlord Male No Yes Infernal
Felbat Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Fel beast Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Felhound Beast Yes No Felhunter
Felstalker Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Fiend (Terrorguard, Fear Fiend, Terrorfiend) Male Yes Yes Darkglare, Tyrant, Infernal
Imp and Fel Imp Male Yes Yes Imp
Imp mother Female No Yes Imp, Succubus
Infernal Construct No Yes Infernal
Abyssal Construct Yes Yes Infernal
Inquisitor Male Yes Yes Darkglare, Imp
Jailer Male Yes Yes Voidwalker, Succubus
Man’ari eredar Male, Female Yes Yes Darkglare, Tyrant
Wrathguard Male Yes Yes Felguard
Gan’arg Male Yes Yes Imp, Felhunter
Mo’arg brute Male Yes Yes Infernal
Felguard Male Yes Yes Felguard
Fel lord Male Yes Yes Felguard
Nathrezim Male, Female Yes Yes Darkglare, Tyrant
Felsteed Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Dreadsteed Beast No No N/A
Observer Male Yes Yes Felhunter
Darkglare Male Yes Yes Darkglare
Overfiend Male Yes Yes Darkglare, Tyrant, infernal
Satyr Male Yes Yes Succubus
Succubus Sayaad Female Yes Yes Succubus
NEW Incubus Sayaad Male ? ? Succubus
Shivarra Female Yes Yes Succubus
Ur’zul Construct Beast? Yes Yes Felhunter
Vilefiend Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Void terror Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Wyrmtongue Male Yes Yes Imp
Aberrations Sex or Non-Humanoid (VA) Common or Unnamed Elite Named Elite Proposed Slot
Void God Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
Voidlord Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
N’raqi (standard, C’thaxxi, K’thir) Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
Merciless One (Standard, Nazjatari) Beast Yes Yes Voidwalker
Sha (Shaling, larger shaw, Prime Sha) Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
Void Revenant Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
Voidcaller Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
Voidwalker Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
Voidwraith Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
Wicker Constructs (Wickermen, Wicker Behemoths, Wicker Brutes) Constructs or Male Yes Yes Voidwalker, Succubus, Felguard
Wicker Beasts Beasts Yes Yes Felhunter
Beastman Male Yes Yes Voidwalker, Felhunter, Succubus
Beholder Male? Yes Yes Felhunter
Fleshbeasts Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Haunt Beast Yes Yes Felhunter
Psyfiend Beast Yes Yes Voidwalker
Devourers (Mites, Brutes, Riftkeepers) Beast? Male? Yes Yes Voidwalker, Felhunter, Felguard
Slimes (many e.g. Maldraxxus, Uldir Blood, Dragon Soul slimes, etc) Beasts Yes Yes Felhunter
House of Plagues Brutes, Queens) Male, Female Yes Yes Voidwalker, Succubus, Felguard
Manifestations of Sin Beast Yes Yes Voidwalker
Boggarts Male Yes Yes Voidwalker
N’zoth Eyeball Jellyfish Beast Yes Yes Felhound, Observer
Fungal Constructs (BFA Blood, Maldraxxus Flesh) Male Yes Yes Observer, Voidwalker
Blood Elemental Male Yes Yes Observer, Voidwalker, Felguard

That’s 41 demon families (if we count the 3 Fiend and 2 Imp subtypes separately), and 26 aberration families (if we count the subtypes of N’raqi, Sha, and non-animal Wicker Construct subtypes separately), totalling 67 families.

Each family has approximately 2-5 recolors, giving us an estimate of just over 200 demons/aberrations for each warlock to choose from!

Hunters have 76 families, which if we subdivided by each subtype, totals over 300 different families. Multiply that by all the ones that have recolors, and the number is super high, probably over a thousand.

To elaborate a bit more, as I explain in a later post in this thread:

Enslave Subjugate Demon only sees relevance in niche or gimmicky moments every expansion, and even in Legion the spell was only really useful as a CC mechanic in some pulls (and even then, rarely; most notably its used in Xhul’horac was nerfed actually). This would be an amazing addition to the game, of equal if not superior level to the Green Fire Questline in MoP.

My personal list for what demons I would pick would be:

  • Felguard slot - General Xakal (Fel Lord), rare add

  • Succubus slot - Sister Subversia (Shivarra), rare add

  • Imp slot - probaby just the fel imp model we already use, or get Gazakroth which is a purple recolor of the Fel Imp from Hex Lord Malacrass

  • Felhunter - a Dark Devourer Felhound model

  • Voidwalker - Soggoth the Slitherer faceless one

Using the hashtag #WarlockStables on Twitter for this so feel free to join. Just started a daily tweet about it today (August 20).

https://twitter.com/hashtag/WarlockStables?src=hashtag_click

Edit November 12th 2020

Just discovered the Dreadwing/Felbat model demon FLIES WITH YOU IF YOU ENSLAVE THEM

Edit November 16th 2020

s/o to Valarynn on twitter for making this thread with a lot of likes

Edit January 14 2021

Just noticed Valarynn made mockups of what it could look like, adding

Edit Feb 16 2021
Someone on reddit did a similar spiel

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/lkjrhb/a_new_collection_tab_and_other_suggestions/

Edit April 25 2021
Bellular supports the idea!

Also we can enslave the new dreadlords on the 9.1 PTR

Edit with 9.1.0

Just kidding they removed our ability to enslave dreadlords on live :slight_smile: cool cool

Edit August 31 2021
Mr. GM has joined team Warlock Stables

Edit September 30 2021

We’re getting an Incubus glyph! After being told we were getting an Incubus glyph ten years ago (but who’s counting uwu lol)

HUZZAH

409 Likes

Also Soul Swap. They should bring that back. That ability was rad.

23 Likes

Holy moly…

Still want Meta on Demo though shared with DH much like Shamans sharing Water Eles with Mages

EDIT: I would like the similar thing for Unholy DK too :smiley:

19 Likes

nah, im a warlock main, and there is no need to be a demonic hunter.

just bring back soul link and DOTS that do HOT to us and our pets,
and we’re back in our glory days

14 Likes

Calling people cowards is a great way to get what you want… IJS :roll_eyes:

6 Likes

Given adding more customization isn’t actually tied to bravery or courage, this is very clearly a joke, and this reply is kinda weird lmao

13 Likes

That was so useful if a target was about to die so you just inhale the dots to spit them out on something else. Affliction is fun until you get into that situation where stuff dies way too fast for your dots to mean anything and therefore it comes off like you’re slacking or afk when you’re not.

6 Likes

I’d prefer soul burn. Particularly if portal is coming back baseline.

Gimme that sprint for a fancy getaway.

2 Likes

I would want that for my new demonology nightbornd

Wow, OP, amazing stuff.

Also, if we’re asking for things… Let’s make grimoire of sacrifice base line. Thematically it fits more with a base kit, and as an expansion ages it will see more use. Right now it’s in a bad spot on the talent tree and sees almost no use, as far as I can tell.

8 Likes

Calling the designers cowards ought to get what you want.

4 Likes

Sounds like coward logic!

Absolutely not. You want hunter style pet management play a hunter. I am all for a new demon and being able to change the looks but the pokemon collect em all aspect is a hunter thing you can’t have.

7 Likes

Hunter pets are all pretty much boring and the same within families anyway now.

3 Likes

You feel like you’re losing something? Or do you simply want other people to have slightly less than you? Either way you’re wrong.

Having contracts with demons is in our lore. Hunters were supposed to have 1 or 2 pets, that’s their lore. Now you can have 200. Pretty sure we can have new skins for our demons.

31 Likes

Doesn’t matter. It’s a core part of the hunter experience.

3 Likes

I simply want to keep class distinction. You don’t get to just cannibalize another class’s defining characteristics.

3 Likes

It was a core part of the hunter experience. Now it’s just cosmetic.

7 Likes

I would love if my warlock could have an Inquisitor minion.

9 Likes

Even if it’s just cosmetic it is owned by the hunter class. Or give me your summoning ability.

2 Likes