Skip to content
STILL SIXTY

Menu

All guidesEvery guide, filterable and sortable.

Tools

Class guide

Affliction Warlock Guide for WoW Forever

How to play Affliction Warlock in WoW Forever, with a Drain leveling build, a Wrack raid spec, a Soul Link PvP setup and the DoT rotation.

WarlockAfflictionLevelingPvEPvPRaidsDungeonsDPS

By stillsixty staffUpdated

On this page

Variants

Overview

Affliction kills things by never letting them stop dying. You stack Shadow damage over time on a target, let your demon hold it, and drain its life back into yours. In WoW Forever the tree finally has a spell built around that loop: Wrack, a 6-second channel that tears at the target every second and makes your other Shadow damage over time effects hit 10% harder while it runs. Every drain talent in the tree now boosts Wrack as well, so the whole spec plays as one rhythm: apply, amplify, drain.

The other big change is how debuffs stack. Bane of Agony is a Bane now, not a Curse, and Banes sit on their own track. You keep Bane of Agony and a Curse on the same target at once, so you never again choose between your damage and Curse of the Elements. Add instant Corruption from Improved Corruption and Siphon Life at 30, and you keep four or five effects ticking on every target you fight.

At 30 you level with drains and a Voidwalker. At 60 you raid with Wrack and a sacrificed Imp, or you take the Soul Link build into battlegrounds, where few classes out-last you.

Strengths

  • Very little downtime while leveling. Siphon Life, Drain Life and the Voidwalker keep you fighting from one mob to the next.
  • Instant, stackable damage. Corruption, Bane of Agony and Siphon Life all land while you move.
  • Mana efficiency at 60. Wrack costs 200 mana for a 6-second channel, a fraction of what a Shadow Bolt caster spends in the same time.
  • A Bane and a Curse on every target: your full damage plus Curse of the Elements, Recklessness or Tongues.
  • Brutal in PvP. Damage over time, Fear, Death Coil and a Felhunter wear down anyone who can't dispel you.

Weaknesses

  • Slow to start. Damage over time needs seconds to pay off, so trash that dies fast wastes your global cooldowns.
  • Wrack and your drains are channels. Movement and interrupts cut them short.
  • Crowd control breaks on damage. Your own ticks break your Fear, so plan which target you lock down.
  • Dispels hurt. A Priest or Paladin who cleans your target undoes several global cooldowns at once.
  • Cloth armor. Without your demon between you and the mob, you go down fast.

What's new in Forever

New in Forever
  • Bane of Agony replaces Curse of Agony: 552 Shadow damage over 24 seconds at rank 6. Banes and Curses are separate debuff types, so one of each fits on a target.
  • Bane of Doom replaces Curse of Doom at 60: 1742 Shadow damage after 1 minute, 1-minute cooldown. It is a Bane, so it replaces your Bane of Agony on that target.
  • Curse of the Elements is trained at 20 and covers every magic school: at rank 4 it lowers magic resistances by 75 and raises magic damage taken by 10%. Curse of Shadow is gone.
  • Wrack (tier 7): a 6-second channel for 200 mana that deals Shadow damage every second and makes the target take 10% more damage from your other Shadow damage over time effects.
  • Malediction (tier 2): +5% periodic damage at 5/5. Malevolence (tier 4): +5% Shadow crit.
  • Improved Drains (tier 2): +20% to Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack. Soul Siphon (tier 5) adds 12% per other Affliction effect on the target, up to 36%.
  • Pandemic (tier 3) adds 100% to the critical strike damage bonus of Corruption, your Banes, your drains, Siphon Life and Wrack.
  • Soul Harvesting (tier 2): a kill under Drain Soul gives 10 seconds of full mana regeneration while casting, plus 100% more regeneration.
  • Suppression gives +5% hit and 20% less threat. Improved Corruption makes Corruption instant and 10% stronger. Curse of Exhaustion slows by 30%.
  • Nightfall now procs from Corruption, Drain Soul, Drain Life and Wrack.
  • Drain Soul has a chance to give a Soul Shard every time it deals damage, and always gives one on a kill.
  • Demonic Sacrifice sits in tier 3 of Demonology and lasts 2 hours. An Imp sacrifice gives +15% Shadow damage, which is the reason every Affliction raid build takes it.

Talents

The leveling build. Instant Corruption and stronger drains carry you from 10, Soul Harvesting turns every Drain Soul kill into free mana, and Fel Concentration gives your channels a 70% chance to hold through hits. Siphon Life lands at 30 and closes the loop: you heal every tick while your Voidwalker tanks.

Split 21/0/0 · 21 points at level 30 · Open in calculator

Affliction

21 points

Demonology

0 points

Destruction

0 points

Talent order

  1. Levels 10–14: 5/5 Improved Corruption. Corruption goes from a 2-second cast to instant and hits 10% harder. You cast it on every mob, from any range, on the move.
  2. Levels 15–17: 3/3 Improved Drains. +20% to Drain Life and Drain Soul. You train Drain Life at 14, and from here it heals you for a real share of every fight.
  3. Levels 18–19: 2/2 Soul Harvesting. Finish every mob with Drain Soul. A kill under it gives 10 seconds where your mana regenerates at full speed while you cast, and 100% faster on top.
  4. Levels 20–22: 3/3 Fel Concentration. A 70% chance to keep channeling when you take damage. Drain Life stops being a gamble the moment something hits you.
  5. Levels 23–24: 2/2 Improved Bane of Agony. +10% Bane of Agony damage, on a Bane you cast on every mob.
  6. Levels 25–26: 2/2 Nightfall. Corruption and your drains get a 4% chance to make your next Shadow Bolt instant. You drain a lot, so it procs often.
  7. Levels 27–29: 3/5 Malediction. +3% to all your periodic damage, which is most of your damage.
  8. Level 30: 1/1 Siphon Life. Instant, 30 seconds of healing on every mob, and your third damage over time effect.

Flexible points

  • Fighting mobs two or three levels above you and seeing resists? Take 2/5 Suppression instead of Improved Bane of Agony at 23–24.
  • If you finish few mobs with Drain Soul, move Soul Harvesting into 2/5 Malediction at 18–19; at 27–29 take the last 3 Malediction points as planned (Malediction ends at 5/5).

Races

Best races

Horde: Orc. Blood Fury gives 10% Spell Power for 15 seconds every 2 minutes. Line it up with Wrack and your Nightfall Shadow Bolts. Shatter Curse removes and blocks Curses and Banes for 8 seconds and cuts magic damage taken by 15%, and Hardiness shortens stuns by 20%. Orc is the raid pick, and a strong one in PvP.

Horde PvP: Undead. Will of the Forsaken breaks Charm, Fear and Sleep on a 2-minute cooldown. In Forever it only removes those effects, it no longer grants 5 seconds of immunity, so use it the moment you're feared, not before. Touch of the Grave gives your spells a 10% chance to drain health, and Cannibalize now restores 7% of your health and mana every 2 seconds from a corpse.

Alliance: Human. The Human Spirit raises your Spirit by 5%, and every point of Spirit adds a point of mana to each Life Tap. Sword Specialization gives +2% critical strike chance with every spell while you hold a one-handed sword, which Warlocks can use. Will to Survive breaks any stun every 3 minutes.

Alliance PvP: Gnome. Expansive Mind gives 5% more maximum mana, and Eureka! makes your next three damaging spells cost 10% less mana and deal 10% more damage (2-minute cooldown). Escape Artist breaks every root and snare and makes you immune to them for 3 seconds.

All playable races

  • Human: Sword Specialization, The Human Spirit, Will to Survive, Perception.
  • Gnome: Expansive Mind, Eureka!, Escape Artist, Engineering Specialization.
  • Orc: Blood Fury, Shatter Curse, Hardiness. Axe Specialization does nothing for you, since Warlocks can't equip axes.
  • Undead: Will of the Forsaken, Touch of the Grave, Cannibalize, Underwater Breathing.
  • Troll (new for Warlocks): Regeneration keeps 10% of your health regeneration going in combat, Berserking gives 10% casting speed for 10 seconds every 3 minutes, Beast Slaying adds 5% damage against Beasts, and Rapid Regeneration heals 50% of your health over 6 seconds.

Rotation

Single pull

  1. Send your Summon Voidwalker in, and let it hit once or twice with Torment.
  2. Corruption (instant), Bane of Agony and, from 30, Siphon Life. Add Curse of Weakness on hard-hitting mobs so your Voidwalker takes less damage.
  3. Fill with Shadow Bolt while you have mana, or with your wand while you don't. A Nightfall proc makes the next Shadow Bolt instant, so spend it right away.
  4. When the mob drops under a quarter of its health, finish it with Drain Soul. The kill gives a Soul Shard and, with Soul Harvesting, 10 seconds of full mana regeneration while casting.

Two mobs

Put Corruption, Bane of Agony and Siphon Life on both. Voidwalker holds the first, you hold the second, and Drain Life the one on you. Fel Concentration keeps the channel going through its hits. Save Fear for a third mob: your damage over time breaks Fear on anything you've already dotted.

Mana and downtime

  • Life Tap turns health into mana. Tap until you're at 60% health, then Drain Life the next mob back to full. That loop replaces most of your drinking.
  • Keep Demon Armor up at all times. You train it at 20, and it replaces Demon Skin.
  • Keep a Healthstone in your bags. It costs a Soul Shard, and Drain Soul gives you plenty.
  • Use Health Funnel on the Voidwalker between pulls, then let it Consume Shadows out of combat.

Stat priority

Leveling

  1. Spell Power
  2. Stamina
  3. Intellect
  4. Spirit

Spell Power adds damage to every tick, and at levels 10–30 small amounts are a large share of each spell. Stamina comes second because Life Tap spends health, not mana: every point of Stamina is more to tap. Spirit adds a point of mana to every Life Tap, on top of its normal regeneration.

Gear

Wands

You wand more than most casters while leveling, especially while your damage over time effects finish a mob. In Forever, wands don't scale with Spell Power, so buy on damage per second alone. Enchanters craft four you want:

Armor

Take any cloth with Spell Power first, then Stamina. Quest rewards beat vendor gear at every level.

Professions

Tailoring and Enchanting is the Warlock pair. Tailoring makes your cloth from 1 to 60 and the Robe of the Void at the end. Enchanting disenchants the cloth you outgrow and makes every leveling wand you want, from the Lesser Magic Wand at 5 to the Greater Mystic Wand at 30.

For gold, level with Herbalism and Skinning or Herbalism and Mining. Affliction kills safely with little downtime, so you gather more between fights. Switch at 60 once your farming has paid for the materials.

Group play and dungeons

Your job is damage, crowd control and utility: Curses, Healthstones, a Soulstone and summons.

  • Curse of the Elements on the boss: 10% more magic damage taken for every caster in the group. If another Warlock has it, take Curse of Recklessness for 505 less armor.
  • Dot the pack only after the tank has it. Corruption on five mobs is a lot of threat at once. In the raid build, Suppression cuts your threat by 20%; in every build, start with the kill target.
  • Crowd control: Banish holds a Demon or Elemental for up to 30 seconds, and Fear sends one mob away. Fear sends mobs into other packs, so fear only where you've cleared.
  • Healthstones and a Soulstone. Make a Healthstone for everyone before the first pull, and put your Soulstone on the healer.
  • Summons. Ritual of Summoning brings a group member to you with two helpers. At 60, Portal of Summoning lets two other players do the summoning.
  • Imp in dungeons. If you don't sacrifice, bring the Imp for Blood Pact: extra Stamina for the whole party.

PvP

Affliction wins long fights. Your damage over time effects keep working while you run, your drains heal you, and Soul Link makes you far harder to burst.

  • Stack your damage on one target. Three effects plus Curse of Exhaustion on the player who can't dispel them is worth more than spreading.
  • Dispellers first. Priests and Paladins clean your effects. Spell Lock them before you reapply, or kill them first.
  • Keep the Felhunter alive. Soul Link only works while it's out. Funnel it between fights and resummon with Fel Domination the moment it dies.
  • In the new 15-player battleground, Darkspear Island, play the edge of the fight. Dot everything that crosses your screen, Howl of Terror when melee reaches you, and let your Bane tick on the healer.

Tips

Bane and Curse, every time

Your Bane and your Curse don't overwrite each other. Put Bane of Agony and a Curse on every mob that lives long enough: Curse of Weakness while leveling, Curse of the Elements in groups.

One Bane per target

Bane of Agony, Bane of Doom and Bane of Havoc share one slot. Casting Bane of Doom on a boss removes your Bane of Agony. Pick one per target.

Wrack amplifies, so feed it. Cast Wrack with Corruption, your Bane and Siphon Life all ticking. Wrack on a target with nothing on it is your weakest spell.

Drain Soul for shards. In Forever, Drain Soul has a chance to give a Soul Shard on every tick, and a kill always gives one. Keep 5 to 10 shards for Healthstones, Soulstones and summons.

Train Siphon Life. The talent gives rank 1 at 30. Trainers teach new ranks at 38, 48 and 58.

Know your Enslave. Classic's Enslave Demon is Subjugate Demon in Forever. It still controls a demon for up to 5 minutes, and it still gets harder each time you use it on the same one.

Life Tap is free in groups. In a dungeon, tap freely and let the healer cover it. You drink less and cast more.

Macros

Wand macro: starts wanding and never cancels it when you press it twice.

Wand
#showtooltip Shoot
/cast !Shoot

Send your demon in and apply Corruption in one press.

Pet attack and Corruption
#showtooltip Corruption
/petattack
/cast Corruption

Fear your focus target, or your current target if you have no focus. Keep your target on the mob you kill, and focus the one you lock down.

Focus Fear
#showtooltip Fear
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Fear

Spell Lock your focus target, or your current target. It stops your own cast first so you never miss an interrupt.

Stop and Spell Lock
#showtooltip Spell Lock
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Spell Lock

Mouseover Corruption: dot the mob under your cursor without changing your target.

Mouseover Corruption
#showtooltip Corruption
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Corruption

Changelog

  • Guide published with Level 30, Level 60 Raid and Level 60 PvP builds.
  • Corrected the level 30 flexible point (last Malediction points at 27-29) and the Darkspear Island battleground name.

Saved pages

Nothing saved yet. Press S on any page to save it.

Keyboard shortcuts

⌘K
Search anything
/
Search anything
S
Save this page
?
Show this list
Esc
Close