Note about Drain Tanking:
Common knowledge is that Drain Tanking is the most efficient leveling spec. Few realize, however, that it is nearly useless before level 30, due to the weakness of the lower versions of the Drain Life spell.
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How to level:
Grind and quest at the same time. Either look for multiple quests that involve killing the same mobs, or look for multiple quests in the same areas.
The more quests you can get done before running back to turn in, the faster your leveling will go.
Also, remember to set your hearth to new places frequently. Every time you plan to level in a new place for more than an hour, set your hearth there, as the time saved by teleporting back to the nearest down instead of running is incredible. |
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Summary:
1-9: Do your lowbie quests. Should take 2-3 hours.
10-29: Stack all your DoTs on a mob, send in the VW, stack all your DoTs on a second mob, and then wand the second mob to death. Repeat until low health, and then bandage/Consume Shadows. Each level should take about an hour, moving towards an hour and a half as you get closer to 30. If they are taking longer, figure out what the problem is (mobs too far apart, mobs have too much life, too much downtime) and move to an area that solves it.
30-39: Drain Tank: Load the mob up on DoTs, send in the Succubus, cast Drain Life while the mob beats on you, rinse and repeat.
40-49: Drain Tank, but instead of Life Tapping, use Dark Pact. A good rule of thumb is, DP only if your pet is over 50% mana, because if they run out it will slow your fighting time down. The easiest way to do this is to turn off all autocast abilities on your Succubus, and remember to DPing during the fight (rather than after) as a good time-saver because your DoTs will help keep up the DPS.
50-59: The Drain Tanking gets even better now. By Demonic Sacrificing your pet, you are able to regen even more life per fight, keeping up with increasing monster damage, while still 'Tapping up to full mana whenever you want because of the passive regen.
60: You are now specced SM/DS, which is generally accepted to be best grinding spec. Do whatever killing you need to do, grind factions etc., and then respec to your high-level build of choice.
Equipment Choice:
"I found that during early levels it was best to focus on +sta, and at around 35 or so to switch to +shadow or +dmg. If you are specced into affliction and are draintanking, +dmg will be vastly superior to +sta. You kill the mobs much faster for the same mana, and heal yourself that much faster." -Clutchsama
It's my personal opinion that up until about level 40 you should stack +sta and "of the Eagle" gear. At 30, start looking for Shadoweave gear, and around 40 switch into it. Full Shadoweave can be made by tailors, and will give a bonus of +114 shadow damage, along with some Int and Sta, and can be equipped at level 44.
In general, while using Dark Pact I stack as much +damage gear as possible, and while using Demonic Sacrifice, I stack as much +sta gear as possible, while keeping a minimum of +100 dmg.
This guide was written by Suicidal from the main World of Warcraft community site. It is listed here as it has been an extremely helpful guide. Be sure to bookmark this page and check out the other guides to make HUGE amounts of gold in this game and powerlevel to the top.