warlock

Comments

• Behomet Member Posts: 11

  May 2006

  Hex line is the only line not terribly affected by the last warlok "fixes"

  SO.......

  go to hex line

  Follow this guide if you need.. (Keep in mind the delves are incorect. many changes have been made to the warlok.)

  -This was posted on daoc.catacombs.com by Tykan. -
  
  thought some people here might find it useful:
  
  This guide was meant to support new and veteran players in playing (and having fun with) the Warlock Class, which has some nice unique Features. This Class can easily be described as one of the most versatile Caster Classes in Daoc.
  
  This Guide currently has 8 Chapters
  1. Races
  2. Starting Points
  3. Witchcraft, Hexing and Cursing
  4. How Chambers Primary/Secondary Spells work + some Qbind advice
  5. Some BG and Pre50 Spec Advice
  6. Level 50 Specs
  7. Masterlevel Paths
  8. Realm Abilities
  9. Leveltips
  
  
  1. What Race to choose
  
  You got 3 Races to choose from, Norse, Frostalf and Kobolds. All have some advantages and some disadvantages.
  
  Primary Stat: Piety (More Damage on Spells, bigger Power Pool)
  Secondary Stat: Constitution (makes you harder to kill)
  Tertiary Stat: Dexterity (influences Casting Speed)
  
  PIE CON DEX QUI STR
  Norse 60 70 50 50 70
  Kobold 60 50 70 50 50
  Frostalf 75 55 55 60 55
  
  
  The Warlock is kind of interesting since DEX is not the Secondary Attribute but Constitution. While DEX takes the places of the third Casting Stat (usually QUI). This gives a Warlock more Hit points then other Casters, which is never bad. Even though this seems like a disadvantage, this only means 8 points less in DEX at 50, so its nothing really Game breaking, especially since Quickness only gets used to determine your staff Swing Speed.
  
  
  Well like in most cases there are different viable choices. While not all choices might give you numerical advantages they certainly offer other benefits.
  Well Norse certainly are the worst choice for pure Casting Stats, low Dex and just 60 Piety, but compared to Kobolds have more Constitution, so you get some more Hit points. Most people won’t expect a Norse to be a Caster, though the Staff will give it away (and the bubbles over your head). If you don’t like to be a big or small blue one and like to have funny beards go with Norse.
  
  The Kobolds have long been considered the best caster Race in Midgard and this with the basic 60 Piety, but they make up for a slightly higher DEX. Another Advantage is that in Tower Battles Enemies might have problems selecting you as a target, since you are considerably smaller. A decent choice for a Warlock, especially since DEX is our Tertiary Attribute.
  
  Well since TOA we got a new preferred Caster race, the Frostalfs, though they lack the high DEX/QUI the Kobolds have (for whatever Reason), they come with 75 Piety which means having more Power and the ability to do more Damage.
  
  
  
  2. Where to put the starting points (some errors corrected, pointed out by MissMage)
  
  Norse:
  10pts in DEX, 10 or 15 in Piety (I recommend 10) and 10 in Constitution)
  
  Kobold:
  10pts (or 15) in Piety, 10 in Dexterity, and 10 Pts in Constitution
  
  Frostalf:
  10pts in Piety, 10pts in Dexterity, and 10 pts in Constitution
  
  Well its basically always 10 points in Piety since most Races suffer from a lack of this stat, in the case of the Frostalf it never hurts to have MORE. Avalonians (Albion) already start with 80 in their Casting Stat.
  Dexterity determines your casting Speed, so its vital to get it up high, since the Primers you will be using, got a high Cast speed.
  
  If you plan on playing a Warlock with only Curse and Hexing speced, you can forego the above options and put all points in Constitution and Piety, since those spells are always casted at 4 Seconds.
  
  
  
  3. Witchcraft, Hexing and Cursing (adapted from XxAvarhinxX)
  
  Ok first off some definitions of what the spells you have are:
  PRIMARY- these are the only spells you can cast by themselves (other then primers). These are all the spells from the cursing path.
  
  SECONDARY- these spells you have to cast after you cast a primary spell. These are all spells from the hexing path
  
  PRIMER- these spells augment your secondary spells. There is Powerless, Range Mod, and Uninterrupt (unint). With these your are capable of using Secondary Spells without a Primary Spell
  
  CHAMBER- These are spells you use to load a primary & secondary spell into, to use instantly (but standing) at a later time. Loading Spells, and firing them from a Chamber does NOT use Power, so this is a nice Tool for PvE, and even more so for RvR.
  
  CURSE SPELLS
  DD- Direct Damage, type of spell that HURTS!
  
  BOLT- Long range, high damage DD that has a chance to be blocked or partially negated.
  
  ROOT- Spell that prevents enemy from moving, but he will still be able to fight.
  
  HEAL- Spell that allows you to Heal groupmates.
  
  HEXING SPELLS
  LT- Lifetap, a type of DD that will return health to caster for a % of damage done.
  
  DoT- Damage over Time, target of these spells is hit for a small (compared to DDs) amount of damage every couple of seconds for a set period of time.
  
  PBAE- Point Blank Area of Effect, Damage spell damaging all enemy around the caster.
  
  SPREAD- Short for spreadheal. Group heal that actually is valuable in a group.
  
  FROG- Nickname for the snare spell in hex that turns players into frogs. !Will break Heretic Monster Rez!
  
  NEARSIGHT- Spell that reduces the effective Range of enemy casters
  
  POWER REGENERATION- Spell that enhances your Power Regeneration Value, can be used with the Powerless Primer
  
  *HOW TO...*
  
  This question I get at least twice a day. How do I cast my spells.
  When you acquire your target you will start by casting either your Bolt or DD from the BASE CURSING path. Within 4 Seconds you have to select your secondary Spell, sometimes its best to wait a bit what to use (if playing in a group), but mostly better select it NOW, this will be a Spell from the Hexing Line, for PvE a Lifetap or DoT is recommended, even though a Snare can come in handy, depending upon the situation.
  In PvE I usually start with Bolt + DoT, then DD + Lifetap, DD + Lifetap, then I either Kite or finish with a Chamber (seldom needed).
  
  Now for how you chamber your spells. Ok now you will get different levels of chamber you will want all then ones you have on your qbar. To start you hit the button for the chamber spell, select the primary (usually dd), and then select your secondary (either LT, DoT, PBAE, Spreadheal. LT and DoT are used primarily).
  
  To unload the chamber, once you have readied it/them, you have to be standing still then hit the chamber button on qbar. Then repeat for each chamber.
  
  
  
  4. How Chambers and Primary/Secondary Spells work (partly adapted from XxAvarhinxX)
  
  
  Chambers work like:
  1. Hit Button for Chamber1:
  2. Select Primary Spell
  3. Select Secondary Spell
  4. Chamber is filled.
  
  Now to use the Chamber use it like a normal spell, remember that you have to stand still to use them and that you can’t fire all Chambers at once. There is a 2 Second Cooldown time between the firing of 2 Chambers, but you can still cast normally during this time (or use chambers while casting normally).
  
  Primary/Secondary Spells:
  First you start casting you Primary Spell, then you select the secondary. When the Primary Spell hits so will the Secondary.
  
  Now for primers.
  These spells you can cast as a primary instead of your curse dd or bolt. Unint is great when you are in a tight spot and need to kill them before you die (LT if single target, PBAE if multiple). Also unint costs a hefty chunk of your power so it is advisable to select your gear with + to Power Pool and + to power Pool Cap in Mind. Depending upon your Gear you can expect to be able to use anywhere from 2-6 Uninteruptables.
  
  Powerless can be used to cast spells such as the Pbae when working siege to keep stealthers at bay, spreadheal when trying to heal, LT when in a fight (can lower casting time to 2.6-2.0 sec depending on level you have, amount of dex and +% casting speed bonus). This can be extremely helpful in Keep Warfare in a Tank Heavy Group, this allows you to stay in the Keep and spasm spreadheal, while the Tank go out (and eventually die), get back to the Keep Lord, get rezzed, and get out again… This will allow the Main Healers to do the rezzing (even though this ain't really that exiting)
  
  The Ranged Primer is a good tool to instantly drop a Dot on someone far away, hit a caster with nearsight, snare the MA of an the inc assist train.
  
  Qbinds:
  I suggest qbinding your Chambers to Keys which lie close to another (F1-F3; ), this will allow you to use em faster.
  Also a good thing is to put the UI Primer on an easy to reach Key.
  
  Qbinding is done ingame with: /qbind (Number of Qbar) (Qbar Slot) [RETURN], then you press the Key to which you want to bind the Slot on your Qbar.
  For example you got your Chambers on Qbar 10 in Slots 8 to 10. To bind you First Chamber to F1, /qbind 10 8, then press ENTER/RETURN and then press the Key you want to have assigned to that Chamber (This Key can`t be assigned to another Function or it won`t work).
  As soon as we get our 2 additional Qbars this might become less of importance, though it will stay helpful.
  
  
  5. Some BG and Pre50 Specs Advices
  
  From Level 1 upwards:
  Up to Level 13
  -Train soley in Hexing
  Levels 14/15
  -Bring Witchcraft up to 8 (First Chamber)
  Level 16-20
  -Push Curse upwards till 20.
  SINGLE LINE Respec at 20 – Respec Curse
  I suggest going for 6 Curse, 8 Witchcraft and 17 Hexing at level 20.
  Even though this lowers your Witchcraft a bit, this gives you a Small Heal, which can be handy in groups without main Healer. I personally have levelled from 14 to 20 in a Group with 3 Warlocks and 2 Valykries (Spear Valks at that). And 2 of us used the Heal combined with our PBAE to take down mobs, and keep the Tanks alive. While the third was full Curse Spec (respected at 20), and concentrated on healing.
  Levels 20-24
  -Bring Hexing to 20, and then Witchcraft to 11.
  Levels 25-30
  -Bring Hexing up to 26
  Levels 30-33
  -Bring Witchcraft up to 19 (2nd Chamber)
  Levels 34-40
  -Bring Hexing up to 34
  SINGLE LINE Respec at 40 – Respec Curse
  New Spec on 40: 1 Curse, 20 Witchcraft, 34 Hexing
  
  Endspec 12/30/43
  Levels 41-44
  -Bring Witchcraft to 30
  Levels 44-50
  Bring Hexing up to 43
  
  Endspec 4/20/50
  Levels 41-50
  -Bring Hexing up to 50, and put leftover Points in Curse at Level 50
  
  Well in Thidranki you should have at least 8 in Witchcraft to get all Primers and 1 Chamber, though 11 in WC gives you better Primers. And at least 19 in Hexing (though 20 is better if you want to PBAE a lot, otherwise 19 is enough). Leftover Points get dumped in Curse, though do not get it up higher then 6, since this is not where your main Damage comes from.
  3 acceptable Speccs at Level 24: (Curse/Witchcraft/Hexing)
  6/11/20:
  This give you the last PBAE/Lifedrain/DoT for Thidranki, some Primers to work with (Though UI is still a Powerhog).
  
  9/11/19:
  You lose the High PBAE but still get highest Lifedrain/DoT, but gain a lessened variance in the Curse line. You will suffer having Hexing one level lower during the Trip to 40 then with the above Spec, but this will reduce you variance with curse.
  
  11/8/19:
  This Spec gives up on some better Primers to get a small boost to Curse which will definitely help damage variance.
  
  No matter what Spec you choose in Molvik you will have 2 Chamber (and should have), this won`t hurt hexing too much in Molvik since even with full Hexing/Witchcraft you’ll get to 7 in Curse, 19 in Witchcraft and 33 in Hexing (which leaves you 1 level short of the 34 Lifetap). With all Speccs except the first you’ll loose the 33 Hexing PBAE.
  
  I’d suggest going for 19 Curse, 20 Witchcraft and 31 Hexing for Molvik, and then respec out of Curse at Level 40. Although if you really want to PBAE a lot, then go for 6 Curse, 11 Witchcraft and 20 Hexing in Thidranki, and 7 Curse, 19 Witchcraft and 33 Hexing in Molvik (at 39).
  For Leirvik it would be 1 Curse, 30 Witchcraft, and 35 Hexing (at 44.5)
  
  
  
  
  6. Level 50 Speccs
  
  There are 2 regularly mentioned, I’ll comment on both
  a) 12 Curse, 30 Witchcraft and 43 Hexing
  This is a nice around Spec, though it seems it will loose some damage due to the expected "Adjustments" to the Warlock. Well but even then it will still be viable.
  30 Witchcraft gets you:
  -4th Uninterruptible Primer with 35% Power Cost, which allows you to cast 3-6 Spells while in Combat (remember Warlocks do not get MoC)
  -3rd Range Primer: Allowing you to throw Secondaries out at up to 2250 Units.
  -3rd Powerless Primer: Allowing you to cast Secondary Spells at NO Power cost, albeit at 4.3 Seconds Cast time.
  -And 3 Chambers, but only one of them can be used for Bolts.
  
  43 Hexing gets you:
  -The best Snare, Hooray
  -Second to last Lifedrain, which is pretty powerful (will go to 168 Delve Value vs. 225 current), but even at 168 Delve Value this is nearly the Strength of Baseline Nukes and you get to heal yourself with it.
  -Second to Last DoT, though it will be reduced in the same manner as the Lifedrain
  -Second to Last PBAE, meaning being at 66% the Strength of a pure PBAE Caster.
  -The first Self Regen Buff, which is always nice to have, can be cast with Powerless and so it can be used while OOM.
  -Second Spreadheal, which is equal in Power to a Healers 31er Spreadheal.
  -Last Nearsight, always nice to have
  
  12 Curse gets you:
  -a small heal which can be used to heal after Battle or in combination with the Spreadheal (nice way to fill a chamber with a sort of insta heal), and this lessens the variance on your Curse Spells a bit.
  
  b)4 Curse, 20 Witchcraft, 50 Hexing
  4 Curse gets you:
  -well really nothing... just leftover points
  
  20 Witchcraft gets you:
  -2 Chambers, neither one can be filled with a Bolt.
  -3rd Uninterruptible Primer, this will limit you to 2-5 Casts until being OOM. Not a big Reduction from the 30 WC
  -2nd Range Primer, This gives you the option to throw Secondaries up to 2000 Range, though this is a reduction of 250 units, it is still more then Bolt Range.
  -2nd Powerless Primer: This gives you the Ability to cast Secondaries at no Power Cost albeit at 5.3 Seconds cast time.
  
  50 Hexing gets you:
  -All Spells at the highest Delve.
  -The Last Lifetap, which is at 191 Delve Value (after the Adjustments, atm its 255)
  -Last PBAE equal to the Spiritmaster Version
  -Last Spreadheal with 20% more Power
  -Self Mana regeneration at 4 times the power of the first one.
  
  
  
  7. Masterlevel (by MissMage)
  
  The choices of Master Level paths for a Warlock are Banelord and Convoker. While Banelord is generally considered the better path both have their advantages.
  
  Convoker Abilities
  
  1 Summon Wood - Summon decent quantity of med quality wood
  2 Prescience Node - Summon a small monument with an eye on it that can reveal nearby stealthers (without popping it)
  3 Power Trap - power draining mine
  4 Speedwarp - cancels out speed buffs for a minute on anyone who passes through this field
  5 Summon Warcrystal - summon a random piece of powerful siege ammunition (pretty useless imo)
  6 Battlewarder - focus pet that cannot move and has powerful offense. Has no ranged capabilities, and drains a lot of power from the caster.
  7 Dissonance Trap - direct damage trap
  8 Brittle Guard - single hit bodyguard pet that follows the caster
  9 Summoning Mastery - PBAE buff that boosts level of all nearby pets for the purpose of to-hit (offensive and defensive) chances (obviously of no use to a warlock)
  10 Crystal Titan - big statue
  
  This is a much better ML for a pet using class than a Warlock but the defensive capabilities of brittle guards can be good for a Warlock who either solos or runs in a duo.
  
  Banelord Abilities
  
  1 Zone of Unmana - spell unhaste aura that makes opponents cast slower, 700 radius PBAE
  2 Primal Agony - reduces power, fatigue, and health of nearby enemies by 10% of their value, 1000 radius PBAE
  3 Oppression - reduce max encumberance by 25% for a short time, 1000er radius PBAE
  4 Inexorable Defeat - 60% penalty to fatigue costs for nearby enemies, 1000er radius PBAE
  5 Tactical Insight - next attack by nearby enemies has additional 5% chance to miss (You did an entire ML for this? hehe), 1000er radius PBAE
  6 Snaring Tendrils of Power - root self/snare others, 700er radius PBAE
  7 Chaotic Power - +5% chance to hit enemies with spells, 1000er radius PBAE
  8 Agony Transmission - shout that reduces the power/health/fatigue of enemies by 30% of their value, but costs the user 75% of their HP. 1000er radius PBAE
  9 Demoralization - Lower level of enemies for damage calculations. 1000er radius PBAE
  10 Banespike - Boosts damage of attacks from nearby allies.
  
  These generally seem better suited to the offensive nature of a Warlock. Although when delved they don't show duration or radius I believe it is 20 second duration and 700 radius. Each affects a maximum of 16 people.
  
  Oppression, Chaotic Power and Agony Transmission share the same recast timer.
  Primal Agony, Tactical Insight and Demoralization share the same recast timer.
  Zone of Unmana, Inexorable Defeat and Snaring Tendrils of Power share the same recast timer.
  
  Agony transmission + primal agony are a powerful combination in spite of the risk of using agony transmission. If you use that you'd better have a healer with you targeted.
  
  While obviously the Banelord line has much more to offer it doesn't offer the defense of brittle guards. The majority of Warlocks go with Banelord but either can be useful.
  
  8. Realm Abilities(Information by MissMage)
  
  RAs are important. RAs are suggested. And most available to Warlocks are discussed. Toughness gets you more HP for example, but this isn't one that should be a high Priority to get to higher levels.
  
  I don't think we've gotten around to RAs so might was well add those in:
  
  A lot of personal preference goes into these. The mainstays of casters tend to be Wild Power, Mastery of Magery, Augmented Acuity and Augmented Dexterity but there are a lot of variations in amount and some others that are worth considering.
  
  Augmented Acuity Increases primary casting stat by the listed amount per level. Increases both damage and power pool.
  
  Augmented Constitution Increases Constitution by the listed amount per level. Nice but few casters want to put many points there.
  
  Augmented Dexterity Passive Increases Dexterity by the listed amount per level. Since casting speed of WCs is influenced by Dex this is a staple. Probably more important for Frosties than Kobolds but always good.
  
  Augmented Quickness Increases Quickness by the listed amount per level. Quickness only influences the speed with which you swing your staff .. don't bother.
  
  Ethereal Bond Increases power points by the listed amount. Well more power points are always good but this doesn't tend to be high on the list. Too many other ways to do it.
  
  Lifter Increases the max encumbrance of the character and the speed at which the character can move rams they control by the listed percentage. Good heavens that's what tanks are for! Hehe
  
  Long Wind Decreases the amount of endurance taken per tick when sprinting, by the number listed. Well worth one point imo. (mainly due to the fact that a lot of Shamans have only Endu4)
  
  Mastery of Focus Increases the level of all spells cast by the listed amount for out-right resistance purposes. (caps at level 50) Get enough of this so your most used spells equal 50! An essential!
  
  Mastery of Magery Additional effectiveness of magical damage by listed percentage. Another caster essential.
  
  Physical Defense Reduces all physical damage taken by the listed percentage. Personally I'm of the opinion nothing will keep caster from dying but some like this one.
  
  Serenity Increases amount of power regenerated per tick by the number listed. Seems easier to stand near a power font to me or use your power regen.
  
  Toughness Increases hit points by the listed amount. See comments on Physical Defense.
  
  Veil Recovery Reduces the duration of resurrection illnesses by the percentage listed. Would be nice if you ever had spare points I suppose.
  
  Wild Power Increases chance to deal a critical hit with all spells that do damage, including DoTs, by listed percentage. Buy this early and often.
  
  
  TIMED
  Adrenaline Rush Doubles the base melee damage for 20 seconds. WHY did they give this to Warlocks? Hehe
  
  Bedazzling Aura Grants the group increased resistance to magical damage for 30 seconds by the percentage listed. A nice one for high RR when you already have some good damage passives.
  
  Decimation Trap AE damage trap with 350 radius. The trap lasts ten minutes or until detonated (whichever comes first). Energy based. Like BAOD it's nice to get imo if you already have the essentials.
  
  First Aid Heals the user by the listed percentage. Not useable in combat. I'd get a healer or buy some Healing Potions from your friendly Alchimist, or use a powerless Spreadheal Not the most useful of RAs.
  
  Mystic Crystal Lore Active Grants a refresh of power based on the percentages listed. Cannot be used when in combat. Obviously good for if you need power but expensive for the amount of power it heals imo.
  
  Purge Removes all negative effects but leaves any applicable immunity timers in place. Level 1 purge is on a 15-minute timer but has a 5 second delay. Level 2 is on the same timer but has no delay. Level 3 is on a 5-minute timer and has no delay. 900 sec 5 sec delay no delay 300 sec reuse. ABSOLUTELY essential at Level 2
  
  Raging Power RP Grants a refresh of power based on the percentages listed. Can be used when in combat. I'd get this over MCL.
  
  Second Wind Restores 100% of the user's endurance. Hardly essential for a caster, especially one with tireless.
  
  The Empty Mind Active Grants the user 45 seconds of increased resistances to all magical damage by the percentage listed. This only works on damage and does not affect the duration of crowd control spell. (Necro version transfers to pet) Never knew a caster who had this...
  
  Volcanic Pillar Heat based AE damage spell with 500 radius. Damage as listed. 2 second non-interruptible cast time. Good damage RA but I'd recommend passives first.
  
  CLASS UNIQUE
  Boiling Cauldron Active Summons a large cauldron that boils in place for 5 seconds before spilling and doing damage and snaring all those nearby. 10 min
  Not bad as class RAs go. Too bad they have 5 seconds to get out of the way.
  
  9. Leveltips
  
  15-19 (suggested by Baller)
  Go to the Battleground Killaloe, its mostly empty and has some nice spots, mostly flat terrain too.
  
  20-24
  Go to Thidranki an make you levels there. You also gain Rps, which allow you to buy Realm Abilities as you increase in your Realm Rank. It would be wise to buy Wild Power on Level 2 (for more Criticals on Spells), or Wild Power 1, Etheral Bond 1, Augmented Acuity and Augmented Dexterity (Less Critcals, but a higher Power pool, and a slightly lighter Castrate and a general improvement of Damage).
  
  35-39
  Again you can make levels, money and RPs in a Battleground, this time in Molvik (you should have 2 Chambers in Molvik). In this Battlegrounds you will encounter Towers, here the Warlock shines since you can unload your Chambers on enemies, and use the Range Primer to reach out on Enemies which think of themselves of being in safety.
  Hint: Remove your Chambers before using a Ranged Primer, so you won`t be recognized as a Warlock (Will only Warlock 1 or 2 Times), after Enemies know you to be a Warlock keep Chambers filled with Bolt/Lifetap, and DD, Spreadheal (the Spreadheal is nice if a Archer shoots at you, from out of your range, and you need a Heal FAST).
  
  42+
  From Level 42 upwards you can do a good job at Moderna, this is due to the fact that Warlocks get a decent PBAE (even if only 43 Hexing), which can be cast with the nice Powerless Primer.
  This can be a nice addition to a group without a Mana field.
  Also nice is the Chambering of a Single Heal with a Spreaheal (if you did put points into Curse). Or 3 Chambered DD + PBAEs for tight situations.
  
  The Morvalt camps leading north from just north of Aegir can also be good leveling spots from low level all the way to 49. They generally have good camp bonuses and ample room to kite at need.
  
  Grouptips:
  The Warlock can do well in different group setups. Since he can be Secondary Healer (as soon as he has Spreadheal), PBAE Caster or Nuker/DoTer, while not equal to specialized Classes in all cases, he remains quite viable.
  
  
  
  I like to thank XxAvahinxX and MissMage for their valuable Information, I will try to keep this Guide updated. Tykan