Warlock World Buffs – WoW Classic

Warlock PVE Guide

Pre-Raid Best in Slot

World Buffs

Talents & Builds

Enchants

Resistance

Rotation

Consumables

Twin Emperor Tanking

Pre-TBC there are several long-duration buffs you can (and should!) gather prior to a raid in order to maximize your raid performance. These buffs are usually gotten far out in the world but their long duration (usually 2 hours) gives you enough time to travel to the raid instance. World Buffs give you increased survivability, movement speed and/or damage. Unfortunately they don’t last past death so you will have to avoid world PvP as much as possible after getting them, which can be a challenge on highly populated servers. World Buffs also forces you to play very safe in raids, I’d for example highly recommend saving your potion cooldown for Limited Invulnerability Potion or Protection/HP Potions instead of spending it on a Mana Potion as the safety of keeping your World Buffs is worth a lot. Dying early on in a raid doesn’t only lose you damage on that fight, but it also lowers your damage on future bossfights as you’re now without World Buffs. Here’s a list of the most important World Buffs for Warlocks:

Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer

Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer (a.k.a. Head-buff) is an AoE-buff that’s gained from turning in the Onyxia or Nefarian head in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. This World Buff is usually planned by the guild beforehand (“We are popping head at 19:30”) and buffs everybody in a large area (SW/OG Gates) for two hours. It’s one of the buffs that’s leechable and infinite so if another guild is using it you can just show up and get it for no effort. This is one of the more powerful World Buffs and benefits Warlocks a lot.

Spirit of Zandalar

Spirit of Zandalar (a.k.a Heart-buff) is another AoE-buff that’s gained from turning in the Heart of Hakkar at Yojamba Isle in STV. It’s also a leechable AoE-buff that’s usually planned by the guild beforehand (“We are popping heart at 19:20”). Yojamba Isle is far from civilization but it’s the only world buff that lasts through death (up until patch 1.10, at least). Usually this is the first guild buff to be used before a mage opens a portal to SW/OG for the head-buff. Warlocks benefit from this buff the least of all classes as our DPS isn’t very dependant on stats but 10% movement speed and 15% extra Intellect and Stamina is still a big deal.

At Yojamba Isle you also have the chance to gain the Spirit of Zanza potion from Rin’wosho the Trader. Bring some ZG Coins or Bijous to exchange for Zandalar Honor Token, it’s the currency used by the Zandalar trolls. Buy one Zanza, use it, then buy another one (They are unique so you can only have one in your inventory at a time). There are three Zanzas to choose from but the +50 stamina/spirit one is superior by far.

Sayge’s Dark Fortune of Damage

The Darkmoon Faire (DMF) buff is not always available but very strong if you can get hold of it. Talk to Sayge who is part of the Darkmoon Caravan outside Stormwind or Mulgore and choose the first option twice for a 2 hour +1% to +10% damage buff. You can also choose +X% Stamina or other stat increases (see here).

Tryhard Extras

Dire Maul

The Dire Maul (DM) buffs are different than the ones above as it requires you to do a Dire Maul North Tribute run before you can gather them. By avoiding killing some of the bosses in the instance you not only gain better loot at the end but you also get the opportunity to talk to the unkilled bosses for buffs. Usually, you have five people from the guild clear the instance so that the rest of the raid can run in afterward to get the buffs for ‘free’. Note that you can only be 5 people inside the instance at a time, if someone tries to be the 6th person to enter they will get teleported to stonetalon mountains so always make sure you are next in line before entering. These buffs aren’t as game changing as the Head/Heart buffs mentioned above, at least not for casters, but worth the time if you have it or were going to play DM anyway.

After gaining the (de)buff from the end of the instance which makes the ogres friendly you also have the ability to speak to Stomper Kreeg near the start of the instance, he sells Gordok Green Grog if you can’t afford the better but more expensive Rumsey Rum Black Label.

Songflower Serenade

The Songflower (Felwood) buff is gained from Corrupted Songflowers in Felwood. By turning in Corrupted Soul Shards or certain profession materials (Enchanting, Herbalism, Mining, or Skinning) you gain Cenarion Plant Salves that are used to cleanse Songflowers for the Songflower Serenade buff. The buff only lasts an hour and you have to go to Felwood for it, but 5% Crit chance is a decent damage increase. Stack up on plant salves beforehand and make sure to stay logged out until the raid starts in order to save the buff for as long as possible.

Closing Words

These World Buffs are the important ones to know about as a Warlock even if there are many more. For example; Warchief’s Blessing and the Blasted Lands buffs are mainly for melee classes so casters only have to care about the ones mentioned above, even when raiding with a hardcore guild. My recommendation is to be part of the Onyxia/Nefarian Head and Hakkar Heart buffs if your guild gets them, and grab the DMF buff if the caravan is close to one of your cities. If you really want to churn out that extra DPS and have a lot of extra time before the raid start then the Dire Maul/Songflower buffs are decent damage boosts. But remember, if you die on the way to the instance or to an early trash pack then all your work was for nothing.