Affliction Warlock DPS Easy Mode — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.3

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.

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.

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: Deathbolt
• Level 30: Absolute Corruption
• Level 45: Burning Rush
• Level 60: Phantom Singularity
• Level 75: Demonic Circle
• Level 90: Haunt
• Level 100: Dark Soul: Misery

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

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

In general, you want a bit more Haste than Mastery for single target, while leaning towards Mastery the more targets are involved.

For single-target, use Condensed Life-Force's Guardian of Azeroth once you unlock Rank 3 in raid, or if you want to further increase your 3-minute burst window; in open world content The Crucible of Flame's Concentrated Flame is a well rounded and competitive choice.

Essence of the Focusing Iris's Focused Azerite Beam is a must for dungeons and anything involving 2 or more targets.

For single-target situation, pick any of the following minors:

• Breath of the Dying's Lethal Strikes;
• The Crucible of Flame's Ancient Flame;
• Conflict and Strife's Strife;
• Essence of the Focusing Iris's Focused Energy, if you are not swapping targets frequently;
• The Unbound Force's Reckless Force.

When dealing with multiple targets, consider opting for at least one of the following:

• Blood of the Enemy's Blood-Soaked;
• Purification Protocol's Purification Protocol, when targets are stacked.

1. Maintain the Agony DoT.
2. Maintain the Corruption DoT.
3. Apply Unstable Affliction if you have full Soul Shards.
4. Maintain Haunt on the target.
5. Cast Phantom Singularity when available.
6. Cast Deathbolt when available.
7. Maintain the Unstable Affliction debuff for the 10% damage increase it provides.
8. 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, apply 5 Unstable Afflictions and Phantom Singularity, then immediately Summon Darkglare and cast Deathbolt. This combo results in a very large amount of burst and some impressive sustained damage while the Darkglare persists.

Try to not delay Summon Darkglare and instead manage your shards around its cooldown.

Use Dark Soul: Misery on cooldown, so you can line it up with Summon Darkglare at 6 minutes.

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 Unstable Affliction to buff the Agony and Corruption damage on each target rather than spamming Seed of Corruption. When you reach true AoE scenarios with an extreme number of targets, Soul Shards should be used to fund Seed instead.