Nerf FEAR!
by Elizabeth Harper 
Nov 7th 2006 at 10:00AM
We've all been there -- cheerfully minding our own business in a battleground when along comes a warlock to ruin our day. Fear, dot, dot, dot, fear, shadowbolt, fear, shadowbolt... And you've died with nary a chance to defend yourself. You may be tempted to run to the most convenient forum and yell "nerf locks! nerf fear!"Well, people of that persuasion, I point you towards Stylewalker's Nerf Warlocks FAQ, which covers all the bases on why fear isn't always an "iwin" button. Like how it's on diminishing returns (on a shared timer with seduce, even) and breaks on direct damage (and becomes more likely to break on dot damage with more spell damage gear). Does fear alone win fights for warlocks? I doubt it -- I've fought with plenty of horrible players for whom fear wasn't near enough to win a fight.
Filed under: Priest, Warlock, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mordiceius Nov 7th 2006 10:25AM
One of the best warlocks in our guild, a close personal friend, never uses fear in PVP. Fear and deathcoil are just a crutch and should never be the backbone of a strategy. We always get a good laugh whenever a nub warlock opens with deathcoil. ^_^ Thus how it got the term "skillcoil" because obviously if they open with it, they have no skill.
andrea Nov 7th 2006 10:35AM
Uh, crutch, no skill? Seems like all of the above are situational. Sounds like you and your pal are the nubs, to me.
Ryan Nov 7th 2006 10:57AM
Damage breaks fear... or not. Have you been playing WoW for the past two years? Because from my experiences, damage doesn't break fear like it should. Fear is quite possibly the dumbest spell placed in the game.
Mike Schramm Nov 7th 2006 11:00AM
Warlocks can only fear you if they can see you, muhahaha. Sneak, stun, stab stab stabby, kill (throw a WoTF or trinket in there just in case, and you're having Warlock soup for dinner).
Kryz Nov 7th 2006 11:05AM
While agree with #1 that it shouldn't be a crutch, not using it at all is just them trying to be an elitist douche.
It's a main skill in the lock's book, and shouldn't be ignored completely.
Gamerz22 Nov 7th 2006 11:07AM
Since when does fear break under attacks? Ialways remember getting feared and attacked at the same time. At least Insigia of Alliance twink can help, though they can just recast of course.
Warlocks are cheap. They need to extend cooldown of the fear spell. Yes, I don't say rid of the stuff, just nerf the cooldown as it is too short as it is. They have a pet and DOTs, they be fine with a longer fear cooldown time.
bliSSter Nov 7th 2006 11:13AM
LoL Mord...completely /agree. Fear shouldn't be the backbone of any PvP strat.
I thoroughly enjoy getting a lead-off deathcoil from locks when I'm pvping. I have a 58 lock and while I haven't reached the 60 bracket just yet, I can attest that could be the worst possible offensive use of a spell I can think of. Well, perhaps not compared to moonfire spamming (LOVED the druid vid posted earlier btw Mike!).
FYI - if you're pvping with a lock and you're rushing in with deathcoil, you really need to reconsider...it was added to the game as a primarily defensive spell. Not to say it can't have situational uses otherwise, but if you're leading off with it... /cringe. Some of the best locks that I've faced run around with their voidwalker waiting until they need to sac them for shield. With high HP and DoTs, just so many punishing combos. :)
Not just lock fear in the game though. I can't count the times I've been hit with Intimidating Shout, popped PvP trinket, only to catch a Psychic Scream right after. Or played good hunters who realize they can use Scare Beast on druids... Fear is annoying, but certainly not game-breaking. If anything it tends to make things more interesting and chaotic.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Mordiceius Nov 7th 2006 11:17AM
I don't care what anyone says, deathcoil is a defensive spell. It is a spell you should use to either escape or bandage. By starting combat with it, you have just gimped yourself.
Roseroyce04 Nov 7th 2006 11:18AM
Fear is fine. It's easy to get around and losing a fight because of fear just shows how pathetic you are. Fear has never costed me a fight against a warlock or priest.
Now stopping my casting or getting me out of range through fear has, but that's called strategy.
I've played rogue, priest, warrior, shaman, warlock, druid, paladin, and hunter (in that order). Fear has never been a problem for me nor a crutch for me. I use fear as often as possible (usually means 2 times fast or 3 times against a healer then wait 15 seconds or, on my priest, once every 26-30 seconds... or against healers just wait until they try to heal and fear the heal) because I never, ever hold back.
Ok I lied, I do sometimes hold back. I hold back when I'm deliberately disrespecting my opponent. If anyone holds back on me I feel insulted because it shows they believe I'm so crappy that they can win without trying.
If someone pulls every stop to beat me (whether they win or lose) I feel honored and I respect them from that moment on.
Nevertheless, if you're losing fights because of fear, maybe you should go play Spongebob: Creature from the Krusty Krab.
Sylythn Nov 7th 2006 11:26AM
I love all the comments that talk about these skills being the worst PVP skills ever...no kidding, they're not necessarily PVP skills. Deathcoil saves me time and again in instances, and here's why. It gets a melee mob off me, but doesn't send him running so far that he aggros others - gives me enough time (as a demon-spec) to sac my void, resummon-my void and then either get a shadow bolt off on the mob to finish him, or bandage/heal myself before my shield is gone. By that time, my void has got aggro back and I can back up and go back to casting. Deathcoil is not a crutch, it's a tool.
As for Fear, the reason everyone thinks it's unbreakable is because locks are SMART when they use it. DOTs and wands do small enough damage each tick that they don't break Fear until late in their cycle. If I shadow bolt, immolate (the direct damage that hits first), or crit something that's feared then Fear's gonna break.
Roseroyce04 Nov 7th 2006 11:23AM
Mordiceius, you're wrong. Using Deathcoil as a bandage is actually dumber than using Deathcoil to open a fight.
At least opening a fight with it buys you time to cast a fear (and is actually a good strategy against stunlock rogues), however, Deathcoil to bandage is never smart and is the least effective way to change the course of a tight battle through Deathcoil. You will either win even if you didn't Deathcoil or lose even if you didn't Deathcoil.
Control is far more powerful than health as a warlock.
Eh @ Silvermoon EU Nov 7th 2006 11:29AM
I'm an undead mage....what do I care about fear?
Roseroyce04 Nov 7th 2006 11:34AM
Greg wins the topic.
Mordiceius Nov 7th 2006 11:34AM
Roseroyce04, I think you may have misunderstood what I said.
By using deathcoil at the start burns your ability to use it later. I use it as more of an 'oh shit' button. If the fight is not going in my favor, I'll deathcoil and then brew up a fear. While the target is feared, I'll use a heavy runecloth bandage to regain some health or do some lifetapping to regain some mana or just use the chance to regain my bearings.
Roseroyce04 Nov 7th 2006 11:38AM
Oh ok, Mord. When I read that I was thinking "But wait a minute, Deathcoil only lasts 3 seconds!".
Personally, I use it to lock(lolpun) a tough kill. For example, I've burned all seduces he burned his Divine shield, I have 15% hp left and he's casting Holy light. Just an example.
Narrone Nov 7th 2006 11:39AM
I'm sorry, I'm a fury-speced warrior...what's this fear you speak of??? is it like intimidating shout???
Roseroyce04 Nov 7th 2006 11:43AM
Are you an blacksmith undead fury specced warrior? :P
Deusirae Nov 7th 2006 11:48AM
As a Ret spec Pally, I can pretty much own most other classes in 1v1 PvP. The Warlock and the Shadow Priest are the exceptions. Because of the fear ability and the use of the Lock's Voidwalker to shield them, it becomes a CHORE just to take down one clothie...not worth it if I am trying to take on a group and a Lock is with them. I avoid the Lock and take them on only when I need to. I leave soloing Warlocks to the Rogues.
Fear and Deathcoil are devastating. I don't want to cry "Nerf" though. I don't tend to judge a class on PvP alone. Not to mention, I love having a Lock with me when I am in BGs. We should stop telling Blizzard to nerf classes. Ask for them to improve yours instead. Just look at the difference between how powerful classes were in the beginning of WoW, and how they are now. If you had a Pally, Rogue or Warrior in the very early start of WoW, you'd understand the pain that a Nerf Bat can actually bring. Keep the fear. Learn to beat them some other way. The use of teamwork will down any opponent.
Mordiceius Nov 7th 2006 11:55AM
And that is what I am talking about Roseroyce04. Deathcoil is made to be used defensively when you're getting down to that low health to turn the tide in your favor once more. That is why I laugh when locks use it at the beginning of combat because they completely gimp themselves.
Dave Nov 7th 2006 11:58AM
I have a 60 conflag specced lock. Now, I know for a fact that simply because of the way im specced i need less crowd control than your average sm/ruin or demon specced lock...but still, i rarely rarely rarely ever use fear in battlegrounds....if it was instant cast, i would probably use it more....but the fact that it is a waste of 1.5 seconds time...in which i could do 1.5k dmg instead (on average...crits would make it go higher) I'd rather be doing the dmg. For me its immo, conflag, immo shadowburn....and usually that=dead char. And, if not...THEN and only then do i use deathcoil to give me a chance to finish them off. deathcoil is an "oh shit" button....not an "I win" button.