Warlock PvP guide Most of these tactics assume that your opponent will do the most common thing the class does . You will probably fight people with several different tactics . So if someone kills you , go back in the combat log and see what kinds of things they did that messed you up . Often the choice of pet makes a huge difference . Duels are a good way to practice and prepare for PvP . General Tips . A few general tips : Pets . Pets offer a wide range of offensive and support abilities to the Warlock . The downside is a Warlock can only have one summoned at a time . Imp Voidwalker Succubus Felhunter Felguard Infernal Doomguard Rogue . The central problem with Rogues , from a Warlock ' s point of view , is the fact that Warlocks don ' t in general have any defenses against melee damage from other players - - Warlocks wear cloth armor and lack melee damage absorption . Some abilities of these types do exist but are interruptible ( Fear , Howl of Terror ) , pet - dependent ( Seduction , Sacrifice ) or talent - dependent ( Soul Link ) - - moreover , all of them are easily dispellable . The same applies to Warriors , but Rogues ' ability to prevent their target from taking any kind of action while doing massive melee damage is particularly devastating to Warlocks . A Rogue is a Warlock ' s natural enemy . More to the point , Rogues even go so far as to specifically seek out Warlocks as targets . Various PvP guides for Rogues advise them to attack Destruction Warlocks in particular saying Destruction warlocks are easy to defeat . Unfortunately . Rogues are a very tough class for Warlocks , but it isn ' t all doom and gloom . Rogues have the lowest defense in the game ( Priests have , Mages have Frost Armor , and you have Soul Link ) . Most Warlock tactics are the same for Rogues regardless of their spec . Assassination / Combat / Subtlety This is the crucial problem with Rogues - - their seemingly endless supply of stuns . We can only trinket out of one , so make sure it ' s a good one ! Moreover , each talent tree for Rogues has its preferred stunlock combos . You must understand the basics of each tree . For example , Gouge only works if the Rogue is facing you and it breaks as soon as you receive damage . Therefore Gouge is usually used by a Rogue to set you up for a stronger forthcoming attack . Note to Demonology Warlocks with talent tree maxed out - USE METAMORPHOSIS ! Not only does it freak the Rogue out when you turn to this huge demon with a bunch of unique moves , that 600 % armor really helps against their Stunlock , Destroy combo . Trinket Kidney Shot Warrior . Warriors become more and more a challenge to Warlocks as you progress in level , and become nearly as hard as Rogues at max - level . As with Rogues , your chances of success are increased the more you can stay out of melee range . Run around a lot - - run through them if they ' re on top of you . Warriors can ' t attack you if you ' re behind them . Anything that ' s instant - cast is good , because Warriors can Pummel to interrupt your casting , and having all your Shadow spells shut down is crippling . So the most likely way to win is to keep them covered with instant - cast DoTs and stay out of melee range . Your primary defense , Fear , is all but useless against warriors . It ' s perfectly reasonable to want to kite a Warrior with Fear in the lower levels or when their abilities are on a cooldown - - although the problem is that pesky diminishing returns counter . Undead Warriors with WotF also make Fear less useful , as do Fear - canceling items . The 3 most annoying abilities they can use against your Fear ( not horror from Death Coil or charm from Seduction however , see next paragraph ) are : Remember that when a Warrior breaks your Fear with one of these skills , your next Seduce will also be halved in duration . Thus , it is better to open with Seduction and avoid Fearing the Warrior . It is quite possible ( and entertaining ! ) to catch a Warrior in Battle or Defensive stance and Fear him , although on the occasion when said Warrior has Death Wish , you will wish you had just Seduced him instead . Also note that a warrior will also try to either Hamstring , fear or stun you pet . If you have it , Curse of Exhaustion can help you keep one step ahead while running away , but it is likely to be countered with Intercept ( 30 second cooldown , 20 second cooldown if he is an Arms spec and has the 26 - point talent Improved Intercept ) . There is also a trinket that Blacksmiths get from the Thorium Brotherhood that makes them immune to Fear for 20 seconds . So if you ' re against any high level Warrior that has any skill at all , your Fear will not be much use . Curse of Weakness may seem tempting , but it makes little difference when taking into account the melee DPS of a Warrior and the cloth armor of a Warlock . The Succubus is the ideal pet for Warrior encounters ; although the Voidwalker sacrifice has its perks , you can still be shield bashed and pummeled through the absorption shield . The Imp can do some damage if you can keep it away from you and thus the Warrior . The Felhunter offers nothing but its meager melee damage . If you get the jump on them with a Succubus : Seduction , Curse of the Elements , Soul Fire is a nice way to start any fight ( especially if you are Destruction spec ) . Also , all those fancy abilities that prevent Fear do NOT prevent Charm ( remember you will likely have DoTs on them by the time they use their fear immunity abilities , so plan ahead ) . As with the Paladin bubble , coaxing them to use their Fear immunities early in the fight ( namely before you DoT them ) will work to your advantage if you have a Succubus out . As with all classes restricted to melee DPS , Demonology Warlocks can use Metamorphosis and Immolation Aura to their advantage . Coupled with the Voidwalker ' s Sacrifice ability , this makes for a healthy amount of DPS if you can ' t get away from them in time . This does work better with Warlocks whose stats focus primarily or strongly on bonus spell damage . Kiting is the name of the game at higher levels . When they Hamstring you , jump around them like crazy and use instant - cast abilities to minimize the damage you take . If you manage to get enough lead time , make the most of it with an Immolate or Shadow Bolt . Don ' t die without using your Healthstone and Death Coil . Utilize your Demonic Circle AFTER you get them to charge . If timed correctly , the fight is yours after a successful teleport , especially with Curse of Exhaustion . Above all , keep your health above 30 % , or one solid execute will find you running back to your corpse . Trinket Throwdown Priest . General Tips : Discipline / Holy : Shadow Priest : Trinket Psychic Scream Warlock . General Tips : There is no specific strategy to use or tactic to expect . The bag of tricks is too deep to take everything into account . Practice dueling with fellow warlocks and it gets easier . An undead warlock will have a slight advantage due to Will of the Forsaken . But a Blood Elf Demonology warlock ( Demon charge in Demon form ) can get up close and give you a quick interrupt via Arcane torrent . Trinket Fear Mage . The mage vs warlock setup heavily favors the warlock , especially if he has the felhunter out . Most of the mage ' s defensive abilities are about kiting melee targets and blowing them up before they can do harm , not about a caster that does comparable damage , has more crowd control options available , and potentially huge stamina and resists . Overall remember your best defense against a mage is time . Mages deal an immense amount of damage in such as short peroid of time , so you need to keep them in a cc chain long enough for your dots to work their magic . When not being feared , spell lock them with your felhunter , or teleport out of range of their spells using your Demonic Circle . The longer the fight lasts , the more likely you will be the victor . Frost Mage : Fire Mage : Arcane Mage : T Trinket [ [ Deep Freeze ] ] Druid . As of 4 . 0 . 6 , feral druids lost the ability to break fear through the use of [ [ Berserk ] ] . This change heavily favors the warlock because it it make it much easier to cc the druid . The general strategy with druids is to establish all of your dots , plus [ [ Haunt ] ] if affliction . The Druid can heal through them , but it will be relatively easy to keep them feared and your dots refreshed . They will eventually end up out of mana after healing through them , making the match essentially yours . The [ [ Felhunter ] ] is by far your best option when dealing with any kind of druid ; however the [ [ Succubus ] ] has its place as well . . . but a succubus isn ' t recommended unless you are full destruction and not utilizing very many DoTs . Be aware that a smart druid will root your pet and / or cyclone them out of a fight . With any luck it will be roots , which will still allow your felhunter to silence the druid so long as it is somewhat close . Watch for the druid to cast [ [ Cyclone ] ] before healing . Save your trinket for this moments ; or keep your [ [ Felhunter ] ] nearby and ready to silence the druid . Although Cyclone is a pain , if your dots are up and ticking and your felhunter is silencing the druid , there is no need to utilize your trinket ; take the time to enjoy some hp refill through [ [ Siphon Life ] ] and plan your next move . Feral Druids : Balance Druids : Restoration Druid : Trinket [ [ Cyclone ] ] Hunter . Your number one goal against a Hunter is to maintain melee range and stay alive long enough for your DoTs to kill them . This is not a simple task , but with draining life and snares , for the most part it is doable . Paladin . Paladins in Cataclysm are less scary to face than in WOTLK . With their multiple lives ( not in arena , though ) and their arsenal of buffs , they can still be a significant threat to warlocks . Holy : Retribution / Protection Shaman . As with the Paladin and Druid the [ [ Felhunter ] ] is your best friend for fighting these healers . However , Shaman can make life a little harder for you by using [ [ Tremor Totem ] ] s ( which pulses once every 4 seconds ) to get in the way of fear kiting , using [ [ Earth Shock ] ] to interrupt your casting and lock that school out for 2 seconds , and many shaman have much better DPS then paladins or druids . It is also pointless to cast Demon or Fel Armor since any good shaman will just purge it right away . Therefore ( as with priests ) , be careful with any mod that auto - casts your buffs , as casting demon armor multiple times in a fight is an embarrassing way to go . If you are preparing for the fight it is advisable to buff yourself with everything you have , including [ [ Underwater Breathing ] ] and [ [ Detect Invisibility ] ] Death Knights . The new death knight class is a unique challenge to the Warlock class ; most notable are their [ [ Interrupt ] ] s and healing abilities . It is advisable to utilize as many instant cast spells as possible before moving into casting spells . One nice trick I have found is to throw up my instant [ [ dots ] ] before casting [ [ immolate ] ] . More often then not , the deathknight will interrupt my immolate , silencing my fire spells , but leaving all of my shadow spells still available to cast . In the past I often made the mistake of opening with [ [ Unstable Affliction ] ] , [ [ Fear ] ] , or [ [ Haunt ] ] ; at which point the deathknight would silence all shadow spells , which includes most of the spells I have at my disposal . There are many basic talents , but there are a few essential talents that are a must - have Affliction Guide ( Updated with 4 . 1 ) . Must - have talents Then there are some talents which would be helpful , but do not make an enormous difference . External Resources . [ [ Category : Guides ] ] [ [ Category : PvP ] ] [ [ Category : Tactics ] ] [ [ Category : Warlocks ] ]