By now, you’ve almost certainly heard about the change to itemization whereby the +Healing and +Spell Damage stats are being retired for the less specialized Spell Power stat. What, exactly does this mean, though, and what can you expect at the release of Patch 3.0?
Druid: Reduces Warlock OPness by 5%
Published on August 20, 2007 by Phaelia 
PvP, Spells and Talents 
5 Comments
Ah, Fear. That lovely ability that endears Warlocks to all other players. As a 2v2 Arena player, I spend the majority of matches against X + Warlock trying desperately to stay out of LoS of the Warlock so that I’m able to retain control of my character. As annoying as fear is, something I hadn’t considered when expounding upon the inferiority of Mark of the Wild was that the 25 base resistance is actually enough to grant 5% resistance.
According to WoWWiki.com, the formula for determining spell resistance is:
Average Resistance
= (Target’s Resistance / (Caster’s Level * 5)) * 0.75
Assuming your opponent is level 70:
(25 / (70 * 5)) * 0.75 = 5.3%
With 5/5 Improved Mark of the Wild (which you probably won’t have if you PvP):
(33 / (70 * 5)) * 0.75 = 7.0%
 |
| Ha! Ha! Ha! |
Keep in mind that this resistance does not apply to abilities like Intimidating Shout, only those spell-based varieties of fear from the Shadow and Nature schools of magic: Fear, Howl of Terror, Psychic Scream, and Scare Beast. Nor do the Resistances granted by Mark stack with those conferred by other classes’ Auras, like the Paladin Shadow Resistance Aura which grants a 15% resistance to Shadow-based fears. Of course, in 2v2 you’re pretty unlikely to be paired with a Paladin, and if you were, I don’t imagine you would run into many Warlocks at the Rating that would likely result. 
Note: For an additional 3.2% resistance to Shadow-based fears that can’t be chomped by a dastardly Felhound, pick up the Shadow Resistance enchant for cloaks.
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Hey, so the maximum you can increase the chance of resisting the almighty Warlock’s fear is about 10%? How many fears do they tend to cast on you in a single 2v2 match?
Actually, you can get up to 75% resistance but to do so would require something like 350 Shadow Resistance. Right now a popular Arena tactic is to identify your opponents as Warlock and Shadow Priest (who rely upon crazy damage over time and fears to pwn their unfortunate victims) before engaging them in combat so that you can switch to a full set of Shadow Resist gear. This tactic should no longer be possible in the next patch, however, as they are disabling gear swapping in the Arena.
I know you’re accustomed to using Fear in PvE so you probably aren’t familiar with the concept of Diminishing Returns. DR is the process by which Blizzard intentionally limits the usefulness of certain forms of crowd control, especially in PvP combat. Here are the rules:
- When a spell with diminishing returns is used against a target in PvP, the first effect has full duration.
- On the second use of the same category of spell (ex. Fear), that spell’s duration is reduced by 50%.
- On the third use, the duration is reduced by 75%.
- On the fourth attempt, the target becomes immune to the spell.
- Spells must be used on the same target within 15 seconds of the *end* of the duration in order to be diminished. In other words, if a target hasn’t had a Fear spell active on them for more than 15 seconds, the next slowing spell will have full effect.
Right now, Fear lasts 12 seconds, 6 seconds, 3 seconds, and then the target becomes immune. With the next patch, it will last 10 seconds, 5 seconds, 2.5 seconds, and then the target will become immune (all forms of CC lasting more than 10 seconds to start will be reduced to a maximum of 10 seconds on first application).
And how many times I get feared in an Arena match really depends on a lot of things. If I’m able to use line of sight to stay away from the Warlock (or if the Warlock is otherwise occupied), I don’t get feared at all. But I have been in situations where it seemed like I spent the entire match running around like a chicken with my head cut off. =)
P.S. You can read more about Diminishing Returns over at WoWWiki.com: http://www.wowwiki.com/Diminishing_Returns_Rule
wow, I didn’t realize that it added that much % resistance, I always figured it was a negligible 2% or something. Good to know
Yep! Of course, the only way to keep your Mark is to have a Lifebloom up to protect it from getting chomped by their Felhunter …