[WoW] 4 Boxing Warlocks [updated 28th June 2008]

[nogbog]

Introductions

I'll update this thread as i level and meet more challenges
Currently Level 70

Warlock was my first character and i've taken him all the way to 70, did lots of raiding at 60, almost nothing at 70.
I chose warlocks because they're fun and each talent tree offer completely different styles of play
I levelled to 60s spec'd in demonology as i felt that this would be the least gear dependent talent spec
I'm in Australia, so latency is always an issue, 300-500ms is normal. The problems i've encountered are main targets don't update fast enough, so my slaves will often attack my previous target. The only the solution is patience, wait a sec or so then start attacking.

Goals: (in order)

1. I want to have fun
2. I want to help people w/ Quests w/ Learning the game
3. I want to be a large part of the dps in 10-man raids
4. I want to be able to do instances with myself or with minimal other players

Regarding Talent Specs
Affliction: This is what i'd like to be, but crappy gear doesn't allow for it. If i was spec'd this way i'd be dropping tons of dots and drain tanking. DPS Mobility and Drain tanking are it's benefits
Demonology: I can have crap gear and be successful with this, relys on a pet tanking/dps and threat control
Destruction: Pure nukage, it's good for 1 off kills, but mana burns out too quickly at beginning levels.

My Setup:

• Quad boxing 4x Warlocks on 1 computer (currently lvl 34)
• 5 boxing - 4x Warlocks + 1x(either enh sham, rest druid, feral druid or lock), 1 pc for 70+main & 1 pc for 5 slaves

Software: NEW

• Keyclone - Broadcasts keystrokes across network to multiple warcraft windows (it keeps breaking down so i might be looking for another software solution soon)
• Synergy - Essentially extends my desktop to another computer. Another way to look at it is, it allows me to use 1 keyboard & 1 mouse for 2 computers.

Addons: (Slaves have no UI addons)

• Multiboxer v2 (awesome addon, auto accepts quests & auto follows after combat)
• Autoprofit (sells my grey items and auto repairs)
• Rating Buster (Converts ratings to %, stam to effective hp, etc.)
• QuestHelper (Tells me where to go for quests)
• GrimoireKeeper (absolute must for locks, going through those spell books finding spell is a pain, this makes life easy)
• Omen (threat meter)
• Perl Classic (Unit frames)

Hiccups: NEW

• Got banned a level 40, i was hacked and my account was being used to spam gold. I was back up in 4-5 days.
  Now i've got a virus scan running permanently and i scan my computer once a day.

Macros:
FOCUS SET (I changed over to a non-focus set at level 47)
NON-FOCUS SET (thanks to Zzyzxx71 for his No Focus Manifesto post)
All my macros have been moved to google for easy viewing
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d3h3grt_3dc8nb9qb

Levelling Tips: NEW
These are solo levelling tips, powerlevelling i'll leave to others

• Between Levels 5-20, you can do all your dps via wands. You can go non-stop because you never use or run out of mana
  Use the ones made by enchanters, their dps is superb for their level.
  Lvl 5 Lesser Magic Wand Lvl 13 Greater Magic Wand
• At level 45-50, do quests at Hinterlands & Searing Gorge, LOTS of straight kill quests, easy XP.
• I dont' recommend levelling in winterspring, here are a lot of kill quests, there just arn't enough mobs in one spot to do them quickly.
• Eastern Plaguelands is great XP, do the pvp quest!
• Grind "Shattered Hand" mobs up to Thrallmar friendly before doing any quests
• Grind Bog creatures in Zangamarsh for Sporeggar Rep + Unidentified Plant Parts x360 (CE rep) before doing any CE related quests
• Destruction and Affliction are mana efficient. Demonology is least mana efficient.

Instances: NEW
RFC: VW + dps
SM - Graveyard (done at 30):

• By far the easiest, send in VWs and nuke mobs 1 at a time

SM - Library (done at 35):

• Trash: 2xVW + 2xSuccy, nuke mobs 1 at a time
• Hound Master Loksey is kinda tricky, in the end i just sent a different VW to each dog + 1 on boss, then DPS Loksey down followed by dogs
• Arcanist Doan was easy easy easy, ALL your dots + 2xVW + 2xSuccy (dps), stand at the door way and move out of LOS (retrieve pets) before he detonates.

SM - Armory (done at 39):

• Trash: 2xVW + 2xSuccy, nuke mobs 1 at a time. VW gets close to dying all the time so bring shards
• Herod: Spread out your slaves on the top of the stairs. Send in pets, pull them back when he whirlwinds.
  As soon as he dies, stand against the wall out of LOS of the adds. Let ur pets (all VW is possible) grab some threat then hellfire.

ZF (done at 48 ):

• Trash: 1xVW 3xSuccy
• You need to bring plenty of food and water
• My VW (main) is spec'd for dmg reduction (demonic resilience)
• Needed to bring a healer in for the pyramid event & and those twin guys.
• All the other bosses are really easy, VW tank and SB nuke

BRD (Started at 49 ):

• Trash: 1xVW 3xSuccy
• Got up to Pyromancer Loregrain to get the Kindling Stave
• Gave up after that, took too long.. there is sooo much trash in there

Hellfire Ramparts (60):

• Trash: 4xFelguard
• I cheated, i took a 70 elemental shaman with me
• Pretty easy, the trash is harder than the bosses
• 30 minute run
• Had no problems with any of the bosses

Hellfire Ramparts (62): NEW

• 4 Lock team, just respec'd to destruction, wasn't easy, gave up after Gargomar
• 1st Boss video http://www.vimeo.com/1224061
• Trash: 3 VW + 1 Imp
• With a 5th member this would be really easy, either a tank, healer or dps
• The strategy with everything is to just dps stuff down ASAP
  Strategy discussion at [HFP Gargolmar] Quad Locks at Lvl 62

Hellfire Ramparts (62) + 70 lock: NEW

• Slaughtered this instance, the 5th member really helps
• Soulstones and Healthstones are also awesome
• 1st Boss http://www.vimeo.com/1237298
• 2nd Boss http://www.vimeo.com/1239240
• Last Boss http://www.vimeo.com/1239276
• Thread [Hellfire Ramparts] 5 Warlocks

Slave Pens (63) + 70 lock: NEW

• Slaughtered this instance, went through about a million VWs
• Healthstones / Deathcoils + Soul Stones are a great form of "healing"
• 1st Boss http://www.vimeo.com/1243205
• 2nd Boss http://www.vimeo.com/1243222
• Last Boss http://www.vimeo.com/1243237
• Thread [Slave Pens] 5 Warlocks

Kill Strategy: (demonology)
Normal Mobs: 1xVW, 3xSuccubus - Send pets in, 1x Shadowbolt (mob dies via pet dps)
Normal Mobs at level 40: 1xVW, 3xSuccubus - Send pets in, Searing paint till they die. nb. looks cool too
Instance Mobs/Bosses up to 39: 2xVW 2xSuccubus - Basically the VW need to keep aggro, If one goes down the others replace the tank. If all goes well the Boss/Mob is dead before all VW are dead.
Instance Mobs/Bosses up to 49: 1xVW 3xSuccubus - VW tanks a bunch or boss, everyone else dps/nukes.

Kill Strategy: (destruction)
Normal Mobs: Pets not required. Immolate + Conflagrate = dead mob
Normal Mobs: Alternative. Pets not required. Shadowbolt + Searing Pain = dead mob
Normal Mobs: Alternative 2. Pets not required. Searing Pain spam = dead mob
Instance Mobs/Bosses up to 62: (as destruction) 3xVW + 1xImp. VW are for tanking mobs your not nuking. Elites should be dead before they reach you.


Things i'd like to find out:

• Is there software that'll click in designated spots on my screens via a key press? for the purpose of looting and click casting (rain of fire, shadowfury)

What i do when i'm burnt out from levelling: NEW

• Sit in Shattrath and sell summons to Shattrath. For tips and for free.
• Health Funnel or Duel draining light shows
  
  

[Shaitan256]

Hi nogbog,

The warlock was my first WoW character too. I'm looking forward to see your progress. Hm which instances do you've taken down so far? I'm theorycrafting about my PvP setup. Maybe 4 WL + Priest or something, but I don't no if it's capable of doing instances n' stuff.

So yeah the decision of Demonology Trees is quit a good decision, because you don't really need good gear at all Hm but I guess a the SL SL specc is the one you should go for, at least @ to WL's and IMP vw with a bit werid but in my opinion Powerful Tanking specc like this:

Here weird specc , but it only for getting you started, and show what I mean. You can play so much with the different roles of 4 WL it's gonna be ass kicking, gonna start one I think with 4 you could've Imp. Imp , Imp. VW + 1 Felhunter + 1 Felguard or 2 Felguard whatever you want and when everyone has Siphon Life, there's no Problem of healing either, I'm so Excited in this kind of Squad

Short question: Does the Curse of Weakness stack? and the Affliction thing next to siphon life, this 5% less physical dmg? If it does, it's going to be cool No looked for it ... But it's cool enough to have a 5% dmg(physical) Reduction + Imp Curse of Weakness. Made a few speccs , for an example to choose different roles+ Improved Curses
Here nr.1 Affliction + Imp curse of Shadows + Devouring Shadows (hope translation is right)
Here nr. 2 DMG with Felguard + Imp Curse of Agony x2
Here nr 3 Tank + Imp Curse of Weakness

Made this in 5 Minutes , it's nothing special, Hope it works, I will try it + Shadow Priest eventually

[Bongohead]

Hey all

My main 4 box group are 4 lvl 60 Gnome Warlocks with felguards.

The FGs kill things so damn quick i sometimes have trouble tagging mobs before they die .

I lvled affliction til i could get FG and both methods are super easy. Took a bit to get my head around the change of playstyle after re-speccing though 8| .

I also use them in AV. I'm VERY popular . People's heads explode when they see 4 felguards tear apart clothies in a few secs flat...

[Tasty]

Okay two things.

1) I'd like to be able to fear targets based on their raid icon (skull, X, nipple etc.) What would the macro for that look like if it were possible.

This isn't possible unfortunately. I know that you can assign raid icons via macros but you cant target via macros. The only thing I can suggest would be having 4 different macros each with a /set raid icon /set focus (target=mainplayername-target) and then just having a /cast (target=focus) fear macro but thats all dependent on your current setup. Short answer you can't target via raid icons

2) Your post has an extremely nice design. Font style/colour paragraph/layout etc all all superb anyway hope your still enjoying your locks

[nogbog]

Here weird specc[/url] , but it only for getting you started, and show what I mean. You can play so much with the different roles of 4 WL it's gonna be ass kicking, gonna start one I think with 4 you could've Imp. Imp , Imp. VW + 1 Felhunter + 1 Felguard or 2 Felguard whatever you want and when everyone has Siphon Life, there's no Problem of healing either, I'm so Excited in this kind of Squad

Short question: Does the Curse of Weakness stack? and the Affliction thing next to siphon life, this 5% less physical dmg? If it does, it's going to be cool No looked for it ... But it's cool enough to have a 5% dmg(physical) Reduction + Imp Curse of Weakness. Made a few speccs , for an example to choose different roles+ Improved Curses
Here nr.1 Affliction + Imp curse of Shadows + Devouring Shadows (hope translation is right)
Here nr. 2 DMG with Felguard + Imp Curse of Agony x2
Here nr 3Tank + Imp Curse of Weakness

Made this in 5 Minutes , it's nothing special, Hope it works, I will try it + Shadow Priest eventually

Instances i've done so far are
RFC
SFK
RFK (up to the first couple of bosses only though, just for gear, Death Speaker Robes)
SM - Graveyard (by far the easiest)

The strategy on all is the same, send VWs in and moderate dps.
I'm considering trying "SM - Library" today, a little concerned about the houndmaster, may have to send in each VW to a different mob. Generally the 1st VW takes all the damage which would be bad! Not concerned about Arcanist Doan at all. Send VW, DPS, pull VW back before nova/arcane explosion (dunno which it is) then send them back in. Range is key to that fight.

Curse of weakness doesn't stack, it also does not stack with other attack power reducing spells such as demoralizing roar (druid) or demoralizing shout (warrior).
Right now i'm not concered with talent points, the beginning demonology ones are very weak.

Thanks for the talent points, i'll have a look at em.

If i were to pvp i would most likely go with affliction, Felguard is tempting, but the mobility and ability to deal damage on the run with affliction appeals much more to me. Instant Howl of Terror is a must for this.

And deathcoil and howl of terror will be chained together cuz of diminishing returns, ie.
/castsequence [target=focustarget] reset=15 Howl of Terror, , , ,
/castsequence [target=focustarget] reset=15 , Deathcoil, , ,
/castsequence [target=focustarget] reset=15 , , Deathcoil, ,
/castsequence [target=focustarget] reset=15 , , , Deathcoil,
/castsequence [target=focustarget] reset=15 , , , , Howl of Terror

I suppose if u were destruction or demo you'd just nuke em in a second or so.. *shrug* different styles! (shadowburn + deathcoil + searing pain x5)

[Tdog]

Okay two things.

1) I'd like to be able to fear targets based on their raid icon (skull, X, nipple etc.) What would the macro for that look like if it were possible.

This isn't possible unfortunately. I know that you can assign raid icons via macros but you cant target via macros. The only thing I can suggest would be having 4 different macros each with a /set raid icon /set focus (target=mainplayername-target) and then just having a /cast (target=focus) fear macro but thats all dependent on your current setup. Short answer you can't target via raid icons

2) Your post has an extremely nice design. Font style/colour paragraph/layout etc all all superb anyway hope your still enjoying your locks

Unfornately given that he is using /focus instead of /party1 his focus for his toons is already taken up.

One option that I have considered to over come this is to have all your macros that use /focus for asissting your main to be on your actionbar 1 so that you can simply switch to actionbar2 and have macros using /party1 for assisting your main instead. This way you can have all your /party1 macros so you can have /focus free for CC, then with the hit of a button, BAM!! you're assisting with /focus for PvP purposes.

[nogbog]

Okay two things.

1) I'd like to be able to fear targets based on their raid icon (skull, X, nipple etc.) What would the macro for that look like if it were possible.

This isn't possible unfortunately. I know that you can assign raid icons via macros but you cant target via macros. The only thing I can suggest would be having 4 different macros each with a /set raid icon /set focus (target=mainplayername-target) and then just having a /cast (target=focus) fear macro but thats all dependent on your current setup. Short answer you can't target via raid icons

2) Your post has an extremely nice design. Font style/colour paragraph/layout etc all all superb anyway hope your still enjoying your locks

Unfornately given that he is using /focus instead of /party1 his focus for his toons is already taken up.

One option that I have considered to over come this is to have all your macros that use /focus for asissting your main to be on your actionbar 1 so that you can simply switch to actionbar2 and have macros using /party1 for assisting your main instead. This way you can have all your /party1 macros so you can have /focus free for CC, then with the hit of a button, BAM!! you're assisting with /focus for PvP purposes.

Ah, i didn't know there was a /party1, i mean, i've used [target=party1] before, but i don't really understand the mechanics of how it works.
So, if my main invites my slaves to a group, will party1, party2 etc be in the order i invite or the order that they accept? or is the order relative to each characters screen?

[Shaitan256]

Yeah for PvP you should go Affliction or maybe SL/SL or something and Destrucion could be tricky with shadowfury (right name?) some kind of 0/21/30 for alts and something like */*/31+* so you can shadow fury + nuke with the rest it's like a Mage Combo main Frost with Imp blizzard and the rest is Nuking and in PvP it's good to have Felhunter against fear and Nova or something^^ and Unstable affliction isn't a problem he heals himself the silence isn't longer than the CD of his Dispell

The speccs are just for PvE and for focusing on imitation of Grp play. And DMG improvement as wel. But heroics tanking with only a Pet? I guess it's a no go, sad but true, I would love to see Warlocks doing such a thing maybe with a Healer would be cool.

In the speccs I left "Improved Channel Spells"in affliction tree empty, because the locks shouldn't get aggro with the Improved VW, I hope so.

Hm with a healer maybe it'S going to be possible, a priest should be able to shield and heal him or something, but I guess you'll get aooner or later aggro Problems in Boss fights. Maybe Felguard could tank. Oh My ... my brain is going crazy again, it's so excited to do something ^^

[nogbog]

Yeah for PvP you should go Affliction or maybe SL/SL or something and Destrucion could be tricky with shadowfury (right name?) some kind of 0/21/30 for alts and something like */*/31+* so you can shadow fury + nuke with the rest it's like a Mage Combo main Frost with Imp blizzard and the rest is Nuking and in PvP it's good to have Felhunter against fear and Nova or something^^ and Unstable affliction isn't a problem he heals himself the silence isn't longer than the CD of his Dispell

The speccs are just for PvE and for focusing on imitation of Grp play. And DMG improvement as wel. But heroics tanking with only a Pet? I guess it's a no go, sad but true, I would love to see Warlocks doing such a thing maybe with a Healer would be cool.

In the speccs I left "Improved Channel Spells"in affliction tree empty, because the locks shouldn't get aggro with the Improved VW, I hope so.

Hm with a healer maybe it'S going to be possible, a priest should be able to shield and heal him or something, but I guess you'll get aooner or later aggro Problems in Boss fights. Maybe Felguard could tank. Oh My ... my brain is going crazy again, it's so excited to do something ^^

Mm, good idea with the sahdow fury, i didn't think of that (the main only with that spell).

I wouldn't go so far as to say the "pet is tanking" heroics, as long as they can hold aggro for a couple of hits.
We're getting a little ahead of ourselves, we're not yet and i don't know how much damage i'll be putting out and what minimum gear i'll need. i'll probably take an elemental shaman with me (bloodlust for bosses).

Destruction is the only way to go if i do heroics, kill before being killed.

[moog]

I'm 5-boxing Human Warlocks myself and having so much fun :thumbsup:
All deep demonology specced and my voidies can handle anything I've thrown at them.
I found BRD to be a big step up after Sunken Temple... every dungeon up until then was a piece of cake but I feel that, being amongst friends, I can admit to my first wipe in BRD since my initial forays into the Deadmines when I was just getting the hang of it.

I use Felguards to quest outside with but find that they die way too easily against big packs of elites in dungeons. I know your demons should be disposable but I feel terrible when one of them dies ;(
Outside the dungeons you have to be quick to tag the mobs as 5xFelguards can kill a target before I can get off a spell if I'm not concentrating.

In dungeons I send in the voidies, and rotate through the pack with 5ximmolate, 5xcorruption and 5 different curses and everything just dies.
I rarely need to drain targets, they go down so quickly with 5xDPS on them.
It's very rare that my team actually take any damage from critters.
And 5 x Hellfire is a sight to see... pure carnage