World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Talent Specs

The spec you will choose for leveling your warlock will affect your playing style, but not as heavily as changing talent trees affects other classes (priest, warrior, druid). You'll still be DoTing up your enemies and then nuking them down, while sending your pet in for a fight. The importance of each of these steps is given by your talent build: DoTing is buffed if you follow an Affliction spec, nuking is buffed by a Destruction spec and finally, Demonology increases the strenght of your pet (or it can be used to increase your shadow/fire damage with the Demonic Sacrifice talent).

As a rule of thumb, Affliction will require shorter downtimes between mobs and mob groups, but it also takes up longer to kill them due to the fact that DoTs take around 15-20 seconds to do full damage. Destruction is great for single targets, as you can take down a normal mob in a few seconds with Shadowbolts, Immolates, Searing Pains, Incinerates and Shadowburn.

Demonology is somewhere in between and with a buffed pet, you'll be feeling like you're grinding or leveling with a companion, not solo. You can also go Affliction or Destruction as a secondary tree and that will determine what you'll be doing while your pet is fighting the mobs (you'll be nuking if you go secondary Destruction and DoTing or Draining if you go secondary Affliction). Anyway, I made some leveling warlock builds that you can find in the Warlock Talent Guide section.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Levels 1-20

The first thing you will want to do when starting a Warlock is getting your Imp. He can be obtained at level 1 from your starting area class trainer, but you will probably already be level 3 or so by the time you finish the quest and get your imp. Accomodate with using a pet if you haven't done it before and learn to combine your spells with the Imp's. Levels 1-10 should be a breeze around your starting area and even an inexperienced player will get the hang of Shadowbolting, sending in the Imp and Cursing the mobs you fight.

At level 10 you can acquire the Voidwalker, which changes the tactics a bit. You will now be able to use the Voidwalker as a tank, sending him in to get the mobs' aggro before you start pounding on them with DoTs (Damage over Time spells) or nuking them with Shadowbolt.

The following levels, you can get used to playing a warlock in an instance, in the meantime gearing yourself up with the drops from instances such as The Deadmines, Ragefire Chasm (Horde only) or Wailing Caverns. Either use your pet for a party-wide Stamina buff in instances, or help out the tank by off-tanking with your Voidwalker.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Levels 21-30

At level 20, you can start the quest for your third pet, the Succubus. Since it's a series of quests involved, you will probably already be 21-22 when you get her. You can try out the Succubus for grinding and questing, since it has higher DPS than the voidwalker and can also act as an aggro stealer with its Soothing Kiss ability. At this level, the Succubus is a combination between the imp's DPS and the voidwalker's tanking, so it's best if you use one of those 2 for now.

Alliance warlocks should move on to Redridge Mountans (20-22) or the Wetlands (22-23) and later on in Ashenvale (23-24) which is a good quest hub with nice cloth rewards, but it's also one of the first contested areas you'll be in, so if you're on a PVP server you'll probably get in some quarells when in this area. Horde players still have a lot of quests in the Barrens in their early 20s, especially in the southern part of the zone. Same as with Alliance warlocks, Horde players can move to Ashenvale at 23-24, with the same risks of being ganked on a PVP server.

At around level 22, Deadmines and the Wailing Caverns stop being profitable xp and gear-wise, so your new instances of choice should be Shadowfang Keep (22-30 - closer to Horde areas but available to both factions) and the Stockades (24-32 found in Stormwind, only available for Alliance warlocks). While you're in Ashenvale, regardless if you're Horde or Alliance you will get several quests for Blackfathom Depths (24-32) which can be grinded for some nice experience and cloth gear in your mid to late 20s.

The harpies in The Charred Vale zone in Stonetalon Mountains are a good grind for warlocks at these levels, since they don't have that much HP, they're close together so you can DoT many at a time and they're humanoids so they'll drop nice gold and items, not just crappy gray livers, eyes and brains like most of the beasts in Azeroth.

In addition, at level 27, try getting a party for Razorfen Kraul (26-30). It has some good warlock drops for that level and it can be shorter than other instances, provided you have a good party and don't wipe at every boss. Alliance players will find it harder to get to Razorfen Kraul though, since it's in the middle of the Barrens and you don't have your mount yet. It's also harder to find a party for RFK as an Alliance warlock, but you do have the alternative of going to Gnomeregan (28-32). Gnomeregan is a good experience farm for a lock and some of the items found here you'll be using into the late 30s when you can enter Scarlet Monastery, so I suggest you use this instance as an experience source if you're Alliance. Since Gnomeregan is near Ironforge, Horde players will have a harder time getting here and getting a party, but this doesn't mean you can't try it.

In your late 20s, you can go to Duskwood for a few speed-grinding sessions. One of the best grinding areas for warlocks around levels 28-30 is the Ogre Mound in Duskwood, where you'll be fighting level 28ish Ogres that die fast, give lots of experience and also have good humanoid drops. in addition, a chest spawns in the middle of the Ogre Mound that you can loot regularly and you'll also find some veins/herbs in the surrounding area if you're a miner/herbalist.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Levels 31-40

This level range is intense and quite fun for a warlock. It's where you can really go deeper in your talent tree and chose some nice talents such as Demonic Sacrifice for Demonology locks, Ruin for Destruction locks and Siphon Life for Affliction locks. You'll also have the chance to acquire your fourth pet, the Felhunter at level 30, but the quest line is quite a long one that takes you in various zones on the two continents (The Barrens -> Hillsbrad Foothills -> Thousand Needles -> Wetlands -> Ratchet) so you might as well get the Felhunter a bit later, when you have more than a single reason to go to those areas (besides, the Felhunter is not really that useful in this level range and you'll still be using your Imp/Voidwalker for leveling).

Except for the paladin and the warlock, any other class reaching this level range will have to think about gathering up gold for their level 40 mount. The warlocks get it for free :). But take note that the spells and grimoires that you will get from the warlock trainer and demon trainer will be more expensive than the spell cost for other classes, however you still end up cheaper than if you had to buy a level 40 mount. You can use the extra money on increasing your professions and buying better gear from the AH (or craft it yourself) to give you an edge in solo leveling and in instances.

The 31-40 level range also opens up the opportunity to quest in several areas all over Azeroth. 5 of the most important quest hubs for both Horde and Alliance players are Dustwallow Marsh, Desolace, Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Mountains and Stranglethorn Vale. Hillsbrad Foothills and Stranglethorn Vale are ganking areas on PVP servers, so you might want to skip them until you're level 36ish. From 31 to 36, Desolace is a good grinding place and it's not that crowded with enemy players that you'll lose precious time running back and forth for your body. The Shimmering Flats in Thousand Needles is also a great, compact quest hub at these levels but it's mostly populated by Horde players, so Alliance warlocks might have a harder time on a PVP server.

By level 35 or so, you gain access to one of the best instances for warlocks and cloth wearers: Scarlet Monastery. Its 4 sub-instances (Scarlet Graveyard, Scarlet Library, Scarlet Armory and Scarlet Cathedral, in order of difficulty) will be your main instances until level 42-43 and besides being relatively fast instances with a high experience output, they offer some great warlock drops that will last you for some time (except the Scarlet Armory, which is almost useless for Warlocks). Arcanist Doan, the final boss from the Scarlet Library wing should be farmed until you get Hypnotic Blade and Bloodmage Thalnos, the final boss in Scarlet Graveyard for the Orb of the Forgotten Seer. The Hypnotic Blade and Orb of the Forgotten Seer combination is one of the best 1-hand + offhand pairs at this level range.

The only bad part about Scarlet Monastery is that Alliance warlocks will have to travel a long distance on foot to get to it, but it's worth it. Another instance that opens up at level 38 is Razorfen Downs, but again, Alliance warlocks will have to travel a long distance on foot to get to the southern part of the Barrens. The drops in Razorfen Downs are mostly for priests, since there are a lot of cloth items with high Spirit stats, but there is one item, the Lady Falther'ess' Finger, which is one of the best +Shadow damage wands for a long time.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Levels 41-50

Since you finally get your mount at level 40 (almost free) traveling to areas where it would have been hard to get before is now an ok job. Scarlet Monastery and its Cathedral wing becomes more accessible for Alliance warlocks and Uldaman for Horde ones.

You can now hold your ground in Stranglethorn Vale a bit better, even on a PVP server. There are plenty of quests here and it's usually easy to find a party for some quests here, with STV being one of the major questing and grinding hubs of the late 30s and early 40s. You can get some nice experience just by grinding raptors, which are level 40ish and stay in packs, so you can DoT several ones and gobble up the experience they shed out. However, they don't have very good drops, so only do this for experience grinding.

Another good grinding spot at levels 42-44 is the Camp Cagg in Badlands. Full of equal level Ogres, the camp is an experience farm and with the ogres being humanoids, you'll also have some quality drops. They can be seduced, feared and the mages can be spell locked if needed.

You're now at the right moment to go to Uldaman...but is it worth it? I'd stay away from it as a warlock, since it offers almost NO warlock or mage drops whatsoever. Just run through it once and get all the quests done, but there's really no item worth farming for in here and it's a pretty long instance with some "wipe opportunities".

Instead, there are two areas that can be used for getting the next few levels, through grinding and questing. Tanaris and Searing Gorge are both compact regions (more so Searing Gorge) that have a lot of fun and easy quests for you. Gaining 1 level per hour in these areas is possible at first, if you focus on quests alone.

Once you're level 45, you should get some Zul Farak parties and once you're throught with them, fly to Feralas. Although Feralas doesn't have as many quests as other zones, it's one of the best grinding spots around this level range. Of course, if you hate grinding, finish all the quests in Tanaris and Searing Gorge, or do Zul Farak runs until level 49. If you DO like grinding, here's what to grind for in Feralas:

Frayfeather Highlands (levels 45-46) - Hippogryphs that are easy to kill and give you nice experience. Average drops.

Ruins of Ravenwind (levels 48- 49) - Harpies that are easy to kill, but have some nasty damage. They give out good experience amounts and good drops, being humanoids. There are also a few chests laying around in this area.

Maraudon should be the instance of choice around these levels and it will take you quite some time to get through all the quests inside it. By the time you're done with them, you should be level 49 at least.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Levels 51-58

I found this level range one of the most fun to gain experience in as a warlock. You will get your 41 point talent which is a major boost to your leveling. You can still go through Maraudon as it will be one of the few viable instances left in the beginning of the 50s, at least until you can start getting parties to Sunken Temple (usually around level 52-53). Sunken Temple has nice warlock drops and it's here that you will get your warlock quest item from (Soul Harvester, Abyss Shard or Robes of Servitude). Another instance you can start with is Blackrock Depths but it's so damn hard to find a party for BRD, because everyone hates it (long instance, annoying fights).

For questing, Felwood and Un'Goro Crater should be your main targets. Un'Goro has plenty of quests and is a relatively compact area, which is a bonus for a warlock. Since there is a high density of mobs around the Crater, Affliction locks have it best, since they can just spread DoTs around, or Seed of Corruption grind them.

Felwood on the other hand is easy for any talent spec. The furbolg camps were my prefered grinding spot, since those gullible furbolgs die way to easily and they also have good drops. If you're after the Timbermaw reputation for some reason (1h Agi enchant recipe for example) even better. The furbolgs there are around level 50 and you can easily round up 6-7 of them and DoT them or even AoE them with Rain of Fire and Shadowfury if you're Destruction.

For levels 56-58 you should aim for three targets:

• Scholomance, good warlock gear and nice experience (it's also rather fast compared to other instances)

• Winterspring quests • Winterspring - Yeti Cave and Owl Wing Thicket - both are good experience grinding farms with reasonable drops and easy-to-kill mobs for warlocks.

Doing quests in the Burning Steppes and grinding the orcs at the base of the Blackrock Mountain is also a good choice to gain a few easy levels. You can easily get 60k experience per hour here with quests and 40k simply by grinding.

Eastern and Western plaguelands are not the best leveling zones for warlocks, since most of the undead mobs there will be resistant to shadow and experience grinding will go slower. And since you can skip right on to the Outlands at level 58, the Plaguelands can be avoided.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Outland

Outland areas offer a visibly larger quantity of quests per area, which makes earning experience an easier task. Basically, you'll find yourself spending less time looking for zones to grind in and quests to do, since you'll have clearer objectives. The zone order is usually Hellfire Peninsula -> Zangarmarsh -> Terrokar Forrest -> Nagrand/Blade's Edge -> Netherstorm/Shadowmoon Valley.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide - Levels 58 and 59: Go through the portal and get to Honor Hold or Thrallmar - that's your main objective. You can do the quests around the portal (level 59ish) and combine them with runs to Stratholme Undead side, since it's an instance you will have a lot of drops to look forward to. Upper Blackrock Spire and Dire Maul West/North can also offer you some items that can last you through the first levels in Outland. Once you're level 59, you can start doing the Honor Hold/Thrallmar quests in Outland and you won't really need to go back to Azeroth or the Azeroth instances. Remember, mobs in Azeroth will give you lower xp than mobs in Outland of the same level. So if you're going to grind strictly for experience, there's no question about it, Outland is hands on better for warlock powerleveling.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide - Level 60 and 61: the Eastern and Central Hellfire Peninsula will be your home for these two levels. Doing the quests here can boost you to 61 quickly and you also have 2 great grinding spots. One is in the Bone Wastes south of Honor Hold, where you'll find packs of Vultures fluttering around. Affliction warlocks can take down 5-6 at a time without too much trouble. They don't drop a lot of valuable items or a lot of gold, but they drop buzzard meat that you can use to make Buzzard Bites (20 Stamina and Spirit for 30 minutes) which are great for leveling warlocks. The second grinding spot that works well with Destruction locks is the orcs around the path of glory. They're harder to kill for Affliction locks, but destruction builds can single-target them to death in a matter of seconds. Although they're humanoids, I didn't find so many good drops on them (maybe I was just unlucky though). If you still need some experience to level 62, get a few Hellfire Ramparts runs going.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide - Level 62: Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace runs will be your main experience source and make sure you take all quests that can be completed in these two instances. If you can get to Honored reputation before moving on to the western part of Hellfire Peninsula that would be great (since you get less rep after Honored from these runs, but you still get the full amount a quest will give you). The Temple of Sha’naar/Falcon Watch quests should provide an easy pass to level 63.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide - Level 63: Zangarmarsh is an easy zone for warlocks, as the mobs are tightly packed, which makes them a juicy opportunity for a multi-dot grinding tecnhique. This is also a large area, with lots of quests and really, questing should be your main experience source at 63. There are a few areas worth avoiding as a lock, namely the Naga camps around the Zangarmarsh lakes. The mobs there have a longer aggro range and can't be controlled as easily and you'll find yourself fearing mobs into other mobs, getting youreslf overwhelmed quickly.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide - Level 64: Slave Pens, Underbog and Auchenai Crypts in Terokkar Forrest are good experience farms at level 64, but don't forget about the western part of Zangarmarsh for the Orebor Harborage/Zabra’Jin quest hubs. The ogres in the north-western Zangarmarsh area are a good grind, with nice drops and good experience output, but they're easier to grind by a destruction lock than an affliction one.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide - Levels 65-67: Late level 64 and level 65 are good for starting Terokkar Forrest and as a warlock, you can basically start in any area of Terokkar, since you can handle higher level mobs. The area south of Allerian Stronghold (the north-eastern part of the Auchinodun crater) is full of spiders that are so easy to kill they're a joke. Besides the fact that you can kill 5-6 at a time with DoTs and Howl of Terror or Seed of Corruption, they also drop Netherweb Spider Silk which you can use for leveling up tailoring and crafting some nice leveling gear for yourself (Imbued Netherweave Set), or you can save it for later and use it on the Frozen Shadoweave/Spellfire set items. If you're not a tailor, the Spider Silk is a high selling item in the Auction House. When you're done in Terokkar, I'd go for Nagrand instead of Blade's Edge, because Blade's Edge is harder to get around without a flying mount and Nagrand has slightly better drops from the elementals roaming around there. The Elemental Plateau in north-eastern Nagrand is good for leveling and awesome for money-making, but there are two problems related to it: 1. it is almost always full of mote grinders, 2. one part of the plateau is filled with Fire Elementals, which makes it harder for a destruction lock to grind there.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – 68-70: In theory levels 68, 69 and 70 are easy to get, since you can now group for almost any normal instance in Outland and you can quest wherever you please. However, the quests in Shadowmoon and Netherstorm become harder and often require a group to finish and there are plenty of mobs in both zones that are resistant to fire or shadow, making it even harder for a warlock to get these final levels through questing/grinding. One good place to grind experience and gold though is in Netherstorm, around the manaforges. The mobs there are humanoid blood elves with good drops in gold and items and they also drop Scryer reputation signets which can be sold, used or traded for Aldor signets. The tight packs of mobs makes this a great area for Seed of Corruption AOE grinding, especially if you get help from either a warrior or a frost mage to keep the mobs in a single cluster.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Profession Tips

Tailoring is a good option for warlocks, especially in the later stage of the game where you will be able to create some powerful BoP tailoring items (Robe of the Void, Frozen Shadoweave or Spellfire Set, etc). However, if you find yourself low on money and the spells + grimoires sucking up all your WoW gold, you can try getting two money-making professions such as mining or herbalism and switch to Tailoring later on (you can save some Linen/Wool/Silk/Mageweave while you grind and level).

The Herbalism/Alchemy combination is great for boosting your leveling speed with some pots and they can also be good money-makers as well. Later on, Herbalism/Alchemy is a great profession combo for raiding Warlocks, so if you intend to raid at level 70 go for either this, or Tailoring and something else.

For PVP, Mining and Engineering is an option and you'll confuse the hell out of that warrior or rogue when a clothie ninjas the Mining Vein in front of him. Mining is also good for making money but this combination is not all that great if you intend to PVE later on.

World of Warcraft Warlock Leveling Guide – Gear

You can check out some of the best items for leveling warlocks in our Warlock 1-60 Gear Guide and once you're level 58-59 and go to Outland, you can find out some of the best loot there in our Warlock Outland Gear Guide . Basically, what you should be looking for in your gear depends on your talent build.

If you're an Affliction or Demonology/Affliction warlock, +hit and +spell damage (or +shadow damage, although that kind of gear is hard to find until the higher levels) should be your main focus, next to physical stats like Stamina and Intellect. Actually Stamina and Intellect are important for all 3 talent trees, with the addition that Intellect is crucial for Destruction warlocks, since they're the most inefficient and need a big mana pool and since they need the most +crit and Intellect can deliver that.

Staff or 1-handed and off-hand? Doesn't really matter. Just add up the stats and spell effects on your main hand and off-hand items and see if they're over or below what the staff offers. Not like you'll be using them for melee anyway (except when you're killing squirells in Darnassus).