Affliction Warlock DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — 12.0.5

Over the course of the first Season of Midnight, Affliction talent selections have consolidated towards a specific playstyle, in no small amount thanks to weekly bugfixes. While there might still be some nuanced options, below are the current recommendations.

• Single Target— Soul Harvester is the better single target option, extending its lead when cleaving a small amount of targets, or when quick AoE burst is involved in encounters. Hellcaller can be played, but there is no encounter in Season 1 where it is strictly better.
• AoE— Soul Harvester is better in weekly keys, or when a pull takes less than 45 seconds or so on average. Hellcaller offers more AoE without sacrificing much single target (in a Mythic+ setup), especially as the target count increases, however it is both more demanding in terms of individual play and less flexible in regards to pull cadence.

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The builds listed above are popular recommendations, covering various different loadouts suited to each style of endgame content. Each Talent Build will have it's own rotation, and can also be manipulated further for specific types of content and to better benefit your group.

Combat Information

Rotations and Mythic+

Want to dive deeper? These guides will teach you how to utilize our Talent Builds in endgame content!

RotationMythic+

Available during the leveling in Midnight, these talents are separated from the rest of the spec tree and require subsequent points investment in order to unlock the later ranks.

1. Shadow of Nathreza
2. Shadow of Nathreza
3. Shadow of Nathreza

These talents bolster Haunt damage and damage amplification but do not alter the use case of the spell, as such the standard behaviour of casting the spell on cooldown is unaffected.

Available at level 71 Hero talents are mutually exclusive trees you can choose to slightly alter gameplay and visuals. Affliction Warlocks can choose between Hellcaller and Soul Harvester.

Hellcaller is themed around Shadowflame damage and harder hitting DoTs. Wither replaces Corruption and can generate a second Shadowflame DoT effect in Blackened Soul. The Hero tree offers a more methodical approach to shard expenditure with Malevolence bolstering burst windows every minute.

In terms of utility Curse of the Satyr offers a debuff that is relevant on both melee and caster enemies without the need to choose and is especially relevant with Foul Mouth being added in patch 12.0.

Soul Harvester identity lies in spending shards very aggressively, in order to benefit from the various DoT effects triggered, and generating more Nightfall procs through Sataiel's Volition.

As for utility Gorebound Fortitude guarantees stronger Healthstones without the need of Soulburn shards, Friends In Dark Places increase the active mitigation, and Gorefiend's Resolve brings Soulstone on par with alternative combat resurrection spells.

Under our Talents section, there is the option to enter "War Mode." Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

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

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, you should enable the feature. In most situations, this will allow maximum returns despite the risks. You will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Affliction Warlock-specific PvP talents.

1. Essence Drain stacks a damage reduction effect on enemies that are damaged by your Drain Life. You can reduce their damage by up to 25%, which greatly increases your ability to survive and sustain.
2. Bonds of Fel allows to burst targets by dragging them away from the marked location.
3. Gateway Mastery increases your gateway's range by 20 yards and reduces the duration of the debuff placed on players using it by 15 seconds, making it a good choice when increased mobility is needed.
4. Nether Ward summons a shield lasting 3 seconds and reflecting all harmful spells targeted at you.
5. Call Observer is only relevant when dealing with a lot of casting mobs.

1. Rampant Afflictions increase the target limit for Unstable Affliction to 3.
2. Call Observer guards a location for 20 seconds; any enemies that cast spells in the radius will take up to 5% of maximum Health as damage. This has a lot more limited use but can have absurd value in specific situations.
3. Rot and Decay can be handy in situations with high sustained damage intake. Combining this with Essence Drain dramatically increases your survivability and sustainability and opens many doors for soloing difficult content.

Motoko

Guide Author

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This guide has been written by Motoko, Warlock main since The Burning Crusade, co-admin in the Warlock Discord, and theorycrafter and contributor for LockOneStopShop.