What weapon do you use with an Auralock?

[brian14]

Before level 12, when Enlightened Spirit warlock gets proficiency with martial weapons, that is.

[balvix]

If you're talking melee then probably a greatsword or greataxe for dps. If melee tank mode, shield with longsword seems to be a decent choice.

[dogsoldier]

Seems like daggers would be a good choice, Vistani gets you access to a melee tree. It is easier to qualify for SWF feats, not like you need the extra AoE from THF as a warlock, and you get to use all of the great radiance orbs.

[archest]

since a war lock is limited to medium armor, before arcane failure , I suggest Medium Mithril armor with a mithril shield and long sword < elf has this free proficiency along with the long bow from Race.

[C-Dog]

since a war lock is limited to medium armor, before arcane failure , I suggest Medium Mithril armor

which would be a piece of "heavy" armor that is mithril, since mithril kicks it down one category. (Look in AH, you'll find mithril scale and breastplates under "Armor/Light").

[GeneralDiomedes]

Honestly? I use Chain shape. Enlightened spirit is utterly useless before 12 IMO.

[NemesisAlien]

If you're talking melee then probably a greatsword or greataxe for dps. If melee tank mode, shield with longsword seems to be a decent choice.

Before level 12 and arcane spell failure? Shield gives arcane spell failure you know. Unless you talking about the borderlands white shield.

[Xgya]

Friends don't let friends play auralocks before 12.

Chain shape isn't exactly worth much once you reach higher levels, but it's a total (Eldritch) blast early on.

There's just no good incentive.
You can place most of your points in ES and still figure out you're better off using normal Eldritch Blasts than attempting to use a weapon.

If you absolutely must or just want to for flavor reasons, there's this neat Shadowblade you can create that natively uses your Charisma for both damage and to-hit, and is pretty cheap to get.

[Diarden1]

I use cone shape once I hit 7 for the extra damage and aoe capacity. It's difficult to hit creatures in groups with chain if everyone's running around.

I use the Crystal Shield from Feywild then the small shield from Isle of Dread pre-level 10. They both only have 5 ASF, which is low enough that it doesn't affect much, but still adds enough ac and other features that it's worth it!

[Enoach]

I like the sickle myself.

But the main thing, go for a weapon that does "other stuff", the dps comes from the bursts and aura, so a little stat dmg, curse etc. goes a long way in that area.

Many casters come into their own around level 5. As others pointed out Auralocks feel the boost around 12.

[brian14]

Friends don't let friends play auralocks before 12.

I have to agree. Right now at level 7 (and holding) my enhancements look like this:



I put 8 points into ES just to get Resist Energy, but am not using aura at all. Until level 11 I plan to put points into Tiefling racial enhancements, and at level 12 reset Tiefling, and dump bunch of points into ES.

[Dendrix]

I have to agree. Right now at level 7 (and holding) my enhancements look like this:



I put 8 points into ES just to get Resist Energy, but am not using aura at all. Until level 11 I plan to put points into Tiefling racial enhancements, and at level 12 reset Tiefling, and dump bunch of points into ES.

Resist Energy level 3 is a waste. Just take 1 level in it. All you save are a few spell points (20) from spending 2 enhancement points.
Take those 2 points and buy Cone in Soul Eater tree.

Take the 4 points from the tiefling tree, they are wasted and are doing almost nothing for you.
spend them in Tainted Scholar for Strong Pact 1 and Tainted lore (Web spell, the awesome crowd control)
save the last point and next time you get a point take strong pact 2

[Diarden1]

Resist Energy level 3 is a waste. Just take 1 level in it. All you save are a few spell points (20) from spending 2 enhancement points.
Take those 2 points and buy Cone in Soul Eater tree.

Take the 4 points from the tiefling tree, they are wasted and are doing almost nothing for you.
spend them in Tainted Scholar for Strong Pact 1 and Tainted lore (Web spell, the awesome crowd control)
save the last point and next time you get a point take strong pact 2

I went a drastically different way.

Level 8 currently
0 points in Enlightened Spirit (you can get House P buffs for 30 minutes of resists, or potions for now)
Tainted Scholar: 14 points
- 3 Strong Pact upgrades
- 3 Core abilities (Staunch is important)
- 3 in Feigned Health (super important)
- Utterdark Blast
Soul Eater: 18 points
- 3 Core
- Consume
- 4 in Hungry
- 3 in Stricken, 1 in Stricken Soul
- Burning Blood and Cone

This could be controversial, but I like having Consume, Stricken and upgrade the two with Greater Hunger at level 9 for super high single target damage for hounds. I solo a LOT, so taking out high hp targets quickly is the name of the game (reapers, hounds, bosses, what have you). I also go cone over chain simply for the extra damage. It's much easier for me to hit a moving target with cone if it's strafing, and because I solo grouping melee targets up and circling around a caster/ranged is cake.

The hp from Feigned Health should keep you afloat as long as you keep casting shield or whatnot on you as you get hit.

This should sustain you until level 12 when you reroll and put your points into ES.

[C-Dog]

I have to agree. Right now at level 7 (and holding) my enhancements look like this:...

Hmmm, mine look markedly different. This is, generally speaking, how i start my 'locks, but the Hounds of this HC season make it only more attractive (to me, at least).

This works with any race, any Pact.

Leveling Guide

1. TS0 Tainted Spellcasting; TS1 Strong Pact; (Bank 1 AP)
2. SE0 Inhuman Understanding; SE1 Consume; SE1 Taint the Blood*; SE1 Hungry for Destruction I
3. SE2 Stricken I, II, III
   
   (* for Fire Pact (-4 to Target's Fort ST); other Pacts take HfD II)

The first 3 AP are spent to get Strong Pact for some juice for Korthos.*

(* In HC, any new alt gets bumped to at least Level 2 via XP gems or (if no gems) by running Harbor Solo quests (Miller's Debt, Explosive Situation, Home Sweet Sewer). A little repetition gets the job done, and a MUCH stronger character going into Korthos.)

I then beeline to Consume + Stricken. Combined with Maximize + Empowered, these are insta-kills for any Large Threat - bosses, champs, reapers and, yes, hounds.

Yes, I completely ignore TS Feigned Health to start. My first spell is Expeditious Retreat (to get around the landscape faster, swapped out after I get boots), my second (for Korthos*) is False Life. At Lvl 2 FL gives +12 HP, which is everything I need in Korthos (and usually for Harbor as well). I put it on my #1 hotbar spot and spam it.

(* If you have a diff source for ER, then of course you'll get something diff. Jump & Shield are standards.)

And, yes, it means I stay single-target longer, which lowers mob/group damage, but single-target damage is higher than Chain, and the security of having TWO really big hammers* in my back pocket is a literal life-saver.

(* These attacks travel relatively slowly - it takes some practice to get use to targeting, especially vs. moving targets or when your target is in a crowd of mobs. Also some discipline to NOT spam them so they are not on cooldown when you suddenly need them.)

At the end of 3rd level you've now spent 11 AP, and it's then dealer's choice whether to go Tainted Scholar and head for Chain or go deeper into Soul Eater and push to Tier 3 for Cone.

Chain shape is very user friendly, and gets you the Feigned Life* and (eventually) Stanch that much faster. And Core 3 (Web, 20 Depravity, +Crit damage) is a must at this point, so that's another point. But Cone (along with SE Core 3) is also very attractive, and not only because it does more damage - it's a personal playstyle thing (and probably not worth spending for both shapes). Many players grab Chain early, then swap to Cone asap - that works too.

(* Whenever you do (finally) get Feigned Health, swap False Life out for whatever L1 spell you feel you need more. Or keep it a while - 10+Level extra temp HP is a nice bump to the standard +Cha of Feigned Health, esp if you're a Con build.)

Utterdark can wait until a little later - Impact spellpower works just fine in lower levels (even tho' you should already have Light Spellpower gear to help your Consume & Stricken attacks!)

[balvix]

Before level 12 and arcane spell failure? Shield gives arcane spell failure you know. Unless you talking about the borderlands white shield.

Meh, use the crystal shield that comes from fey, that's what I use. Only 5%, not really an issue.

[C-Dog]

Before level 12 and arcane spell failure?

Or find a mithral small shield (0% ASF) and craft on it. Usually some in AH, and they drop regularly in WW.

Or a slotted shield and a sapphire of -ASF - that works too.

[Xgya]

(* Whenever you do (finally) get Feigned Health, swap False Life out for whatever L1 spell you feel you need more. Or keep it a while - 10+Level extra temp HP is a nice bump to the standard +Cha of Feigned Health, esp if you're a Con build.)

The first point in Tainted Scholar grants you Feather Fall.
I use that as an AoE give everyone temp HPs spell ALL the time. You don't really need anything else, the game hands you a group-friendly option right off the bat.

[C-Dog]

I use that as an AoE give everyone temp HPs spell ALL the time. You don't really need anything else...

I'm suggesting that 'you" don't need that at all. Instead, what the HC warlock needs is those 2-3 AP somewhere else before Level 5. False Life mimics the effect for you (only), and you can spend those AP getting what I discussed above - a 2nd big hammer for 1-shotting Champs, Bosses, Reapers and Hounds.

Do others miss the extra HP? I'd think they do! But that's not your job. Your job is to keep yourself alive, and a HP buff + burst DPS is better than just the former for the entire party (who should already have themselves covered, and many will).

Unless you're running in a static group, of course, then it's one for all, all for one, and FF + Feigned Health is more than adequate (just like it does on live servers).

[brian14]

Thank you for all your responses, and after some consideration I decided to forgo Enlightened Spirit tree entirely, which is very much a break from how I usually play Warlocks. I can take Tier 5 enhancements in only one tree, and that will be Soul Eater. I also put 1 AP into Feydark Illusionist for +5 Force and +5 Universal (and a cute kitty), but had not yet decided how much more points to spend on it; Tier 1 of Feydark are not terribly useful for an Eldritch-blasting warlock.

[C-Dog]

Thank you for all your responses, and after some consideration I decided to forgo Enlightened Spirit tree [/I]entirely[I]...

A "blaster" is not unusual at all - it skips the automatically refreshing HP (= Con) boost from Brilliance and relies on Feigned Health (= Cha) and Stanch (= 50% max HP), so tends to be a "Cha" build rather than a "Con" build.

But it has a slightly longer range than the Aura damage, so you get to stand off and kite/strafe more than with an Aura build, which avoids melee damage.

(You don't get Shield for free (ES Tr II), so remember to take that as a spell!)