Nubguard???

As I start preparing for potentially becoming involved with arena teams that have some serious PvP aspirations, I'm beginning to think heavily about possible Warlock specs that would be most beneficial to the team. Of course, there's lots to consider, like the number of players on each side, class composition, and my style of play, to name a few, but hey, I gotta start somewhere, right?

Hoping to get some solid insight into the modern PvP Warlock, I've spoken with a good number of 'locks that have had success in the arena setting (1800+ team ratings). Some suggested going with a variant full Destruction spec, citing their success and linking me to some Korean player's 'lock who achieved a rating of 2100 with a similar build. Definitely impressive.

Others suggested a more Demonology heavy build, giving props to the insta-cast Corruption and availability of Shadowburn, paired with the complete "wtfpwnage" of a Felguard (yes, it was said just like that) and protective Demonology talents. Interesting to say the least... but a Nubguard??? I don't know that I could ever spec for one. Ever. But we'll see. ;)

One suggestion that came up quite frequently and that caught my attention was a variant Affliction-Demonology spec. Lots of positives in this one: Soul Link, Demonic Knowledge, Master Demonologist and Demonic Aegis paired with Insta-Corruption and the deliciousness of Siphon Life, Curse of Exhaustion, and Nightfall. I can definitely see how this could provide a Warlock with a decent amount of survivability while giving him tools to be quite useful to his team. Definitely some potential here, but with 0 points in Destruction, there are some serious drawbacks. Still interesting, though.

And then there's my current spec, a hybrid PvP/PvE build that I kinda just put it together on a whim when TBC was released. It combines an insta-Howl of Terror with Demonic Aegis and Shadowburn. Yummy. I haven't changed it since release because it has just worked out so well from a PvE-DPS standpoint, and although it's not the BEST PvP spec out there, it has definitely held it's own quite well. A variant of this would be to drop some Demonology talents and pick up Ruin; a build that would definitely up the nuking DPS, but at the expense of some stamina and healing effects.

I think what it'll end up coming down to is experiencing the arena at length, and then tweaking the spec to adapt to what the team needs accordingly. These specs seem like a decent starting point though, so there's one less stress to worry about.

I'll let you guys know how it goes. For now, I'm off to remove some of this PvP rust that's built up over the past 10 months. Catch ya'll later. ;)

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