Warlock CC - I am a-suffering

[Stormweasel]

I've been quite happily working my through the TBC instances with my Druid tank, Druid healer and 3 lock team until tonight when I hit a major brick wall with Mana Tombs - it is starting to be obvious that I need to get effective Seducing up and running as my current unreliable macro isn't doing me any good.

My current set up is using the tank to set a raid icon to help me keep an eye on things and I use keyclone to pass the same button press to set a focus on the two locks taking care of CC. They then have this rather hastily thrown together macro to control pet combat:

/cast [pet:Succubus,target=focus, exists, harm, nodead] Seduction;
/cast [pet:Succubus, target=party1target, exists, harm, nodead] petattack;
/cast [pet:Imp, target=party1target, exists, harm, nodead] petattack

So, if the warlock has an imp out it attacks the tank's target
If the warlock has a succubus out and the target is the focus, they cast Seduction
If the warlock has a succubus out and the target is the tank's target, they attack

Problems are:

* Succubus getting 2 shotted between Seductions or before I get threat back on the tank. I can't really build threat up with the tank first before seducing....as he can't take a huge beating and we might as well be nuking one down almost.
* First application of Seduction works reasonably well but after that it's haphazard as to whether the succy goes after it's focus or the tank's target. It's a coin toss
* Obviously with the above macro if I'm down to the last target, one succy keeps trying to seduce the damn thing while everyone else is putting a beating on it which isn't very efficient

What I would really like is tips on keeping the succy alive and any macro suggestions. I've found the following one on these forums

/cast [pet:succubus,target=focus,exists,harm] Seduction; Seduction

I'm sure seeing a pet cast (to recast Seduction) on my main would help but for some reason Pitbull doesn't like my installation and doesn't show party members properly. It's fine on the second installation for my slaves - who knows....any alternative suggestions welcome.

So, anyone been in a similar situation and can help me with info on how they got things running please? Basically what I'm really looking for is a macro that will cast seduce on the focus target if it's alive (and the succy is in use), if the focus target is dead the succy should attack the tank's target and if the imp's out, it should just be a plain attack of the tank target.

Edit - my Ss seem to be replcaed with emoticons but you get the drift

[wowphreak]

Unless the recently changed how seduction works its not worth the effort its to short and as yeh noticed yer pets get beat up quick like.

Why don't yeh have 3 voidwalkers out, offtanking, they at least can survive a few more hits.
Or 2 and a imp out for the health buff. Just have yer pets on one target that way they can keep one busy and if they die oh well there fodder anyways

If yer tank cant take the beating then yeh need to work on yer tanking gear some more or maybe the healing gear or a lil of both?

[elsegundo]

have a modidifier key to clear your focus. this will stop the succy from seducing the last mob.
/clearfocus [mod:alt]
i think is the code.

another thing would also be to leave the DPS to the warlocks and not the pets. i know you want most utility out of the succy, but 3 locks can handle dps just fine. no need for /petattack in my opinion.

another thing is... how are you tanking with the bear? what is your strategy when it comes to initiating a battle with (mana tombs?) three etherials? there's usually one caster and at least a melee or two per pull, if i remember mana tombs right.

[Stormweasel]

Thanks for the tips.

Assuming I'm using no CC at all I basically pull the first-kill with Faerie Fire, lay up a Demoralizing Roar, hit mangle on the first-kill, then tab lacerate onto the other targets, maybe throw a Swipe in as well to seal the deal. Usually about half health at that point on the tank - not great I know but I'm at the mercy of the auction house for druid tanking gear and at the moment, there's not much about.

Think I'll stop trying to DPS with the succys and see how that goes. Build up threat on all targets with the tank, whack a big heal on the tank and send the succys in for seduce.

I forget the names but I go after those casters who summon the 2 pink voidies first as a general rule.

I never ran Mana Tombs when single-boxing and I've been comforted somewhat by my guildies' reassurance that Mana Tombs has always been a total wanker of an instance, single boxing or otherwise.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[unseen]

I went through here with a 4 warlock/1 holy priest team and just had a demon tank each mob or two.

I actually have never used seduce for any cc in any of the instances I've done.

[Stormweasel]

What spec do you use Unseen? I'm using Affliction at the moment. By demon do you mean Voidie?

[elsegundo]

sounds like either the voidy or the felguard.

what you can do is forget swaping targets and just swipe. demo roar.
you only need to mangle the main target and keep lacerate up while swiping in between. also, maul when you need to dump rage. the 61 pt talent lets you maul several mobs. or you can get glyphs to do that as well. so more spells with aoe, better aggro. its almost like a pally doing consecrate+hammer of the right+holyshield but better since you have an aoe debuff. i guess you can look at it that way.

since your tank can aoe better now, you can simply swipe while putting on dots, switch targets, swipe while putting on dots. thats another way to do it.

if you really wanna have fun, just run in, aoe for a minute, send in your warlocks to do hellfiire. when their health gets low, have your druid cast tranquility. =]

[unseen]

What spec do you use Unseen? I'm using Affliction at the moment. By demon do you mean Voidie?My guys were all demonology spec at the time, so I was using felguards.

Once I got everyone to 70 I replaced one of the warlocks with a warrior to continue on to 80 and respecced them to destruction.

[Stormweasel]

Thank you for the strategy suggestions. I'm going to try out a few things tonight and I'll report back on how it goes.

I'll have to add something to the wiki for this setup when I'm on top of everything.

Here we go then, Mana Tombs take 2........