So for the past while, I've been using Virj only to do the dailies and PvP, and while his current build is TOTALLY WICKED SICK for WSG and 3-man arenas, it is not that rad as far as raiding goes. I mean, it could be, but it would mean me doing more work to maximize it, and who wants to work hard if you're a warlock? Anyway, the upshot is, I've completely forgotten how to play a warlock in raids.

Since we have quite a few more raiding lorks than we used to, I'm going to assume that I'm rarely going to be the only lork there, and therefore some of the lork raid-talents in the affliction tree might already be duplicated (e.g., Shadow Embrace, Malediction).

SO, OTHER RAIDING LORKS: I'm considering another Affliction-raid build, 42/1/18 (Destro down to Destructive Reach because range pwns), but a few of those Affliction talents might be shifted around. I'm never that happy about Nightfall in PvE, and I don't know that Malediction is worth three points just for another 3% of damage to Shadows or Elements (shadow priests or arcane mages may disagree).

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IEMrzRfzqtcooZxx0tM

I don't really plan to solo much on this build, or do anything outside of instances, so soloing talents (like Fel Concentration) are not that huge a deal. I just want to build as good a raid-support lork as I can.

Any recommendations?

I have a couple of suggestions (knew I couldn't keep my mouth shut eh?).

1. I would drop Shadowburn since you don't need it to reach Ruin. When I had that it accounted for very little of my damage - like 3% - even though I used it on almost every fight. Plus, with Imp Drain Soul you want to instead rank 1 drain the soul at the "death-end" of every guy. When I do this immediately after a shadowbolt cast I got about a 30% chance of getting the killing blow in a 10-man which awards me with 15% mana. That is much better than adding 3% damage.

2. I found CoEx useless. Imp Howl of Terror is a must if you want to do a lot of heroics. Having that insta-cast is awesomeness for places like Mech. Nice if you plan to toss in a little PvP too. Also helps when Roar resists.

3. I think Malediction and Amp Curse are at odds. If you have Mal, you always want your CoS up even if you are alone. That 3% boost will do more damage than messing around with an amped CoA or CoD. But if you like having Amp for specific reasons (like that 32K CoD on Netherspite that kills the raid every time I use it) then I would drop Mal to free up those precious 3 points.

4. I like Demonic Embrace too much. I wish I could put 5 points but I didn't have enough. I took points from Suppression to get what I have. Since most of our spells are insta-cast and mana is almost never a problem for us I don't think resists are that important. It really only screws you when a CoD gets resisted but that is mainly used in rare situations.

5. I have mixed feelings about Fel Concentration. I currently have it in my build but if you are not going to talent it to 5 points I would put the points somewhere else.

6. You mentioned Nightfall. I pulled it out and ended up putting it back. It doesn't proc like nutz, but every little bit helps. With it only needing 2 points I think it is definitely worth it. It also helps during those "running around" fights that happen so much in Heroics. Getting a proc while on the run is 1600 dmg you can do without having to stop. It is also nice when you got several non-CC'd targets that you can Corrupt. You get a lot of procs then.

Those are my thoughts. I am actually considering changing to a crit spec believe it or not. Khros is getting a tad boring and looking for some way to change things up for him a bit.

Heh, thanks for the suggestions. It is true that I scarcely ever look at the actual damages resultant from Shadowburn; I just keep it because it's fun.

I ended up stealing a standard 41/0/20 build from somebody in CoV whose gear was roughly comparable. I'll see how it works in the next raid, and tweak accordingly.

Thanks for the advice! I think I'm probably going to dump Amplify Curse and put everything into Malediction; I was so used to CoEx in PvP that it didn't occur to me not to have it.

Thanks, Khros. I'll be stealing these suggestions for my lock.

Thanks, Khros. I'll be stealing these suggestions for my lock.

Ditto here. I have to spend a bit more time thinking these things through as I play Uvula more in instances!

OK, I just have to ask... what the (*&%$ is a Lork?

Is it a Warlock that likes to eat Pork?

OK, I just have to ask... what the (*&%$ is a Lork?

Is it a Warlock that likes to eat Pork?

It's best not to try and understand Viraj, just go along with what she's saying all while nodding your head.

It's best not to try and understand Viraj, just go along with what she's saying all while nodding your head.

Or you might wake up with a soulshard in your bed.

Viraj didn't come up with it, I did.

I thought it was originally one of the famous Zanphart typos.

I thought it was originally one of the famous Zanphart typos.

It's been around for so long now that I just don't remember. If I had anything to do with it, I was drunk and don't remember. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It was a typo, but it was mine.

It was Gleja's typographical error in some sort of post he was making for some sort of guild run he was assembling, but THE RING OF THE WORD 'LORK' pleased me so much that I adopted it, gave it a home, and then sent it out to breed.

SO IN A WAY all of you have been infected with the lork brainslug.

YAYE!!!!

It was Gleja's typographical error in some sort of post he was making for some sort of guild run he was assembling, but THE RING OF THE WORD 'LORK' pleased me so much that I adopted it, gave it a home, and then sent it out to breed.

SO IN A WAY all of you have been infected with the lork brainslug.

YAYE!!!!

Haha I love it! We have our own version of "pwn." ;)

Here is the Nuking spec I am currently doing, you are basically a shadow bolt machine or fire spammer.

You summon the right pet and sacrifice him/her for 15% extra dmg

Having high crit is important to see the full benefit for this build

Warlock Talents
Minimum Required Level: 70
Required Talent Points: 61

Demonology Talents - 21 point(s)

# Improved Healthstone - rank 2/2
# Demonic Embrace - rank 5/5
# Improved Voidwalker - rank 1/3
# Fel Intellect - rank 3/3
# Improved Succubus - rank 3/3
# Fel Stamina - rank 3/3
# Demonic Aegis - rank 3/3
# Demonic Sacrifice - rank 1/1

Destruction Talents - 40 point(s)

# Improved Shadow Bolt - rank 5/5
# Bane - rank 5/5
# Devastation - rank 5/5
# Shadowburn - rank 1/1
# Intensity - rank 2/2
# Destructive Reach - rank 2/2
# Improved Immolate - rank 5/5
# Ruin - rank 1/1
# Emberstorm - rank 5/5
# Backlash - rank 3/3
# Conflagrate - rank 1/1
# Shadow and Flame - rank 5/5

That's a pretty standard Destro-raid build. It's a good one. I personally love having my imp out (although I don't mind seeing Missy die at my whim), so it's not one that's ever really appealed to me. Also, it's a lot of hard work fine-tuning your spell cycle (or at least so I've found). You have to work a lot harder as Destro to be as badass as a competent Afflictionlork, but the satisfaction of having +6K shadowbolt crits is pretty damn sweet.

Question: do you find yourself using Conflagrate a lot, in raids? It seems to me that it would actually gimp your total dps, although that might be just that I was doing it wrong.

Mostly in raid I am just a shadowbolt machine, curse of shadow and spam shadow bolt.

If I have mobs where fire would be better I normally would conflagulate when the imolate is on it's last tick and cycle and repeat.

I am not sure how it compares to my old afflication build since I did not have a dmg meter at that time.

but 2 shotig a L70 mob is sure fun lol.

I know I do better on threat because before I used to curse and then blot and raise the threat because I did not have points in destro threat reduction.

Mostly in raid I am just a shadowbolt machine, curse of shadow and spam shadow bolt.


OMG DD we will be in Kara together AND I HAVE POINTS IN MALEDICTION my Curse of Shadow is your NEW BEST FRIEND.

Here is the Nuking spec I am currently doing, you are basically a shadow bolt machine or fire spammer.

You summon the right pet and sacrifice him/her for 15% extra dmg


The only reason I don't like this build is the fact that you spend 4 points to get to things you need that are useless (Imp VW and Imp Succ). Since it requires you to Sacc to get your true dmg potential you would never have a pet out. I prefer either an SM / Ruin type of thing or a SL build which rocks for heroics but kinda sucks for PVP and raids. You also end up spending a point or two that become uselss though.

a SL build which rocks for heroics but kinda sucks for PVP and raids.

My PvP build was Siphon Life/Soul Link AND IT RULED.

I can see as how it would suck for raids unless you were super-geared. I'm thinking of a few warlocks over on the EU servers who depended on Soul Link for tanking Leotheras and some guy in the Black Temple, I forget his name, could have been some sort of demon.

Anyway.

I mean, if your demon dies, you're boned, but them's the breaks of PvP and with one rez it doesn't matter anyway.

I'm thinking of trying out this build

At this point, the only solo stuff I'm doing is I'm doing only simple farming/dailies. I don't pvp. Mainly, I'm focusing on raids, I don't think I'll be doing too much in the way of heroics on Uvula (given my RL constraints, I find it a lot more efficient to get badges from kara).

So, what do the experts think?

Take a look at the skills you use the most and look towards boosting them.

You have points for your Imps to boost your Imps attack, do you use him often? I found I almost never did expect to boost stam so I never put points in it.

Since you have Applify curse are you goning to use curse of agony alot or mostly curse of shadow and elements since you have points in there as well. Do you want to buff your curse of agony if you are going to use it?

It's a good build. In Kara, you'll almost always be called upon for imp duty to be rocking the tank's stamina; the extra 200 or so HP you'll get from those 2 points in improved imp are up to you. I mean, I can think of raids where the tank having an extra hundred HP has helped, but not that many where it's made or broken the raid. You may look to put those points elsewhere.

Malediction is totally sweet. I can't think of places other than certain heroics and PvP where you'll be using CoEx much (although in those certain places it is the coolest damn thing lorks have), so you're fine without it.