What makes a SW work?

anzeri

Looking at builds and gearing ideas for a SW is like asking "What company makes the best truck in a country bar?" So can anyone keep it simple and say answer a couple questions?

What stat does a SW get its attack power from?

Which is more important for a SW: critical or Armor Penetration?

Which rotation of encounters provides constant DPS output?

Which is best crowd control for SW: AOE or Area containment/diversion from main party?

Are there gear that provide better stat bonuses through the set bonus or is it better to just use specific individual pieces?

What is the best PvP build? Supported with stats not feelings.

What is the best PvE build? Supported with stats not feelings.

What is the coolest item to transmute equipment into at level 70 end game? Or what die set to use? This can be feelings of course.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

ftryda

ArmPen to 60% then dump everything you have into crit chance. Soul binder Damnation is only viable path right now to even attempt a top paingiver build. Even with heavy gearing (upwards of 3700il) you will still struggle to keep up with a GWF over 2800 for dps. I imagine other classes will not be far behind once equivalently geared to warlock.

Warlocks Bargain will be your life saver for a very long time. Hadar Grasp will build soul sparks the fastest if you have lostmauth set. I'm still testing best ways to truly maximize damage. Dread theft is easy to use and helps for mobility but as you gear up more and more I've found soul scorch to be more useful. Also fiery bolt is great just don't forget to curse targets constantly.

Like I said before, go for crit when making gear choices. That will tell you which pieces to get. Get your armor pen from rings, etc. Use darks in offense slots until hit 60% arp then swap with azure. Darks only in defense slots, nothing else makes sense numberswise cuz you'll never have enough to make a difference in survivability.

anzeri

Thanks for the comments. I guess my next question would be what artifact weapons and what 4 artifacts would be good, great, or best.

ftryda

Twisted weapons are pretty much hands down for BiS for warlock. Imo AP gain is a non issue for us and does not warrant use of the Burning set from fiery pit... artifacts are tricky, at least they have been for me since I've changed through all 3 feat trees (landed on temptation atm). I have swapped mine around quite a bit, currently have 7 at mythic and 2 others halfway there... the horn of blasting is a must to go with the lostmauth set (soul spark generation makes huge difference, so set, thus artifact, is a must). wheel of elements is most versitile eventhough the hp seems like a wasted stat, the 30% dmg bonus more than makes up for it. Next couple depend on other stats u may be lacking, I use tiamat orb for good mix of useful stats and the hunters sigil for extra recovery because our cooldowns are ridiculous. Other artifacts that I swap around depending on what I'm doing are lantern, shard of valindras crown, and beholder to use with different set bonus (kind of a waste). There are several others worth consideration but really depends on preference once ur at that point.

xrawcarnage

@ftryda you know your warlock. Let me add to what you've said. Ditch dread theft immediately if it's in your rotation. The power is garbage. I know most warlocks use it cause of all the numbers and aoe but them numbers are very small compare to what you can do. Warlocks bargain, Hadars grasp and soul scorch is the best rotation. Build sparks with essence defiler and slam them with soul scorch.

Only a couple powers actually proc the lost set. Hadars grasp, killing flames, and at wills. That's about it. Severely broken but learn to utilize the proc with a good rotation. The one I said is the best imo.

I am a 37+ Ilevel warlock so my power and crit is decent. I have 21k+ pwr, 17k+ crit with 69.5 crit chance, 11k arm pen, crit severity no buffs at 113%. I use a fury soulbinder path build. I don't get put dps often no matter the situation. So yes fury is still viable bit I would not suggest it unless you know your rotation and have the stats to back it. Basically I do the same as a damnation build bring. I just like the "personal" powers and have more power/crit on myself.

I agree with the twisted set being bis. Hands down. The 24 stacks are constant give you the power all the time in combat. I use artifact wise thayan book, lost horn, devoted sigil, and lantern. Controller sigil is a very nice replacement for one of them.

If you need help on companions I run air archon, fire archon, dancing blade, Belials, and mercenary legendary w/rank 12 bonding stones. Ring slots with 2 band of loathings. Works very well.

For crit to power ratio I'd go for as even as you can or possible more crit. Use azures and darks in defense slots for lifesteal. Brutals in offense would be a nice alternate but expensive. Their not worth it until they are level 12 too. Use loose to much single stats if not level 12.

If you are in a good guild try to go for 2 band of loathing rings. 788 crit x2. When you have two it adds 200 more crit but you'll loose 1k defense. For a warlock this doesn't matter much.

Fury build for pvp btw, damnation build if you aren't high enough for pve. I'm talking 3500+ at least