Tips for pvp vs mage in a solo situation

[Soulxlock]

Hi guys,

I started playing WSG / AB on the PvE server 2 weeks ago. It's a part that I pretty much neglected in retail classic and I must say I'm enjoying it now. I'm on alliance side and would like to ask for some tips vs mages in a solo situation.

When I'm facing a skilled mage I usually lose. They can use iceblock to get my dots off and even dodge death coil if it's a good mage. I'm usually having my felhunter out. Is it just me sucking in pvp or is mage a bad matchup? Especially on alliance side since it's mostly undeads you're facing and they can break your fear easily with WOTF.

How would you start an encounter with a mage in a solo situation? I'm raid specced with ds/ruin.

Thanks for your help .

[mirager512]

I can give you some advises though i'm not a pro but that are obvious things IMO.
1. First of all you MUST use fellhunter pet to win VS mages.
2. Disable your pet's autocasting and use macros for its abilities in definite situations only
3. Use macro to dispel poly from yourself /script CastSpellByName('Devour Magic', 1)
4. Use spellock to lock mage's primary school of magic (fire or frost). you should use some addon to see what is he casting(like NECB).
5. Apply shadow dots then You can force a mage to interrupt you by using immolate. Then you may cast whatever you want (fear or shadowbolt) without afraid of getting counterspell.
6. Use curse of tongues. Although mages can dispell it you should reapply it, because you have DOTs and he doesn't. Eventually mage will have to cast with Curse of Tongues or spam decurse, but DOTs will still be eating him.
7. Keep distance to avoid being rooted, or get cone of cold, blast wave etc.
That is my opinion you may also supplement me or argue.

[Cheesé]

Dot, Fake CS with fear, fear *Wotf*, deathcoil, shadowbolt, fear / shadowbolt spam

[Soulxlock]

Thanks for all the tips guys, I have already installed Natur Enemy Cast Bar. Still have to do that macro.

Cheese, what do you mean by fake CS with fear? Start casting fear but then cancel so the mage wastes his counterspell?

[mirager512]

Thanks for all the tips guys, I have already installed Natur Enemy Cast Bar. Still have to do that macro.

Cheese, what do you mean by fake CS with fear? Start casting fear but then cancel so the mage wastes his counterspell?

IMO faking by casting fear is not effective. You can't know if he casted CS or not coz there is no interrupt bar in vanilla, and you can get 10 sec shadow school lock if you fail. Better as i told just cast immolate, most of mages will interrupt it and then you may cast any shadow spell you want. Otherwise if he don't interrupt immolate he will wait right moment to interrupt your shadow school. If he would manage to do it just spam searing pain. Remember time is working for you (coz of dots on a mage)

[somecolours]

Thanks for the tips as well, from a lurker.

How about 1v1ing a warlock who's more skilled than you?
My noob ass is getting rekt by an SM/Ruin lock while i run SL (5/31/15).

[Xasthur]

Hey there OP,

I'm probably riding the same wagon as you are, being a PvE player on retail starting from BC, playing a tank and healer, PVP-ing as a warlock is a brand new experience and there is a long way to go till I can get to an acceptable level (maybe I'm setting my goals high, but that's a good thing, ain't it).

In a decent battleground environemnt you shouldn’t be facing a mage 1on1, because in general it’s a lost cause, especially if they have better than decent gear (based on realmplayers this could also be a case, we are most likely facing the same horde mages anyway) and have a good knowledge of their class.

Mages are better in:
Mobility (blink)
Burst (list way too long)
Countering your biggest threats (wotf, counterspell, ice block, decurse)

So basically everything you have in your arsenal, mages have it better.

So just stick to your group, peeling mid for your runner, fearing horde healers, spamming CoT on casters and CoEx on melee with occasional burst on single target threats and get carried by others engaging mages in close combat. That is what warlocks should be doing in my opinion.

In case you get in a 1on1 situation against a mage, just try to hold them up as long as you can and hope someone arrives to help you out. Even if you fear, they can break it easily, if you dot they can remove and if you counterspell one of their main abilities they can burst you with instant cast spells anyway.

[Youfie]

One thing that haven't been mentioned above is the use of a Spell Stone. It's tremendously effective to remove a Frost Nova from yourself. You must absolutely use it. Spellstone + Felhunter = bye Nova.

[pasur]

imo u really shouldn't be using fear too often as alliance warlock

the main reason people roll alliance warlock is to be SM/ Ruin lock while utilizing the very strong vanilla racial, perception.

also it sounds like u guys are using death coil at long range which is very bad.

it has a slow projectile speed and it's very easy to vanish / iceblock / shadow reflector, make sure to use it at close proximity.

mages should be pretty easy, to be honest.

[Xasthur]

imo u really shouldn't be using fear too often as alliance warlock

the main reason people roll alliance warlock is to be SM/ Ruin lock while utilizing the very strong vanilla racial, perception.

also it sounds like u guys are using death coil at long range which is very bad.

it has a slow projectile speed and it's very easy to vanish / iceblock / shadow reflector, make sure to use it at close proximity.

mages should be pretty easy, to be honest.

I'm using Death Coil in the following situations:
- Get a rogue or warrior off me who managed to get an opener to buy some time to apply Fear and hope that their racial and/or trinket is on cooldown.
- Stop flag runner for a second before I can apply CoEx and/or Fear.
- In "oh shit" situations where I need the burst or some time to breath in close encounters.

Still, to be back on topic, even somewhat decently geared mages can faceroll me as well in most of the cases because I simply cannot last long enough to actually outlast them in a fight by getting them to a point when they are out of mana.

Even if I use most/all my cooldowns (Shadowburn, Deathcoil, Healtshone) have only a slim rate of success. If only one of them is not available while engaging it's pretty much a lost cause already.

Don't get me wrong, my aim is not trying to get excuses why I'm getting outplayed by others, instread I'm striving to focus on where I can improve my game to have a higher success rate in these kind of situations and "how to warlock" in general.