Warlock Level 58 Boost Guide

With TBC Classic comes a new feature allowing you to boost a character to Level 58. While this can save you days of leveling, however, it can be severely overwhelming picking up a new class for the first time, especially because Warlocks have a plethora of Spells, abilities, stats, and talents. This page is dedicated to those of you that have boosted a Warlock to Level 58 in preparation for TBC Classic.

Warlocks can play a handful of different Races, each with their own special Racial abilities that can give you an edge in the PvE scene. Which one you choose is solely up to how much you want to maximize your performance or what you prefer aesthetically.

As Alliance, unfortunately, you will not be able to be the new and mighty Draenei but instead you have two choices to choose from: Human and Gnome. Out of these two choices, Gnome offers not only the better offensive racial ability with Expansive Mind which increases your Intellect by 5%, but also Escape Artist which allows you to escape any immobilization or movement speed reduction effects. Both can be useful while leveling. The Intellect return might not be much at this gear level, but it is better than nothing, along with being able to get out of some cheeky mechanics with Escape Artist.

As Horde, you have three races to choose from: Undead, Orc, or the new Horde race, The Blood Elf. Out of these three options, Orc is the strongest race. Command Buffs your demons' damage by 5%, making your new demon Summon Felguard 5% stronger. Orcs also have Blood Fury, which was reworked in TBC so it now increases your Spell Power(SP) by 143 for 15 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. It also reduces healing effects on you by 50%. This is very strong and is the reason Orcs are the best pick for PvE. 143 Spell Power is actually a ton of Spell Power to have for free. To put it in perspective, some on-use trinkets at Level 70 give you 150 SP. A flask gives you 80 SP. Be careful with the 50% reduction to oncoming healing, however. Lastly, Orcs have Hardiness, giving them an additional 15% chance to resist stun effects.

The following buiids are what we suggest for leveling. Which one you choose is based off of your gameplay and how you are leveling. The gear you get as a boosted Warlock is very bad and for that, we have built a few specs for you to choose from to help get your freshly-boosted Warlock leveled up. While there are many variations to decide from, we believe these two are the best; each one has a very different playstyle. If you are looking for end game focused builds please check out our other guides for Warlocks so that you can decide what fits your playstyle best at Level 70.

The first build that we suggest to use on your freshly-boosted Warlock is Affliction. This is a very good leveling build, with many talents like Improved Corruption, Empowered Corruption, Improved Curse of Agony, Siphon Life, and Unstable Affliction that will all help you in doing as much damage as you can, while Contagion and Shadow Mastery significantly boost your DoT damage. You also have good Health and Mana regen with Dark Pact, Siphon Life, Improved Drain Soul, Improved Life Tap, and Soul Siphon allowing for minimal downtime, as well as being able to "Drain-tank" with Fel Concentration. After you pick up Unstable Affliction, it is suggested to put the rest of your points into Demonology for some tankiness with Demonic Embrace and Improved Healthstone. Continue to go down the Demonology Tree until you reach Fel Domination, while filling in the rest of your points in Demonic Aegis, Fel Stamina and Fel Intellect making your Demon Armor stronger and also giving you 3% more Health and Mana.

Your full talent tree as a Level 60 Affliction Warlock will look like this:

The second build that we suggest to use on your freshly-boosted Warlock is Demonology. This is a superb leveling build and one that I suggest for anyone who wants to play with our new demon: Summon Felguard. This is a very powerful build that allows you to lean more on your Felguard for damage, thus alleviating some of the gearing issues that you have. The Felguard is a very strong demon that can help carry you early game while your stats are still on the lower end and as you get better gear, your Felguard will also get stronger. Many talents like Unholy Power, Master Demonologist, and Demonic Tactics make your Felguard a very powerful force. Not only that, but with many talents like Demonic Embrace, Improved Healthstone, Fel Stamina, and Fel Intellect you are about as tanky as you can get! The points put into the Affliction tree allow you to get your Corruption down to no cast time, which is very helpful when gathering up mobs. Simply send your Felguard in, put your DoTs up, and watch him cleave his way though your enemies.

Your full talent tree as a Level 60 Demonology Warlock will look like this:

While both Destruction Specs, Fire and Shadow, are good for running dungeons, they both fall short for questing and leave you running out of Mana much faster than the other specs listed above. The goal here is to keep grinding with as little downtime as possible and Destruction will leave you sitting on the ground drinking and eating more. It cannot be recommended for a character boosted to Level 58 at this time.

As you can imagine, there are a ton of spells, curses, and abilities Warlocks have. Many of them we use, but quite a few remain untouched while leveling. This section will showcase each spell in the Warlock arsenal, what they do, when you use them, and why you should. If you do not see a spell listed here, then it has no use while leveling your Warlock and you do not even need to put it on your action bars.

Corruption — This is a DoT and one that you will use more than the others. It is a very powerful DoT that will also help proc Nightfall. You should be looking to put it on as many enemies as you can without dying to their attacks.

Siphon Life — This is a DoT and an Affliction spell only. This will heal you over time as well, making this one of your best spells while questing. Use this just like you would your other DoTs and put it on as many enemies as you can without dying to their attacks.

Drain Life — This is used frequently to keep yourself alive. If you are low on health, then Drain Life for some health. This will also help proc Nightfall.

Searing Pain — This is an excellent filler spell to finish off any enemies close to death.

Immolate — This spell does decent damage up-front and then the rest is a DoT on a relatively short cooldown. This is a good ability to use while leveling if you can afford to stand still and cast it.

Hellfire — This emits fire around you and is your best source of AoE damage at the cost of your own health. Use this to AoE; just watch your health! This is the highest-damage AoE spell we have until Seed of Corruption at Level 70.

Unstable Affliction — This is a very powerful DoT and also an Affliction-only spell. This is a very good spell for leveling. The extra damage from the DoT can help pick up some slack from the bad starter gear provided to a boosted character. You want to put this up as much as you can.

Shadow Bolt — This is used as your filler after your DoTs are up.

Life Tap — Gives you Mana in exchange for your health. Use this when you need Mana, but make sure you do not get too low and die. While you cannot kill yourself with Life Tap, you can leave yourself dangerously low on health and be easily killed.

Death Coil — This is an instant-cast 3-second Horrify effect that heals you for the damage dealt. Use this when you need health and have to move. This can also be used as a form of CC and interrupt.

Dark Pact — This is an Affliction-only talent. You use it when you would otherwise Life Tap and need Mana.

Howl of Terror — This is an AoE Fear that will fear all enemies around you, rather than one enemy at a time. This should be used frequently, especially with Improved Howl of Terror. Be careful not to pull extra mobs on accident!

Fel Domination — This reduces the summoning time for your next demon by 5.5 seconds and the Mana cost by 50%. This is useful for Demonology if your pet dies.

Amplify Curse — This is an Affliction-only spell. It will increase the base damage of Curse of Agony or Curse of Doom by 50%, or the slow of Curse of Exhaustion by 20%.

Health Funnel — This heals your pet at the cost of your own health. Use this to keep your demon alive.

Soul Link — This is a Demonology-only talent. It will transfer 20% of damage that you take to your demon and increases damage done by you and pet by 5%. This will make you very tanky.

Drain Soul — This is only used for Soul Shards. Only use Rank 1 (Drain Soul) since you only need it to get Shards, not do damage.

Fear — You will use this frequently while you are leveling. Note that Curse of Recklessness overrides Fear. If an enemy starts to run into another pack, you can quickly use Curse of Recklessness on that enemy and it will stop them from running away due to Fear.

Banish — This is the other primary CC you can use. You can only Banish a Demon or Elemental. Make sure to slot both Rank One and Rank Two Banish, as you switch between the two frequently.

Shadow Ward — This absorbs shadow damage. It is great while farming mobs that do Shadow damage.

Create Healthstone — These are used like health potions and are consumed quite frequently. It is important that you keep one made at all times.

Demon Armor — Your main Armor. This gets replaced by Fel Armor at Level 62.

Warlocks have a multitude of Curses that we use situationally. It can be daunting to some on which to use in a given scenario. This section is to aid you in knowing which curses you can expect to use while leveling your freshly-boosted Warlock. There are only two curses you should use while leveling. The others lack damage and you do not need their utility for leveling.

Curse of Agony — This is a slow-ramping, instant-cast DoT. Use this to apply more damage to your enemies. This is an excellent spell for rounding up mobs.

Curse of the Elements — This is the former Curse of the Elements and Curse of Shadows curses combined into one. This will buff your damage by 10%, or 13% if specced into Malediction. You can use this instead of Curse of Agony, however it is suggested to use Agony for more damage.

Your job is to grab and kill as many enemies as possible, while not wasting too much time drinking and eating. You want as little downtime as possible if you are looking to be fast and efficient. You can choose to fight mobs one at a time, or mass pull multiple mobs.

For single-target, not including the bonuses from whichever spec you decided, simply put your dots up and Drain Life or Shadow Bolt. Make sure your DoTs are getting good value on your target — at least 70% of the duration of the DoT. If the target is dying before then, then do not use every DoT and instead use your fillers Shadow Bolt or Drain Life earlier. Make sure to take advantage of Improved Drain Soul, allowing you to simply Drain Soul and get 15% of your Mana back as long as you get the killing blow!

1. Use Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Curse of Agony, and Siphon Life on your Target.
2. Use Drain Life as a filler if you need health.
3. Use Shadow Bolt as a filler if you do not need health.
4. Use Dark Pact or Life Tap when you are moving and need Mana.

For pulling multiple targets, run around around and DoT up as many enemeies as you feel comfortable with handling. Plant your feet and use Drain Life and Shadow Bolt until your enemies die. Feel free to use Hellfire and Rain of Fire if you would like to, however both are Mana-intensive and the goal here is to not have to sit and drink.

1. Use Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Curse of Agony, and Siphon Life on as many enemies as you feel comfortable pulling.
2. Use Drain Life as a filler if you need health.
3. Use Shadow Bolt as a filler if you do not need health.
4. Use Hellfire at your own discretion.
5. Use Dark Pact or Life Tap when you are moving and need Mana.

1. Spell Damage;
2. Stamina;
3. Spell Hit;
4. Spell Critical Strike;
5. Intellect;
6. Spirit.

Spell Hit is not as important when leveling as it is when it comes to Raiding, Dungeons or even PvP due to Suppression. Although Stamina does not give you damage, it keeps you alive. Not only that, but due to Demonic Knowledge the Stamina you have also gives your Summon Felguard Stamina, which in turn makes you both stronger. Spell Crit does not mean much at all while leveling because our DoTs do not Crit and we are largely using DoTs while leveling.