Affliction Warlock DPS Easy Mode — The War Within Pre-Patch

This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty or 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.

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 the number of targets. Despite that, it is a good specialization for all levels of players, and you can streamline it to a simple set of priorities.

For newcomers, it is advisable to browse the Spell Summary page first to learn more about the abilities available and to familiarise yourself with them.

If you are looking to maximize your output as Affliction Warlock instead of simplicity and ease of use, you can find more in-depth analysis and rationale on our talent page as follows:

Currently, you will want to prioritize secondary stats as follows:

1. Mastery ≅ Haste;
2. Critical Strike;
3. Versatility.

In general, Intellect is more critical 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 of the stats and their implications, check out the page below.

If you are interested in finding out about the specific best-in-slot items from the current tier, or want more information on how to gear, we suggest reading the full gearing page below.