How does a Warlock Drain-Tank??

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone please
explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent points
in Affliction.

At 31 you should have 5 in Improved Corruption, 2 in Soul Siphon, 2 in
Improved Life Tap, 2 in Improved Drain Soul, 5 in Fel Concentration,
2 in Nightfall, 1 in Siphon Life, 1 in Shadow Embrace, and 2 spent in
either Amplify Curse, Grim Reach or Improved Curse of Agony. I'd
recommend putting both in Improved Curse of Agony.

Pull with Immolation, cast Curse of Agony, cast Corruption, cast Siphon
Life, and repeat Drain Life (with the odd Mana Tap as needed) until
the mob dies. You may need to reapply Corruption or Siphon Life.
Use the Succubus for the extra damage. If you get an add, cast
Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption and Drain Life that
mob (the extra damage of Immolation should kill the first one pulled,
although you may need to re-add Corruption and Siphon Life.)

Get as much "... of the Eagle" gear as you can, then start adding
Shadoweave as it becomes wearable. That, along with the gear
from the Warlock class quests, is good enough to get you to 58
and Outland.

BobJ

2008-01-01 04:33:16 UTC

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone
please explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent
points in Affliction.

At 31 you should have 5 in Improved Corruption, 2 in Soul Siphon, 2 in
Improved Life Tap, 2 in Improved Drain Soul, 5 in Fel Concentration,
2 in Nightfall, 1 in Siphon Life, 1 in Shadow Embrace, and 2 spent in
either Amplify Curse, Grim Reach or Improved Curse of Agony. I'd
recommend putting both in Improved Curse of Agony.
Pull with Immolation, cast Curse of Agony, cast Corruption, cast Siphon
Life, and repeat Drain Life (with the odd Mana Tap as needed) until
the mob dies. You may need to reapply Corruption or Siphon Life.
Use the Succubus for the extra damage. If you get an add, cast
Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption and Drain Life that
mob (the extra damage of Immolation should kill the first one pulled,
although you may need to re-add Corruption and Siphon Life.)
Get as much "... of the Eagle" gear as you can, then start adding
Shadoweave as it becomes wearable. That, along with the gear
from the Warlock class quests, is good enough to get you to 58
and Outland.

Thanks for the info Wolfie, that works much better. One more question if you
don't mind, how do you keep mana up? After a couple fights I run out, and
Life Tap doesn't seem to restore enough to be useful. Do I just need to
start drinking a lot to keep up mana, or is there another way?
Thanks-
BobJ

t***@wow.com

2008-01-01 05:45:48 UTC

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone
please explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent
points in Affliction.

At 31 you should have 5 in Improved Corruption, 2 in Soul Siphon, 2 in
Improved Life Tap, 2 in Improved Drain Soul, 5 in Fel Concentration,
2 in Nightfall, 1 in Siphon Life, 1 in Shadow Embrace, and 2 spent in
either Amplify Curse, Grim Reach or Improved Curse of Agony. I'd
recommend putting both in Improved Curse of Agony.
Pull with Immolation, cast Curse of Agony, cast Corruption, cast Siphon
Life, and repeat Drain Life (with the odd Mana Tap as needed) until
the mob dies. You may need to reapply Corruption or Siphon Life.
Use the Succubus for the extra damage. If you get an add, cast
Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption and Drain Life that
mob (the extra damage of Immolation should kill the first one pulled,
although you may need to re-add Corruption and Siphon Life.)
Get as much "... of the Eagle" gear as you can, then start adding
Shadoweave as it becomes wearable. That, along with the gear
from the Warlock class quests, is good enough to get you to 58
and Outland.

as your mana starts to drop do a life tap to raise it and then drain
life to get your life back up. I"m always forgetting to life tap but
there is a addon you can get that will tell you when to dark pact,
provididng you have it, and to lifetap. An affliction warlock can
last a long time with out drinking or eating.

Also the VW doesn't hit that hard but he does keep aggro pretty good.
I like to use him so the mob never came over and hit me so I could do
the lifetap and drain life with impunity. After a bit he also heals
himself and to listen to him while he's doing so is so funny. I'm
Void where prohibited"

Wolfie

2008-01-01 07:02:36 UTC

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone
please explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent
points in Affliction.

At 31 you should have 5 in Improved Corruption, 2 in Soul Siphon, 2 in
Improved Life Tap, 2 in Improved Drain Soul, 5 in Fel Concentration,
2 in Nightfall, 1 in Siphon Life, 1 in Shadow Embrace, and 2 spent in
either Amplify Curse, Grim Reach or Improved Curse of Agony. I'd
recommend putting both in Improved Curse of Agony.
Pull with Immolation, cast Curse of Agony, cast Corruption, cast Siphon
Life, and repeat Drain Life (with the odd Mana Tap as needed) until
the mob dies. You may need to reapply Corruption or Siphon Life.
Use the Succubus for the extra damage. If you get an add, cast
Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption and Drain Life that
mob (the extra damage of Immolation should kill the first one pulled,
although you may need to re-add Corruption and Siphon Life.)
Get as much "... of the Eagle" gear as you can, then start adding
Shadoweave as it becomes wearable. That, along with the gear
from the Warlock class quests, is good enough to get you to 58
and Outland.

Thanks for the info Wolfie, that works much better. One more question if
you don't mind, how do you keep mana up? After a couple fights I run out,
and Life Tap doesn't seem to restore enough to be useful. Do I just need
to start drinking a lot to keep up mana, or is there another way

At your level you're a lot better off using the Voidwalker to tank for
you, at least as long as he can maintain aggro. You can (and will)
still end up getting hit quite a bit, but he can hold them off long
enough for you not to have to worry about stopping between mobs.
When he gets low on health (too low to use his Consume Shadows
to self heal), sacrifice him and cast another one. You can get the
shard and mana back from using Drain Soul to finish the next mob.

Drain-tanking really starts being effective at level 40 when you get
Dark Pact, which takes your pet's mana and gives it to you. That
is also when you'll start getting +shadow gear, which gives you
more damage per mana. You'll also get Death Coil (short fear,
damage, and heal) at 42, along with starting to add more +damage
talents. Until then you're not as efficient and you'll need to stop
every now and then to eat (if you life tap first) or drink.

John Cochran

2008-01-01 07:40:01 UTC

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone
please explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent
points in Affliction.

At 31 you should have 5 in Improved Corruption, 2 in Soul Siphon, 2 in
Improved Life Tap, 2 in Improved Drain Soul, 5 in Fel Concentration,
2 in Nightfall, 1 in Siphon Life, 1 in Shadow Embrace, and 2 spent in
either Amplify Curse, Grim Reach or Improved Curse of Agony. I'd
recommend putting both in Improved Curse of Agony.
Pull with Immolation, cast Curse of Agony, cast Corruption, cast Siphon
Life, and repeat Drain Life (with the odd Mana Tap as needed) until
the mob dies. You may need to reapply Corruption or Siphon Life.
Use the Succubus for the extra damage. If you get an add, cast
Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption and Drain Life that
mob (the extra damage of Immolation should kill the first one pulled,
although you may need to re-add Corruption and Siphon Life.)
Get as much "... of the Eagle" gear as you can, then start adding
Shadoweave as it becomes wearable. That, along with the gear
from the Warlock class quests, is good enough to get you to 58
and Outland.

You get your mana via life tap. You restore your life via drain life.

For my warlock, I am also affliction, but I don't use the standard drain
tanking of having a succubus for extra DPS. My method is.

1. Send in VW
2. Apply Curse of Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life.
3. Life Tap
4. Drain Life
5. Drain Soul (when mob is almost dead).

The above sequence usually has me ending up with close to 100% health and mana.
For me, I found out that using the Succubus and having her attack after I
started resulting in my having a little less health and mana after each mob.
And frankly, I'm cheap so I don't want to spend cash on drinks. At higher
levels, the VW doesn't hold aggro worth a darn, but he does last long enough
for me to apply all the DoTs and have the mob almost dead before the mob
comes after me.

For grinding a lot of mobs, I make a slight change to my sequence. What I do
is that after I've started drain life, I select another mob and send the VW
after it. I then reselect the mob that I'm draining and use drain soul when
it's close to dead. I then start DoTs on the mob the VW is on and repeat.

Doing this, I can take on mobs non-stop for quite a while until the VW is
almost dead. And when the VW is too low, I *don't* use consume shadows, but
instead summon another VW. Both the summon and consume shadows takes 10
seconds, but the summon leaves me with a VW at 100% while the consume
shadows leaves me with a VW that's not quite at 100%. I will admit that I
then have less than 100% mana, but that's not a problem since with my cast
sequence, I actually get a little bit more health and mana after each mob
until I'm back to 100% again.

Catriona R

2008-01-01 08:50:00 UTC

Post by John Cochran
For my warlock, I am also affliction, but I don't use the standard drain
tanking of having a succubus for extra DPS. My method is.
1. Send in VW
2. Apply Curse of Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life.
3. Life Tap
4. Drain Life
5. Drain Soul (when mob is almost dead).

Think we all have different methods :-) My affli/demon belf lock does much
the same as you do, and having the points in imp voidwalker I don't get
aggro issues either, and can keep going forever - only issue is the pet
goes oom after a while but can always summon a new one anyway. My human
full affliction lock uses the imp though, with dark pact, so it's more
like:

1. Dot mob up, UA, Corruption, CoA, Siphon, Immolate (usually just the
first 3, depends on the mob)
2. Drain Life
3. Drain Soul when mob is almost dead
4. Dark Pact (imp has been on passive so is on full mana)

Basically I use the imp as a health buff and mana battery, sometimes I'll
let him have some fun and throw some fireballs around but generally I just
use him for mana. I almost never have to stop and eat/drink with either of
the above methods, unless I've taken on several mobs at once, and even then
I can normally regain my health/mana on the next pull, so long as I pull a
few less!

Post by John Cochran
The above sequence usually has me ending up with close to 100% health and mana.
For me, I found out that using the Succubus and having her attack after I
started resulting in my having a little less health and mana after each mob.

Likewise, it's why I just use the imp for draintanking as he has nice fast
regen and it works well with dark pact.

Post by John Cochran
And frankly, I'm cheap so I don't want to spend cash on drinks. At higher
levels, the VW doesn't hold aggro worth a darn, but he does last long enough
for me to apply all the DoTs and have the mob almost dead before the mob
comes after me.

Still holds it fine at 60 for my belf, will see how long that lasts in
Outland though, I only have 300ish spelldmg right now, which is obviously
going to increase a lot.
--
EU-Draenor:
Balgair - Human Rogue (lvl 70)
Naomh - Draenei Priest (lvl 70)
Rosad - Human Warlock (lvl 70)
Sealgair - Dwarf Hunter (lvl 70)
Sagart - Undead Priest (lvl 70)
Eilnich - Blood Elf Warlock (lvl 60)
Sgoildubh - Human Mage (lvl 53)
Beag - Dwarf Paladin (lvl 53)
Cathach - Gnome Warrior (lvl 30)

t***@wow.com

2008-01-02 04:22:52 UTC

On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 08:50:00 +0000, Catriona R

Post by Catriona R

Think we all have different methods :-) My affli/demon belf lock does much
the same as you do, and having the points in imp voidwalker I don't get
aggro issues either, and can keep going forever - only issue is the pet
goes oom after a while but can always summon a new one anyway. My human
full affliction lock uses the imp though, with dark pact, so it's more
1. Dot mob up, UA, Corruption, CoA, Siphon, Immolate (usually just the
first 3, depends on the mob)
2. Drain Life
3. Drain Soul when mob is almost dead
4. Dark Pact (imp has been on passive so is on full mana)
Basically I use the imp as a health buff and mana battery, sometimes I'll
let him have some fun and throw some fireballs around but generally I just
use him for mana. I almost never have to stop and eat/drink with either of
the above methods, unless I've taken on several mobs at once, and even then
I can normally regain my health/mana on the next pull, so long as I pull a
few less!

Likewise, it's why I just use the imp for draintanking as he has nice fast
regen and it works well with dark pact.

Still holds it fine at 60 for my belf, will see how long that lasts in
Outland though, I only have 300ish spelldmg right now, which is obviously
going to increase a lot.

I"m mostly affliction with some destro. What i do is run at the mob
while casting Curse of Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life and then target
another one and do it all over again. when i have 4 or 5 attacking me
i then cast Instant Howl of Terror. I also use the imp for dark pact
and if i'm still under a desired amount of mana i lifetap then pick
the lowest health mob running and drain life till its dead. I
generally dont' get attacked by them before they die. You do need to
me mindful of where you use Fear also. With a lot of toons trying for
the same mob is why i do things this way instead of doing them one at
a time.

I also do the drain soul just before they are dead. I might have to
pop a healthshard every now and again I very seldom have to eat or
drink

lcpltom

2008-01-02 12:45:27 UTC

When I started my current lock, I leveled him almost the whole way
affliction.

I used my voidwalker for a long time. He held aggro through most of
the fight, and on a PvP server having his emergency shield if I got
attacked by an ally player while at half health after life tapping was
useful.

Basically, as other people have said:
1. Send in voidwalker, let him get at least 1 taunt off.
2. Curse of Agony as this is a back ended DoT. It does more of its
damage at the end, so getting this up early allows you to take the
most advantage of it.
3. Cast Immolation. At this point this should be the only spell you
are using with a cast time. This allows more time for the VW to build
threat.
4. Siphon life, then Corruption.
5. At this point, life tap once or twice, whatever it takes to return
to full mana.
6. Drain Life to restore health. Don't bother casting immolation
again, as being full affliction it becomes an underpowered spell.

At 50, if you continue to put all your points into affliction, get
Unstable Affliction, the 41 point affliction talent. Replace
immolation with UA and continue playing pretty much the same way.

As you get into the 60's and get into Outland and start picking up
+spell damage gear that is so lacking at lower levels, your VW is
going to start to have trouble holding aggro. At this point, I would
suggest switching to the succubus. Put Lash of Pain and Soothing Kiss
on autocast. I turn Invisibility off as I feel it is a waste of
mana. Pretty much, continue to play the same way. I like to send my
succubus in first and let her tank for a few seconds so I can get the
dots up, she doesn't hold aggro long so she doesn't take too much
damage, but her added damage helps me take down targets fast.

Drain tanking can be a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. I
actually tanked for a group doing one quest in SMV. It required using
a blood elf disguise, but when our druid tank shifted into bear form,
it broke her disguise. The only way for her to complete the quest was
for someone else to tank. We had another warlock in the group, so my
Drain Life got the added benefit of his dots. We got 2 voidwalkers
out to deal with adds, and the druid would DPS and throw an occasional
heal my way. Also, the 2nd boss in Shattered Halls has 2 aggro
tables. I am usually 2nd on threat, so when he switches targets, it
is usually to me. Between drain tanking and the healer, I can stand
there and hold aggro pretty well, till he switches targets again.

ScratchMonkey

2008-01-01 14:22:29 UTC

Do I just need to start drinking a lot to keep up mana, or is there
another way?

Eat, don't drink. Life tap your mana up, then eat. Carry a stack of +stam
food. Skill up cooking if necessary to make it. (Most vendor food lacks
buffs, at least until Outland. Cooked food often gives +stam/+spirit.)

daman

2008-01-02 22:41:57 UTC

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone
please explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent
points in Affliction.

At 31 you should have 5 in Improved Corruption, 2 in Soul Siphon, 2 in
Improved Life Tap, 2 in Improved Drain Soul, 5 in Fel Concentration,
2 in Nightfall, 1 in Siphon Life, 1 in Shadow Embrace, and 2 spent in
either Amplify Curse, Grim Reach or Improved Curse of Agony. I'd
recommend putting both in Improved Curse of Agony.
Pull with Immolation, cast Curse of Agony, cast Corruption, cast Siphon
Life, and repeat Drain Life (with the odd Mana Tap as needed) until
the mob dies. You may need to reapply Corruption or Siphon Life.
Use the Succubus for the extra damage. If you get an add, cast
Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption and Drain Life that
mob (the extra damage of Immolation should kill the first one pulled,
although you may need to re-add Corruption and Siphon Life.)
Get as much "... of the Eagle" gear as you can, then start adding
Shadoweave as it becomes wearable. That, along with the gear
from the Warlock class quests, is good enough to get you to 58
and Outland.

You should finish mobs with improved drain soul. You get a
substantial mana return. Download a shard manager to discard all
those excess shards automatically (I usee ee shards).

My Afflicition time, if I was using VW, I wanted to always fight two
or three mobs:

Target #1
Send VW
Cast two DOTs (usually instants C of A or three if tough mob)

Switch to target #2
Immolate, C of A, Corruption
fear

Switch to target #3
Immolate, C of Am, Corruption, drain life

re-fear target #2 or switch & fear target #3 and drain #2 as needed.

Mix in life taps (typically followed by drain life) & improved drain
soul as needed for mana. You need to fiddle with it until you find a
rhythm that works for you; it's all about timing. Also, if you get
that high level affliction spell that drains life, use it early; it's
only efficient if it has a substantial duration.

The most warlock DPS & efficiency comes from having many targets
DOTed, and having them live for a substantial portion of the DOT's
duration, and THEN die. Don't want to kill things fast with
shadowbolts after blowing all that mana on DOTS; go DOT something
else.

Jen

2008-01-02 00:27:41 UTC

Here's a really good guide you might want to read about Warlock Drain
Tank - Affliction http://www.almostgaming.com/wowguides/warlock-drain-tank

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone please
explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent points in
Affliction.
Thanks-
BobJ

Wolfie

2008-01-02 01:30:54 UTC

Post by Jen
Here's a really good guide you might want to read about Warlock Drain
Tank - Affliction http://www.almostgaming.com/wowguides/warlock-drain-tank

Ugh. What he's describing is just DoT based damage using the
Voidwalker as a tank. There's nothing wrong with that (and, IMO,
it's pretty much the best way to level affliction until you have Dark
Pact), but it's not "drain-tanking," and the 'guide' should be renamed...

Post by Jen

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone please
explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent points in
Affliction.
Thanks-
BobJ

Jen

2008-01-03 03:35:04 UTC

Post by Jen
Here's a really good guide you might want to read about Warlock Drain

Thanks, I'll let the content writers at AG know that.

Do you think you could write a guide on this topic for the site?
Check out writing for us at - http://www.almostgaming.com/wowguides/how-to-write-warcraft-guides-and-articles

Post by Jen
Tank - Afflictionhttp://www.almostgaming.com/wowguides/warlock-drain-tank

Post by Jen

Post by BobJ
Every time I try I last maybe one fight before dying. Would someone please
explain how to do this and stay alive? I'm a level 31, all talent points in
Affliction.
Thanks-
BobJ

daman

2008-01-02 22:44:18 UTC

Also, lifetap + bandaging is faster than eating, plus you can do it in
combat, such as when VW is tanking one mob & another mob is feared
(and both are all DOTed up, heh).

daman

2008-01-02 22:47:40 UTC