Warlocks are excellent in PvP, mainly because of their strong single-target spells.

In PvE, they are currently the weakest subclass, since their main AoE wave spell has a very short range and it was heavily nerfed due to PvP balance concerns.

As a result, Warlocks have become a weak option for PvE content while also having one of the most demanding playstyles.

Hunting with wave spells forces solo players to constantly reposition and turn their character toward the lure every two seconds, which is tiring and discouraging. This is one of the main reasons why almost no one wants to play Warlock on non-PvP or servers without wars, when the players just want to hunt and leveling.

My proposal is to introduce a new spell similar to Marksman’s Arrow Volley, but instead of dealing burst damage, it would apply a damage-over-time effect (DoT), functioning as a poison spell.

Mechanics

- Affects 1 main target + up to 4 nearby monsters.

- Applies a poison effect to all affected targets.

- Like Marksman Arrow Volley, it could only affect the main target in PvP.


Cooldown - 4 seconds.


Damage Model

- 3-second poison duration.

- 3 ticks total (1 tick per second).

- Damage could be equal to Blood Leech, weakest warlock damage spell.


Design Intent

The spell prioritizes sustained damage instead of burst. This improves PvE efficiency while limiting PvP burst potential, maintaining balance between both environments.


Sprite of this new spell

The vanguard monsters cast a spell with an amazing visual effect that could be reused for this new Warlock spell:

I agree warlocks shouldn't deal great instantaneous damage to hunt like pyromancers or even casting support spells performing as shamans.

What is more compatible with warlocks really seems to be debuffs and continuous damage.

Suggestion: I would rename the poison spell to 'Agony', as it better matches the warlock magic style.

Warlock the weakest PvE subclass? Are you kidding me?

I don't know where this is coming from, it seems like no one actually tests anything or knows what they're talking about. If you think warlocks are the weakest you have no idea what you're doing.

I understand the point that warlock is very hard to play because warlock don't have AoE spells to be cast by target or aim cursor spells to hunt.

Moreover, Cross of Annihilation 2nd wave was nerfed in 25% some time ago, not considering PvE but only to prevent PvP high damage.

The main issue with Warlocks right now is the lack of AoE TARGETED spells for hunting. If necessary, the second wave of Cross of Annihilation could be removed, but another AoE spell should be added — not a high-damage one, just something to ease the current rotation of casting two waves every two seconds (Cross + Whirlwind), making PvE hunting smoother.

So instead of simply increasing the 2nd wave’s damage again, it would be better to remove the 2nd wave damage entirely and introduce a new spell to slightly ease their gameplay. I personally like the idea of a DoT spell that spreads moderate damage across multiple enemies simultaneously.

to me it feels like y'all are just here to make the gameplay "easier". Warlock is very competative, it just takes more effort. Which nowadays people don't like to put in effort for results.

Good morning!

Excellent idea! I was even discussing this yesterday on Discord with some friends, since I'm the only mage playing a warlock on the Zezenia server... it would be revolutionary to add another area-of-effect spell for warlocks, especially since we only have the Cross spell for area attacks, and this weaving would look beautiful on the warlock and combines very well with the class.