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The Orb of Soran’ruk Chain Quest
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Gear, Runes, And Enchants
In the original version of Classic: WoW certain classes had rigid, set roles. Only Warriors could be tanks or damage, while Mages were DPS, and other classes like Shamans and Druids were “combination classes” and could potentially fill any role depending on their talent point allocation, gear, and enchantments.
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One of the creative twists in Season of Discovery is the expansion of these rigid party roles. Warlocks, a class that could only fill a DPS role in previous game incarnations, can now be Tanks. They rated as highly as Paladins and Warriors for Phase 4, but as with all classes, it takes a few careful steps and specific gear to build a Warlock Tank.
The Talent Tree
Leveling Builds May Differ
The Warlock Tank has specific uses for their demon pet and one of the signature spells, Corruption, but their spells are heavily drawn from the Destruction category. This is partly because of the above-average aggro and damage that the Warlock uses to distract and taunt enemies and also because most of their damage still comes from spells.
Emphasis On Destruction For Offensive Tanks
By the time players reach the current Phase 4 level cap of 60, they’ll have 51 talent points available, and at least 30 of them should be in Destruction. A few of the talents that Warlock Tanks need to prioritize are as follows:
- Improved Searing Pain. This is the spell that Warlocks use to draw aggro, and it’s been in the game since 2004. Power it up to draw enemies away from allies.
- Ruin. Most of a Warlock’s damage still comes from spell power, and this improves the critical strike damage bonus of Destruction spells.
- Intensity. A crucial talent that gives the Warlock a better chance to resist interruption while casting Rain of Fire, Hellfire, or Soul Fire.
- Embersoul. Increases the overall damage done by all Fire spells.
- Bane. Reduces the casting time of Immolate, Soul Fire, and Shadowbolt.
Warlocks who want
to give their pets more power
and have a better defensive stance can use a Demonology spec for their Tanking build. One possibility is taking points out of Improved Immolate, Emberstorm, and Intensity, and putting them in Fel Intellect, Improved Imp, and Demonic Embrace instead.
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The Orb of Soran’ruk Chain Quest
Available At Level 20, But Level 25 Is Recommended
One of the key components of the Warlock Tank build is the Metamorphosis Rune, which gives the player the ability to turn into a demon. This has the following effects;
- increases armor by 500%
- reduces the chance of being critically hit by 6%
- increases threat generation by 50%
- increases the mana restored by Life Tap by 100%
- Searing Pain is now an instant cast
- Shadow Bolt becomes Shadow Cleave and hits multiple enemies
- Fear is replaced with Menace, a powerful taunt ability
Some entirely new abilities Metamorphosis grants that are specific to the Tank role are;
- Demonic Charge. The Warlock’s version of Warrior’s Charge ability, it can only be used outside of combat and stuns enemies for one second.
- Demonic Howl. Forces all nearby enemies to focus on the Warlock for 6 seconds.
In other incarnations of WoW, this is a skill that only high-level Demonologists possess, but in Season of Discovery, it’s what defines the Warlock Tank. All races have access to the NPC in the Southern Barrens, even though they’re human. The quest chain consists of four parts.
- The Orb of Soran’ruk. Doan Karhan is standing in the front of his tent, and he asks the player to find him the Orb of Soran’ruk, which has been broken into different pieces. Each is in a dungeon, and one is intact, but the other is broken. The Large Soran’ruk Fragment drops from a Son of Arugal in Shadowfang Keep. The three Soran’ruk Fragments are dropped from Twilight Cultists in Blackfathom Deeps.
- Rumors Abound. Travel to two different towers and steal two orbs. The Orb of Des is in the Tower of Ilgalar in the Redridge Mountains and the Bough of Altek is in the Tower of Althalaxx in Darkshore.
- The Conjuring. Find the Monument to Grommash Hellscream in Azshara and bring 10 Blood of the Legion. Turn in the quest at the monument, survive the waves of mobs, and when the final Searing Infernal spawns, use Drain Soul to slay it and the Mysterious Traveler appears.
- The Mysterious Traveler. Return to Doan and the reward will be the Metamorphosis Rune.
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Gear, Runes, And Enchants
Stamina And Intellect Are Priorities
- More health, more durability, and more hit chance make a Warlock Tank
Using a dagger or sword with an off-hand is preferable to equipping a staff because the buffs for Stamina and Intellect can stack even higher with two items as opposed to one. Keep an eye on the specific buffs and use whatever combination is higher. For
every other piece of gear
, always look for Stamina and Intellect buffs.
Gear |
Runes |
Enchants |
Deathmist Set – increases all damage and healing by 23 with any set of 3.
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Reach Exalted with the Arathi Basin PvP faction.
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n/a |
Atal’ai Signet of Mojo – purchase from a vendor in Yojamba Isle, increases magic and healing effects by 9 |
Drape of the Fire Lord – an epic drop in Molten Core |
Infernal Armor |
Hydraxian Coronation – purchase from Duke Hydraxis, adds +20 Fire Resistance |
Get a Revered reputation with the Warsong Gulch PvP faction.
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Demonic Grace |
Lesser Arcane Amalgamation. Adds +20 Fire resistance. Buy the Libram of Resilience in the Burning Steppes. |
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Demonic Knowledge |
Enchant Boots – Greater Stamina. +7 Stamina, requires x10 Dream Dust |
Weapons
- Ironbark Staff. A two-handed staff that gives +19 Stamina, and +10 Intellect, improves critical strike by 2%, and all damage and healing by up to 41. Available to Horde players with an Exalted reputation with the Defilers or Allaine players with an Exalted reputation with the League of Arathor.
- Sorcerous Dagger. Adds +8 Stamina, +16 Intellect, and all damage and healing is increased by 36. It drops from various bosses in the Molten Core.
- Blade of Eternal Darkness. It doesn’t buff Intellect or Stamina at all, but it’s one of the best options in the game because of the passive benefits of equipping it. It increases all damage and heating by +20 and has a chance to restore 100% of the Warlock’s mana when they deal a critical hit with Shadow damage. However, with a minuscule drop rate from Princess Theradras in Maraudon it’s also the most difficult to acquire.
Warlocks can conjure a Firestone that can take the place of an offhand weapon if they’ve decided to equip a sword or dagger instead of a staff. It also gives the main weapon a fire enchant and increases the overall damage of fire spells depending on the Warlock’s level.
World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery
- Base Game
- World of Warcraft Classic
- Released
- November 30, 2023