Warlock: The Unexpected Dominator

Medusa has a really nice AoE slow with Stone Gaze, but the slow is not greater.

I think that Stone Gaze is a better slow alone than Upheaval (without turning people into stone), because it is not channeling ability, so you can move around, and people has to turn away from you. Slow is also 50% at the beginning, while Upheaval has to last longer to get better. Stone Gaze radius is also better. Cooldown and mana cost are better in Upheaval, but anyway you will use it once in a fight, so it doesn't matter that much.

Stone Gaze is ultimate, so it should be better.

^^^

also warlock combo: Fatal Bonds then into Chaotic Offering then Upheaval and you can genuinely 1v5 if the other team isn't very smart. you can cast shadow ward before upheaval if your taking damage, really this should be done with your team, 1v5 is still stupid but its a definite reason to get Upheaval along with it being I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) the largest slow in the game

Global Silence is SURELY ONE OF THOSE HUGE ULTIMATES. It means, that they cannot interrupt your Upheaval channeling, because they are silenced. That is a very nice opportunity to use that.

Are you guys actually playing games with the same heroes? You like insta-pick them in All Pick mode? I am afraid that's not the best way to learn the game.

Easy one - people can just run from your gollums, so Upheaval prevents them getting away quickly, 80% slow on the whole team is massive, never mind all it's other uses. Even with all that gear, Warlock doesnt have a lot of autoattack damage.

Bear in mind Shadow Demon is also a pretty heavy counter for you - Demonic Purge will insta-kill a gollum, and he can do it twice in a row with Aghanim's Scepter. Various other heroes like Medusa also do a lot of damage to summons. Eventually any decent carry can kill them pretty easily too, hence the 40 minute cutoff.

The main thing at the moment is you've found something that works and that you enjoy, just be aware that you need to keep an open mind all the way through your DOTA development, don't get too set in your ways about what works, especially when you're learning the game.

I play with a group of 4 people every game in voice chat with the occasional fifth member... but our champion pool is
Me - Warlock
#2 - Legion Commander
#3 - Sniper
#4 - Silencer

Aside from my own ultimate there is not a single "huge ultimate" in our team and Im not using auto attacks so much as my other skills and moving around the battle field so that I don't get caught out myself or get to far from my team who are constantly in motion and tend to move away from me.

I can give you a situation when you can use Upheaval.

Let's say you have Enigma in your team. If he will be able to catch many enemies into Black Hole, use Fatal Bonds + Chaotic Offering and then Upheaval.

I will also dare to claim, that it is always better to cast Upheaval (even for a very short duration) than auto-attack heroes. If you can make it longer, you will slow them notably and it will last for 3 seconds after they will get out of that 650 AoE. That is the old Lina range. It is huge, right?

What can you make out of those few auto-attacks, 'ey? Are you afraid to lose some mana?

As I mentioned, Upheaval is a pure team-fight skill, so it goes well with many huge ultimates like Ravage, Chronosphere, Call Down, Reverse Polarity, Static Storm. In 99/100 situations it is better to slow enemies even for 20% than deal like 200 physical damage from auto-attacks. Crippling enemy always makes them easier to kill.

I can see your point, though. From your introduction I see, that you have just began to play Dota2. Maybe it is because you are on the low levels when people can't communicate that well, and picks are not so coordinated, players can't feel when use certain skills... Many things can happen, trust me.

If someone can give me a situation in which Upheaval is of use, I will change this build to incorporate it. I have stated above why I do not use it. I provide the only situations that I encounter, and encounter them every game, and why I do what I do and so far every response or comment post has just said to use it. I want ONE example of how it could be useful or a counter argument to any of my points.

Just my say on the issue about him being in what role: Warlock has to be played solo top or bottom against another hero or mid - he can't function as a support.

This is not necessarily because he's a bad support per se, but the fact is that the meta wants supports to be roaming, ganking, etc really early on. Greedy supports work I guess, but not as well as those which aren't. This is why supports such as Omniknight, Keeper of the Light, Undying and Witch Doctor aren't seeing much play. They're great supports (especially keeper and omni!) They can only get played well (at least in the professional scene) if the team is created with them in mind, and this is because they're too greedy. They need levels at the very least, and they would like to have some farm. And you can't do that with this ultra aggressive meta where everyone has ganking in mind.

Some supports are exceptions obviously ( Treant Protector, Dazzle and the occasional Abaddon) but those can STILL gank to an extent and do something that can't be done by other supports, which are tower healing, keeping a hero alive for a while and...something respectively. (I'm not entirely sure why Abaddon is picked, to counter Batrider picks maybe?)

The pinnacle of supporting right now is probably Sand King because he can gank very well, fitting into the meta and he can get a Blink Dagger faster than mid heroes when stuff is done correctly - he's actually closer to a core due to this though.

TL;DR - Warlock should be a core right now, not a support

Oh and get Upheaval, it's a good skill in the right composition.

As far as how I play, I sit back and auto attack creeps or back further to get the full effect from my Clarity. The Sage's Mask is a pickup at the beginning because it later builds into part of the Refresher Orb and is the only thing that builds into one of my core items that I can buy at the beginning. I do not like picking up items that are going to take up space and need to be sold at a later time to make room as I work towards my core build. I could pick up Tango instead of Sage's Mask but I find that I rarely take damage from opposing players due to my understanding of how to trade (as described in the Strategy portion). If by some chance enemies do go aggressive and get damage off on me, a simple Shadow Word heals it right back and with my added mana regen and pots I stay topped off rather easily on mana and health.

I have yet to need any stats items before my Aghanim's Scepter. I start building that right away by buying the Point Booster after I complete my boots, then buying the other components.

The reason I do not level up Upheaval is because by the time I hit the team fight phase in this build, one of three outcomes always happen. 1) My team melts the other team in a short amount of time or the fight takes place in a small area without much movement at all. 2) I get jumped by a hero with a rush/closer/stealth and die before a slow would in any way become useful. 3) My team gets melted and I have to run, leaving my demons to slow them down. Under none of these circumstances is a channel that forces me to stand still and do NOTHING else helpful in any way. Either they die and don't need to be slowed. I die and can't use it / Slowing an enemy already in my face is useless. Or I need to be moving (Can't channel while moving)



Thank you. I updated some formatting into it. If people want to take Upheaval earlier they are more than welcome but as I responded above to Sando, It is completely useless in this build. This is not a support Warlock build. It is a damage/killing build and I listed my reasons for why Upheaval is not used. I wrote this guide entirely because when I looked up Warlock to see how others build him I found two other builds. One was pretty bad and the other was for a support build. But the Warlock can be so much more than that.



Yes the build is not a support warlock. That is the point. This build may not be the absolute greatest in high level, competitive play. But it works amazing for the average Joe.



The thing about the Diffusal Blade is that so far in every game I've played. I have yet to see one. And even if someone did get it, there is the chance that either they don't use the active due to neglect, they die before they can, or they target some other illusion first. If someone used it once on me, with this build. The next encounter I would cast Chaotic Offering once and use my Refresher Orb, then wait. After they used the Diffusal Blade is when I would cast Chaotic Offering a second time. As for him dropping off after 40 min, I don't know about that. Out of my limited games I have played 3 that lasted around an hour and by that point I was such a monster that in one instance I scored a triple kill before going down while fighting by myself. The player deficiency at that point allowed my team to push for the win after such a long and difficult game.



I might consider adding a Bottle to the item list but the entire reason I pick up the Sage's Mask is because it builds into one of my core items (the Refresher Orb) I have no need or inkling to build anything out of Iron Branches or a Ring of Protection. I sometimes picked up a tango when I first started playing but I never used it except occasionally once just to avoid using mana to cast Shadow Word to heal myself. But with the mana regen provided by my starting it proved more effective both to keep my laning partner and I healed.

I will probably add in-depth descriptions on why I picked each item at a later date (I have been up for 2 days and need to sleep when I finish this). The reason for Shiva's Guard was because in a few of my games I was getting jumped on by Bloodseeker, Riki, and Spirit Breaker. I needed an item that could help me survive their ganks as my team was usually focused on the fight ahead and rarely came to my aid. I wanted some armor and intelligence so that was the item I picked. It allowed me to survive their initial burst where I could either make it to my team or drop Chaotic Offering to save myself.

I agree that most people do not use Diffusal Blade well if at all. I have yet to come across one. I also agree to not playing him as a support. It is possible but when I do "support" I end up doing equal or more damage than the person I'm supporting. And getting more kills. He only is useful to heal with his Shadow Word which I do while playing solo lane or with another person as a farming build anyway. The only problem I have had with him at all was playing a solo lane vs a really good Pudge. With good map awareness you can avoid most ganks yourself using Fatal Bonds to keep the creep wave off your tower if you get pushed on my multiple heroes.

I appreciate everyones feedback but trust me the build is viable. It may not be top tier best ever competitive play pwnsauce, but it puts me in the top scores of every game I play aside from that one exception. I hate Pudge. I hate him so much I've considered picking him every game then repicking after the other team picks just so they cant have him. It honestly seems like a small price to pay to not fight against him. Pudge in my opinion is the worst hero ever created and he needs to be erased from the game. I have never hated any other video game character more than Pudge in all my many years of gaming. (Sorry, mini-rant)

Add a Bottle to Early Game Items ditch the Sage's Mask, Animal Courier and Claritys from starting Items, and replace them with a set of (or some Pooled) Tangoes, 2 or 3 Iron Branches and maybe a Ring of Protection or maybe just Tangoes and a Null Talisman, then add some subsections explaining why you choose all your particular Items (especially Shiva's Guard, I would never recommend this on a Hero that needs to stand cowering at the back during a Teamfight). If you do all this, you'll get a +1 from me. 8{D

He can be played as a Farmer, especially if no one on the other Team is a good Diffusal Blade carrier, you just also need to make sure that he's up against a fairly Passive Mid who can't Kill him by themselves, since Bottle-Crowing and Shadow Word can keep you in Lane long enough. You also have to protect him from Ganks, but few people are advanced enough to know how to Gank Mid in Pubs early on.

He offers little as a Support aside from Shadow Word, since Upheaval does next to nothing early on, and using Fatal Bonds to Harrass can cause the Creep Wave to get Pushed. Dazzle and Abaddon offer much better Defensive Plays and Healing as Supports. He even lacks any reliable way of getting a fast lvl6 or any Farm as a Support since he can't Jungle or Gank effectively.

Imo, playing him as a Solo Farmer is the only reasonable way to play him.

^true.

warlock can't be played as a farmer,simply due to the fact that 1 item HARD counters him.

Diffusal Blade.

besides he's just to good at support to be considered as a farmer,not mentioning the fact that he drops off very hard after the ~40 min mark.