Warlock - A Support Guide (6.81)

When I play warlock usually I get Necronomicon at the time I max Upheaval.


Why you might wonder. Because of the synergy.
The lv. 3 Necro Archer auto attacking the melee enemies while they can't get close enough to kill it. Necro summons inside Upheaval are just awesome. Sometimes I even get Black King Bar to avoid getting stunned while channeling Upheaval.

If you wonder: I usually play him as a position #3 hero because he's so powerful once he gets some big items.

I really think that you should try it at least once.

I used to advocate Soul Ring on him, but generally find that his high mana pool makes it unnecessary. He's got long cooldowns anyway, so I don't tend to find it a problem. Shadow Word and Fatal Bonds are both nice lane harassment tools, but with the new 150 mana Clarity potions I find picking a few up during the lane phase if necessary seems to do the job.

Silly question : why doesn't anyone advocate Soul Ring on Warlock? I think he uses SR extremely well, he can rush it in the laning stage by stack-pulling camps and get it at 3 or 4 minutes, and that single item gives him infinite sustainability and infinite harassing potential in lane with Shadow Word. The spamming potential of a support warlock with soul ring in lane can be insane.

Done some general spring cleaning and updating on this, my first ever guide, *sniff* :).

Added/fixed some icons, builds, items, etc - and updated it for 6.81 where the 100 damage from Chaotic Offering has gone, Aghanim's Scepter works properly now etc. P.S - Fatal Bonds is HP Removal damage so DOESN'T work with Veil of Discord.

I'm fairly sure fatal bonds is HP removal and hence not affected by veil? It would only be useful if the majority of the damage taken by the units is magical which isn't always the case.

nice guide +1 :)
IMO, Aghanim isn't bad at all, since it proved more HP for warlock
since warlock is must stay for a long time to channel upheaval,SW, and aura mekans, more HP is always a good option to be :D

about skill builds, i think upheaval can be skip until level 10++ except enemy team have too many melee heroes, since warlock's base damage is pretty good in early minutes to help killing in war/gank

Apologies, I've updated the stuff about Aghanim's now. It's weird because I still often end up buying a Point Booster (it's just such good value for money, and the game is in shape to end well before Refresher Orb), but not the rest as the scepter upgrade is a bit lacklustre.

I'd encourage all Warlock players to try out Upheaval during the laning phase, unless the opposition have max speed escape skills like Blink or Surge then it's extremely effective for helping your team get kills - much more so than an extra level or two in Fatal Bonds or Shadow Word imho.

A very long, large AOE 80% slow - OP!!

Personally, I tend to leave upheaval until I have the other two skills maxed, it is best used as a team fight and not usually needed until later. I often find myself buying a refreshers orb even when constantly buying wards, but tend to avoid Aghanims, as for only 1000 more you can have 2 stuns, much more useful in a team fight.

However I think your item build and justification is great, and this is the best warlock guide. +1

Thanks for the feedback - I've just done a bit of work updating the guide as the game has changed, and my experience with Warlock improved.

Personally I still quite like to go with some variation on that build, Warlock is quite a versatile hero and you do need to alter your build to match. Fatal Bonds is no doubt your best spell, but I sometimes wonder if the extra harassment is worth the lane movement early on. I like having a few levels in Upheaval is it's a great slow and will sometimes net you kills you couldn't have got with your other skills.

Agree Necrobook is a great item on him - albeit expensive to get to level 3. The stats and the active are great though, and it's an easy choice versus a team with much invisibility.

Good guide man, I´m a warlock player as well and I like to see how other people play it, its versatility makes it a strong pick for teamplayers and I find it one of the funniest heroes.
Regarding your skillbuild, I think you must choose amongst 2 skills to max fast. Just one level of Bonds is not enough for a good harass, not to say for an early lane battle with golem. The same way, healing is too poor, and slow takes a long time to be effective. On first levels it is far more efficient to max 2 spells asap because they can be more effective.
I believe the key is to choose which gamestyle are you playing on each match, and to choose your skilling carefully. If you are babysitting or destroying enemy carry's farm, go for SW. If you want early ganks and a focus on teambattles, Upheaval first. Bonds always, at least at level 1 and 3 for laning and at 1,3,7,8 for battle focus.
Also, I would erradicate (as you do) aghanims from Warlock's core build, for almost the same price you have a refresher orb, which gives you, in addition to a second golem, a second area stun, and does not weaken your golems. Anyway, both are LUXURY items, and should never be a core build for this hero, specially when played as support. There are items far more suitable and synergetic, such as Drums, Meka or the OP Necronomicon 3 (which you didn´t add as core item, and I think it is the more synergetic and powerful item on him).
Good job with the guide, and thanks for feedbacking mine. I forgot about dotafire for a whole year, now I have just read your comment.

+Rep/+1

Good guide to one of the least played heroes in DotA.

Thanks for the feedback - glad you liked the guide. I'd argue quite strongly that Urn of Shadows is good on Warlock - as long as nobody else on your team has bought one (charges only go to 1 urn, etc). Gankers coming to your lane + upheaval means you can get early charges for it, and team fights will provide a lot of them. It adds more tankiness, mana regen, and mana-free healing that you can dish out quickly to your team.