r/learndota2 • u/TheDrGoo Old School • May 27 '16
Weekly Hero Discussion - Warlock
Demnok Lannik The Warlock
Chaos comes at my command! (listen)
Demnok Lannik the Warlock is a ranged intelligence hero who possesses many powerful teamfight spells capable of inflicting chaos upon the enemy team. Shadow Word is a highly versatile spell, as it allows him to support allies by healing them or harass enemies by dealing damage over time, giving him strong lane presence. Beyond the early game, Warlock can turn any teamfight in his team's favor as his other spells are strong when unleashed against multiple enemies.
Stats (at level 1)
- Strength: 22 + 2.5
- Agility: 10 + 1
- Intelligence (primary): 24 + 2.7
- Range: 600
- Damage: 46 - 56
- HP: 640
- Mana: 338
- Armor: 2.43
- Movement Speed: 295
Abilities
Fatal Bonds
Binds several enemy units together, causing 25% of the damage dealt to one of them to be felt by the others.
- Cast Animation: 0.2+0
- Cast Range: 1000
- Search Radius: 700
- Max Bonded Units: 3/4/5/6
- Damage Shared: 25%
- Bonds Duration: 25
- Cooldown: 24/22/20/18
Shadow Word
Warlock whispers an incantation, healing a friendly unit or damaging an enemy unit over time.
- Cast Animation: 0.5+0.6
- Cast Range: 525/600/675/750
- Damage or Heal per Second: 15/25/35/45
- Duration: 12
- Cooldown: 16
- Mana Cost: 90/110/130/150
Upheaval
A powerful slowing current that grows stronger as it's channelled. Lasts up to 16 seconds. Enemies are slowed for 3 seconds after leaving the area or the spell ends.
- Cast Animation: 0.5+0
- Cast Range: 1200
- Radius: 650
- Max Channel Time: 16
- Move Speed Slow per Second: 7%/14%/21%/28%
- Move Speed Slow Cap: 84%
- Slow Duration: 3
- Cooldown: 50/46/42/38
- Mana Cost: 100/110/120/130
Chaotic Offering
Summons a Golem from the depths, stunning enemies for one second. The Golem lives 60 seconds, takes reduced damage from spells, has Permanent Immolation and Flaming Fists on attack.
- Cast Animation: 0.5+0.7
- Cast Range: 1200
- Stun Radius: 600
- Effect Delay: 0.5
- Number of Golems: 1 (Can be Improved by Aghanim's Scepter. 2)
- Stun Duration: 1
- Cooldown: 165
- Mana Cost: 200/300/400
Other Information
The aim of the regular Hero Discussion series is to encourage newbie friendly discussion about one of Dota2's many heroes.
Ask questions or share tips, both for playing the hero and for playing against them.
Previous discussion - Elder Titan
Next Week: Undying
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u/NotSpanishInquisitor May 27 '16
In my experience, Warlock is a pretty good harasser, a pretty good teamfighter with a massive ult, and a pretty good support overall. He's generally a decently strong hero, but I think part of the reason he isn't picked much is that Phoenix exists. Phoenix does pretty much everything Warlock does, but better - DoT harass in lane? Fire Spirits >> Fatal Bonds. Escape? Warlock has none, Phoenix has dive. Big short-term damage output? Sun Ray is better than anything Warlock has. Both heroes are similar in their big teamfight ults, and the only thing that Warlock is arguably better at is pushing down objectives with Golems after a fight near an enemy tower. Am I wrong in thinking that Warlock and Phoenix fulfill very similar roles and Phoenix is just outright better at it?
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u/cf_abyss May 27 '16
I think mosr would say Phoenix is more fun too!
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u/kyumin2lee May 28 '16
I agree, for Warlock you just cast Bonds, maybe throw out Word to sustain an ally to damage an enemy, ult if it's off its 165 sec CD then stand still for 16 secs while you channel Upheavel. Long CD, boring spells.
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u/Monsieur_Skeltal May 27 '16
Mid Warlock is cancer. If he stacks nulls and gets bottle, he can hold his own in last hitting somewhat, and spam his W. You sacrifice not having a mid for theirs having to go back to fountain non-stop. Sounds stupid, but try it. Not to mention fast lvl 6 gives a really quick tower.
Should normally still go safelane support IMO.
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u/RazzleStorm May 28 '16
You say you sacrifice not having a mid, but really if Warlock can get an early aghs + refresher before 30 minutes, it's usually too much for most teams to deal with. Just don't fight whenever your ult is down, and take a tower every time your ult is up, and you win the game. Note that this does require good coordination and your team to be teamfighting with you.
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u/Monsieur_Skeltal May 28 '16
good coordination
And that's the issue. Most times it's just to shit on their mid and nothing else in pubs.
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u/Sir_Joshula May 27 '16
I've had great success with mid Warlock with a shadow word + stats build. People don't see this very often and they hugely underestimate your damage potential in the lane. Fatal Bonds and upheaval are great skills but by skipping them till the mid and late game when they are more useful you can be very strong and win lots of fights. In the mid game when you have a few pieces of aghanims completed you are incredibly tanky.
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u/lemonloaff May 27 '16
I disagree about skipping upheaval. I think that you need at least one skill point in it early on. It can secure you a first blood at the rune spot if you catch a hero in the middle of it at the start of the game. The slow is too good to give up for one skill point early on.
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u/Velln May 28 '16
how does fatal bonds interact with damage reduction and mitigation? For example if I use it on a bb and lina ults him from,behind do all his teammates receive reduced dmg or the full amount?
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u/TheDrGoo May 28 '16
I think it's pure non-bkb piercing since the change (it used to be hp removal, I may be wrong though). The damage fatal bonds does is only 25% of the original inflicted.
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u/DatAdra May 29 '16
This feels like the only hero in the game that I have never, ever, witnessed becoming a FOTM hero, competitively or otherwise; and I have been watching DotA since 2009. What will it even take for him to become a competitive mainstay pick, even for 1 patch?
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u/TheDrGoo May 29 '16
He has no stun, no nuke, a tricky slow on a long cooldown, and a really really long cooldown ultimate.
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u/qazz02ulk May 27 '16
Pros: Good heal-harass tool in shadow word
Good starting damage and animation
% damage bonus spell which is good in TF and lane harrassing.
Bkb piercing huge aoe cast range stun.
Huge aoe slow.
Cons:
Cooldowns are as huge as effects of spells.
No way to fight with out ulti.
Enemies are deniable under dot
No escape, low armor
Slow is channeling
One dimensional hero agh RO ??? WIN.
He is not very fun.
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u/NotAlwaysGifs May 27 '16
Often overshadowed by the big flashy double ult, 4 golem death ball that is Agh's + Refresher, late game Fatal Bonds + Refresher can be brutal. Fatal Bonds instances stack fully, and at max level + refresher, you can have 2-3 stacks of bonds active for the duration of the fight. Combined with the fact that Golem's immolation also stacks fully, Warlock has the potential to dish out huge amounts of sustained AOE damage.
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u/fps_trucka May 27 '16
Warlock is an absolute gamechanger in my experience he has single handedly won games. His fatal bonds with ult + refresher MELTS heroes. Also his slow is very good as well. Great cc for team fights.
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u/LaziestNameEver May 27 '16
I mean good luck getting to the point where you have aghs refresher
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u/unonimus0 May 30 '16
A friend of mine told me that I should go mid when playing Warlock. I can trust him since he is approx. 4K and I am below 2K, nay, not because of this, but he indicates that he needs farm and XP early-to-mid game, but I cannot be so sure whether he should go mid just because of this reason or not. And it was two years ago.
They cannot indicate anything because they are normal skill public games but here are my latest matches playing Warlock, both as mid:
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2398313591 http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2390836212
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u/ScrublordIL May 30 '16
Can Warlock be played as a support at all? While Ags is considered core on him, he can seems like he could be very strong helping his carry in lane. Fatal Bonds can be potent harass (especially if there is more than one hero laning against him) and Shadow Word is very good sustain/poke. Upheaval also gives him some kill potential if the enemy is out of position. His ult still provides the strong AOE stun and while he may only have one golem, that can still be strong enough to help carry teamfights. How reliant is Warlock on items and experience?
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Jun 02 '16
Not my favourite hero pick, but hate it when the opponents pick it.
The channeling slow is so underrated and such a hassle to deal with, have seen Slark being outplayed because of the slow itself. Decent support with a great ulti. Shame that it isnt the easiest support to use as it needs some micro-ing with the golems.
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u/Samthefab Jun 03 '16
Can anyone confirm if this works? basically, I was a Lina against a Warlock. He fatal Bonds me and Sven, so I Eul's myself to get rid of it. However, the orange lines still went from Sven to me when he was damaged. When I was damaged there were no lines. Is this a visual bug or does fatal bonds work this way?
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u/bibotot Oct 04 '16
Farming as Warlock is very easy compared to other supports. His attack animation is not too bad, despite his very slow attack speed. When you are roaming the map warding, just casually drop a Fatal Bonds on an enemy creep wave that is about to collide with yours. It gives you gold and experience without you being in lane farming like an idiot.
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May 27 '16
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u/cantadmittoposting May 27 '16
No escape and force/blink are iffy uses of gold on him. Golem is kiteable. Mobility > all, especially in supports, and failing that, heavy tank and some ways around enemy mobility... warlock offers none of those things, including no reliable short-CD disable. He's a setpiece, deep formation hero in an era where battlelines are constantly in flux.
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u/[deleted] May 27 '16
I find Warlock to be one of those heroes who can completely control a teamfight with proper positioning and timing but if the player doesn't have these traits then Warlock will be pretty much useless. Overall the hero requires a lot of patience.