Warlock Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Burning Crusade
A cloth-wearing caster who curses enemies, drains their life and summons demons to fight beside them. Warlocks use Soul Shards, Life Tap and Healthstones.
- Roles
- Damage
- Specializations
- 3
- Popular builds
- 6
- Version
- WoW Burning Crusade
How the warlock plays
Warlocks in The Burning Crusade add Unstable Affliction, Seed of Corruption (area damage that spreads), Incinerate, Shadowfury and the Felguard. Seed of Corruption makes warlocks strong area damage for the first time.
Life Tap still turns health into mana, so Stamina is worth more to a warlock than to other casters, and Soul Shards still fuel summons, Healthstones and Soulstones.
Curses are raid tools: Curse of the Elements raises the magic damage the target takes, and Curse of Recklessness lowers its armour.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Seed of Corruption: strong area damage.
- Self-sufficient with Life Tap.
- Summons, Healthstones and Soulstones for the group.
- Fear, Howl of Terror, Death Coil and Shadowfury.
Weaknesses
- Soul Shard upkeep.
- Cloth armour.
- High threat, especially for Destruction.
Specializations
The specs compared
Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Burning Crusade. Single and several targets mean damage for damage specs, healing for healers and threat for tanks; a spec's own guide names its ratings for its role.
| Rating |  Affliction |  Demonology |  Destruction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single target | |||
| Several targets | |||
| Survivability | |||
| Utility | |||
| Solo and leveling | |||
| Ease of play |
- Affliction
Damage · 2 builds
Curses, damage over time and drains: the tree for long fights and leveling alone.
Top talent:
Affliction guide
Unstable Affliction - Demonology
Damage · 2 builds
A stronger demon and a stronger warlock through it: pet damage and survivability.
Top talent:
Demonology guide
Summon Felguard - Destruction
Damage · 2 builds
Direct damage with Shadow Bolt and fire spells, crits and burst.
Top talent:
Destruction guide
Shadowfury
Gear
- Cloth with spell damage (shadow and fire damage count), hit, crit and haste.
- Spell hit to 16% (202 rating) against raid bosses.
- Tailoring's Frozen Shadoweave and Spellstrike sets are strong pre-raid gear.
Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.
Warlock class quests
The quests that unlock class abilities, by the level each route starts at.