Affliction Warlock Guide - Talents, Rotations, Races & More

Level 30 Talents (21,0,0)

We're going deep into Affliction, All the talents are fantastic and we get to grab Siphon Life at the end to cause even more misery to our enemies.

1. Start off by putting 5 points into Improved Corruption. It's now an instant cast, yay!
2. Next put 3 points into Improved Drains and 2 points into Suppression.
3. Get 3/3 Fel Concentration and 2 points into Malediction.
4. Put 2 points into Nightfall and then finish Malediction with 3 more points.
5. Finally grab Siphon Life at level 30.

Level 60 Talents (36/11/4)

Here's a look at what we think the level 60 Affliction Warlock Talent Tree will look like. As mentioned above, this guide will be updated as we go through the beta and during launch to include any other Endgame Affliction Warlock Talent Trees, along with all the other information you need to excel in the endgame and Raids as a Warlock.

Playable Races

Alliance - Human & Gnome

Horde - Orc, Troll & Undead

Recommended Races

Gnome is quite possibly the best race in the game and the one you want to pick as Alliance. Eureka! reduces the cost of your next 3 abilities and gives them 10% increased damage. Expansive Mind gives you 5% more maximum mana. Escape Artist grants you immunity to Roots and Snares.

Troll is great since you’ll be fighting a lot of beasts in the early game and they have 5% increased damage to beasts. Their Berserking buff grants you 10% casting speed for 10 seconds and they also have Rapid Regeneration which allows you to restore 50% of your health every 3 minutes. This is especially great on warlock since you can use Life Tap to get all your Mana back between encounters, then use Rapid Regeneration to get all your health back without having to stop for a water break.

Orc is the other competitive Horde choice. Blood Fury boosts your Spell Power by 10% for 15 seconds. Shatter Curse grants immunity to Curses, Banes and reduces Magical Damage taken. Hardiness decreases stuns by 20%

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

The primary Skills you’ll use are Immolate, Corruption, Bane of Agony, Siphon Life, Drain Life, Fear & Life Tap. The general idea is to get all your Damage over Time up on an enemy and then either Fear them away or use Drain Life to do even more damage. You won't have Siphon Life life until you're level 30, when you get it just add it into your DOT rotation.

1. Cast Immolate to start the encounter since it's your only ability with a cast time in this spec. While you're casting it you should be sending in your Summon Voidwalker and have him cast Torment and Suffering to get aggro.
2. After you Immolate, cast Bane of Agony and Corruption on them. If you have multiple enemies Fear this enemy to get them off your Summon Voidwalker so he takes less damage.
3. Repeat this process on enemy #2 if there is one. put all 3 DOTS on them, then do the same for enemy #3 if needed.
4. Once all the enemies you're fighting have DOTs on them check your Fear target, he might be alive and coming for you. If they are just Fear them again! If the Fear is still going, target one of the enemies on you/your Voidwalker and use Drain Life to finish them off.
5. You have Nightfall, keep an eye on this and be aware if it ever procs. When it does cast an instant cast Shadow Bolt at whatever enemy seems the most threatening.

The common idea here is you can fight anywhere from 1-3+ enemies at a time with this spec if you play it right. Someone is running around with Fear, 1-2 enemies are on your Voidwalker dying at a rapid rate, and if 1-2 of them end up on you Drain Life will help kill them fast. You have Fel Concentration so you're Drain Life will be very effective even while being struck by enemies.

Remember if you're already at full health before you're about to use Drain Life that you can use Life Tap first to convert some of your health to mana so you aren't just wasting the health gained from it.

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

• Visit your Class Trainer often to get your new skills, levels 4, 6, 8, 10 & 20 are essential so you can learn Corruption, Life Tap, Bane of Agony, Drain Soul, Create Healthstone & Ritual of Summoning respectively. Don't forget you have a Pet Trainer as well and can learn Summon Voidwalker through a class quest at level 10 and Summon Succubus at level 20!
• Remember your Health as a Warlock can be seen as another Mana bar. Use Life Tap between encounters to convert your Health to Mana and eat/bandage to get your health back, this is usually faster and cheaper than drinking water the whole way.
• Remember to right click your pets abilities that you want them to auto cast by default. Summon Imp Fire Bolt, Summon Voidwalker Torment and Summon Succubus Lash of Pain are essential to have on auto cast whenever they're engaging in combat.
• Use your Drain Soul when a mob is about to die to generate Soul Shards. Soul Shards are essential so you canCreate Healthstone
• Ritual of Summoning is one of the most unique class abilities in the game. With 2 party members around to click the portal you can summon an ally to your location anywhere in Azeroth. You can even make some money doing this if you have some friends help you summon people to a far away location, or to help groups get their friends to their location when they don't have a Warlock. Make sure to stock up on those Soul Shards, you wont regret it!

A Warlocks Favorite Stats are Intellect and Stamina (remember health is mana!), Spirit is also decent but not as important for this class as some other casters. Intellect increases your maximum mana pool and increases your Spell Critical Strike Chance. Stamina increases your health and Spirit helps your Health and Mana regenerate faster when out of Combat. Prioritize Intellect and Stamina on items but don't be disappointed when a good item has Spirit on it

Group play is the exact same playstyle as your solo gameplay explained above. You can swap out the Summon Voidwalker for a Summon Imp when in a group since you wont need the Voidwalker to tank stuff for you. You also want to take Fear out of your rotation entirely unless you're using it to save the day from a chaotic pull.

just get all 3 DOTS up on every target, 4 DOTS once you have Siphon Life. Life Tap to get a bunch of your mana back so you can restore health from Siphon Life and then use Drain Life to get your health back to full while everything withers away. In Dungeons a lot of enemies will still be alive when your DOTS run out, use your judgement and either get a Immolate and Corruption back up on them or just keep using Drain Life to finish them off if they're nearly dead.

Wand Tips

For all casters the #1 tip for leveling is to obtain wands early and upgrade them often. Tailors can make Lesser and Greater Magic wands that deal incredible DPS for their level range. Either get the Tailoring Profession and make your own or head over to the auction house to buy one!

Loot has changed in WoW forever and the location of great wands may be different from original Classic. Here's a quick rundown of wands that you can look out for to stay on top of it:

• Level 5 - Lesser Magic Wand, 11.3 DPS (Tailoring or Auction House)
• Level 13 - Greater Magic Wand, 17.5 DPS (Tailoring or Auction House)
• Level 18 - Gravestone Scepter, 29 DPS (Blackfathom Villainy Quest in Ashenvale)

While the Gravestone Scepter is technically available at level 18, the dungeon itself has enemies in the high level 20 range. You likely won't be able to obtain it this early unless you have a group of high level guildies or friends just carry you through the dungeon. Aside form new wands being available up to level 30 in WoW Forever this is likely the best wand you'll be able to obtain in the BETA.

Other

Like melee classes Food and First Aid are you best friend on this class. Make sure to train First Aid early and keep your bandages relevant to your level. You'll be stopping to eat and bandage often since you'll be using Life Tap to restore you mana very often. This is a Warlocks biggest advantage over other casters.

Always keep your Soul Shards stocked up, nothing is worse than wishing you had one and realizing you have to go create one.

Auto Shoot Wand Macro

#showtooltip Shoot
/cast !Shoot

Pet attack and pet follow are the key basic macros while leveling up your warlock. I like to bind them individually to my mouse wheel. You can also combine pet attack with your Shadow Bolt to be able to push one button and get all hands on deck right away.

Pet Attack

/petattack

Pet Passive

/petpassive

Shadow Bolt / Pet Attack

#showtooltip Shadow Bolt
/petattack
/cast Shadow Bolt