Warlock

The  Warlock is one of the ten classes in Hearthstone, represented by Gul'dan, Nemsy Necrofizzle, Mecha-Jaraxxus, and N'Zoth.

Heroes

Background

Main article: Warlock

In the face of demonic power, most heroes see death. Warlocks see only opportunity. Dominance is their aim, and they have found a path to it in the dark arts. These voracious spellcasters summon demonic minions to fight beside them. At first, they command only the service of imps, but as a warlock’s knowledge grows, seductive succubi, loyal voidwalkers, and horrific felhunters join the dark sorcerer’s ranks to wreak havoc on anyone who stands in their master’s way. Warlocks can ignite distant enemies in searing flame, send them fleeing in terror and pain, or afflict them with corrupting diseases and curses that steal the victim’s vitality.

These practitioners of the profane are feared across Azeroth, and many who have felt their wrath now prefer to fight alongside a warlock than against one.

Hero Power

Hero Powers are unique abilities, specific to each class. Hero Powers cost 2 mana, and can be used once per turn.

The warlock Hero Power is Life Tap, allowing them to sacrifice 2 Health (and 2 mana) in order to draw a card. While this may seem like an unworthy trade, the ability to gain card advantage is very strong, and Life Tap is widely considered one of the strongest Hero Powers in the game. It can be very effective for both early game and late game decks, allowing Handlocks to quickly build a large hand of cards, or an aggressive Zoolock to consistently flood the board with cheaper minions.

Replacement Hero Powers

Lord Jaraxxus Battlecry will replace the current Hero Power with INFERNO!, as well as replacing the hero.

Justicar Trueheart Battlecry and Baku the Mooneater Start of Game effect will replace Life Tap with Soul Tap.

Bloodreaver Gul'dan Battlecry will replace the current Hero Power with Siphon Life, as well as replacing the hero.

Supreme Archaeology will replace the current Hero Power with Tome of Origination once the Quest is completed.

Galakrond, the Wretched will replace the current Hero Power with Galakrond's Malice, as well as replacing the hero.

Strategy and gameplay

Many newer players may find themselves initially turned off from the warlock as the class makes heavy use of "self-abuse" mechanics in order to gain card advantage and summon more minions. Warlock cards generally offer a lower mana cost and higher power than their neutral and other class counterparts, but will come at an alternative price.

This style of play is most evident in their Hero Power Life Tap, which deals 2 damage to the player's own hero in addition to the standard 2 mana cost. However, the ability to draw cards on demand is well worth the higher cost, ensuring the warlock always has something to play. Health is sometimes just as valuable a resource for Warlocks, with powerful cards like Wrathguard and Bloodbloom demanding life as extra payment. Some cards even feed on the warlock's self-inflicted pain, such as Floating Watcher and Zzeraku the Warped.

The warlock features a variety of Demon-class minions, many of whom offer greater power but will drain the warlock's resources in exchange. The Flame Imp and Pit Lord require a portion of the warlock's health on play, but are vastly stronger than other minions of their mana cost. The Felguard is a cheaper defensive minion but lowers mana, while the Void Terror can be a huge threat but requires the sacrifice of up to 2 of the warlock's other minions. Some cards allow warlocks to use these demons without incurring their drawbacks, such as Possessed Lackey and Skull of the Man'ari.

This reckless nature extends to warlock spells as well. Shadowflame is an effective board clear at the cost of one of your own minions, while Power Overwhelming can turn a minion into a kamikaze powerhouse. On an even more destructive level, Hellfire, Defile, Felfire Potion, and Twisting Nether can wipe out both sides of the board.

Other warlock-specific cards require the hero to discard their other cards to be put into play. Soulfire, Felstalker and Doomguard all feature a very low mana cost for their power. A notable strategy to get around this downside is to continually play cards until only these remain, effectively negating the discard effect. Playing around discard effects is a key mechanic of the warlock class.

Due to the warlock's "self-abuse" mechanics, healing is premium for Warlocks. They have access to some healing cards like Dark Pact, Drain Soul, Siphon Soul, and Lesser Amethyst Spellstone. A strategy involving Lord Jaraxxus can be also used to heal your hero back to 15 hp when your health has dropped too low. Although it is a powerful card that may turn the tide of a game, it is best not to play Lord Jaraxxus too early in case your opponent has been hiding large amounts of burst damage in his hand.

The warlock's Life Tap is useful for gaining card count advantages without wasting spots in your deck with draw cards. This ability is what makes warlock successful as an aggro class, and quite possibly the only class with a competitive zoo deck. These early game rush decks often utilize low cost cards with penalties like Flame Imp as well as efficient, high-quality neutral sticky minions to counter their best counter, AoEs. Especially in conjunction with heavy Life Tap usage, aggressive warlocks are relatively easy for opponent's to finish after they've run out of resources.

Warlocks are also considered a suitable class for late game, as their Life Tap allows them to consistently draw the cards they need to survive, until expensive and powerful cards can be put into play. Additionally, the large amount of cards they can gather up early game lets them play a Mountain Giant or a high-health Twilight Drake as early as turn 4. While control warlock decks tend to lack offensive burst damage, they employ extremely sturdy minions like Voidlords and their array of board clears to gradually stem the opponent's tide and gradually outvalue them, whether it's summoning a huge Infernal every turn with Lord Jaraxxus or unsealing Azari, the Devourer to destroy their deck and put them into fatigue.

Common deck types

The warlock can use a wide variety of deck archetypes to great effect.

A highly popular deck is the Zoolock, named because of its focus on low mana-cost, high 'value' minions. Zoolocks aim to seize board control in the early and mid-game with effective minion trading, creating an insurmountable advantage before the opponent's larger minions can even be played. Life Tap is critical in ensuring the warlock has a continual supply of minions and can refill the board in case of removal. Infamous for its power and efficiency, the Zoolock is a common choice at all skill levels. Its low crafting cost also makes the deck perhaps the easiest competitive choice for many new players.

The introduction of Malchezaar's Imp with One Night in Karazhan has given rise to the Discardlock, a discard effect synergy-oriented version of the traditional Zoolock, negating the drawbacks of cards like Soulfire and Doomguard and even turning them to positives through cards like Silverware Golem and Hand of Gul'dan.

Another strategy is the Handlock, intentionally loading up their hand early for devastating returns. Once again Life Tap plays a key role in this deck, where the extra cards enable cards that scale with hand size like Twilight Drake, Dark Skies, Abyssal Summoner, and Mountain Giant. From there, their slew of board-clearing spells can wrench control back to the Handlock's grasp, before finally finishing them off with a Leeroy Jenkins or Nether Breath after the opponent runs out of threats and their health whittled down.

Demonlock employs powerful but expensive Demon synergy cards and capitalize on them. Bloodreaver Gul'dan is the key to their power, and to maximize the impact of its Battlecry, they only a select few high-cost demons into their decks, namely Doomguards and Voidlords. On top of this, they can bring them out with lower cost and zero drawbacks with Possessed Lackey and Skull of the Man'ari and their power can be doubled up with a Carnivorous Cube followed by Dark Pact.

Warlock is also probably the best class for decks built around Reno Jackson, since Life Tap makes it possible to reliably draw Reno early, which is crucial for crushing aggro decks.

Counters

• A highly offensive deck can be very effective to the generally suicidal mechanics of the warlock; generally to counteract the self-harm caused by the warlock spells and hero ability the warlock will have Siphon Soul, Drain Life, different neutral cards and Taunt minions. An offensive deck can hit the warlock after every Life Tap for devastating results.
• Silence or other crowd control is going to be very useful against the powerful warlock minions.
• If you have the ability to drop the warlock below 15 HP, be careful because they may be holding Lord Jaraxxus in their hand and can easily reset any damage that sends them below 15 HP that doesn't kill them.

Spells

For Wild format listings, see Warlock/Wild format

See Spell.

Name / Desc	Rarity	School	Class	Cost	Description
Raise Dead	Common			0	Deal 3 damage to your hero. Return two friendly minions that died this game to your hand.
Sacrificial Pact	Free		Warlock	0	Destroy a friendly Demon. Restore 5 Health to your hero.
Call of the Void	Common		Warlock	1	Add a random Demon to your hand.
Corruption	Free		Warlock	1	Choose an enemy minion. At the start of your turn, destroy it.
Demonic Studies	Common		Warlock	1	Discover a Demon. Your next one costs (1) less.
Felosophy	Epic	Fel		1	Copy the lowest Cost Demon in your hand. Outcast: Give both +1/+1.
Mortal Coil	Free		Warlock	1	Deal 1 damage to a minion. If that kills it, draw a card.
Shadow Council	Epic	Fel	Warlock	1	Replace your hand with random Demons. Give them +2/+2.
Soulfire	Free	Fire	Warlock	1	Deal 4 damage. Discard a random card.
Unstable Felbolt	Common	Fel	Warlock	1	Deal 3 damage to an enemy minion and a random friendly one.
Wicked Whispers	Rare		Warlock	1	Discard your lowest Cost card. Give your minions +1/+1.
Soul Shear	Rare			2	Deal 3 damage to a minion. Shuffle 2 Soul Fragments into your deck.
Backfire	Common	Fire	Warlock	3	Draw 3 cards. Deal 3 damage to your hero.
Drain Life	Free		Warlock	3	Deal 2 damage. Restore 2 Health to your hero.
Free Admission	Rare		Warlock	3	Draw 2 minions. If they're both Demons, reduce their Costs by (2).
Hysteria	Rare			3	Choose an enemy minion. It attacks random minions until it dies.
School Spirits	Common		Warlock	3	Deal 2 damage to all minions. Shuffle 2 Soul Fragments into your deck.
Sense Demons	Common		Warlock	3	Draw 2 Demons from your deck.
Shadow Bolt	Free		Warlock	3	Deal 4 damage to a minion.
Cascading Disaster	Epic		Warlock	4	Destroy a random enemy minion. Corrupt: Destroy 2. Corrupt Again: Destroy 3.
Hellfire	Free	Fire	Warlock	4	Deal 3 damage to ALL characters.
Shadowflame	Rare		Warlock	4	Destroy a friendly minion and deal its Attack damage to all enemy minions.
The Dark Portal	Rare	Fel	Warlock	4	Draw a minion. If you have at least 8 cards in hand, it costs (5) less.
Bane of Doom	Epic		Warlock	5	Deal 2 damage to a character. If that kills it, summon a random Demon.
Deck of Chaos	Legendary		Warlock	6	Swap the Cost and Attack of all minions in your deck.
Hand of Gul'dan	Common		Warlock	6	When you play or discard this, draw 3 cards.
Siphon Soul	Rare		Warlock	6	Destroy a minion. Restore 3 Health to your hero.
Twisting Nether	Epic		Warlock	8	Destroy all minions.
Showing all 28 cards

Uncollectible

For Wild format listings, see Warlock/Wild format

The following spells are generated by other warlock cards or effects, and are uncollectible.

Name / Desc	Rarity	School	Class	Cost	Description
Soul Fragment	None			0	Casts When Drawn Restore 2 Health to your hero.
Cascading Disaster	Epic		Warlock	4	Corrupted Destroy 2 random enemy minions. Corrupt: Destroy 3.
Cascading Disaster	Epic		Warlock	4	Corrupted Destroy 3 random enemy minions.
Showing all 3 cards

Minions

For Wild format listings, see Warlock/Wild format

All classes can also use neutral minions in their decks. See Minion.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Blood Imp	Common	Demon	Warlock	1	0	1	Stealth. At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Health.
Flame Imp	Common	Demon	Warlock	1	3	2	Battlecry: Deal 3 damage to your hero.
Spirit Jailer	Common	Demon		1	1	3	Battlecry: Shuffle 2 Soul Fragments into your deck.
Voidwalker	Free	Demon	Warlock	1	1	3	Taunt
Boneweb Egg	Rare	General	Warlock	2	0	2	Deathrattle: Summon two 2/1 Spiders. If you discard this, trigger its Deathrattle.
Darkglare	Epic	Demon	Warlock	2	2	3	After your hero takes damage, refresh a Mana Crystal.
Felstalker	Free	Demon	Warlock	2	4	3	Battlecry: Discard a random card.
Imprisoned Scrap Imp	Rare	Demon	Warlock	2	3	3	Dormant for 2 turns. When this awakens, give all minions in your hand +2/+1.
Kanrethad Ebonlocke	Legendary	General	Warlock	2	3	2	Your Demons cost (1) less. Deathrattle: Shuffle 'Kanrethad Prime' into your deck.
Midway Maniac	Common	Demon	Warlock	2	1	5	Taunt
Felguard	Rare	Demon	Warlock	3	3	5	Taunt Battlecry: Destroy one of your Mana Crystals.
Luckysoul Hoarder	Rare	General		3	3	4	Battlecry: Shuffle 2 Soul Fragments into your deck. Corrupt: Draw a card.
Man'ari Mosher	Common	Demon	Warlock	3	3	4	Battlecry: Give a friendly Demon +3 Attack and Lifesteal this turn.
Revenant Rascal	Epic	General	Warlock	3	3	3	Battlecry: Destroy a Mana Crystal for both players.
Shadowlight Scholar	Rare	General	Warlock	3	3	4	Battlecry: Destroy a Soul Fragment in your deck to deal 3 damage.
Void Terror	Rare	Demon	Warlock	3	3	3	Battlecry: Destroy the minions on either side of this minion and gain their Attack and Health.
Brittlebone Destroyer	Rare	General		4	3	3	Battlecry: If your hero's Health changed this turn, destroy a minion.
Disciplinarian Gandling	Legendary	General		4	3	6	After you play a minion, destroy it and summon a 4/4 Failed Student.
Fire Breather	Rare	Demon	Warlock	4	4	3	Battlecry: Deal 2 damage to all minions except Demons.
Nightshade Matron	Common	Demon	Warlock	4	5	5	Rush Battlecry: Discard your highest Cost card.
Pit Lord	Epic	Demon	Warlock	4	5	6	Battlecry: Deal 5 damage to your hero.
Summoning Portal	Common	General	Warlock	4	0	4	Your minions cost (2) less, but not less than (1).
Envoy Rustwix	Legendary	Demon	Warlock	5	5	4	Deathrattle: Shuffle 3 random Prime Legendary minions into your deck.
Void Drinker	Epic	Demon	Warlock	5	4	5	Taunt. Battlecry: Destroy a Soul Fragment in your deck to gain +3/+3.
Abyssal Summoner	Common	General	Warlock	6	2	2	Battlecry: Summon a Demon with Taunt and stats equal to your hand size.
Dread Infernal	Free	Demon	Warlock	6	6	6	Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to ALL other characters.
Keli'dan the Breaker	Legendary	General	Warlock	6	3	3	Battlecry: Destroy a minion. If drawn this turn, instead destroy all minions except this one.
Ring Matron	Common	Demon	Warlock	6	6	4	Taunt Deathrattle: Summon two 3/2 Imps.
Tickatus	Legendary	Demon	Warlock	6	8	8	Battlecry: Remove the top 5 cards from your deck. Corrupt: Your opponent's deck instead.
Siegebreaker	Rare	Demon	Warlock	7	5	8	Taunt Your other Demons have +1 Attack.
Soulciologist Malicia	Legendary	General		7	5	5	Battlecry: For each Soul Fragment in your deck, summon a 3/3 Soul with Rush.
Archwitch Willow	Legendary	General	Warlock	8	5	5	Battlecry: Summon a random Demon from your hand and deck.
Enhanced Dreadlord	Rare	Demon	Warlock	8	5	7	Taunt Deathrattle: Summon a 5/5 Dreadlord with Lifesteal.
Flesh Giant	Epic	General		8	8	8	Costs 1 less for each time your hero's Health changed during your turns.
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Uncollectible

For Wild format listings, see Warlock/Wild format

The following minions are generated by other warlock cards and effects, and are uncollectible.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Boneweb Spider	None	Beast	Warlock	1	2	1
Worthless Imp	None	Demon	Warlock	1	1	1	You are out of demons! At least there are always imps...
Fiery Imp	None	Demon	Warlock	2	3	2
Luckysoul Hoarder	Rare	General		3	3	4	Corrupted Battlecry: Shuffle 2 Soul Fragments into your deck and draw a card.
Released Soul	None	General		3	3	3	Rush
Failed Student	None	General		4	4	4
Desperate Dreadlord	None	Demon	Warlock	5	5	5	Lifesteal
Infernal	None	Demon	Warlock	6	6	6
Tickatus	Legendary	Demon	Warlock	6	8	8	Corrupted Battlecry: Remove the 5 top cards from your opponent's deck.
Kanrethad Prime	None	Demon	Warlock	8	7	6	Battlecry: Summon 3 friendly Demons that died this game.
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Weapons

For Wild format listings, see Warlock/Wild format

Skull of the Man'ari is the only collectible weapon available for the Warlock class. Playing Lord Jaraxxus will grant them the weapon Blood Fury. This weapon is uncollectible, and cannot otherwise be acquired.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Blood Fury	Common	Warlock	3	3	8
Showing the only card

Hero card

For Wild format listings, see Warlock/Wild format

See Hero card.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Lord Jaraxxus	Legendary	Hero card		Warlock	9			Battlecry: Equip a 3/8 Blood Fury.
Showing the only card

Forged in the Barrens

The below cards are planned for release with Forged in the Barrens, coming March 30th, 2021.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Ritual of Doom	Rare	Spell	Shadow	Warlock	0			Destroy a friendly minion. If you had 5 or more, summon a 5/5 Demon.
Altar of Fire	Epic	Spell	Fire	Warlock	1			Destroy the top 3 cards of each deck.
Flame Imp	Common	Minion	Demon	Warlock	1	3	2	Battlecry: Deal 3 damage to your hero.
Grimoire of Sacrifice	Common	Spell	Shadow	Warlock	1			Destroy a friendly minion. Deal 2 damage to all enemy minions.
Mortal Coil	Common	Spell	Shadow	Warlock	1			Deal 1 damage to a minion. If that kills it, draw a card.
Possessed Villager	Common	Minion	General	Warlock	1	1	1	Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 Shadowbeast.
Apothecary's Caravan	Rare	Minion	General	Warlock	2	1	3	At the start of your turn, summon a 1-Cost minion from your deck.
Drain Soul	Common	Spell	Shadow	Warlock	2			Lifesteal Deal 3 damage to a minion.
Imp Swarm (Rank 1)	Common	Spell	Fel	Warlock	2			Summon a 3/2 Imp. (Upgrades when you have 5 Mana.)
Tiny Knight of Evil	Rare	Minion	Demon	Warlock	2	3	2	Whenever you discard a card, gain +1/+1.
Blood Shard Bristleback	Rare	Minion	General	Warlock	3	3	3	Lifesteal. Battlecry: If your deck contains 10 or fewer cards, deal 6 damage to a minion.
Kabal Outfitter	Common	Minion	General	Warlock	3	3	3	Battlecry and Deathrattle: Give another random friendly minion +1/+1.
Tamsin Roame	Legendary	Minion	General	Warlock	3	1	3	Whenever you cast a Shadow spell that costs (1) or more, add a copy to your hand that costs (0).
Void Terror	Rare	Minion	Demon	Warlock	3	3	4	Battlecry: Destroy the minions on either side of this minion and gain their Attack and Health.
Fiendish Circle	Common	Spell	Fel	Warlock	4			Summon four 1/1 Imps.
Hellfire	Common	Spell	Fire	Warlock	4			Deal 3 damage to ALL characters.
Lakkari Felhound	Common	Minion	Demon	Warlock	4	3	8	Taunt Battlecry: Discard your two lowest-Cost cards.
Soul Rend	Rare	Spell	Shadow	Warlock	4			Deal 5 damage to all minions. Destroy a card in your deck for each killed.
Felsoul Jailer	Epic	Minion	Demon	Warlock	5	4	6	Battlecry: Your opponent discards a minion. Deathrattle: Return it.
Neeru Fireblade	Legendary	Minion	General	Warlock	5	5	5	Battlecry: If your deck is empty, open a portal that fills your board with 3/2 Imps each turn.
Siphon Soul	Rare	Spell	Shadow	Warlock	5			Destroy a minion. Restore 3 Health to your hero.
Barrens Scavenger	Epic	Minion	General	Warlock	6	6	6	Taunt Costs (1) while your deck has 10 or fewer cards.
Dread Infernal	Common	Minion	Demon	Warlock	6	6	6	Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to ALL other characters.
Enslaved Fel Lord	Common	Minion	Demon	Warlock	7	4	10	Taunt. Also damages the minions next to whomever this attacks.
Twisting Nether	Epic	Spell	Shadow	Warlock	8			Destroy all minions.
Showing all 25 cards

Leveling rewards

As a hero reaches various levels they are awarded new cards, with each class having its own rewards. All cards awarded by gaining levels are soulbound, and cannot be crafted or disenchanted.

Levels up to 10 award new basic class cards, while levels after this award only golden versions of existing cards.

Starting cards

All warlocks start with the following class cards.

Level 2-10

Up to level 10, reaching each even-numbered level will award the player two copies of a new Basic class card. These cards are not obtainable through any other means.

Level 2

Level 4

Level 6

Level 8

Level 10

Level 11-60

Above level 10, reaching certain levels will award golden versions of existing Basic cards. As they are uncraftable, it is not possible to disenchant these cards, making the reward purely cosmetic. Reaching each required level will award one golden card. Levels after 10 award golden Basic class cards, whereas levels after 50 award golden Basic neutral minion cards.

Level 15/20

Level 23/26

Level 28/30

Level 32/34

Level 36/38

Level 40/42

Level 43/44

Level 45/46

Level 47/48

Level 49/50

Level 51/52

Level 53/54

Level 55/56

Level 57/58

Level 59/60

Trivia

• In August 2016 Ben Brode stated that of all the classes he felt the team had the hardest time designing warlock spells, stating "We need to carve out more design space for them."

References

Classes
Demon Hunter Druid Hunter Mage Paladin Priest Rogue Shaman Warlock Warrior Neutral Death Knight