Recently i saw an enormous amount of posts regarding warlocks, deathcoil, and how overpowered and imbalanced warlocks are.
To help you fellow players, i've decided to write a guide, being a warlock myself, so that more people can succefully defeat warlocks on their server.
This will be a comprehensive guide containing images, spoilers, tactics, and tips to defeat this imba class.

For the purposes of this guide, i'll assume the warlock is Soul-link specced, since it is the most imbalanced build as people say.


Preparation
You can find an SL warlock outside IF or Orgrimmar, this is the place were most SL warlocks hang out.
To initiate combat, you should approach the warlock and talk to him. He will say something about how nerfed warlock were, and how they could not kill anyone in previous patches, and how they became godlike while mages are now water dispensers. After you talk to him, click DUEL to start the fight.


PHASE ONE

You should position yourself as shown in this image:

http://img133.imageshack.us/my.php?image=warlockmod8jo.jpg

The warlock will begin the fight without a pet, because he will feel too overpowered to use a pet against you. MT#1 and MT#2 should position the warlock so that his back will face the tank farther away from the IF door. It is advisable for them to have at least 350 shadow resistance, and one of them should also have 250 fire resist minimum. (This is explained later). Greater Shadow Protection pots are also a good commodity, as Whipper root tubers and +50 stamina potions from the quest in Blasted Lands.

The melee DPS group (shown as YELLOW in the pic) should stay behind the warlock, near the tank farther away from the Gate. This is done because they will need to retreat behind the tank and bandage, from time to time. (Bandage spot is shown on the pic)

The rest of the raid should position as shown in the picture. It is important for the raid to have about 120-200 shadow resistance, which will help sustain the damage. Keep in mind you will need at least 2 dispellers for each debuff type, otherwise you will wipe pretty soon.

During Phase 1, the warlock will perform a series of attacks:

SHADOW BOLT: A bolt of shadow is launched every 4 seconds to the tank that has aggro, causing 1200 to 2500 shadow damage, depending on resistance. A shadow bolt will crit between 3500 and 6500 damage, again depending on the target resistance. This is were MT#2 should come into play: If a Shadowbolt crits MT#1, he will have a debuff that will increase Shadow damage by a Zillion times. This is when MT#2 should taunt the warlock to prevent MT#1 from dying. MT#1 will then do the same thing once another Shadowbolts crits MT#2.



Curse of Doom: Every 1 minute, the warlock will cast CoD on a random raid member. This member should move outside the raid and unload full DPS, since he will die within the minute.



Shadowburn: The warlock will cast Shadowburn everytime he changes target. If one of the raid members gets aggro, he will suffer shadowburn and instantly die. It is important not to OverDPS, or members will die one after another.



Fear: The warlock will cast Fear on a randomy raid member, every few seconds. You should provide everyone with Fear Ward if you have it, and dispel fear ASAP, especcially on MTs and Healers.


Phase 1 is relatively easy and will last until the warlock has 70% life. This can take between 3 and 5 minutes, depending on your equipment.




PHASE TWO

When the warlock reaches 70% life, he will instacast a felhunter and Soul Link it. This is when the fight becomes harder.
Note: You cannot kill the warlock while the felhunter is alive. If you try to, the warlock will say that It's not his time yet and will use an healthstone, which will probably render the fight impossible in phase three.

A few moments before Phase two, the raid should move as shown in the pic.

http://img336.imageshack.us/my.php?image=warlock2mod5yb.jpg

Note: MT#3 and MT#4, which are tanking the felhunter, should stay at least 10 yards away from the warlock

Phase two is all about killing the felhunter.
The felhunter CANNOT BE DAMAGED by magic, as it has very high magic resistance. Also, during phase two, you should not magic debuff the pet or the warlock, otherwise the felhunter will remove the debuff and heal himself.

MT#1 & #2 should stay on the warlock with a few healers, while the melee DPS group will take down the Felhunter, while the magic
DPS group focuses on the warlock. During this phase, the warlock will receive next to no damage, as he is Soul Linked to the pet.

During Phase two, the warlock will have a new attack at his disposal:

Hellfire: Every 20 seconds, the warlock will cast Hellfire and hit anyone within 10 yards for an incredible amount of Fire damage.

Every DPS class standing near the warlock should retreat as shown in the picture and bandage as soon as he casts hellfire. Only the MT with Fire resistance should remain near the warlock. This is done because if the warlock finds no one within melee range during Hellfire, he will summon an Infernal and wipe the raid.

When the Felhunter is dead, PHASE THREE begins.



PHASE THREE

Phase three will begin as soon as the Felhunter is dead.
Notes: The warlock should be at around 40% health now. If he's any higher than that, you'll prolly not be able to take him down before you wipe. Also, if you have more than 6-7 dead members by now, you will probably wipe as you can't do enough DPS.

During phase three, the warlock will use all his arsenal to kill you.

Curse of Shadow/Elements/Agony: Every 10 seconds, the warlock will cast a random Curse on the entire raid. These debuffs should be removed as soon as possible. If CoE or CoS are not removed after 10 seconds, the warlock will cast Immolate/Shadowbolt on the member, killing him.

Howl of Terror: The Warlock will randomy cast HoT, hitting all the melees around him. You need to be quick and dispel Fear on the MTs otherwise they will lose aggro.

Death coil: The most imbalanced spell in the warlock's arsenal. This spell will be cast on a random raid member killing him, and will heal the warlock. CT_raidassist will warn you when the warlock is about to cast Deathcoil, and all Healers should hide behind the tank. If more than 3-4 healers are killed, the MTs will not be able to sustain damage and die, wiping the raid.

Note: In this pic ( http://img336.imageshack.us/my.php?image=warlock2mod5yb.jpg. ) an arrows point to the out-of-LOS spot for Healers. This is where you should hide when the warlock is about to deathcoil


PHASE FOUR
When the warlock is at 5% life, he does an emote saying "Imba Warlock performs one last service for Blizzard" He will then cast Curse of Doom on the entire raid. This means you need to kill him within one minute, or you will wipe. You should have at least 15-20 DPS classes still alive here, otherwise you won't be able to kill him in time.

If you manage to kill him within the minute, congratulations! You just killed the hardest boss currently in World of Warcraft!

acutally read that about a year ago on the official forum and as much as i like to agree with you warlocks can be solo by rogues, but it sucks - they don't drop nothing, not even greens or copper.

I like the way you wrote it. Looks like some kinda animal documentary ^^

"During the season of love, the warlock will summon his succube to attract his/her pray by hypnotizing it. The warlock can now approach his/her future partner more easily by dominating him/her. Then he can start to reproduce. The partner doesn't have any choice in this ritual, but the fact that he/she is hypnotized makes things go easier.

But the warlock is not going to be pregnant in any ways. It will carry a soul shard of it's future baby for 2 levels, and then summon his/hers new progeniture.

To defend it, he/she will be extremely cruel and will not hesitate to DoT his/her ennemys with violence. If the baby is lost, it is a real disaster, but the warlock can accumulate baby soul shards. He/she will just have to wait for a cooldown to summon the new bbaby in case of accident. "


I gotta stop waking up so early...

ownage wrote:

acutally read that about a year ago on the official forum and as much as i like to agree with you warlocks can be solo by rogues, but it sucks - they don't drop nothing, not even greens or copper.

Ok, if ythe Rogue have chance, he can win... But:
The SS have a buff to se the invisible peoples, the can prevent it, and give the first HIT.
In case of the DZ attack in first, he'd better kill the SS in 1 time, if not DZ is dead. Why ? >> Voile Mortel, this spell is instant spell, that take out HP of te enemy to give to you, and the enemy is kinda feared for a litle bit, that give engought time to the SS to really fear the DZ, and then, DOT, SB, fear, etc ... And DZ is dead... If ther is multy attack, SS have multi fear... then he can choose well is oponent, and work to die one/one ...
Finaly, to attack, the DZ can be invisible, the SS will see him... He'd better not let the SS have 1s to spell the Voile Mortel, if no, he is dead...
The most difficult class for SS, i think, its my own opignion, is the Paladin... And so so, it can be beat, but extremely hard. And ofcourse an other SS.

Any good hunter can solo a lock easily(altho u might die after from DOTS). use scatter shot and intimidation

invisible and *stealth* are different.
undead rogue have 2 fear break, trinket and racial. ask any SS about PVP and most will tell you that the DZ is their kryptonite.

Voile Mortel is Death coil in english: it's on a cooldown and last 3 seconds.

DZ got all the skills to beat a warlock down now, and got even more skills in TBC.

No other class are any trouble for warlocks, not hunter not paladin.

against hunter, seduced the hunter, kill the pet. fear kite the hunter.

against paladin, just fear kite is enough.

huhu but i'm undead... LM doesn't have anti fear hehe, and the anti fear have a cooldown too.... SO .... Voile mortel is instant cast, i use it often. It have a cooldown of 2 mins. Same as anti fear.
I'm Lvl 46 now, and i kill easyly a Rogue, Priest, Druid, Mage and Hunters (LM!)... Also sometimes can kill Warriors, but Paladin is more difficult for me...
About a LR... I solo LR with 3 more levels than me in BG last time, he should hate me, i like it... But he died 4 times and me 0... Always soloted.
Dz should be 2 to kill me in BG for the moment. If not he is dead.

About the hunter... i HAte the big white Tiger lol..

ownage wrote:

invisible and *stealth* are different.
undead rogue have 2 fear break, trinket and racial. ask any SS about PVP and most will tell you that the DZ is their kryptonite.

Voile Mortel is Death coil in english: it's on a cooldown and last 3 seconds.

DZ got all the skills to beat a warlock down now, and got even more skills in TBC.

No other class are any trouble for warlocks, not hunter not paladin.

against hunter, seduced the hunter, kill the pet. fear kite the hunter.

against paladin, just fear kite is enough.

and wat if the hunter has set a trap for the succubus? and wat if the hunter scattershots the lock and interrupst fear cast? thats 4 seconds u could use to get some distance. intimidation stuns a lock for 3 seconds improved concusive shot stuns the target for 3 seconds. all this while watever minion the lock has is trapped for up to 15 secs. trust me, a good hunter can defeat a lock solo, i know i have(many times). but as i said b4 the dots will most likely do u in

fuck the big white tiger !!!

sacrifice the pet and instant cast another one. then the hunter fake dead and lay another trap, then............I'll get to 60 and fight some hunters to tell y'all more lol

deadanus I though you only like fucking blow holes, didn't know you got a thing for tigers too lol.

i got a thing for many animals ...

I got a new strategy for hunters, I'll bring deadanus!
while he's getting busy with the hunter's pet I'll go for the kill LOL.
or the hunter's pet will be so terrified seeing deadanus that it'll run in terror before the battle even start

All fear the blow hole fucker. lol

enough with the zoophilia joke ... this is a family forum here

we could go for necrophilia a bit

Yes... I remember your familiarity with Dolphins hehe.
Byt the warlock Blu pet can also transform itself into a big condom... That allow a kind a protection too...
So, i 'll said again Let's fuck the pet !! I hate good hunters yeah !
I'll have my revange !! RRrrrRRrr I'd like to see the elf hunter head when he'll see his dead white tiger fucked by undead people... (necro...for DA) huhu

any hunter who will let the lock come into dot-range is doomed to his own mistake.
even then, interrupt, scatter shot and get distance.
as long as it's not the tanking pet with infinite HP, a hunter will most probably burst the locks pet VERY fast. pets tend to be sent in FRONT, therefore you can burst the pet while the lock is still out of dot range.
no pet = dead lock. 41 yards is a hard to beat distance. and its the one reason why even on my mage i hate hunters.
(besides the obvious fact that hunters will even burst a lock fairly fast, no matter their HP.... cloth remains cloth. its toilet paper armor.... ask my mage *cry*.)
hunter need to be burst killed FAST... kiting a hunter to death? even with fears.... i dont see that happening.
but i also see ownage talking a lot fo strat which mostly applies to duels (3,2,1, ready, set, start gay match), which can't apply to open world pvp or battlegrounds where no preparation is possible or where only the attacker is prepared , as he will surprise the victim.
in a duel, a rogue "can" pop the lock, if the pet doesn't annoy him and if he can stun the lock and then burst out serious DMG (very probably as locks a cloth).
in open pvp its way harder for the rogue.


2 cents

PS: pouet.... next time you online, lets duel with my little bedo....
i will equip lower level shots.
i am interested in it.... and i wont take the white kitty (i don't use the same as the chinese peeps anyways) as locks use almost all instacasts, the attack speed doesn't matter here. i'd rather have my piggie (charal...... nice name, huh? ) out for the lock for that nice little 1 second stun which does wonders for a good opening burst.

ok, but you'll play without pet ? huhu and you play in cloth or naked ... i remind you, you are Lvl 55 with your hunter, and me only Lvl 48 ... so
but that's sure, i hope we will make duels aginst us, i need to practice this way... But in duel it's different, there isn't surprise effect hehe
It should be good, i'll try many many things...

naked, i could see your point.
cloth... no.
you are spell user. armor class has no effect on you.
^^
so if i wear cloth or plate... same to you.
just cloth will prolly not boost agi. on other hand it might boost spell dmg, and i might arcane shot for 500+ non crit at my level ^^

i think open pvp it is better for the rogue... unless caught farming @@

... no mention of Warriors. Charge, fearbomb ss to get rid of the succubus, zerk rage, intercept after 'Voile morte' and execute. Fury ZS FTW!

the point of the Warlock is that you go to the tomb with him, just a few seconds later.

(and then he rezzes)

MOUWHWHAHAHAHA

Usually I don't die with the SS, but he does rez and kill me with my low hp :\