LEVELING
1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-57 | 58-60 | 61-70
1 - 10
Warlocks are extremely powerful when played correctly, and even when they aren't. Once you understand your abilities as a warlock, you will be able to level with very little downtime, tackle multiple enemies of equal level, and even solo elites and group quests.
Level 1
You start out with Demon Armor and Shadow Bolt. Keep Demon Armor up all of the time. Shadow Bolt is your main Direct Damage attack. At level one, just spam it to kill your enemies. Starting out, you will get a relatively simple quest to summon your first minion, the Imp. Complete it as soon as possible, as your minions are key to your power as a warlock. Once you do complete it, keep the little guy out at all times and have him attack with you as much as possible.
Level 2
Immolate is part DD, part damage over time. It is a great opening spell.
Level 4
Here you get Corruption, a pure DoT, and your first curse, Curse of Weakness. You shouldn't worry about casting curse of weakness at this point, and even corruption along with immolate can be overkill, wasting mana.
Level 6
Ah, Life Tap. This is part of what gives you such little downtime. By Life Tapping, you'll get mana in return for health. This may sound bad right now, but eventually becomes integral to longevity of a warlock.
Level 8
The moment you get Fear, you are officially OP, according to most players. This is an iconic warlock spell, and you can keep many elite enemies feared while you keep DoT spells on them in order to easily solo mobs most players couldn't dream of taking on. Keep rank 1 on your bar for PvP, since fear can only last 10 seconds against other players. Curse of Agony is another DoT, but with most of its damage weighted towards the end. So, if the enemy dies before it completes, you've wasted a good amount of mana.
Level 10
You get your first talent point at level 10. For leveling, before you hit level 50, and even a bit after, the quickest way is to spec into Affliction. Lucky for you, no matter what spec you choose, you'll use pretty much the same gear. Look for Stamina, Intelligence, and Spell Damage.
Drain Soul - This is a key spell for warlocks. Start this once your enemy is close to death and you'll create a soul shard. These are needed for many of your spells, so you should always have some on you.
Healthstone - It's like a free potion. Keep one of these ready for emergencies at all times.
Summon Voidwalker - You'll have to complete a quest for this, but it is well worth it. This will be your main pet for soloing for a while, so I hope yours has a good name. Just send him in before you cast any hard hitting spells
Quest: Voidwalker
These quests may be difficult to complete at level 10, but they are well worth the challenge.
Alliance
Go to the inn at Goldshire and talk to Ramen Marcot. You will need to head to the Warlock Trainer in Stormwind to start this quest. Talk to Gakin the Darkbinder, start the quest and then head east out of Stormwind, past Goldshire. Continue to the farm just before the river, and kill Surena for the choker. Return to Gakin, then head further into the basement. Use the choker at the circle of binding and kill the Voidwalker. Return to Gakin to learn Summon Voidwalker.
Blood Elf
Speak to Talionia in Silvermoon City. Head south along the Dead Scar, just across the river into the Ghostlands and pickup the stone. Go west to Goldenmist Village, up to the third floor of the building and use the stone to summon a voidwalker. Kill it and return to Talionia to learn Summon Voidwalker.
Orc
Head to Gan'rul in Orgrimmar and speak with him. Go out the south entrance to Orgrimmar, head east to the cave, follow the path to the right, and find the tablet inside a small box on the ledge at the top. Return to Gan'rul. Use the Glyphs of Summoning at the circle of summoning and kill the voidwalker. Return to Gan'rul to learn Summon Voidwalker.
Undead
Talk to Carendin Halgar in the Undercity. Go just west of Undercity to the guard tower and loot Egalin's Grimoire. Return it to Carendin. Use the Runes of Summoning at the circle of binding and kill the voidwalker. Return to Carendin to learn Summon Voidwalker.
11 - 20
Level 12
Health Funnel lets you heal your pet who likely has more armor than you, so preventing him from dying is a good thing.
Level 14
Cast Curse of Recklessness on humanoids or any enemies who run when they get low on health. It also decreases armor and increases attack power, so be aware of those effects.
Drain Life should be kept handy, especially for topping off your health once you have life tapped. From now on, your basic even level mob tactics should consist of sending in your Voidwalker, cast a couple of dots on the enemy, tap to full mana, then drain life.
Level 16
Unending Breath is great for some quests and PvP against classes who dispel.
Level 18
Use a Soulstone on yourself while leveling in order to avoid a corpse run. In instances, keep it on someone who can resurrect others in order to recover from wipes.
Searing Pain has an advantage over Shadowbolt because of its lower cast time, but also pulls extra threat, so you usually won't be using this outside of PvP.
Level 20
Demon Armor surpasses Demon Skin in all ways, so keep it on at all times.
Rain of Fire is your first AoE spell, and is useful for when there are many low hp enemies in a small area.
Ritual of Summoning is a utility spell which allows you to summon group members to your location, even inside an instance, as long as you have two other group members with you.
You'll have to complete another quest to learn Summon Succubus. Your succubus is a melee dps who also gains the ability to Seduce, or CC a humanoid for a time.
You can also start this quest for an OK reward, in case you want to run SFK and BFD.
Quest: Succubus
If you are Horde, you can do either one of the quest lines.
Alliance
You will need to head to the Warlock Trainer in Stormwind to start this quest. Talk to Gakin the Darkbinder, start the quest and then head to the Barrens. East of Camp Taurajo, speak with Takar the Seer. Now, you'll head to Ashenvale, northeast of Maestra's Post, and pick up the Heartswood. Go back to Stormwind (NOT the Barrens) and turn in the quest. Summon the Succubus at the circle in the basement, kill it, and turn in the quest for your rewards.
Blood Elf/Undead
Speak to Carendin Halgar in the Undercity, who sends you to Godrick Farsan nearby. Speak with him, then go to the wall at the south end of Silverpine Forest to kill Dalin Forgewright and pick up his heart. Now you'll have to go to the Wetlands. Go to Hillsbrad Foothills, go west to Arathi Highlands (be careful as the enemies here are much higher level than you). Take the road south to the Wetlands and just on the border is Comar Villard. Kill him, take his heart, then return to Undercity and turn in the quest. Summon the Succubus at the summoning circle, kill it, and turn in the quest for your rewards.
Orc
Talk with Gan'rul in Orgrimmar, then talk to Cazul. Now talk to Zankaja to the west. Go to the crossroads and speak with Gazrog, then head west across the border to Stonetalon Mountains and talk to Ken'zigla. Go back to the Barrens, then to Camp Taurajo. Head west from there to Grunt Logmar. Go north to the Quillboar camp and talk to Grunt Dogran. If you have trouble clearing to him, try sending in your pet to get all of the enemies' attention while you run in and talk to Dogran. Now, return to Gan'rul in Orgrimmar. Summon the Succubus at the summoning circle, kill it, and turn in the quest for your rewards.
21 - 30
Level 22
You get another fun utility spell, Eye of Kilrogg. This allows you to explore areas safely from afar.
Level 24
Drain Mana is useful for depleting your enemy's mana, but if you are low on mana, it is usually better to Life Tap then Drain Life. Sense Demons is useful in PvP for finding out where warlocks are, but not a whole lot more.
Level 25
Alliance warlocks can start this quest which will give Dread Mage Hat
Level 26
Curse of Tongues makes spells take longer to spell, and has the added effect of forcing a player to speak demonic!
Detect Invisibility is another spell to cast in PvP, and also has rare utility to find invisible enemies in certain instances.
Level 28
Banish is one of the best CC spells because not only can the demon or elemental not do damage to you, the CC can't be broken until the duration ends or it is resisted.
Create Firestone is basically useless.
Level 30
Enslave Demon is another terrific spell. It can be used as CC, taking out an enemy and making it help you and your party. It also can be used for soloing, as you can enslave an elite demon to help you complete difficult quests. Also, if you have used Demonic Sacrifice, you can still enslave a demon without canceling its effect.
One of the best spells ever is Summon Felsteed, a free mount for warlocks. Now that it is trainable at level 30, you will be able to level faster than ever.
Hellfire is very situational, as it hurts you while doing AoE damage. At least it's a good way to kill yourself without taking durability damage.
If you are expecting another quest to earn Summon Felhunter, you would be right. Your Felhunter is a caster's worst enemy. It will eventually eat buffs and silence, as well as decrease the attack power of anyone who hits it. A good all around pet to have out for PvP.
Quest: Felhunter
All races have the same quest, starting at their major city's warlock training area. Get the quest, then go to Ratchet in the Barrens and speak with Strahad Farsan. Next, Alliance talk to Krom Stoutarm in Ironforge and Horde talk to Jorah Annison in Undercity. Next, pick up the Moldy Tome in Hillsbrad Foothills, on the ground in a murloc camp on the shores south of Azurelode Mine. Pick up the Tattered Manuscript in Thousand Needles, in the cave at Splinterhoof Hold. Stay on the right side as you enter and follow that path to the small Damaged Chest. Return to Krom or Jorah, depending on your faction. Now go to the Wetlands, towards the middle of the zone to Angerfang Encampment and kill spellcasters for your 3 rods of channeling. Bring these to Strahad Farsan in Ratchet. Summon the felhunter, kill it, and turn it in for your rewards.
31 - 57
Level 31
All warlocks can now begin this quest which has quite a good reward, but it is not necessary to level, especially with the increased leveling speed.
Level 35
You'll unlock another quest. This one has four different potential rewards.
Level 36
A situational item, Spellstone is useful in some instances to cleanse yourself of magical debuffs, and ok for starting a PvP encounter with in case you need to get some dots off of yourself.
Level 40
If you find yourself surrounded by enemies, Howl of Terror will give you some time to either kill them or run away. You can talent it to instant cast eventually, which makes it even better.
Level 40 will also bring you Dark Pact if you've been speccing into Affliction like you should be. This will change the way you level and make you wonder how you lived without it. From now on, for normal pulls, keep your Imp out phase shifted and passive. Dot up the enemy, Dark Pact to close to full mana, and drain life while the enemy hits you. You should end every fight with full health and mana.
Level 42
What do you get when you combine Fear and Drain Life and make it instant? Death Coil, every non-warlock's least favorite spell. This is a great skill to get out of a pinch, giving you time and health.
Level 48
Soul Fire is similar to Pyroblast, and is perfect to pull with, given its long cast time and high direct damage. Keep in mind that it uses a shard.
Level 50
Once you hit 50, you can either stick with Affliction and pick up Unstable Affliction, or respec into Demonology for a Felguard. Both are quick to level, but Demonology will give some better survivability, since your Felguard will be a highly effective tank as well as a great source of DPS.
Inferno is the reward for a warlock quest, and, unlike other pets, it summons an enslaved demon that will eventually break the enslave. It will then need to be either re-enslaved, or killed. This pet is not very useful and many warlocks choose to skip the quest.
You also unlock another item quest, with some interesting rewards. The abyss shard is such a unique item that it is definitely worth the trouble.
58 - 60
Level 58
Head to the Outlands now, and get yourself some massive gear upgrades!
Level 60
Curse of Doom is the only new spell at 60 that doesn't require a quest to acquire. It is a great spell to use on bosses and when soloing elites, since it does a ton of damage with a relatively low cost. It also does better when compared to Curse of Agony over the same time, since you don't have to reapply it and can continue casting other spells like Shadowbolt.
Ritual of Doom requires a three part quest and isn't really worth the trouble, since the Doomguard is more of a liability than it is an asset.
Summon Dreadsteed requires another lengthy quest, but is really worth the trouble. An epic mount is vital to speed up leveling and you'll need the skill to pick up your flying mount at 70. Plus it looks really cool.
Quest: Dreadsteed
Go to the Demon Trainer in either Ironforge or Orgrimmar to start the quest. Head to the far west side of the Burning Steppes. Grab the Rage of Blood quest from Mor'zul.
Head to Winterspring and kill any Owl Beasts you see for the blood. The Southeastern area with a few caves is a great place to go. Once you have 30 blood, go back to Burning Steppes with at least 6g and turn in the quest.
You will unlock 2 branches of the quest now.
For one branch, you will need to turn in a few items which you can buy, collect, or make. Either turn them in now if you have them, or turn them in with the other side of the quest. The items are:
- Black Dragonscale x 3
- Elixirs of Shadow Power x 2
- Large Brilliant Shards x 6
- Dark Iron Ore x 25
- Arcanite Bar x 1
Next, buy a Shadowy Poition from Gorzeeki for 6g. Before heading to Felwood, make sure you have 150g on you to buy Xorothian Stardust once you get there. Now go to Jaedenar in Felwood. Drink the potion to pass all of the enemies on the way down Shadow Hold. Keep running down until you find Lord Banehollow. Talk to him to get the next part of the quest.
Run back up a ways until you find Ulathek. Talk to him and he will attack with his guards. It shouldn't be a problem to solo him, since it is safe to fear the guards. Take Ulathek's heart back to Lord Banehollow. Speak to Ur'dan and buy the Xorothian Stardust, then head back to Burning Steppes to turn in the quest.
Now you'll have to get a group to go to Scholomance. Clear through The Viewing Room, enter the alchemy lab clear the enemies there. Use the jar in your inventory near one of the tables and then wait a few seconds for the parchment to be created. Now, return to Gorzeeki.
If you have a friend with J'eevee's Jar (150 gold), Black Lodestone (50 gold), and Xorothian Glyphs (50 gold), you can save yourself 250 gold. Otherwise, buy all three. Now, head to Dire Maul West with some friends. Keep up Detect invisibility through this instance. You'll have to clear the first pylon, then kill the big tree in a room off of the west side of the central garden. Head to the upper balcony and clear the next two pylons. Now you can jump down to head through the hallway towards Immol'thar in the west side of the instance. Clear the last two pylons and wait for Immol'thar to kill his guards, then kill him.
Now you need to release J'eevee from his jar and have some fun. You'll have to fight a bunch of waves of demons, which can be enslaved to help you. Keep an eye on the three artifacts and make sure to recharge them as soon as they fail. This requires the Black Lodestone and takes a soul shard. Once the circle is complete, all of the demons will despawn.
Rest up and activate the Xorothian Glyphs to summon the Dreadsteed, who will attack you. Once you get the Dreadsteed to 50%, Lord Hel'nurath will spawn. Once you kill both of them, talk to the Dreadsteed spirit to complete the quest and get your mount.
61 - 70
Level 62
Fel Armor is a great upgrade from Demon Armor, so keep it up at all times.
Level 64
Incinerate - A decent alternative to Shadowbolt if immolate is active on the target (and it should be).
Level 66
Soulshatter - Consumes a soul shard and halves your threat. Great for instances and raids.
Level 68
Ritual of Souls - Another instance and raid spell, now you can easily supply 10 healthstones for just one soul shard.
Level 70
Seed of Corruption - This is your best AoE damage spell, toss it onto a few mobs in a group and watch them all fall down. Just be careful of the threat you will gain with it!
PROFESSIONS
Alchemy is a good skill for any class, but it doesn't offer anything extra special for a warlock. The only BoP item you would be interested in would be the alchemist stone.
No reason to take this as a warlock.
A self only ring enchant will increase your spellpower. You can also make some good money at high levels. It is a decent companion skill to Tailoring, which is one of the best professions for a Warlock.
Engineering could be used for the goggles, or if you want to have some interesting utility. Tailoring offers superior options, for the most part.
If you want to make money or if you have alchemy, this is a good profession for you.
There are some nice rings, trinkets, and necklaces available to Jewelcrafters, and BoP epic gems are useful, but this is an expensive profession to level especially without mining.
No real benefits for a warlock here, unless you want to the powerful group buffs from drums.
If you decide to take jewelcrafting, engineering, or blacksmithing, mining is a good second profession. Also a useful profession with which to make money.
Skinning is another good money making skill and will give you some materials for tailoring.
Absolutely awesome for a warlock. The Shadow's Embrace set is extremely good and Spellstrike is also very beneficial to warlocks. This is the recommended profession for warlocks.
