Affliction Warlock

Overview

Talents and builds

Level 60 build

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Raid build

The raid build moves 14 points from Soul Harvest (2), Improved Drains (2), Nightfall (2), Soul Siphon (3) and 3 more to Malevolence (5), Improved Shadow Bolt (5) and Ruin (4).

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Key talents

• Suppression5/5Up to 5% more hit chance and 20% less threat at rank 5, both scarce and valuable for a spec that casts constantly
• Improved Corruption5/5Cuts Corruption's cast time by up to 2 seconds and adds up to 10% more damage at rank 5
• Amplify Curse1/1A required pick, not an optional one, and missing from an earlier draft of this guide's talent section: this build's rotation prepull-casts it before the pull, so it has to be taken for that line to be legal
• Pandemic3/3Up to a 100% critical-strike-damage bonus at rank 3 on Corruption, both Banes, and the drain spells. This build takes two of its three points; the search run measured no damage in the last one, so it went elsewhere
• Nightfall2/2Up to a 4% chance per tick of Corruption, the drains or Wrack at rank 2 to make your next Shadow Bolt instant. The raid build skips it: with Wrack out of the rotation it procs too rarely to beat Malevolence
• Malevolence0/5Up to 5% more critical strike chance on your Shadow spells at rank 5. Every DoT tick can crit in Forever, and Pandemic doubles those crits, so the raid build takes all five points
• Shadow Mastery5/5Up to 10% more Shadow damage and life drained at rank 5
• Wrack1/1The capstone, a 6 second channel that raises your Corruption and Bane of Agony damage by 10% while you channel it. It deals about half of Shadow Bolt's damage per second of casting, so the raid build leaves it, Soul Siphon and Improved Drains out and puts the points into Malevolence and Ruin: about +5% in the search run

Rotation and priority

Pop a mana potion or gem at the start of the fight if your mana is already below its usual threshold, or save it for a closing burn if the fight is nearly over. From there, put Corruption up first and keep it up throughout the fight — it’s the cheapest DoT per point of damage, so upkeep on it should never lapse. Bane of Agony goes up right behind it as your one curse. In Forever your damage over time can crit, so the ticking curse beats Bane of Doom’s single hit. Siphon Life comes next: the build takes it, and its ticks crit and heal you. Wrack is a 6 second channel, and channelling it costs more damage than its ticks and its 10% on Corruption and Agony return, so the rotation does not cast it. Immolate is the fifth DoT: a running Immolate out-damages the Shadow Bolt global it costs, and recasting it when under 3 seconds remain measured a little better than waiting for it to lapse. Once every DoT is running, spend each remaining global on Shadow Bolt. Life Tap keeps you casting once mana falls below about 10%. Wand only when you are out of mana: a wand shot cannot start during the global cooldown, so it never fits between spells. Keeping Siphon Life up and switching to Agony were worth about +4% in our audit run.

Stat priority

1. 1Spell power
2. 2Shadow power
3. 3Hit
4. 4Critical strike
5. 5Intellect
6. 6Spell haste
7. 7Spell penetration

Best in slot

Enchants and consumables

Races

• Human
• Orc
• Undead
• Gnome (Recommended)
• Troll (Recommended)

Gnome is the Alliance pick: Escape Artist and Expansive Mind. Troll is the Horde pick: Berserking.

Professions

Tailoring and Enchanting is the standard caster pairing in Classic-era play: Tailoring’s crafted spellcaster gear fills early slots, and Enchanting lets you apply your own weapon and gear enchants instead of paying for them.

Leveling

Outlined: points added in this level range.

Affliction is generally considered the strong leveling choice for Warlock, since its DoTs keep working while you move or fight multiple targets, and Drain Life covers the healing a solo caster otherwise lacks.