Cursing Intelligently

[pipnip]

It has come to Pipnip's attention that stupid Defender Warlocks are wanting a discussion of intelligently using curses. Pipnip is therefore reduced to "posting" trivial pieces of information in the Defender "Academy", because Master has commanded it. How little do stupid Defenders know or care the depth of Pipnip's degradation, his endless mockery at the hands of his demonic contemporaries, his unutterable shame at a vast intelligence being reduced to "tips".

1. Curse of Recklessness is being the most important of all curses, because it is not allowing a creature to run away and aggro more enemies before the team is being ready. BUT because it is also increasing enemy damage, it is best used against mostly-dead-and-in-danger-of-running targets. It is not for using against enemies that are not being attacked.

If a group is being smart and having only one Main Target at a time, this can be done even by stupid warlocks. If a group is being stupid and everyone is having their own Main Target, warlocks must notice the runners and hit them with Recklessness before they are getting far.

Some enemies are not needing this because they are stupid-brave and will not run. Most are cowards: they are needing this.

2. Curse of Weakness and Curse of Tongues are being very handy against all targets that are NOT being killed right away. After DoTting* up the main target, an intelligent warlock will hit all other enemy spellcasters with Tongues and all other enemies with Weakness. This will save the healer's mana.

3. If a tank is holding aggro strongly, affliction warlocks may often safely DoT other enemies with Siphon Life as well as a curse. This will allow them to Life Tap for more mana. Other DoTs must wait until enemies are becoming Main Targets, or else cloth-wearing warlock will become lunch for a crowd of angry not-main-targets.

4. You are noticing that Pipnip is not mentioning Curse of Agony until almost last. That is because when in a group this is only to be used against a Main Target, along with other DoTs like Corruption and Immolate. If Main Target is a coward, when health is about 25% a warlock is needing to Recklessness it.

5. You are also noticing that Pipnip is not mentioning debuff curses (Curse of the Elements, Curse of Shadow) at all. These may be used instead of Curse of Agony, only if your team is using much much much of that kind of damage.

That is all Pipnip has to say.

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*DoT = Damage Over Time. These are instant-cast, so they can be fired before moving on to other things. (Why Pipnip must explain everything, Pipnip will never know.)

[Icilis]

You forget your place with your arrogance whelp. If you were my slave I would have torn your mind from you long ago, it is obviously warped from the gnomish effect. Therefore, there are several subtleties that you have missed...

1) Curse of Recklessness can be the most important, but it can also be deadly. The only thing that is necessary is to keep the idiots from running away, therefore, using a minor version ((level 1)) will keep those protecting the important members of the group alive.

2) I will use weakness for specific situations, tongues for casters that aren't being killed right away.

3) If your 'tank', as you put it, will not do his or her job, it is time to dispose of them and find a new one. They are easily replaced.

4) ((Curse of Agony I use in all 5man situations where I'm one of the only dps classes. Of course, I have dots on EVERYTHING at the same time. Just realize that a warlock has no anti-aggro anything.))

5) Elements and Shadow are really only necessary when traveling en force with many warlocks. This is such a rare occurance that perhaps only that is worth mentioning.

[Robbyn Jonathan]

((this is the best class!))

[Celera]

((Brilliant technically and still hilarious! You guys are awesome.))

[Poldeux]

I'm sure this is all VERY helpful for you touchy-feely, huggy, kissy, brown-nosing warlocks who love being surounded by people. However, these lists do not adequately seem to represent the necessary abilities for those of us who prefer our own company to that of a group of mindless, greedy, blathering idiots eager only for gold and the spoils of war.

I have often been informed by other warlocks that the most efficient curse, when one is exploring the world and one's own power, is that of agony. Combined with the siphoning of life, as Pipnip mentioned, and a succubus, this is supposed to provide quick and relatively painless deaths for one's opponent.

Never let it be said, however, that I follow the steps of others blindly, without exploring alternate, even more efficient paths. Such is particularly true because I am, after all, far more intelligent than the average warlock. The above scenario does provide for quick deaths. However, if one can do basic arithmetic, it must quickly become obvious that the damge one receives from one's opponent is by no means equally recovered by the siphon spell. Therefore, after only a few kills, one must eat, or drink, or whatever one feels one must do to recover their strength.

Instead, I have found that cursing the enemy with weakness, if using a succubus, and only using agony when one uses one's voidwalker, is a far more efficient use of power. Weakness is useless, the warlocks protest. I disagree. You have other spells to damage an opponent, and the succubus adds to that. By cursing with weakness, coupled with the siphoning of life, a warlock can actually keep abreast of the damage being dealt to him or her. This means she will not have to eat, drink, or bandage nearly as often. This in turn means the overall speed of killing opponents is actually faster than using agony.

To sum up, for those of you too stupid to understand what I just said:

When one is exploring the world by one's self,

1. Weakness with succubus.

2. Agony with voidwalker.

[Fechak]

((In the later levels, soloing is literally non-stop with Dark Pact. Which is best used with the imp - for both of his buffs. And if properly specced, you will be at full health and mana at the end of the average fight using Agony.))

[Poldeux]

((Elucidate, please?))

[Fechak]

OOC:

First and foremost, Dark Pact is required which means 31 points spent in Affliction. Icilis has 40 points in Affliction at level 60.

I open with immolate, then curse of agony, corruption and finally siphon life. I use dark pact to regain all of my mana, then I will drain life (noting that you have fel concentration with improved drain life) a few times until it's almost dead. Then finish off a few more dark pacts, then on to the next mob.

I also have nightfall, so I'll fire that off every time it comes up. Imp just stands there phased out, throwing fire shield on me and keeping me buffed. I haven't used another pet since.

That being said, I will use the others for specific instances. But we've gone beyond the cursing subject already.

[Robbyn Jonathan]

((boo on Fechak for interrupting the IC with OOC!))

[Fechak]

*chugs a grog*

((Better?))