Know thy Enemy, Know Yourself

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The Art of WarIt is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperilled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperilled in every single battle. (source: Art of War)

Zack Yonzon over at WoW.com's "The Art of War(craft)", posted a short article on how to kill a warlock. I find that learning what other locks are doing as a class, is extremely helpful especially in a battlegrounds. For example, it is in an Alterac Valley, that I first saw a lock successfully topping the HK charts by Drain Tanking. Shortly afterwards, I keybound Drain Life to Shift+MouseUp and my deaths in battlegrounds has dropped.

All warfare is based on deception

One of the key elements that Zack builds his strategy is warlock identification by the Pet minion the lock is running with:
  • Aff = felhound 
  • Demo = felguard
  • Destro = imp
In my resent respec (to get Master Summoner, thanks Zack) I've completely done away with any minion specific talents. No longer do I feel obligated to run with my felhound or vw, because I spent points on them. This allows me the freedom of running any pet depending on the environment. For example, if I encounter:
  1. lots of melee, switch to succy (for seduce)
  2. lots of casters, get out felhound
  3. lots of rogues, try out bluey macro
  4. low on soulshards, whatever is available (imp, infernal)..  
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

Next, Affliction is all about the instant cast with drip dry. With Corruption, a curse and Improved Howl of Terror, we have a total of 3 non-channeled, instant cast spells. Ok, Shadowflame, but this has REALLY short range, like "Ouch that hurts, get away from me!" close. Ideally, I have the glyphed Curse of Exhaustion on them before they are close enough to hurt me.

Key points: Identification of threats, stun or slow them to keep them away, working together with other classes to mitigate groups and keeping your pet up.

Swift as the wind
Quiet as the forest
Conquer like the fire
Steady as the mountain

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