Affliction Warlock Leveling Guide from 1 to 90 — Midnight Season 1

Affliction Warlock being a DoT specialization offers a very efficient leveling experience consisting of tagging multiple mobs with either Agony or Corruption while moving towards the next target or area. The damage over time, coupled with the pet, is generally strong enough to leave the targets severely weakened, if not outright dead, by the time they can be finished off with AoE spells.

Curses, crowd controls, and pet off-tank can substantially reduce the amount of incoming damage, promoting aggressive play, while all the personal defensive cooldowns offer a degree of safety even when overpulling.

For bigger enemies, such as Elites or Rares, sustaining your Voidwalker is usually the priority while slowly whittling them down, as the threat generated by the pet cannot match heavy spender bursts.

If this is your first character, or you simply want to find out more about leveling in WoW in general, we got you covered!

When leveling up, you should always choose the piece of loot with the highest item level. If the item levels are equal, you should choose the piece with stats that are most favorable to your specialization. If your current item is an Heirloom, it should not be replaced.

While the most important aspect of Heirloom is the bonus Experience, to get most out of their stats allocation, you want to prioritize Intellect, then Haste, then Critical Strike. The reason behind this is that Haste generally offers a smoother combat experience while increasing your DPS in a homogeneous way, unlike Critical Strike, which is still important but less consistent by nature.

Being able to cast faster offers the advantage of tagging mobs quicker and overall has a nicer feeling when most of the actions complete quicker.

If you are just starting your journey into Midnight, we have a Level 80 import string for you. You can follow the point-by-point allocation of the below tree once you start gaining levels in Midnight.

Below, you can see the suggested leveling talent build and the order in which to pick the talents while leveling.

Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!

Starting at Level 1, you only have one main attack ability: Shadow Bolt.

1. Level 11 — maintain Agony on the target. Prioritise it over Corruption when tagging mobs.
2. Level 17 — Cast Haunt on the main target.
3. Level 13 — spend shards on Unstable Affliction if there is 1 to 2 targets. Consider casting it on dying enemies to gain 1 Shard in the process.
4. Level 33 — cast Dark Harvest after having at least 1 dot applied to every targets you are in combat with.
5. Level 2 — the first DoT becomes available Corruption, which should be used to tag and soften up multiple enemies whenever spamming a few shadow bolts will not kill them quicker.
6. Level 37 — Cast Summon Darkglare after having applied as many Damage over Time effects as possible.
7. Level 15 — Seed of Corruption is unlocked, and is your shard spender when there are 3 or more targets.

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 is a large increase in your ability to survive and sustain.
2. Bane of Shadows causes damage over time effects to strike an additional time for 20% of their original damage while active. This offers a little bit of extra burst damage on a short cooldown.
3. Rampant Afflictions is great in multitarget as Unstable Affliction is now our hardest hitting damage over time.
4. Gateway Mastery should always be considered to expedite your whereabouts in closed spaces where mounts are not usable.
5. Bonds of Fel can offer further AoE burst when kiting targets around.

Summon Imp is your first available demon but is best suited to Raid Environments. This pet is not particularly useful for leveling, but you have no choice for the early levels.

If you are leveling alone, Summon Voidwalker can be a helpful choice while leveling up, as it takes a lot of the pressure off you. Avoiding casting pushback can also increase leveling speed.

Summon Felhunter can be a good choice if you are leveling in a group or venturing into dungeons. The extra interrupt is helpful for dealing with troublesome caster mobs.

TipsHealing Your Demon

Do not forget to keep your Demon healthy in combat using Drain Life with Infernal Beneficiary.

TipsDo Not Underestimate Curses!

With the introduction of Foul Mouth Curses are now easier than ever to utilise in most pulls and situations, and knowing which one to use in what scenario can alleviate pressure on the group.

• Curse of Tongues reduces cast speed and work on any ability that can be interrupted
• Curse of Weakness delays the time between melee attacks and should be used when pulls are mostly comprised of melee mobs
• Curse of the Satyr is unique to Hellcaller and combines the above two curses
• Curse of Exhaustion is a movement speed slow, helpful for kiting but otherwise more situational

Listed below are several consumables that can be leveraged to quicken the leveling process and are generically beneficial regardless of tuning.

The War Within enchants will still work throughout the leveling process, and can help augmenting character speed. Prioritize the following:

• Enchant Boots - Scout's March
• Enchant Cloak - Chant of Burrowing Rapidity
• Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Speed

Combat potions give a burst of power and if anything its best to use them before they become irrelevant at max level.

Mostly aimed at speeding up the traversal and navigation.

• Goblin Glider Kit
• Gunshoes or Potion of the Reborn Cheetah
• Light-Step Hoofplates
• Thunderous Drums
• Draught of Silent Footfalls
• Fried Bonefish or Bear Tartare