Anyone who has played WoW for a reasonable amount of time knows that not all warlocks are created equal. While you are leveling up to level 10, it’s pretty much the same. However, once you hit level ten you get to start building your talent tree. This is when things get interesting.
Once you hit level 10, WoW begins giving you talent points as you level. How you spend these talent points dictates the “build” of your warlock. As a warlock, you can choose to specialize in either affliction, demonology or destruction. If you plan to focus on PVP and battleground play, then you are going to want to build your talent tree in the art of affliction due the crowd control benefits that this talent tree has to offer. Another advantage to leveling in affliction is that it is one of the most mana-efficient builds there is. This means you will be able to cast spells longer without having to sit down and drink between each mob you kill.
If you choose to level as an affliction warlock, you will get benefits from quite a few helpful bonuses, such as damage-over-time (DoT) versatility and self-healing abilities. However, it is important to note that your DoT spells will take longer to take full effect so it will take a bit longer for you to kill mobs or other opponents.
On the other hand, as an affliction warlock your spells will be stronger and mobs or opposing players will have a hard time dispelling the spells you cast on them.
Another thing to remember is that your talent tree, when built properly, will give you Unstable Affliction, which is a hard-hitting DoT spell that will inflict serious damage on your enemies.
With that being said, while affliction is most definitely a powerful and beneficial build to use while leveling, you have to build your talent tree properly if you want to get the most leveling power from your talent points. It is important to understand that the build that you will be using as you level may not be the same build that you use when you reach level 85. This is because you are not focusing your talents on end-game content during the leveling process. Instead, you want to spend your talent points on talents that will help you level faster.
The following talent tree build will help you increase your ability to level solo more easily and will get you the “Haunt” ability as quickly as possible. Put the talents in your tree in the order provided below:
Affliction:
- 3 Points in Improved Corruption
- 2 Points in Improved Lifetap
- 2 Points in Soul Siphon
- 2 Points in Siphon Life
- 1 Point in Doom and Gloom
- 3 Points in Eradication
- Curse of Exhaustion (Providing you with an instant-cast spell that slows a target down for 30 seconds.)
- 1 Point in Doom and Gloom (which should now total 2).
- 3 Points in Shadowy Embrace
- Soul Swap (Providing you with an instant-cast spell that allows you to move your DoTs from one target to another.)
- 1 Point in Improved Fear
- 2 Points in Nightfall
- 3 Points in Death’s Embrace
- 3 Points in Everlasting Affliction
- Soulburn: Seed of Corruption (Allows your Soul of Corruption detonation effect to afflict Corruption on all enemy targets.)
- 2 Points in Pandemic
- Haunt
Demonology
- 3 Points in Demonic Embrace
- 2 Points in Fel Synergy
- 1 Point in Demonic Rebirth
Destruction
- 3 Points in Shadow and Flame
By the time you have spent these talent points you should be at level 85. This build will give you the most solo power and will help you kill mobs more quickly and efficiently, thereby decreasing the amount of time it takes you to level your character.
