WoW Classic Level 29 Warlock Twink Guide

Warlocks are one of the most underrated choices for a Twink and for Player vs. Player (PvP) in general.  While they don’t particularly excel at any one role in particular, they can fill in odd niche roles that make themselves useful and sometimes invaluable to their party, or battle group.  Warlocks have a lot of utility and can offer even light healing in the form of both Healthstones and Soulstones.  One of their other specialties is in almost stark contrast to many other classes.  Where most classes focus, sometimes overmuch, on Damage Per Second (DPS) – usually on a single target, Warlocks excel at spreading damage around and making sure all of their enemies are feeling the burn of their Damage Over Time (DoT).  They are also one of the more interesting classes to play thematically.  The class quests they must undertake to acquire all of their abilities are both rewarding and intriguing.

Contents 

• Races:  Which races can play as Warlocks and which races have the traits that best compliment them in PVP?
• Professions:  Which professions should a level 29 Warlock Twink take, and which recipes and patterns are the best for PvP?
• Spells and Abilities:  What spells and summons are available to a level 29 Warlock and how best can you employ them in PvP?
• Talents:  Which talents are the best for a level 29 Warlock and which specs are used the most by Twinks
• Gear:  What is the Best in Slot (BiS) gear for a level 29 Twink Warlock and how can it be acquired?
• Enchantments:  Which are the best enchantments for a level 29 Warlock Twink?
• Buffs:  Which scrolls, potions, elixirs and other consumables are useful to a Warlock at level 29 and which are useful in PvP?

Races

Race is an important choice for any character in WoW, but for a Twink, in can be even more so.  Each race has distinct traits that set it apart from the others in ways other than how they look or sound.  Warlocks have a somewhat limited choice when it comes to race, but their choices are varied and interesting.  Which race suites you best may just come down to aesthetics, but if you are looking for that extra edge in a Battleground, or in the Arena, pay close attention to the following.

Alliance

• Gnome: The five percent increase in damage from Expansive Mind is a solid buff, while Engineering Specialization is going to be helpful with gadgets and bombs. Escape Artist, probably the most useful racial trait of gnomes, will allow you to escape the crowd control abilities of the druid, hunter mage and warrior classes. While not as useful as the gnome’s other traits, Arcane Resistance offers good protection and is useful to any class.
• Human: The only human trait truly useful to PvP Warlocks of any kind is Perception and it is negligible, being only useful against rogues and potentially druids. The Human Spirit might be another, but this is again negligible, as it only increases health regeneration and not HP itself.

Horde

• Undead: The two most PvP pertinent racial traits to a warlock are Shadow Resistance and Will of the Forsaken. Extra resistance to any kind of damage, especially spell damage, is great in all forms of PvP and will also give you a leg up on warlocks of other races. While WotF will help allow you to escape from the crowd control abilities of both the Priest and other Warlocks, without having to use your trinket to do so.
• Orc: Hardiness and Command are the only two racial traits useful to a Warlock of any kind, let alone a PvP Twink. Hardiness, while being passive and random, is constant and your Imp getting five percent more damage speaks for itself.

Professions

There are a lot of professions to choose from, which can make deciding which ones to go with hard.  Fortunately, one of the coolest professions is also an absolute necessity for a Twink of any class.  Engineering.  There are a plethora of gadgets, devices and bombs that are extremely useful within Battlegrounds and you won’t want to miss out on them.

While Engineering is a necessity, you’re other Profession is also important.  Which ones you’ll be interested in will largely depend on your class.

What follows is a description of each of the Professions that should be of interest to a level 29 Warlock Twink and why.

Engineering

For any Twink, at almost any level, Engineering is a must-have.   You’ve got explosives that offer Crowd Control (CC) effects, like the Mithril Frag Bomb (the stun effect of which can work against even level 60 characters).  Plus some bonus CC with the Discombobulator Ray and anti-CC from the Minor Recombobulator.  These can be extremely useful to a Warlock, as they have few methods of CC themselves.  Not to mention the Goblin Jumper Cables, grant the potential ability to resurrect a fallen ally.  This is especially useful when the group’s Healer goes down.

Warlocks also benefit from Engineering from the head slot gear that it offers.  The Spellpower Goggles Xtreme are your BiS headslot item and the only way to get them is through Engineering.

Warlocks who are also Gnomes will find extra benefits from Engineering in the form of the Rose Colored Goggles, which are arguably better than the Spellpower Goggles Xtreme.  There’s also the Hi-Explosive Bomb, which does more damage than the Mithril Frag Bomb and holds a stun for one more second.

Enchanting

Enchanting is probably the best choice for players who are not supporting their Twink with another character.  It has few expensive reagents that must be truly gathered, most being products of disenchanting items you are already likely to pick up.  It also offers lucrative selling opportunities with the many materials you will acquire from breaking down all of the Green and Blue items you do not need.  It can also offset the cost of getting your own enchantments some, as higher level enchanters are sometimes on the lookout for lower level materials.

Alchemy

If you are being supplied herbs and reagents by another character, then Alchemy can be an extremely useful Profession to endeavor upon.  The ability to simply create the many potions and elixirs that offer decided advantages in PvP at this bracket, instead of having to go shop for them, almost pays for itself.  Alchemy can also be a great way to make money, especially if the reagents and materials can be acquired cheaply.

Other Professions

If you are funding your twink with your main’s gold, then the gathering professions (Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning) are less viable.  If not, then you might want to think about Mining, as it can get decent gold and help supplement Engineering.  Other than that, the only Profession that is at all useful to a Warlock of any kind is Tailoring, which might be worth it to get one or two of your BiS items for free and can provide some decent pre-BiS gear until you get your Twink equipment.

Secondary Skills

Cooking:  Cooking has but one benefit to any Twink at any level bracket.  The Well Fed Buff.  The food that offers the highest possible Well Fed bonus at this level is Soothing Turtle Bisque, which gives a +8 bonus.  You can get the recipe to cook these foods from Kelsey Yance in Booty Bay.  Some players may wish to go for the Giant Clam Scorcho, as it is acquired through a faction based cooking quest.  This is still viable, but is more complicated to acquire than the Turtle Bisque.  The choice is, of course, yours.

First Aid:  The only thing to worry about here is to get your First Aid maxed as high as it will go, so that you can use the Heavy Runecloth Bandage, which can heal you almost completely full with just one bandage.  To do this, you will need the three books Expert First Aid – Under Wraps, Manual: Heavy Silk Bandage and Manual: Mageweave Bandage.  The only trouble is that, because you still can’t get your Secondary Skills up to 300 yet, you’ll have to find someone to craft the bandages for you.  Alternatively, you could simply purchase them off of the AH.

Fishing:  This skill is not as important at this level bracket, but it’s still a great way to increase your income, especially while you’re bored and waiting around near some water.  Take any opportunity you can to fish, because each time you fish is a chance to catch a rare fish that can earn you some good money.  It’s also not a bad way to get Cooking and Alchemy reagents to increase those skills.

Spells and Abilities

Warlocks have quite a few useful abilities at this level and many of them are excellent for use in PvP.  When it comes to engaging other players in combat, for a Warlock, the name of the game is DoT.  Aside from letting your demon pet keep foes away from you, you should always be tagging every enemy you see with any DoT spells that you have.

Warlock spells break down into pretty much three groups:  Demonology for conjuring your demon allies and other items, Affliction for your Shadow DoTs  curses and drains, and Destruction for your direct damage fire spells.  What follows is a list of all of the spells and summons available to a Warlock at level 29 that are useful in PvP.

Affliction

• Curse of Recklessness:  This is a fantastic spell to cast on a heavily armored enemy whose health is low, to allow yourself, or an enterprising Rogue to finish them quickly.  It’s also very useful against casters, as the Attack Power bonus never comes into the equation with them.
• Curse of Agony:  This is your main DoT spell and does a lot of it.  You’ll likely want to place this one down on a main target that will be getting the brunt of your damage, as only one curse active at a time.  This is also going to be your main curse for the same reason.
• Life Tap:  This spell is pretty straight forward, you trade health for mana.  Good for you, kind of annoying for your Healer.
• Curse of Tongues:  This one is more situational, but still may find a use in PvP, since it is hard to get rid of curses.  Use against armored casters who are going to take some time to bring down, or a Healer to stop them from helping their allies.
• Drain Soul:  One of your other DoTs.  This one can be applied to whomever you like, so go nuts, plus, if you kill someone while this is active on them, free soul shard.  Bonus!
• Drain Mana:  This is an awesome spell to be sneaky with.  In the heat of battle, there is so much going on that most casters (heck most players) won’t pay attention to all of their debuffs.  If you can get behind, or out of sight of a target as you’re casting this on them, they might not even realize that they’re losing mana…until it’s too late of course.
• Corruption:  Easily your most used spell in combat.  Be casting Corruption on everyone you can, whenever you can, for as often as you can.  Spread that shadow damage all the way around the battlefield so that everyone is getting a bit of darkness from you.
• Drain Life:  Not the greatest spell for PvP, still this one is good if you’re low on health and not being actively attacked.  You can suck the life from an opponent while their back is to you and so aid your allies in bringing their end.
• Fear:  One of the most useful CC effects in the game!  In PvP it’s of even more benefit, because you don’t have to worry about agro, you can just send them running in terror from you.  Then hit them with a Curse of Recklessness, just before they are out of range to stop them from getting to far.  This can give your allies, or your pet time to finish them off.

Demonology

• Banish:  This one has only situational usefulness against other Warlocks.  Still, it’s worth a mention.
• Detect Lesser Invisibility:  Again, only situational use against Mages, but if you’ve got it, use it, right?
• Eye of Kilrogg:  One of the absolute best scouting spells in the entire game.  These are fantastic in battlegrounds for reconnaissance as well.
• Create Healthstone (Lesser):  One of the Warlock’s many somewhat random utility spells, this ability conjures a small stone that acts like a potion of good quality.
• Ritual of Summoning:  While being as useful as the Mage’s teleportation ability, this spell is also of extreme tactical usefulness in Battlegrounds.  A druid, or rogue with speed bonuses and stealth can be scouting in one location, while you use an Eye of Kilrogg at another.  Then, when it’s time to return, or your ally is somehow spotted, you and two friends can summon them to safety quickly.  Very useful if you are clever.
• Summon Succubus:  There’s nothing quite like a woman who is willing to commit murder for you and this gal is pretty good at it.  The succubus is the Warlock’s melee DPS pet and she absolutely excels at getting right up on an enemy and ruining their afternoon.
• Demon Armor:  This one should be active all the time if you can swing it, but especially when your low on health and under attack.  It not only increases you armor, but your shadow resistance and regenerates your health to boot.
• Create Soulstone (Minor):  Another great oddball utility spell, Soulstones allow you and your fallen allies to come back from death with a bit of health and mana.  Not bad for a class that has no direct healing spells.
• Summon Voidwalker:  Ever wanted to have your own goon?  Here’s the spell for you!  The Voidwalker is the Warlock’s tank pet and is pretty great at absorbing damage and at dealing it out, frankly.
• Summon Imp:  This spells summons a delightful little scamp that will annoy the heck out of your enemies with fireballs from a distance.  The Imp is the ranged DPS pet for the Warlock and their more useful in PvP than you might think.  They do a decent amount of damage and if you’re not directly under attack, you and your little pal can spread chaos all over the battlefield.

Destruction

• Shadow Bolt:  This is a good direct damage spell and one you should be casting when you are not laying down Corruption all over the place.
• Searing Pain:  A decently damaging, fast casting fire spell, plus the threat generation is a non-issue.
• Shadowburn:  A really high damaging instant cast spell.  It costs a Soul Shard to cast, but you get it back if you kill your enemy.
• Rain of Fire:  This spell is probably one of your most potent ones, it’s an AoE DoT.  Cast it on an area full of enemies that you’ve already Corrupted and watch their health just drop.
• Immolate:  Your main fire spell and a DoT, so it couples well with many of your Affliction spells.

As stated, the Warlock’s main advantage and contribution in PvP is DoT, but with a few talents, some of your DoTs can also be AoEs, if you can cast fast enough.  You want to be doing as much damage to as many targets as possible.  Just don’t forget about your other utilities and your Fear spell.  CC is just as important as taking down health.

Talents

Warlocks in classic WoW occupy an interesting intersection of usefulness when it comes to Twinking and PvP in general.  They are amongst the most useful and powerful classes when working in a group, especially in Battlegrounds, but going solo for a Warlock is another matter entirely.  While they are the heartiest of the clothies, they possess few methods of CC, so keeping your enemies at bay is not really an option.

Fortunately for players, this means that their talent selection is very simple.  As stated, when alongside others, you’ll want to focus on your DoTs.  That’s what the first build is for, and you should go with it if you’re interested in being invited to battle groups and teams, because it is the only viable option for group PvP.

The second build is for those of you who are gluttons for punishment and want to duke it out in the Arena.  It maximizes your damage and crit chance with all of your fire spells and Shadow Bolt, it also increases your stamina and the efficacy of your Healthstone.  Going solo as a Warlock Twink is difficult you have been warned.

Full Affliction DoT

Arena Solo Crit Build

You may want to get an understanding of all of the Warlock’s talents before you play, or perhaps you just think you know better than a guide that’s been written specifically to help you build this type of character.  If either of these are the case, then you’ll want to check out the Warlock Talent Calculator and prove that you didn’t really need this guide anyway!  Good luck!

BiS Gear

While clothies aren’t the most gear centric of classes, that doesn’t mean that gear isn’t important.  In fact, you can get some amazing advantages from the right gear. Besides, you’re trying to build the best level 29 Twink, right?  And Twinks are all about the gear. So here’s a list of all of the BiS gear for a level 29 Twink and how to get it. The best way to acquire most of these is on the AH, because most of the items on this list have a very low drop rate.  Good luck, you’re going to need it.

• Head
  • What: Spellpower Goggles Xtreme
  • Where: Schematic: Spellpower Goggles Xtreme

• Neck
  • What: River Pride Choker
  • Where: Prince Raze

• Shoulders
  • What: Berylline Pads / Thistlefur Mantle of Shadow Wrath
  • Where: A Vengeful Fate (Horde)/ The Crone of the Kraul (Alliance) / Vile Sting, Thousand Needles at 1.111% (more likely on AH)

• Cloak
  • What: Geomancer’s Cloak of Shadow Wrath
  • Where: Vile Sting, Thousand Needles at 1.111% (more likely on AH)

• Chest
  • What: Durable Tunic of Shadow Wrath / Beguiler Robes
  • Where: Vile Sting, Thousand Needles at 1.111% (more likely on AH) / Scarlet Conjuror, Scarlet Monestary 0.08%

• Bracers
  • What: Vital Bracelets of Shadow Wrath / Mindthrust Bracers
  • Where: Vile Sting, Thousand Needles at 1.111% (more likely on AH) / Shadowfang Darksoul, Shadowfang Keep 0.06%

• Gloves
  • What: Hands of Darkness
  • Where: Pattern: Hands of Darkness (or find a tailor/AH)

• Belt
  • What: Defiler’s Cloth Girdle/Highlander’s Cloth Girdle
  • Where: Sold by – Rutherford Twing (Horde) /Samuel Hawke (Alliance) – Arathi Highlands  (Requires Honored with AB factions)

• Legs
  • What: Elder’s Pants (of the Eagle)
  • Where: Giggler, Desolace – or – Vile Sting, Thousand Needles both at 1.111%

• Boots
  • What: Defiler’s Cloth Boots / Highlander’s Cloth Boots
  • Where: Sold by – Rutherford Twing (Horde) /Samuel Hawke (Alliance) – Arathi Highlands  (Requires Honored with AB factions)

• Ring One
  • What: Lorekeeper’s Ring / Advisor’s Ring
  • Where: Sold by – Illiyana Moonblaze / Kelm Hargunth  (Requires Honored with WSG)

• Ring Two
  • What: Plains Ring
  • Where: Rotting Agam’ar, Razorfen Kraul 0.3218%

• Trinket One
  • What: Insignia of the Alliance/Insignia of the Horde
  • Where: Sold by – Officer Areyn(Stormwind)/Sergeant Ba’sha (Orgrimmar)

• Trinket Two
  • What: Rune of Perfection
  • Where: Sold by – Illiyana Moonblaze / Kelm Hargunth  (Requires Honored with WSG)

• Main Hand
  • What: Honed Stiletto of Shadow Wrath
  • Where: Dragonmaw Battlemaster, Wetlands 1.1494%

• Off-Hand
  • What: Durable Rod  of Shadow Wrath
  • Where: Giggler, Desolace – or – Vile Sting, Thousand Needles at 1.111%

• Two Handed
  • What: Staff of the Shade
  • Where: Rotting Agam’ar, Razorfen Kraul 0.12%

Enchantments

The enchantments for your gear are almost as important as the gear itself.  Make sure to get all of the best enchantments for each gear slot item that can be enchanted.  If your Main is not an enchanter, then acquiring these enchantments will be expensive, so keep that in mind.  Here are all of the best enchantments for a level X Twink

• Head: Lesser Arcanum of Constitution / Arcanum of Focus
• Shoulders: Fortitude of the Scourge / Zandalar Signet of Mojo
• Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Superior Defense
• Chest: Enchant Chest – Greater Stats
• Bracers: Enchant Bracer – Superior Stamina
• Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Shadow Power
• Legs: Lesser Arcanum of Constitution / Arcanum of Focus
• Boots: Enchant Boots – Greater Stamina
• Weapons: Enchant Weapon – Spell Power

Buffs

There are a plethora of buffs to be had at this level and some of them are incredibly useful.  If you’ve taken Alchemy, you’ll be able to acquire most of these, fairly easily.  Otherwise, you can get them through other players who are Alchemists, or simply from the AH. Some of them are often sold by vendors in a limited quantity as well.

Elixirs

• Elixir of Firepower: This will increase the damage of your Immolate and Searing Pain spells and is the only Elixir that increases damage available to you at level 19.
• Elixir of Fortitude:  More health is never a bad thing, especially for someone who regularly hurts themselves for more power.
• Mighty Troll’s Blood Potion:  Another great consumable for helping to mitigate healing and mana efficiency for both you and your healer.
• Elixir of Greater Defense:  Anything that lessens the damage you take is good.

Just remember that with all Elixirs, there can be only one battle and one guardian elixir active at a time.

Potions

• Minor Magic Resistance Potion:  Makes other caster’s colored light hurt you less, while you are throwing colored light.
• Lesser Invisibility Potion:  Very useful and often unexpected.  Turn the tables on a sneaky Rogue or Druid
• Swiftness Potion:  Good for escaping the vengeance that you know you are owed.
• Jungle Remedy Even though you’ll have to farm these, the benefit of curing your own disease and poison is worth the work.
• Minor Rejuvenation Potion:  Pop one of these when you are taking damage, while also dishing it out.  Really interesting to combine this with Life Tap.
• Greater Healing Potion:  You will need one of these more than you think, but you also have a free, if crappier, version of it in you Healthstone.
• Mana Potion:  Another great potion to try and combine with life tap to immediately and sharply increase your mana pool.

Scrolls

• Scroll of Stamina II: Always have one of these handy  for when there is not a Priest around to offer their stamina buff.  You always want a stamina buff.
• Scroll of Intellect II: Another good one to have around for when you’re one of the only casters.  If Arcane Intellect cannot be had, you should at least have this.
• Scroll of Protection II: For use when you do not have an Elixir of Greater Defense.
• Scroll of Spirit II: Not a whole lot of Spirit buffs out there, so keep one of these around in case it is needed.

Team Buffs

Power Word: Fortitude should always be on if there’s a Priest to cast it for you, end of story.  Arcane Intellect is also good and if it can be had, then it should.  Mark of the Wild raises all of your stats a little and stacks with most buffs.  Blessing of Kings does kind of the same thing as Mark of the Wild, only a bit better and only for Alliance players.

Other Consumables

• Soothing Turtle Bisque – OR – Giant Clam Scorcho:  Acquired from cooking as explained above.  Make sure to eat some before a fight to get that little extra bonus of Spirit and Stamina.
• Rumsey Rum Black Label:  Being a little tipsy is a small price to pay for an extra 15 Stamina.
• Minor Wizard Oil:  These things are great, because imbues will stack with weapon enchantments.  So if you’re a caster, get this on your weapon.
• Spiked Collar:  Want a Fel Hunter before you can get a Fel Hunter?  Grab this consumable that drops from Lord Malathrom in Duskwood.

That’s it.  You’ve not learned all you need to create the perfect level 29 Warlock Twink.  Finding all of that BiS gear is going to be hard, but it will be worth it.  Go now, summon your minions, gather your allies and cover all of Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch in a blanket of shadowy doom!  Have fun!