Affliction Warlock Guide - Talents, Rotations, Races & More

Affliction is all about getting your DoTs rolling as fast as you can and then sitting back to let your Demon finish the mob, while you move onto the next one. You don’t really have a strict rotation while leveling. Instead, you’re setting up your DoTs, watching for Nightfall procs, and using your Health and Mana like one big resource pool through Drain Life and Life Tap.

Rotation Breakdown

Rotation is very simple. Keep Bane of Agony, Corruption and Immolate on your target. Cast Shadow Bolt or use your wand if you have a good one as a filler. Watch for Nightfall procs. Drain Life as needed for Health.

1. Send your Summon Succubus in to attack. Make sure to pay attention and move her if she is standing in AoE. Your demon is a large part of your damage, so you must ensure it stays alive.
2. Cast either Curse of the Elements or Curse of Recklessness on Elites or Dungeon Bosses.
3. Cast Bane of Agony otherwise
4. Cast Corruption.
5. Keep an eye out for Shadow Trance procs from your Nightfall talent. This lets you cast one instant cast Shadow Bolt.
6. Cast Immolate
7. Cast Shadow Bolt as your filler
8. Cast Life Tap when you need mana. Typically when your DoTs are on the target you're below 40% Mana and only if you'll use all the mana. Your goal is to end the fight with zero mana if possible, so don't over tap.

Your goal is to keep all of your Damage over Times (DoTs) on Target, with as close to 100% uptime as you can: Immolate, Corruption and Bane of Agony. Try not to clip your DoTs, meaning don't reapply them until they are finished with their current duration. Once your DoTs are on the target, cast Shadow Bolt or wand depending on your Mana until you need to reapply a DoT. Siphon Life is extremely low damage at this level. It gets better later, but as of right now there's no reason to take it.

Check our WoW Forever tier list to see how Affliction Warlock stacks up against Demonology and Destruction.

• -Fear: Causes the enemy to run around in fear, unable to attack. All damage has a chance to break the fear.
• Life Tap give you a chunk of Mana at the cost of your Health. This is one of your most used spells all throughout the game.
• Create Soulstone This is a buff that can be put on yourself or any other player from the same faction. When the buffed player dies, they will have the option to resurrect immediately. Works in combat.
• Create Healthstone: Stones that you can make for yourself and others. It will heal when you use it.
• Underwater Breathing Allows you or whoever you put it on breathe underwater.
• Howl of Terror: This is a melee range AoE fear. When in trouble, run to melee range and use this.
• Curse of the Elements A curse that debuffs the enemy, making them take more spell damage.
• Curse of Recklessness A curse that debuffs the enemy, making them take more melee damage. This is also used to stop a target from being feared.
• • If you Fear something and it starts running into another group of enemies, you can put Curse of Recklessness on it and it will run back to you.
  • You can also immediately cast Curse of the Elements to put the enemy back into a feared state and redirect it away from the group of enemies.
  • This is known as "Fear Juggling" or "Babysitting Fears".

Demons are a massive part of an all Warlocks gameplay. You’ll unlock each of them through Warlock quests as you level, giving you access to several different options depending on whether you want more damage, survivability, or utility. Affliction doesn’t invest heavily into Demon talents, but your pet is still very important and makes both leveling and difficult solo content MUCH easier.

I highly recommend putting Pet Attack/Follow on easy keybinds and getting used to using them all the time. I like to use Mouse Wheel down/up because pet control ends up being one of the things you'll be using the most while playing Warlock.

Best Demon for Affliction Warlock

The Summon Succubus / Summon Incubus is currently your strongest option for damage as a Affliction Warlock and is what you should use when you’re trying to do the most DPS. The Summon Felhunter isn’t too far behind though and can easily be worth using when its utility is more valuable.

The Summon Voidwalker is your best defensive option and can be lifesaving while leveling and soloing difficult enemies. Its ability to hold threat lets you safely spread DoTs across several targets without everything immediately running toward you.

The Summon Imp is currently the worst option for damage and isn’t worth using when the other Demons are available.

Warlock Demon Abilities

Imp

Summon Imp is your first Demon and is only helpful at the early levels until you unlock the Summon Voidwalker. It shoots Firebolt and give you stamina from Blood Pact

Voidwalker

Summon Voidwalker Voidwalker becomes available at Level 10 and quickly becomes one of your most useful leveling Demons.

It has Torment for single target threat and Suffering for AoE threat, allowing it to control multiple enemies while you spread your DoTs. It also has Sacrifice, which gives you a large absorb shield, and Consume Shadows, which allows the Voidwalker to restore its own Health while you’re out of combat.

Summon Voidwalker currently generates a TON of threat. This makes it especially strong for Affliction because you can send it into a big pack of enemies, use Suffering to grab everything initially, then let Torment help maintain individual targets while you spread your DoTs around and your other DoTs.

Succubus and Incubus

Summon Succubus and Summon Incubus unlock at Level 20 and do much more damage our of the other Demons. The only difference between these two is Summon Succubus is Female and Summon Incubus is Male.

Lash of Pain doesnt' do much damage, but it's better than nothing. Seduction gives you some extremely useful crowd control by charming an enemy.

Felhunter

You get Summon Felhunter at Level 30 and currently has really high damage as well, slightly less damage than Summon Succubus, but it also comes with utility like Spell Lock, which gives you an interrupt and Devour Magic which can either remove a Magic effect from an enemy or dispel one from you. It also has Paranoia to help detect stealthed enemies.

Demon Ability Control

Remember that you can and should right click your Demon’s abilities to toggle off their automatic casting. Most abilities work fine on automatic, but some are much better when controlled manually.Summon Voidwalker Torment is a great example. I prefer keeping it off automatic so I can decide exactly which enemy I want the Voidwalker to taunt.

Gear has changed a lot in Forever. Spell Power is now on the low level gear, giving us access to a decent amount of Spell Power already. Use the order below as a starting point while comparing items and take note that this is subject to change as we get to higher levels in the Beta and when the game launch Below, we've covered stats to look out for in order of priority, and how each stat interacts with your toolkit. Stats that aren't available on gear currently due to its low level aren't covered, but will be included as more items are released.

1. Spell Power: This is our strongest stat. This increaes the damage of all of your spells.
2. Hit Chance: Reduces the chance for your spells to miss. Suppression in the Affliction Tree can give you 5%.
3. Critical Strike Chance: This gives you a higher chance to Crit. Since our DoTs and Hellfire can Crit, we love Critical Strike Chance.
4. Intellect: Our main Primary Stat. This should be on every piece of gear.
5. Spirit: Life Tap scales off Spirit, so we like it now.
6. Stamina: This gives you Health. This will naturally be on most of your gear, so you shouldn't ever have to focus on finding it.
7. Haste: There is no haste to get yet. Once more is in the game, it will be a higher priority, however our DoT's and Drains are not effected by Haste, so you should never be hunting it down.

Spell Power is one of the most important stats for Warlock, but not every spell benefits from it equally. Some abilities receive a percentage of your Spell Power on the initial hit, while others benefit from it on every single tick.

Warlock Spell Coefficients

We put a table below to show how different Warlock spells scale with Spell Power based on datamined beta coefficients.

Damage Over Time and Channeled Spells

Keep in mind: Total coefficients assume every tick lands. Bane of Doom deals its damage in one tick, while Immolate combines its initial hit with periodic damage.

Direct Damage Spells

What Does This Mean for Affliction?

The biggest takeaway is just how well your DoTs scale with Spell Power. For example, 100 additional Spell Power contributes approximately 160 damage to a full Bane of Agony and 80 damage to a full Corruption, before talents, resistances, and other modifiers.

This is especially valuable against bosses and tougher enemies that survive long enough for your DoTs to complete their full duration.

Note: These values come from specific beta spell records, often Rank 1. Higher ranks can have different coefficients. They're useful scaling references, but not universally verified values for every spell rank or a direct DPS comparison.

Alliance: Human or Gnome

Horde: Orc or Undead

Warlocks have five playable races in WoW Forever. Human and Gnome remain available on the Alliance while Orc and Undead return on the Horde alongside the newly added Troll Warlock. Every race also received major racial changes, including several new active abilities that can directly affect Warlock gameplay. The racial decision is much closer than it's ever been in Classic.

It's too early to tell which race will end up being the most powerful based on our current Beta testing. The Gnome racial Expansive Mind now grants 5% Mana instead of Intellect and Gnomes also bring the new Eureka! racial, making the two races much closer than before. The racial changes give Humans 2% Spell Crit Chance while using a sword, but you must keep a sword equipped for the racial to provide any benefit. Humans also give 5% Spirit, which scales our Life Tap.

Horde is also up in the air, with Undead, Orc, and Troll all bringing very strong racials. Blood Fury remains a very strong choice for damage, and the new racial Shatter Curse brings some Curse and magic protection. Undead get the very powerful racial Touch of the Grave, giving your spells and attacks a 10% chance to drain Health from the target, up to 5% of your maximum Health. Troll brings the infamous Berserking, which is very strong for hard casting, although as of right now DoTs, Drains, and channeled spells aren't affected by the additional cast speed.

Available Race Options for Warlock

Human: Human receives some substantial racial changes in WoW Forever. The new Will to Survive racial instantly removes all Stun effects on a two minute cooldown.Perception retains its familiar ability to dramatically increase stealth detection for 20 seconds. Sword Specialization is particularly interesting for Warlock, granting 2% Spell Crit Chance while using a sword. The Human Spirit continues to increase Spirit by 5%. Human is considerably more competitive for Warlockthan it was in the original Classic, especially if the Best in Slot weapon is a sword.

Gnome: Gnomes still have their life saving Escape Artist, which removes all movement impairing effects and now also grants immunity to them for 3 seconds. The biggest addition is Eureka!, a new two minute cooldown that causes your next three damaging abilities to cost 10% less Mana and deal 10% increased damage. Expansive Mind has also been redesigned to increase your maximum Mana by 5% rather than Intellect. Engineering Specialization continues to improve the reliability of all Engineering Devices.

Orc: Blood Fury increases your Spell Power by 10% for 15 seconds, finally giving Warlock a massive buff from the racial. Shatter Curse is also a powerful new defensive, removing all Curses and Banes, granting immunity to them, and reducing all Magical damage taken by 15% for 8 seconds. Axe Specialization grants 1% Crit Chance with all spells and abilities while wielding an axe. The problem is that Warlock can't use axes of any kind. Hardiness now reduces the duration of Stun effects by 20% instead of providing the massive Stun resist chance seen in the original Classic, which is a significant reduction to its PvP strength.

Troll: Troll is an entirely new Warlock race in WoW Forever. Berserking increases spellcasting speed by 10% for 10 seconds. This is particularly weak for Affliction since it relies on Drains, channels, and DoTs and Berserking doesn't work on either. Rapid Regeneration is a channeled racial that restores 50% of maximum Health over 6 seconds, although moving, taking another action, or taking any damage cancels it. Trolls also gain Beast Slaying, increasing damage against Beasts by 5%, and Regeneration which allowing 10% of normal Health regeneration to continue during combat.

Undead: Undead retains much of its familiar PvP identity, although several racials have changed. Will of the Forsaken still removes Charm, Fear, and Sleep effects, but no longer provides immunity afterward. Cannibalize now regenerates 7% of total Health and 7% of total Mana every 2 seconds for 10 seconds while consuming a nearby Humanoid or Undead corpse. Underwater Breathing allows you to remain underwater 300% longer, while the new Touch of the Grave gives spells and attacks a 10% chance to drain Health from the target, up to 5% of your maximum Health.

For every race's complete ability list, see our racial abilities guide.

Tailoring and Enchanting are an excellent profession combination for Warlock while leveling. You will naturally collect a ton of cloth as you play and Tailoring turns that into useful armor, bags, and several extremely strong crafted pieces. A large portion of the best Warlock gear currently available also comes from Tailoring, which makes it one of the easiest professions to recommend.

Enchanting pairs nicely with Tailoring because unwanted gear can be disenchanted into materials instead of simply being vendored. It also gives you access to Lesser Magic Wand and Greater Magic Wand which are both VERY useful while leveling. Just be careful about trying to keep both professions completely caught up at the same time. Gold can disappear fast, especially for Warlocks since you are also spending money more money than the other Classes due to Grimoires for your Demon. During my own leveling, I had to stop and farm extra Silver just to keep everything progressing.

First Aid is also extremely useful and does not take up either of your primary profession slots. Bandages give Warlock another way to recover Health without spending Mana, which fits perfectly with how often you are using Life Tap. WoW Forever also allows First Aid to craft healing potions, making the profession even more valuable while leveling. The main bandages you should keep on you are:

• Heavy Silk Bandage
• Mageweave Bandage
• Heavy Mageweave Bandage

WoW Forever’s profession revamp gives Alchemy access to several powerful new potions and elixirs that can increase your Spell Power, defenses, primary stats, and more. You don't eed to have Alchemy yourself to use them, so you can simply buy the consumables you want from the Auction House.

• Elixir of Lesser Spirit: This gives you 6 Spirit for 30 minutes.
• Elixir of Defense: This gives you 250 Armor for 60 minutes
• Elixir of Lesser Fortitude: This increases your Health by 120 for 60 minutes.
• Lesser Mageblood Elixir: This lets you regenerate 6 Mana every 5 seconds for 30 minutes.
• Lesser Arcane Elixirr: This gives you 15 Spell Power for 30 minutes.
• Lesser Trollsblood Elixir: This lets you regenerate 6 Health every 5 seconds for 60 minutes.
• Elixir of Fire Power: This gives you 10 Fire damage for 30 minutes.
• Elixir of Wisdom: This gives you 6 Intellect for 60 minutes.
• Lesser Spellblasting Potion: This increases your Spell Power by 11 for 30 Seconds.

• Fish Bowl comes from Fishing and gives you 8% to all stats. This is very helpful while leveling. It shares with Blessing of Kings.
• Faction Banner comes from Tailoring and gives you spirit which greatly buffs your Life Tap. It shares with Divine Spirit.
• Camp Chair comes from Skinning and gives 2%. Critical Strikes for spells and attacks. Since our DoTs can critically strike, this is useful for Warlock. It shares with Moonkin Form
• Mana Well comes from Alchemy and give you Mana regeneration every 5 seconds. It gives you another way to recover Mana along side your drains and Life Tap. It shares with Blessing of Wisdom.
• Incense Candle comes from Herbalism and gives you Intellect, giving you a larger Mana pool. It shares with Arcane Intellect.
• Camp Tent is the best one you can get. This comes from Leatherworking and give you rested experience up to 5% of a level. It has no effect if you already have more than that amount stored.

• Keep your spells trained! Rank upgrades matter a ton, so visit your Warlock trainer regularly every two levels(2, 4, 6, 8, etc.) Afterwards, always check your spellbook and action bars after you train to make sure you are using the newest rank of the spell.
• Use Life Tap when you have enough Health to do so safely. Starting the next pull nearly dead defeats the purpose of gaining more Mana.
• Use a wand! Wand attacks are extremely useful at all the way into the 30's and remain a good way to finish weakened enemies without spending additional Mana. Keep upgrading your wand as better options become available.
• Watch for Nightfall. Once you have two points in Nightfall, your damage from Corruption, Drain Life, and Drain Soul can trigger Shadow Trance. When that procs, your next Shadow Bolt is able to be casted instantly one time. Keep an eye out for this in your Cooldown Manager so you don't miss it and waste the proc.
• Always have Soul Shards available. Once you learn Drain Soul at level 10, use it to often to replenish your Soul Shards and try to keep some on you at all times so you can summon another demon or make another Create Healthstone, Create Soulstone or summon a friend with Ritual of Summoning.
• Always make sure you have your armor buff active. Use Demon Skin at the start and switch to Demon Armor once you train it at Level 20. These cannot be used at the same time, so it will replace Demon Skin.
• Keep your spells trained! Rank upgrades matter a ton, so visit your Warlock trainer regularly every two levels(2, 4, 6, 8, etc.) Always check your action bars and spellbook after you train to make sure you are using the newest rank of the spell.
• Keep a stack of food and water in your bags at all times. You can buy food and water from many vendors like the General Goods Vendors located in most towns, or ask a friendly Mage to conjure some for you. Your drains and Life Tap reduce downtime by a lot, but there will still be situations where stopping to recover is the safest and fastest option.
• Check your class quests. This is the only way to get your Demon. Summon Imp is unlocked right when you start the game at Level 1. Summon Voidwalker at Level 10 Summon Succubus at Lastly Summon Felhunter at Level 30 with a even larger Soul Pouch.