I am new to warlock, working toward completionist, therefore only leveling to 20, then moving on to the next class.
With that in mind, how do you play your warlock, especially in lower levels? Do you depend on your aura for AOE damage and melee close combat with a weapon? Or are you ranging using the Eldritch blast? Are there many DPS spells at low level? Seems to be mostly buffs and CC.
Thanks in advance.
Hey there, happy to clarify and share some thoughts, as warlocks (especially the Enlightened Spirit type) are not particularly intuitive for those who have not played them before
In heroic levels, the DPS is basically from
> the
Eldritch aura (which ticks faster as you progress levels and take higher core abilities)
> the 'cleave' magical attacks (which don't require melee combat) from
T3 'Edritch Burst' and
T5 'Spirit Blast'
> the extra dmg from the
imbue you get from T4 'Spiritual Retribution'
- this is dished out automatically via the aura, as well as via the Eldritch Burst and Spirit Blast attacks (the only imbue that lets you do that!)
- this scales with spellpower, which the Enlightened Spirit tree helps boost
- the number of imbue dice can be increased via the tree as well (e.g. core 5 grants +3 imbue die), but the vast majority of the die increase will come from epic/legendary levels
> a very limited number of spells, such as Evard's Tentacles and Arcane tempest, as the vast majority of the spells (as you pointed out) are buffs, de-buffs, CC an insta-kills,
> insta-kill spells (for things that are not immune to it, insta-kill is a great form of DPS)
This build does
NOT do any melee combat with a weapon. This is a caster, for all intents and purposes.
So you throw a de-buff (e.g. 'Hypnotism', and later levels 'Crushing Despair'), followed by a CC spell (e.g. at low levels 'Command' and 'Web', then 'Evard's', 'Hold Monster', and 'Howl of Terror'), and close in at melee range for the aura dmg to passively proc automatically, basically freeing you to be a proper caster, and cast insta-kills and de-buffs as you progressively get them in your spell book.
The fully-realised concept here is to dish out free automatic dmg via the eldritch aura (inc a bunch of dmg effects that proc on spellcasting, such as Dripping with Magma; Draconic Incarnation Mantle, etc.), while the warlock:
- CC mobs
- insta-kills with several spells
- casts some damage-dealing Epic Destiny spells (one of which is the Dragon Breath Vortex, which works like an aura as well)
A couple of things to bear in mind:
1. the disclaimer I shared right at the start of the build:
I absolutely and categorically detest Eldritch Blasting! I personally find the animation very slow, robotic, and monotonous/tedious. It also makes casting spells very clunky because of the pauses between stopping blasting - casting - starting blasting again. Using the aura is the only way I can stand to play Warlocks. I have actually grown to love the aura, as I can cast freely while it passively deals AoE damage every 2 seconds for me. Combined with Dragon Breath: Energy Vortex, playing this char feels great! This may not be considered by some as the 'most efficient' way to play this class and/or this build, but I don't really care (forgive my sincerity). It's a fun way to play it, and it works very well for the aims I propose below. Hope you enjoy it if you decide to give it a go!
If you can bear using Eldritch Blasting from range, that playstyle could potentially work better at very low levels ref DPS (in which case you might want to go with a different tree as the main tree for a while, then reset into this build once you get enough APs and CC/insta-kill spells). When I levelled my char the imbue dmg did not exist in the tree, so aura dmg has been boosted a little since then: might be worth giving Enlightened Spirit a try.
2. this build really shines later in the game, particularly once it gets access to Epic Destiny damage dealing spells. You mentioned wanting to go only up to level 20, so some trying & testing might be the best way for you to gauge if the speed and amount of DPS you are used to will be found in this build.
Hope this was useful, and that, if anything, the build helps you discover your way around the Warlock class and inspire the choices you make