Yet Another Warlock Nerf

The glyph tab of a true Warlock, who is too busy fear spamming to bother with such trivialities.

Most warlocks spend so much time getting free wins in arenas through the RNG aspect of fear that they never have any time to sit down and think about glyph selection. Thankfully, my fellow fear spamming face-rollers, help has arrived. It’s time to analyze optimal glyph selection for PVP. Let’s start by taking a quick look at some new glyphs being introduced in 3.1.

Glyphs of Incinerate, Imp, Haunt, Chaos Bolt, and Life Tap are mostly useless for PVP. Steer clear of these. The new demonic circle glyph is useful, but just not useful enough. There are very few teams that you will be using portal every time it is off cooldown (Rogue/X and not much else).

Additionally, some glyphs did get useful changes. Glyph of Succubus now wipes away the DOTs on a target you seduce in addition to its old effect (more on this in a bit). Glyph of Immolate now buffs periodic damage by 10%, instead of increasing initial damage and reducing periodic damage. As of 3.1, glyphs just got a lot more interesting for Warlocks.

PVP Affliction (54/18/0)

54/18/0 is currently the best 2v2 and 3v3 spec for warlocks running with healers. There are several glyphs to choose from.

Glyph of Soul Link – taking 5% less damage is a huge addition. This glyph is a must have. There isn’t much to say about this glyph as its benefits are pretty obvious.

Glyph of Corruption – setting up a kill in a 2v2 when facing a healer/X team is a tricky process. It helps if you can DOT up your target before you start your CC rotation, but sometimes this just isn’t an option. Having more nightfall procs is simply amazing for situations like these. I can’t count the number of times where a kill attempt would have failed if I didn’t get a lucky instant shadow bolt. This glyph is a must have.

Glyph of Howl of Terror – howl of terror is one of the defining abilities of an affliction warlock, even if it is just a rip off of psychic scream. This glyph is excellent, but the decision to use it comes down to play style. The benefit of this glyph isn’t that it lets you spam your instant fear more often. The true benefit is that it helps ensure that your “oh crap” button is available when you need it most. If you find yourself constantly wishing howl of terror was up when it is still cooling down, this glyph is right for you. I personally think it is a must have, but I can see arguments for using something else.

Glyph of Unstable Affliction – this glyph is also comes down to play style. I can speak from experience, after having used this glyph for a long time, that it makes getting UA off a lot easier. 0.2 seconds may not sound like a lot, but it can make all the difference when your target is constantly pillar humping or if there is a melee on you. If you are skeptical, I recommend giving this glyph a chance.

Glyph of Shadowflame – a 70% slow is very significant, but this glyph is not optimal in my opinion. In order for you to use Shadowflame you have to be in melee range. I feel like this limits the number of opportunities you will have to utilize this glyph. From a defensive standpoint, however, it can be very strong. Using glyphed shadowflame + demonic teleport gives you a great opportunity to kite a rogue for a long period of time.

Glyph of Felhunter – I see some warlocks using this glyph and I can’t say that I’m a fan. A little bit of extra healing is nice, but I feel that this glyph doesn’t compete with the added utility provided by other glyphs.

Glyph of Siphon Life – this glyph is fairly “meh” in its current incarnation. Adding a little extra damage simply does not compare to the utility provided by the other glyphs. Additionally, this glyph will only offer extra healing when 3.1 goes live (again, not very good).

PVP Destruction (0/20/51 in 3.1)

There are several big changes coming to 3.1 that will make destruction a viable option for 3v3 teams. The only big change I’m holding out for is dispel protection for immolate. If that goes through I will definitely go destruction for 3v3 in 3.1.

Glyph of Conflagrate – this glyph is absolutely necessary. If you can’t see why, then you probably have never played destruction before.

Glyph of Soul Link – as always, taking 5% less damage is too good to pass up. This glyph is also necessary in 3v3 scenarios where you will probably be the kill target.

Glyph of Shadowflame – I could see this glyph being more useful for destruction, since you need all the tools you can get to kite. Destruction is much less mobile than affliction, so this glyph may be necessary (especially for 2v2 double DPS, if that is your cup of tea).

Glyph of Corruption – more burst is always better. There are many good reasons to use this glyph, but keep in mind that shadow bolt is not your main nuke spell like it is for affliction. The shadowflame glyph may turn out to be more useful.

Glyph of Succubus – this glyph is good in its current incarnation for the very warlocks running 2v2 double DPS teams. However, in the latest PTR build this glyph also causes seduction to remove all DOTs on the target. This is huge, as it allows you to instant seduce any target without having to worry about DOTs breaking seduction. Assuming this glyph goes live in its current state on the PTR, I would say that this glyph will be necessary for 2v2 double DPS comps where quick switches happen frequently.

Glyph of Immolate – bigger immolates mean bigger conflagrates in 3.1. I could see this being a popular choice in 2v2 double DPS comps.

PVP Demonology (Metamorphosis)

If you’re PVPing as demonology you probably have way bigger problems than glyph selection, but I guess I’ll talk about a few of them anyways.

Glyph of Metamorphosis – this glyph should probably read, “remain banished/turn eviled/feared while in demon form for 6 more seconds.” Seriously, though, this is a useful glyph for the few of us specced into metamorphosis. Prolonging meta gives you that much longer to score a kill, which you are very unlikely to do when not in demon form.

Glyph of Soul Link – unlike other specs, survivability when specced into demonology usually isn’t an issue. I don’t recommend taking this glyph for this spec.

Glyph of Felguard – the felguard actually puts out some decent DPS when it isn’t rooted, slowed, crippled, etc (you get the picture). This glyph will significantly increase your overall damage output, which is the biggest weakness when specced into deep demonology. Taking this glyph is a must.

Glyph of Corruption – maximizing burst is key for this spec and this glyph definitely helps. A nightfall proc or two in demon form can easily lead to a kill, so this glyph is a must have.

That’s it for now! If I didn’t talk about a specific glyph it is because I think it has little to no PVP application or there are obviously better choices.