Calling every Warlocks around !

[Talamarie]

Hello my fellows, I need a bit of help here.

Warlock is my 6th character and so far ? I'm... struggling to find an appeal.
I play with only Essence by Kill since i go Frost Wand instead of Dirk and not planing to change it but all the specialisations though feels kinda... dissapointing.

"Summoning" needs Essence for Fiends yet even if i can make it work with the % Essence on Kill the fiends feels weak and the Gargoyle is alone compared to the wolves of the Ranger Beastmaster specialisation.

"Souls" is a nice vortex that i can spam when fully upgraded but the passive needs direct essences to work, compared to the fiends one where i can make it work with the killing this one sucks badly with that playstyle.

"Chaos" seemed to me the better option especially considering the damage and range of the blade. Yet the rifts ? I tested them and they ultimately failed to impress me further as you need to connect two to make the most of it for if you only make one you need the monsters to go INTO it for the "nearby" proc.

I'm at a loss of choice here. Thus why i'm calling you guys for your point of views.

What specialisation and playstyle are you playing ?

[Abyss]

If you really refuse to melee, then chaos is probably your only option. At least chaos blade gives essence. And the rifts are insane amounts of DPS on bosses when you can stack them, as well as great bottle necks if you need to run from mobs.

At the end of the day, warlocks main mechanic is bound mainly to melee, so its mainly a melee class. No way around that. Especially on bosses where there is nothing to kill.

[TuxRox]

I use dual daggers to build essence and spread poison, then sumon fiends.

The class has a close range aura to weaken enemies. its designed around being a melee caster. Try using melee?

It kinda gets ranged going if you have minions shooting fireballs, and the percent essence gain on kill, and are in a combo sending novas. But even then, rushing in to melee range so that your aura weakens enemies is key warlock play. so usually the minions are trailing as I rush in and kill.

[Thuse]

playing it as a warrior with a 2h axe haha, gain life on essence gain, spin to win, vortex. it aint the best but it gets the job done.

[DaGuy]

Yeah, honestly been enjoying 2handed axe's whirlwind to build stacks and bleeds with essence. Str and heavy armor also shores up armor so that's nice.

[Genny War]

I've only just started going at NG+1 with the standard melee dirk warlock, but I find if I can get the stun, go slow, and stun+focus down the enemies that inflict shadow curse I don't get too many stacks. With no NG+, melee isn't too much of an issue, as long as you get lifesteal.

I use Souls mastery and use a dirk and shield (just for extra tank and to help with traps), and always pick lifesteal on essence gain. Things only got hard at the Courts level, but that's standard for everyone rn. I try to get the stun on the tail whip ability, so I can stun a group or dangerous targets, rush in, dark ritual+vortex, and stab away, out healing most any damage I take (makes sense they nerfed the healing). The souls that are released on attack help mop up enemies in the middle range so they don't need to be chased down, letting me focus on more important/dangerous targets. Still have to be aware of the enemy telegraphs, and not get too swamped if there's a lot of elites. I try to stack damage mitigation on my equipment (parry and evasion), to help make going in melee less risky. Extra stun chance on my weapon (the dirk attacks so fast, so lots of chances for on hit effects to go off), or other abilities that increase disabling effects are also useful.

I think the reason you're not having fun/are disappointed is because the warlock is a melee class, and all the abilities are designed for melee (staying far away completely robs you of the benefit of your aura passive, for example). It's definitely fair if you don't enjoy the play-style though! I have a few characters I just rushed to 20 for the benefits, but hate actually playing lol.

[Lambi]

Originally posted by Talamarie:

Hello my fellows, I need a bit of help here.

Warlock is my 6th character and so far ? I'm... struggling to find an appeal.
I play with only Essence by Kill since i go Frost Wand instead of Dirk and not planing to change it but all the specialisations though feels kinda... dissapointing.

"Summoning" needs Essence for Fiends yet even if i can make it work with the % Essence on Kill the fiends feels weak and the Gargoyle is alone compared to the wolves of the Ranger Beastmaster specialisation.

"Souls" is a nice vortex that i can spam when fully upgraded but the passive needs direct essences to work, compared to the fiends one where i can make it work with the killing this one sucks badly with that playstyle.

"Chaos" seemed to me the better option especially considering the damage and range of the blade. Yet the rifts ? I tested them and they ultimately failed to impress me further as you need to connect two to make the most of it for if you only make one you need the monsters to go INTO it for the "nearby" proc.

I'm at a loss of choice here. Thus why i'm calling you guys for your point of views.

What specialisation and playstyle are you playing ?

You are literally refusing to play around the core mechanic of Warlock. It would be like playing Warrior and insisting on going crossbow only. It just doesn't really work.

[Talamarie]

A little point of information as i see some of you telling me to go melee : i do use the aura of agony with the life leeching seal near monsters and also bosses i just don't use a dirk but a frost wand instead.

[Abyss]

Originally posted by Talamarie:

A little point of information as i see some of you telling me to go melee : i do use the aura of agony with the life leeching seal near monsters and also bosses i just don't use a dirk but a frost wand instead.

Literally everyone is saying youre trying to ranged on a melee class and thats 90% of the issue. Its ok if you dont like mainly melee classes, but you cant be upset with subpar results when you try and wrench in something that makes it almost impossible to use the classes mechanic.

[Ashtarte]

As some of pointed out already, Warlock is intended to be melee. They are basically the mage tank, though Transmutation Wizard can do this too, but that's more because it's wildly overtuned. It's why you get resists from Warlock class title.

[Talamarie]

Originally posted by Ashtarte:

As some of pointed out already, Warlock is intended to be melee. They are basically the mage tank, though Transmutation Wizard can do this too, but that's more because it's wildly overtuned. It's why you get resists from Warlock class title.

I think you pointed out the information i was missing : considering the Warlock as Tank.
With a Melee weapon that continuously proc the Essence and adding Life Siphon would therefore render the Warlock a self healing unit. Need to test that. Thanks you.

[TuxRox]

It works pretty well imo.

Bonus points if you get the upgrade that makes your ritual circle give life leach to you and allies in it, then things die, minions in the circle are great.

I don't put anything into strength or dex, and put my stats into int, focus and vit, and I often have a large health pool, and do great melee damage, and can self heal so fast that I hp tank.

I use the whip, then dual dagger charge, then drop a ritual and stab things. spewing out minions whenever I get essence.

[Varyn [GER]]

Originally posted by Genny War:

I've only just started going at NG+1 with the standard melee dirk warlock, but I find if I can get the stun, go slow, and stun+focus down the enemies that inflict shadow curse I don't get too many stacks. With no NG+, melee isn't too much of an issue, as long as you get lifesteal.

I use Souls mastery and use a dirk and shield (just for extra tank and to help with traps), and always pick lifesteal on essence gain. Things only got hard at the Courts level, but that's standard for everyone rn. I try to get the stun on the tail whip ability, so I can stun a group or dangerous targets, rush in, dark ritual+vortex, and stab away, out healing most any damage I take (makes sense they nerfed the healing). The souls that are released on attack help mop up enemies in the middle range so they don't need to be chased down, letting me focus on more important/dangerous targets. Still have to be aware of the enemy telegraphs, and not get too swamped if there's a lot of elites. I try to stack damage mitigation on my equipment (parry and evasion), to help make going in melee less risky. Extra stun chance on my weapon (the dirk attacks so fast, so lots of chances for on hit effects to go off), or other abilities that increase disabling effects are also useful.

I think the reason you're not having fun/are disappointed is because the warlock is a melee class, and all the abilities are designed for melee (staying far away completely robs you of the benefit of your aura passive, for example). It's definitely fair if you don't enjoy the play-style though! I have a few characters I just rushed to 20 for the benefits, but hate actually playing lol.

This sounds a lot like you aren't aware of shield's awesome stun ability :)

[Genny War]

Originally posted by Varyn GER:

Originally posted by Genny War:

~Longpost removed~

This sounds a lot like you aren't aware of shield's awesome stun ability :)

Oh, oops, yes. I use the shield stun too if highvalue targets are still alive after the first stun wears off and if no other disables have triggered. XD Neglected to mention that. Also lean on it in the event the tail whip stun ability never drops for me. For some reason I'm kind of bad at right clicking though (I neglect most of the offhand/alt weapon abilities), so once I have other sources of stun I don't use it as much. The shield stun requires you to basically already be in melee, which sometimes gives some enemies time to get off their curse attacks or lightning nukes, so I prefer them to be stunned first XD