[Updated] Blood Pact: Warlock tips for Naxx-10 part 1
by Nick Whelan 
Apr 6th 2009 at 6:00PM
The time for Blood Pact has come again! This week, we delve into the dread citadel itself, the very stronghold of mighty Kel'Thuzad's power: Naxxramas! Following meekly behind the rest of the group, documenting his experiences for your entertainment, is Nick Whelan.
With Ulduar getting closer every day, I thought this would be a perfectly inappropriate time to write up some helpful hints for all the Warlocks out there who are clad primarily in pre-raiding gear, and would like to start moving forward with their progression. This post is aimed toward helping Warlocks who haven't done much raiding in the past, and would like to try it out now that Blizz has made it so much more accessible. Furthermore, since it's unlikely that such a person has a spot waiting for them in a group which full clears weekly, I also assume in this post that the rest of the people in the raid are similarly geared. By using these tips, new raiders will be doing their part to ensure that their group gets a full clear as soon as possible.
This guide isn't meant as a substitute to an overall Naxx guide. For something like that, be sure to take a look at Ready Check. Rather, this guide is intended to cover the information specific to Warlocks which won't be included in the raid leader's pre-boss explanations. As such, some of this information might be difficult to decipher if you've never participated in the fight before. I would recommend reading Ready Check's Naxx guides first, or even just referencing this page right before the start of a boss fight.
I should also note, before I begin, that I am primarily an Affliction Warlock. Despite my attempts to sample and reflect on other specs, I've never cleared Naxx as anything but Affliction; because Naxx is seriuz buziniz, and I always try to bring my 'A' game. I have attempted to keep this post largely neutral in regards to spec, but the fact of the matter is: I know more about how to play Affliction than I know about how to play anything else. Pointlessly suppressing my strengths in favor of neutrality would only result in a weak article, so, included throughout are several Affliction-specific notes. Sorry, non-Affliction Warlocks.
On the difference between 25-man advice,
and 10-man advice.
and 10-man advice.
It's important to be aware that Naxx-10 is not Naxx-25. There are 10 classes in the game, so the odds that all of them will be present in a in a 10-man is relatively low compared to 25-mans. It's probable that at least one or two, if not more, classes will not be represented in a 10-man raid. In my group, for example, we have no Priests or Magi. That means no Arcane Brilliance, no Prayer of Fortitude, and you can forget spec-specific buffs like Prayer of Spirit.
What this means is that not every buff is going to be available in a 10 man group. And while there are those who would disagree, the smaller number of people in a 10 man means that each person is responsible for a larger percentage of the overall group's success or failure. Since my group lacks any class capable of giving spirit or intellect buffs, I keep my felhunter out to provide everyone with Fel Intelligence. And when the group was first starting out. our healers were still in blues or even Tier 5. So I used Dark Pact more often, because despite the recent hatred for this spell, it's better than feeling smugly superior while you're lying on the ground, dead from Life Tapping when there was nobody to heal you.
Spider Wing
Aub'Rekhan
Grand Widow Faerlina
Maexxna
- When Locust Swarm begins, if your pet is DPSing at melee range, remember to pull them back! If the healers can't be bothered with the Rogues and the Death Knights, where do you think your pet falls on the priority list?
- When Corpse Scarabs pop up, go ahead and take a second to Rain some Fire on them.
- If you're Affliction, you may want to talk to the raid leader about not switching to DPS the Crypt Guards when they spawn. Nobody likes to see their DPS droop by being forced to switch to adds now and again, but Affliction Warlocks are hit particularly hard when forced to switch. If the group is having trouble getting the Crypt Guards down quickly, however, you'll just have to bite the bullet.
- If you do need to switch to the Crypt Guards as Affliction, go ahead and clip your dots on Anub before the CG spawns. That way they'll keep ticking while you're occupied elsewhere.
- [Update] Reader Wolfblitzer (and several others) mentioned something I'm going to be doing myself from now on: Lay down a Demonic Circle in the spot you plan to DPS from. When Anub'Rekhan uses Impale to knock you into the air, just teleport right back down to the ground again! You save yourself the fall damage, as well as give yourself a few extra seconds to DPS.
Grand Widow Faerlina
- When she enrages, and DPS is instructed to kill one of her adds, Searing Pain is the best choice. Unless you're the only DPSer who switched targets like they're supposed to, you probably won't have the time to get anything with a longer casting time off.
- There's a lot of AoE in this fight, and if your healers are still a little under geared, this would be a very good time to make sure everybody has a healthstone.
- If you feel like being an ass, locate a large group of healers, and cast Rain of Fire on them. It's funny to watch them flee before you. And it keeps them on their toes. Everybody wins!
- I'm not going to talk about gear much, but Grieving Spellblade is enough to make me Seed of Corruption in my robes.
- Once this fight is over and the group begins to move on, make sure everybody in the raid has Detect Invisibility on them, and keep it on them until you reach the next boss. Otherwise the group may be slain by an unseen Shade of Naxxramas.
Maexxna
- Warlocks should not be the ones dealing with people who are webbed against the wall. If they make it your job, however, then use Searing Pain.
- Alternatively, if you have the felguard, don't send him against the boss. Just keep him next to you and send him after all the webbed people.
- If you're the one who gets webbed, you can always instruct your pet to free you. (At least I believe so. I have the most amazing luck with avoiding the webs. So I haven't been able to test this -- but it works elsewhere.)
- Different groups deal with the tiny spider adds in different ways, but be warned that Rain of Fire is difficult to target in here, because the targeting reticule doesn't show up on the ground.
- Most groups stop DPS at 35% and wait for the next Web Spray before continuing, so that the tank isn't killed when Maexxna enrages at 30% Remember that if you're an Affliction Warlock, you can't stop your DPS on a dime, so plan ahead. It's unlikely that a few dots will account for 5% of the boss' health, but if some other players simply don't listen, your dots could be the straw which breaks the tank's back.
Plague Wing
Noth the Plaguebringer
Heigan the Unclean
Loatheb
That's it for this week! Next week, I'll cover Military and Construct quarters, as well as Frostwyrm Lair. Speaking of which: if you know of any tips I missed, or any tips you'd like to see me include in next week's post, let me know! I always appreciate learning a new trick.- There's really nothing to this boss which a Warlock should do any different than any other DPSer. Not that I'm aware of anyway.
Heigan the Unclean
- If your group is as new to the instance as I'm assuming, Heigan will probably pose a few problems. Due to that, make sure everyone has a healthstone before this fight begins! It's possible to survive being clipped by the green lava, and having a healthstone on hand could mean the difference between one of your raiders living or dying.
- During phase 1, assuming your group has the casters on the platform. (The "smart way" as I like to call it.) don't just rely on the tank to keep Heigan at the appropriate distance from you. If you really want to avoid Spell Disruption, then use the width and breadth of the platform to maintain max range.
- When phase 2 is about to begin, clip all your dots. You won't be refreshing them for awhile.
- Summoning a Demonic Circle near the edge of the first 'section' before the start of the fight can help prevent players from running too far into the first section to make it to the second in time.
- It's certainly possible to DPS Heigan during phase 2, but I whole-heatedly recommend against it until you're 100% comfortable with the dance. You'll score higher on the DPS meter if you survive.
- If you feel comfortable with it, and you have the spell, use Dark Pact during phase 2. The healers will probably be too busy trying to stay alive themselves to heal a Life Tap. Additionally, Life Tapping means that getting clipped by the green lava has a higher chance to kill you.
Loatheb
- I cannot stress enough the importance of making sure everybody has a healthstone for this fight. During the scant few seconds the healers can heal, they may not be able to get to everybody. Just make sure everyone in the raid is aware that healthstones are subject to Necrotic Aura, same as everything else.
- If you have Dark Pact, then this is your moment to shine. Since heals are so restricted in this fight, you want to Life Tap as little as possible. So make sure to use Dark Pact as soon as you have enough of a mana deficit to make use of all of the mana you will receive. This way your pet will have the maximum amount of time to regen their mana before you need to Dark Pact again.
Blood Pact is a weekly column detailing dots, demons, and all the dastardly deeds done by Warlocks. Interested in implementing these tips, but not yet geared enough to do it? Check out our guide to gearing your warlock for Naxx-10. Or if you only read Blood Pact to make sure it's being written properly, then hit up the WoW Insider 3.1 news center.Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Matsunaga Apr 6th 2009 6:13PM
Hmm... some things in Naxx I had no idea about before. I'm glad I came here first.
amiris Apr 14th 2009 11:50PM
in response to new tricks for naxx during the loatheb fight, if you are in desperate need of a heal, and have used your healthstone, a quick death coil will help you survive until you get a heal, i have used this many times when i fought him and i always use it when its most desperatly needed, remember to make sure your your at the healing phase when doing it
Xavs Apr 6th 2009 6:14PM
I fucking hate it when my raid lead/guild lead expects me to take care of adds or the people who are webbed.
If you want it to get down quickly, give it to a damn mage or something.
A little tip for Anub'Rekhan here, when you are standing out of range (30 yards) away from the boss (to avoid locus swarm), you should be DPSing from that spot. Put down a demonic circle, so if he throws you into the air, you can teleport back as soon as you are thrown up, and keep DPSing. This saves a good couple of seconds and keeps a little bit of stress of your healers.
Nick W. Apr 6th 2009 7:58PM
When my group has a Hunter, I put them on it. When they don't I use my beloved Boomkin buddy.
And wow! That's a fantastic tip! I am totally doing that from now on, and I'll edit it into the article momentarily.
sinthar Apr 7th 2009 7:14AM
As a mage (waits for abuse to die down) who ALSO plays a lock, i can tell you that mages are not best used on webs. At the moment mages are rocking the dps charts (yeah i even have admitted to others were too OP atm, 3.1 will be a nurf to us, but not major, but should help to bring us back into line with other dps), but as a FFB spec mage, and hitting upto 6.8k dps, i have to be either in close range of the web or hit it with a 3 sec cast (with serious overkill), or several ice lances. None of those are decent options to quickly free a webbed person. The job usually goes to a hunter in my experience, due to their range, and instant damaging casts. Dont get me wrong i HAVE done it, but hunters are the idea choice imho.
rosencratz Apr 7th 2009 7:51AM
@ Sinthar - bear in mind this article is aimed at warlocks, Affliction warlocks in fact. No matter what spec the mage they're going to be better at cracking webs. Certainly though if you have hunters or boomkins go for them.
lynara Apr 7th 2009 8:45AM
For a slightly different perspective: A FG/Emberstorm lock is fine for webs. Immo > Incin, if its not dead it will be within a tick or two of immolate. Your pet keeps up his dps on the boss while you take 3.5 seconds of cast time (assuming fairly normal haste levels at this point) to free someone. If you position yourself correctly all you have to do is turn around and you should be in range of most webs.
Also, I can confirm that you can have your pet break you out of webs if your backup is a little slow for your tastes.
Wolfblitzer Apr 6th 2009 6:19PM
Some good tips. I appreciate your advocating the cautious use of life tap on healing restricted fights. I've seen many a warlock go down on Loatheb because they life tapped too low while I couldn't heal them.
If you must life tap on Loatheb, do it only when you have full life, and only once per necrotic aura.
vazhkatsi Apr 6th 2009 7:07PM
I've also seen locks completely ignore lifetap and run around with no mana, i had to tell him that he had no mana, because he was just stopping and letting it regen. of course this same lock had every point into destruction, and not smartly, he had just filled every tier with points, so that the top two weren't even touched.
Cyanea Apr 6th 2009 9:12PM
Being Affliction really helps out on Loatheb.
When you're at about 13-sec left on the Necrotic Aura, start casting Haunt. It'll do its damage and return to you during the 3-second healing window.
rosencratz Apr 7th 2009 6:22AM
Any Warlock that knows his class + Loatheb shouldn't be lifetapping so recklessly anyway. You might just need to take him to one side and point out some usefull sites.
Gemsi Apr 6th 2009 6:21PM
I'm also recommend what others have said about placing a teleport down for Anub'Rekhan down in the center, every little can help sometimes
One thing on Loatheb that I've have seen, is that if you are prepared to blow your cooldown and summon a Doomguard, he will take no damage for the whole fight for whatever reason, this plus his large mana pool compared to other pets means he is quite useful if your specced for Dark Pact
uncaringbear Apr 6th 2009 6:26PM
I've suspect a lot of locks haven't taken the opportunity to use their Doom Guard or Infernal inside Naxx yet, which is a shame, since they no longer suck.
rosencratz Apr 7th 2009 6:20AM
I always use my Doomguard on Loatheb, Maex and usually patchwerk too. Mostly because these bosses you can let the big guy just go to town on them.
Other fights require a little more management or on thaddius it's simply a waste of a cooldown sadly.
Brian Apr 6th 2009 6:25PM
I use Shadow Ward whenever the cooldown is up on Loatheb (starting 2 minutes in), since those Inevitable Dooms are, in fact, Shadow damage. Anything that makes the healers' job easier is a good thing, especially on that fight.
And a warlock is an absolute necessity for the pre-Loatheb eye stalk gauntlet. As long as the warlock and 2 other people make it through, you can summon the rest of the raid. (Without a warlock, that trash is harder than any boss in the four quarters.)
Ronzily Apr 6th 2009 6:41PM
Really? I'm a 'lock, and I've never had to summon anyone after getting through that trash. Do people find it that difficult?
Moonduh Apr 6th 2009 6:53PM
I'm honestly surprised you find the gauntlet THAT difficult. My guild finds it hard, yes, but the only person who ever really dies in it is one of our healers and that's because he goofs around and always does it wrong.
vazhkatsi Apr 6th 2009 7:09PM
the only time i've had a problem with that trash was with a pug, they were a guild, but they insisted on stopping and fighting, rather than just running through.
Nick W. Apr 6th 2009 7:58PM
Stupid me, I never even thought to do that. Which is sad, because I'm always complaining about how most Warlocks forget about Shadow Ward.
It's particularly sad because I always remember to use it on four horsemen.
sinthar Apr 7th 2009 7:14AM
Hmmm tbh we never have had a problem there. Are you using the 'run through and aoe on the bridge' tactic, with anyone with insta casts taking the eye stalks on the run?
Also if you are prepared to wait for the sequence we have done the run without ANY eyestalks aggroing, but were usually too impatient for that tbh.