TBC Warlock PvP Builds

Arena talent builds, stat priorities, and gear guides

Siphon Life / Soul Link — attrition and pet control

Arena option

Arena starting point

Approach: Arena starting point
Best For: Survivability, Attrition Wars

SL/SL combines Siphon Life in Affliction with Soul Link in Demonology. Soul Link redirects 20% of damage to an active demon. Your pet is part of your defensive plan, so keeping it alive is as important as maintaining pressure.

Talent Priorities

These are the key talent choices behind the build. The complete level-70 allocations are listed below. Open the TBC talent guide ↗

Affliction

Siphon Life Talent

Adds damage and self-healing; this is the Affliction half of SL/SL.

Improved Corruption Talent

Reduces Corruption cast time; it does not make Corruption critically hit.

Improved Life Tap Talent

Increases mana gained from Life Tap; it does not grant a temporary spell-damage buff.

Demonology

Soul Link Talent

Transfers 20% of incoming damage to your active demon.

Fel Domination and Master Summoner Talent

Combine for a much faster, cheaper demon summon. The summon is not inherently free or an uninterruptible instant.

Complete level-70 talent trees for Warlock

Every build totals 61 points. Pick a build, then open it in the interactive calculator to copy it talent by talent.

SL/SL — Soul Link / Siphon Life 25/36/0
Open in talent calculator ↗ Source: Icy Veins TBC Classic PvP guide

Affliction

25 pts
  • Suppression 3/5
  • Improved Corruption 5/5
  • Improved Life Tap 2/2
  • Soul Siphon 2/2
  • Improved Curse of Agony 2/2
  • Amplify Curse 1/1
  • Grim Reach 2/2
  • Nightfall 2/2
  • Empowered Corruption 3/3
  • Shadow Embrace 1/5
  • Siphon Life 1/1
  • Curse of Exhaustion 1/1

Demonology

36 pts
  • Improved Healthstone 2/2
  • Demonic Embrace 5/5
  • Improved Health Funnel 2/2
  • Fel Intellect 1/3
  • Fel Domination 1/1
  • Fel Stamina 3/3
  • Demonic Aegis 3/3
  • Master Summoner 2/2
  • Unholy Power 5/5
  • Demonic Sacrifice 1/1
  • Mana Feed 1/3
  • Master Demonologist 4/5
  • Demonic Resilience 2/3
  • Soul Link 1/1
  • Demonic Knowledge 3/3

Destruction

0 pts

No points in this tree.

Stat Priority

Primary Stats

  • Spell hit and penetration: address missed or resisted control, accounting for talents and enemy resistances.
  • Resilience and stamina: maintain enough durability for your team's defensive plan.

Secondary Stats

  • Spell damage for pressure; assess haste and critical strike against the spells you actually cast.
  • Do not use raid hit targets as a default arena gearing rule.

Gear Priority

Weapons

  • Compare weapons for your active role and the season available on your realm.

Armor

  • Build a coherent PvP set before trading away survival for a single PvE upgrade.
  • Honor and arena purchases should solve your largest weakness: survival, reliable control or pressure.

Accessories

  • Keep the appropriate PvP crowd-control trinket available.
  • Choose the second trinket for your matchup and set; no universal resilience threshold makes every PvE item safe.

Consumables

Arena

  • Prepare permitted class-created resources, reagents and bandages before queueing.
  • Use arena-eligible water for drinking; create a safe out-of-combat window.
  • Normal potions and flasks are not part of a rated arena loadout. Keep battleground consumable plans separate.

Playstyle Guide

Decisions

  • Keep the Felhunter in range for Spell Lock and Devour Magic without leaving it exposed to cleave.
  • Apply damage to pressure targets while keeping your intended Fear or partner-CC target clear of effects that would break control.
  • Life Tap when your healer can repair the health cost. Recall and heal a threatened pet before it dies; reserve a fast resummon for a real emergency.

Review

  • After each loss, check whether you or your pet ran out of defensive options first.

Key Matchups

Look for these opportunities

  • Spread pressure when it forces healing without breaking your partner control.
  • A healer forced to cast in the open gives your Felhunter a valuable Spell Lock opportunity.

Struggles Against

  • Pet deaths remove important defense and utility.
  • Interrupts and melee pressure can deny drains and Fear casts.

General Warlock Tips

One decision to review

After each loss, check whether you or your pet ran out of defensive options first.

Choose a complete talent tree

The talent lists here explain priorities. They are not point-by-point allocations. Use the linked TBC talent guide to select a complete level-70 tree that fits your partner.