Post your best Warlock build

[tsilver33]

Think I'll toss my hat in here for some help with my own Warlock build. By no means is it perfect (and I suspect its a lot worse than I'm thinking. :p ) but I thought it was worth posting for some constructive criticism.

Warlock

Mana Crystal *3
Battle Forge
Suppression Orb
Idol of Pestilence
Mordok's Obelisk
Deathlock
Wall of Fire *2

Flaming Hellion *2

Elemental Wand *2
Regrowth Belt
Moonglow Amulet
Lash of Hellfire
Fireshaper Ring
Elemental Cloak
Gauntlets of Strength
Helm of Fear
Demonhide Armor

Ghoul Rot *2
Cheetah Speed
Rhino Hide
Bear Strength
Vampirism
Regrowth
Cobra Reflexes
Mongoose Agility
Agony *3
Magebane
Maim Wings
Nullify *5
Force Push
Dissolve *3
Explode *2
Dispel *2
Seeking Dispel *2
Fireball *3
Firestorm
Chain Lightning

The idea is to shut out the opponents creatures with Suppression Orb, Idol, Obelisk, and Deathlock, and attack them directly as quickly as possible using the Warlocks powerful equipment and enchantments to keep the pressure high. If the game goes long, then cast the Orb, Idol, etc., while using the Hellions to draw attention away from yourself. Dispels are insanely important in protecting the all important Flail in this deck, as well as the wands if need be for a ranged attack. I tend to cast the first Wand as Dissolve/Explode bait, then cast the second later for its primary purpose.

My openings fall in two ways. If I get initiative, placing the mana crystals/forge is a pretty standard opening.
If my opponent gets initiative and moves even a single zone, I cast Cheetah Speed then Ghoul Rot them. The next round I follow up with a quick rush attack for some opening damage, and start to judge the situation as it comes.

I'm considering including Reverse Magic, Death Link, and Moloch's Torment into the deck, but can't decide on what to remove. One or two copies of  Agony seem like prime candidates, but I can't decide on the other 5/6 points. Any suggestions?

[Texan85]

- Equipments:
Demonhide Armor
Fire shaper ring
Lash of fire
Elemental wand
Moloch's Tourment
Helm of Fear
Ring of Curses

-Attacks:
4x Fireball
2x Firestorm

-Enchantments:
2x Ghoul Rot
2x Agony
2x Marked for Death
2x Chains of Agony
3x Hellfire Trap
Death Link
2x Poisoned Blood
2x Nullify
3x Block

-Creatures:
2x Flaming Hellion
2x Dark Pact Slayer
Lord of Fire
Goran, Werewolf Pet
Malacoda

-Conjuration:
Pentagram
Idol of Pestilence
Gate to Hell
Sacrificial Alter

-Incantation:
3x Drain Life
3x Explode

3x Wall of Fire
Wall of Stone

[Archwizard07]

I am a big fan of damage over time and so my Warlock book reflects as much...

Helm of fear x2 - obvious benefit of limiting attacks against me
Moloch's Torment x2-free damage at limitless range once a critter is cursed this will thin down a horde
Ring of Curses x2
Regrowth Belt
Mage wand - ideally with a drain life bound for finishing off critters that get too close.
Mana crystal x2
Idol of Pestilence - held in reserve for tiny critter floods
Mordoks's Obelisk - also useful in limiting a creature flood.
Wall of Firex2- as mentioned before I am a fan of walls for blocking los and limiting approaches
Fireballx2 - really just for some immediate damage if needed
[strike]Skeletal Sentry x3 - Cheap, nonliving, fodder gaurds [/strike] replaced with imps x2
Flaming Hellion x2 - burn goes along with DoT and again just for some defense
[strike]Darkfenne Batx2- Rot is like DoT and flight is useful[/strike]. replaced with pact keepers x2
Vampiric Strikex2- useful with deathlink
Drain Life x3 - In my mind the best DoT is the kind that also heals you!
Shift enchangement x3 - for moving my curses about
Dispel x3- for weakening those power house critters or nasty enchants.
Seeking Dispel x2

THE BREAD AND BUTTA

Ghoul Rot x3
Death Link x2
Chains of Agony x2
Agony x2
Marked for Death x2
Poisoned Blood x2
Magebane x2
Vampirism - again to support deathlink
Decoyx3
Nullify x 2
Bearstrength x2
Reverse attack x2
Reverse Magic x2

So my strategy here would be move in early dropping mana crystals along the way and equiping Ring of Curses. Hit my opponent with a couple of early DoTs and then pull back (if they allow) and either get out my defensive critters or recurse them or drop a decoy or reverse magic on me.

Staying just out of range of thier mage until I need to reapply curses or deal with critters. The idea would be to keep them taking damage from curses every turn while using deathlink, regrowth belt, and blood reaper to keep myself healed.

Thoughts?

[Koz]

I am a big fan of damage over time and so my Warlock book reflects as much...

Helm of fear x2 - obvious benefit of limiting attacks against me
Moloch's Torment x2-free damage at limitless range once a critter is cursed this will thin down a horde
Ring of Curses x2
Regrowth Belt
Mage wand - ideally with a drain life bound for finishing off critters that get too close.
Mana crystal x2
Idol of Pestilence - held in reserve for tiny critter floods
Mordoks's Obelisk - also useful in limiting a creature flood.
Wall of Firex2- as mentioned before I am a fan of walls for blocking los and limiting approaches
Fireballx2 - really just for some immediate damage if needed
[strike]Skeletal Sentry x3 - Cheap, nonliving, fodder gaurds [/strike] replaced with imps x2
Flaming Hellion x2 - burn goes along with DoT and again just for some defense
[strike]Darkfenne Batx2- Rot is like DoT and flight is useful[/strike]. replaced with pact keepers x2
Vampiric Strikex2- useful with deathlink
Drain Life x3 - In my mind the best DoT is the kind that also heals you!
Shift enchangement x3 - for moving my curses about
Dispel x3- for weakening those power house critters or nasty enchants.
Seeking Dispel x2

THE BREAD AND BUTTA

Ghoul Rot x3
Death Link x2
Chains of Agony x2
Agony x2
Marked for Death x2
Poisoned Blood x2
Magebane x2
Vampirism - again to support deathlink
Decoyx3
Nullify x 2
Bearstrength x2
Reverse attack x2
Reverse Magic x2

So my strategy here would be move in early dropping mana crystals along the way and equiping Ring of Curses. Hit my opponent with a couple of early DoTs and then pull back (if they allow) and either get out my defensive critters or recurse them or drop a decoy or reverse magic on me.

Staying just out of range of thier mage until I need to reapply curses or deal with critters. The idea would be to keep them taking damage from curses every turn while using deathlink, regrowth belt, and blood reaper to keep myself healed.

Thoughts?

My Warlock build is similar (I feel its really the only build they can do that another mage can't do better).  I think you need more mobility.  Cheetah's Speed and Teleports seem essential for this kind of "kiting" build.  

I've considered the Shift Enchantments but haven't put them in yet.  I can see the use behind them, but I'm not sold on how effective they will be (seems like there would always be better things to spend your action on).  I should give it a shot and see how they play out, but I'm not thinking they are worth it.

[Archwizard07]

Koz,

I understand your point with the teleports, but my goal for this (admittedly only marginally tested) deck was to really focus on the primary means of damage, being the curses and in order to lay them "hot and heavy" i need to have plenty to replace. However, after a few more test runs, I may have to adapt!

Thanks, for the feedback.

[Archwizard07]

Well, after some more playthrough with my little toy, I found the weak spots. It works great against a wave of weaker creatures, but one or two bigger creatures with any kind of healing backing them...less good.

Also the curse effect was fun, but without dissolve, belt of regen and a priestess casting holy incants was nearly a game breaker.

Anyway just some lessons learned!

[Koz]

Well, after some more playthrough with my little toy, I found the weak spots. It works great against a wave of weaker creatures, but one or two bigger creatures with any kind of healing backing them...less good.

Also the curse effect was fun, but without dissolve, belt of regen and a priestess casting holy incants was nearly a game breaker.

Anyway just some lessons learned!

Yeah, Deathlock and/or Poisoned Blood are staples in a lot of builds.  As for dealing with big creatures there are some things you can work in that help with that.  I use a lot of lock down stuff like Tanglevine, Sleep and Force Hold to pin down larger creatures.  You can also pile on the Drain Life, Ghoul Rot, Death Link, Chains of Agony and Moloch's Torment to wear them down quickly but I'm not a big fan of utilizing so many cards to take out a single creature.

The lock down cards work well in the build regardless since it relies on so much DOT.  Try them out and see if that helps.

[baronzaltor]

My better Warlok runs have been around having an early game blood reaper Dark Pact Slayer and/or a Necropian Vampiress with a few hands of Bim Shalla at their back.

The Vampiress is good for its selective flight ability, and the fact that with a bear strength or a few Bim-Sha's she can reliably hit for 8-10 dice and heal off chunks of health at a time (especially with battle fury),  for a higher damage focus the Reaping Pact Slayer has 2 piercing and 6 dice while blood thirsty, add in some bimshalla/bear strength there and he has strong cutting power, sometimes id suppliment him with vampiric strike to let him try to spike heal on his own attacks to keep him in the game longer.

I also like Drain Life because its direct damage, it heals, and its an incantaion, not an attack so you can use it while dazed without a fail chance so your damage never lets up and it cant be dodged.  (I also like to use Explode if Im dazed to not lose any damage output that round.)
 
That said, I dont feel that the Warlock makes that deck better than any other archtype.  I think he's kinda "meh" in a lot of ways.  His main specialty is curses and slow trickle damage debuffs that arent worth the cost and time investment to set up in my opinion.   By the time Ive inflicted ghoul rot, magebane, moloch torment and a pestilence idol for 5-7 or so damage a beastmasters pet souped up grizzly bear can have ripped 20 some odd health off of me, and most of those things can be pretty casually purged.  Id rather just throw fireballs than worry about most of the damage debuffs.  (though enfeeble and poison blood are pretty invaluable)
Im torn because I like the flavor Warlock more than the Warlock himself.  I enjoy useing the demons and drain life and skeletons and fire and stuff, but i really find myself just immitating more succesful builds that other archtypes honestly do a little more efficently.

I wish Warlock had a way to access more mana at personal cost in a "sell your soul" kind of way to fit his flavor, since his lair is sorta meh and he doesnt have a familiar to help him out.

[Koz]

My better Warlok runs have been around having an early game blood reaper Dark Pact Slayer and/or a Necropian Vampiress with a few hands of Bim Shalla at their back.

The Vampiress is good for its selective flight ability, and the fact that with a bear strength or a few Bim-Sha's she can reliably hit for 8-10 dice and heal off chunks of health at a time (especially with battle fury),  for a higher damage focus the Reaping Pact Slayer has 2 piercing and 6 dice while blood thirsty, add in some bimshalla/bear strength there and he has strong cutting power, sometimes id suppliment him with vampiric strike to let him try to spike heal on his own attacks to keep him in the game longer.

I also like Drain Life because its direct damage, it heals, and its an incantaion, not an attack so you can use it while dazed without a fail chance so your damage never lets up and it cant be dodged.  (I also like to use Explode if Im dazed to not lose any damage output that round.)
 
That said, I dont feel that the Warlock makes that deck better than any other archtype.  I think he's kinda "meh" in a lot of ways.  His main specialty is curses and slow trickle damage debuffs that arent worth the cost and time investment to set up in my opinion.   By the time Ive inflicted ghoul rot, magebane, moloch torment and a pestilence idol for 5-7 or so damage a beastmasters pet souped up grizzly bear can have ripped 20 some odd health off of me, and most of those things can be pretty casually purged.  Id rather just throw fireballs than worry about most of the damage debuffs.  (though enfeeble and poison blood are pretty invaluable)
Im torn because I like the flavor Warlock more than the Warlock himself.  I enjoy useing the demons and drain life and skeletons and fire and stuff, but i really find myself just immitating more succesful builds that other archtypes honestly do a little more efficently.

I wish Warlock had a way to access more mana at personal cost in a "sell your soul" kind of way to fit his flavor, since his lair is sorta meh and he doesnt have a familiar to help him out.

I pretty much agree with everything you've said.  I like the flavor of the Warlock a lot, but every build I can think of I feel another mage can just do it better.  That was the entire basis of my "Is the Warlock the Weakest of all Mages?" thread I started some time ago.  

The only build I can find that I think he can do better than any other mage is the DOT build that was just discussed but, like you pointed out, it's really not that a good of a build.  It's a big investment for very slow damage.  It's more of a "fun" build.  I also think that once the Warlock has access to more creatures with Bloodthirsty (or Enchantments/Conjurations that grant his creatures Bloodthirsty) then some more interesting builds might be possible.

[baronzaltor]

I wanted to tinker with Sacrificial Alter as a cornerstone on a deck, but really all it does is give a use to creatures who already spent their turn or were dazed/stunned/tangled and are about to die.  If there was a way to pour out more creatures like a beastmaster can on his quick actions or some other way to buff little guys a sac-swarm might be possible, but right now its just kinda meh.

[Archwizard07]

KoZ

I agree, I play the warlock for "flavor" and DoTs are part of that flavor (fun). It's not the most effective build, but slowly rotting your opponent is fun, especially if you can lock them down.

Great topic and posts!

[theduke850]

I've got a question for all the Warlock players here.  How often do you guys use the Blood Reaper ability? the loss of life is obviously bad, but do you find the bloodthirsty +2 useful or a bit of a wildcard? and in particular, I never hear anyone talking about the second part of this ability:

"The first time each round that [the Blood Reaper] attacks and damages a Living creature, the Warlock may heal 2 damage."  

On the surface it appears great, but in practice is it not as great as it appears?

At best it could be the equal of a Regrowth Belt, but not a target for Dissolve.  This seems to be the real strength of the Bloodreaper and almost worth the loss of life.  

what are your preferred targets for this?  I'm thinking that Dark Pact Slayer is a good one... it's level isn't too high (only costing 4 life) and it is strong enough to stick around to get use from the healing.

Do you like getting it out early? or wait until mid/late game when you can get the full use of healing?

[baronzaltor]

I've got a question for all the Warlock players here.  How often do you guys use the Blood Reaper ability? the loss of life is obviously bad, but do you find the bloodthirsty +2 useful or a bit of a wildcard? and in particular, I never hear anyone talking about the second part of this ability:

"The first time each round that [the Blood Reaper] attacks and damages a Living creature, the Warlock may heal 2 damage."  

On the surface it appears great, but in practice is it not as great as it appears?

At best it could be the equal of a Regrowth Belt, but not a target for Dissolve.  This seems to be the real strength of the Bloodreaper and almost worth the loss of life.  

what are your preferred targets for this?  I'm thinking that Dark Pact Slayer is a good one... it's level isn't too high (only costing 4 life) and it is strong enough to stick around to get use from the healing.

Do you like getting it out early? or wait until mid/late game when you can get the full use of healing?

I use Blood Reaper pretty often, though almost exclusively on Dark Pact Slayers.  At current theres only 3 options: Firebrand Imp, Flaming Hellion, and Dark Pact Slayer.  Everything else is either legendary or not a demon.  Its kinda fun to put on a Hellion because his ranged attacks heal you, but Pact Slayer's 2 pierce gets a lot of mileage out of the extra damage.
 Blood Thirsty 2 turns him into a solid 6 damage +2 pierce monster, and if he starts to take damage i use vampiric strike+battle fury to push that to 3 pierce and lay 2 attacks that both heal him back up.  I also like to use Hand's of Bim Shalla for heals and offense.  Toss in a Bear Strength and his high attack and high piercing make him one of the best units you can muster up.  

the 2 life heal from the reaper is nice, especially in decks where I run a Pestilence Idol to melt swarms and low health familiars (Pest Idol also makes sure everyone on the board is damaged, so that you get the boost and can attack any target you choose).  

My current Deck Puts a Reap-Slayer and a Necropian Vampiress out on turns 2 and 3 and goes right to work with with supporting them.  Its gotten the best results out of Warlock for me, but if I was a Beastmaster I could be doing basically the same thing with a pet and a spellbook that is tons cheaper since all the buffs would be trained, and Id have a Familiar to help cast them for me.

To me the Reaper is honestly good at any point in the game for me.  I like him best early so that I can trade my 6 health for high damage and early pressure which hopefully delays the opponents strategy a bit.  And I like him as sort of a coffin nail in a situation where my remaining forces are just starting to turn the tide of a battle to push them over and start healing me as we seal things.

[Aylin]

I use Blood Reaper pretty often, though almost exclusively on Dark Pact Slayers.  At current theres only 3 options: Firebrand Imp, Flaming Hellion, and Dark Pact Slayer.  Everything else is either legendary or not a demon.  Its kinda fun to put on a Hellion because his ranged attacks heal you, but Pact Slayer's 2 pierce gets a lot of mileage out of the extra damage.
 Blood Thirsty 2 turns him into a solid 6 damage +2 pierce monster, and if he starts to take damage i use vampiric strike+battle fury to push that to 3 pierce and lay 2 attacks that both heal him back up.  I also like to use Hand's of Bim Shalla for heals and offense.  Toss in a Bear Strength and his high attack and high piercing make him one of the best units you can muster up.

There is a slight problem with your usage of Vampiric Strike and Battle Fury.

The first attack will hit for 6 dice pierce 3 vampiric, but the second attack will hit for 4 dice pierce 3 without vampiric.

With Bear's Strength also the first attack will be 8 dice pierce 3 vampiric, with the second attack being 4 dice pierce 3.

Source, pages 40 and 44

[piousflea]

There is a slight problem with your usage of Vampiric Strike and Battle Fury.

The first attack will hit for 6 dice pierce 3 vampiric, but the second attack will hit for 4 dice pierce 3 without vampiric.

With Bear's Strength also the first attack will be 8 dice pierce 3 vampiric, with the second attack being 4 dice pierce 3.

Not true. The wording for "Bloodthirsty +X" and "Melee +X" both state that if the target makes Multiple Attacks it only gets the bonus once. Multiple Attacks is a keyword that refers to attacks like Doublestrike, Triplestrike, and Sweeping that take place during the 5. Additional Attacks step of an attack action.

On the other hand, Battle Fury grants the ability to perform an extra attack action. This is not a Multiple Attacks, it is an entirely new action that goes through all 8 steps of an attack. This means that it gets Bloodthirsty +X and Melee +X again.

However, Vampiric Strike specifically only works for one Attack Action, so the second strike does not gain Vampiric or Piercing.

I use Blood Reaper pretty often, though almost exclusively on Dark Pact Slayers.

I use blood reaper mostly on DPSlayer, but I also keep a single Firebrand Imp in my deck for emergency bloodreaperization. Because it is a level 1 spell, blood reaper only costs 2 Life, which means that it can heal off the damage in a single round. After that it is pure healing, which often makes my opponent try to kill the imp. That further decreases the amount of dice they are throwing on my Mage.