Affliction Warlock DPS Guide - The War Within 11.1

In this Affliction Warlock Guide, we delve into the current state of one of the most powerful and iconic damage dealers in World of Warcraft — the Warlock. Get ready to master the tips and tricks for Affliction Warlock gameplay with our comprehensive guide.

Affliction Warlock Overview

Affliction Warlocks excel at maintaining both single-target and multi-target damage. Their primary source of damage comes from applying damaging DoTs (damage-over-time effects), enabling them to effectively cleave targets spread across an area—something many other specializations struggle with or can't do at all. Like the other Warlock specs, Affliction Warlocks also bring the Demonic Gateway ability to raids, offering an invaluable mobility cooldown that can greatly enhance group movement and positioning.

Affliction Warlock Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• High sustained damage through Damage over Time management
• Great multi-target pressure
• Strong self-healing
• Very good funnel and priority damage

Weaknesses

• Requires ramp-up time for maximum damage
• Low Burst damage (outside of Hellcaller) which requires a setup period
• Damage profile centered around sustained output with relatively weak cooldowns
• Vulnerable to interrupts and dispels

Affliction Warlock Basic Gameplay

Affliction Warlock is a spec centered around Damage over Time effects, cooldown periods that require a setup to get the most out of them, and a relative amount of pet management. At its core, the gameplay is about generating and spending the Warlock's iconic resource: Soul Shards.

Affliction Warlock is a specialization focused on Damage over Time (DoT) effects, with cooldowns that require strategic setup to maximize their potential, along with some pet management. At its core, the gameplay revolves around generating and spending the Warlock’s signature resource: Soul Shards.

The basic rotation is straightforward: keep Corruption and Agony active on your target(s), use Soul Shards to cast Malefic Rapture or Seed of Corruption, and fill in the gaps with Shadow Bolt during downtime.

Affliction Warlock 11.1 Changes

Warlock baseline has received an update to Drain Life, with its damage coefficient now quadrupled, while still restoring health equal to five times the damage dealt.

For Affliction, Soul Rot has been slightly redesigned to remove the perception that following up with Drain Life is mandatory in the rotation. Now, it heals for 50% of the damage inflicted.

Additionally, last-minute tuning changes include:

• Summon Darkglare’s direct damage has been increased by 40%, with its scaling per damage-over-time effect improved from 25% to 45%.
• Focused Malignancy talent now provides a 40% bonus.
• Unstable Affliction damage has been raised by 30%.
• Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul now deal 20% more damage.

Affliction Warlock Leveling Guide for The War Within

Affliction Warlock Leveling Playstyle

As a DoT specialization, Affliction Warlock provides an efficient leveling experience by tagging multiple enemies with either Agony or Corruption while moving toward the next target or area. The damage-over-time effects, combined with the pet, are typically strong enough to leave enemies significantly weakened or even eliminate them by the time they are finished off with AoE spells.

Curses, crowd control abilities, and the pet acting as an off-tank help mitigate incoming damage, encouraging an aggressive playstyle. Additionally, personal defensive cooldowns provide a layer of safety, even when overpulling.

For tougher foes like Elites or Rares, sustaining the Voidwalker is often the main priority while gradually wearing the enemy down, as the pet's threat generation cannot keep up with heavy burst damage from spenders.

Gear Options

When leveling, always prioritize selecting the piece of loot with the highest item level. If multiple items have the same item level, choose the one with stats that best suit your specialization. However, if your current item is an Heirloom, it should not be replaced.

Pet Choice for Affliction Warlock Leveling

Summon Imp is your first available demon and is most effective in raid environments. While not particularly useful for leveling, it's your only option during the early levels.

If you're leveling solo, Summon Voidwalker can be a great choice, as it alleviates a lot of the pressure on you. Avoiding casting pushback can also help speed up your leveling process.

Summon Felhunter is a solid option if you're leveling in a group or tackling dungeons. The extra interrupt it provides is valuable for handling troublesome caster mobs.

Affliction Warlock DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents

© Wowhead

Copy the Affliction Warlock talents, paste them into the game.

Single Target Talents

AoE Soul Harvester Talents

AoE Hellcaller Talents

Raiding

Please note that the builds mentioned above don’t take into account specific encounters in the current raid tier. However, we have a dedicated page that offers boss-by-boss talent recommendations, which you can find linked below.

Mythic+

For Mythic+ specific advice, which generally requires a setup that works well for both single-target and AoE, be aware that this can be influenced by affixes, party composition, and pull layout. Check out our dedicated Mythic+ page for more information:

How to Use Affliction Warlock Talents

As several talent choices impact your gameplay, we recommend visiting our rotation page linked below to learn how to adjust your playstyle and priority based on the talents you select:

Choosing Warlock Class Talents

While there are a few talents that boost DPS, the path progression in the talent tree is generally flexible, allowing you to choose or skip utilities depending on the situation. Below, we highlight key talents and suggest what to pick to progress down the tree.

For detailed information on each talent, refer to the spell summary page:

Hero Tree Talents

A standout feature of the new expansion is the Hero Talent Tree system, which further customizes your specialization with unique twists that impact both the visual and, to a lesser extent, the playstyle.

Affliction Warlock players can choose between Hellcaller and Soul Harvester.

For a full overview of both trees and their use cases, follow the link below:

PvP Talents (War Mode)

In our Talents section, you can also enable "War Mode," which provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents are enabled in the outdoor world.
• A 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear weekly.

Given the perks of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, we recommend enabling it. Although it opens you up to the risk of open-world PvP and potential "ganks" while leveling or doing World Quests, the benefits generally outweigh the drawbacks.

Best Hero Talents for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

This section is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within.

Raiding Hero Talents for Affliction Warlock

The current recommendation for Hero Talents is Soul Harvester.

Soul Harvester is the preferred choice for single target and small target cleave due to its tuning and overall design. It excels in sustained output unless an encounter places disproportionate emphasis on 1-minute burst windows over sustained damage.

Hellcaller provides stronger burst damage around 1-minute marks and generally performs better in AoE at higher target counts, but at the cost of significantly lower single target damage overall.

Mythic+ Hero Talents for Affliction Warlock

The current recommendation for Hero Talents is Soul Harvester.

Soul Harvester offers superior priority damage and slightly better funneling capabilities, making it an ideal choice for groups that already have specialized AoE DPS and are focused on key target damage.

Hellcaller, with its emphasis on burst windows and large-scale AoE, is suited for Mythic+ scenarios and is somewhat easier to play. However, it does not provide a significantly higher AoE output in practice.

Affliction Warlock DPS Stat Priority

The Basics of Stats for an Affliction Warlock

The stat priority for an Affliction Warlock is as follows:

1. Intellect
2. Mastery & Critical Strike
3. Haste
4. Versatility

This stat priority was determined using a SimulationCraft profile with standard BiS gear and normalized stats. It represents a typical "average" player’s gear, but it's important to review this information carefully. We highly recommend simming yourself to determine which stats provide the maximum benefit, as this can change based on your specific ratios.

As players acquire higher item levels, their stat priorities may shift due to varying scaling.

These statistics were obtained through a combination of common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.

Diminishing Return on Secondary Stats

At the release of Shadowlands, Blizzard introduced a diminishing return system with various tiers, which results in an increased penalty on stat amounts as you reach higher percentages:

• From 0% to 30%, there is no penalty.
• From 30% to 39%, there is a 10% penalty.
• From 39% to 47%, there is a 20% penalty.
• From 47% to 54%, there is a 30% penalty.
• From 54% to 66%, there is a 40% penalty.
• From 66% to 126%, there is a 50% penalty.

You can get up to 126% from the gear rating. In practical terms, this will not significantly affect your results when using tools like SimulationCraft or Raidbot, as they already account for these penalties.

Statistics Explanations for Affliction Warlock

Intellect is your primary stat, and you should prioritize it in all of your upgrades. It increases your Spell Power, which in turn boosts the damage of your spells.

Mastery — Mastery: Potent Afflictions increases the damage of your Damage over Time (DoT) abilities (Agony, Corruption, Seed of Corruption, and Unstable Affliction) as well as Malefic Rapture. Mastery does not affect your pets or Soul Shard generation.

Haste reduces the cast time of your spells and increases the number of ticks for your DoTs, which lowers the ramp-up damage from Agony. Haste also reduces the global cooldown and improves the scaling of your pets. Since more DoT ticks generate additional Soul Shards, Haste is the stat with the most impact on resource generation.

Critical Strike increases the chance for your spells and abilities to critically hit.

Versatility provides a flat increase to your damage done and reduces the damage you take.

Affliction Warlock DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

Soul Harvester Single Target Rotation

Affliction Warlocks focus on applying multiple damage-over-time effects to their targets, while also managing procs and using Soul Shards as a resource. A significant part of optimization involves maintaining these active effects and ensuring proper Soul Shard usage.

1. Maintain your Agony, Unstable Affliction, and Corruption effects at all times.
2. Maintain 4 stacks of Shadow Embrace.
3. Apply Malefic Rapture if you are at maximum Soul Shards.
4. Cast Haunt whenever available.
5. Delay Phantom Singularity to cast it with Soul Rot.
6. Ensure you have 2 or fewer Soul Shards before casting Phantom Singularity.
7. Cast Soul Rot whenever available, with either Phantom Singularity or Vile Taint active on the target.
8. Cast Malefic Rapture during the Phantom Singularity window.
9. Cast Malefic Rapture to avoid capping Soul Shards.
10. Cast Drain Soul as a filler.

Soul Harvester Single Target Opener

1. Pre-cast Haunt.
2. Apply Unstable Affliction.
3. Apply Agony.
4. Apply Corruption.
5. Cast Malefic Rapture.
6. Cast Phantom Singularity.
7. Cast Soul Rot.
8. Use your trinkets and racials.
9. Cast Nightfall → Drain Soul.
10. Cast Summon Darkglare to extend all periodic damage effects.

Soul Harvester AoE Rotation

1. Cast Vile Taint.
2. Maintain Agony and Corruption. If there are 3+ targets stacked together, use Seed of Corruption to apply and maintain Corruption.
3. Maintain Unstable Affliction on the primary target.
4. Cast Malefic Rapture if already at 5 Soul Shards to avoid capping.
5. Cast Malefic Rapture if above 2 Soul Shards before Soul Rot comes off cooldown.
6. Cast Soul Rot.
7. Cast Malefic Rapture during the Vile Taint window.
8. Cast Shadow Bolt as a filler.

Hellcaller Single Target Rotation

1. Maintain your Agony, Unstable Affliction, and Wither effects at all times.
2. Maintain 4 stacks of Shadow Embrace.
3. Apply Malefic Rapture if you are at maximum Soul Shards.
4. Cast Haunt whenever available.
5. Cast Vile Taint whenever available.
6. Cast Malevolence after Vile Taint.
7. Cast Soul Rot whenever available with either Phantom Singularity or Vile Taint active on the target.
8. Cast Malefic Rapture during the Vile Taint window.
9. Cast Malefic Rapture to avoid capping Soul Shards.
10. Cast Drain Soul as a filler.

Hellcaller Single Target Opener

1. Pre-cast Haunt.
2. Apply Unstable Affliction.
3. Apply Agony.
4. Apply Wither.
5. Get to 4 stacks of Shadow Embrace with Drain Soul.
6. Cast Malevolence.
7. Cast Vile Taint.
8. Cast Soul Rot.
9. Use your trinkets and racials.
10. Cast Summon Darkglare to extend all periodic damage effects.

Pandemic and Learning to Efficiently Refresh DoTs

Pandemic is a hidden mechanic that allows you to refresh certain damage-over-time (DoT) effects early without any penalty. You can refresh your DoTs when they have less than 30% of their maximum duration remaining. This will extend the new DoT's duration by adding the full duration of the new DoT to the remaining duration of the current one.

For example, if you cast a fresh Agony while your current one has a duration of 3.5 seconds, the new Agony will now have 21.5 seconds left.

The Pandemic values for safe refreshes for your other DoTs are as follows:

• Agony: 5.4 seconds
• Corruption: 4.2 seconds
• Unstable Affliction: 6.3 seconds

When talented with Creeping Death, the Pandemic values change as follows:

• Agony: 4.5 seconds
• Corruption: 3.5 seconds
• Unstable Affliction: 5.4 seconds

Important Notes for Affliction Warlock

Soul Shards

All Warlocks use Soul Shards as their primary resource. Managing your Shards effectively is crucial for success, as overcapping can result in a potential loss of damage.

Malefic Rapture Usage

Malefic Rapture may seem straightforward at first glance, but it has several key implications that aren't immediately obvious.

Due to its linear scaling with each additional damage-over-time effect on a target, maximizing output requires casting it when the most damage-over-time effects are active. This means it's closely tied to talent cooldowns such as Vile Taint, Phantom Singularity windows, and to some extent Summon Darkglare and Soul Rot.

To optimize damage output, it's advisable to pool resources and cast as many Malefic Rapture spells as possible within these windows, essentially creating 1-minute cooldown loops, with only a few Malefic Rapture casts outside of these windows to prevent capping Soul Shards.

Agony

Agony is by far your most important spell, as it is the primary source of Soul Shard generation in the regular rotation. It also provides significant sustained damage. However, the trade-off is that Agony has a long ramp-up period before reaching full effectiveness. This means that if Agony drops off one of your primary targets for any reason, you will lose a substantial amount of DPS.

Maintaining your active Agony casts is the most crucial priority for this specialization, and failing to do so can be the most punishing mistake you can make.

Demon Choice

After the changes in 9.2, Succubus (or Incubus) now has a clear advantage in terms of single-target damage, assuming no frequent swaps to distant targets. However, your pet choice is often influenced by the unique utility each pet offers:

• For defensive dispels and regular swaps between distant targets, Imp provides the highest uptime.
• Use Felhunter whenever an interrupt or purge effect is required.
• Voidwalker can offer additional AoE damage due to its Torment ability, but its most significant utility is its taunt.
• Succubus offers crowd control and a permanent slow on a single target, which can be useful in certain situations.

Affliction Warlock DPS Gems and Consumables

This section covers your character's optimal gems, food, and flasks.

Best Gems for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

The War Within introduced epic meta gems with effects proportional to the number of different gem types socketed at any given time. This incentivizes players to use their first four gems to maximize the effect.

The two meta gems of choice are Culminating Blasphemite (Damage) and Elusive Blasphemite (Utility). Generally, Elusive Blasphemite offers more tangible benefits and is more practical, as the damage gained from Culminating Blasphemite is around 0.3% in Best-in-Slot gear.

When it comes to itemization, due to the relatively low stats offered by gems, the strategy is to gem with less important stats to round out the character. Combinations with Versatility and another secondary stat are typically preferred.

The gems most commonly found in Best-in-Slot setups are as follows:

• Emerald: Masterful Emerald and Versatile Emerald
• Ruby: Versatile Ruby and Quick Ruby
• Onyx: Deadly Onyx
• Sapphire: Masterful Sapphire
• Amber: Masterful Amber or Versatile Amber

Best Flask for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

You should be drinking the Flask of Alchemical Chaos at all times.

Best Potion for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

Stat Potions

Your primary stat potion should be Tempered Potion. Use this during moments when you deal the most damage with your abilities, typically during your cooldowns and/or Bloodlust or Heroism. You can also obtain Fleeting Tempered Potion from cauldrons spawned by Alchemists.

Healing Potions

Keep a stock of Algari Healing Potions to use when at low health. If you have a Warlock in your group, be sure to grab their Healthstones as well. However, do not macro these together, as they are best used separately! Additionally, you can acquire leeting Algari Healing Potion from cauldrons spawned by Alchemists.

Best Food for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

Feasts

You should always eat from a feast whenever possible. The best options include:

• Feast of the Divine Day
• Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
• Hearty Feast of the Midnight Masquerade

Alternative Food Options

If feasts are not available, consider eating one of the following:

• Outsider's Provisions
• Beledar's Bounty
• Jester's Board
• Empress' Farewell

Augment Runes

If you can afford it, use Crystallized Augment Runes to increase your primary stat. However, keep in mind that these runes are expensive and will disappear upon death, so use them wisely!

Weapon Runes for Affliction

Algari Mana Oil is the best temporary oil in any situation.

Affliction Warlock DPS Enchants

Slot	Enchantment
Necklace	Magnificent Jeweler's Setting (adds up to 2 sockets to a Ring or Neck)
Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths (Pure Single Target) Enchant Weapon - Authority of Radiant Power (All around)
Chest	Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance
Bracers	Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Leech
Legs	Sunset Spellthread
Boots	Enchant Boots - Scout's March (Mobility) Enchant Boots - Defender's March (Small Defensive)
Rings	Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike
Cloak	Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace Enchant Cloak - Chant of Leeching Fangs

Affliction Warlock DPS Gear and Best in Slot

This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

BiS Gear for Affliction Warlock

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Spliced Fiendtrader's Transcendence (678)	One-Armed Bandit in Liberation of Undermine/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Neck	Semi-Charmed Amulet (678)	Rik Reverb in Liberation of Undermine
Shoulder	Spliced Fiendtrader's Loyal Servants (678)	Rik Reverb in Liberation of Undermine/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Cloak	Cloak of Questionable Intent (678)	The MOTHERLODE!!
Chest	Spliced Fiendtrader's Surgical Gown (678)	Sprocketmonger Lockenstock in Liberation of Undermine/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Bracers	Consecrated Cuffs (675) with Writhing Armor Banding and Critical Strike + Mastery	Crafted — Tailoring
Gloves	King's Malicious Clutches (678)	Darkflame Cleft
Belt	Excavator's Safety Belt (678)	The MOTHERLODE!!
Legs	Spliced Fiendtrader's Skin Tights (678)	Stix Bunkjunker in Liberation of Undermine/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Boots	Cloudstrider Soles (678)	The Rookery
Ring #1	The Jastor Diamond (678)	Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine
Ring #2	Hoop of the Blighted	The Rookery
Trinket #1	Eye of Kezan (678)	Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine
Trinket #2	House of Cards (678)	One-Armed Bandit in Liberation of Undermine
Weapon	Scalding Queenmaker's Shiv (678)	Cinderbrew Meadery
Off-Hand	Vagabond's Torch (675) with Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension and Critical Strike + Versatility	Crafted — Inscription

Raiding Trinket Tier List for Affliction Warlock

This Trinket Tier List is focused primarily on single-target performance, as this is the most relevant aspect of raiding. If two trinkets perform similarly in single-target scenarios, the one with better AoE or multitarget scaling is ranked higher.

Each tier represents approximately a 0.5% DPS difference, meaning S-Tier trinkets are about 0.5% stronger than A-Tier trinkets, and so forth.

Any trinket not listed here is generally considered inferior to those included.

S-Tier

• Mug's Moxie Jug — The best trinket for all situations.

A-Tier

• Eye of Kezan — A solid passive trinket.
• Synergistic Brewterializer — High overall damage, but requires single-target direct damage to trigger.
• House of Cards — The strongest raid on-use option in a tier with mediocre on-use trinkets.

B-Tier

• Signet of the Priory — The best dungeon on-use trinket in a tier with lackluster alternatives.

C-Tier

• Mister Lock-N-Stalk — Passive spell proc damage trinket that requires switching between single-target and AoE modes for optimal use.
• Geargrinder's Spare Keys
• Flarendo's Pilot Light
• Reverb Radio
• Soulletting Ruby
• Entropic Skardyn Core
• Carved Blazikon Wax

Mythic+ Trinket Tier List for Affliction Warlock

This Trinket Tier List focuses on AoE damage, as a significant portion of Mythic+ revolves around dealing with multiple targets.

Each tier represents approximately a 0.5% DPS difference, meaning S-Tier trinkets provide around 0.5% more damage than A-Tier trinkets, and so on.

Any trinket not listed here is generally considered weaker than those included.

S-Tier

• Mug's Moxie Jug — The best trinket for all Mythic+ situations.
• House of Cards — The strongest raid on-use option in a tier with generally weaker alternatives.

A-Tier

• Signet of the Priory — The best dungeon on-use trinket in a tier with otherwise mediocre options.
• Eye of Kezan — A solid passive trinket choice.

B-Tier

• Synergistic Brewterializer — A strong overall damage trinket, but requires single-target direct damage to trigger.

C-Tier

• Mister Lock-N-Stalk  — A passive spell proc trinket that requires alternating between single-target and AoE for optimal use.
• Geargrinder's Spare Keys
• Flarendo's Pilot Light
• Reverb Radio
• Soulletting Ruby
• Entropic Skardyn Core
• Carved Blazikon Wax

Crafted Gear & Embellishments

Spark of Omens and Crafting Strategy

Spark of Omens will continue to be the primary limiting factor when crafting high-end gear. It can be obtained once every two weeks by combining two Fractured Spark of Omens and 250 Valorstones.

At the start of a tier, players can craft two pieces of gear: one from the initial quest and another from the first bi-weekly reward.

Crafting Strategy Guidelines

Your crafting strategy will depend on several factors, including progression speed, available drops, and early loot acquisition. There is no single best crafting path, but here are some general recommendations:

• The best overall combination is Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension (offhand weapon) and Writhing Armor Banding. This setup scales well into multi-target encounters, unlike Elemental Focusing Lens.
• For long-term optimization, the ideal approach is to craft both at the highest item level possible using Sparks. However, this assumes acquiring a Mythic-level main-hand weapon from Mythic+ before entering Mythic Raiding in the second week.
• An alternative approach is crafting both a main-hand and offhand weapon using Sparks while keeping the wrist piece at a lower item level. This provides a greater immediate power spike but requires an extra Spark in the long run. Note that crafted main-hand weapons will eventually need to be replaced by Mythic raid drops due to item level differences.

The War Within Season 2 Tier Set for Affliction Warlock

Wearing 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses from the Rites of the Spliced Fiendtrader's Influence set grants the following effects:

• Warlock Affliction 11.1 Class Set 2pc: Your damaging spells have a chance to trigger Jackpot!, increasing your Haste by 12% for 12 seconds. Casting Summon Darkglare always triggers Jackpot!
• Warlock Affliction 11.1 Class Set 4pc: Triggering Jackpot! also increases the damage of Unstable Affliction by 50% and causes it to spread to up to 3 targets within 40 yards for 12 seconds.

Both bonuses provide a passive damage increase, meaning they do not require changes to talent choices or playstyle.

Prioritizing the Warlock Affliction 11.1 Class Set 4pc is more beneficial than ensuring the set pieces are in ideal slots. However, the best setup leaves the Hands slot as the off-set piece due to its more favorable stat distribution.

Addons for Affliction Warlock

Generic Addons for Warlocks

• ElvUI
• Weak Auras
• Boss Mods
  • BigWigs Bossmods
  • Deadly Boss Mods

Name Plates

• KUI Nameplates
• TidyPlates
• Plater

Damage Meters

• Skada
• Details!

Extra AddOns

• Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
• xCT+ Combat Text
• DeathNote
• Doom CooldownPulse
• Angry Assignments
• Exorsus Raid Tools

Macros for Affliction Warlock

Pet Macros

These macros allow you to manage your demon, as playing with your Pet Stance on Assist is the preferred way to play.

• /petattack

This orders your demon to attack your target.

• /petfollow

This orders your demon to follow you.

• /petmoveto

This orders your demon to move to a location specified by you. This macro is especially useful for situations where you need your pet in a predetermined position in order to accomplish a given task — such as an interrupt on a otherwise out of range target — but can also be used to maximize Felguard cleave/Felstorm damage, just be aware that any imparted commands will also make your Dreadstalkers, Vilefiend (if talented) and Tyrant move, resulting in a much bigger loss when used improperly.

Dot Mouseover

• #showtooltip Corruption
• /use [@mouseover,harm] [harm] Corruption

Casts Corruption on current mouseover target if hostile and alive, else cast it on your current target.

Banish Focus

• #showtooltip Banish
• /use [mod:shift,@focus] [] Banish

Cast Banish on focus target by holding also shift, else cast it on your current target.

Soulstone Mouseover

• #showtooltip Soulstone
• /target [@mouseover] Soulstone
• /use Soulstone
• /targetlasttarget

Workaround macro for the current bug related to mouseover dead allies. The Macro itself will target the mouseover in order to cast Soulstone then target the previous target.

Demonic Circle

• #showtooltip
• /stopcasting
• /use [mod:shift] Demonic Circle(Summon); [nomod] Demonic Circle: Teleport(Teleport)

Place the Demonic Circle while holding shift, or teleport to the circle without any modifiers, while cancelling any ongoing casts. This saves you the trouble (and the time!) of interrupting your spell cast manually.

Mortal Coil/Howl of Terror

• #showtooltip
• /use [known:Mortal Coil,@mouseover,exists] Mortal Coil; [known:Mortal Coil] Mortal Coil; [known:Howl of Terror] Howl of Terror

Depending on the talent selected Mortal Coil will be casted on mouseover if available, otherwise on current target. If Howl of Terror is talented, it will be cast instead.

Vile Taint/Phantom Singularity

• #showtooltip
• /use [known:Phantom Singularity] Phantom Singularity; [known:Vile Taint,@cursor] Vile Taint

This macro will cast Phantom Singularity on the current target or Vile Taint at your mouse cursor, depending on your talent choices.

WeakAuras for Affliction Warlock

WeakAuras is an essential tool for Affliction Warlock and DPS players, offering unparalleled customization to enhance your gameplay. Rather than focusing on specific examples, we recommend exploring Wago.io, where you’ll find an extensive library of WeakAuras to suit your needs.

If you are unfamiliar with WeakAuras, it is an incredibly powerful and widely-used AddOn that allows you to create custom displays for nearly everything in the game. This includes tracking buffs, debuffs, cooldowns, Focus, resources, and much more.

To import a WeakAura, visit Wago.io and select one that fits your preferences. Click the "Copy WeakAura Import String" button to copy it to your clipboard. Next, log into the game and type /wa in the chat box to open the WeakAuras interface. Navigate to the "Import" section, press Ctrl+V to paste the copied string, and click "Import". You’re ready to go!

Mastering WeakAuras and customizing it to your playstyle is highly recommended for any serious raider. With countless options available on Wago.io, you can tailor your interface to optimize your performance and focus on what truly matters in combat.

Affliction Warlock Frequently Asked Questions

Which Pets or Demons Should I Use?

For Dungeons and Mythic+, the Felhunter is generally the best choice, as its interrupt is crucial for preventing dangerous casts, especially in higher-level Mythic+ dungeons. Interrupts can be the difference between a successful run and a wipe.

In Raids, the Imp is typically favored, especially if you need to use Singe Magic or there are frequent target swaps during the encounter.

For leveling or if you plan to use Grimoire of Sacrifice but don't need an interrupt, the Voidwalker is recommended. Sacrificing it grants Shadow Bulwark, which is a defensive cooldown that boosts your survivability.

The Succubus can be a good choice if you prefer higher single-target damage or need a permanent 50% slow on a single target.

Is Phantom Singularity Affected by Darkglare?

Yes, Phantom Singularity is affected by Darkglare, and so is Vile Taint.

When Should I Use Seed of Corruption?

Seed of Corruption should be used when you have 3 or more stacked targets to apply your Corruption debuff. Once there are at least 8 targets, it becomes your primary Soul Shard spender.

If you have the Sow the Seeds talent, simulations suggest that Seed of Corruption should be used at 3 targets.

Why Does My Darkglare Fail to Extend My DoTs Occasionally?

Sometimes, Darkglare fails to extend your DoTs if the target breaks line of sight or becomes untargetable in the same global cooldown as you cast Summon Darkglare.

How Much of a Specific Stat, Like Haste, is Required?

The amount of a particular stat, such as Haste, needed for optimal performance depends on your character and gear setup. The stat priority can vary greatly depending on your current distribution of secondary stats, Azerite Traits, and item level. To get the most accurate answer, it's best to use a simulation tool that caters to your specific gear and setup.

What Piece is Better, X or Y?

When comparing two pieces of gear, the best approach is to simulate it for your specific character. What might be an upgrade for one person could be different for another, as your overall gear affects each individual item’s value. This applies to all gear, trinkets, Azerite Traits, and talents. In some cases, like a specific fight, a certain set of talents may be optimal, and you can use resources like Warcraft Logs to check what top players are using in those situations.

Which Race is Best for Affliction Warlock?

Racial traits can have a small impact on your overall DPS, but the difference is minimal in most cases. If you're aiming for maximum output, using simulation charts based on your character's current gear and traits will help you decide on the best race.