User:Wingsofscion/Lock abilities

Messing with stuff.

Trainable Abilities
Warlock trainers can teach these abilities to all Warlocks at the appropriate levels.

Talent-Granted Abilities
The first rank of these abilities must be gained by spending a talent point on the appropriate talent. Subsequent ranks are then learned from warlock trainers.

Abilities by Functionality
This list is not yet complete.

Abbreviation Key

 * Af = Affliction
 * De = Destruction
 * Dm = Demonology

Direct damage
A Warlock's direct damage spells, along with damage over time spells, provide the Warlock with various ways to burn down an enemy. Almost all of a Warlock's spells with a direct damage component to it are from the Destruction tree, and all spells that are purely direct damage are Destruction abilities.

Shadow Bolt
 * Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing 12-16 Shadow damage, up to 541-603 over 11 ranks.
 * This is the Warlock's first damaging ability. Shadow Bolt is usually considered the "bread and butter" spell of almost every Warlock build.

Searing Pain
 * Inflict searing pain on the enemy target, causing 34-42 Fire damage, up to 243-287 over 7 ranks. Causes a high amount of threat.
 * Searing Pain is generally considered a main PvP nuke, due to its short cast time and being of a school not connected with Fear, but because of its high threat, is not normally a spell that is used in PvE encounters. Exceptions are when a warlock is tanking a gimmick fight, such as Leotheras the Blind while in Demon Form in SSC, Grand Astromancer Capernian in TK, Illidan in Black Temple, or Grand Warlock Alythess at the Eredar Twins encounter in Sunwell Plateau.

Soul Fire
 * Burn the enemy's soul, causing 623-783 Shadow damage, up to 1003-1257 over 4 ranks.
 * Soul Fire could potentially be one of the biggest burst spells that a Warlock has in his arsenal, but for a one minute cooldown and a reagent cost of a soul shard. It is used most frequently when setting up a burst combo in PvP, especially in battlegrounds, along with the succubus.  Because of its cooldown, shard cost and the fact that Shadow Bolt and Incinerate scale far better than Soul Fire, it is not normally in a PvE rotation.  Soul Fire is also commonly compared to Pyroblast, because of its high damage output in comparison to its mana cost.  Though Soul Fire deals higher up front damage, Pyroblast deals more overall damage due its DoT effect, which is further supplemented by Ignite.

Incinerate
 * Deals 357-413 Fire damage to your target and an additional 89-104 Fire damage if the target is affected by an Immolate spell, up to 444-514 and 111-129 over 2 ranks.
 * Incinerate is the only spell other than Shadow Bolt that is used as a main nuke. However, maximum potential from Incinerate is dependent on Immolate being up at all times.  In addition to Shadow Bolt, Incinerate is the only spell that is affected by Backlash in terms of cast time reduction.  An Immolate-Incinerate combination is crucial to a Fire Warlock's DPS rotation.  Unfortunately, though it puts out higher personal DPS and has better synergy with Improved Scorch (especially thanks to the Patch 2.4 buff to Emberstorm), raiding as a Fire Warlock is generally considered suboptimal because there are several bosses that are immune to Fire damage (such as Al'ar and M'uru), and provides less overall raid synergy due to the lack of Improved Shadow Bolt.  Incinerate is also used heavily in a PvP Destruction Warlock spell rotation.

Shadowburn (Talented)
 * Instantly blasts the target for 87-99 Shadow damage, up to 597-665 over 8 ranks. If the target dies within 5 sec of Shadowburn, and yields experience or honor, the caster gains a Soul Shard.
 * Shadowburn is generally considered a "finishing move" by many. Due to the cooldown, range and shard cost, even despite the damage per cast time of Shadowburn, it is primarily not used as anything but a finisher (similar to a mage's Fire Blast).  Theoretically, using Shadowburn on every cooldown will increase DPS on a boss encounter, but most players won't use it due to shard cost, as shards are used for several other important spells.

Conflagrate (Talented)
 * Ignites a target that is already afflicted by Immolate, causing 240-306 Fire damage, up to 632-788 over 6 ranks, and consuming the Immolate spell.
 * Conflagrate, otherwise known as Conflag, is considered by many to be a potent PvP spell. Currently, Conflagrate is otherwise a DPS decrease for raiding due to the GCD and that it consumes the Immolate spell.  Optimally, one would use it between the last two ticks of Immolate, but it also can be powerful in a burst combination in a PvP situation.

Shadowfury (Talented)
 * Shadowfury is unleashed, causing 343-407 Shadow damage, up to 612-728 over 3 ranks, and stunning all enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
 * Shadowfury is more or less the defining talent of any Destruction PvPer. Used in combination with Soul Fire, Shadowfury can prove to be a devastating tactical use of burst.  Since many PvP Destruction locks favor using the succubus, Shadowfury is generally part of a "seduce-nuke" combination.  The stun effect works very similarly to Inferno, and is helpful for getting away from melee classes, or interrupting healers.  However, due to a cast time (as small as it is), the Warlock must stand still to cast Shadowfury.