The Warlocks were once Mages that studied the dark arts of demonology too deeply; the Burning Legion now feeds them with its power which allows them to call upon the powerful emissaries of their demon masters.

The Warlock is a very complex class to play; they have different pets, spell combos and a reagent component requirement for some spells. The Warlock class is hard to master but still very fun to play as once you get a hang of it. The Warlock serves as a damage dealer and sometimes a tank, with the help of the Voidwalker pet.

Pets are very important for the Warlock, there are a few different pets to choose from; three of them are the Imp, the Voidwalker and the Succubus. The Imp is the Warlock’s first pet which serves as a ranged damage dealer, it also has the buff spell Blood Pact that increases your own and your group’s stamina. This pet is best used in a group. The second pet, the Voidwalker, is the ideal solo pet since it acts as a tank. It has lots of hit points and the Torment skill that can attract monsters’ anger. However, its damage output is very low. The third pet, the Succubus, is the best damage dealer but has a low amount of hit points. It also has good crowd control like Soothing Kiss and Seduce. And there is one pet more, Felhunter. It's best against casters, but can tank too.

The biggest challenges as a Warlock is managing your pet and managing your Soul Shards that is used to pay for certain spells. Soul Shards are acquired by using the Drain Soul spell.

Racial Choice

With a warlock, each of the races offers some really nice choices in terms of abilities that you can put to use. The Gnomish ability for arcane resistance and increased intelligence is helpful, while the human’s increased spirit has its own benefits. I myself prefer to chose a race based on looks and feel, however here are some benefit breakdowns for each

Warlock race:

Orc
* 25% resistance to stun and knockout effects.

Undead
* Cannibalization allows for warlocks to quickly regenerate health when hunting enemies.
* The 10% shadow resistance gives the Undead an edge in combating shadow slinging enemies.

General tip: Whilst being a warlock can be a fun experience to undertake solo, the experience is better shared with a group. Tactics in group make the game a much more enjoyable experience to all those involved, and group action is really where a warlock shines as he/she is able to more efficiently cast spells when they are not the active target of enemies.

What are the most important character stats for a Warlock?

Warlocks rely on many statistics; the primary ones though are Intellect, and Stamina. Spirit and Agility are also somewhat important to Warlocks, but generally less than the other two. Since the Warlock is devoted entirely to casting magic and can exchange life for mana, Stamina and Intellect are essential. Agility is considered useful for “survivability”, and Spirit is good to “keep lasting”. Strength really has no benefit for a Warlock and shouldn’t be sought after.

The stats equate to in game effect as follows:

Strength - Increases your Attack Power thereby increasing your damage. Strength also increases the damage that you can block with your shield. Nothing useful for a Warlock.

Stamina - Increases your health points. This is critical for Warlocks since our battles are generally short and we can only wear cloth armor. Also since Warlocks have several abilities involving depleting their health for benefits, stamina is useful.

1 Stamina = 10 Health points

Intellect - Increases your mana pool and your critical hit chance with spells. It also increases the speed at which you earn weapon skill points. With Warlocks since mana is an important stat, it is a good idea to max out as much as possible on Intellect.

1 Intellect = 15 Mana

and

100 Intellect = +1% to critically cast spells

Spirit - Spirit raises your health and mana regeneration rate. While it is noticeable at higher levels, it takes a significant number of points in this to regain mana quickly enough that you will not want to stop and drink to gain it back.

Agility - Agility increases the following: attack power with ranged weapons, armor, critical hit chance and your chance to dodge attacks. The ranged weapon bonus is somewhat meaningless to Warlocks as we can only use wands as ranged weapons. The armor bonus is nice for Warlocks since we can only use cloth armor.

2 Agility = 1 Armor point