Strategies

Shaman/Warlock

Authors

Komaya
Scarlet Crusade
US-Reckoning
Nethaxion
Scarlet Crusade
US-Reckoning

Shaman/Warlock

VS.

Druid/Warlock

This is also a very common matchup. Again, don't worry – it's an easy fight for Shaman/Warlock.

This is quite a simple fight, really. Just very very long.

The fight is basically going to revolve around your Warlock trying to drain the Druid's mana, and their Warlock trying to drain your mana. In this strat, I'll label the opposing team's warlock as Frank, and your team's Warlock as Nethaxion (my partner's character's name, also I think Frank is a cool name ) to avoid confusion because of 2 Warlocks in the strat.

Basically, Nethaxion needs to DoT up Frank and Frank's pet. Try and keep them up as much as possible while following the Druid around and getting DoTs/Fears/Drains on the Druid.

Frank's team will have a pet advantage over your team, because of instant HoTs. If their Druid is good, they can HoT the pet whenever it's in LoS, which will happen eventually, as they can just run around and hit it once with a HoT if they really need to. You can't do this, so if their Druid is good and doesn't let you get LoS on Neth's pet, Neth will need to call it back, you need to get a heal on it, and it needs to go back on the Druid. This has to happen very very fast or the Druid might be able to drink. It is absolutely crucial that the Druid is unable to drink freely. If he gets a few drinks off in the match, but it happens rarely, don't worry, that's fine. It's just drinking freely that's going cost you the match.

Speaking of drinking, you really shouldn't need to drink too much. Water Shield is incredibly potent against this team. ALWAYS HAVE IT UP. Frank will be DoTting up Neth, Neth's pet, and you (the Shaman). He will then try and Mana Drain you, or Fear/Mana Drain. This is easily prevented by Rank 1 Earth Shock, Grounding Totem, and LoS. Druids drink and have naturally insane regen to keep their mana up in this fight. But their regen will lose out to Water Shield in the end (I highly recommend Totem of the Thunderhead for this fight. It's easy to get off of the first boss of Underbog, non heroic.)

Basically, keep DoTs up on everything possible (if it's Nagrand or Blade's Edge, this might not be possible – I'll get to that soon.) as I've stated earlier. Use Rank 1 FS and Earthbind to stay out of LoS of Frank for as long as you can, but obviously at one point or another you're going to be in LoS because you have to heal Neth, use Grounding/Rank 1 ES if Frank is going to Fear/Mana Drain you. Neth needs to run around, catch the Druid in Fears/Drains. You need to outlast the Druid's mana. This is actually quite easy if you have good situational awareness.

Now, the fight mechanics can actually change substantially on different arenas.

Nagrand: It will be 2 1v1s. Usually I'm on the opposite side of the map as Neth. The Druid will try and run away from Neth often to drink – use this opportunity to FS him to slow him down so Neth can catch up. Spam Water Shield. Kite Frank around pillars and don't let him get Fears/Mana Drains on you –Rank 1 Earth Shock if he does.

Warlock Perspective: It's pretty easy to get way too caught up in chasing the Druid. If he's just hiding behind a pillar the whole time and moving so you NEVER get LoS on him, that's fine. Forget him and from the middle of the map, start pouring damage into his Warlock. It'll bring him out and into your LoS in a hurry.

Blade's Edge: Your Warlock is going to hate this. I hate it too. In fact, I'll let Nethaxion write up this one because I hate it so much.

Warlock Perspective: This map is not going to be fun for you. You're going to want to try and stay in a position where you can easily get to the middle of the bridge on the upper level without exposing yourself to slows/CCs. This isn't easy. The Druid will basically be running laps, jumping down to toss out HoTS, and then drinking around a corner while your slow pet paths to him. The best way I've found to counter this is make sure you're in LoS of him when he's going to do the jump; it's an easy maneuver to read. As soon as he leaps, hit him with a CoEX and Siphon Life if you got the time before he's out of LoS. This will slow him down as well as keep him in combat for a few moments longer. He will almost assuredly get a tick or two of drinking from this, but by keeping on top of it, you can limit it to sips instead of chugs.

Remember to keep pressure up on the Warlock and his pet as you fight to keep the Druid in combat. You have to devote a lot of time to running around. Not much you can do but try and anticipate what they're going to do and be in position to negate it's effectiveness as much as possible. Keeping pressure up is just as important as keeping the Druid in combat, though. Don't get tunnel vision for the Druid.


Ruins of Lordaeron: This is an easy one, actually. Most of the matches we do turn out like this – Frank and I are 1v1ing (basically) on the altar. This is great – it's incredibly difficult for him to get LoS on you. The Druid will be running all over the field trying to get away from Neth to drink/heal/not get drained, etc. Rank 1 Frost Shock is absolutely terrific to keep him in combat – try and hit him with it as late as possible before he gets in one of the starting areas (where they run to drink) to keep him in combat as long as possible to allow Neth/Neth's pet to catch up. It's so easy because Neth can easily get Fears off on the Druid (he'll explain what he does) and he can DoT Frank/Franks pet when he comes past, and I can heal him.

Warlock Perspective: It's common for a Druid to run into one starting room, then cheetah across to the other one. If you see him make a break for it, start countering his Travel Form with CoEX. If he gets too far away in this arena and has your pet with him, it will despawn, which is a very very bad thing.

As Komaya prefers to keep his mini-duel with the Warlock on the altar, this will run both myself and the Druid past it a number of times. In a pinch he can FS the Druid, although if you're keeping up on him with CoEX, it's best to save it for an ES as the Warlock will sometimes attempt to Banish and/or fear me and my pet to allow drinking. Always refresh your DoTs (and Curse of Tongues on the Warlock) as you run past. Don't hesitate to Deathcoil the Druid if at any point you're worried about him getting away. You won't need it to burst or prevent burst against this combo.

If you can, when the Druid runs into the starting zone, fire up either a Drain Mana or Health right as he's going in (Alternately, you could use drain soul, but it's not a huge deal). This does two things – it does damage or mana drain (same thing in this fight) and keeps him in combat so that your pet can catch up to him – hence drain soul being an option, as it lasts for 15s. Then he'll have to run back out and across again in order to try and get away for a drink or a pet despawn. If he's content to sit in there with your pet on him, that's fine. Turn around and DPS the Warlock that's well within your reach from outside the room. Remember to keep the Druid as your focus so you can counter a root or a cyclone if your attention is elsewhere. Also, if he trys to run past you without CC, try and catch him in a Fear. This is a great position to inflict some serious mana drains on him.


Obvious tips:
  • Felhunter out.
  • WATER SHIELD ALWAYS ON YOU.
  • I actually like to use Rank 5 LHW a lot on this fight. It's fast, it's cheap, and it hits for about 1900ish on Neth with Fel Armor. Druid/Warlock has no burst, so their damage is slow and predictable, which is why I like to use Rank 5 LHW.
  • If Neth gets feared, Tremor Totem immediately. This is the second most important (next to Water Shield) ability against a Druid/Warlock. Often whilst a Druid is running away, Frank will try to fear Neth/Banish the pet. A quick Tremor/Rank 1 ES (if you have it – probably not, but you can use Grounding on the banish.) negates this entirely.
  • I like Frostbrand on this fight. A lucky proc on it against the Warlock or Druid can save you a shock cooldown.
  • Purge buffs, and any reapplications of Fel Armor Frank uses. Purge Innervate ASAP (if possible)
  • Warlock Perspective: Remember that if a Druid goes into Bear Form to ditch a mana drain. Just kill the drain as soon as he does and start pouring damage into either him or his partner. Damage is just as big a mana drain as the actual spell; more so at times. As always, a combination of the two will generally yield the highest results.
  • Warlock Perspective: If the Warlock is any good, he'll use his pet to remove your Fel Armor (and other associated buffs) before setting it on your Shaman. Don't hesitate to rebuff this; the extra damage you get from the rebuff (not to mention the healing) is well worth the cost. Don't forget to rebuff fake buffs, as well. They're very cheap, and can extend the attention of your enemy's pet for up to an extra 16 seconds in order to get at your armor. If they do this to remove the fel armor, Fear the Warlock and move away. This can allow your Shaman drinking time.

Comments:

EluraMar 18, 2008 - 6:12 AM (HideShow)
Didn't have problem with this setup really... But i got some tips that i'll use when i see them ;)
TovalynApr 30, 2008 - 5:45 PM (HideShow)
blades edge is damn near impossible with this setup
SeerixJun 28, 2008 - 3:05 PM (HideShow)
kill the wl pet with spamming purge two times
ShokakhannAug 8, 2008 - 3:15 AM (HideShow)
god just had a 56 minute fight against this comp jesus christ long but i regen > tri spec resto druid and dreamstate druid
gg just mana drain and lawl as fel concentration and earthshield me somebody die
SpecbeansAug 24, 2008 - 4:30 PM (HideShow)
Weve been playing this combo for 2/3 days and we have real problems against this team. Weve come against the same team twice, in blades edge. Its easy enough to drain the druid, i manage to get him on <5% while my shammy is 80% +. But im finding it incredibly hard to finish the game. The druid runs around hotting everything and i cant get a kill, the warlock has too much mitagation to kill, and the druid ruins around so i cant get anything more than instants off. Is there any strategy? full nuke on pet for example? any help would be appreciated.
ValandilAug 25, 2008 - 6:09 PM (HideShow)
since fel armor is undispellable, this combo is definitely not beatable anymore for warlock/shaman.
TrebOct 3, 2008 - 1:24 AM (HideShow)
Very hard team for us. Dropped from 2175->2000 because of this comp. Played our best against them when we did almost no burst until the end. Shaman and Lock must work together to keep the Shaman out of CC. Spell lock after a Feral Charge or a Death Coil (preferably a Feral Charge as there's still a chance that Tremor totem is up). Lock needs to have good pet management in order to keep his pet alive. Only way to win is to drain the Druid then burst him. I highly recommend that the Shaman binds all his targets for healing to modifiers (i.e. alt heals self, shift heals lock, no modifier heals pet) and uses FocusFrame to keep track of both the Lock and the Druid's CC casts.

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