He has no chance of holding aggro with the new rune abilities. Even prior to the SoD powerups, VW has always been right on the edge of being able to keeping aggro from DoTs + wand (depending on Torment rank, and wand quality). This was fine previously since aggro became something to manage with kill speed and potential damage taken penalizing you in different ways. But now with Haunt/Chaos bolt, the poor VW has absolutely no chance of keeping aggro.
Increase the threat generation of Torment, or make it an actual Taunt.
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You have to help him out by waiting a little for him to build aggro. That way, the mob should be low by the time it looks at you.
Not saying VW is good but it cannot be least people wouldn’t group with a real tank.
Yeah, I understand what you mean. My point is that this threat management was at an OK balance in regular classic. But since we are now more powerful with the new rune abilities in SoD, the threat generation that the VW provides becomes much worse in comparison to the damage we’re dishing out. I’d have to wait with casting Haunt/Chaos bolt until 3-4 Torments have been cast, and even then, I’d probably pull aggro. Everyone deals a lot more damage now with the SoD changes and if the threat generation from the Voidwalker doesn’t follow that increase in damage, he (she?) will become much less useful.
VW is and always has been utterly useless as a tank, I never use it, going with Imp until I can get succu.
It would be reasonable to bring it up to a similar level of the hunter pet, which can hold aggro a ton better than VW.
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It would be cool to have gotten some pet love similar to what Hunters got. But I hear their pets are absolutely shredding and even winning 1v1 duels versus other classes so they’re clearly overtuned.
I like the class fantasy about Warlock pets having a “function” rather than being just an extension of your damage. Felhunter silences, Succubus seduces, Imp is the group buff pet, and VW tanks. But the tanking aspect have gone from possibly a bit too weak already, to there being no contest. So yeah, I think a tune-up is in order. Maybe for all pets in terms of damage (VW does like 7-10 DPS on level 20), but especially for the threat generation of the Voidwalker.
Don’t have the VW yet on my Lock so I can’t say. However, maybe you could simply use him to tank a mob with CoA/Corruption/Immolate while you focus on another one with Haunt and other abilities? It’s what I’ll try doing at least.
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yep, for questing thats the go to. Pull 2 mobs, have the VW offtank while finishing your main target. Works well
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Yeah, that’s exactly the use for him right now. That and taking 1 or 2 hits from the mob while dotting up before I’ve used Haunt. But yeah, would be nice if he could tank a bit more than that. Him potentially offtanking doesn’t really make him compete with the other pets.
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Later he also gets a mass taunt and sacrifice which are great escape tools. Not perfect as a tank, but still better for solo play
Yeah it is completely useless. The improved imp is solid though with our drain tanking build. Considering Meta is only available for the lucky few and made unatainable for most, this is a best alternative for a pvp / solo monster.
On a Warlock related note, I just got my Chaos Bolt rune, (un)holy crap it’s insane 
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I buy a wand and use 1 dot then wand and save my mana for an “oh crap” situation.