Blood Pact: Meet the minions, part 4 - the felhunter and mage-hate
Blood Pact is your weekly warlock digest brought to you by Dominic Hobbs. "Ah, of course. Our latest prodigy. The real thing can't live up to the legend, I'm afraid. No matter, you've come here to learn, not to hear me make jokes to myself. ~ Strahad Farsan
When Wrath first came along I wrote a piece about how warlock utility in 25 man raids had all but disappeared. I had many dissenters to that statement, using examples such as Soul Stones and the like. One that came up a few times was the Felhound and how useful he is. I have to agree, he's a regular bag of tricks, but when it comes to 25 man raiding he's been (rightly) left in the kennel for quite some time. This is about to change.
"But Dominic, you seething pot of demonic mage-hating bile..." I hear you cry "...where is all the mage-hate?" Well, yes, I can imagine the title did lead you to expect an article so vitriolic and anti-arcane as to leave nothing more in its wake than quivering lumps of nerdy arcanists, armpit-deep in tears; and maybe a lost looking sheep. I'm not sure I can do that though, as I don't really hate mages -- that point is really going to need clarifying.
The thing is, hating mages (or anything) takes effort, and frankly I can't be bothered to muster that much effort to spend on mages. Disdain, derision and contempt are all free, and I feel I have more than enough of that to spare. You see, while mages may be nasty and irritating like cockroaches or sand in your swimsuit, they have their place. You don't necessarily want them around you or making their presence felt, but you have to accept that sand and bugs have their uses. Mage players
are also pretty special, though I refer to the great Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw for his definition of 'special':
Anyway, all that aside, lets talk about the Felhunter. As with the Succubus quests, there is an awful lot of running about required to get these quests complete, so be very thankful you can now ride about the place. The chains are almost exactly the same for Horde and Alliance. First you go speak to someone in the Barrens who sends you to Undercity or Ironforge (respectively). Then you head out to grab a book and a piece of paper (see map).
Once you have those it's off to the Wetlands to fetch a few sticks (how appropriate) and back to Strahad Farsan in the Barrens for the hand-in. You also receive a soul bag but as I mentioned in a previous article, these aren't overly handy while questing. It might be worth keeping, but probably not.
If you get all through that and summon your Felhunter at level 30 then he'll only know the one trick, that's Devour Magic. This is a cool little trick that will either remove a magic debuff from a friendly character or a buff from an enemy. When soloing a nice macro to target the ability is:
The only time I have actively used this ability in a raid situation was in Karazhan (Maiden of Virtue), mostly having the ability on auto-cast is sufficient.
At level 32 your Felhunter will learn Fel Intelligence. This is where a lot of the 'lock utility' that was mentioned in the first paragraph was coming from. It's true, this is a nice party buff if your party doesn't include a priest or a mage, but does include several other casters. I don't find myself in that situation very often and to be honest this buff is just a little extra love from the puppy when you have him out for some other reason.
Level 36 sees him learn Spell Lock. This is a hugely valuable ability in PvP (so I'm told) and in PvE it's kinda nice too. When you're fighting a caster you can use this to shut them up completely. Often this means that they come up to you and hit you with laughably puny mage-fists. All the while you are tearing their body and soul asunder with shadow and flame. Nice.
Again though, in a raid this ability is pretty useless. I have only had it manually cast once, again back in Kara on Aran. Since then I've used the puppy on Faction Champions where he's great for pestering the healers (especially the one-school paladin), but that was just a case of using auto-cast once more.
The Felhunter's final ability to learn comes in at level 42. This is Shadow Bite, a nice little direct damage ability. The puppy does have a melee attack as well so he's not just been humping your opponent's leg between snacks until now, but the ability can double the damage this little 'goggie' can do. Remember that it increases in damage for each DoT you have on the target.
The Felhunter is (seemingly) intended to be the minion associated with the affliction talent tree. As far as end-game raiding was concerned, this hasn't really been the case so far; the Succubus and Imp have had the job. Now that patch 3.3 has landed there's been a change. Mostly due to the buffs that Shadow Bite has received, more damage can be gained from the Felhunter. Affliction is pulling the biggest raid numbers on paper but we're yet to see if there's going to be much of a conversion from Destruction and a flood of puppies in raids.
Before I end this article I did want to congratulate Archmage Pants on something. That might be a bit of a surprise but you see it appears he's also not one to put too much effort into his hate. You are probably aware of the IHATEWARLOCKS book-club he founded. I had a quick look back to the naming of this group and found that the acronym apparently stands for "Interracial Humanitarian Association of Tauren and Everyone in WoW Against Race Limits On Choosing Kinship with Sorcerers,"...
What? Oh, so it was all about getting cows to become casters. I see.
Well, after a few minutes thought I offer this alternative: "Insipid Half-baked Arcanists Throwing Emo-fits at Warlocks Although Really Lamenting their Own Character's Known Sadness" Maybe it will catch on or perhaps you have your own version.
When Wrath first came along I wrote a piece about how warlock utility in 25 man raids had all but disappeared. I had many dissenters to that statement, using examples such as Soul Stones and the like. One that came up a few times was the Felhound and how useful he is. I have to agree, he's a regular bag of tricks, but when it comes to 25 man raiding he's been (rightly) left in the kennel for quite some time. This is about to change.
"But Dominic, you seething pot of demonic mage-hating bile..." I hear you cry "...where is all the mage-hate?" Well, yes, I can imagine the title did lead you to expect an article so vitriolic and anti-arcane as to leave nothing more in its wake than quivering lumps of nerdy arcanists, armpit-deep in tears; and maybe a lost looking sheep. I'm not sure I can do that though, as I don't really hate mages -- that point is really going to need clarifying.
The thing is, hating mages (or anything) takes effort, and frankly I can't be bothered to muster that much effort to spend on mages. Disdain, derision and contempt are all free, and I feel I have more than enough of that to spare. You see, while mages may be nasty and irritating like cockroaches or sand in your swimsuit, they have their place. You don't necessarily want them around you or making their presence felt, but you have to accept that sand and bugs have their uses. Mage players

That said, I'm not opposed to having the odd dig at mages, and in particular one extra-special mage, whom I'm very pleased to see is even referred to as Archmage Pants by his own commenters and the WoW.com staff. I've also noted that a certain former WoW.com columnist has launched a 'war' on warlocks. It seems that hunters have declared an open season for locks, even going so far as to have a particular talent build for the task. It tickles me greatly that so many hunters are investing so much time effort into trying to annoy warlocks. I found it especially amusing to imagine the hunter that, despite making it his goal to hunt locks, was having such a hard time of it he put together (and paid gold to get) a talent build to give him a better chance."I'm sorry my son ate your shoes, he's a little bit special."
Anyway, all that aside, lets talk about the Felhunter. As with the Succubus quests, there is an awful lot of running about required to get these quests complete, so be very thankful you can now ride about the place. The chains are almost exactly the same for Horde and Alliance. First you go speak to someone in the Barrens who sends you to Undercity or Ironforge (respectively). Then you head out to grab a book and a piece of paper (see map).

Once you have those it's off to the Wetlands to fetch a few sticks (how appropriate) and back to Strahad Farsan in the Barrens for the hand-in. You also receive a soul bag but as I mentioned in a previous article, these aren't overly handy while questing. It might be worth keeping, but probably not.
If you get all through that and summon your Felhunter at level 30 then he'll only know the one trick, that's Devour Magic. This is a cool little trick that will either remove a magic debuff from a friendly character or a buff from an enemy. When soloing a nice macro to target the ability is:
This will try and take a debuff from you, failing that from himself, failing that it'll try and take a buff from your target. As an extra bonus, every magic effect he devours will heal him up a bit. This can come in pretty handy when questing alone and you come up against a caster./use [target=player][target=pet][]Devour Magic
The only time I have actively used this ability in a raid situation was in Karazhan (Maiden of Virtue), mostly having the ability on auto-cast is sufficient.
At level 32 your Felhunter will learn Fel Intelligence. This is where a lot of the 'lock utility' that was mentioned in the first paragraph was coming from. It's true, this is a nice party buff if your party doesn't include a priest or a mage, but does include several other casters. I don't find myself in that situation very often and to be honest this buff is just a little extra love from the puppy when you have him out for some other reason.
Level 36 sees him learn Spell Lock. This is a hugely valuable ability in PvP (so I'm told) and in PvE it's kinda nice too. When you're fighting a caster you can use this to shut them up completely. Often this means that they come up to you and hit you with laughably puny mage-fists. All the while you are tearing their body and soul asunder with shadow and flame. Nice.
Again though, in a raid this ability is pretty useless. I have only had it manually cast once, again back in Kara on Aran. Since then I've used the puppy on Faction Champions where he's great for pestering the healers (especially the one-school paladin), but that was just a case of using auto-cast once more.

The Felhunter's final ability to learn comes in at level 42. This is Shadow Bite, a nice little direct damage ability. The puppy does have a melee attack as well so he's not just been humping your opponent's leg between snacks until now, but the ability can double the damage this little 'goggie' can do. Remember that it increases in damage for each DoT you have on the target.
The Felhunter is (seemingly) intended to be the minion associated with the affliction talent tree. As far as end-game raiding was concerned, this hasn't really been the case so far; the Succubus and Imp have had the job. Now that patch 3.3 has landed there's been a change. Mostly due to the buffs that Shadow Bite has received, more damage can be gained from the Felhunter. Affliction is pulling the biggest raid numbers on paper but we're yet to see if there's going to be much of a conversion from Destruction and a flood of puppies in raids.
Before I end this article I did want to congratulate Archmage Pants on something. That might be a bit of a surprise but you see it appears he's also not one to put too much effort into his hate. You are probably aware of the IHATEWARLOCKS book-club he founded. I had a quick look back to the naming of this group and found that the acronym apparently stands for "Interracial Humanitarian Association of Tauren and Everyone in WoW Against Race Limits On Choosing Kinship with Sorcerers,"...
What? Oh, so it was all about getting cows to become casters. I see.
Well, after a few minutes thought I offer this alternative: "Insipid Half-baked Arcanists Throwing Emo-fits at Warlocks Although Really Lamenting their Own Character's Known Sadness" Maybe it will catch on or perhaps you have your own version.
Filed under: Warlock, Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Guilds, Quests, (Warlock) Blood Pact
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Hiordis Dec 14th 2009 6:55PM
"We cockroaches" would be correct. Please, this isn't a hunter column, lets try to keep it civilized.
Well done Mr. Hobbs. It sounded even better when I put on a haughty British accent and imagined all the gobsmacked mages out there, sitting and wondering what the license plate of the Warlock driven kodo that just ran them over was. For all the mages out there, I believe it read "Sheep this".
Can't wait to see Belts reply. The soft velvety cloth gauntlet has been thrown down.
artifex Dec 15th 2009 4:25AM
Cockroach? Please. The Tier6 headpiece makes it obvious that my gnome lock is a fire beetle. :)
Seteh Dec 28th 2009 4:02PM
You call us cockroaches and think its an insult. What other creature is more enduring and can survive more than a cockroach. I guess we are able to nuke Warlocks and survive the blast that incinerates your feeble pet and you... Shame either way Mages win over Warlocks... Always.
Colour Dec 14th 2009 6:30PM
Warlocks get fireponies, that alone makes me love them.
... though, mages have free food tables and so I love them more.
Peacebone Dec 14th 2009 6:34PM
I don't think you're clever enough to go head to head with Belt. better sit this one out, bro.
Angelo Dec 14th 2009 6:34PM
Disdain not distain. - A Mage
Matthew Rossi Dec 14th 2009 6:52PM
I just want to point out that I still think Warlocks and Mages are identical in all ways. I see no difference between you. It's like that Star Trek episode, I have no idea what all this complaining is about. You both wear lingerie, you both stand in the back and profit while we do all the work, you both pull a lot of aggro. It's all the same thing to me.
Paploo Dec 14th 2009 6:57PM
Hrm, maybe you have a good suggestion there... perhaps we SHOULD stand in the back and profit while you do all the work. Better still you won't have to worry about us pulling aggro.
As for going head to head with the mages (Mr Peacebone), they gave mages a spell to increase your intellect and the ability to call in three of your friends because they need it.
duffry Dec 14th 2009 7:00PM
A warrior struggling with comprehension, oh my, I'll get my crayons...
Matthew Rossi Dec 14th 2009 7:07PM
I wouldn't really trust a warlock with crayons, you'd just complain that someone else's crayons were better over and over again.
Hiordis Dec 14th 2009 7:16PM
I think there is a ret pally joke in there somewhere Rossi.
Peacebone Dec 14th 2009 7:27PM
@Paploo
all I heard there was "wahhhh a mage beat me on dps meters"
Paploo Dec 14th 2009 7:51PM
@Peacebone
Perhaps duffry will let me borrow his crayons, as you seem to have misinterpreted my comment. Or perhaps all that blinking and teleporting about has affected your hearing. Regardless, have a seat and relax. Maybe you'll conjure a table of food for us?
Peacebone Dec 14th 2009 8:49PM
@ Paploo
it's hard to misinterpret pompous dickhead.
guydebord Dec 15th 2009 1:48PM
You know, while I relish the evil, mage-hating, lulzing-at-the-incessant-the-destro-pvp-forum-QQ, fireponies, EJ-flow-charts, etc. etc. etc... I was out at the bar and after a few beers into the evening chatting with another friend who's main is a lock and we did did come to the disheartening, perhaps alcohol-induced, conclusion that "Oh wait, warlocks are the one class in the game that Blizz could remove and no one would really notice..."
Basically, if you gave shadow priests the ability to do serious dps they would be close enough to affliction very few people at a passing glance, and certainly no warriors even on closer inspection, would notice (except for the fact affliction has to do damage to themselves to get mana back)... Our middle tree is basically a hunter with pets who have random consonants strung together as opposed to the traditional monosylabic "Cat" (and has to do damage to themselves to get mana back)... And since the death-knell of 0/21/40, destro isn't even cosmetically different from a fire mage (except that destro has to do damage to themselves to get mana back).
I guess that's why we cut ourselves, so at least people with grid will notice there is a warlock along...
Frank Dec 14th 2009 7:00PM
BRING IT, 'LOCK BOY.
:D
Pemberton Dec 14th 2009 7:03PM
I miss the old Paranoia buff so much. That plus human perception made my Warlock a Rogue hunter in battlegrounds. Good times.... gooood times.
Sleutel Dec 14th 2009 7:04PM
"You see, while mages may be nasty and irritating like cockroaches or sand in your swimsuit, they have their place."
I tell you what, I'd describe a cockroach in my swimsuit as a lot more than "nasty and irritating." More like, "OooooOOOOOOH GOD GET IT AUGHHH EEEEEEEEEE NO NO NO NO NO OHMIGOD GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT GET IT OH GOD."
Nazgûl Dec 14th 2009 8:03PM
Cockroaches go squish.
Clairdeloop Dec 14th 2009 7:21PM
Oh no you didn't!
*throws emo-fit at Dominic*