Affliction Warlock DPS Stat Priority — Shadowlands Pre-Patch 9.0.1

The stat priority for an Affliction Warlock is:

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

This stat priority was determined using a SimulationCraft profile in standard BiS gear with normalized stats. It was meant to simulate a very "average" set of player gear, but you should refer to this information with care. It is highly recommended you sim yourself to determine which stats your character gets maximum benefit out of, as this is subject to change depending on your ratios.

The general rule is that you want a good balance between Haste and Mastery for single target, but as you add more targets in the scenario, Mastery gradually becomes our best stat, even above Intellect.

Most players will notice their stat priority shifts as they acquire higher item levels, due to the variance in scaling.

These statistics have been obtained by combining common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.

Your stat priority has a direct impact on your gem, enchant, and consumable choices, and you can find recommendations for all 3 on our dedicated page below.

With Patch 8.3, Corruption effects have been introduced as replacement for the Titanforged system, and this new system has bigger repercussions in the gearing process and how stats affect each character.

Starting with the more straightforward effects, those that increase by a flat % the rating of a given secondary, there are two implications:

• The more you have of a stat, the bigger the benefit will be from these Corruption effects;
• Inversely, if you drop a corruption effect that increases a secondary you do not stack, its benefits will be minimal.

So as a general rule, flat % values are directly proportional to how much of that stat your gear already has, and how good is that stat for a specific spec.

Secondary stat proc effects do not generally have a big impact on gearing, beside the fact that the least amount of a secondary you have, the more desirable the proc becomes, after factoring DPS per point of a given spec.

Spell proc Corruption effects instead play a major role in how secondary stat values can change. Specifically, as those effects such as Infinite Star have a hasted RPPM, and scale directly with Versatility and Critical Strike ratings, the result is an increased value of Haste/Critical Strike/Versatility, compared to Mastery.

Intellect is your primary stat. You should look for this stat in all of your upgrades. It provides you with Spell Power, which increases the damage of your spells.

Mastery, through Mastery: Potent Afflictions increases the damage of your DoTs ( Agony, Corruption, Seed of Corruption, and Unstable Affliction). Mastery does not affect your pets or Soul Shard generation at all.

Haste influences the cast speed of your spells and increases the number of ticks from your DoTs. This decreases the ramp up damage from Agony as well. Haste also reduces the global cooldown and scales with your pets. Since an increased number of DoT ticks also results in more Soul Shards, we can look at Haste as the stat that has the most effect on our resource generation.

Critical Strike increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and abilities.

Versatility is a flat-out damage done increase and damage taken reduction.