HI,
I have read very conflicting guides about leveling affliction in Classic. The main guide i used, said to spec a certain way, now they changed there mind as they saying that void walker not very good in Classic ‘they are right as he barely keeps threat’.
With me being level 34 what are people’s thoughts on drain tanking build? I see different ones online and not sure which ones are better.
I am finding I am losing mana a lot and die more often than I would like and can sort of handle 2 mobs if mana lasts.
So yea looking into drain tanking. Any suggestions for this and what pet to use?
Thank you
1 Like
I only ever had a lock as an alt but I was always aff!! Send in the void to a mob, dot it up then dot up another, life tap, life tap, then just drain your own mob and let your dots and the void work down the other. Spam shadowbolts on nightfall procs and continue life tapping / life draining. You can even dot up a 3rd and keep fearing it, it’s the perfect non aoe grinding spec as far as I was concerned
I couldn’t beleived they removed life tap in BFA, the life draining / siphon life idea with life tap appealed to me so much.
I guess they can’t please everyone 
4 Likes
The moment i switched from void tanking to drain tanking my leveling speed increased dramatically. Im full affliction now and can handle 2-3 mobs at the same time if need be. Get imp lifedrain and reduced intrupt chance asap.
Void is not as good as ps ppl said it was so drain tanking all the way mate.
4 Likes
Use all dots and drain life and fear and then if u see ally do the same and kill ally 1v5 i do it all the time also succubus is good for sleep i just fear and sleep and fear and sleep and fear and sleep and then mostly dead is hilarious when little gnome soul is sucked into my bag as a soul shard
4 Likes
Use Succubus, the voidwalker is a lesser version and less effective. She hits hard and if you get ganked, you can seduce.
Drain life tank, I leveled all to SM, then put the rest in desto up to ruin and it was quickly and easy to level.
Dont use the voidy to tank, you can do it with Drain life easy. Stack shadow spell power as you level up = 100% better.
3 Likes
thank you all for all your replies. I will give it a go. So Succibus seems better than Imp then?
Voidwalker really is not great in Classic. He really does try and his shield can be nice, but overall just not good.
1 Like
Hello,
I switched from an affliction + 3/3 improved voidwalker, to a dark pact drain tanking build at lvl 42 (lvl 50 now). I realized my kill speed was kind of bad with the voidwalker, and it failed to keep threat from just regular DoTs and wanding. It worked very well though as long as the Gravestone Scepter from BFD was relevant, until early/mid 30’s.
Switching to draintanking, kill speed has probably doubled. Downtime has increased slightly and i usually kill mobs right when the initial corruption is finished.
However, I would say that survivability as with draintanking is a little bit lower, so you gotta pull out that VW for elites or other hard pulls.
In my opinion, Dark Pact is crucial for this build, although the skill itself is quite underwhelming as it only transfers 150 mana. You gotta get an easy key binding for it and start tapping whenever given the chance. At times, you need to turn of that auto-cast lash of pain as well. You can play around with having imp isntead of succubus, but i do believe that dark pact requires a succubus.
Also, spellpower is, if possible, ever more important with this build than with VW/wand build. As you’re dishing out even more spell damage, which really feeds into your mana efficiency.
2 Likes
Orc IQ, succubus can’t sleep you big dumbo.
2 Likes
thank you very much! I have rarely seen spell power drops so far.
Were you using Imp pr Succubus?
Thanks again
I’m using succubus, and imp for instances. For spell power, i recommend you buy/craft some parts from the shadoweave tailoring collection, with level requirements ranging from 37-44. Another solid item come from your lvl 35 warlock quest, you can get an off-hand piece called Orb of Dar’orahil. These are quite convenient as they do not rely on chance for you to acquire. They will also probably last you until your mid-50’s or even later.
There are some items dropping in Scarlet Monastery (Dagger), zul’farrak (mask) and maraudon as well. Speaking for myself, i’m not your regular instance grinder, i just try to run every instance once or twice for quests.
2 Likes
IM NOT DUMBO call me smarto typical of ALL ALLY to bully Kork for NO REASON maybe like my pap say: if they hate u they jealous of ur sucess pvp or pvp tryin
3 Likes
I believe drain tanking is best, then pick the pet you like most.
You can still use the VW for hard and fast hitting mobs, he doesnt need to hold aggro all the time, most of the time is also fine and then you drain their last 40%.
As for me I play full destro, its much more powerful if you need to wack something down fast, just start pumping shadowbolts at max range. Its also better vs caster mobs imo, and in dungeons. And in PvP.
But it falls down in continuous grinding of normal mobs. I end up drinking more than I should.
1 Like
I level with succubus using talents improving drain life. On pservers, voidwalker was the best for leveling, but here it can barely hold aggro. Succubus can hold aggro almost as good as void, but has better damage and has more mana so you can use dark pact which reduces downtime even more. Plus you have seduction when ganked/stunned. I use voidwalker only when need to pull 3+ mobs or elites.
1 Like
Thank you all for the replies and helpful info!
Tip: check AH a few times a day for good shadow dmg gear. You can search “of Shadow Wrath”. Also since you’re 34 you should get [Orb of the Forgotten Seer] from last boss in SM Graveyard and [Hypnotic Blade] from SM Library. At level 40-44 get tailoring up to 250 and craft Shadowweave.
2 Likes
I too only ever had a lock alt. But I did level as Affliction. Always used my Felhunter. I didn’t care much for intellect, crit wasn’t as important to me for the odd instant shadow bolt. I focussed primarily on stamina and spellpower, and only then on int. This resulted in me being able to pull quite a few mobs with siphon life CoA and Corruption. Just kept on jumping around. Using FH to spellock etc.
1 Like
Deff drain tanking to go for leveling
Drain tank + Succubus. VW is pretty useless for the most part grinding. You will -always- pull mobs off of it.
Generally you wanna start with sending pet – > Corruption–>Siphon life-> Then Curse of Agony. Slap Immolate on if you want it to go down faster.
Wand attack until mob is around 40 % then drain life, If your nightfall procs during that then use your Shadow Bolt, watch your target melt. Use drain life when you feel it is needed. Does great damage too. Control your Mana with Life tap and your pet tap. Pretty much it.
You will be able to juggle 3 mobs if stuff goes crazy or you get adds. Seduce 1, Fear + Dot the other, and drain tank the one on you. Its a great spec. You will be pretty surprised at how effective drain life is.
Carry lots of food, , and you will be a grind machine. Hardly any downtime, I highly recommend Succubus over VW…VW cannot keep aggro off you, even with Improved Voidwalker. If 95 % of mobs you fight always end up hitting you, then use Succubus instead, It does more damage than Imp too + Succubus will seduce any adds. We are talking grinding here right?
It is also dungeon friendly, you will be able to tap like crazy and heal yourself. Get used to tab targetting corruption/siphon life on all adds and then hellfire in those mage AoE Groups. Life tap, Pet Tap, Drain life on the last mob and your ready to go before everyone else is.
I have beaten plenty of Destro locks Affliction spec in dps races in SM Cath, -HOWEVER- When you get 60 , I suggest going Destro.
So yes, switch too 33 Affliction and thank me later 
2 Likes
Thanks ever so much for the detailed reply!
It really was very helpful.
I’m guessing over the years they must have buffed VW threat as he was never this bad as I have played affliction since Wrath.
Thanks also to other posters. Will check out those items.
To do it best you want to be level 40 so you have Dark Pact and the 10 points in drain skills (imp drain life, fel concentration).
Use Succubus, turn off all auto-cast abilities to save mana. This is because you are effectively using the succubus as a little bit of damage but mostly as a mana battery.
Stack +shadow damage gear. Shadoweave set is very important. This is important for making your spells more damage per mana point efficient. I just dinged 41 and my drain life alone does 62 dps/hps.
Attack with pet, dot with CoA > Syphon Life > Corruption. Then life tap once to lose some health and get back most of the mana cost of the dots, then instantly start draining to refill to max life as the mob dies. Any missing mana, use dark pact from the Succubus battery and you’ve ended the fight with 100% life and mana.
2 Likes