Affliction Warlock DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within Pre-Patch

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 Addon 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 and 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.
Health Funnel	-	Initially sacrifices player health to heal over time the current pet, generally used to extend the survivability of the minion while under pressure.
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.
Curses of Enfeeblement	CoT/CoEx	Grant access to both Curse of Tongues and Curse of Exhaustion.
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.
Amplify Curse	-	Empowers the next curse application. Abilities that apply a curse to multiple targets will also benefit from this activity.
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.
Shadowflame	-	Offers a powerful slow in a cone in front of the caster.
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.

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.
Abyss Walker	-	Offers a very moderate damage reduction after using either Demonic Gateway or Demonic Circle.
Demonic Embrace	-	increases stamina.
Demonic Inspiration	-	Increases pet attack speed each time the Warlock generates a full shard.
Wrathful Minion	-	Provides a pet damage boost whenever the Warlock generates a full shard.
Demonic Fortitude	-	Increases the Warlock and their pet's maximum health.
Teachings of the Satyr	-	Reduces Amplify Curse cooldown.
Accrued Vitality	-	Adds a healing over time component to Drain Life.
Sweet Souls	-	Increase Healthstone heal and makes it, so any party/raid member that uses one of the warlock healthstones also heal the Warlock themselves for the same amount.
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.
Lifeblood	-	Grants the caster leech after using a healthstone.
Strength of Will	-	Increases the damage reduction component of Unending Resolve
Dark Accord	-	Reduces the cooldown of Unending Resolve.
Ichor of Devils	-	Reduces the amount of health sacrificed for the same shield value.
Frequent Donor	-	Reduces Dark Pact cooldown.
Socrethar's Guile	-	Increases Agony damage.
Sargerei Technique	-	Increase Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul damage.
Dark Fury	-	Increases Shadowfury range by 2 yards and reduces its cooldown.
Swift Artifice	-	Cast time reduction on Soulstone and Create Healthstone.
Demonic Tactics	-	Passive critical strike chance and additional critical strike chance from gear rating.
Teachings of the Black Harvest	-	Enhance pet's utility ability with a corresponding minor bonus effect.
Resolute Barrier	-	Provide cooldown reduction on Unending Resolve whenever the caster suffers damage instances greater than a percentage of their maximum health.
Fel Synergy	-	Provides constant background healing for the Warlock and their pet.
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.
Demonic Resilience	-	Reduces the chance the Warlock will be critically hit and also reduces the damage their pet takes.
Pact of Gluttony	PoG	Warlock Healthstones can be used by the caster every minute, without being limited to one per combat.
Soul Conduit	SC	Gives a chance for every Shard spent to be refunded.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Malefic Rapture	MR	The main Soul Shard spender spell, both in a single target and to a certain extent during multi-target situations. The ability does damage for each periodic effect on any target within range as long as they are in a line of sight of the caster.
Unstable Affliction	UA	The hardest-hitting DoT is limited to 1 target at a time. 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.
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.
Phantom Singularity	PS	Damage over time effect on the primary target, which also pulsates an AoE effect within 15 yards over 16 seconds and heals for 25% of the damage done. It has a 45s cooldown.
Vile Taint	VT	A targeted ground effect that triggers damage over time effect and applies Agony and Curse of Exhaustion to up to 8 targets.
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.
Haunt	-	Single target ability that increases the damage taken from the Warlock. Cooldown resets on kill.
Summon Darkglare	Dgl	Cooldown ability that extends every DoT on all enemies by 8 seconds and will deal increased damage based on the number of active DoTs at the time of summoning.
Soul Rot	SR	Damage over time ability that can hit up to 3 additional targets nearby for a portion of the damage. While the debuff is active casting Drain Life will also affect any target hit by Soul Rot.
Oblivion	OB	Channeled ability that deals extreme damage single target for its duration, costing 2 shards and with a 45-second cooldown.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Writhe in Agony	WiA	Increases the initial and max damage of Agony.
Dark Virtuosity	HoS	Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul deal additional damage.
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.
Kindled Malice	KM	Malefic Rapture and Seed of Corruption deal additional damage.
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.
Volatile Agony	VA	Refreshing Agony within the threshold inflicts Shadow Damage in a Area, centered around the target.
Improved Shadow Bolt	ISb	Reduces cast time and increases the damage of Shadow Bolt.
Summoner's Embrace	SuE	Passive increase in Warlock and Pet damage.
Shadow Embrace	SE	Stacking debuff on target that increases the damage they take from the Warlock.
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.
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.
Infirmity	Inf	Increases the number of initial stacks of Agony when applied by Vile Taint, and increases the damage taken from targets damaged by Phantom Singularity.
Improved Haunt	ImH	Haunt deals increased direct damage, applies 1 stack of Shadow Embrace and has reduced cast time.
Malediction	Mal	Passive Critical Strike chance increase for Corruption, Agony and Unstable Affliction.
Malevolent Visionary	MV	Increases the damage of Summon Darkglare while also providing a burst of damage at the beginning.
Contagion	Co	Passive Critical Strike damage increase for Corruption, Agony and Unstable Affliction.
Cull the Weak	CtW	Provides a damage increase for Malefic Rapture as the spell hits additional targets in its cast.
Creeping Death	CD	Increases the frequency at which Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life and Unstable Affliction will damage the target.
Tormented Crescendo	TC	Gives your Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul a chance to make the next Malefic Rapture cost no shard and be instant when Agony, Corruption and Unstable Affliction are active on the target.
Xavius' Gambit	XG	Passive damage increase for Unstable Affliction.
Focused Malignancy	FM	Increase the damage of Malefic Rapture on targets affected by Unstable Affliction.
Perpetual Unstability	PU	Reduces cast time of Unstable Affliction, and refreshing the spell within the threshold causes additional damage on the target.
Malign Omen	MO	Soul Rot casts grant 3 stacks of a buff which gives Malefic Rapture damage increase and dot extension.
Relinquished	Re	Slightly increases Agony shard generation.
Withering Bolt	WiB	Increases the damage of Shadow Bolt or Drain Life per each unique damage over time effect on the target.
Improved Malefic Rapture	IMR	Malefic Rapture get a damage increase and a reduction in cast time.
Death's Embrace	DE	Increases Drain Life healing when the Warlock health is below the threshold and increases the damage of Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction and Malefic Rapture when the target health is below the threshold.
Dark Harvest	DH	Gives the Warlock a temporary Haste and Critical Strike chance increase for each target affected by Soul Rot.
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.
Malefic Touch	MT	Adds an additional damage instance to each target hit by Malefic Rapture.