Warlock

Warlock
Tier	3
Total Rice	90
Total Water	75
Total Training Time	100
Hitpoints	400
Melee	Magic
Missile/Ranged	Explosive
Strengths	Fire (-75%), Magic (-75%), Explosive (-50%)
Weaknesses	Cutting (+25%)
Prerequisite	After Unclean One, Infested One, or Diseased One activated Rite of Ascension.
Passive	Regeneration: The unit can naturally heal to full health and does so slightly faster than normal. Soul Lick: When in close proximity, the Warlock drains stamina from enemies within a radius but his attack power is weak. Floater: The Warlock floats, enjoying height advantage even when fighting on level ground.

Death was once my master; now I have mastered Death

— Warlock

The Warlock is unit of the Lotus Clan.

Overview

Students of the Forbidden Path are defined by their shortcomings: the collapsed fortitude of the Diseased, the failed self-control of the Unclean One and the cannibalistic hunger of the Infested. The astute Warlock, however, has conquered all of these pitfalls and discovered how to balance the delicate dance of life, corruption and death within his soul. No longer prey to sickness and torments, these elite sorcerers of the Forbidden Path are able to fling bolts of destruction across great distances and suck the living energy out of the weak. They are mightily feared, and the mere act of opposing one drains courage from the stoutest fighter.

Despite its confidence, the Warlock has not gained the sturdiness of the truly healthy, and is best kept from the front lines. However, from time to time he may sap the strength close to him to regain strength.

Usage

Unique among Tier-3 Units, Warlocks attack from afar instead of coming into melee range as do Samurai, Ronin, and Berserkers. Therefore, Warlocks should be deployed as rangers to blast enemies from afar with their powerful Black Lightning, especially when massed.

When newly metamorphosed from Lotus Tier-2 units (Disease, Unclean, Infested), every Warlock only starts out at half-health, and then he will heal himself up to full (a nearby Channeler can instantly & fully heal him). So even though a Lotus player could transform a near-dead Tier-2 into a half-health Warlock (or even a full-health Warlock if Channelers were handily nearby), this tactics should not be overestimated, because Warlocks are very weak against melee combatants.

Warlocks fall helpless victims to the extremely common Cutting weapons which most melee units wield, and Warlocks deal dismally low damage in melee combat. Even if melee attackers get their stamina leeched away by the Warlock's Soul Lick, Lotus players should not overestimate Soul Lick's effectiveness and let their Warlocks be butchered, skewered, or bludgeoned to death by hostile melee attackers (a Diseased One -who is a much better melee front-liner- can deal more stamina damage to more enemies with one Death Wail). So Warlocks must be protected at all costs by Lotus melee fighters - or even by Master Warlocks (who strongly resist Cutting damage) if the Lotus players decide to train only a Ranger Corps of Leaf Disciples, Unclean Ones, Warlocks and Master Warlocks.

Brother Sehk can safely drain enemies' stamina from afar and grant Soul Chill to Warlocks, which players can use as a 'panic button' to heavily damage hostile melee enemies who have closed in on the Warlocks, but players should judiciously know that Soul Chill barely damages the high-tier Samurai, Ronin, Werewolves, and Berserkers. In Winter of the Wolves, the Technique Issyl's Boon increases Warlocks' movement speed, allowing them to offensively close in on the enemy rangers and cut them down (provided the Warlocks survive those hostile rangers' missile volleys and Wolf Pitch Slingers strongly resist Soul Chill's cutting damage).

Brother Tausil can grant Life Siphon so that the Warlocks can drain allies' health to heal themselves. Still, a Lotus Channeler can easily heal up a wounded Warlock, even more effectively after the technique Foul Nest has been researched, thus allowing ravens to be spawned faster to heal up Warlocks. Therefore, it's best to spend Brother Tausil's stamina to grant Unlife to Master Warlocks instead.

Brother Lythis can grant Dark Arson, allowing a single geared Warlock to sneak into an unguarded base and instantly set fire to a building, even the durable Keeps.

Battle Gear

Battle Gear can acquired from
Brother Lythis			Brother Tausil			Brother Sekh
	Dark Arson	Stamina: 90%		Life Siphon	Stamina: No Cost		Soul Chill	Stamina: 50%
When summoned, Lythis can make the Warlocks's ranged missiles burn with an unholy flame, greatly damaging buildings at the cost of stamina.			The Staff Brother can teach the Warlock to drain life from his allies to sustain himself.			The Brother of the Leaf carries the cold of the deep forest within him, and when he wishes a warlock may share it and cast it forth at his enemies, dealing extra damage to enemy units at the cost of stamina.

Known Warlocks

Aside from the warlocks trained from regular units, there are several notable warlocks throughout the Lotus Clan.

• Zymeth - The Lord of the warlocks and the leader of the Lotus clan, Zymeth's sphere of sorcery is weather. He blasts spheres of lightning onto his foes as a ranged attack, and can call heavy storms to his fields at the cost of much stamina. When it rains, he calls lightning from the sky to sear his foes asunder while rice paddies regrow and regenerate faster.
• Koril - The eldest of all warlocks, this swordsman can warp space itself, and with a wave of his hand he can teleport anywhere. He also uses his powers for defensive effects, as any archers or ranged units will become furious at the way he shimmers and diverts nearly all ranged attacks.
• Soban - Like all the highest-level Lotus warlocks, Soban's researches have taken him on a unique path. His work blends clockwork and high wizardry to produce alchemical feats like his tireless servants, the golems. He is called "Lord" as a courtesy for his accomplishments but he holds no political sway, having always kept out of power struggles of the Lotus elite.

Trivia

• Tausil's Life Siphon states that it costs stamina, but actually it doesn't cost stamina.
• Sehk's Soul Chill deal cutting damage.
• In BattlePack 3 (BR 1.50g; WotW 1.50q), the Warlock, whose resistances had no particular weakness, was nerfed, making him take 25% extra damage from cutting weapons and Battle Gears.
• Despite the Warlock being known as one of the more effective units in-game by sheer firepower and Battle Gear diversity (3 vs 2 of most other units) thus more tactically versatile, he still costs less water than the tier-3 units of other clans (75 vs 105).
• Tier-2 Lotus units take 45 seconds to acquire the Rite of Ascension Battle Gear (to become a Warlock).
  • Interestingly, the building data from BRDE indicates that the time it would have taken for a tier-2 Lotus unit to train directly into a Warlock (not the Rite of Ascension Battle Gear) is 60 seconds.
  • This implies that the Warlock was originally intended by the Liquid developers to train for 60 seconds instead of 45, but was overlooked during production.
• AI Warlock using Life Siphon to target its friendly unit inside the Watchtower can be healed and the rest of his animation is skipped.

Gallery

Official Wallpaper, featuring a Warlock on the far left.

Quotes (Move)

• "I seek!"
• "I am ready"
• "Yes!"
• "Go forth!"
• "Your will be done"
• "Of course"

Quotes (Attack)

• "They die"
• "No escape...."
• "They're mine!"
• "For the tree...."
• "Forward!"
• "Death comes"
• "Power...."

Quotes (When engaging in melee combat)

• "For the Tree!"

Quotes (Kill)

• "Die FOOL!"
• "No mercy!"
• "YOU'RE MINE!"
• "I am your master!"
• "Feel the Tree!"
• "DIE!"

Quotes (Heal)

• "Ahh..! Healed!"
• "Better!"

Quotes (Death)

• "Ow....."
• "Im...possible..."
• "Nailed!"
• "NOO!"