Warlock
Most, if not all, of these adjustments are aimed towards making the Warlock class feel less clunky, more intuitive and overall streamline the experience. As of right now, Tank Warlocks don’t have a clear direction and that’s fine, we’re all trying to figure it out but now is the time to act. DPS Warlocks have two vastly different play styles in the form of a direct hard hitting Destruction spec and a DoT based Affliction spec; Affliction specifically suffers from a lack of QoL, though Warlocks in general suffer from misplaced runes.
The following is first and foremost aimed at improving gameplay, any increases in damage are either a positive consequence or a necessity.
-Infernal Armor now provides a damage buff equal to your physical damage reduction in addition to its previous effect.
-Note: Defensive CDs in general are very unpopular among Tank Warlocks because of their low value, rare use case and the fact it prevents them from using a more desirable rune on the same slot. By giving Infernal Armor a damage buff, it incentivizes Tanks to run a defensive CD and it gives them a useful button to press when the CD isn’t needed. Due to its short duration of 10s and its reliance on the armor stat, it will push Tanks into more defensive gear options, freeing up the traditional DPS pieces that they might compete on with actual DPS classes. Furthermore, the reliance on armor deters DPS Warlocks from taking this rune, as they dont have the Metamorph armor boost.
-Demonic Grace Dodge and Crit increased from 30% to 35%. Cooldown increased from 20sec to 30sec.
-Dance of the Wicked no longer overwrites more powerful versions of itself. Additionally, dodging an attack while Dance is active causes your next Shadow Cleave to deal 75% more damage to its primary target. Skills that hit multiple targets now regain 1% maximum mana per critical strike.
-Note: Grace and Dance are notoriously underutilized, because Dodge hasn’t really been properly integrated into both gear and kit. Regardless, the synergy exists so it should be adjusted to a point where it’s useful. This gives Tanks additional useful defensive CDs without feeling hamstrung by them. The synergy with Dance is effective in two ways. On the one hand it gives Tanks two defensive rune options instead of feeling pressured into picking DPS runes, on the other hand it balances itself by being a synergy of two runes rather than a singular overpowered rune. The increase in dodge, crit, and cooldown of Grace serves to prevent the following interaction from feeling too powerful: It incentivizes Tanks to use Demonic Grace often, as it increases their Shadow Cleave damage in single target fights through the Dance synergy, which facilitates the upkeep of the spell power buff gained from extra defense over 300. This is an especially important interaction because Searing Pain is an extremely strong spell, both in terms of damage and threat so Tanks favored tab target spamming Searing Pain instead of cleaving, however it is also important to keep up the buff from Shadow Cleave. Having to use a spell with low damage and low threat just to get a small spell power buff felt like a nuisance, so with a buff to the primary target damage, Tanks are now incentivized to use Shadow Cleave on fights with fewer targets. A 75% increase to the primary target brings the damage closer to Searing Pain without overpowering it, while also keeping the AoE damage in check.
-Immolation Aura now also grants 1% Fire damage for 10 seconds every time you use a Fire spell, up to a maximum of 5%.
-Note: Destruction Warlocks lack a compelling rune in this slot. They were often forced to stand in melee range which put them in danger and caused excessive movement. Giving them a scaling fire based damage buff gives them an option to stay away without feeling like they lost out on an entire rune slot.
-Lake of Fire now also allows Rain of Fire and Hellfire damage to critically hit.
-Note: The combination of Rain of Fire as an instant cast and Hellfire as a point blank area effect requires movement and risk, and should be rewarded with higher damage potential. The high mana cost of both spells discourages spamming, but enabling critical hits for Rain of Fire and Hellfire will create a viable AoE option for fire based Warlocks. Paired with the mana gain from Dance of the Wicked, it will create sustain though synergy without feeling too powerful.
-Demonic Knowledge is now a baseline ability.
-Note: Demonic Knowledge is the most powerful rune in its slot. According to Archon.gg, 99.8% of Warlocks use it. It feels bad knowing that picking any other rune is a downgrade and it feels even worse knowing that Paladins, Shamans, and Moonkins now have a more powerful version of our rune baked right into their class as a baseline ability.
-Demonic Pact is now a baseline ability and its effect is now raid wide.
-Note: Due to its overall strength, Demonic Pact has become a must-bring rune to raids, often forcing an underpowered Affliction Warlock to use it instead of a rune that might benefit the Warlock themself. A similar situation existed for Hunters with Trueshot Aura and Heart of the Lion and the solution there was to turn Heart of the Lion into a baseline ability. The same solution is appropriate here.
-Mark of Chaos rune moved to boots. Mark of Chaos effect can no longer be separately resisted and a delay has been added between the Curse fading and Mark of Chaos disappearing. Curse of Recklessness now also applies Mark of Chaos.
-Note: Currently Mark of Chaos can resist even if the curse that applies it does not. This creates a situation where you have to either reapply Agony immediately or, if you use Curse of Doom, you would now have to remove your CoD with Agony. Furthermore adding a slight delay (couple seconds) between the curse expiring and Mark fading will help players reapply their curse without the risk of clipping and without the risk of raid damage suddenly plummeting. Enabling Curse of Recklessness to apply MoC helps in situations where a raid only has one Warlock.
-Soul Siphon rune moved to Cloak. When you cast Shadow Bolt, your shadow damage over time is increased by an additional 4% for each of your Warlock Shadow effects afflicting the target, up to a maximum of 12% additional effect. Lasts 15 seconds.
-Note: This rune returns to its original form but expands the effect to include all shadow damage over time, and is now triggered by casting Shadow Bolt, with a duration. This gives Affliction a needed boost, using its signature damage method, and ensures spells like Siphon Life and Drain Life are staples of Affliction play. With Demonic Pact and Demonic Knowledge going baseline, and Mark of Chaos and Soul Siphon changing locations, the Cloak, Chest, Legs, and Boots slots now all have competitive options for Affliction, Destruction, and Tanks, with some specs having proper choices now instead of being forced to pick something they don’t want to.
-Curse of Doom now benefits from Haunt.
(Note to Devs: This is a shadow damage over time ability, so it should qualify. However, Curse of Doom has been subject to special interaction in the past. I request you consider these previous rules before allowing Haunt to apply.)
-Shadowflame is reverted to its old version.
(Note to Devs: The new version of Shadowflame is a solution looking for a problem. The old version of Shadowflame was very useful for area of effect tanking and farming. The reason it was never taken was Demonic Knowledge being overly dominant. With Demonic Knowledge moved to baseline, this rune will see much more play. We’d really like to have it back.)
-Spell hit ring runes now also reduce the inherent level based resistance of your target.
(Note to Devs: Melee weapon skill addresses the glancing blow damage reduction penalty based on attacker skill vs defender skill. The idea is to occasionally reduce attack damage against targets 3 levels above you or higher. The analogous system for casters is not spell hit, but partial resistance. Mobs have flat level based resistance for each level they are above you. This resistance cannot be reduced by spell penetration or any other means. Melee often have very little issue reaching their hit cap and get their partial damage penalty reduced with these ring runes, whereas casters struggle to cap their hit and cannot reduce the partial penalty. This addresses that.)
-Pets no longer benefit from Judgement of Wisdom.
-Note: Currently Horde Warlocks are at a disadvantage due to Alliance having Judgement of Wisdom, which works for Warlock pets. Shamanistic Rage and Mana Tide do not work for Warlock pets, resulting in a rather large damage gap. Disabling Judgement of Wisdom for pets restores Warlock faction balance without hurting overall performance significantly.
-Soulwell added as a grimoire found in maximum level dungeons.
Note: Maximum level raids will feature harder difficulty and increased raid damage. Healthstones will be in high demand and a better distribution system is needed.
-Improved Shadow Bolt no longer has charges.
Note: With the increase of shadow damage users in SoD, Improved Shadow Bolt has become an important talent. Unfortunately all charges are typically used up almost instantly. Give this the Stormstrike treatment and remove the charges.
This is the brainchild of Niche, Xn, and the Warlock Discord.
