Warlock self-healing advice

[Jappy]

So I was wondering how a warlock heals himself without schools or steal life while being a pure warlock if you know please tell me cause I wanna be a self-healing massive dps build

[Jappy]

also whats the best pact to take?

[slarden]

At heroic levels you have steal life force and shining through plus some temp hp from the ES Aura. Also there is heal scrolls with the high charisma + UMD.

At epic levels self healing is easy in either exalted angel or unyielding sentinel. Cocoon can be twisted in and EA has mass cure moderate which is as good as a heal spell with empower and maximize. Divine Wrath also gives some additional heals.

Unyielding Sentinel has renewal, but for max dps Exalted Angel is good and others prefer Draconic for dps over exalted angel.

For pact, I am partial to fey, but they all have their positives/negatives. I don't think there is a best pact.

[Morroiel]

Heroic: Either shining + heal scrolls or steal lifeforce + heal scrolls. You could go ES/SE like slarden says but you don't have to - so long as you feel comfortable enough scroll healing in heroics (which for anyone who played a fleshy caster pre MOTU should be easy enough to do).

Epic: Shining + cocoon or cocoon + mass cure moderate wounds || note that if you don't take shining through, I highly suggest going EA or US for destiny. Cocoon alone is not enough healing for a character who's optimal play style involves being at the center of the fight.
-------------------------------------
Pact Choice:

Fey is the best pact by far if you don't go exalted angel/draconic incarnation for destiny (wings are way to valuable for this type of character).

Else the following is true (imo):

Saves: Fiend > Fey/GOO (Fey ~= GOO)
Damage (no evasion | high dc & Fire immune): Fey = GOO >>> Fiend
Damage (evasion & Fire immune): GOO >>> Fey=Fiend
Damage (no evasion | high dc & not fire immune): GOO = Fey = Fiend
Damage (evasion & not fire immune): GOO = Fiend >>> Fey
Defenses (PRR/MRR): GOO > Fiend/Fey (even more with U29 legendary feats)
Utility Power(s) (no wings / flyby): Fey >>>>>>>> Fiend >>>>>> GOO
Utility Power(s) (wings / flyby): Fiend = Fey >>>>> GOO
Utility Power(s) (low cha build / int build): Fey >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GOO/Fiend
Spells List: Fiend > Fey >>>> GOO (charms/dominates suck)
Flavor: Fey = Fiend > GOO (due to bugs otherwise all would be equal)

In my opinion: my verdicts are as follows:
GOO: Maximum damage at end game build (if all you care about is damage build one of these)
Fiend: Best overall defenses -> build this if you don't want to die easily and you are willing to take a hit on damage (also imo hurl through hell is such a fun ability in both practical and flavor uses)
Fey: Sort of a best of both worlds: you get an extremely defensive build with high offensive capabilities, while maintaining fairly good utility (honestly this is a great default pact choice). Also allows shiradi/magister with wings -> can be a very powerful and fun build especially with confusion procs.

As slarden said: there is no "best" pact choice overall. However depending on the build concept, there certainly could be a wrong pact choice or choices. Also, if you really like a pact there are definitely ways to make it work. I happened to be attracted to fiend after getting bored with fey (goo made me mad due to severe bugs with create thrall). Fiend suffers from being fire damage in an end game with mostly fire immune mobs (and heading into an end game with even more). That is a loss of 1/3 dps roughly from your blasts (which is significant). This is the biggest drawback with fiend. In order to compensate, I lowered my investment into TS to lower the % of my damage that came from the pact. This made the contribution of fire damage to my total damage only equate to 10% - while still significant, it dials it back to a level I can accept.

So I guess my advice is: play all 3 pacts once if you can (either on lamannia or an actual HR/ER/ITR - the more you play each the better equipped you will be to decide which one is your favorite). Then choose based on how you like the play style of each: keeping in mind that certain pact choices will effectively eliminate possible destiny choices (shiradi in fiend/GOO pact would be difficult to play imo). Then make a pro/con list and try to capitalize on the pros while minimizing the cons.

Also keep in mind, that a lot of warlock abilities are broken atm (it would be very wise to either ask on here or test for yourself on lamannia if you intend to build around a specific ability or set of abilities).

Below are the things that are either not WAI (according to devs) or not WAW(working as written):
1) Create Thrall (Broken DC: 15 + Warlock Level + Cha Mod - not boosted by anything; dominate monster effect subject to epic ward - therefore lasts for ~10 seconds, confusion effect not subject to epic ward, makes the player want the monster to make the save - I suggest casting this on high will enemies in epics to maximize on the confusion effect)
2) Consume/Stricken (Count as level 1 spells for the purposes of bypassing spell ward despite being labeled as a ranged magical attack - NOT a spell like ranged touch attack - i can't imagine this was intended but w/e doubt its going to change). I have the suspicion that steal life force also counts as a level 1 spell but don't have confirmation.
3) Hurl Through Hell (Broken DC: 15 + Warlock Level + Cha Mod - not boosted by anything; also some very rare circumstances where mobs somehow automatically save due to the effect being counted as a death effect despite explicitly stating it isn't - still an awesome ability, you just have to pick your targets very carefully / make use of the paralyze on save effect)
4) Devour Soul (Broken DC: 16 + Cha Mod + Necro School Bonuses - this is 22 dc lower than it is supposed to be; does not apply the -20 prr/mrr debuff when the monster makes its save; an okay ability but ultimately very disappointing, best served using it only when everything else is on cooldown or you are fighting a mob with an insanely low will save - note a necro focused SE could boost this dc up to ~70 - in that case would be fairly strong - though ultimately weaker than Hurl Through Hell due to this investment requirement / spell penetration.
5) Consume DOT Stacking (Only 1 consume dot can be applied on a single mob - if there are 12 SE warlocks then only 1 consume will be on the monster at a time - in this case probably constantly refreshed; this is a severe bug for SE considering that roughly 30-60% of their dps comes from these dots).
6) Eldritch Ball (very strange targeting issues when I played it - might be viable / I've heard it got touched up)
7) Eldritch Wave (very strong ability but has some very strange targeting issues when your z coordinate is changing (e.g. you are falling/jumping).
8) Celestial Spirit (automatically toggles off when you die - very annoying bug - I can't believe this was an intended design choice, especially considering how quick reactivation is @ zero cost)
9) Eldritch Blast (The iconic ability of the warlock: scaling spell power is bugged at a lower actual value than printed text, this is true for cone/aura/chain/default blasts; tainted scholar core that ups speed of blast does not effect cone at least in terms of animation; for all shapes besides aura, switching between blasting/casting is far from seamless)

If you need any more help/advice, feel free to make a post/reply or send me a pm.

~Cheers

[Heathir]

I tend to play my 'lock as a temp hp, not healing type.

Between shining through, staunch, feigned health and cocoon I almost never dip into my hp. I just eat through my temp hit point.

I am not a con build and even being charisma build I usually sit around 1500+hp with my Temps layered and in exalted. Over 2200 in unyielding if I am going to tank.

Healing isn't really that needed, just stack the temp hp and get in the habit of refreshing them all the time.

[KoobTheProud]

Dark Feeding - Blood Feast will work as a heal also if you've got Brilliance because the CON buff you get gives you additional hp as a result and those hp don't go away when the CON buff does. In Heroic levels it's all I use for a cast heal because I like the fact that the CON debuff makes the mob more susceptible to Evard's Black Tentacles also. I also use Heal scrolls for between fights if the overall hp dropped too low.

[Vooduspyce]

Heroic: Either shining + heal scrolls or steal lifeforce + heal scrolls. You could go ES/SE like slarden says but you don't have to - so long as you feel comfortable enough scroll healing in heroics (which for anyone who played a fleshy caster pre MOTU should be easy enough to do).

Epic: Shining + cocoon or cocoon + mass cure moderate wounds || note that if you don't take shining through, I highly suggest going EA or US for destiny. Cocoon alone is not enough healing for a character who's optimal play style involves being at the center of the fight.
-------------------------------------
Pact Choice:

Fey is the best pact by far if you don't go exalted angel/draconic incarnation for destiny (wings are way to valuable for this type of character).

Else the following is true (imo):

Saves: Fiend > Fey/GOO (Fey ~= GOO)
Damage (no evasion | high dc & Fire immune): Fey = GOO >>> Fiend
Damage (evasion & Fire immune): GOO >>> Fey=Fiend
Damage (no evasion | high dc & not fire immune): GOO = Fey = Fiend
Damage (evasion & not fire immune): GOO = Fiend >>> Fey
Defenses (PRR/MRR): GOO > Fiend/Fey (even more with U29 legendary feats)
Utility Power(s) (no wings / flyby): Fey >>>>>>>> Fiend >>>>>> GOO
Utility Power(s) (wings / flyby): Fiend = Fey >>>>> GOO
Utility Power(s) (low cha build / int build): Fey >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GOO/Fiend
Spells List: Fiend > Fey >>>> GOO (charms/dominates suck)
Flavor: Fey = Fiend > GOO (due to bugs otherwise all would be equal)

In my opinion: my verdicts are as follows:
GOO: Maximum damage at end game build (if all you care about is damage build one of these)
Fiend: Best overall defenses -> build this if you don't want to die easily and you are willing to take a hit on damage (also imo hurl through hell is such a fun ability in both practical and flavor uses)
Fey: Sort of a best of both worlds: you get an extremely defensive build with high offensive capabilities, while maintaining fairly good utility (honestly this is a great default pact choice). Also allows shiradi/magister with wings -> can be a very powerful and fun build especially with confusion procs.

As slarden said: there is no "best" pact choice overall. However depending on the build concept, there certainly could be a wrong pact choice or choices. Also, if you really like a pact there are definitely ways to make it work. I happened to be attracted to fiend after getting bored with fey (goo made me mad due to severe bugs with create thrall). Fiend suffers from being fire damage in an end game with mostly fire immune mobs (and heading into an end game with even more). That is a loss of 1/3 dps roughly from your blasts (which is significant). This is the biggest drawback with fiend. In order to compensate, I lowered my investment into TS to lower the % of my damage that came from the pact. This made the contribution of fire damage to my total damage only equate to 10% - while still significant, it dials it back to a level I can accept.

So I guess my advice is: play all 3 pacts once if you can (either on lamannia or an actual HR/ER/ITR - the more you play each the better equipped you will be to decide which one is your favorite). Then choose based on how you like the play style of each: keeping in mind that certain pact choices will effectively eliminate possible destiny choices (shiradi in fiend/GOO pact would be difficult to play imo). Then make a pro/con list and try to capitalize on the pros while minimizing the cons.

Also keep in mind, that a lot of warlock abilities are broken atm (it would be very wise to either ask on here or test for yourself on lamannia if you intend to build around a specific ability or set of abilities).

Below are the things that are either not WAI (according to devs) or not WAW(working as written):
1) Create Thrall (Broken DC: 15 + Warlock Level + Cha Mod - not boosted by anything; dominate monster effect subject to epic ward - therefore lasts for ~10 seconds, confusion effect not subject to epic ward, makes the player want the monster to make the save - I suggest casting this on high will enemies in epics to maximize on the confusion effect)
2) Consume/Stricken (Count as level 1 spells for the purposes of bypassing spell ward despite being labeled as a ranged magical attack - NOT a spell like ranged touch attack - i can't imagine this was intended but w/e doubt its going to change). I have the suspicion that steal life force also counts as a level 1 spell but don't have confirmation.
3) Hurl Through Hell (Broken DC: 15 + Warlock Level + Cha Mod - not boosted by anything; also some very rare circumstances where mobs somehow automatically save due to the effect being counted as a death effect despite explicitly stating it isn't - still an awesome ability, you just have to pick your targets very carefully / make use of the paralyze on save effect)
4) Devour Soul (Broken DC: 16 + Cha Mod + Necro School Bonuses - this is 22 dc lower than it is supposed to be; does not apply the -20 prr/mrr debuff when the monster makes its save; an okay ability but ultimately very disappointing, best served using it only when everything else is on cooldown or you are fighting a mob with an insanely low will save - note a necro focused SE could boost this dc up to ~70 - in that case would be fairly strong - though ultimately weaker than Hurl Through Hell due to this investment requirement / spell penetration.
5) Consume DOT Stacking (Only 1 consume dot can be applied on a single mob - if there are 12 SE warlocks then only 1 consume will be on the monster at a time - in this case probably constantly refreshed; this is a severe bug for SE considering that roughly 30-60% of their dps comes from these dots).
6) Eldritch Ball (very strange targeting issues when I played it - might be viable / I've heard it got touched up)
7) Eldritch Wave (very strong ability but has some very strange targeting issues when your z coordinate is changing (e.g. you are falling/jumping).
8) Celestial Spirit (automatically toggles off when you die - very annoying bug - I can't believe this was an intended design choice, especially considering how quick reactivation is @ zero cost)
9) Eldritch Blast (The iconic ability of the warlock: scaling spell power is bugged at a lower actual value than printed text, this is true for cone/aura/chain/default blasts; tainted scholar core that ups speed of blast does not effect cone at least in terms of animation; for all shapes besides aura, switching between blasting/casting is far from seamless)

If you need any more help/advice, feel free to make a post/reply or send me a pm.

~Cheers

Nice write up +1

[Morroiel]

Dark Feeding - Blood Feast will work as a heal also if you've got Brilliance because the CON buff you get gives you additional hp as a result and those hp don't go away when the CON buff does. In Heroic levels it's all I use for a cast heal because I like the fact that the CON debuff makes the mob more susceptible to Evard's Black Tentacles also. I also use Heal scrolls for between fights if the overall hp dropped too low.

Just wanted to point out that con debuffing won't make the mobs more susceptible to evard's, as evard's is a strength check not a constitution/fortitude check. Unless ofc you are talking about the damage itself - which is a fortitude check.

[KoobTheProud]

Just wanted to point out that con debuffing won't make the mobs more susceptible to evard's, as evard's is a strength check not a constitution/fortitude check. Unless ofc you are talking about the damage itself - which is a fortitude check.

Yeah I was talking about the damage. Evard's as a 10 second AE is very nice even when it doesn't crowd control. I usually hit whatever worries me the most in the pack, generally a boss or champion caster with blood feast and then throw Evards on it and run in with displacement and just AE every thing down. If it's a boss it's the only thing left standing after a few seconds and I can kite around it until it dies, LOSing if necessary to avoid caster bosses when I see something bad coming my way.