Warlock Leveling Guide – Choosing a Race
Generally, your first concern when beginning to level a Warlock will be choosing your race. Naturally, that makes it the first subject we’ll be covering with this Warlock leveling guide. On the whole, race doesn’t make a HUGE difference at the top end, as none of the racial choices are really game-breaking for Warlocks. If you’re not the type to focus on the statistical intricacies, you’d be best off choosing whichever race you’d prefer to look at for 80 levels. If you are more focused on making the archetypal “BEST WARLOCK EVAR” then here’s the rundown:
Alliance Warlock Races
Human: Their racials include a bonus to Reputation gains, the ability to get out of any and all movement impairing or disabling effects that shares a cooldown with the PVP trinket, and an increased bonus to stealth detection. Human Warlocks are the strongest race against the Warlock’s anti-class, the Rogue, in PVP due to the stealth detection. The trinket-type ability gives you a free slot for an offensive trinket, and the 10% bonus to rep gains means less time spent grinding dailies to get yourself decent gear at 80.
Verdict: Best Alliance choice for PVP, probably the best choice for a PVE player as well.
Gnome: They get the ability to break snares and roots on a separate timer from the PVP trinket, increased Intelligence, and a bonus to Engineering. Extra mobility is always nice, and the Int is definitely welcome, though it is better suited to Mages. The Engineering bonus is helpful for about 15 minutes. It saves you the cost of some copper bars. Something else to consider is that Gnomes are small, and for people who still click in PVP, that means you’re tougher to target.
Verdict: Not terrible, but definitely not great. Humans are better in pretty much every way, unless you really love Gnomes.
Horde Warlock Races
Orc: Orcs get a reduction to stun durations affecting them, an on-demand spell power burst, and 5% increased pet damage. It’s kind of hard to picture a better set of racials for a Warlock. Stuns are a Warlock’s biggest weakness in PVP, spell power is a Warlock’s favorite offensive stat, and pet damage helps out Demonology and Destruction Warlocks quite nicely.
Verdict: A great choice for PVE and PVP. Quite possibly the best choice for a Warlock in general if you discount the fact that they look funny in robes…
Undead: Will of the Forsaken makes them the best Warlock for killing Shadow Priests and Warlocks. Cannibalize is a great ability for leveling, it’s like having a bandage that scales with your health. The innate Shadow resist bonus is pretty much useless.
Verdict: Not a terrible Warlock, but not great either. Good if you hate Shadow Priests or hate bandages. Plus, they look totally evil, which is awesome.
Blood Elf: Their racial ability to interrupt and silence casters covers the one gap in a Warlock’s PVP arsenal, which helps quite a bit. The mana restored is kind of a pithy amount, and mana is not usually something Warlocks have trouble with anyway. The bonus to Enchanting is about as useful as the Gnome Engineering bonus, and the general magic resistance is on par with the Undead Shadow resist.
Verdict: Probably a better choice for PVP than Undead, and equal for PVE. Bested in both areas by the Orc.
Conclusion: If you are trying to decide which race is the best choice for a Warlock, the clear cut winner is the Orc. Humans snatch second place handily. If you’re not up for rolling an Orc or Human Warlock, your best bet is to go with whichever race appeals to you the most. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you like your character. Best of luck, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any other questions about racial choices for your Warlock.
Stay tuned for more Warlock leveling guide goodness!
