Newbie questions

[Youmia]

Decided to play warlock. Never played before so I have few doubts:
- How to get badges and are they essential? if so - why?

I am 27 level now and I feel so slow. I mean attacking. feel very slow to stack helix and if I use my shackle, I have no aoe to kill mobs. I am totally nob :P 
don't know what to do about that. haven't seen any guide for low level yet..
any tips, please? :P

[MegaPixlz]

For aoe, you should already have Wingstorm (V Skill) by level 27.

 

Edit2: Pardon me, it seems they moved wingstorm unlock level up...

[Yndril]

At your level now, you can spec your bombardment (rmb) to AoE (third move). Bombardment is instant cast if you apply target (silly name, I know) on the enemy, it can be applied with rupture (F after ciritcal bombardment) or Wingstorm (V) that you'll get at level 35. Your dragoncall (4) and later wingstom becomes instant cast for a few seconds if your last hit of imprison (3) connect. At level 30, you get leech (F on branded enemies) which makes your dragoncall and wingstorm instant cast and you become somewhat stronger for 12 seconds. You apply brand with either soul shackles (2) or tether blade (X).

 

So at your level, you'd gather up a few enemies, root them with soul shackles or knock them down with tether blade, burn them down with imprison, and if they survive, end them with an instant cast dragoncall. Most enemies will not survive that combo at that level. Later, you do the same but you can also use wingstorm which makes your bombardment instant cast so you can get a crit and use rupture. and you can also use leech if imprison is on cooldown (normally you want to start with leech since imprison lowers the cd of leech). At mid-game, you won't think the class is slow, but it is one of the slower classes (they're more about hitting hard)

 

For Ice, you desperately want the dragoncall HM skill (fairly easy but kinda expensive compared to other classes skillbooks) which makes you able to use another free instant dragoncall if your first one crits. HM bombardment is good for late-game, but you can easily play with just the HM dragoncall and good crit. At end-game, there is a mystic badge that gives your bombardment 150% additional damage to branded targets. There is also a badge that makes your dragoncall apply brand for 10 seconds. But they are not mandatory to play.

 

For shadow, you need at least the green badge that makes your dimensional volley (rmb) into dimensional salvo after you use dragon helix (4) during leech, preferably with HM dimen volley so that you can animation cancel with dimen salvo and dragon helix (if your crit is high enough), though you can use the weaker variant of dimen volley to achieve the same effect but lesser damage. The mystic badge makes dimen salvo deal 200% additional damage.

 

Bottomline, badges and HM skills are really helpful, but you can still viably play WL before getting them. Not like some classes (thinking mostly of Des and Ice SF) where they are mandatory or near mandatory for the class to function properly.

[Kanoha]

At lower levels, I always found it easier to run with the ice build over shadow unless you're up against large groups. You can spec shackle for aoe or aerial, but aoe is your best bet for pve.