New Burning Crusade Warlock Spells

The October 15th release date of Burning Crusade is fast approaching, and Blizzard is doing what it can to wet our appetites until then. They recently released some of the new material available in Burning Crusade for us to drool over. I must say, some of it appears very saliva-worthy, while some of it barely comes off as appetizing. Here are my first impressions of the new warlock spells.

Fel Armor - Are you kidding me?! I don’t think I’ll ever use Demon Armor again once I get this one. It brings a new edge to drain-tanking and gives a healthy boost to all spell damage on top of that. We’re cloth-wearing pansies anyway, so sacrificing a bit of armor won’t make a big difference. Unless you’re really hard up for the shadow resistance, this will be the new first choice of armor spell.

Incinerate - Meh. I’ve never been a huge fan of Destruction spells. Still, this is an slight improvement over Shadow Bolt. It’s more mana efficient, and the DPS is comparable as long as there’s an Immolate going. Of course, fire resistance is always a consideration. I’d say this spell is a marginal improvement in the right situation.

Ritual of Souls - Awesome! To say that this will make warlocks more useful in raids would be a massive understatement. Far too few people appreciate Healthstones at present, and I think Ritual of Souls will go a long way toward educating them.

Seed of Corruption - I have mixed reactions to this one. It’d be fine if it was just a spell on its own, but you can’t use it along with Corruption, which is one of the warlock staples. Assuming there will be a Rank 8 Corruption available between level 60 and level 70, they look like they’ll do comparable damage. And, since it’s Shadow damage, all of the buffs available to Corruption will apply to it. However, it doesn’t look like Improved Corruption will remove Seed of Corruption’s two-second casting time, and it doesn’t look like Nightfall will proc from it either. That’s not to mention the fact that it’s about twice as expensive as Corruption.

Of course, Corruption only damages one opponent, and therein lies Seed of Corruption’s true potential. If you were to, say, cast Seed of Corruption on several closely-grouped mobs in succession, you could achieve a lot of damage for less cost. I think that’s the point, and I think the spell will only be considered particularly useful in that regard. Otherwise, I’d stick to a standard Corruption.

Shadow Fury - This spell is obtained through the ninth-tier talent at the top of the Destruction tree. It reminds me a great deal of the mages’ Blast Wave, but not quite as good. The damage isn’t bad, but the whole point of the spell lies in its ability to stun. With a measly two-second stun, it’s probably not worth 41 talent points. As always, I say, if you want to play a mage, don’t be a warlock.

Soulshatter - Um, yes please! If you’re anything like me, you’re accustomed to burning health all the time. By keeping this spell hotkeyed, you never have to worry about sinking points into threat-reducing talents. Forget Blessing of Salvation; we’ve got it covered thanks.

Summon Fel Guard - This summon is available via the ninth-tier talent on the Demonology tree. I really wish I had stats and abilities to look at, but unfortunately those haven’t been released yet. From context, this appears to be roughly comparable to the succubus (i.e. an offensive melee fighter). I doubt the summoned version will be nearly as powerful as those encountered throughout the game, but I’m sure it will be a marked improvement over the standard summons. I’d say it’s probably worth trying for solo or PvP, but I doubt raids would find much use for it.

Unstable Affliction - This spell is the new ninth-tier talent atop the Affliction tree. It’s debatable whether or not it will be worth 41 talents points. It looks to be more useful for PvP than for PvE, since there aren’t a preponderance of mobs that can dispel. It has higher DPS and lower mana efficiency than Curse of Agony. All in all, I don’t find it horribly exciting unless your only interest is giving other players a nasty surprise in PvP.

Having been 70 with my warlock for awhile now, and realizing that this post is still fairly popular, I thought it could do with a hindsight review.

Fel Armor - This is just as good as I expected it to be. Spell damage trumps armor any day, and the boost to drain damage is huge.

Incinerate - I’ve used it a handful of times, mostly in party situations when I couldn’t take full advantage of the Drain Life + Life Tap combination. It’s mediocre, as expected. I’m sure the destruction ‘locks must like it.

Ritual of Souls - I’ve always been amused that Health Stones are known as “‘Lock Candy,” and I thought it was even more funny when the Soul Well produced by Ritual of Souls gained the moniker, “Candy Machine.” Without a doubt, this is a great addition for the partying and raiding warlock. It’s just a shame that more people don’t think to hotkey their Health Stones.

Seed of Corruption - DOTs and AoEs aren’t things you often find in combination, but this one isn’t half bad in the right situation. I found it particularly useful when running guild mates through low-level instances; two or three can wipe out a whole group fairly quickly. Note that Improved Corruption does not, in fact, reduce its casting time, and I never noticed a Nightfall proc while using it, so the original guidance stands.

Shadow Fury - I considered respeccing to Destruction when I picked up my Blade of Wizardry, but I just couldn’t go through with the switch. Sorry; I don’t have any new opinions on this one, other than to say I’ve never seen it used.

Soulshatter - Aggro is always a problem for high-DPS classes, and with almost 1,000 points of bonus spell damage on my gear, Soulshatter has saved my life on several occasions. Note that it does have a fairly long cooldown, so other methods of threat reduction are still very useful (read as, “For Emergency Use Only”).

Summon Fel Guard - I wrote a whole guide to the felguard because I love demonology so much. Once you get one, you’ll never summon anything else. It charges, holds aggro, and does some considerable damage to boot. In fact, this talent is so worthwhile, I’ve rarely seen a high-level warlock walking around without their beefy minion in tow.

Unstable Affliction - I was always a big fan of Affliction, but the high-tier talents seem very focused on PvP. Thus, I’ve never invested enough points to give this one a try.