Affliction Warlock PvP Guide in Battle for Azeroth (BfA 8.0.1)

Table of Contents

• +1. Spec Overview / Place in the Current Meta for Affliction Warlocks
  • 1.1. Strengths of Affliction Warlocks
  • 1.2. Weaknesses of Affliction Warlocks
• +2. Talent Choices for Affliction Warlocks
  • 2.1. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 2.2. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 2.3. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 2.4. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 2.5. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 2.6. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 2.7. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
• +3. PvP Talents for Affliction Warlocks
  • 3.1. War Mode
    • 3.1.1. Bonuses of War Mode
    • 3.1.2. War Mode Bounties
    • 3.1.3. Air Drops
  • 3.2. Trinket Talent
  • 3.3. PvP Talents
  • 3.4. PvP Gear
    • 3.4.1. Conquest Points
    • 3.4.2. Obtaining Gear
• +4. Racial Bonuses for Affliction Warlocks
  • 4.1. Horde
  • 4.2. Alliance
• +5. Playstyle for Affliction Warlocks
  • 5.1. Before Gates Open
  • 5.2. Offensive Playstyle
    • 5.2.1. The Opener
    • 5.2.2. Burst Damage
    • 5.2.3. Sustained damage
  • 5.3. Defensive Techniques
• +6. Best Team Compositions for Affliction Warlocks
  • 6.1. 2v2 Arena
  • 6.2. 3v3 Arena
• +7. Useful Macros for Affliction Warlocks
  • 7.1. Fear 123 Macro
  • 7.2. Fear Focus Macro
  • 7.3. Spell Lock Focus Macro
  • 7.4. Mouseover Banish Macro
  • 7.5. Mouseover Corruption Macro
  • 7.6. Mouseover Agony Macro
  • 7.7. Mouseover Unstable Affliction Macro
• 8. ChangeLog

Introduction

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to play an Affliction Warlock in a PvP environment. The guide will cover everything from talent choices, PvP talents, gameplay and rotation, and useful racial bonuses. It is most applicable to Arena content, but most talents and racial bonuses will work in Rated Battlegrounds and skirmishes.

About The Author

This guide has been written by Mysticall, a seasoned PvP player who has repeatedly achieved Arena Master and 2500 rating. You can watch his stream on Twitch, and you can also check out his YouTube channel.

1. Spec Overview / Place in the Current Meta for Affliction Warlocks

Affliction Warlocks are in an excellent spot in terms of 3v3 Arena. They not only have the strongest spread pressure, but they also have the ability to burst enemy players down. If left unchecked for even a few seconds, they can easily apply their DoTs and begin melting entire teams. Even if an Affliction Warlock is being focused by enemies, most of their damage is instant and will slowly pressure down teams.

1.1. Strengths of Affliction Warlocks

• Great spread damage
• Strong crowd control
• Multiple interrupts

1.2. Weaknesses of Affliction Warlocks

• Lack of mobility
• Struggle to stay alive against melee teams
• Very few defensive cooldowns

2. Talent Choices for Affliction Warlocks

Regular talents work in both PvP and PvE content (although they may sometimes work differently in the two environments, which is indicated by their tooltips). In other words, they are always active.

On the other hand, PvP talents (which we talk about later on in the guide) are inactive outside of a PvP environment, unless you have enabled War Mode.

2.1. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents

Deathbolt is the best choice in this tier. This gives you a strong, instant spell that is an overall increase to your sustained damage.

2.2. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents

Absolute Corruption is the best choice in this tier. This makes your Corruption significantly stronger and is an increase to your spread pressure.

2.3. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents

Dark Pact is the best choice in this tier. This is a great tool to increase your survivability. The only downside to this talent is that it sacrifices 20% of your health. This means you need to keep track of your health at all times. Use this talent when you are high on health. If you find yourself low on health often, or have a hard time tracking your health, Demon Skin is another option. It is slightly weaker, but a great passive defensive.

2.4. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents

Phantom Singularity is the best choice in this tier. This talent is the best choice because it deals a good amount of damage, as well as healing you for 25% of the damage done.

2.5. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents

Demonic Circle is the best choice in this tier. This is a strong talent to have to help you get away from incoming damage, or to reposition with your team.

If you are playing against a team and will not have to kite damage often, Mortal Coil is a better choice. This allows you to crowd control an enemy and also heal for a large amount.

2.6. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents

Grimoire of Sacrifice is the best choice in this tier. The abilities that this talent gives your pets makes it the best talent in this tier.

A quick note on pets: Against a team that has multiple magic crowd control for your healer ( Hammer of Justice, Polymorph, Fear), you should sacrifice your Imp for Singe Magic. Against any other composition, you should sacrifice your Felhunter for Spell Lock.

2.7. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents

Dark Soul: Misery is the best choice in this tier. This is a very strong offensive burst cooldown.

3. PvP Talents for Affliction Warlocks

PvP talents are typically only available in PvP content, but War Mode (explained below) allows you to also benefit from them in the open world.

As you will see below, the PvP talents are very flexible. Depending on what classes you are playing with and against, you can adjust your talents to better suit your team's goal. You must choose:

• 1 trinket talent, out of 3 possible choices;
• 3 PvP talents, out of a pool of about a dozen possible choices.

3.1. War Mode

War Mode is a new PvP system added in Battle for Azeroth. War Mode can be toggled on and off in any major city. When it is enabled, you are able to use your PvP talents in the open world, and because you will be fighting enemies of the other faction, you also get an experience bonus while leveling. Do note that this makes you vulnerable to being killed by players of the other faction.

3.1.1. Bonuses of War Mode

Enabling War Mode provides the following perks.

• The ability to use all PvP talents in the outdoor world. You do not need to be in PvP combat to use them.
• You can earn Conquest Points.
• You gain +10% experience while leveling.
• There are PvP achievements you can earn.
• At maximum level, you get a +10% World Quest reward bonus.

3.1.2. War Mode Bounties

If you kill too many players in a single zone, there will be a bounty put on you. Everyone in that zone will know your exact location. You can see the location of players with a bounty by checking your map. Killing players with a bounty on them rewards Conquest Points and is part of an achievement called Bounty Hunting. Bounty Hunting is part of a meta achievement called Conqueror of Azeroth / Conqueror of Azeroth that rewards the title Conqueror of Azeroth.

3.1.3. Air Drops

From time to time, a flying machine will make its way across the sky. The rumble of its engine is a clear indicator that something is afoot. You'll want to keep an eagle eye on the sky and watch for a War Supply Crate to drop somewhere in the zone. Similar to the chest in Gurubashi Arena, players can fight over the crate and claim it for their faction. Once a faction has gained control of the crate, anyone of that faction who is within the area will have a short period to open it and collect a piece of personal loot.

As long as you have War Mode on, an air supply drop will be dropped every 20 minutes. Once it has landed, it was stay on the ground until it is looted. The crate will contain Azerite Power, Gold and Conquest Points.

3.2. Trinket Talent

The first PvP talent tier will give you a choice between Gladiator's Medallion, Relentless, and Adaptation. Gladiator's Medallion is the best choice in this tier. It is great for removing crowd control on you that your healer cannot dispel. You will normally save your trinket for a stun, followed by Demonic Circle: Teleport.

3.3. PvP Talents

You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents. Each of them has their uses, but some are better for certain strategies than others. The top three choices are the most useful, but can be replaced with other PvP talents, depending on your team's goal.

Gateway Mastery increases the range of your Demonic Gateway by 20 yards, and reduces the cast time by 30%. It also reduces the time between how often players can take your Demonic Gateway by 15 sec. This is a crucial talent no matter what team you are playing against. This allows your team to avoid incoming damage or reposition more often.

Rot and Decay increases the duration of your Unstable Affliction, Corruption and Agony on the target each time your Drain Life deals damage, by 1 second. This is an overall large increase to your sustained damage.

Nether Ward surrounds the caster with a shield that lasts 3 sec, reflecting all harmful spells cast on you. This is a strong talent against classes with magical spells. It is also important to note that this can also reflect interrupts from some melee classes (Demon Hunter, Death Knights or Enhancement Shaman).

Curse of Weakness reduces the target's Physical damage dealt by 25% for 10 sec. This is a talent that should be chosen when playing against melee DPS. If there is only 1 melee DPS on the team, you can replace Rot and Decay for this talent. If there are two, you can replace Nether Ward instead.

Endless Affliction increases the duration of your Unstable Affliction, but the damage remains the same. This talent is helpful versus teams with multiple interrupts, as it gives you more time to use Unstable Affliction. You can replace Nether Ward with this talent.

3.4. PvP Gear

Gear is what determines how strong a player is in PvP. The better gear you have, the stronger your abilities are. There are several ways to receive gear from PvP. One important way to get gear is by completing the weekly conquest point cap. You will receive gear at the end of the week based on your rating. For example, if you played and won at Rival in 3v3, you will receive a reward with an item level based on your ranking at the end of the week. It is important to note that, if you are rated at a Rival level in 3v3, but only do 2v2 that week, you will not receive a piece of gear unless you won a game in the 3v3 bracket. The following are the names and ratings of all of the brackets:

• Combatant: 1400-1599;
• Challenger: 1600-1799;
• Rival: 1800-2099;
• Duelist: 2100-2399;
• Gladiator: 2400+.

3.4.1. Conquest Points

Every week, there will be an empty bar in your PvP queue tab. If you earn enough Conquest Points to fill it, you will receive a piece of gear. When you complete a set, you can receive higher tiers of gear. Conquest points can be earned by doing the following:

• Rated Arenas;
• Rated Battlegrounds;
• Normal Battlegrounds;
• Epic Battlegrounds;
• World PvP.

3.4.2. Obtaining Gear

You will obtain gear by earning Conquest Points. The following are the three ways to receive loot in PvP.

• At the end of an Arena match, there is a chance to receive a piece of gear. This gear is based on your Arena Rating.
• After you win a Rated Battleground or win your first Battleground of the day, you will get a piece of gear and earn Conquest Points.
• Once you earned enough Conquest Points for the week, you will unlock a new weekly reward. This gear is based on your rating.

It is important to note that the gear you get from capping your conquest points is predetermined in a specific order. There are mechanics for players to get gear quicker if they have not played a character for awhile.

4. Racial Bonuses for Affliction Warlocks

Racial bonuses can provide interesting PvP benefits. Here are the best races to choose for each faction.

4.1. Horde

Orc is the best race for Affliction Warlocks, thanks to the passive Orcs have ( Hardiness) reducing all stuns, which greatly improves survivability.

4.2. Alliance

The Human bonus ( Every Man for Himself) is a great way to escape stuns.

5. Playstyle for Affliction Warlocks

The Affliction Warlock has two roles when in an Arena: keep applying spread pressure and survive. Affliction Warlocks are powerful because they have strong AoE damage and the ability to crowd control enemy teams. Most of your damage will come from your instant-cast DoTs ( Agony and Corruption) and you will score kills with Unstable Affliction. What makes this specialization tricky is determining when to use your Unstable Afflictions. It is important to note that healers can dispel this and you should try to use this spell when they do not have a dispel at the ready. If you are in a situation where you have 5 Soul Shards and the enemy healer is able to dispel, use Unstable Affliction on multiple enemies and not just one. You will survive by using Fears on enemies. You can also use your Demonic Gateway to create distance between you and foes.

5.1. Before Gates Open

Have a plan for who you will be mainly using your crowd control on. Affliction Warlocks are able to use their main crowd control, Fear or Mortal Coil.

You should also use Create Soulwell to create Healthstones for you and your teammates.

5.2. Offensive Playstyle

5.2.1. The Opener

The opener refers to your team's opening crowd control chain and damage done as soon as you get out of the gates. The main goal in the opener is to force your enemies to use their cooldowns.

If the enemy healer uses their trinket in the opener, they are in trouble. In the opener, Affliction Warlocks should focus on applying their DoTs to every enemy on the other team.

This is the rotation you should use on your target at the beginning of the game.

1. Cast Demonic Gateway from your pillar to another part of the map.
2. Use Demonic Circle (if talented into it) and place it behind a pillar.
3. Apply and maintain Agony on all enemies.
   • Agony is your biggest source of damage and spread pressure.
   • It is very important to keep it active on all enemies, including pets, at all times.
   • This helps you generate Soul Shards much quicker.
4. Apply and maintain Corruption on all enemies.
5. Once you have Agony and Corruption on all enemies, start using Drain Life to extend the durations of them.
6. Once you have at least 3-4 Soul Shards and the enemy healer in crowd control, you will be able to use your burst rotation.

5.2.2. Burst Damage

The best talent setup for Affliction Warlocks is the "spread pressure" build for strong spread damage. It is important to note that you should be focusing on spread pressure rather than single target. With that said, the following is how you will burst if you have crowd control on the enemy healer and are trying to secure a kill.

1. Use Dark Soul: Misery.
2. Refresh Agony.
3. Refresh Corruption.
4. If the enemy healer cannot dispel, do the following on your kill target:
   1. Use Phantom Singularity
   2. Cast Unstable Affliction
   3. Cast Unstable Affliction.
   4. Use Deathbolt.
   5. Use Summon Darkglare.
   6. Channel Drain Life.
5. Do the following if the enemy healer can dispel:
   1. Use Unstable Affliction on multiple enemies.
   2. When the enemy healer dispels, cast Unstable Affliction on your kill target.
   3. Cast Unstable Affliction on your kill target.
   4. Use Deathbolt.
   5. Use Summon Darkglare.
   6. Channel Drain Life.

5.2.3. Sustained damage

Sustained damage is damage you do when your burst cooldowns are not available.

1. Maintain Agony on all enemies.
   • Never let this fall off any enemies at any point of the Arena match.
2. Maintain Corruption on all enemies.
3. Once you have Agony and Corruption on all enemies, channel Drain Life to extend your DoTs.
4. Cast Unstable Affliction on a single enemy if the enemy healer cannot dispel, or on multiple enemies if they can.
5. Cast Shadow Bolt as a filler.

5.3. Defensive Techniques

Unending Resolve is your primary defensive ability and should be used if your healer has no defensive cooldowns and you are at high health. You cannot use this when you are stunned. You will not be interrupted while this is active, so you can use this time to cast Fear to stay alive or Unstable Affliction for damage.

Dark Pact is a great defensive, but it comes with a price. You have to make sure that you use this ability at high health or classes like Warrior will take advantage of their Execute. Besides that drawback, this will help you survive against teams with high sustained and burst damage.

Healthstone should be used when you are at very low health and your healer does not have defensive cooldowns to keep you alive.

Demonic Circle, if talented, should be placed away from the enemy team, but close to your healer. Make sure you coordinate when you will be using this, so your team can position themselves accordingly. You will want to use this when the enemy team is using their offensive cooldowns and you need to create distance between you and them. Use the same concept when you need to take Demonic Gateway.

Curse of Weakness should be used on a melee DPS to prevent incoming Physical damage.

Curse of Tongues should be used on a caster DPS to prevent or slow down incoming spell damage.

6. Best Team Compositions for Affliction Warlocks

Now that you have the correct talents and understand your damage rotation, it is time to step into the arena with your team. Affliction Warlocks do not have much burst damage, but if they get a chance to cast, they have the ability to rot entire teams.

6.1. 2v2 Arena

In 2v2 Arena, there are not many options. Your primary goal is to get a full Fear on the enemy healer and use multiple Unstable Afflictions on the enemy DPS. If you cannot fear the enemy healer, try to make them use their dispel. This will allow you to cast and apply DoTs, without having to worry about them being dispelled. It is very important that you maintain all of your DoTs on as many targets as you can. Agony should not expire. Make sure to cast Unstable Afflictions on multiple targets so the enemy healer cannot dispel them all at once.

Here is a list of the best team compositions for 2v2:

• Affliction Warlock + Holy Paladin;
• Affliction Warlock + Restoration Shaman;
• Affliction Warlock + Restoration Druid;
• Affliction Warlock + Discipline Priest.

6.2. 3v3 Arena

Your role in 3v3 is similar to 2v2 Arena. Make sure to maintain your DoTs on all enemies, including pets. It is best to be playing with another caster, so you are not the only person being interrupted. Try to use your burst rotation when the enemy team does not have any interrupts. Use Fear on the enemy healer and have one of your teammates stun your kill target. It is important to note that Fear should also be used to help your teammates. If you or a teammate is struggling to stay alive, use Fear on an enemy DPS without a trinket. If they both have trinkets, use it on whichever enemy you want. Make sure to cast Unstable Afflictions on multiple targets so the enemy healer cannot dispel them all at once.

Here is a list of the best team compositions for 3v3:

• WLS (Affliction Warlock + Arms Warrior + Holy Paladin/Restoration Shaman);
• FLS (Affliction Warlock + Feral Druid + Restoration Shaman);
• Affliction Warlock + Elemental Shaman + Restoration Druid/ Holy Paladin;
• Shadowplay (Affliction Warlock + Shadow Priest + Holy Paladin/Restoration Druid).

7. Useful Macros for Affliction Warlocks

Macros are crucial to be successful in PvP. They allow players to use abilities on enemies without having to target them. This helps increase overall damage/healing and general awareness in the arena. Here are a few macros that all Affliction Warlocks can benefit from.

7.1. Fear 123 Macro

• #showtooltip Fear
• /cast [target=arena1] Fear

Using this macro will cast Fear on arena enemy 1. This makes it easier to crowd control an enemy while staying focused on your target. If you want macros for the second and third enemies, simply change the arena1 to arena2 or arena3.

7.2. Fear Focus Macro

• #showtooltip Fear
• /cast [target=focus] Fear

If you find that you do not have much room on your action bars, you can use a focus macro. This is much simpler to use than the arena123 macro. Put an enemy on focus and this macro will cast Fear on that player while you are still focused on your target.

7.3. Spell Lock Focus Macro

• #showtooltip
• /cast [target=focus] Spell Lock

This macro will use Spell Lock on whichever enemy you have on focus. Because you will be primarily using Spell Lock on the enemy healer, you should only need this focus macro.

7.4. Mouseover Banish Macro

• #showtooltip Banish
• /cast [@mouseover] Banish

This makes it so you can use Banish on another Warlock's demon or an elemental pet, while still damaging your main target.

7.5. Mouseover Corruption Macro

• #showtooltip Corruption
• /cast [@mouseover,harm] Corruption; [harm] Corruption

This makes it so you can use Corruption on any enemy without having to target them. Mouseover macros are not required, but they make it much more efficient than clicking your targets.

7.6. Mouseover Agony Macro

• #showtooltip Agony
• /cast [@mouseover,harm] Agony; [harm] Agony

This makes it so you can use Agony on any enemy without having to target them. Mouseover macros are not required, but they make it much more efficient than clicking your targets.

7.7. Mouseover Unstable Affliction Macro

• #showtooltip Unstable Affliction
• /cast [@mouseover,harm] Unstable Affliction; [harm] Unstable Affliction

This makes it so you can use Unstable Affliction on any enemy without having to target them. Mouseover macros are not required, but they make it much more efficient than clicking your targets.

8. ChangeLog

• 01 Sep. 2018: Updated Defensive section.
• 25 Aug. 2018: Updated guide for patch 8.0.1.
  • Updated Introduction and spec overview.
  • Added Stat priority.
  • Updated all regular talents sections.
  • Added PvP (War Mode) talents and gear sections for the new BfA system.
  • Updated Racial Bonuses section.
  • Updated Burst Damage and Sustained Damage sections.
  • Updated Macros section.
  • Removed Gear section.
  • Updated Artifact Traits and Relics sections.
• 02 Jun. 2018: Added an Arena Compositions section.
• 19 Apr. 2018: Made several updates to the guide and its structure.
  • Added sections for Macros, Strengths, and Weaknesses.
  • Moved Gear, Artifact Traits, and Relics sections to the end, since they are not that important.
• 21 Jan. 2018: No major changes needed for patch 7.3.5.
• 08 Dec. 2017: No major changes needed for patch 7.3.2. Updated "About the Author".
• 30 Aug. 2017: Removed artifact trait description.
• 30 Jun. 2017: Made several updates to the guide.
  • Updated description for Tier 1 and Tier 2 regular talents.
  • Updated talent choice for Tier 4 and 7 regular talents, and tier 5 and 6 honor talents.
  • Updated Opener, Burst, and Sustained damage rotations.
• 05 Jun. 2017: Guide created.

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