WoW Classic Warlock Leveling Guide

Leveling a Warlock in WoW Classic Anniversary or WoW Classic Era from level 1 to 60 can be a very smooth experience. A Warlock with the right talents and rotation becomes a fast and efficient class to level in Vanilla. Learn all about the right talents and weapons to optimize your leveling adventure in our WoW Classic Warlock Leveling Guide.

📂 WoW Classic > Warlock

📅 Last updated on March 13, 2025.

Table of Contents

WoW Classic Warlock Leveling Talents

Use the following build to level your Warlock from 1 to 53 in WoW Classic:

Spend your first 21 or even 31 points in the Affliction tree. Always start with Improved Corruption followed by Improved Life Tap. Your next priorities are Grim Reach and Siphon Life. The order of the talent points in between is a personal preference. After you have invested 21 points you can choose to go 31 points into the Affliction tree and then into the Destruction tree or start with Destruction right away. Try to unlock Shadowburn as soon as possible, when you start in the Destruction tree

From level 53 to level 60 you can freely choose your talent points if you’re drain tanking until level 60. E.g. on a PvP realm, you might want to pick up Curse of Exhaustion with its improvements next. If you are starting your pre-BiS farm in dungeons, you might want to use the endgame spec from our WoW Classic Warlock DPS build.

If you are leveling in a spell cleave group you want to pick the following talents to maximize your AoE damage in dungeons:

WoW Classic Warlock Leveling Pets

While leveling your Warlock in WoW Classic you should use Summon Voidwalker until level 20. Starting from level 20 you should switch to Summon Succubus. The Voidwalker will not be able to hold aggro anymore and the Succubus provides way more DPS than the Voidwalker.

WoW Classic Warlock Wand Progression

While leveling a Warlock the wand is the single most important piece of gear you have. These are the notable wand upgrades for a Warlock sorted by their DPS:

Level 5: Lesser Magic Wand.
Crafted with Enchanting and can be bought in the auction house.
Level 13: Greater Magic Wand.
Crafted by Enchanting and can be bought in the auction house.
Level 17: Cookie's Stirring Rod
Drops in The Deadmines.
Level 18: Gravestone Scepter ¹
Quest reward from Blackfathom Villainy in Blackfathom Deeps.
Quest reward from Blackfathom Villainy in Blackfathom Deeps.
Level 52: Skul's Ghastly Touch ²
Drops from Skul in Stratholme.

¹ Gravestone Scepter is an insane wand. It causes shadow damage and provides you with a huge power spike. Try to get it as early as possible. You can wear this wand into your level 40s.
² Your wand loses a lot of its power after level 38 since your new rank of Drain Life is becoming more powerful. Just use the best wand you can find from here on. You don’t need to go out of your way to farm any specific wand anymore until your pre-BiS wand Skul's Ghastly Touch.

WoW Classic Warlock Leveling Rotations

The rotation while leveling a Warlock as a “Drain Tank” in WoW Classic depends on your character level:

Early levels:
Immolate > Corruption > Wand
Level 20 – 37:
Immolate > Siphon Life (when unlocked) > Corruption > Life Tap > Drain Life > Wand
Level 38+:
Immolate > Siphon Life > Corruption > Life Tap > Drain Life > Drain Life > Drain Soul

Adapt the rotation to your current enemies and your spells. Use Curse of Agony instead of Immolate, if you have just learned a new rank of Curse of Agony. Skip Curse of Agony if your enemies die fast. Start using Drain Soul between 20-37 regularly after you’ve unlocked Improved Drain Soul in your talent tree.

Additional Resources

You can find more resources about the WoW Classic Warlock here, including Warlock Macros for WoW Classic.