What build do you recommend for levels 1 through 11?

[erethizon]

There are a lot of great and powerful warlock builds out there, but most of them talk about how amazing they are at level 30 when they are fully built. I am looking for what I can do not for level 30 or even level 20, but for levels 1 through 11. Most of the builds get pretty good by level 12, but it is the lower level game where I am struggling. I am work on Reaper Experience right now and find that levels 1 and 2 are extremely painful, levels 3 through 5 are a bit better, and levels 6 through 11 are okay, but I know they could be improved.

What kinds of enhancements and gear do you suggest to fly through the lower level reaper quests? Ideally the builds won't involve taking feats that are unneeded at the higher levels, though I suppose I can tolerate swaping a feat or two every life if I must. How do you make the lower levels easier?

[slarden]

Warlock is underwhelming first few levels.

The first few levels I use 2 festival weapons (bta level 1 festival icy burst lacerating) with master's touch and then later swap out master's touch for another spell. The content is relatively easy at low levels so I just run the low levels R1 with 2 weapons as at low levels there is little difference in rxp between skulls. you need swap weapons for ghost touch for the reapers. I have crafted ghost touch lawful outsider bane for that.

For leveling I try to maximize my slas. So for starters I go Soul Eater for consume and stricken. Stricken can one shot almost anything in the game at low levels with maximize/empower. Then I take the cone also in soul eater followed by burning blood which is not bad at low levels with maximize/empower.

From there I like to focus on my self healing and cc so I go to tainted scholar for command, feigned health, stunning blast and wand and scroll mastery. Stunning blast is an sla with a 6 second cooldown also benefiting from maximize/empower and cc.

So that's 28 action points total and 4 slas benefiting from maximize/empower with cone as your aoe. You can't take wave until level 12 so I usually work my way up enlightened spirit for the blast sla which can be used briefly as aoe maximized/empowered until wave and then when I hit level 12 I reset my enhancements.

When resetting my enhancements at level 12 I have nothing in ES. Tier 5 in soul eater with wave and anything else I can fit in. In Tainted Scholar I make sure I have wand and scroll mastery all 3 tiers for healing with heal scrolls.

At this point you have solid dps and self healing and can up your skull level from 1 if you wish where skull level makes more of a difference in rxp.

I use cannith crafting to fit in light, force and acid (or fire/sonic depending on pact) spellpower and lore.

[erethizon]

Warlock is underwhelming first few levels.

The first few levels I use 2 festival weapons (bta level 1 festival icy burst lacerating) with master's touch and then later swap out master's touch for another spell. The content is relatively easy at low levels so I just run the low levels R1 with 2 weapons as at low levels there is little difference in rxp between skulls. you need swap weapons for ghost touch for the reapers. I have crafted ghost touch lawful outsider bane for that.

For leveling I try to maximize my slas. So for starters I go Soul Eater for consume and stricken. Stricken can one shot almost anything in the game at low levels with maximize/empower. Then I take the cone also in soul eater followed by burning blood which is not bad at low levels with maximize/empower.

From there I like to focus on my self healing and cc so I go to tainted scholar for command, feigned health, stunning blast and wand and scroll mastery. Stunning blast is an sla with a 6 second cooldown also benefiting from maximize/empower and cc.

So that's 28 action points total and 4 slas benefiting from maximize/empower with cone as your aoe. You can't take wave until level 12 so I usually work my way up enlightened spirit for the blast sla which can be used briefly as aoe maximized/empowered until wave and then when I hit level 12 I reset my enhancements.

When resetting my enhancements at level 12 I have nothing in ES. Tier 5 in soul eater with wave and anything else I can fit in. In Tainted Scholar I make sure I have wand and scroll mastery all 3 tiers for healing with heal scrolls.

At this point you have solid dps and self healing and can up your skull level from 1 if you wish where skull level makes more of a difference in rxp.

I use cannith crafting to fit in light, force and acid (or fire/sonic depending on pact) spellpower and lore.

Very helpful. I will definitely be giving all of that a shot in my next life.

Do you ever get Utterdark Blast so that your force damage becomes evil instead (so you don't have to have items that increase force power) or do you no find it worth the build points?

[cru121]

very early, melee hirelings can pump a lot of damage. I've recently used the level 1 barb hire to solo r1 harbor on a level 2 spellsinger bard.

[slarden]

Very helpful. I will definitely be giving all of that a shot in my next life.

Do you ever get Utterdark Blast so that your force damage becomes evil instead (so you don't have to have items that increase force power) or do you no find it worth the build points?

I try to spec for all 3 as best I can, but I emphasize force because the dps from tendrils is quite good with a decent DC and force spellpower. Light spellpower is only used for stricken, consume and divine wrath (epic levels only) . Also at higher epic levels arcane pulse, ruin and greater ruin are all force based as well and spec'ing for both force and light at level 30 isn't easy with the current level cap gear. With cannith crafting you can put spell power on weapon prefix, glove prefix, trinket prefix, armor prefix, ring suffix. You can put lore on ring prefix, weapon suffix, trinket prefix. Insightful spellpower goes on weapon suffix, trinket extra item, glove extra item.

So level 1-9 you can have for example:

Gloves: Impulse of Healing Amp
Ring: Force Lore of False Life
Weapon 1: Radiance of Light Lore
Weapon 2: Corrosion of Acid Lore
Hat: Intelligence Spellsight (a little boost to universal spell power)

Although at low levels I use deadly, etc. with swords and then once I have cone switch to casting.

At Level 10+ it gets a bit trickier but you can have

Gloves: Impulse, Resistance, Insightful Impulse
Ring 1: Force Lore , False Life, Insightful Con
Ring 2: Acid Lore, Sheltering, Insightful PRR
Trinket: Light Lore, Spell Penetration, Insightful MRR
Boots: Spellsight, Strength, Ins Spellsight
Belt: Dodge, Deathblock, Ins Dodge
Weapon 1: Radiance, Insightful Radiance
Weapon 2: Corrosion, Insightful Corrosion
Hat: Intelligence, Spell Focus Mastery, Ins Intelligence (small boost to universal spellpower)
Necklace: Constitution, Charisma, Ins Charisma
Goggles: Conj focus, Ins Conj focus, Ins spell pen (I have also evocation and necro versions). I use conj until higher heroic levels for the dps.
Bracers: Spell Saves, Fortification, Ins fortification
Armor: Vitality, Healing Amp, Parrying
Cloak: Mysterious Cloak with master's gift and feather fall slotted

you can also use the alchemical spellpower potions from house J for a little bump.

In general I find gearing for a caster easier primarily because of where the devs slotted certain things on the gear. The only problem for a caster is getting ins spell focus and spell pen since it's in spots which conflict with other goodies. I use mysterious cloaks with master's gift/feather fall and use that on all my builds from 7 to 27+. Those remain bta even with master's gift so they can be shared between characters.

This type of setup gives you near max spellpower in all 3 without worrying about named items. Solid defenses. I use this setup all the way until level 28. How many versions you create (every 3 levels, 5 levels, etc.) is up to you but I have force gloves for every level because it's the most key # for me. The others you don't need to upgrade too frequently (esp int for example)

Your spellpower for SLAs is 225 higher with maximize and empower.

[QuantumFX]

Slarden’s advice is solid.

Personally, I’m a fan of Soul Eaters for heroic levels, and Enlightened Spirits for Epic levels. Either way, I don't build with the expectation of hitting targets with a weapon.

I tend to stick with Tainted Scholar until level 6. Feigned Health + False Life Spell is great for mitigating healing. The extra pact damage is what starts adding oomph to your eldritch blast damage. You get Web. You also get Chain Shape and Utterdark Blast. And, you can leverage your UMD skill early with wand and scroll mastery.

From there, I invest in Soul Eater for Consume and Stricken. When I feel I have enough wiggle room to spec out of chain shape and maintain all the other Tainted Scholar stuff I have, I do. While you can't shoot around corners, cone shape breaks things. I'll keep working up the Soul Eater chain until I have my tier 5 enhancements

For feats, I would do Quicken, Maximize, Empower, <all the other stuff that feeds into your specialty>

Spells:
1 Charm Person (Respec around level 11 for Resist Energy)
1 False Life (Respec later for Shield.)
Level 2 spells: Suggestion / Command Undead
Level 3 spells: Displacement / Dimension Door
Level 4 spells: Evard’s Tentacle Pr0n / Flesh to Stone
Level 5 spells - Choose 2: Finger of Death / Circle of Death / Undeath to Death
Level 6 spells - Choose 2: Trap the Soul / Mass Hold Monster / Mass Charm Monster / Wail of the Banshee

As for gear:
Level 2: Runic Trinket - It's the only insightful spellpower item until you hit level 10.
Level 3: Bracers of Wind for perma blur. Rock Boots* for Acid SP/Crit. Radiance/Radiance Lore stick.
Level 5: +4 Cannith crafted stat gear.
Level 7: Elders Cap and Necklace for the Spellsight and the Insightful bonus to spell crit. Level 7 Rock Boots*.
Level 8: Mutilator of Minds, Spinneret, Generic Slavers thing I crafted.
Level 10: The Beacon of Magic set is my new favorite thing. The Burnscar sash is a sexy beast for Fiend and GOO warlocks.
Level 11: Level 11 Rock Boots*.

* I have fully upgraded Rock Boots for the heroic levels. Boots tend to be a fairly open slot for me and the Spell power/lore of Cannith Challenge gear is really good for it's level.

[erethizon]

Slarden’s advice is solid.

Personally, I’m a fan of Soul Eaters for heroic levels, and Enlightened Spirits for Epic levels. Either way, I don't build with the expectation of hitting targets with a weapon.

I tend to stick with Tainted Scholar until level 6. Feigned Health + False Life Spell is great for mitigating healing. The extra pact damage is what starts adding oomph to your eldritch blast damage. You get Web. You also get Chain Shape and Utterdark Blast. And, you can leverage your UMD skill early with wand and scroll mastery.

From there, I invest in Soul Eater for Consume and Stricken. When I feel I have enough wiggle room to spec out of chain shape and maintain all the other Tainted Scholar stuff I have, I do. While you can't shoot around corners, cone shape breaks things. I'll keep working up the Soul Eater chain until I have my tier 5 enhancements

For feats, I would do Quicken, Maximize, Empower, <all the other stuff that feeds into your specialty>

Spells:
1 Charm Person (Respec around level 11 for Resist Energy)
1 False Life (Respec later for Shield.)
Level 2 spells: Suggestion / Command Undead
Level 3 spells: Displacement / Dimension Door
Level 4 spells: Evard’s Tentacle Pr0n / Flesh to Stone
Level 5 spells - Choose 2: Finger of Death / Circle of Death / Undeath to Death
Level 6 spells - Choose 2: Trap the Soul / Mass Hold Monster / Mass Charm Monster / Wail of the Banshee

As for gear:
Level 2: Runic Trinket - It's the only insightful spellpower item until you hit level 10.
Level 3: Bracers of Wind for perma blur. Rock Boots* for Acid SP/Crit. Radiance/Radiance Lore stick.
Level 5: +4 Cannith crafted stat gear.
Level 7: Elders Cap and Necklace for the Spellsight and the Insightful bonus to spell crit. Level 7 Rock Boots*.
Level 8: Mutilator of Minds, Spinneret, Generic Slavers thing I crafted.
Level 10: The Beacon of Magic set is my new favorite thing. The Burnscar sash is a sexy beast for Fiend and GOO warlocks.
Level 11: Level 11 Rock Boots*.

* I have fully upgraded Rock Boots for the heroic levels. Boots tend to be a fairly open slot for me and the Spell power/lore of Cannith Challenge gear is really good for it's level.

Very helpful advice. All my years playing and I didn't even realize a runic trinket was a thing. I'll have to start checking the auction house for one.

[QuantumFX]

Very helpful advice. All my years playing and I didn't even realize a runic trinket was a thing. I'll have to start checking the auction house for one.

Here’s an even easier way to get one:

[erethizon]

No wonder I wasn't aware of it, they only just changed it. I remember the old (useless) version of the item, but was not aware of the new one.