Affliction Warlock DPS Spell List and Glossary — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

If you are new to the Affliction Specialization, this is a great place to start reading and begin breaking down the key spells that hold together this specialization. This page will discuss your specialization's abilities, how they influence gameplay and resource generation, how they interact, and your cooldowns. If you have some experience with Affliction already, it is recommended to skip over this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

To utilise abilities more efficiently, check out the Macros section on the Add-on page.

Soul Shards are the main resource of Affliction Warlocks. Soul Shards are generated by your main damage over time spell, Agony, and can be spent on powerful new spells.

Mana is a secondary resource for Affliction Warlocks. Your main spells do not cost much Mana to cast and will never threaten your Mana pool. Utility spells, such as Demonic Gateway, and Crowd Control abilities, such as Fear, cost more Mana than ever before, so be wary about using them too liberally.

This page lists all available abilities after reaching the max level. If you are still leveling, check out the Warlock Leveling page, which offers detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

These abilities are available no matter what talents you choose. They form the bread and butter of this specialization.

For more information on using these abilities together in your rotation, please read our Rotation page.

DoTs deal damage every few seconds, with the tick rate being determined by the player's Haste.

Agony is your primary DoT spell, and it is the most important. Agony has a long ramp-up time, gaining damage with every tick, and it has the chance to generate Soul Shards. Maintaining this effect at all times is essential due to the resources it provides and its stacking nature.

Corruption is a medium-strength DoT. You should keep this applied to your targets at all times.

Shadow Bolt is your main filler spell. Shadow Bolt has a short cast time and deals moderate damage.

While leveling, Warlocks will learn to summon different demons, each offering a unique set of abilities and, therefore, better suited for specific situations.

Summon Imp is the first Demon available, offering ranged attacks and a defensive dispel. It is better suited for scenarios where having an additional defensive dispel that does not come from a player is valuable. When there are frequent target swaps, a melee demon without a charge will waste precious seconds.

Summon Voidwalker is the second Demon and the first melee. Sporting high armor, Taunt, and AoE is the better option to tank damage or to deal AoE.

Summon Sayaad offers the unique debuff that increases the damage taken from the Demon by up to 10% and slows the target by 50% while also offering Seduction as an additional form of crowd control. It is best suited for PvP and pure single-target damage.

Summon Felhunter is the only baseline pet with an interrupt and an offensive purge, making it desirable in those situations.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Unending Resolve	UR	The baseline defensive cooldown, combining damage reduction and interrupt and silence immunity.
Fear	-	The iconic Warlock ability that allows to disorient a target for the duration, or until they suffer enough damage to snap out of it. It has no cooldown but is limited to 1 target at any time and has a relatively high mana cost.
Curse of Weakness	CoW	Slows target attack speed, mostly useful against enemies (or classes) that hit hard with their auto attacks.
Healthstone	HS	Unique consumables created by Warlocks that restore 25% of the target's total health with 3 charges, using Create Healthstone or later Create Soulwell.
Drain Life	DL	Channeled spell that transfers health from the target to the player, first and foremost, a defensive tool to recover health points at the expense of lower damage output.
Eye of Kilrogg	-	Summon a separate entity which the player control instead of the character, allowing to remotely scout locations without putting the caster in danger.
Unending Breath	UB	Enables underwater breathing and, most importantly, increases swim speed.
Subjugate Demon	-	Enable to take control of any non-boss Demon and use it as a main pet for its duration.
Soul Leech	-	Passive that rants an absorption shield for 8% of all single target damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of maximum player health.
Soulstone	SS	Powerful utility that can be used both preemptively and reactively to resurrect a player in combat.
Command Demon	-	Condense in a single keybind your Demon's most relevant active abilities: Imp: Singe Magic; Voidwalker: Shadow Bulwark; Sayaad: Seduction; Felhunter: Devour Magic.
Ritual of Doom	-	Allows to summon a Doomguard with the aid of 4 more players.
Ritual of Summoning	-	Allows the Warlock to create a summoning stone and summon party/raid members.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Fel Domination	FelDom	Reduces the next Demon summon cast time by 6 seconds and removes the Shard cost.
Demonic Circle	TP	Allows to place a rune for 15 minutes and to teleport to that location while removing movement slowing effects.
Burning Rush	BR	Toggle ability that provides movement speed bonus and a minimum speed of 100% at the expense of Warlock health as long as it is active.
Curse of Exhaustion	CoEx	Reduces target movement speed.
Curse of Tongues	CoT	Reduces target cast speed.
Howl of Terror	HoT	A disorient ability that can affect up to 5 targets within 10 yards of the Warlock. It works similarly to Fear but can hit multiple targets and is instant cast, making it valuable in PvP.
Mortal Coil	Coil	Horrify effect that incapacitates a target for 3 seconds but, above all, heals the Warlock for 20% of their total health. Extremely valuable both in PvP and PvE.
Banish	-	Allows for phasing a Demon or Aberration out, preventing any actions and making them immune.
Demonic Gateway	Gate, Gateway	Creates two points which players can travel between by interacting. Players may only use the gateway once every 90 seconds.
Dark Pact	DP	Sacrifices a portion of the caster's current health to provide a much greater shield. It can be used while crowd-controlled. Its low cooldown and strength of the shield is one of the main reasons warlocks are considered very durable and survivable.
Shadowfury	SF	The only AoE stun Warlocks have access to. Valuable in dungeons and PvP alike.
Soulburn	Sburn	Consumes a shard to enhance the next selected spell. The Drain Life and Healthstone is the strongest defensive option while being the one with the highest usability across all the various situations. The other choices can be equally powerful but are answers to particular scenarios.
Blight of Weakness	BoW	A stronger AoE Curse of Weakness with a much shorter duration and a cooldown.
Blight of Tongues	BoT	A stronger AoE Curse of Tongues with a much shorter duration and a cooldown.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Fel Pact	-	Reduces the cooldown of Fel Domination, increasing the frequency of use.
Demon Skin	-	Empowers the Soul Leech class trait offering passive generation while in combat and a maximum total shield possible.
Fel Armor	-	Empowers Soul Leech by staggering a portion of the damage received and offering passive damage reduction.
Fiendish Stride	-	Reduces the health cost of Burning Rush while also increasing the bonus movement speed.
Demonic Embrace	-	increases stamina.
Nightmare	-	Increase the amount of damage the targets will suffer before breaking from a Feared effect.
Horrify		Fear causes targets to tremble in place instead of fleeing.
Demonic Fortitude	-	Increases the Warlock and their pet's maximum health.
Infernal Beneficiary	IB	Healing done with Drain Life also affects primary demon at a larger rate.
Pact of the Annihilan	PoA	Increases Critical Strike chance.
Pact of the Satyr	PotS	Increases Haste.
Improved Mortal Coil	-	Increases cast range and healing done by Mortal Coil.
Foul Mouth	FM	Allows curses to affect all enemies within 10 yards of the target.
Empowered Healthstone	EHS	Increase the healing done by Healthstone
Abyss Walker	-	Offers a very moderate damage reduction after using either Demonic Gateway or Demonic Circle.
Fortified Soul	FS	Increase Soul Leech shield.
Teachings of the Black Harvest	-	Enhance pet's utility ability with a corresponding minor bonus effect.
Gorefiend's Avarice	GA	Fasten both channeling and healing done by Drain Life.
Ichor of Devils	-	Reduces the amount of health sacrificed for the same shield value.
Frequent Donor	-	Reduces Dark Pact cooldown.
Pact of the Eredar	-	Increases Intellect
Pact of the Nathrezim	-	Increases Leech
Demonic Resilience	-	Reduces the chance the Warlock will be critically hit and also reduces the damage their pet takes.
Empowered Drain Life	EDL	Increases the amount of heal granted by Drain Life and allows the spell to contribute towards Soul Leech shield.
Strength of Will	-	Increases the damage reduction component of Unending Resolve
Dark Accord	-	Reduces the cooldown of Unending Resolve.
Swift Artifice	-	Cast time reduction on Soulstone and Create Healthstone.
Soul Link	sl, link	Transfer a percentage of the damage taken by the Warlock to their pet instead. When using Grimoire of Sacrifice, it provides extra stamina.
Frequent Traveler	FT	Reduces the cast time and allows a second use of Demonic Gateway before incurring in its cooldown.
Fel Synergy	-	Provides constant background healing for the Warlock and their pet.
Oppressive Darkness	OD	Reduces cooldown and increases radius of Shadowfury, Reduces cooldown and increase target count to 10 for Howl of Terror.
Pact of Gluttony	PoG	Warlock Healthstones can be used by the caster every minute, without being limited to one per combat.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Unstable Affliction	UA	Single Target Soul Shard spender. Stacks up to 5 times on the same target, any subsequent application will replace the oldest while adding the remaining damage to its DoT. If the target dies while it is active, it generates a Soul Shard.
Seed of Corruption	SoC	An AoE ability that costs 1 Soul Shard and embeds a seed in your target, which explodes after 12 seconds and spreads Corruption to all targets damaged. The seed is detonated early if the target takes enough damage from you. This ability is used for damage on large AoE packs. It deals moderate damage and spreads your Corruption to every target without investing in additional global cooldowns to apply it.
Haunt	-	Single target ability that increases the damage taken from the Warlock. Cooldown resets on kill.
Drain Soul	DS	Replaces Shadow Bolt with a channeled ability that also deals twice the damage when the target is below the health threshold. If the target dies during the channel, Drain Soul generates a shard.
Dark Harvest	DH	A channeled spell that hits every target in line of sight with at least 1 Damage over Time effect and heal for a portion of the damage dealt.
Summon Darkglare	Dgl	Cooldown ability that amplifies any outgoing DoTs while damaging the primary target for the duration.
Grimoire of Sacrifice	GoSac	Allows sacrificing the current Demon to inherit their Command Demon ability and a chance to deal with additional Single Target Shadow damage on their spells.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Nightfall	NF	Makes Corruption have a chance each time it damages to make the next Shadow Bolt instant cast or Drain Soul channel 50% faster while also dealing increased damage.
Shared Agony	SA	Increases Agony damage and allows for a second target to be affected each application. Priorities targets that do not have Agony already.
Improved Shadow Bolt	ISb	Reduces cast time and increases the damage of Shadow Bolt.
Improved Haunt	ImH	Haunt deals increased direct damage, applies 1 stack of Shadow Embrace and has reduced cast time.
Absolute Corruption	AC	Increases Corruption damage and makes the duration permanent (limited to 24 seconds in PvP).
Siphon Life	SL	Increases Corruption damage and heals the Warlock for a portion of the damage dealt.
Cunning Cruelty	CuC	Gives a chance to both Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul to trigger a Shadow Bolt Volley that hits up to 5 targets.
Withering Bolt	WiB	Increases the damage of Shadow Bolt or Drain Soul per each unique damage over time effect on the target.
Creeping Death	CD	Increases the frequency at which Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life and Unstable Affliction will damage the target. Does not affect Shard or Nightfall generation.
Practiced Pestilence	-	Increase Mastery
Summoner's Embrace	SuE	Passive increase in Warlock and Pet damage.
Cull the Weak	CtW	Spending shards reduces the cooldown of Dark Harvest.
Malediction	Mal	Passive Critical Strike chance increase for Corruption, Agony and Unstable Affliction.
Sudden Onset	SO	Increases Agony damage and initial stack count.
Eye Contract	EC	Increases the duration of Summon Darkglare.
Malefic Grasp	MG	Replaces Shadow Bolt or Drain Soul for the duration of Summon Darkglare with a new channeled ability that deals damage and every tick will force a partial tick from existing DoT effects on the target.
Nether Plating	NP	Increase Summon Darkglare damage and allows it to cleave up to 5 targets.
Sacrolash's Dark Strike	sacro	Increases Corruption damage, and at each tick, it will extend by half a second, whatever Warlock Curse is active on the target.
Contagion	Co	Passive Critical Strike damage increase for Corruption, Agony and Unstable Affliction.
Shard Instability	SI	Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul damage have a chance to make the next Unstable Affliction cost no shard and be instant cast.
Niskaran Methods	NM	Increase Corruption and Agony damage.
Potent Soul Shards	-	Increase Unstable Affliction and Seed of Corruption damage.
Nocturnal Yield	NY	Increase Corruption damage and allow to convert Nightfall procs in instant cast free Seed of Corruptions.
Xavius' Gambit	XG	Cast time reduction and damage increase for Unstable Affliction.
Ravenous Afflictions	RA	Critical strikes from Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction have a chance to grant Nightfall. The effect is a RPPM therefore does not scale with the number of targets.
Seeds of Destruction	SoD	Reduce cast time and increase the damage of Seed of Corruption.
Fatal Echoes	FE	When the most recent Unstable Affliction expires there is a chance for an automatic reapplication.
Cascading Calamity	CC	Casting Unstable Affliction on a target already affected by the debuff give a Haste buff for a duration. Does not stack.
Death's Embrace	DE	Increases the damage of Shadow Bolt, Drain Soul, Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction and Seed of Corruption when the target health is below the threshold.
Patient Zero	PZ	Increase the damage of Seed of Corruption.
Sow the Seeds	StS	Adds two additional detonation for a portion of the damage provided there are sufficient targets.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Wither	-	Replaces Corruption with a more powerful DoT that deals Shadowflame damage.
Xalan's Ferocity	-	Increases Fire damage and Fire spells gains more Critical Strike chance.
Blackened Soul	BS	DoT effect that triggers from Wither stacks collapsing.
Xalan's Cruelty	-	Increases Shadow damage and Shadow spells gains more Critical Strike chance.
Through the Felvine	-	Increase the damage of baseline shard spenders.
Curse of the Satyr	CoS	Adds Curse of Tongues effect to Curse of Weakness.
Aura of Enfeeblement	-	Affects every enemies within 30 yards with both Curse of Tongues and Curse of Weakness while Unending Resolve is active.
Hatefury Rituals	HR	Wither deals more damage but has a reduced duration.
Bleakheart Tactics	BT	Wither deals more damage and Blackened Soul has a chance to guarantee more than 1 stack.
Zevrim's Resilience	-	Dark Pact also heals you.
Illhoof's Design	-	Reduce your maximum health to guarantee a bigger Soul Leech maximum shield.
Devil Fruit	DF	Wither has a chance to guarantee Malevolence.
Mark of Xavius	-	Increase Agony and Blackened Soul damage.
Seeds of Their Demise	SotD	Guarantee to collapse Wither at 8 stacks or when the target is below 20% health. Blackened Soul damage has a chance to trigger Shard Instability.
Mark of Peroth'arn	-	Wither critical hits deal more damage and have a chance to add 1 extra stack.
Alzzin's Iniquity	-	Malevolence grants additional Haste and casting it increase the stacks even further.
Malevolence	malev	Cooldown that deals high damage on every target affected by Wither, increase current ongoing stacks and grants extra Critical Hit and Haste to the player. Casting Shard Spending abilities increase the stacks on every target each time.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Demonic Soul	-	Enables the generation of Succulent Soul which will invoke a Demonic Entity for some damage when used.
Necrolyte Teachings		Increases the damage of Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul.
Soul Anathema	-	Demonic Soul triggers an additional damage over time effect.
Demoniac's Fervor	-	Demonic Soul deals more damage on targets affected by Unstable Affliction.
Manifested Avarice	-	Each Demonic Soul has an increased chance to trigger another damage effect.
Gorebound Fortitude	-	Healthstone always have the Soulburn effect.
Friends In Dark Places	-	Increase Dark Pact shield.
Shared Fate	sf	Killing an enemy trigger an AoE pulse effect that last few seconds.
Feast of Souls	FoS	Killing an enemy guarantees the next Shard to be a Succulent Shard.
Eternal Servitude	-	Reduces the cooldown on Fel Domination.
Gorefiend's Resolve	-	Soulstone resurrect targets with more Health and Mana.
Shared Vessel	-	Increase Mastery, doubled when a Demonic Entity is active.
Wicked Reaping	-	Increase Demonic Soul damage. Consuming Nightfall triggers another damage event.
Quietus	-	Increase Soul Anathema damage and activating Nightfall will trigger Shared Fate or Feast of Souls.
Sataiel's Volition	-	Haunt grants Nightfall, and Corruption deals damage faster.
Eternal Hunger	-	Increase the duration and damage of Manifested Avarice
Shadow of Death	-	Dark Harvest grants 3 Succulent Soul shards.