Warlock AoE farming

[Agare]

First off I am new to instance lvling and I know that Prot paladin is the optimal way to aoe farm instances but since I don't have one (QQ i know) I decided to spec my lock(70 and in s1 gear) full affliction and use siphon like/(other dots when needed) to kill mobs. So far I have done this up to SM and was wondering if anyone else has tried this and if anyone has thoughts or suggestions. I personally love it cause having siphon life on so many mobs lets me tap when ever I need and at the same time keeps me topped off cause mobs don't hit that hard. Also hope I posted this is the right section. ><

[Bena]

yep that's pretty much it.. There's two ways I've been doing SM..



-running around dotting mobs

- sending void to gather mobs then SoC them



The second method is a bit more dangrous. If some of the mobs go
after you and you can't get SoC due to spell pushback you might be
toast. Usually I was able to get off 4xSoC before the mobs would
come after me, should be enough to kill them before they get to
you. I would do SM in 3 to 4 pulls.

[Drizzit]

I have a purple gear lock, but i am still scared to try this. Maybe i should just suck it up and give it a go. Bena how long does it take you to do a cath run? My rogue would kill that place in 1 pull the only thing that is holding me back is the stupid energy. I think that blizz needs to fix this, i can only get 3 hits off them out of energy.

[Agare]

Clearing Cath on my lock (S1/T4) and once I start pulling I don't stop because Siphon life covers any damage I take (Have VW out to sac just in case, you never know). All in all its how fast you can pull. Obviously you can't just go and pull the final boss and then try and dot everything. instead just run up and down tabbing and doting.

[Drizzit]

Do you have you alts on follow the whole time? Or do you pull them back to you?

[Boylston]

You can't have alts follow you or they will get dominated as you try to pull.

[Drizzit]

So you would run out to where the water is and then tag everything and bring them back to the starting area? The only thing that i am thinking of is if you kill the guys too far away the other guys wont get xp for it.

[Stabface]

If you have good enough gear you can pull Mograine + all the adds with a Warlock. Walk in -> send VW -> sac VW before he dies -> instant AoE fear -> kite, all the while tabbing and siphon life on as many possible targets as you can. Then use the waterfall to get some breathing room to get off a SoC or two by jumping off near one side and then running up the other stairs. Cast the SoC on Mograine if possible, as you don't want him to die until most of the adds are down. Park alts on one side and they shouldn't get any aggro even from runners, yet still be in XP range.

[Jaws5]

I just pull the boss with the void (fully buffed) then soc as many as necessary ( must be improved void)

this works well for SM and ZF. You start to have problems with Strat mobs but it can still be done. if you have 4 locks and 4 soc on mobs going, its a thing of real death when the whole SM instance drops in less than 1 sec.

I think locs top mages in aoe farming if setup correctly

[Greythan]

I've been boosting my team in SM for 13 levels with my main, a level 70 demonology specced lock.

So, siphon life isn't available in my current spec.

I do SM in probably 6 to 8 pulls. 20 minutes a run.

I use the VW to gather probably a dozen mobs. If I get aggro during the pull, i manually trigger the VW's AE taunt.

Then 3 SoC's (4 makes sure) and BAM they're all dead. Pretty efficient, but I won't get past SM with it. SM mobs are right at the point of being able to beat down my VW and they sure can beat me down.

[Bena]

I think around 10/15 min maybe?? not sure never looked really. I'd first clear the hallway from the 4 guys there and then park the followers just inside the main entrance to the first ground. I'd send in the void to various groups and stand at the foot of the fountains in the middle. When I grabbed all the mobs I start seeding SoC. Once that's clear.. I moved the followers to the start of the stairs to the second level. Same void pulling and standing around middle of water. For the cath the followers would be at the edge of water, in front of the doors and I'd be seeding from doors. For the boss I put the followers a the door and stand halfway to the boss and send in the void.

I did have a quiet a few lapses in attention and get nice mob beatings. Key was to start casting SoC.. while it's casting tab to antoher mob.. etc.. so you get off 4xSoC.

yeah SM is the sweetspot for that kind of farming.. higher up, with 1 lock you can't get enough SoCs before they start coming after you.
I have a purple gear lock, but i am still scared to try this. Maybe i should just suck it up and give it a go. Bena how long does it take you to do a cath run? My rogue would kill that place in 1 pull the only thing that is holding me back is the stupid energy. I think that blizz needs to fix this, i can only get 3 hits off them out of energy.

[Hokusai]

I've used this tactic on my 70 affliction warlock now to boost a pally, got him to 38 so far, kinda got bored as I haven't started boxing properly yet, as is my intention.

As for being able to AoE with a warlock, all I can say is that my warlock has what most people would consider rubbish gear, pretty much tailored blues and greens (netherweave/imbued netherweave) and the rep purchasable pvp blue gear, I have 671 +dmg with fel armour if I remember right and 11k hp (exactly!) with imp, something like 9.5k with VW.

The only difficultly with doing this at higher levels (using VW to round up mobs then SoC 3 or 4 of those that are being tanked by the VW) is that you have to round up less mobs than you were able to do previously. I have even been destroyed in stockades after trying to aggro too many and having my VW die and getting the crap spammed out of me by those evil interrupting mobs, strangely I find SM easier than Stockades using this method.

I haven't tried anywhere higher than SM/Uldaman, I'm not sure it would work so well in Maurudon, that place is horrible, but in theory it should work, just will take a lot longer, and therefore might not be the best way of boosting at that level upwards, but I only have a 70 warlock, so I don't have any choice.

As I mentioned, this is with Aff spec, no demonology talents at all, and works pretty well, just need to have a bit of patience and the ability to withstand extreme boredom :P

[Millz]

With decent enough gear you can do it in a few pulls. My warlocks in full S3 using 2 pieces of T5 gear (% of dmg you deal heals pet from bonus)..

In SM Cath - from the part where you open the cathedral doors.. you can send the pet in to attack mograine and clear the full room out in 1 go.. send the pet in, let all the mobs run in and then press aoe taunt... and spam SoC like a crazy person ! If you do it right, you can take them all out in 1 go... Although i messed it up a few times and ended up wiping... I did this from level 28-40ish, in about 2-3 days.