Unlocking the Secrets of Locks Quiz

Answer: Cloth

A Warlock will typically sport a robe; stereotypically blood red or black, however, fashion trends in 'World of Warcraft' have moved on and so other colours are also seen as well. With light boots, gloves, trousers and a hat to match, the Warlock is free to focus his energies on what he's really good at - spellcasting - rather than bearing the weight of his armour.

Although different types of Warlock will seek different focus in their equipment, hit rating and spell power are almost always useful to help them hit and land deadly spells on their foes.

Answer: Void Terror

Void Terrors are large two headed demons, which look a bit like giant dogs with many eyes. They tend to have made their home in the Outland, particularly within Blade's Edge Mountain. They can't be summoned for regular use by Warlocks, as cool as a two headed dog demon pal would be in battle.

The Imp is obtained early, and shoots fireballs rapidly at his enemies, providing a reasonable secondary source of damage. His Blood Pact improves the Warlock's stamina, and can be a good source of Mana using the Warlock's Mana Pact skill. He can be summoned without Soul Shards, making him easy to use at any time, but isn't the strongest pet overall.

The Succubus is a female demon with a whip, and has a high damage output. Lash of Pain is a stinging Shadow attack, her Soothing Kiss can take enemy focus away from her, and her Seduction can incapacitate a target for 15 seconds. Her main disadvantage is her low HP level - a dead pet is not useful.

The Felguard is a large demon who uses an axe to both deal good damage and take the attention of enemies from the Warlock. Its Intercept can charge and stun an enemy for 3 seconds. All round, he's the best type of Warlock demon, but only Demonology Warlocks can use him.

Answer: Felsteed

At level 20, the trusty Felsteed can be obtained for the large price of nothing, boosting movement speed by 60% when mounted out of combat. The Dreadsteed is obtained at level 40, boosting movement speed to 100%, but there is a cost of 50g to buy Journeyman Riding in this case.

Fun fact: The Dreadsteed used to have a long quest attached to it in the first version of 'World of Warcraft', where the maximum level was 60. The Warlock had to obtain multiple reagents and summon a Xorothian Dreadsteed within Dire Maul to defeat it and bind it to the Warlock. Although expensive to do so, it was still cheaper than the 900g 'epic mounts' used to cost back then. Ah, memories...

Answer: Affliction

Affliction is all about damage-over-time spells. Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Bane of Agony and Haunt are the main damage-over-time spells used here, although Drain Life could be used on occasion if one was so inclined! If you like to set the plague into motion and watch it unfold - Affliction is for you.

Demonology is all about the bond between the Warlock and his pet. The Warlock will learn to boost his pet's power, and also to boost his own power through synergy with the pet and other passive abilities. In addition, the Warlock can summon the temperamental Felguard, which is a good all-round pet. If you like versatility, the Demonology tree should strike your fancy.

Finally, the Destruction tree is focused on instant damage. Effectively, something like a Mage, but with a pet. Shadow Bolt, Incinerate, Conflagrate, Shadowburn... the Destruction Warlock has all of these spells to deal a pocket burst of damage and more. What the Destruction Warlock lacks in mana-efficiency it makes up for in pure damage.

Answer: Soulstone

A Warlock can learn to craft the weakest Soulstones at level 18, and they require a Soul Shard to make. A used Soulstone lasts 15 minutes and has a 15 minute cooldown of use, so only one can be used at a time. Therefore, their use is quite situational.

It can be helpful in instances when it is anticipated a key party member such as a healer might die within the next battle, or if the party itself might die. Soulstone revival on a healer can reduce the waiting time needed to fight the good fight again.

Answer: Life Tap

Life Tap is the primary skill that makes Warlocks mana-efficient within instances. It takes 15% of a Warlock's health and channels it to 120% mana (so, in effect, you get more mana out than health lost). Plus, this amount can be improved to 140% gain with the 'Improved Life Tap' talent. Since it is easier to recover health through healing than mana through any other capacity, Warlocks rarely need to run out of spellcasting juice in instances.

Although one has to be a masochist to want to hurt themself for mana so often, a good Warlock does so for the greater good of battle.

Answer: Banish

Banish is first learnt at level 32 and has a 1.5 second spell-cast time. For 30 seconds, an enemy demon can be blocked from movement, however, you can't hurt them during the duration. The only stipulation this spell has is that, if one wishes to re-apply it, one must time it for when the demon breaks its banishment, as it will be immune to the effect otherwise.

The spell is highly situational, finding use within a select few instances, but does not break on damage so requires little precision of initial use. This will help the team finish the other enemies first before the demon banished. However, many other classes' crowd control spells do not work on demons, making a Warlock useful for these occasions where it might help.

Answer: Metamorphosis

In the 30 seconds Metamorphosis lasts, the Warlock has a 600% increase in armour, damage increase of 20%, crit % reduction of 6 from melee attacks, and a 50% duration reduction in stun and snare effects.

Metamorphosis is good for area damage and potentially briefly holding the attention of spell-casting bosses. However, the 20% damage boost is useful even if no special use of the demon form is applied, and should be used as such where available. Be warned, however: the demon is susceptible to skills like Banish, so a smart Warlock is cautious of enemies that could cast these spells.

To be more precise, the demon has 4 new abilities it can use. Challenging Howl taunts enemies in a 10 yard radius and is good for grabbing attention of an enemy group temporarily.
Demon Charge charges and stuns an enemy for 3 seconds, useful in PvP or solo play.
Shadow Cleave hits an enemy with Shadow Damage and up to 2 of its allies. Higher spell power makes this hit harder.
Finally, Immolation Aura hits nearby enemies every second for some hefty fire damage, based on level and spellpower. As you can see, three of these skills are tailored for multiple-enemy fights!

Answer: Fire

There are times where a Warlock can't use Shadow spells and must revert to using Fire - this also works in reverse as well. Immolate and Incinerate are open to all specialisations of Warlock, for example, and can be used when Shadow is out: learning to switch elements quickly is important in instances and raids where every point of damage might count.

In addition, many of the demon pets can help get around the elemental immunity a specific monster might have, and in the worst case scenario, a Warlock can support with wand damage - it's better than standing around like a lemon, at least!

Answer: true

Sadly, this is true. The Warlocks really don't seem to have as much prominence in 'World of Warcraft' lore as many other classes - which is a shame, considering how powerful and wicked they can be. On the other hand, one could rationalise that the distrust of them means that the likelihood of one ruling an Alliance or Horde faction is on the low side. It may be for this reason that Rogue leaders are also on the rare side, as well as Death Knights (although they are a newer class comparably).

To show the main classes leading Horde and Alliance factions:
On the Horde side, orcish Thrall was a Shaman. Vol'jin of the trolls was a Shadowhunter and Baine Bloodhoof of the tauren was a Warrior. Sylvanas of the Undead was a dark ranger, and Lor'themar Theron of the Blood Elves a Paladin. Finally, Trade Prince Gallywix of the goblins was undefined, but didn't appear to be a spellcaster.

Of the Alliance, Varian Wrynn of the humans was a Warrior, as was Genn Greymane of the worgen, and Muradin Bronzebeard of the dwarves. Tyrande Whisperwind of the night elves was a priestess, and Malfurion Stormrage was a Druid. Gelbin Mekkatorque of the gnomes was a 'tinker', and Prophet Velen of the draenei was a Priest.

I haven't included the minor leaders as it would take too long, but hopefully the general point is made.