Affliction Warlock DPS Mythic+ Tips — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5

1. Mythic+ Introduction for Affliction Warlock

Mythic+ has become a large part of the World of Warcraft endgame, but the sheer amount of different variables has left many players feeling overwhelmed. The group composition, weekly affixes, the item level of the group, the keystone level, and the experience and comfort level of the group are just several of the factors that will influence how you approach each dungeon. The purpose of this page is to prepare you for the key differences that set Mythic+ apart from the typical World of Warcraft endgame experience, including talents and rotational anomalies that may not be obvious at first glance.

2. Affix List

2.1. Tier One Affixes

• Fortified increases the Health pool of all non-boss enemies by 20% and damage dealt by 30%.
• Tyrannical increases the Health pool of boss enemies by 40% and their damage dealt by 15%.

Fortified and Tyrannical are two affixes, one of which is always present on all Mythic+ Keystones, regardless of level. These affixes shift the focus of dungeons from boss damage to trash damage depending on the current affix. Affliction Warlocks excel in both Tyrannical and Fortified environments, providing both high single target and exceptional cleave.

2.2. Tier Two Affixes

• Raging increases the damage dealt by enemies below 30% by 100% until they die.
• Teeming adds additional trash mobs to certain packs throughout each dungeon.
• Bolstering buffs remaining enemies Health pools and damage dealt by 20% when an enemy dies nearby. To counter this affix, DPS all mobs down evenly and focus your casts into high Health mobs if there are any.
• Sanguine places a pool of blood on the ground when a mob is slain. This pool will heal remaining enemies who stay inside the zone and also damage players.
• Bursting forces enemy mobs to detonate when slain, afflicting the group with a stacking debuff that causes players to suffer 10% of their max Health in damage every four seconds..

2.3. Tier Three Affixes

• Volcanic spawns volcanic plumes underneath and around players when in combat with any enemy. When damaged by Volcanic, players suffer 50% of their maximum Health pool in damage. The more enemies you are in combat with, the more Volcanic that will spawn.
• Grievous afflicts players with a stacking DoT when they fall below 90%.
• Quaking will periodically attempt to interrupt casters by creating a damaging zone around each player. About 3 seconds after the zone forms, it will deal 20% maximum Health in damage to each player caught in the zone as well as interrupting any hard casts being finished during the shockwave.
• Explosive will occasionally spawn Explosive Orbs that need to be targeted and burned down within a short period of time or they will deal significant damage to the party.
• Necrotic debuffs the target of enemy melee swings with stacking healing reduction and minor DoT.
• Skittish reduces the amount of threat generated by tanks throughout the dungeon.

Focus on fitting in Unstable Afflictions when you have a moment to stand, while using the movement to continually cycle Agony on all targets.

2.4. Seasonal Affix

2.4.1. Season 2

Reaping is the Season 2 affix that replaced Infested. Every 20% of the Enemy Forces bar, Bwonsamdi will yell "Rise" and resurrect all the mobs you have defeated since the last wave before attacking you.

There are 3 types of mobs, with specific sets of spells they will use. Risen Souls will apply Reap Soul with every melee attack, Tormented Souls will cast Grave Bolt, and Lost Souls will cast a frontal ability called Shadow Smash and will release Expel Soul on death.

Keep an eye on the Enemy Forces bar to avoid triggering the zombie wave during a difficult pull. Try to kill every boss before reaching 100% of Enemy Forces completion, so you can avoid the final wave. In general, interrupt casters and AoE the whole pack at your own discretion.

3. Mythic+ Talents for Affliction Warlock

Level	Choices
15	✗ Nightfall	✗ Drain Soul	✓ Deathbolt
30	✓ Writhe in Agony	✓ Absolute Corruption	? Siphon Life
45	✗ Demon Skin	✓ Burning Rush	✓ Dark Pact
60	✗ Sow the Seeds	✓ Phantom Singularity	? Vile Taint
75	✓ Darkfury	? Mortal Coil	✓ Demonic Circle
90	✗ Shadow Embrace	✓ Haunt	? Grimoire of Sacrifice
100	✗ Soul Conduit	? Creeping Death	✓ Dark Soul: Misery

3.1. Talent Explanations

Most of our explanations are geared towards keystones that challenge the current item level of your group. If you are doing keystones that are well below the current power level of the group, you should default to our build recommended above, as you will likely be able to do pulls much larger than intended, which skews the talent choices towards AoE and burst focused choices rather than builds that support sustained damage.

3.1.1. Tier 1/Level 15

Deathbolt is the superior choice for many situations due to the high damage it provides. Effective on both bosses and trash, Deathbolt's power as a nuke is really nice to have.

Drain Soul seems like a competitive choice, but in mid level keys the enemies simply live too long for the trade off to be worth it. By the time you are collecting the Soul Shard returns, the rest of the trash pack is usually dying within seconds, rendering the bonus Shards less useful.

3.1.2. Tier 2/Level 30

Absolute Corruption is the neutral/passive choice for Mythic+ as it increases your AoE without compromising your single target, its main benefit is freeing some globals dedicated to corruption uptime.

Writhe in Agony should be taken on high Mythic+ keys as it greatly increases our multitarget damage. Its downside is that you need to cast more Seed of Corruption to maintain Corruption uptime without Absolute Corruption.

Siphon Life can be considered on Tyrannical weeks to increase damage on bosses, and is the superior choice for strict single/two target scenarios.

3.1.3. Tier 3/Level 45

Dark Pact is a great choice for challenging keystones, as the cooldown is often necessary to survive lethal boss abilities or the more difficult trash pulls.

Burning Rush is the best choice for any situation where you feel Dark Pact is unnecessary.

3.1.4. Tier 4/Level 60

Phantom Singularity provides strong AoE damage and remains the best choice for single target. This is the best choice for most situations.

Sow the Seeds is a potential option for groups doing very large pulls, however is currently overshadowed by Vile Taint in that niche.

If sustained AoE damage is your focus Vile Taint start outperforming everything else above 3 targets.

3.1.5. Tier 5/Level 75

Demonic Circle can be used creatively in some dungeons, such as to make certain bosses easier for yourself.

Darkfury can be used to provide more frequent access to AoE stuns. If you do not find yourself making use of Demonic Circle often in dungeons, take this talent and provide more crowd control.

Mortal Coil is another option if you need more/better Crowd Control in dungeons, while also offering a noticeable burst heal on demand.

3.1.6. Tier 6/Level 90

Haunt is typically our best choice for damage, regardless of the affixes.

Grimoire of Sacrifice is a small damage increase especially multitarget and can provide some utility and quality of life, as it grants the player the ability to interrupt casts from ranged or sacrifice Summon Voidwalker for an additional defensive cooldown.

3.1.7. Tier 7/Level 100

Creeping Death is the passive choice, not requiring any cooldown planning but being numerically worse than Dark Soul: Misery.

Dark Soul: Misery is the preferred choice as it offers both stronger sustained and incredible burst potential over the course of 30 seconds. If you expect hard packs and bosses this is the best choice.

4. Stat Priority for Affliction Warlock

1. Mastery
2. Intellect
3. Haste
4. Critical Strike >= Versatility

5. Pet Choice for Affliction Warlock

The Felhunter is the best choice in terms of single target damage and if you need interrupt or purge, consider swapping to Imp if you need a dispel.

If you are using Grimoire of Sacrifice we recommend sacrificing the Felhunter to provide your group with an extra interrupt. If you need an extra cooldown to survive, you can also sacrifice a Voidwalker before a difficult boss to gain access to the Shadow Bulwark cooldown.

6. Changelog