Affliction Warlock DPS Spell List and Glossary — Season 4

If you are new to the Affliction Specialization, this is a great place to start reading and begin breaking down the key spells that hold together this specialization. This page will discuss your specialization's abilities, how they influence gameplay and resource generation, how they interact, and your cooldowns. If you have some experience with Affliction already, it is recommended to skip over this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

To utilise abilities more efficiently, check out the Macros section on the Addon page.

Soul Shards are the main resource of Affliction Warlocks. Soul Shards are generated by your main damage over time spell, Agony, and can be spent on powerful new spells.

Mana is a secondary resource for Affliction Warlocks. Your main spells do not cost much Mana to cast and will never threaten your Mana pool. Utility spells, such as Demonic Gateway, and Crowd Control abilities, such as Fear, cost more Mana than ever before, so be wary about using them too liberally.

This page lists all available abilities after reaching the max level. If you are still leveling, check out the Warlock Leveling page, which offers detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

These abilities are available no matter what talents you choose and form the bread and butter of this specialization.

For more information on using these abilities together in your rotation, please read our Rotation page.

DoTs deal damage every few seconds, with the tick rate being determined by the player's Haste.

Agony is your primary DoT spell, and it is the most important. Agony has a long ramp-up time, gaining damage with every tick, and it has the chance to generate Soul Shards. Maintaining this effect at all times is essential due to the resources it provides and its stacking nature.

Corruption is a medium-strength DoT. You should keep this applied to your targets at all times.

Shadow Bolt is your main filler spell. Shadow Bolt has a short cast time and deals moderate damage.

While leveling, Warlocks will learn to summon different demons, each offering a unique set of abilities and, therefore, better suited for specific situations.

Summon Imp is the first Demon available, offering ranged attacks and a defensive dispel. It is better suited for scenarios where having an additional defensive dispel that does not come from a player is valuable. When there are frequent target swaps, a melee demon without a charge will waste precious seconds.

Summon Voidwalker is the second Demon and the first melee. Sporting high armor, Taunt, and AoE is the better option to tank damage or to deal AoE.

Summon Sayaad offers the unique debuff that increases the damage taken from the Demon by up to 10% and slows the target by 50% while also offering Seduction as an additional form of crowd control. It is best suited for PvP and pure single-target damage.

Summon Felhunter is the only baseline pet with an interrupt and an offensive purge, making it desirable in those situations.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Unending Resolve	-	The baseline defensive cooldown, combining damage reduction and interrupt and silence immunity.
Fear	-	The iconic Warlock ability that allows to disorient a target for the duration, or until they suffer enough damage to snap out of it. It has no cooldown but is limited to 1 target at any time and has a relatively high mana cost.
Curse of Weakness	CoW	Slows target attack speed, mostly useful against enemies (or classes) that hit hard with their auto attacks.
Healthstone	HS	Unique consumables created by Warlocks that restore 25% of the target's total health with 3 charges, using Create Healthstone or later Create Soulwell.
Health Funnel	-	Initially sacrifices player health to heal over time the current pet, generally used to extend the survivability of the minion while under pressure.
Drain Life	DL	Channeled spell that transfers health from the target to the player, first and foremost, a defensive tool to recover health points at the expense of lower damage output.
Eye of Kilrogg	-	Summon a separate entity which the player control instead of the character, allowing to remotely scout locations without putting the caster in danger.
Unending Breath	UB	Enables underwater breathing and, most importantly, increases swim speed.
Subjugate Demon	-	Enable to take control of any non-boss Demon and use it as a main pet for its duration.
Soul Leech	-	Passive that rants an absorption shield for 8% of all single target damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of maximum player health.
Soulstone	SS	Powerful utility that can be used both preemptively and reactively to resurrect a player in combat.
Command Demon	-	Condense in a single keybind your Demon's most relevant active abilities: Imp: Singe Magic; Voidwalker: Shadow Bulwark; Sayaad: Seduction; Felhunter: Devour Magic.
Ritual of Doom	-	Allows to summon a Doomguard with the aid of 4 more players.
Ritual of Summoning	-	Allows the Warlock to create a summoning stone and summon party/raid members.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Fel Domination	FelDom	Reduces the next Demon summon cast time by 6 seconds and removes the Shard cost.
Demonic Circle	TP	Allows to place a rune for 15 minutes and to teleport to that location while removing movement slowing effects.
Burning Rush	BR	Toggle ability that provides movement speed bonus and a minimum speed of 100% at the expense of Warlock health as long as it is active.
Curses of Enfeeblement	CoT/CoEx	Grant access to both Curse of Tongues and Curse of Exhaustion.
Howl of Terror	HoT	A disorient ability that can affect up to 5 targets within 10 yards of the Warlock. It works similarly to Fear but can hit multiple targets and is instant cast, making it valuable in PvP.
Mortal Coil	Coil	Horrify effect that incapacitates a target for 3 seconds but, above all, heals the Warlock for 20% of their total health. Extremely valuable both in PvP and PvE.
Amplify Curse	-	Empowers the next curse application. Abilities that apply a curse to multiple targets will also benefit from this activity.
Banish	-	Allows for phasing a Demon or Aberration out, preventing any actions and making them immune.
Demonic Gateway	Gate, Gateway	Creates two points which players can travel between by interacting. Players may only use the gateway once every 90 seconds.
Dark Pact	DP	Sacrifices a portion of the caster's current health to provide a much greater shield. It can be used while crowd-controlled. Its low cooldown and strength of the shield is one of the main reasons warlocks are considered very durable and survivable.
Shadowfury	SF	The only AoE stun Warlocks have access to. Valuable in dungeons and PvP alike.
Shadowflame	-	Offers a powerful slow in a cone in front of the caster.
Summon Soulkeeper	SK	Pulses AoE damage based on the number of souls stored. One soul is stored every 20 seconds periodically and for every enemy slain. Maximum of 10 souls stored.
Soulburn	Sburn	Consumes a shard to enhance the next selected spell. The Drain Life and Healthstone is the strongest defensive option while being the one with the highest usability across all the various situations. The other choices can be equally powerful but are answers to particular scenarios.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Fel Pact	-	Reduces the cooldown of Fel Domination, increasing the frequency of use.
Demon Skin	-	Empowers the Soul Leech class trait offering passive generation while in combat and a maximum total shield possible.
Fel Armor	-	Empowers Soul Leech by staggering a portion of the damage received and offering passive damage reduction.
Fiendish Stride	-	Reduces the health cost of Burning Rush while also increasing the bonus movement speed.
Abyss Walker	-	Offers a very moderate damage reduction after using either Demonic Gateway or Demonic Circle.
Demonic Embrace	-	increases stamina.
Demonic Inspiration	-	Increases pet attack speed each time the Warlock generates a full shard.
Wrathful Minion	-	Provides a pet damage boost whenever the Warlock generates a full shard.
Demonic Fortitude	-	Increases the Warlock and their pet's maximum health.
Teachings of the Satyr	-	Reduces Amplify Curse cooldown.
Accrued Vitality	-	Adds a healing over time component to Drain Life.
Sweet Souls	-	Increase Healthstone heal and makes it, so any party/raid member that uses one of the warlock healthstones also heal the Warlock themselves for the same amount.
Nightmare	-	Increase the amount of damage the targets will suffer before breaking from a Feared effect.
Horrify		Fear causes targets to tremble in place instead of fleeing.
Lifeblood	-	Grants the caster leech after using a healthstone.
Gorefiend's Resolve	-	Increases the amount of health and Mana a player will have when resurrected with a Soulstone
Strength of Will	-	Increases the damage reduction component of Unending Resolve
Dark Accord	-	Reduces the cooldown of Unending Resolve.
Ichor of Devils	-	Reduces the amount of health sacrificed for the same shield value.
Frequent Donor	-	Reduces Dark Pact cooldown.
Socrethar's Guile	-	Increases Agony damage.
Sargerei Technique	-	Increases Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul damage.
Dark Fury	-	Increases Shadowfury range by 2 yards and reduces its cooldown.
Fel Synergy	-	Provides constant background healing for the Warlock and their pet.
Soul Link	sl, link	Transfer 10% of the damage taken by the Warlock to their pet instead. When using Grimoire of Sacrifice, it provides extra stamina.
Teachings of the Black Harvest	-	Enhance pet's utility ability with a corresponding minor bonus effect.
Resolute Barrier	-	Provide cooldown reduction on Unending Resolve whenever the caster suffers damage instances greater than a percentage of their maximum health.
Grimoire of Synergy	GoSyn	Give 2 different buffs with 2 separate chances to increase the damage of the player and their pet.
Profane Bargain	-	Increases the damage transferred to the pet while below the health threshold.
Soul Conduit	SC	Gives a chance for every Shard spent to be refunded.
Demonic Resilience	-	Reduces the chance the Warlock will be critically hit and also reduces the damage their pet takes.
Grim Feast	-	Makes Drain Life deals damage and, subsequently heal faster.
Inquisitor's Gaze	-	Periodically summons an invulnerable guardian that deals moderate single target damage.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Malefic Rapture	MR	The main Soul Shard spender spell, both in a single target and to a certain extent during multi-target situations. The ability does damage for each periodic effect on any target within range as long as they are in a line of sight of the caster.
Unstable Affliction	UA	The hardest-hitting DoT is limited to 1 target at a time. If the target dies while it is active, it generates a Soul Shard.
Seed of Corruption	SoC	An AoE ability that costs 1 Soul Shard and embeds a seed in your target, which explodes after 12 seconds and spreads Corruption to all targets damaged. The seed is detonated early if the target takes enough damage from you. This ability is used for damage on large AoE packs. It deals moderate damage and spreads your Corruption to every target without investing in additional global cooldowns to apply it.
Drain Soul	DS	Replaces Shadow Bolt with a channeled ability that also deals twice the damage when the target is below the health threshold. If the target dies during the channel, Drain Soul generates a shard.
Siphon Life	SL	Another damage over time spell with 15 seconds duration, which heals for a percentage of the damage dealt.
Phantom Singularity	PS	Damage over time effect on the primary target, which also pulsates an AoE effect within 15 yards over 16 seconds and heals for 25% of the damage done. It has a 45s cooldown.
Vile Taint	VT	A targeted ground effect that triggers damage over time effect and applies Agony and Curse of Exhaustion to up to 8 targets.
Soul Swap	SS	Allows the application of Agony, Corruption and Unstable Affliction in the same cast at the cost of a shard.
Grimoire of Sacrifice	GoSac	Allows sacrificing the current Demon to inherit their Command Demon ability and a chance to deal with additional Single Target Shadow damage on their spells.
Haunt	-	Single target ability that increases the damage taken from the Warlock. Cooldown resets on kill.
Summon Darkglare	Dgl	Cooldown ability that extends every DoT on all enemies by 8 seconds and will deal increased damage based on the number of active DoTs at the time of summoning.
Soul Rot	SR	Damage over time ability that can hit up to 3 additional targets nearby for a portion of the damage. While the debuff is active casting Drain Life will also affect any target hit by Soul Rot.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Nightfall	NF	Makes Corruption have a chance each time it damages to make the next Shadow Bolt instant cast or Drain Soul channel 50% faster while also dealing increased damage.
Writhe in Agony	WiA	Increases the initial and max damage of Agony.
Sow the Seeds	StS	Adds up to 2 seeds for each cast of Seed of Corruption.
Shadow Embrace	SE	Stacking debuff on target that increases the damage they take from the Warlock.
Dark Virtuosity	HoS	Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul deal additional damage.
Kindled Malice	KM	Malefic Rapture and Seed of Corruption deal additional damage.
Agonizing Corruption	AgC	Significantly hasten Agony ramp-up time in AoE situations.
Absolute Corruption	AC	Increases Corruption damage and makes the duration permanent (limited to 24 seconds in PvP).
Pandemic Invocation	PaI	Add a flat damage and a chance to generate an entire shard every time DoTs are refreshed with 5 seconds or less on the target.
Inevitable Demise	ID	Massively increase the damage (and healing) of Drain Life turning the spell in a DPS increase at high stacks.
Soul Flame	SFl	Generates an AoE explosion when a target affected by any of the Warlock damage over time effect dies.
Focused Malignancy	FM	Increase the damage of Malefic Rapture on targets affected by Unstable Affliction.
Withering Bolt	WiB	Increases the damage of Shadow Bolt or Drain Life per each unique damage over time effect on the target.
Sacrolash's Dark Strike	sacro	Increases Corruption damage, and at each tick, it will extend by half a second, whatever Warlock Curse is active on the target.
Creeping Death	CD	Increases the frequency at which Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life and Unstable Affliction will damage the target.
Xavius' Gambit	XG	Passive damage increase for Unstable Affliction.
Tormented Crescendo	TCr	Gives your Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul a chance to make the next Malefic Rapture cost no shard and be instant when Agony, Corruption and Unstable Affliction are active on the target.
Seized Vitality	SeV	Increases Haunt initial damage and adds a heals at the end of its duration.
Malevolent Visionary	MV	Increases the scaling damage of Summon Darkglare while also extending its duration.
Wrath of Consumption	WoC	Increase the DoT damage up to 15% whenever a target is affected by either Corruption or Agony dies.
Soul-Eater's Gluttony	SEG	Reduces the cooldown of Soul Rot by 15/30 seconds.
Doom Blossom	DoB	Seed of Corruption explosions on target affected by Unstable Affliction will pulse AoE Shadow damage (while damaging the target itself).
Dread Touch	DT	Casting Malefic Rapture on targets affected by Unstable Affliction will increase the damage over time effects for 8 seconds.
Haunted Soul	HaS	Gives a passive damage increase to DoT on any target whenever Haunt is active.
Grand Warlock's Design	GWD	Reduces the cooldown of Summon Darkglare by 30 seconds.
Grim Reach	GR	Gives Summon Darkglare the ability to hit every target affected by at least one DoT, at half the damage of the main target(which is amplified by any DoT active on the main target at the time of summoning).
Dark Harvest	DaH	Increase Critical Strike and Haste for each target affected by Soul Rot.