Warlocks and solo content...

[Druk]

Can warlocks solo encounters after the trial? I was in the trial and my level 2 warlock could aoe 3 level 3's in one encounter.

 

 

[observer]

I was just going to post a topic about this.  As a 29 warlock, i'm having a difficult time trying to solo even con and higher encounters.  I have the full AQ armor, a couple adept 1 spells,, 1 legendary ring, and fabled slippers, and i still find it difficult to solo.

 

Anyone got some tips and stuff?

[Moonspark]

Whenever you get your two roots you can solo anything that doesn't cast with ease after a little practice.  At level 60 I was plowing through yellow heroic groups (triple ups, two double ups, three single ups, etc.,)

 

If you think warlock suck at soloing, keep trying til you get in the groove, Warlocks are awesome at soloing.

 

 

[Ri]

---

Whenever you get your two roots you can solo anything that doesn't cast with ease after a little practice.  At level 60 I was plowing through yellow heroic groups (triple ups, two double ups, three single ups, etc.,)

 

If you think warlock suck at soloing, keep trying til you get in the groove, Warlocks are awesome at soloing.

---

This is a very misleading state of our class. First of all when you do a heroic with the double root tactic you can't 'plow' through them. Its a quite long process that often is not worth it, cast one root, cast the other, cast a spell, cast the root that just broke, cast a spell, cast more roots. You usually end up casting more roots then you do offencive spells.

Also we can't use the root tactic on groups of heroic, even a pair we will have no such luck. As far as normal enemies this is our specility, at the later on levels you will be able to plow through enemies about 2 levels lower then you at a faster pace then any other class in the game.

[Moonspark]

---

Riya wrote:

---

Whenever you get your two roots you can solo anything that doesn't cast with ease after a little practice.  At level 60 I was plowing through yellow heroic groups (triple ups, two double ups, three single ups, etc.,)

 

If you think warlock suck at soloing, keep trying til you get in the groove, Warlocks are awesome at soloing.

---

This is a very misleading state of our class. First of all when you do a heroic with the double root tactic you can't 'plow' through them. Its a quite long process that often is not worth it, cast one root, cast the other, cast a spell, cast the root that just broke, cast a spell, cast more roots. You usually end up casting more roots then you do offencive spells.

Also we can't use the root tactic on groups of heroic, even a pair we will have no such luck. As far as normal enemies this is our specility, at the later on levels you will be able to plow through enemies about 2 levels lower then you at a faster pace then any other class in the game.

---

Really?  Okay if you want to have a little writeup of my tactic on *yellow* triple ups, here we go.

 

Pull with devastation and run for 4 ticks, before the fifth hits start casting your big nuke, devastation will then stun the mob and you will nuke it at the same time, follow that up with vulian or possibly a root depending on how far away the mob still is.  Get your two roots up and (at my level) pop off netherous cascade and put up aura on the mob.  Then you use a big nuke, if your roots break the mob will be feared so use thwart to stun it and pop off another root and then your big nuke should be back up, if not I usually will pop an AE off.  I go pretty much completely all out until the mob dies.

Groups? Pull with devastation (make sure cascade is up), follow up with dark nebula at the 4 tick point, that's two stuns that land, follow that up with your group root.  Single target root one and put aura on it.  Big nuke it, stun nuke it, nuke it then if root is broken have vulian ready to cast.  When dark nebula is back up use that then follow it up with root (if you're daring follow that up with nil abs.) 

 

 

Learn your class.

Message Edited by Moonspark on 02-26-200607:03 PM

[Ri]

Probably a level diffrent, I am the upper 40s right now and many of the spells you mentioned do not have a counter part in my level.

[Moonspark]

To quote myself for clarity "At level 60 I was plowing through yellow heroic groups (triple ups, two double ups, three single ups, etc.,)"

[Araxes]

My personal opinion is that - while it *is* possible to solo some heroic content with a warlock - just as it is possible to solo with any class if you learn your abilties well and are careful about where you walk - it's not *efficient* to do so.  I think the warlock is a class that definitely works better being part of a group.  Our roots break frequently and easily.  It is hard to run very far when you pull a mob becuase in most cases you will run right into other mobs.  We have very little mitigation (personally I am going the route of spellshifter with AP's - playing on my ratongas naturally high agility stats in order to help in the way of avoidance).  We get interrupted easily due to lack of avoidance.  All these factors make it inefficient to solo.  If you want to solo or don't have the time to group a lot - choose a conjuror or necromancer.Now - as for solo vs. white con non-heroic mobs.  Perfectly do-able.  And we are very effective at it.  I can typically take down a white con non-heroic mob without taking a hit - or without going into the yellow.  And I can generally take on single one-arrow-up mobs as well with a bit more leg work.  However - until you get your netheros pet I wouldn't try that at lower levels unless you've got master quality root.

[Ugho]

As everyone has said, you just need to learn the best way. For the longest time now, I can easily take out single and group mobs. If they are all no arrow Heroic, it's cake for me. I can take out Single and Double Arrow mobs easy too. Triple arrow just takes alot of patience and more time, same goes for 2 mobs that are double arrow heroic.This obviously becomes easier though when you hit Level 50. That's when you get Dark Nebula and Devastation and start ruling mobs. Before that, it is harder no doubt.Once you hit L50 the world changes big time for a warlock IMO

[Wargodchco]

I dont know if you have the adept of your AOE spells but I know for a fact that my warlocks little app 1 AOE does not affect the mob that much and i always had a high chance of dying.  I am level 18 now, and I have not gotten an updated better AOE to my knowledge, if any of you guys know for a fact that I am wrong please tell me because i am new with the warlock and dont understand a bit with her..  Thanks for the help

 

[Tomanak]

---

Wargodchco wrote:

I dont know if you have the adept of your AOE spells but I know for a fact that my warlocks little app 1 AOE does not affect the mob that much and i always had a high chance of dying.  I am level 18 now, and I have not gotten an updated better AOE to my knowledge, if any of you guys know for a fact that I am wrong please tell me because i am new with the warlock and dont understand a bit with her..  Thanks for the help

 

---

First thing to do is upgrade those App 1s pronto. Preferably to Adept IIIs but at your level maybe just Adept 1/AppIVs. As far as doing multiple groups? Prior to 40 when you get your group root it is much harder to kill groups. One thing you can try with duos, root 1 with frozen manacles, then switch to the other and nuke the hell out of it. Once he goes down switch back to the first, reapply root if needed and nuke away. As far as better AOEs, you used to get the first one in the Absolution line at 20 (then the upgrade to that at 34), dont know how it works now with the new class system.

[Eusta]

My warlock is awesome at soloing....I can do two yellows grped ^ easily.  Root one, then the one that runs at you, reduce mitigation, DoT, nuke DoT, nuke, then bring onthe next one....I like to pacify it as it runs at me while I warm up my nuke.

[Nolomite]

I'd rate my playing skills as 'average at best', as I've got 5 characters I switch between & no true mastery of any of the playstyes. Therefore, I can speak fairly well regarding the soloing ability of a Warlock played by an average player: I can own a single opponent mob; I can manage a two-opponent mob fairly well, and any mob with more opponents than 2 completely kicks my butt. Even the weak mobs.

I can burn up solos/duos because my skills are mostly adept III & I've got good gear. If you want to solo the content areas that have larger mobs, it's all about the techiques - you can't buy your way to effectiveness (and believe me I've tried). Soloing isn't that big a deal to me - I duo with a friend's tank - but if you're intent on soloing, then listen to the experts and experiment extensively.

I love playing my Warlock & he rocks when paired with a tank, but I don't have the necessary skills to solo him beyond the constraints I mentioned above.

[Maelwy]

the best way i can put it... Soloing with a warlock is like walking across a high wire... made from piano wire...barefoot...in a high wind... with no net.. over a pit of spikes. It's Possible. And very satisfying when you are successful. But one minor slip, and you are instantly ripped to shreds.

[Moonspark]

Not totally sure about pre-50, but post 50 with all of our stuns and our pacify and two roots... it's safe if you know what you're doing.  If root ever breaks just pacify, reroot and back off.  Just always have at least one stun or pacify up if you do not have two roots up.  Cower also fears mobs so that buys you even more time.  There are so many safety nets in the Warlock arsenal, anyone who thinks it's crazy to solo is doing something wrong.

[ShiftySands]

Honestly find a wizard or another warlock to duo with.  Instead of rooting you can perma stun and take down heroics with ease.  Soloing just is not worth it.  A wizard/warlock combo can take 3 heroics quicker with timing stuns than a warlock can take one heroic timing in roots/stuns/dd's. 

[Mode]

---

Maelwys1 wrote:the best way i can put it... Soloing with a warlock is like walking across a high wire... made from piano wire...barefoot...in a high wind... with no net.. over a pit of spikes. It's Possible. And very satisfying when you are successful. But one minor slip, and you are instantly ripped to shreds.

---

Excatly the way it should be. Although I think once you get it down the piano wire becomes a yellow brick road to plat town.

[Nolomite]

I've put into practice some of the techniques suggested in this thread, and I've got to report that they work beautifully! So now, while soloing blue mobs (I'm 30, so I'm not ready to move up to lvl 30 mobs), I can dispatch singles and duo's with ease, and I do just fine with mobs of 3. This opens up ALOT of the areas for me - thanks to everyone who has contributed!

 

 

[EshamBlm]

---

jflongo1 wrote:As everyone has said, you just need to learn the best way. For the longest time now, I can easily take out single and group mobs. If they are all no arrow Heroic, it's cake for me. I can take out Single and Double Arrow mobs easy too. Triple arrow just takes alot of patience and more time, same goes for 2 mobs that are double arrow heroic.This obviously becomes easier though when you hit Level 50. That's when you get Dark Nebula and Devastation and start ruling mobs. Before that, it is harder no doubt.Once you hit L50 the world changes big time for a warlock IMO

---

Is this true? I have a level 42 Warlock that I retired after the combat upgrade because I could not solo like I could before and at the same time I did not have that much time to group anymore. Since then I have leveled a Conjuror to 41 mostly solo, But, if this is the case I might have to fire the old Warlock back up and push for 50 :smileyvery-happy:

[Ugho]

---

EshamBlm wrote:

---

jflongo1 wrote:As everyone has said, you just need to learn the best way. For the longest time now, I can easily take out single and group mobs. If they are all no arrow Heroic, it's cake for me. I can take out Single and Double Arrow mobs easy too. Triple arrow just takes alot of patience and more time, same goes for 2 mobs that are double arrow heroic.This obviously becomes easier though when you hit Level 50. That's when you get Dark Nebula and Devastation and start ruling mobs. Before that, it is harder no doubt.Once you hit L50 the world changes big time for a warlock IMO

---

Is this true? I have a level 42 Warlock that I retired after the combat upgrade because I could not solo like I could before and at the same time I did not have that much time to group anymore. Since then I have leveled a Conjuror to 41 mostly solo, But, if this is the case I might have to fire the old Warlock back up and push for 50 :smileyvery-happy:

---

Once you hit 50, you start smoking mobs fast Especially if you get Adept III or Master I versions of Devastation and Dark Nebula. But yes, imo, once you hit 50, we rock at soloing.

[RFMan]

---

Riya wrote:

---

Whenever you get your two roots you can solo anything that doesn't cast with ease after a little practice.  At level 60 I was plowing through yellow heroic groups (triple ups, two double ups, three single ups, etc.,)

 

If you think warlock suck at soloing, keep trying til you get in the groove, Warlocks are awesome at soloing.

---

This is a very misleading state of our class. First of all when you do a heroic with the double root tactic you can't 'plow' through them. Its a quite long process that often is not worth it, cast one root, cast the other, cast a spell, cast the root that just broke, cast a spell, cast more roots. You usually end up casting more roots then you do offencive spells.

Also we can't use the root tactic on groups of heroic, even a pair we will have no such luck. As far as normal enemies this is our specility, at the later on levels you will be able to plow through enemies about 2 levels lower then you at a faster pace then any other class in the game.

---

Actually, I can take down heroics pretty fast.  The trick is to not only root, but to stun and pacify.  I frequently get things set up for a 3-hit combo (Soul Blister + Void Distortion + HO completion) to trigger all three charges of aura of nihility right as the devastation stun kicks in, in which case I root it again.  If something goes awry, you have vulian intrusion to back you up.The only weakness of this method of soloing is that if you get one or two unlucky resists in a row, you're toastier than an eskimo in a nuclear reactor.  What REALLY gets us, though, is adds.  Using Null Caress and Vulian Intrusion, I have managed to take down 2 or sometimes even three adds (single-^ solo creatures in Barren Sky), but you have to be a bit lucky and a bit coordinated; however, you don't get Null Caress until something ridiculous like 53 or 58 or something (I don't remember any more).  Vulian Whatever you have at your level will allow you to take on an add, and at lower levels, you're a little more durable, so you should be able to get away with just standing there and rooting it.Anyhow, warlock soloing is not for the faint of heart, nor for the faint of eye-hand coordination.  If you want to play something safe, I've heard illusionists are good at that... just don't expect your mob to die for a few days.One final note -- I don't think DoT's count as "taking damage", but rather they are just considered a "hostile spell".  That makes using them a little easier, but it's pretty much guaranteed that they will eventually break your root.  I think DD spells count for both a "hostile spell" and "taking damage", making the chance to break root double that over a DoT.  My thinking is that root has usually broken from DD's by the time DoT's break them, so you're not really losing much.