Warlock ED

[Sproutecus]

I am leveling my first warlock and had a question on ED's. I did some testing but it might not have worked so I need some clarification. For clarity I am running a Fey Cone-lock pure human focused on pure DPS.

• From what I can telling, the best DPS ED is Shiradi. Is that correct?
• From what I can tell EA seems better for DC casting locks. Is it still good for DPS locks for the extra Evo Dc's or is Shiradi better?
• In EA- Is Shadows upon you worth it (for orange and red names and nasty champs)?
• In EA- Do your blasts increment endless ardor (assuming you are doing light dmg)? If not is it even worth taking? How do you increment it?
• In EA- Is reborn in light worth taking? (again seems like getting stacks would be very difficult.
• In Shiradi- Since a lot of the Shiradi dmg is force, is it better to not use utterdark blast and to equip for force over light?
• What twists does everyone use and why?

Thanks ahead of time for answers.

[slarden]

• From what I can telling, the best DPS ED is Shiradi. Is that correct?

• Shiradi is definitely the best boss DPS. A DC caster can clear mobs faster which to me is a more important measure than DPS, and generally being in shiradi is sub-optimal for a DC casting warlock.

I am leveling my first warlock and had a question on ED's. I did some testing but it might not have worked so I need some clarification. For clarity I am running a Fey Cone-lock pure human focused on pure DPS.

• From what I can tell EA seems better for DC casting locks. Is it still good for DPS locks for the extra Evo Dc's or is Shiradi better?

.

EA is arguably the best destiny for DC casting warlocks with a +4 DC advantage, but with the downside of -5 spell pen compared to an arcane tree.. If you are running reaper, I can't see shiradi ever being better than DC casting.

• In EA- Is Shadows upon you worth it (for orange and red names and nasty champs)?

• The 20 second cooldown makes it worthless in my opinion. For reapers you use hold. For nasty champs you figure out where the weak save is and use tentacles, web, hold, flesh to stone or one of the instakills. One of those will almost always work for me.

• In EA- Do your blasts increment endless ardor (assuming you are doing light dmg)? If not is it even worth taking? How do you increment it?
• In EA- Is reborn in light worth taking? (again seems like getting stacks would be very difficult.

The blast does not trigger it even with light procs included, but the aura tirggers endless ardor AND righteous ferver with or without light damage meaning it's charged up almost immediately all the time. On an aura build I would always take blood and radiance and reborn in the light. On a non-aura build I find it's not worth it since you can't charge it up passively. Opinions likely vary on this last point.

• In Shiradi- Since a lot of the Shiradi dmg is force, is it better to not use utterdark blast and to equip for force over light?.

• Enlightened Spirit has light procs so utterdark makes alot of sense for an ES build in EA. For a DC casting build in some form of SE/TS I prefer force damage. Not because of shiradi, but because the damage from tentacles, ruin, greater ruin, arcane pulse, wave and cone are all keyed off force.

• What twists does everyone use and why?

I use energy burst, spell pen, necro specialist and cocoon. With an aura blasting build you might go energy burst, empyrean magic (also auto proced by aura) and consecration.

[Sproutecus]

• Shiradi is definitely the best boss DPS. A DC caster can clear mobs faster which to me is a more important measure than DPS, and generally being in shiradi is sub-optimal for a DC casting warlock.

EA is arguably the best destiny for DC casting warlocks with a +4 DC advantage, but with the downside of -5 spell pen compared to an arcane tree.. If you are running reaper, I can't see shiradi ever being better than DC casting.

• The 20 second cooldown makes it worthless in my opinion. For reapers you use hold. For nasty champs you figure out where the weak save is and use tentacles, web, hold, flesh to stone or one of the instakills. One of those will almost always work for me.

The blast does not trigger it even with light procs included, but the aura tirggers endless ardor AND righteous ferver with or without light damage meaning it's charged up almost immediately all the time. On an aura build I would always take blood and radiance and reborn in the light. On a non-aura build I find it's not worth it since you can't charge it up passively. Opinions likely vary on this last point.

• Enlightened Spirit has light procs so utterdark makes alot of sense for an ES build in EA. For a DC casting build in some form of SE/TS I prefer force damage. Not because of shiradi, but because the damage from tentacles, ruin, greater ruin, arcane pulse, wave and cone are all keyed off force.

I use energy burst, spell pen, necro specialist and cocoon. With an aura blasting build you might go energy burst, empyrean magic (also auto proced by aura) and consecration.

Thanks for all the info. My DC's are hit and miss right now (EVO/Conj is ok, Ench/necro is not good), as is my spell pen (no fvs PL's 1 Wiz PL), so I am trying to figure out how to be useful in mid-high reaper when I run it with guildies. Sounds like Shiradi is still my best bet for pure DPS if I cant land my instakils. Also might try trap the soul since it is conj and my Conj Dc's are my best ones.


Thanks again

[mr420247]

Shiradi i usally go with tier 4 energyburst or sense weakness, tier 3 empyerean, tier 2 fire power or any dm, tier 1 rejuv, tier 1 reflex saves or sheath

[slarden]

Thanks for all the info. My DC's are hit and miss right now (EVO/Conj is ok, Ench/necro is not good), as is my spell pen (no fvs PL's 1 Wiz PL), so I am trying to figure out how to be useful in mid-high reaper when I run it with guildies. Sounds like Shiradi is still my best bet for pure DPS if I cant land my instakils. Also might try trap the soul since it is conj and my Conj Dc's are my best ones.


Thanks again

Shiradi will be great in a team environment because the nerve venon ccs things that are otherwise hard to cc. Trap the soul is great at heroic levels, but dies fast for epics because it has a flawed formula with a hit dice cap. Tentacles works on some things without a high dc and even though it is supposedly subject to spell penetration, I do not believe it is functioning that way. Things that otherwise have a spell resistance I can't bypass are still stuck in the tentacles. As long as you don't dump charisma and dc you could get some use out of tentacles and web in shiradi.