Affliction Warlock DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.3

Due to the simplicity of determining upgrades with a simulation in the current era of the game, we recommend using the popular Raidbots tool to determine which pieces of gear offer the most potential for your character. The main reason why this is a huge advantage is due to the huge number of variables that differ from character to character, such as Azerite Traits, Stat Quotients, and Scale Factors.

The Top Gear function can be especially useful, as it allows you to compare multiple items and item types to find the best combination of upgrades.

Learning to use the tools available will allow you to reach the most accurate conclusions with the least effort. It is highly recommended you avail yourself of these tools, and they will serve you well when evaluating items.

Patch 8.3 added the Gouged Eye of N'Zoth as a reward from Corrupted Mementos. In order to maximize the upgrade value, the best approach is to socket a corrupted item of the highest item level available, with possibly the best corrupted roll, to ensure the greatest longevity. For more information, you can read our guide on Horrific Visions.

When identifying what gear you should be aiming after, we recommend using RaidBots' Droptimizer feature. It requires the SimulationCraft Addon. Once you have the addon installed, write "/simc" into the chat in-game, and copy-pasting the contents into the RaidBots Droptimizer.

Simply select the raid and difficulty you are interested in, and RaidBots will take a while to figure out where you should spend your bonus rolls, and more.

Here we have provided a list of the best available items from Ny'alotha, which may be advantageous for players who have little interest in Mythic+ dungeons or PvP.

When considering the usage of Seals of Wartorn Fate, it is often best to roll bosses that can provide Azerite Armor.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Visage of Nightmarish Machinations	N'Zoth the Corruptor in Ny'alotha
Shoulder	Spaulders of Miasmic Mycelia	Carapace of N'Zoth in Ny'alotha
Cloak	Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve	Legendary Cloak quest line
Chest	Robes of Unreality	The Prophet Skitra in Ny'alotha
Wrists	Void-Drenched Wristwraps	The Hivemind in Ny'alotha
Gloves	Emberscale Gloves	Wrathion, the Black Emperor in Ny'alotha
Belt	Binding of Dark Heresies	Dark Inquisitor Xanesh in Ny'alotha
Legs	Trousers of Peculiar Potency	Dark Inquisitor Xanesh in Ny'alotha
Boots	Psychic's Subtle Slippers	The Prophet Skitra in Ny'alotha
Ring #1	Logic Loop of Division	Mechagon Mythic+ chest, Mechagon Junkyard.
Ring #2	Overclocking Bit Band	Mechagon Mythic+ chest, Mechagon Workshop.
Main-hand	Shgla'yos, Astral Malignity	Carapace of N'Zoth in Ny'alotha
Off-hand	Uhnish Vwah	Dark Inquisitor Xanesh in Ny'alotha
Trinket 1	Manifesto of Madness	The Prophet Skitra in Ny'alotha
Trinket 2	Psyche Shredder	N'Zoth the Corruptor in Ny'alotha

This list illustrates some of the best available dungeon items for the Affliction Warlock specialization.

Bear in mind that this list is a template rather than an end point. We recommend simming using the Top Gear function to find the best setup for your character, which can depend on factors such as Talents, Azerite Traits, and Stat Distribution.

Many of these items can actually out-perform their "Raid Best in Slot" counterparts, particularly at extremely high item levels or if you are lucky enough to receive a Titanforged version of one of them.

Please refer to the Trinket Simulation section below for details on Trinkets.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Grasping Crown of the Deep	Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
Shoulders	Amice of the Returned	Gorak Tul (Waycrest Manor)
Cloak	Drape of the Loyal Vassal	Vol'kaal (Atal'Dazar)
Chest	Robes of the Reborn Serpent	Avatar of Sethraliss (Temple of Sethraliss)
Wrists	Iron-Kelp Wristwraps	Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
Gloves	Captain's Dustfinders	Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
Belt	Ouroborial Sash	Merektha (Temple of Sethraliss)
Legs	Bloodstained Sous Chef Pants	Raal the Gluttonous (Waycrest Manor)
Boots	Deranged Alchemist's Slippers	Rixxa Fluxflame (The MOTHERLODE!!)
Ring #1	Logic Loop of Division	Mechagon Mythic+ chest, Mechagon Junkyard.
Ring #2	Overclocking Bit Band	Mechagon Mythic+ chest, Mechagon Workshop.
Weapon	Staff of the Lightning Serpent	Adderis and Aspix (Temple of Sethraliss)

For information about what Azerite traits to choose and what the best items are, see our Azerite page.

Assuming normal item level drops and no corruption effect on trinkets, the best combination in Patch 8.3 is going to be Psyche Shredder and Manifesto of Madness. It is worth mentioning that Manifesto of Madness has positional requirements similar to Incandescent Sliver, so it may not be as effective in practice as it is on paper, depending on the situation.

Due to the removal of Titanforging and the addition of corrupted effects on trinkets, lower item level trinkets are generally obsolete and corruption rolls on gear are best simmed individually, assuming the corruption amount is affordable with a given loadout, the only notable exception is Azshara's Font of Power which remains a competitive option even against Mythic level Ny'alotha trinkets.

Throughout the lifetime of Patch 8.3, all items available to you may have a chance to become corrupted, granting them additional effects. These effects also carry a Corruption cost, which leads to harmful effects.

For information on how to obtain and use corrupted items, check out our Corrupted Items Guide.

The best way to determine which of your corrupted items to use is by using Raidbots Top Gear. You should set a maximum corruption value that you are comfortable with, and simply simulate the highest DPS set.

Warlocks in general have multiple tools to handle corruption effects, so getting higher corruption compared to other classes might not be as dangerous as one could think. For more information about how to handle those different effects check the //www.icy-veins.com/wow/affliction-warlock-pve-dps-faq.

Below we will have some guidance to help you pick effects, but ultimately it comes down to the amount of corruption the item has versus the DPS it gives you (DPS per corruption point), and how much corruption you are willing to have on your gear.

Infinite Stars is the best single target corruption effect, per point of corruption, and overall per item.

Gushing Wound only has 1 tier, but it is the second best DPS per corruption. You will most likely use this item early on, as corruption resistance still relatively low. When you have more corruption resistance, and you are still below your maximum corruption threshold, you can consider dropping Gushing Wound for an effect with slightly lower DPS per corruption point, but more overall DPS.

Echoing Void is a bit less DPS per point of corruption than Gushing Wound, but is still an efficient use of corruption. Additionally, it has three tiers instead of just one, meaning when you have more corruption resistance, you can start using higher tiers of this item. Last but not least, Echoing Void requires you to be in melee range, which may not be always an option.

All the percentage stat corruption effects are roughly similar in strength.

There are 2 types of simulations that can be done for the corruption effects, namely: DPS per point of corruption, and DPS per effect. Generally speaking, DPS per point of corruption is more important than DPS per total effect, since you only have a limited amount of corruption you can comfortably use in a raid setting. Below we have listed both types of simulations: