Before I get into the post, I’d just like to say that this is more like fun/speculation, than anything, since it is very unlikely for us to see changes based on this in the game. With that said,
The Baseline
First I’d like to touch on what should the baseline warlock look like, without choosing a specialisation, because I think there should be a “connective tissue” between the specs.
Demons
I think the demons should be available on the “Stance Bar” as each represents an answer to a certain situation.
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Changing between demons is now instantaneous
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Outside of combat it costs mana to change/summon a Demon
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In combat it costs 2 Soul Shards
- Exception: For Demonology, it’s only 1 SS
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Every demon has two special abilities, one accessible via command demon, the other through the pet action bar. Using GoSac you will only have access to one!
- Imp: Dispell, Heal
- Felhunter: Kick, Purge
- Succubus: Charm, Slow
- Voidwalker: Defensive CD, AoE Leech
We should also see numerous new glyphs, that can change the appearance of our beloved pets, for example [Imp–>Wyrmtongue];[Succubus–>Aranasi];[Voidwalker–>Felfire Elemental] etc. all the cool models introduced in Legion shouldn’t go to waste!
Greater Demons
We should also talk about cooldowns. I personally think warlocks shouldn’t be cooldown based, but all specs should excel in sustained damage. With that said it is fitting to our fantasy, that we’re able to summon and control more powerful demons for a short period of time.
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Summon Infernal is now available to all specialisations with a 3 minute cooldown
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Summon Doomguard is now available to all specialisations with a 3 minute cooldown
- When you summon him, he silences all enemies near your target for 1 second. This is a similar mechanic, to the Infernal’s stun.
The greater demon summons don’t generate Soulshards, nor do they empower your dot’s or consume your demons. They do their thing, attack the target for 30 seconds, and go back to the Twisting Nether
Greater Demons should also recieve cool costumizations, from the top of my head: [Infernal–>Fel Rever],[Doomguard–>Tyrant][Doomguard–>Inquisitor] etc.
Grimoire of Sacrifice
Some warlocks [Affliction][Destruction] may be tempted to siphon the power of their minions to empower themselves.
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When you have GoSac active you are unable to summon your demons, your stance bar instead shows [Grimoire:Imp];[Grimoire:Voidwalker] etc.
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GoSac causes your spells to sometimes deal damage to the target, and other enemies within 8 yards. (It gets back the AoE component)
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The damage type depends on the sacrificed Demon:
- Imp: Fire
- Voidwalker, Felhunter: Shadow
- Succubus: Shadowflame
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You only gain one ability:
- Imp: Single Magic (Dispell)
- Voidwalker: Shadow Bulwark (Defensive CD)
- Felhunter: Spell lock (Kick)
- Succubus: Whiplash (Slow)
Soul Shards
- The number of Soul Shards is reduced to 4, and consist of 10 fragments for all specializations
- Soul Shards are now visible (think of it as Glyph of Floating Shards becoming baseline), our enemies deserve to know whether or not we have something in store for them
- Out of combat warlocks have ZERO Shards. You will see, that the Specialisation changes I propose will not suffer from ramp-up problems, which would necessitate having active Shards ooc
Armors
Warlock Armors are an essential part of class fantasy, and I think Soul Leech can’t deliver the same thing. It is either overtuned, or useless so bringing back Armors might just give warlocks some survivability, while Soul Leech can become a talent.
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Demon Armor: Increase the Warlock’s Stamina by 15% and Armor by 100%
- Demonic Embrace spell is now removed, and baked into Demon Armor
- Demon Armor should be excellent against melee players, or PvE situations where the warlock needs the extra health and reduced overall damage
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Fel Armor: Reduces Spell damage taken by 30% and if the caster is struck by the same school of magic 3 times consecutively, gain immunity for that school for 3 seconds.
- This can be tuned in PvP to not trigger everytime, and could result in interesting tactics, such as a frost mage weaving in Fire Blasts, so they won’t trigger Fel Armor
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In PvE content this would give Warlocks an immunity, which could be used in creative ways, when you’re able to trigger it. (Think of say pulsating boss damage…)
Spells
I will list here the spells I think all warlocks should have access to, and if some of them might be “replaced” when choosing a specialisation, it will be indicated there.
Offensive Spells
- Corruption: Slow passive SS generator
- Shadow Bolt
- Incinerate
- Sou Fire: Long cast time baseline Shard spender for all specs
- Rain of Fire: Short cast time AoE SS generator with a short cooldown
- Seed of Corruption:Short cast time AoE Shard spender
Defensive Spells
- Drain Life
- Unending Resolve
- Healthstone: Should be more effective then for everybody else
Curses
Only one curse per warlock can be active on a target at a time.
- Curse of the Elements: We would like it back, thank you very much
- Curse of Doom
- Curse of Tongues
- Curse of Recklessness
- Curse of Weakness
Utility
- Create Soulwell
- Ritual of Summoning
- Unending Breath
- Soulstone
Movement
- Demonic Circle
- Demonic Gateway
Crowd Control
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Fear
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Shadowfury: Now instant cast
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Enslave: Now works on Elementals, Aberrations and Demons
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Banish: Now works on Demon Hunters using Meta, Shamans using Ascendance, Shadow Priests in Void Form, Druids using Tree of Life, and Warriors using Avatar
- Only for 3 seconds, with diminishing returns
- It’d be the prime example of a “situational” spell
Misc.
- Eye of Kilrogg
- Ritual of Doom
- Health Funnel
As you can see with this change all locks would have access to both Shadow and Fire damage, as well as a plethora of situational spells in the form of Curses and Banish.
Affliction
We have finally arrived to the first spec, and although I don’t play much affliction, I don’t think UA stacking is fun gameplay. Here the question rises, how could we move away from it, while also staying in the same Soul Shard model with all three specs?
Generators
Affliction should have the following baseline SS generator, which could be expanded with talents. The generation speed of DoTs could be adjusted “to feel”.
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Shadow Bolt: 1 SS
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Corruption: 1 fragment per tick
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Agony: 1 fragment per tick
- I was going back and forth, whether Agony should be included in the curse limit, however if it would, Affliction locks would feel like they can’t use their curses, which I think would suck.
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Haunt: 1 fragment per tick, increases DoT damage on the target by 10%
- Affliction needs at least 3 baseline DoTs, that can also generate SS, after all this is a specialisation based on Damge-over-time effects
Spenders
Currently Affliction has two main spenders, Unstable Affliction for single target, and Seed of Corruption for AoE. If we remove UA stacking, Affliction will have too much spare shards in ST situations.
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Unstable Affliction: Damage and dispell penalty substantially increased, but no longer stacks.
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Drain Life: Costs 3 fragments/tick, increases the effectiveness of your DoTs while channeling by 20%. If you have no shard fragments to spend, Malefic Grasp will not activate
- [Talent Idea]Drain Soul: Diffrent visual, adds an execute mechanic. For targets under 35%, the effectiveness of Malefic Grasp is increased by 10%
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Seed of Corruption: The explosion ceiling might have to be adjusted for it to be competitive
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Souswap: Costs 1 SS, you will be able to move your DoTs around, for easier target swapping.
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[Talent Idea]Deathfire: Replaces Soulfire, the cost is still 2 Shards. Basically Deathbolt, but consumes the DoTs.
- It might be a good way of giving Affliction burst, while also not being a mandatory choice, since consuming the DoTs means they won’t benefit from Malefic Grasp/UA/Haunt
Passives
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Mastery: Potent Afflictions: Increases the effectiveness of your DoTs
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Fearmonger: Fear only breaks 4 seconds after applying the first DoT effect on the Feared target
- Affliction PvP would be thankful for this
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Nightfall: Does what Nightfall does
- I think having a little extra movement while generating Shards would be beneficial for this spec
Demonology
Oh boy! I already feel Dâedra’s looming presence, so I’m gonna try and do this spec justice. I feel like the Wild Imp mechanic introduces serious visual clutter, not to mention the unruly little bastards are also hard to control, so it is time to say goodbye. I also understand the Meta will never come back - I was secretly hoping for at least a class toy - and I think gameplay wise we could do better!
The Demons
Before getting into the Generator/Spender ideas and listing a couple passives, we should talk about demons!
Instead of Wild Imps whenever a Demonology Warlock summons a demon, it summons more of them!
- Summon Imp summons 7 Imps!
- Summon Felhunter summons 5 Felhunters!
- Summon Succubus summons 3 Succubi!
- Summon Voidwalker summons 1, albeit super buff (compared to the other specs) Voidwalker.
- Summon Felguard summons 3 Felguards!
This is also true for your CD-s:
- Summon Doomguard summons 3 Doomguards!
- Summon infernal summons 3 Infernals!
These demons obey to the pet command bar, and are empowered by your mastery, Hand of Gul’dan Usage, and possibly talents.
I feel like Demonologists should allways control a smaller Army, and the kind of it should depend on the situation. Quick target swaps? Imp. AoE? Felguard. Sustained single target? Succubi. Hotel? Trivago.
Generators
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Corruption: Same deal, as Affly, slow but reliable stream of fragments
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Incinerate: 0.5 SS, faster cast time, but low damage
- Probably only for the times, when you can’t cast Shadowbolt
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Shadow Bolt: 1 SS, slower cast time, higher damage
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Soulfire: If you have an active charge of Molten Core, instant cast and generates 2 Soul Shards
- Demonbolt can be a talent, but Soulfire is a classic!
Spenders
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Hand of Gul’dan: 1-3 Soul Shards. Shorter cast time.
- Spending 1 Soul Shard calls down a demonic meteor dealing Shadowflame damage to the target, and the surrounding 8 yards
- Spending 2 Soul Shards also Empowers all your active Demons, increasing their health by 20%, and Damage by 10%
- Spending 3 Soul Shards makes HoG instant cast
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Call Dreadstalkers: 2 Soul Shards, longer cast time
- Shadow Bite dazes the target for 4 seconds.
- Some talents could be introduced, that change the type of demons, and the effect, that comes with it.
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Consumption: 1 Soul Shard, longer cast. 20 seconds cooldown. Drain 10% life from all your active demons, and unleash a blast (8 yards) of Shadow damage at the target equal to the life you’ve stolen.
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Soulfire: Costs 2 Soul Shards, if you have no Molten Core active
Passives
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Mastery: Master Demonologist: Increases the damage done by your demons
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Molten Core: Casting Shadow Bolt and Incinerate has a small chance to make your next Soulfire spell instant cast and generate 2 Soul Shards.
When your summoned Felstalkers fade away you have 100% chance to generate a stack of Molten Core.
If any of your other summoned demons die, or expire you have a 10% chance to gain a stack of Molten Core -
Soul Link
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Master Summoner: Your summon demon abilities are more potent, allowing you to summon and control more demons
- We have talked about this at the demon section
This proposed version of demonology always controls a smaller army, and empowers them, with hand of Gul’dan. Through talents more summons could be gained, as well as talents, that allow you to pick a favourite minion type, for example Succubi with Pleasure Through Pain. We could also see talents like Call Fel Lord, which transform and empower your Shadowfury into something more fitting for the Demonology fantasy.
Destruction
Destruction is supposed to be the master of cleave, but this fact sometimes holds back it’s potential, because you have to balance it’s output accoring to Havoc. Which either makes Chaos Bolts wet noodles, or “too OP pls nerf”. So I will try to suggest something that plays similar to the current iteration, without the drawbacks, and for that I will take some inspirations from the past.
Generators
- Immolate: Replaces Corruption, short cast time generates 1 fragment/tick
- Confalgrate: Instant, generates 1 Soul Shard. It can only be cast on targets affected by Immolate. Grants a stack of Backdraft. Dazes the target for 4 seconds.
- Incinerate: generates 0.3-0.5 Soul Shards, short cast time
- Rain of Fire: Instant, short cooldown, generates fragments for each target affected by it
- Curse of Havoc: Duplicates the single target spells cast by the warlock to this target, with 33-60% (depending on balance…) effectiveness. Only one curse per warlock can be active at a time!
Spenders
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Chaos Bolt: Replaces Soulfire, 2 Soul Shards, long cast time, 20 seconds cooldown.
- Cannot be duplicated by Curse of Havoc
- Pierces through Absorption effects, Shields, and Immunities
- If interrupted the caster suffers blowback, exploding for a considerable amount of Chaos damage, damaging the caster and all allies within 8 yrads.
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Shadow Bolt: (Destruction only) costs 1 Soul Shard, medium cast time, deals more damage, than the other specialisations.
- This is our “new” spamable spender, inspired by WoW:Classic. Make it scary enough
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Fire and Birmstone: Activating FnB allows your Incinerate and Shadow Bolt to hit all targets in an 8 yard radius of the initial target. In this case Incinerate costs 0.5 Soul Shards to cast, but generates for each target hit, and Shadow Bolt Costs 2 Soul Shards. (Shadow Bolt Volley, yay!)
- [Talent Idea]Mannoroth’s Fury: Replaces FnB, when activating Rain of Fire costs 4 Soul Shards to cast, has a 100% increased radius and 100-200% increased damage. The damaging ticks have a small chance to daze the targets for 1 second.
Passives
- Mastery: Chaotic Energies
- Backdraft: Does not affect Chaos Bolt anymore, it affects Incinerate and Shadow Bolt. Cast Time reduction increased to 50%.
Overall this version of Destruction would play similarly to the current iteration, with a little smoother AoE and a giant nuke every 20 seconds.
As you can see I refrained to add talents for each specialisation, because this post is already long enough. I focused on describing a satisfying core gameplay for each spec that is bound together by the fantasy of being a warlock.
Thank you for taking your time, and reading this, I’m looking forward to conducting a stimulating speculation with all of you!