Affliction Warlock PvP Guide — 12.1

Affliction Warlock received a substantial talent overhaul going into Season 2, with two talents removed and two new ones added. Alongside this, all three Warlock specializations had their snares nerfed in PvP combat.

• New talent Impetuous Wrath increases Shadow Bolt, Drain Soul, Malefic Grasp, and Dark Harvest damage by 10%, or by 20% if the target is affected by Haunt.
• New talent Hedonic Gorging increases Drain Life damage by 10%, causes Siphon Life to increase Corruption damage by an additional 10%, and makes Dark Harvest channel 10% faster while dealing 15% increased damage.
• Shard Instability has been redesigned. Damage dealt by Shadow Bolt or Drain Soul now has a 20% chance to make your next Unstable Affliction or Seed of Corruption cost no Soul Shards and cast instantly.
• Mark of Peroth'arn has been redesigned. Damaging critical strikes dealt by Wither deal 215% damage instead of the usual 200%, and damaging critical strikes dealt by Blackened Soul deal 225% damage instead of the usual 200%.
• Nocturnal Yield has been removed from the Affliction tree.
• Patient Zero has been removed from the Affliction tree.
• Haunt now increases your damage dealt to the target by 16% for 18 seconds (was 12%).
• Blackened Soul damage increased by 45%.
• Wither damage increased by 25%.
• Drain Life health drain increased by 25%.
• Zevrim's Resilience healing increased by 25%.
• Curse of Exhaustion movement slow reduced to 30% in PvP combat (was 50%).
• Whiplash movement slow reduced to 30% in PvP combat (was 50%).
• Bonds of Fel damage increased by 100%, and its radius increased to 12 yards (was 8 yards). Its visual has been updated to better show the boundary to enemies.
• Dampening now causes Dark Pact to decrease the amount of health it sacrifices.

Midnight brings significant changes to Affliction Warlocks by reducing the heavy button bloat previously present. The most significant change is the removal of Malefic Rapture, as well as the re-introduction of overlapping and stacking applications of Unstable Affliction.

Fundamentally, Affliction Warlock remains the same in terms of utility, CC, and defensives. The most significant change is the offensive portion, where stacking Unstable Affliction will be your primary way of dealing single target burst damage.

1. Addition of Shard Instability which allows you to get an instant Unstable Affliction proc.
2. Soul Rot has been removed.
3. Phantom Singularity has been removed.
4. Dark Harvest is a new burst damage cooldown that has been added, essentially replacing Soul Rot.
5. Agony now spreads to a nearby target, thanks to the new talent Shared Agony.

Important Note

Midnight also introduces Apex talents, with Affliction Warlock's Shadow of Nathreza specifically interacting with Haunt by increasing its damage dealt, as well as having a chance to proc a damage effect.