Affliction Warlock DPS Easy Mode — Shadowlands 9.0.5
On this page, we explain how to easily play Affliction Warlock in World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.0.5, using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of an Affliction Warlock
Affliction is a specialization that revolves around maintaining damage over time effects on your active targets. While it may not have many buttons, it requires careful attention to cooldowns and uptimes, with the level of complexity increasing with number of targets. Despite that, it is a good specialization for all levels of players, and it can be streamlined to a simple set of priorities.
For newcomers, it is advisable to browse the Spell Summary page first, in order to learn more about the abilities available and to familiarise yourself with.
Talent Choice for Affliction Warlock
These Talent recommendations are optimized for ease of use. If a talent requires significant optimization to provide DPS gains, we will instead recommend a competitive talent that requires less knowledge to make use of. See the Talents page for a full and objective evaluation of the Talent tree. These talents aim to present a strong build that has very little punishment for unfamiliarity or mistakes.
- Level 15:
Nightfall
- Level 25:
Absolute Corruption
- Level 30:
Burning Rush
- Level 35:
Phantom Singularity
- Level 40:
Mortal Coil
- Level 45:
Haunt
- Level 50:
Soul Conduit or
Dark Soul: Misery
If you are looking to maximise your output as Affliction Warlock instead of simplicity and ease of use you can find a more in-depth analysis and rationale on our talent page as follows:
Stat Priority for Affliction Warlock
Currently, you will want to prioritize secondary stats as follows:
- Mastery ≅ Haste;
- Critical Strike;
- Versatility.
In general, at the beginning of the expansion Intellect is more important than secondaries, about 2 if not 3 times better, depending on the secondary stat.
While stats priority is a general guideline, there might be situations where the lists differ. If you are interested in a detailed explanation on Stats with the effects and implications each one of those provides, head to the page below.
Single Target Rotation for Affliction Warlock
- Maintain the
Agony DoT.
- Maintain the
Unstable Affliction DoT.
- Maintain the
Corruption DoT.
- Cast
Malefic Rapture if you are at 5 Soul Shards (to avoid wasting Shards).
- Maintain
Haunt on the target.
- Cast
Phantom Singularity when available.
- Cast
Malefic Rapture during
Phantom Singularity debuff.
- Cast
Shadow Bolt as a filler.
Be sure to cast Summon Darkglare when you have the maximum amount of
DoTs applied. This will extend them and deal strong damage to the main target.
In most cases, you want to refresh your main DoTs, and
Phantom Singularity, then immediately Summon Darkglare. This combo
results in a very large damage spike, as you are able to chain multiple
Malefic Raptures with the maximum numbers of periodic effect on
target.
Try to not delay Summon Darkglare and instead manage your Soul Shards around
its cooldown.
Use Dark Soul: Misery on cooldown, so you can line it up with
Summon Darkglare at 6 minutes.
Multiple Target Rotation for Affliction Warlock
When at least 3 targets are stacked together, you should always use your
Seed of Corruption to apply and maintain
Corruption.
Keep
Agony applied to all targets (up to 5) for Soul Shard generation
and damage. Cast
Phantom Singularity on cooldown for damage.
Soul Shards are usually better spent on using Malefic Rapture
rather than spamming
Seed of Corruption unless you decide to talent
into
Sow the Seeds.
For a more comprehensive explanation on the priority list, including openers, check out the rotation page.
Changelog
- 09 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 17 Jan. 2021: Clarified shard usage on AoE.
- 24 Nov. 2020: Updated secondary stat priority in relationship with Intellect.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Warlock Guides
Guides from Other Classes
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.
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