Thursday, March 20, 2008

Warlock retort


Warlock and Moonkin rebuff

So yesterday I rambled on about locks and the classes I can defeat as a Moonkin.

This was the reply I got:

Horns said...
I can't believe you have problems vs. melee as a moonkin; they barely touch me when I respec, which is often lately.You'll have a lot more trouble vs. rogues on your warlock, trust me. Oh and, it's Seed of Corruption, not Destruction ;)


For those of you who don’t know who Horns is, he’s the notorious author of Yet Another Warlock Nerf! Which is a great blog in case you’ve never read it and has an incredible sense of humor.

So first I will correct myself and it’s Seed of Corruption. I believe I felt like it was Destruction because every time I have that thing on me it seems like I don’t last another two seconds. Terminology should be correct though so there’s that.

Now in response to the whole melee thing I can say this. If a Rogue gets the drop on my and kidney shots me, I usually don’t have the chance to cast out of that form or regroup enough to do much of anything. By the time that Kidney shot finally elapses I’m usually about halfway through my hps. Switching to caster to self heal just leaves the door open for faster punishment and they’re close enough that they can continue bridging the gap between us to just end it quickly. The close proximity and the advantage of having taken out half my hps before I can retaliate really do just screw with my sense of timing and I go into freak out mode. =/

Warriors, I can take’em out because I see them coming. Just root them, they can’t get close enough to do much of anything.

Against other druids, (Bears and Kitties), well that can go either way. I have seen many druids go caster, cast life bloom and go back to melee forms, which draws out the fight and it’s basically which runs out first, their health or my mana. 9 times out of 10, I win.

The thing that I do end up bringing with me recently is mana/health pots. Reason being is because I have so many AV tokens that I can just waste them to get some nice rebuffs.

So, there you go Horns. I would love to learn how you handle the specific classes and your thoughts on how rogues will be more painful as a Warlock.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I usually spec like this.

If you want, you can put the point from Omen of Clarity into Subtlety (in restoration), but I personally find it useful in certain situations.

As for balance talents, Force of Nature is useful (as well as Wrath of Cenarius), but having instant cast Healing Touch will save your ass on many occasions; usually those when you fight 3v1 and beat em all. Don't even use Nature's Swiftness for Cyclone or Roots or whatever, save it for Healing Touch.
Here's a macro if you want:
/stopcasting
/cancelform
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/cast Healing Touch


I wrote about druid macros awhile back here.


Now, the practical part.


Vs. rogues

If they don't Cheap Shot (CS) you from stealth, you win. If however they do manage to sneak up on you (which will happen in most cases), here's how to get out of it. First, never use your trinket on cheap shot. If you don't have the trinket, get it asap. Don't forget you can use Barskin when stunned, so that's the first thing you should do after CS. As soon as the rogue Kidney Shots (KS) you, use the trinket and cast Nature's Grasp. He will most likely use Cloak of Shadows, so for the next 5 seconds try not to die. Go bear form and use Bash; if you're at least a bit lucky it won't be dodged. That's your chance to Cyclone him fast. Cast Regrowth on yourself, and start casting Roots so it grasps him as soon as Cyclone breaks (get NECB, Quartz or some other addon if you don't have timers). If however he uses his trinket after Bash+Cyclone combo, try to get into Travel Form to get some distance, and then Root him.
The aforementioned macro is your panic button so use it if you're low on health (duh). Try to stay in Boomkin form since it gives you a significant boost to armor. Try to stay away from the rogue as much as possible via constant root & cyclone. Fakecasting is also important since you don't want your nature school interrupted. Don't forget to cast Faerie Fire on him so he can't Vanish, and try to time Starfire nukes right after Cyclone breaks - Starfire stuns really help. Again, fakecasting is essential here, if he missed with Kick you can freely Root/Cyclone which gives you a major advantage. HoT yourself when possible, and don't remember to stay in Moonkin. He should go down eventually. Oh, keep Abolish Poison up, especially if he has Wound poison.



Vs. warriors

Use the same means of escaping as versus rogues, other than that I don't know what to say - they're much easier to beat due to limited amount of counters, unlike rogues.


Vs. warlocks

You die. Unless they are mentally challenged or poorly geared. Or both. Fear + Drain Life is just scary vs. a druid, and unless you can get a lucky streak of crits on them, you're wasted.



Vs. priests (both shadow and discipline)

I usually hope they have no experience vs. moonkins and don't use Mana Burn. If they do, you're in trouble; hard to nuke them down fast enough.


Vs. whatever else, you can only loose if they are significantly better geared.

Enhancement shaman are easily kiteable, some even spam Purge constantly and keep dispelling your Lifebloom.

Hunters are in most cases retarded and can't do anything but Serpent Sting and pet attack (remember to Abolish poison often). The tactic you mentioned is quite alright; root them, Hibernate the pet, get into their melee range and pew pew. If the hunter and his pet turn red, you're in a bit of trouble, but only for 18 seconds. Instant HT ftw!

Mages will go oom faster than you if you keep healing yourself; shift to Travel whenever you're freezed by Nova.

Resto druids aren't worth it, it's a waste of mana since they will escape unless you have help. Feral can't do enough dps if you stay in boomkin with HoT's on you; root them, they can't shift as much as you due to their very limited mana. Against other moonkins, ... well what do you think?

Retributors can burst you down real quick, but can't kill you with instant Healing Touch. Use Nature's Grasp, let em blow Blessing of Freedom.

Death Knights are just imbalanced so don't try to avoid them at all costs. Oh wait... nevermind.




Now, I don't know how much resilience you got, but without at least 250, most classes will kick your ass if they are better geared (read: 400+ resilience).


And for fucks sake, don't listen to people and put talent points into Brambles. I read it on one very popular druid blog some time ago and... Oh I better not go there. Just promise me, ok?



I'll be doing warlock vs. x guides soon so stay tuned. In short, warlocks have almost no escape abilities and rogues are a major pain in our behind, and that's exactly where they want to be.

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