I should state first and foremost that I run Mage/Druid/Warlock in 3v3, and focus on this bracket in my gear and specs much more than I do in the other brackets. However, I respec about once a day, so armorying me is worthless, and I should also say that I have multiple gear sets and a very odd idea about how to gear myself anyway - if you’re not familiar with exactly why I do this, please don’t take these to heart as HOW YOU SHOULD GEAR YOURSELF if you’re new to the arena, or whatever.

That said, I currently hold 2100, 2221, and 2159 rated arena teams in the respective brackets (impressive(?) given how little we care about rating =/), and have been gladiator both seasons (not that that means anything); but at least I can say it ~ (Ziss: I would think Agnos is more known for his achievements at WSVG…)

Below are my two not-run-of-the-mill specs to try out and discuss, specifically designed with a caster heavy makeup in mind, in 3v3.

17/33/11 - Nightfall, Soullink, Shadowburn. Aka the Agnos spec (by at least one or two fairly well known warlocks).

Disadvantages: While this is a jack of all trades spec, or something like that, this spec specializes in nothing. It grants a decent amount of survivability with Soul Link, but loses CoEx and Siphon from the popular SL/SL build. It has a good amount of burst between shadowburn and nightfall, although lacks the punch of SL/Ruin, and loses a point in Demonic Knowledge in order to get 2/2 nightfall for the uncontrolled but efficient burst power that the talent grants. While you have amp curse, it’s pretty much only going to be used on an agony - so i’d recommend stacking hit on your gear (i recommend this regardless of your spec) and putting points in CoA, rather than suppression or fel conc - you should be chaining shadowbolts with this, not drain life’ing.

Advantages: This spec is the ultimate shadowbolt spec. You have a good amount of instant (dot) damage for kiting and draining teams, but 17/33/11 focuses on putting out a lot of quick shadow burst with little to no warning or setup. Eventually, during a cast you’re going to get a nightfall, and that’s 4k damage to drop on someone (plus crits): excellent time to drop a kidney shot or shatter, depending on your team makeup.

Personal Experience: Speaking of crits, shatters, and kidney shots, my personal experience is that 17/33/11 works in 3v3, where its utility outshines sl/sl, as opposed to 2v2, when playing with a mage. A 5v5 team is usually less fluid, so it may be better to pick a more specialized soullink (or non SL for the VERY specialized teams) build. But in 3v3, a lot of things can go back or forth, especially when running druids (specifically, and from what I’ve tested, this works with mage/warlock/druid and rogue/warlock/druid). Crits are something most warlocks won’t ever expect to see, and the word being present in a strategy must make me seem like a retard. However, I’ve worn upwards of 21% crit on gear (plus talents) all of season 3, and have held high ratings doing so (even going from 2250 to 2300 in 3s as a full conflag spec, but that’s another story). When you play with a mage, the concept of BURST is important, and you never know when a well-timed 3k shadowbolt crit can tip the scales … or catch someone off guard and kill between cooldowns. (I’ve had marginal success in 2v2 as this playing with a rogue, but with a mage, sl/sl is still loads better).

On the topic of crits, I lead you into my next spec:
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Tags: Warlock · Articles

I am Gumbot. I transferred to BG9 week 1 of season 2 to get away from my bad Battlegroup and onto the most revered one. I did this specifically to run a 4 DPS 5v5, uniting some of the best players from our previous Battlegroup. We were running Spriest/Mage/UA-Lock/Pally/Ele-Sham. Throughout Season 2, The Fallen Angels has maintained a top 5 slot varying from 1st to 5th and has always kept themselves as one of the highest 4 DPS teams in the world. Recently the The Fallen Angels has stopped queuing simply because most of the team got bored with WoW and now play DOTA instead (sigh… although I do admit DOTA takes just about as much micro as wow sometimes).

The strength of 4 DPS is locking down their Warrior, causing all players to play defensively… Read More

Tags: Warlock · 5v5 · Articles

Continuing where we left off, the charts below shows the armor upgrade going from S2 to S3 for the Mage, Warlock, and Shadow Priest.

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Tags: Mage · Warlock · Priest · Articles