Level a Warlock in World of Warcraft: Forever as Affliction with your Voidwalker tanking: stack Corruption and Bane of Agony on each monster, Drain Life to stay topped up, and Life Tap for Mana, which now scales with your Spirit. The catch this week is your demon. Blizzard cut how much Health pets get from your Stamina at launch, and it has promised a fix on November 10 to make Voidwalkers about as durable as in Classic Era.
Below is why Affliction wins for leveling, the talents to take first, what changed for pets, Banes and Soul Shards, and the fixes Blizzard has scheduled. It is checked against Blizzard’s Rogue and Warlock class deep dive and its beta development notes up to the November 2 launch notes, as of November 7.
Which Spec to Level a Warlock As
Blizzard says Warlocks “are still physically weak themselves, depending on their demon pets for protection,” but now “do damage to compete with any other spellcaster.” For leveling, you want damage that keeps working while your demon holds the monster, and Health that comes back without eating.
| Spec | How it levels | Why pick it | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affliction (our pick) | Damage over time and drains | Heals itself through Drain Life, low downtime | Wrack is being retuned |
| Demonology | Pet-focused | A tougher demon and Demonic Sacrifice | Slower kills early |
| Destruction | Shadow Bolt and Fire | Big hits, Conflagrate at 25 | Pulls threat off your pet |
Affliction is our pick. Blizzard says it can “sustain their own health via powerful health draining effects,” and its early talents boost the damage-over-time spells and drains you will cast all the way to 60. Wrack, the new 31-point talent, is a drain-style spell for the gaps between damage over time casts.
Demonology is worth a look in launch week if your Voidwalker keeps dying. Fel Vitality raises your demon’s Health and Mana and your own Mana by up to 15%, Demonic Energies heals your pet for up to 15% of the spell damage you deal, and Improved Health Funnel now works whatever your demon’s Health. Demonic Sacrifice, the 11-point talent, now lasts 2 hours.
Warlock Talents to Take First
Talents start at level 10, and the milestone talents open at 11, 16, 21 and 31 points, which is levels 20, 25, 30 and 40 if every point goes into Affliction. Our order, using talents Blizzard has confirmed in Forever’s Affliction tree:
- Levels 10 to 19: Improved Life Tap, now in the first row, then Improved Corruption (now also up to 10% more Corruption damage) and Suppression, now up to 5% hit chance and 20% less threat. On the second row, Improved Drains (more Drain Life and Drain Soul) and Improved Bane of Agony, now 2 points.
- Levels 20 to 24: Amplify Curse, the original game’s 11-point talent, which the launch notes say now correctly affects Curse of Exhaustion and Bane of Agony, plus Pandemic, a new third-row talent that adds up to 100% critical strike damage to your damage over time and drain spells.
- Level 25: Curse of Exhaustion, now the 16-point talent, a 30% slow that helps you kite, plus Nightfall on the same row, which now also triggers from Drain Soul and Wrack.
- Level 30: Siphon Life, the original game’s 21-point talent; Blizzard’s tuning post confirms it is part of the Affliction kit.
- Levels 31 to 39: Soul Siphon (fifth row), which raises your drains’ damage by up to 12% for each of your other Affliction spells on the target, and Shadow Mastery, now up to 10% more Shadow damage.
- Level 40: Wrack, the 31-point talent.
Our talent reset guide covers the trainer and the fee if you swap to Demonology.
What Changed for Warlock Pets
- Pets scale with your stats. Blizzard’s deep dive says demons now scale from their summoner’s stats.
- Less Health from Stamina. The launch notes set it at 2 Health per point of your Stamina, down from 7.5 in the beta.
- A small fix already out. Blizzard’s November 6 hotfixes raised Voidwalker base Health by about 40 at every level.
- A bigger fix coming. Blizzard’s class tuning post says Voidwalkers “are not as durable as tanks as we would like them to be” and plans hotfixes on November 10 so they work about as well as in Classic Era.
Until then, pull one monster at a time, put your damage over time spells up before the Voidwalker loses its grip, and keep Health Funnel ready.
Banes, Soul Shards and Other Changes
- Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom are now Banes, and only one of your Banes can be on a target at a time. Curse of the Elements now covers all magic damage, and Curse of Shadows is gone.
- Soul Shards are harder to farm from damage. Drain Soul’s chance to give a shard on a damage tick was cut sharply at launch, so finish monsters with Drain Soul when you need shards.
- Life Tap scales with Spirit.
- Firestone and Spellstone are weapon imbues that stack with Wizard Oil. Firestone adds Fire damage and critical strike chance; Spellstone adds Shadow damage and spell haste.
- The Wrack fix. Blizzard says always channeling Wrack currently beats also casting Siphon Life, Corruption and Bane of Agony, and plans to fix that on November 10 without lowering Affliction’s total damage. Keep your damage over time spells up anyway.
Key Abilities and Class Quests
| Level | What you get |
|---|---|
| 10 | Your first talent point |
| 25 | Curse of Exhaustion, with 16 points in Affliction |
| 40 | Wrack, Dual Specialization, plus riding |
In the original game, Warlocks earned the Voidwalker, Succubus and Felhunter from class quests at levels 10, 20 and 30, and their first mount from a class quest at 40. Blizzard has not announced changes to those quests, so visit your Warlock trainer at each of those levels. Blizzard’s launch notes say Warlock training costs were lowered to account for the Grimoires you buy for your demons.
Where to Level a Warlock
Warlocks can be Orc, Troll or Undead on the Horde, and Gnome or Human on the Alliance; Troll Warlock is new to Forever. Our best Warlock race guide covers the racials. From your starting zone, follow your faction’s route: Westfall, Loch Modan or Darkshore for the Alliance from level 10, The Barrens or Silverpine Forest for the Horde.
Warlock Leveling Tips
- Use a wand between casts. Wands need you to stand still for half a second and no longer scale with spell damage, but they save Mana; our guide to where to get a wand has the options.
- Train every time. Blizzard’s launch notes put class training from 1 to 60 at about 206 to 207 gold for every class.
- Drag new spells onto your bars. Since launch, learning a spell no longer adds it to your action bars.
- Rest at a campfire for rested experience and buffs; our camping guide explains it.
Every WoW Forever guide we have is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Warlock spec for leveling in WoW Forever? Affliction with a Voidwalker, in our view. Its damage over time spells and drains keep working while your demon tanks, and Drain Life keeps you topped up.
Why does my Voidwalker die so fast in WoW Forever? Pets now get only 2 Health per point of your Stamina. Blizzard added about 40 base Health on November 6 and plans a bigger fix on November 10 to make Voidwalkers about as durable as in Classic Era.
When does Warlock get good in WoW Forever? Once your Voidwalker can hold monsters while your damage over time spells work, which is from level 10. Curse of Exhaustion at 25 and Siphon Life at 30 make Affliction smoother still.
What are Banes in WoW Forever? Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom are now Banes. Each Warlock can have only one Bane on a target at a time, and anything that worked with Curses also works with Banes.
Is Wrack worth using while leveling? Yes, from level 40, but keep your other damage over time spells up as well. Blizzard plans a November 10 change so those spells are always worth casting alongside Wrack.