Warlock leveling guide for WoW Forever

The Warlock is one of the most self-sufficient classes in WoW Forever. Your damage keeps ticking while you move, your demon tanks or fights with you, and you turn your own health into mana. At level 30 you choose between Affliction, Demonology and Destruction. This guide covers the builds, the rotation, the key levels, the class quests, wands and professions.

Easiest spec for leveling	Affliction, with a wand until 30 and drain tanking after
Key talents	Improved Corruption, Improved Drains, Soul Siphon, Demonic Brand, Conflagrate
Strength	Rarely drinks, a demon for every situation, Fear
Weakness	Slow start, Soul Shards to farm, little to do against many monsters at once
Talent order per level	Warlock level build
Builds to level 60	After the launch on 4 November

Which spec to level with

You can level with all three, but Affliction is the smoothest route. Most of its damage comes from instant damage over time that keeps ticking while you walk on, and you can take on two monsters at once with few breaks. Until level 30 you finish monsters with your wand. At 30, rank 3 of Drain Life and the drain talents make drain tanking stronger than the wand.

Demonology becomes comfortable with Demonic Brand at 25 points: then your demon holds the monsters. Destruction is the hardest alone, because it stands still and casts, and its spells cost more mana. It is strong in dungeons.

The builds below are made for the beta, which stops at level 30. The Affliction build has a version with five extra points for Talented from the Legacy system. The talent calculator shows that version as level 35, because it counts every point as a level. Builds for level 60 follow after the launch.

More about the spec at level 60 is in the Affliction Warlock guide.

Levels 1 to 10

You start with Shadow Bolt, Demon Skin and the Imp. Sell your starting gear to a vendor right away, so you can afford Immolate at level 1, and do the class quest for the Imp as soon as you can. Corruption and Curse of Weakness follow at 4, Life Tap at 6, Bane of Agony and Fear at 8.

1. Send your Imp or Voidwalker in.
2. Pull with Bane of Agony, once you have it. It starts slowly, so your demon can take the threat.
3. Cast Corruption, once you have it.
4. Cast Immolate on monsters that live long enough.
5. Shoot with your wand until the monster dies. Before you have a wand, use Shadow Bolt or your weapon.

Use Life Tap between pulls to turn spare health into mana. If a second monster joins, Fear it, put your damage over time on it and finish the first.

Stats at these levels: wand damage per second first, then Intellect and spell damage, then Stamina and Spirit.

Level 30 Affliction build

The recommended leveling build. Until level 29 you put your damage over time on a monster and finish it with your wand. At level 30 you train rank 3 of Drain Life and respec to drain tanking: Drain Life is then your filler and heals back what Life Tap costs.

Levels 10 to 29: damage over time and a wand. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Improved Life Tap	2/2
Suppression	4/5
Improved Corruption	5/5
Grim Reach	2/2
Improved Bane of Agony	2/2
Amplify Curse	1/1
Malevolence	3/5
Nightfall	2/2

Improved Corruption is the most important talent: an instant Corruption you cast while moving. With 4 points in Suppression you no longer miss monsters of your own level. Your wand deals more than Drain Life at these levels, so the drain talents can wait.

Level 30: drain tanking. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Improved Life Tap	2/2
Suppression	4/5
Improved Corruption	5/5
Grim Reach	2/2
Improved Drains	3/3
Fel Concentration	3/3
Amplify Curse	1/1
Soul Siphon	1/3

With Talented: Soul Siphon 3/3, Siphon Life 1/1 and Nightfall 2/2. Open the Talented version.

Improved Drains makes Drain Life stronger, and Fel Concentration keeps damage from pushing back your channel. Improved Life Tap makes every point of drained health worth 1.2 mana. Soul Siphon raises Drain Life by up to 36% when your other effects are on the monster. No good wand, or no wish to respec? Take the drain talents from the start.

The build of 15 October removed Malediction from the tree. Its points go to Grim Reach, for more range, and to Malevolence or Nightfall. Pandemic only raises critical damage and adds little at these levels. Siphon Life deals little damage, but counts as an extra effect for Soul Siphon.

1. Send your demon in.
2. Pull with Bane of Agony.
3. Cast Corruption.
4. Cast Immolate on monsters that live long enough.
5. Cast Siphon Life on monsters that live long enough, once you have it.
6. Before level 30: shoot with your wand until the monster dies.
7. From level 30: channel Drain Life until the monster dies. Switch to the wand when you are at full health or the monster is almost dead.
8. Cast Life Tap whenever you have more health than mana.

Before level 30, the demon is a matter of taste: the Voidwalker keeps monsters off you while you shoot, the Succubus or Incubus kills faster but lets you take the hits. From level 30, drain tank with the Succubus or Incubus.

To go even faster, fight two monsters at once. Put your damage over time on the first and Fear it, then fight the second with your demon. Fear the first again whenever it comes back.

Stats: spell damage and Shadow damage, then wand damage until 30, then Intellect and Spirit, then Stamina.

Level 30 Demonology build

Puts your demon at the front. Slower than Affliction at the start, but with Demonic Brand your Succubus or Felhunter holds two or three monsters while it does much of the killing. You rarely take a hit. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Unholy Power	5/5
Fel Vitality	3/3
Demonic Energies	2/2
Improved Sayaad	3/3
Demonic Sacrifice	1/1
Master Summoner	2/2
Fel Domination	1/1
Demonic Brand	3/3
Soul Link	1/1

Unholy Power and Demonic Brand are the core. Demonic Brand lets your Searing Pain brand the monster, which gives your demon extra damage and threat against it. On a PvP realm, Master Summoner with Fel Domination summons a fresh Voidwalker in an emergency, for the shield of its Sacrifice.

1. Send your demon in.
2. Cast Searing Pain to brand the monster.
3. Cast Bane of Agony on monsters that live long enough.
4. Cast Corruption and Immolate.
5. Shoot with your wand or cast Shadow Bolt until the monster dies.
6. Cast Searing Pain again before the brand runs out.

Before you have Demonic Brand, do not cast Searing Pain: it causes a lot of threat and pulls monsters off your demon.

Stats: spell damage and Shadow damage, then wand damage, then Intellect and Spirit, then Stamina.

Level 30 Destruction build

The hardest spec alone. Most of its damage comes from Shadow Bolt and Immolate with a cast time, and you cannot walk on while you cast. In dungeons it shines, with Conflagrate and Shadowburn for burst on important targets. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Improved Shadow Bolt	5/5
Bane	5/5
Aftermath	5/5
Shadowburn	1/1
Agonizing Flames	3/3
Conflagrate	1/1
Bane of Havoc	1/1

Bane shortens the cast time of Shadow Bolt and Immolate, and Aftermath raises the damage of Immolate. Shadowburn is an instant finisher that gives its Soul Shard back if the monster dies. Conflagrate consumes your Immolate for an instant burst. Agonizing Flames adds damage to all your Destruction spells.

1. Send your demon in.
2. Cast Bane of Agony, Corruption and Immolate.
3. Cast Shadow Bolt until the monster turns on you, then shoot with your wand.
4. Cast Conflagrate just before Immolate runs out.
5. Finish with Shadowburn, once the monster has less health than one hit of it.

Alone, stay with the Voidwalker as Destruction: you lack the Demonology talents that let the Succubus hold threat, and the healing that Affliction gets from its drains. In dungeons, take the Imp for Blood Pact or the Succubus or Incubus for damage.

Stats: spell damage and Fire damage, then wand damage, then Intellect and Spirit, then Stamina.

The Demonology and Destruction builds use 21 points. With Talented you have 26 at level 30, and the five extra points go wherever you like in the calculator.

Key levels

Level	What you get	From
1	Shadow Bolt, Demon Skin, Immolate	Default, class trainer
1	Summon Imp	Class quest
4	Corruption, Curse of Weakness	Class trainer
6	Life Tap	Class trainer
8	Bane of Agony, Fear	Class trainer
10	Summon Voidwalker	Class quest
10	Drain Soul, Create Healthstone	Class trainer
10	Improved Corruption, Suppression, Unholy Power, Bane	Talent tree
12	Health Funnel	Class trainer
14	Drain Life, Curse of Recklessness	Class trainer
15	Improved Drains	Talent tree
16	Unending Breath	Class trainer
18	Create Soulstone, Searing Pain	Class trainer
20	Summon Succubus or Summon Incubus	Class quest
20	Demon Armor, Ritual of Summoning, Curse of the Elements, Rain of Fire	Class trainer
20	Amplify Curse, Fel Concentration, Shadowburn	Talent tree
22	Eye of Kilrogg	Class trainer
24	Drain Mana, Sense Demons	Class trainer
25	Curse of Exhaustion, Nightfall, Demonic Brand, Decimation, Conflagrate, Agonizing Flames	Talent tree
26	Curse of Tongues, Detect Invisibility	Class trainer
28	Banish, Create Firestone	Class trainer
30	Summon Felhunter	Class quest
30	Subjugate Demon, Hellfire	Class trainer
30	Siphon Life, Soul Siphon, Bane of Havoc	Talent tree
32	Shadow Ward	Class trainer
36	Create Spellstone	Class trainer
40	Howl of Terror	Class trainer
40	riding, Dual Specialization	Trainers
40	Wrack, Demonic Pact, Incinerate	Talent tree
42	Death Coil	Class trainer

Curse of the Elements comes at 20 in Forever (was 32). With points in Talented from the Legacy system, you reach every talent up to five levels sooner.

The class quests

A Warlock learns to summon every demon through a class quest. A quest around level 20 also gives a strong staff or off-hand.

Level	Demon	Alliance	Horde
1	Imp	Quest in the starting zone	Quest in the starting zone
10	Voidwalker	Human: Gakin’s Summons in Goldshire. Gnome: The Slaughtered Lamb in Ironforge. Both lead to Gakin the Darkbinder in Stormwind	Orc and Troll: Gan’rul’s Summons in Razor Hill, to Orgrimmar. Undead: Halgar’s Summons in Brill, to the Undercity
20	Succubus	Devourer of Souls, Stormwind	Devourer of Souls, Orgrimmar or the Undercity
20	Incubus	What Is Love?, Stormwind	Love Hurts, Orgrimmar. Hearts of the Lovers, the Undercity
30	Felhunter	Seeking Strahad, Stormwind	Seeking Strahad, Orgrimmar or the Undercity

Horde Warlocks can choose the Voidwalker quest of Orgrimmar or of the Undercity. The one from the Undercity is much easier: the Orgrimmar version sends you into the dangerous Skull Rock cave. The Succubus chain of the Horde has eight quests across the Barrens and Stonetalon Mountains, so pick up those flight paths first. Seeking Strahad sends you to Strahad Farsan in Ratchet.

The Orb of Soran’ruk comes from Doan Karhan in the Barrens. You choose between Staff of Soran’ruk and Orb of Soran’ruk. The fragments for it come from Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep.

Weapons

Your weapon is a stat stick. The spell damage it adds matters far more than its own damage, so upgrade whenever you find more.

Weapon	Alliance	Horde
Daggers	Known from the start	Known from the start
Wands	Known from the start	Known from the start
One-handed swords	Woo Ping (Stormwind)	Archibald (Undercity)
Staves	Ilyenia Moonfire (Darnassus), Woo Ping (Stormwind)	Hanashi, Sayoc (Orgrimmar), Ansekhwa (Thunder Bluff)

Humans no longer need a sword: since the build of 15 October their racial Ruthless gives 2% critical strike chance with any weapon. More about it in this post.

Wands and gear

Wands are your most important weapon in the early levels. They cost no mana, and your damage over time and your demon keep working while you shoot.

• Lesser Magic Wand at level 5 and Greater Magic Wand at level 13 come from Enchanting, with 11.3 and 17.5 damage per second. That is more than most wands before level 18. Get one from an enchanter or the Auction House as soon as you can.
• Gravestone Scepter deals 29 damage per second, the most of any wand before level 30. It is a reward of the quest Blackfathom Villainy in Blackfathom Deeps. You can start the quest at 18, but the dungeon usually asks for a few more levels.

Staves and off-hands. The Warlock quest for the Orb of Soran’ruk gives the choice between Staff of Soran’ruk, a two-hander with 34 Shadow and Fire damage and 14 Stamina, and Orb of Soran’ruk, an off-hand with 9 Shadow and Fire damage that also heals you over 30 seconds. Staff of the Shade from Razorfen Kraul has 37 Shadow damage and 15 Stamina from level 22. It drops rarely, but is an excellent Affliction weapon.

Tailoring has new soulbound Shadow pieces such as Shadow Gown and Shadow Gloves. Only the tailor who made them can wear them.

Professions

Level your professions alongside your Warlock, so you gather and craft at the right level. Camps give buffs to every profession.

• Cooking is a must: buff food gives extra experience, and you need it for a campfire.
• First Aid suits a Warlock well. Bandage yourself between pulls or while a monster is Feared, then Life Tap that health into mana. First Aid now also makes healing potions and cures for poison, disease and bleeds, which a Warlock cannot remove otherwise.
• Tailoring is the classic caster profession. It makes Shadow gear at almost every level, and its camp gives Spirit, which raises the mana from Life Tap.
• Enchanting pairs perfectly with Tailoring: you disenchant the gear you make while leveling. Enchanters make the first good wands, staves and weapon oils.
• Herbalism is easy money for your spells, and its camp gives Intellect.
• Alchemy goes well with Herbalism and gives potions and a camp for mana regeneration.
• Skinning pays for every new rank of your spells, because you kill plenty of beasts while questing. Its camp gives 2% critical strike chance.

Consumables

A Warlock turns health into mana and steals health back, so you need fewer consumables than most classes.

• Food and water. Stay Well Fed for the extra experience; any buff food is better than none. You rarely drink thanks to Life Tap, but carry some water for when health and mana both run low.
• Healthstones. Make one with Create Healthstone as soon as you can and always keep it in your bags. It is a free heal with its own cooldown, separate from potions. Give them to your group before a dungeon.
• Potions and bandages. Healing potions for emergencies, now also from First Aid. Mana potions are rarely needed: Life Tap does the same for free.
• Elixirs for spell damage or mana regeneration, such as Lesser Arcane Elixir and Lesser Mageblood Elixir, are nice but not needed.

Soul Shards

Soul Shard is the reagent of the Warlock. You need it to summon the Voidwalker, the Succubus or Incubus and the Felhunter, and for Healthstones and Soulstones. Shadowburn and Ritual of Summoning use one too.

In Forever, Drain Soul has a chance to give a Soul Shard while it damages a monster, not only when it dies. A monster that dies to Drain Soul always gives one. To farm shards, let your demon tank and channel rank 1 of Drain Soul until you have enough. Keep a few spare for Ritual of Summoning: Forever gets no Summoning Stones, so your group relies on you.

Demons

The Warlock is the only class with demons, and each one has its own job.

• Imp: your first demon. It attacks from range and gives your group Stamina with Blood Pact. After level 10 it falls behind the others, so take it mainly for groups.
• Voidwalker: your tank, with Torment to take threat and Sacrifice for a large shield in an emergency. The safest choice for several monsters or monsters that hit hard.
• Succubus or Incubus: the most damage of any demon. Without Demonology talents it does not hold threat, but that matters little while you drain tank. Seduction keeps a humanoid out of the fight for up to 15 seconds.
• Felhunter: interrupts and silences casters with Spell Lock and removes magic with Devour Magic. Ideal for PvP, and with Demonology talents it deals almost as much damage as the Succubus.

Good pet control makes leveling much smoother. Bind Attack and Follow of your demon to keys you press without thinking, such as the mouse wheel or side buttons. The new Move command places your demon anywhere.

Health and mana

Health and mana are one shared resource for a Warlock. Life Tap turns health into mana and now scales with Spirit. Drain Life takes health back from the monster. Two rules keep you from drinking:

• Much more health than mana? Cast Life Tap. Do not stay at full health while Drain Life heals you, or the healing is wasted.
• Much more mana than health? Cast Drain Life. Do not shoot your wand while your mana is full.

That is why Stamina is worth a little more to a Warlock than to other casters: more health means more mana through Life Tap.

Damage over time

Damage over time deals a lot for its mana and cast time, and most of it is instant. Once it runs, you can move, Life Tap or fight another monster while it ticks. In Forever it can also deal critical hits. Do not waste it on monsters that are about to die: it only pays off when it ticks.

Set your second monster as focus target and cast your damage over time on it with a modifier key such as Shift. Put it on both monsters, send your demon at one and Fear the other.

Pulling and threat

Pull with Bane of Agony. Its first ticks are weak, so your demon draws the attention. It also tags the monster at once, so nobody else can take it. Immolate deals a lot of damage up front and makes it much harder for your demon to take the monster off you.

The Voidwalker gets a new rank of Torment at 10, 20 and 30. Between ranks your damage grows and Torment does not, so from about level 25 the Voidwalker loses monsters to you more often, until rank 3 at level 30.

Crowd control

Fear is your best tool against more monsters. Keep a dangerous monster feared while your damage over time ticks, or fear one while you kill the other. Fear has a range of 20 yards in Forever. Watch where a feared monster runs, and end the Fear early with Curse of Recklessness if it heads for another group.

Banish takes a demon or elemental out of the fight and does not break on damage. Seduction of the Succubus or Incubus holds a humanoid, useful in dungeons. Later, Howl of Terror fears several monsters at once, and Death Coil is an instant escape that heals you.

Ranged monsters that will not come to you: pull them around a corner, so they have to walk to you, away from their group.

Banes and curses

In Forever, curses are split into Banes and Curses. Banes deal damage over time, Curses are utility. You can have one of each on the same monster, so Bane of Agony can run together with a curse.

• Curse of Weakness lowers attack power. For monsters that hit hard in melee.
• Curse of Recklessness lowers armor and stops monsters from fleeing at low health.
• Curse of Tongues slows casting. For casters.
• Curse of the Elements raises the magic damage the monster takes. For long fights and dungeons.
• Curse of Exhaustion is an Affliction talent that slows movement by 30%, your only slow. For kiting or catching a monster that flees.
• Bane of Havoc is a Destruction talent at level 30. While it runs, 15% of the damage you deal to other monsters also hits that target.

Utility

• Create Soulstone lets a group member resurrect after dying.
• Ritual of Summoning summons group members with the help of two others. It is the only way to summon players in Forever.
• Unending Breath lets you or an ally breathe under water for 10 minutes, for underwater quests. Detect Invisibility shows invisible enemies.

More about food, camps and rested XP is in the experience guide.