Almost no warlocks in the top 100 on the 2v2 ladder, and in 3v3 one of the lowest % classes. Is Lock really bad this patch or are just not a lot of warlock pvpers out there?
Warlocks are traditionally played by bad players that are trash dogwater. You only saw locks on top pve/pvp in TBC and Wotlk because they were broken and simple. Now they are avg. So therefore, none at the top.
5 Likes
Where did the warlock touch you?
For a real answer, playing a warlock in general requires alot of experience and ability that an average player is not going to have.
Playing a ret, dk, or arms warrior for example is much lower skillcap compared to affy or destro in arena. As far as entry level
As a warlock in any compatitive pvp setting you will always, always be the main kill target for two reasons, biggest threat and easiest target to train to the ground if played by average to below average player.
As far as current representation, i suspect the classes that are strong right now do not compliment warlock comps very well, atleast not anything that can be played sort of faceroll.
For example TSG or any rush type comp like with hunter or ret is so much easier to get wins and rating.
Warlock comps require alot of team synergy and communication. Getting trained and still putting out high rot dmg is the highest warlock skill cap i think. Its just not easy at all, i would say between hunter and warlock, those have to be some of the highest skillcap classes to do well in.
People who are very bad will complain that warlocks are easy to play, because all they do is fear and dot. What they should be asking themselves is why are they allowing the warlock to even do all that to them.
I mained lock from TBC throughout panda. RLS, WLD and Shadowplay.
6 Likes
Lol not even close. For 1 hunter has a much higher skill cap than lock. Lock is probably the easiest class to play in Arena next too DK and rets. Rogues have the highest skill cap, 2nd by mages and then ferals and hunters. Everything is hard to play at high ratings, but lock is not the highest cap of skill lol.
1 Like
same reason there’s 2x more mage pve logs than warlocks. why play a hard class when you can play one with less keys. Also you need to control the pet.
And honestly Fire looks pretty fun in arena. Nothing wrong with picking something you enjoy
I agree partly with above guy regarding mage skill cap being high in arena, but to just hop in and start playing it’s much simpler than warlock
1 Like
If I recall right locks were ok in 2s when they had drain mana. First thing cata did was take away drain mana.
4 Likes
in the name of my fellow dark spellcasters, I’m sorry someone traumatized you like this
2 Likes
cuz you can roll a dk/pally/warrior and slam your face into the keyboard and it’s probably going to be more fun, every bg i play is like a greyhound race and i’m the hare
10 Likes
Warlocks have a very high skill ceiling to play at a high level, similar to hunters.
You are wrong about WotLK, in 2s warlocks had by far the lowest representation. In TBC they were about in the middle as far as representation. They had a much lower floor to be useful in TBC, but still a very high skill ceiling class to play them at the highest level.
2 Likes
brother ew. thats not a good take
8 Likes
They are just too squishy against most melee. Sure you can set up a portal, but you just get insta charged. No drain mana, fel hunter nerf and doesnt purge me anymore so im stuck in fear/cc forever, requires casting time and every class has a long spell interupt. Dots feel weak, healers just ignore me and insta heal and lack of mobility if anyone gets close to me. Its just not fun to play atm
2 Likes
warlocks provide some of the best CC possible while being tanky asf in 2v2. Had a lot of fun playing feral/warlock with a random off the LFG tool last week.
Lol found the 2024 Clown of the Year award winner. Imagine being this dumb.
9 Likes
2s meta doesn’t allow for many of the comps or combinations that allow warlock to be successful. Destruction is in a really bad spot, and affliction lacks the survivability or burst damage to function in a 2s system right now. it’s all about setting up kill windows, and being that affliction is the primary and really only performing lock spec right now, dot n rot is where it shines and it doesn’t have a ton of cc chain potential. Compare this with a similar class, the shadow priest.
Shadow priests have one of the best burst + kill chain setups in the game right now. A single target 3 second stun and a blanket silence. They also have purge and mass dispel for dealing with defensives that would otherwise get in the way. And they also have a fear. In addition shadow can gain access to a very easy to setup burst rotation with triple mind spike, instant cast mind blast, double shadow word death allowing them to close the kill window effectively. They are a great pairing with frost mages and sub rogues for this reason.
This is likely due to comps and the potential of those comps. Again, affliction is attrition based dot n rot, which is not only harder to play than zerg cleave comps, it is also more rigid. You’re likely to see them with shadow priests for shadowplay, Uholy DK for Shadowcleave, or frost mage for shatterplay. Frost mages are bad right now, fire is doing better. Gear is low, so it’s hard to have the resil you need without sacrificing important stats, shadow priests are kinda also bad because they have major mana management issues right now, and unholy DKs/fire mages have better comps and more variety in comps.
Unholy works in pretty much every cleave comp, and fire works incredibly well with most casters and even rogues with RMP.
TL:DR
Warlocks have a much narrower gameplan and are more rigid in their arena strategies because only affliction is viable. This lack of variety leads to a lower representation. And they are bad in 2v2 because they can’t slot into the burst meta.
1 Like
Weren’t all the hunters all doom and gloom about not being able to faceroll their way to easy wins with an army of monkey pets? The hard parts of hunters are positioning and cc rotations. Which is the same issue for warlocks. I’d say overall that hunters are slightly easier due to having better comps that require way less setup and control.
Locks are very hard to play properly, being primarily attrition focused and attrition comps in 3v3 are the hardest comps to play well and even more so at the start of a season where unga bunga cleave reigns supreme.
DKs are pretty hard to play at higher levels. They have strong baseline power, but being powerful =/= being easy. Their power is primarily rooted in their cooldowns, and the window for error on those goes up dramatically as your rating gets higher.
Everyone always gushes over rogues being high skill cap. I find this to be a silly statement for cata. They are no longer the supremely squishy feast or famine class they were in previous expansions. They have some meat and grit, which has lowered a lot of the important parts of their skill expression because there’s less risk. They are still powerful and capable, but they aren’t the pinnacle anymore imo.
2 Likes
Is DK/Lock/Healer a good comp? If so, which healer?
1 Like
Resto Shaman
UHDK/Aff Lock/Healer is commonly referred to as “Shadow Cleave” and Shaman, Druids, and Paladins are all three good options for healers for that comp.
Shaman is the standard in Cata, having the best position in arenas with a broken ranged interrupt, grounding totem, tremor totem, and spirit link.
Druids are good at assisting in priority kills with cyclone, since it doesn’t DR with the other CC in the comp. They also have good healing for single targets but are overall a bit weaker than shaman.
Paladins offer great single target healing, mana efficiency, they have a good stun and they have Hand of Protection for all the phys cleave teams cropping up right now.
Priest is the weakest for that comp. They are playable for sure, but scream DRs with warlock fears, makes the priest put themselves in harms way, and they don’t have other cc like a shadow would. They do gain a mass dispel for blocks and bubbles though.
1 Like
Lock has always been low representation. Pet control, low mobility, and the fact that you need time and good positioning to get your damage out means it’s not very noob friendly.
That said, it’s actually very good in the right hands, but you need teammates who can shore up your weaknesses in arena or else you just get run over. Most Classic players aren’t capable of that and would rather be the zugger.
4 Likes
Locks aren’t good in Wow since BC, until maybe Destro when Legion came out.
Lot of people will refute this, but the proof is in the pudding.