Blood Pact: Warlock professions
by Dominic Hobbs 
May 17th 2010 at 4:00PM
Selecting professions for your characters often comes down to a choice of utility; if you have several toons, you may want to make some gather and others be the crafters. If you only have the one character at 80, there is a greater desire to be self-sufficient. Professions are also one of those things that many people feel are a part of their character and help define them almost as much as their class.
If you're uncertain which professions your warlock should take up then this is the place for you, as Blood Pact takes a look at all 14 and considers which are of the most use to the 'lock on the go.
First off, did I just say 14 professions? Yes, not only are there the 11 primary professions, but don't forget the secondary ones as well. I'm a big fan of the secondary professions; being able to fish and cook your own food can be a real money-saver. If you're a raider, then it's always wise to have a stack of buff food in your bags, even if you typically can expect a Fish Feast before every boss. It may seem boring to spend time fishing, but even just the few minutes while you wait for an invitation can stock you up nicely. First aid is of limited utility to your max level 'lock, but there have been times it has proved invaluable. That said, it's a huge boost to the speed of grinding at lower levels as you can tap your mana up and then bandage the difference.
As for the primary professions, you need to decide what you want from your 'lock. If you are a raider or are simply out to maximize your damage potential, then we'll look at which ones help you do that. If your 'lock is an alt, then you may be more interested in supporting your main with gathering professions. You may also simply be drawn to certain professions from a roleplay point of view. The 'lock I raided with in The Burning Crusade had spent a large part of his time prior to the expansion tinkering with engineering in Ironforge. He dropped that for tailoring so he could make and wear gear that was superior to anything in Kharazhan. I never regretted the change but still look back fondly on the old engineering days.
For the most part, each profession has very similar gains for the raiding warlock. The best gain provided will offer a 46- or 47-point boost to spellpower. This will be our baseline as we run through each one.
Alchemy
As a raiding 'lock, I'm a big fan of alchemy. The spellpower gain comes from the Mixology boost to your Flask of the Frost Wyrm. This is the standard 47 points in itself. Given that flasks aren't something you always have active, you can also make yourself a Flask of the North so you have the extra spellpower at all times.
You also gain two other advantages. Crazy Alchemist's Potions act as a mana and a health pot, which can be very useful in a fight with a lot of raid damage or if there is a point in the fight where you want to recover a lot of mana quickly -- tap a few times and then pop one of these to top up both bars. Those crazy alchemists also get a random buff from these potions:
- a crit and spellpower boost similar to Wild Magic Potions
- a haste boost similar to Potion of Speed
- an armor boost similar to Indestructible Potion
- a resistance boost to a school of magic
- nothing at all
Blacksmithing
None of my 'locks have ever thought about becoming a blacksmith. Frankly, the thought of all that manual labor is pretty abhorrent; that's what minions are there for. That said, there's no reason not to these days. You won't be able to wear any of the BoP items you make, but there are very few of those any more. Also, a good living can be made by selling the crafting of items that raiders have access to.
As for the gain to your abilities, this comes from being able to hammer a couple of holes in your gloves and bracers. These extra gem sockets mean two more epic gems and thus 46 spellpower gained.
Enchanting
There are a huge number of warlocks out there who are enchanters, and with good reason. This is a fine profession for any caster that seems to just fit. Disenchanting is useful as always, and now that you can use vellum, you don't have to mix with other people to sell your wares. Your bonus spellpower comes from being able to enchant your rings, 23 spellpower apiece, 46 in total once more.
Engineering
Engineers get a plethora of little gizmos and gadgets that make quality of life that little better -- portable mailboxes, Jeeves, an auction house in Dalaran, the list goes on. As for boosting your stats, you can tinker with your gloves and cloak, giving them an improved enchant. The standard enchants provide you with 28 spellpower (gloves) and 23 haste (cloak). The engineer's tinkering will give you 27 spellpower (cloak) and an on-use haste gain of 340 (gloves). Given that this lasts for 12 seconds and has a one-minute cooldown, that works out at a flat 64 haste bonus (with the ability to time it as required).
Looking at the overall flat numbers, that's an improvement of 41 haste and a loss of one spellpower. This is possibly not as good as the basic 46/47 spell power bonus of other professions, although haste is a very powerful stat these days. The cloak buff also includes a
parachute, which can be pretty useful.Herbalism
No doubt someone will defend Lifeblood as a raiding advantage somewhere in the comments, but only take this profession if you want to pick herbs. Great to support a herbalist or scribe, rubbish for raiding.
Inscription
Glyphs are odd things in that they either sell really well or clog up your mailbox and bank slots. (How many guild banks are choking with generously donated glyphs that nobody wants?) Simply put, this profession lets you add a beefed-up shoulder enchant rather than the Sons of Hodir one. This gives you your 46 spellpower.
Jewelcrafting
One of the best money-making professions around at the moment, but can be a bind to have it (or at least level it) without a miner. The ability to craft and use three Runed Dragon's Eye gems means you have 48 extra spellpower (each 16 spellpower better than the Runed Cardinal Ruby).
Leatherworking
Another profession that doesn't lend itself to a bookish, cloth-wearing warlock -- but not because of the stat gain. Fur Lining is 46 spellpower better than the normal enchant, making this profession a solid choice.
Mining
While this is a great support profession and a good money-maker, it's right up there with herbalism for being useless to the raiding 'lock. Again, you can argue the benefits of more stamina if you like, but it's just not a good choice.
Skinning
Rather gruesomely, skinners gain the benefit of Master of Anatomy, meaning you can make sure your hits hurt more. 40 crit rating is nice, but it's not as good as the others and frankly, I would leave being elbow-deep in entrails to your felguard.
Tailoring
Lightweave Embroidery is a very nice cloak enchant, and while I'm struggling to get accurate theorycrafting numbers for it, the impression is that it's sufficiently superior to the normal haste enchant as to be at least equivalent to the other standard profession gains. The downside, of course, is that being proc-based you have less control over it. Also keep in mind that this is a cloak enchant and so can't be used at the same time as the engineering one.
Conclusion
Don't bother with mining or herbalism unless you simply want the gathered items. Skinning is pretty poor as well and frankly doesn't feel warlock-like enough. All the others are fine for raiding. As I say, this is a decision that can at times help you identify more with your character, so choose wisely.
Blood Pact is a weekly column detailing DoTs, demons and all the dastardly deeds done by warlocks. If you're curious about what's new with 'locks since the last patch, check out WoW.com's guide to patch 3.3 or find out what's upcoming in Cataclysm from the BlizzCon 2009: Class Discussion Panel.Filed under: Warlock, Raiding, (Warlock) Blood Pact
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Terrafros May 17th 2010 4:06PM
Don't forget that you can also stick on Nitro Boosts if you pick engineering, seeing as many casters these days struggle with getting sufficient hit rating, you can dump a useless stat for something slightly more useful. Naturally, the speed boost is nice too.
Oh and, nice mage profession guide!
...Someone had to :).
Natsumi May 17th 2010 5:54PM
Nitro Boots provide a Crit Rating of 23, when combined with the Haste on use and the Spell Power to cloak (not to mention the Grenades and Frag Belt which you can add on top of your belt buckle, the utility Items, the sweet mounts, and the ability to throw exploding sheep at people) I feel it makes the BEST choice for Warlocks, but not filthy mages, they can go play with their sewing kits and magic dust.
Oh, and let us not forget the 5 mini-pets you can craft and sell on the AH (Life-like Mechanical Toad goes for quite a bit on my server) along with the Epic ammo and ranged weapons you can sell to that other pet class, Huntard.
johnthediver May 17th 2010 6:55PM
I too am struggling with hit rating on my mage. I am currently sitting at 558 hit, not including bonuses from being a Arcane Mage with precision. No hit gems, no hit enchants. I cant seem to get it under this stupidly high number.
Hoggersbud May 17th 2010 8:02PM
Sounds like you should take up JCing to use the Dragon's Eye gem with Hit on it.
Tom May 17th 2010 4:06PM
Herbalism isn't compelling as a raider, but it proved both handy and profitable while leveling.
Xeton May 17th 2010 4:14PM
Bwuahaha, Hobbs, you quoted a mage >:D
mages win, locks smell.
That is all.
Natsumi May 17th 2010 5:42PM
A mage that worked for the Burning Legion.
Wait, Burning Legion? Aren't they Demons? Wouldn't that make him a Mage that consorts with Demons, a.k.a. a WARLOCK. Why, yes, yes it would.
Get your filthy mage self out of here or the mighty Fel Puppy will ruin your day.
Dave May 17th 2010 4:18PM
Lot's of Warlocky goodness here, and this is meant in no way to detract from the great info you've reproduced here. BUT.
All I have to say is...
I never realized where the name 'Grue'(of Zork) came from, before this article.
I mean I've seen the word gruesome 100's of times, but just never connected it.
Thank you?
TechDeft
feniks9174 May 17th 2010 4:19PM
Tailoring/Enchanting myself, though I've considered on several ocassions the idea of dropping tailoring for Alchemy since I rarely do any sort of actual crafting and I love having 2 hour flasks on my shaman.
Tim {the other Tim} May 17th 2010 4:21PM
My lock is an alt so I can't really focus on for raiding, so she became my money maker with herbalism and Inscription. I love the money making power of being a scribe. I'll keep herbalism for the "oh sh!t" button.
Padre May 17th 2010 4:28PM
i may not play a warlock, but my main raider is an alchemist, and i cry every time i use a flask on any other character.
Ashleigh May 17th 2010 4:35PM
I can't say how often the tailoring cloak enchant procs, but I can say it procs from just about everything, including your fel armor health proc ticking. In raids, for me, it is almost always up, it's a nice little boost.
Dottzee May 17th 2010 4:34PM
This article could not have come at a better time for me. Recently dinged 80 with my lock and pondering between professions (as I was too lazy to develop those whilst leveling).
I am going to head down the herbalism/alchemy path.
Neyssa May 17th 2010 4:58PM
Alchemy not only provides you the flasks, but the gems you put in your gear. I know you can turn triumph and honor to epic gems, but as a fresh 80, you spend them on gear.
You buy a cheap blue gem, farm for about 2 minutes in Wintergrasp to gather an Eternal, and you have an epic gem every day. It spares a lot of money if you use it, and is a nice money maker to sell.
Leveling alchemy is shitty, but if you get a chance, farm a little more than you need, and you can sell low lvl herbs for crazy prices.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare May 17th 2010 4:42PM
Thanks for the Mage profession guide.
:P
(Though in regards to Lifeblood I suppose it has some synergy with Life Tap)
Caerus May 17th 2010 4:53PM
I feel like you're glossing over the biggest advantages blacksmithing and jc provide: unlike all of the other profession perks, gems don't have to be spellpower/ap/stam. The flexibility to socket say, a 34 hit dragons eye if you're a little low on hit or to try out that wonky new haste build with haste gems in your two additional bs sockets beats the rest of the profession's perks hands-down. Engineering is the only other serious option, but with non-standardness of it can be a hassle to a new player.
Kintaran May 17th 2010 5:08PM
This distinction is more important for classes with variable gemming options and/or multiple cappable stats (eg melee classes with ArP/Exp). In pretty much every realistic scenario for a warlock in 3.3.3, spellpower will be the largest DPS gain for the itembudget, so alternatives aren't worth gemming (at some points haste will be equal 1 to 1, but 1 haste is more itembudget than 1 spellpower). There is sufficient readily available hit gear (such as the otherwise maligned triumph trinkets) that this will rarely be a significant gain. Due to the prevalence of yellow sockets on gear, you're better off gemming hit in those and using prismatic sockets for spellpower, which translates the optimal gain of BS into 46sp. However if you really are a very fresh 80, then your point holds and the hit setup may be more valuable.
Flexibility is only worth something if there is a need to go in that direction, and often there is not.
xxxlexiconxxx May 18th 2010 1:51AM
But you're forgetting that--any day now--we'll be heading into cataclysm, and just maybe won't be fighting to get under 500 +hit anymore. The versatility will always be nice, and probably moreso with spellpower going away, though maybe we'll just stack int instead at end game.
Plus, with JC, you'll make so much money that you won't care if your silly flask only lasts an hour.
We haven't hit half of engineering's cool toys yet: repair bot, guild bank, teleporter around northrend (and to vanilla and bc areas), mailbox, resurrection spell, runic healing injectors (+25% healing i think), combat chicken, x-ray goggles... ok, now we're getting into the fringe benefits.
But seriously, you want to trade all that for some shoulder enchants and an extra hearthstone? Engineering/Jewelcrafting FTW.
Azizrael May 17th 2010 5:16PM
Tailoring and Skinning for me. I took Skinning as a n00b and stuck with it because levelling Enchanting is expensive, and I have other alts with mining/BS and herb/inscription for the AH. Haven't skinned anything since back in the day when Arctic Furs were worth farming, but I got my Epic Flight from hours of grinding in the Basin when I didn't know how to play the auction house properly.
Since this is the warlock column and I have to brag about it somewhere, I hit my all time DPS record doing the weekly (Razuvious) on Saturday. Bearing in mind I've never set foot in ToC, let alone ICC, and I still have the Sundial trinket from tier 7 (plus Surplus Limb from Naxx-25), I'm pretty proud of it - thanks to Bloodlust and popping my haste trinket.
9641.7dps on the Instructor. Second place was a DK with 1000 more GS rating than me, and he did about 6600.
Welldead May 17th 2010 6:05PM
Heh,that is true. I make more money on my mage which has Mining/Enchanting than my druid Alchemy/herbalism. I really don't know why XD. But,I like more my mage than my druid. I'm thinking on making an Orc warlock with a Affliction Spec and I'm going to compare who makes more damage/money with the same proffesions.