Spell: Drain Mana.
Cue: Blue bolt of energy from Warlock to Target.
In Brief: Channeled spell that causes drains mana from a target. At the end of this spell the warlock actually gains mana over the cost of casting the spell.

This is the Drain Mana spell, identified by the blue bolt of energy running between the Warlock and its target. This gains the Warlock a minor boost to their mana level upon completion of the spell. Of course, it is only effective against enemy spell casters.

While it can be argued that it does not significantly speed the death of an enemy, two factors more than balance that concern. First, a Warlock without mana isn't going to be helping much anyway. Second, an enemy drained of mana isn't going to be casting spells at you.

Spell: Drain Life.
Cue: Green bolt of energy from Warlock to Target.
In Brief: Channeled spell that causes Shadow Damage to the target, and for every point of health drained the Warlock gains a health point.

This spell allows the Warlock to help manage their own health throughout a battle. However, this does not mean that the party healer does not have to worry about the Warlock. While a carefully embattled Warlock tends to be able to to take care of themselves, being a cloth wearer means that when things start going bad for the Warlock they go bad very fast. It does mean that a Warlock's health may yo-yo throughout the course of a melee, especially if the Warlock is also using the spells Health Funnel or Life Tap.

This spell cannot be used to heal anyone else.

The blue bolt in the illustration isn't a Warlock spell. It is the Chimaera lightning bolting the brave and valiant Voidwalker. Bad Chimaera, bad!

Spell: Health Funnel
Cue: Green bolt of energy from Warlock to Minion.
In Brief: Transfers health from Warlock to Minion.

As signified by the green bolt, this spell is a transfer of health, but in this case the Warlock transfering his or her health to their Minion in order to heal the Minion and keep them going.

This only works between Warlock and Minion and cannot be used to heal anyone else.

This spell adds to the challenge of a party healer, because they will see the Warlock's health plummet as this spell is being used. In an ideal situation the Warlock then immediately uses Drain Life on the enemy to restore their own health.

The party healer must be at their sharpest gauging the flow of the battle when this happens, because a game melee most often has absolutely no resemblence to the fore-mentioned ideal situation.

To make matters a touch more confusing, there is an intermittant bug in the display graphics for Health Funnel and Drain Life. Every now and then the bolt traces a path not just from caster to minion, but from caster to the previous target and then to current one.

Spell: Banish.
Cue: A humming sound as the target turns transluscent.
In Brief: This spell holds the target Elemental or Demon for 20 seconds, dring which time it may take no actions. It is immune to all attacks while banished.

Banish works on Elementals and Demons and when successfully cast removes them from play for twenty seconds. When under the influence of the spell the target becomes translucent.

An important thing to remember about Banish is that a Warlock can only banish one target at a time - if they try to Banish another target before the twenty seconds is up, the first one becomes active again.

Second, while banished, the target is immune to all attacks. So unless you are building up rage, it's not very productive beating upon a banished foe.

Third, not all Demons or Elementals can be banished. Some are immune.

And last, Demons and Elementals don't like being banished. When they wake up, their first target is the Warlock that banished them.

Spell: Enslave Demon.
Cue: Two chains of binding wrapped around a demon.
In Brief: Allows a Warlock to enslave a demon for use as a Minion.

Enslave does is allow the Warlock to charm a demon and the demon then serves the Warlock in the exact same manner any other Minion would. This can be very useful, for not only does it serve as crowd control when faced with a few too many demons, that demon can be made to fight for you instead of against you. In addition a Warlock can have an enslaved demon and still banish a second one.

An enslaved demon can be identified in two ways. The first are the pair of chains revolving around the demons head and chest. The second is, when selected, it will be identified as the Warlock's Minion.

Not all demons can be enslaved however. Some are too high a level and some are immune to enslavement. Enslave costs a soulshard and the more often a demon is enslaved the more difficult it it to enslave it again.

And last, Demons and Elementals don't like being enslaved. Not at all. When they break free they tend to be very grumpy, their first target is the Warlock that decided to enslave them.

Spell: Ritual of Summoning.
Cue: Glowing black portal.
In Brief: A spell that allows the Warlock to summon a character from anywhere in the world to the Warlock's current location.

The Ritual of Summoning allows a Warlock to summon a character from anywhere in the world to their location. This is a very handy spell for getting folks together. And while simple in concept, there are a handful of important requirements that have to be met in order for the summoning to be successful.

First, the person being summoned to the Warlock must be in the same party or raid group as the Warlock.

Second, note the Hunter and the Paladin in the illustration. In addition to the Warlock, TWO more party members are required to activate the spell. If you are one of the people helping the Warlock, once the black portal appears right click the portal and continue to do so until the spell is complete. DO NOT MOVE until the summoning is finished. This will end the spell, and since it costs the Warlock a Soulshard to do a summoning they understandably get a bit grumpy if the shard is wasted.

Once the spell is complete the person being teleported will get a dialog box asking if they wish to be moved. Somtimes there is a lag as the server relocates the victim, causing a delay in their appearance at the Warlock's location. Just be patient.

If the Warlock is inside an Instance, the spell works in a similar manner except that the person being summoned must also be inside the Instance. They can have just stepped through the portal, but they must be in the Instance.

Summoning Etiquette

Of all the Warlock spells, the Ritual of Summoning is the one which seems to be most often misunderstood and the one most likely to cause a companion Warlock to become a bit annoyed. In most cases you will find that if you are on good terms with a Warlock or are reasonable about your request, they will be more than glad to summon you. If you don't know the Warlock and you ask for a summons out of the blue, you might not get an enthusiastic reply. Many Warlocks have been burned by inconsiderate requests. Some Warlocks charge for the service, and some players are both kind and smart enough to offer payment - especially for a sudden or blind request. Depending on the Warlock, Server, and Situation there have been examples across the Servers of summoning fees ranging fom one to ten gold. Or atleast that's the tales that have been repeated.

It is very easy for a simple summoning request to become unreasonable.

First, remember that a Warlock is no way obligated to summon anyone, no more than a Mage is expected to conjure water for a stranger or a Shaman to do the wolf dance. So be nice, and understand if the Warlock can't do the summoning. There's usually a good reason.

For example, the Warlock could be on a gryphon or hippogriff. They could be adventuring out in the middle of nowhere or in a low population area without the two other people required to complete the spell. For some reason hungry hyenas tend to be a bit disagreeable when asked to help in an impromptu summoning. They could be in the middle of a combat or quest or already be in a full party.

Remember that it takes a Warlock and two other people to do the spell. And that these two people must be where the Warlock is - they must have taken the time to get to the destination too. When you are asking to be summoned don't be surprised if the Warlock expects you to find and coordinate these two helpers. A good example of a successful summoning was a Paladin who wished to be summoned to the Un'goro Crater. He had a Warlock friend there, asked nicely and politely .... and when the Warlock looked up, she saw that the two friends the Paladin was going to meet were already riding across the fields to her, to help with the spell. Expecting the Warlock to snare strangers to get them to join in a group to help in a summoning is often problemattic.

One of the quickest ways to to annoy a Warlock is when it becomes obvious that the only reason the Warlock is asked to join a group is to play taxi-cab for the party. When someone gets held up by unavoidable outside-the-game activities, is running late, is on the other continent - these can all be good reasons to request a summoning. But summoning someone because they are too lazy to ride to the location ... or, if the Warlock is in an Instance, too lazy to travel to the Instance portal - which then requires the Warlock to separate from the group and leave the Instance to do the summoning - these are the sort of things that can readily sour anyone.

Spell: Hellfire.
Cue: A whumfing sound accompanied by expansing fire effects.
In Brief: A channeled Area of Effect spell that causes high fire damage to those caught within.

Hellfire is a channeled Area of effect fire damage spell that causes damage to all targets within the spell's radius for the duration of the spell. It is a powerful spell and can cause a great deal of damage.

The downside is that the spell also does the full amount of damage to the Warlock casting the spell, and yes, the warlock can end up killing him or herself. Thus, while a very effective spell, it often requires extra attention from a group's healers to ensure that the Warlock survives the effects of the spell, especially if it is used repetatively.

Unending Breath

Spell: Unending Breath.
Cue: Blue Face Buff Icon.
In Brief: Allow a character to breath underwater.

Unending Breath is a simple but useful spell known by most Warlocks except the very youngest. It allows the person it is cast on to breath underwater for 10 minutes. This can be very useful in the Vile Reef or Blackfathom Deeps.

Life Tap

Spell: Life Tap.
Cue: A distictive tolling "chuuuuung" sound effect.
In Brief: Allows a Warlock to regenerate mana by sacrificing health.

Life Tap allows a Warlock to regenerate their mana in exchange for an equal amount of their health. This is very useful to the Warlock, especially during a long drawn out melee or a rapid chain of combats. It can, however, cause a bit of stress to a party's healers, as they watch the Warlocks health suddenly - and unexpected to them - plummets. If you are a mage, remembering that Warlocks can go through mana rather rapidly, making sure they have water to replenish their mana between combats can make things easier for both the Warlock and the group's healers.