The next spell that warlocks receive is a level 70 spell called Seed of Corruption. This is an incredibly nasty spell, I'm having a lot of fun with it.Basically it's a different version of the warlock spell Corruption, it does a certain amount of damage over time. What's different about this spell is that it has its own, built in finishing move. When the target has sustained 1044 total damage, whether it's from Seed of Corruption, other spells you cast, or spells other players do, the seed "goes off" and inflicts all hostile targets within 15 yards with a one-time shadow damage spell. This spell will kind of chain react with other seeds, so if you cast it on, say, 4 targets, the first one exploding will contribute to the other targets exploding. Finally, I can't throw this and Corruption on the same target. Which is sort of a bummer, really.
This spell is incredibly useful in a few different situations. The spell does, at a minimum, about the same damage/mana as Corruption on a single target. When there are multiple close-packed targets, the efficiency really starts to shine. For the downsides, read on.
The biggest downside is that the spell will hardly ever last the full 18 seconds. If you have a reasonable amount of shadow damage gear, then the target will take 3, maybe 4 ticks of the damage-over-time portion of the spell before it explodes. Second, this spell does not trigger the Nightfall talent, so it represents a small downtick in DPS.
Finally there's the whole concept of this thing being essentially a timebomb area of effect spell. Let's say it's the only thing ticking on that runner that just stunned your tank in a crowded instance. The runner gets 3-4 yards away and goes kablooie, right next to his 5 good friends. Well, the mob dies, but his friends are ticked, and they're ticked at the warlock that cast it, not at the warrior that needs to tank them.
I'd heartily recommend against using this inside of buildings when mobs are in adjoining rooms. Some walls aren't as solid as others (I'm looking at you Durnholde Keep). This may result in you doing damage to mobs unintentionally, which will make the mobs very very angry indeed.
In PvP, dispelling this spell will save your group. If you don't have someone dispelling you, you have two options. If you're alliance and in my battlegroup, run as far away from me as possible. If you're horde and in my battlegroup, you should show your support to your priests, shamans, druids, and now paladins for their selfless dedication to the healing arts and go give them a nice bear hug.
Action shots? Sure, I got action shots. Many Firewing Defenders died to bring us this information. First, the "tick tick" shot. The hits for 98 are my voidwalker hitting in his typical "Girl Scout in Plate Mail" mode, the hit for 407 is a tick of Seed of Corruption:
This is what it looks like when Seed of Corruption goes off:
For all the warlock haters out there, there's just one spell left, and it's a group buff spell.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-07-2007 @ 10:40AM
Twinny said...
hmm,
looks cool and all, but its dependent on somebody inflicting 1000+ damage to the target, and could definately be more of a liability.
AFAIK other seeds triggering do not cause a chain reaction, the dmage must come from other sources than an igniting seed. I.E. the damage caused by a seed bursting will not trigger one to blow on another mob.
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2-07-2007 @ 10:48AM
Flit said...
Looks excellent for PVP.
Alternate between this and Unstable Affliction (if you have it) and you'll either get preists not dispelling this, or a careless priest accidentally dispelling an UA. Looks like a great spell for PvE in groups though.
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2-07-2007 @ 10:50AM
Xtremebcn said...
Its nice for grinding several mobs at same time, send void/felguard to take aggro from a group of 5 mobs. Command him to attack 1 target and seed all the others... then seed the one targeted with the pet.
When 1 die.. Chain aoe... all mobs get dmg and very probably, more than 1044, so its seed of corruption explodes too... another aoe... and so on.
If carefully, can be used in instances, yesterday I used on packs of 4 mobs in Steamvault, some seeds of corruption got crit on the exploding aoe for 2500 dmg.. its nice :).
I have to try in pvp, hehehe
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2-07-2007 @ 10:52AM
Sylythn said...
Assuming you have no +dmg gear (...stop laughing, this is hypothetical) - how would it EVER get to the full 18s duration? The tooltip in the picture shows 1200-1206 over 18s - but at 1044 the seed explodes. So what's the point of having it do more than 1044 damage over its duration?
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2-07-2007 @ 10:53AM
Sylythn said...
@1 - There shouldn't be any issue with chain reacting seeds. The AOE effect doesn't damage the target the seed was on, but it does cause shadow damage to other mobs. This would have the same effect as shadowbolts or other shadow damage on the other mobs. If that AOE damage happens to push their damage over the 1044 limit, then their seed will explode.
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2-07-2007 @ 11:08AM
atr said...
@5 maybe if the target has shadow resistance?
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2-07-2007 @ 11:15AM
Falgorn said...
Well first of all the Seeds do not have a domino effect. This has been confirmed by a blue post, so seed explosion will not proc a second seed explosion.
Furthermore, I have heard a number of people complain that the AOE damage does not effect the target that had the seed planted in him, which is another problem. Another bug that I have heard of is that the explosive effect does not benefit from spell damage at all, and it does a set aoe amount and nothing more.
The clipping problem isn't working as intended and should be patched in shortly (ie damage through walls).
In relation to a mob running off with Seed of Corruption ticking, thats what
1. Curse of Recklessnes is for.
2. Cast Regular corruption, it dispells seed.
Note: This also goes off when the mob Dies. Imo this is the most effective use of this spell, and really what gives it PvP utility.
Seed of Corruption + Frost Trap + Group of Horde/mobs + Shadowfury = Happy Warlock / Massivly enlarged E-Peen.
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2-07-2007 @ 11:27AM
crys said...
@8 corruption cannot overwrite seed... it is a more powerful spell
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2-07-2007 @ 11:44AM
Sylythn said...
Because there's been confusion about this ever since the Beta, I'm reposting here a bullet point from Tseric's post on the Warlock forums (9/1/06 - entitled Gathering Shadows).
Seed of Corruption will explode whenever the target takes a total of 1044 damage from one or more sources. It only damages opponents. The damage from the explosion will count toward the 1044 damage of another target, should one be nearby. Think about that for a bit. You could also refer to the sig below for inspiration.
According to this, you can chain react explosions.
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2-07-2007 @ 11:46AM
Zuuler said...
I am confused. Several people (both here and in other forums) have posted the SoC explosions can trigger other SoC explosions. If you watch the video posted @2, and watch carefully, you can see what looks like what might be SoC explosions triggering other SoC explosions. I could be wrong, there might be something else going on here too. Hard to tell from such low quality video, but thats what it looked like to me.
Then there are several people posting, including one that cites a Blue post, that SoC explosions cannot trigger other SoC explosions.
So what is the real case here? Has anyone used SoC with a domino effect and can confirm it works this way?
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2-07-2007 @ 11:56AM
Twinny said...
ONE SEED EXPLOSION WILL NOT TRIGGER ANOTHER SEED.
The damage taken from a seed explosion does not count towards the 1044.
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2-07-2007 @ 12:01PM
Zuuler said...
So now there are 2 blue posts, one indicating one seed explosion will trigger another seed explosion. Another post saying this will not happen.
Then there is Twinny here adamantly defending his position that it will not cause another explosion.
The tooltip doesn't say one way or the other as to what the explosion will affect other seeds around it.
Conclusion: Lvl to 70, try it out for yourself.
I plan on testing it, by tanking 2 mobs with the voidwalker, casting SoC on one, waiting a few seconds, then casting it on the other. Wait for one to proc and see if the proc causes a proc. Simple test, and it seems no one else here has thought to go and try that.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:14PM
Kris xK said...
SoC can proc another SoC. It was originally that way, then it was changed so it couldn't, then it was changed back.
SoC can proc another SoC.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:21PM
Meg said...
From my use of it in Shadow labs last night the final explosion can trigger another explosion IF the mob with the seed has taken a total of 1044 damage. And that number is TOTAL damage. My seed usually hits surrounding mobs for 1500 - 2200 so needless to say, it can trigger another seed.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:25PM
Pritchard said...
Warlock Insider. Please go over the miracles of healthstones next. Or these things called Soul Shards. Man, I could just read about Warlocks all day until my eyes bled.
I was playing the other day and I actually saw another class other than a warlock! I was like, whoa! When did they introduce something called a "priest" in the game!??
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2-07-2007 @ 2:17PM
Sylythn said...
Twinny or Falgorn - could you please direct us to the blue posting that states there is no chain reacting? What I copy and pasted was direct from a post by Tseric (including the link here). It could very well be that he was wrong, or that since that post it has changed - but I'd like to see the actual blue statement you are referring to so we can clear this up.
Original Link to Tseric's comment:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14715101&postId=147041706&sid=1#0
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2-07-2007 @ 3:14PM
rocketscientist said...
@16: I've got a great article on Ritual of Souls coming up in the next couple of days I'm sure you'll enjoy immensely.
I think that Seed of Corruption SOMETIMES procs other seeds, and SOMETIMES does not. I haven't found any commonalities, but I also haven't played with it extensively.
The clipping problem is an absolute killer though. It'll get you killed fast in tight environments. A similar problem used to happen with Rain of Fire in the suppression rooms in Blackwing Lair.
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2-07-2007 @ 4:08PM
GamerJunkie said...
#16 is right, Warlock Insider it has become, while WoW covers several races and classes, all we read about every week is Warlock spells, talents, etc. Lately a few druid posts, but for god sakes this is really annoying and just fuels more nerf calls for warlocks.
So much that now a mage is becoming an endangered specie, we can't go to certain instances because there are 2-3 warlocks that wants to go but we have no mage.
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2-07-2007 @ 5:20PM
Mats said...
SoC will NOT proc other SoC. Having tried this several times over.
There is also a bug where if two warlocks cast SoC on the SAME mob, one SoC will go off, and the other will be wasted.
However, it's the one spell that makes a warlock a viable alternative to a mage in a instance, as before if the instance required any sort of AoE, we could not handle it.
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2-07-2007 @ 6:48PM
daxstyles said...
Warlock haters, you have a choice.
1. If the title says "Warlock Spells: Seed of Corruption" DON'T READ IT if you don't wish to read about warlocks.
B. Offer up an article about your own lame ass class. I, personally, would like to see some Rogue articles. (Know thy enemy)
3. Read said article and enjoy it for the information it provides.
D. Continue to cry "Nerf everyone but me cause noone writes about my class on wowinsider" and continue receiving "QQ more and L2P" as the replies.
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