Affliction Warlock PvP Talents and Builds (Shadowlands / 9.2)
Choosing the right PvP and PvE talents is a prerequisite to proper performance in PvP. This guide goes through the various talent choices available to you as an Affliction Warlock and gives you the best combinations you can take.
This page is part of our Affliction Warlock PvP Guide.
Talent Choices for Affliction Warlocks
Level | Choices | ||
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15 |
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25 |
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30 |
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35 |
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40 |
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45 |
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50 |
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While the above table provides a generally accurate overview of the viability of talents, some finer points are discussed in the sections that follow, and we recommend you read those for a deeper understanding.
Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
Inevitable Demise is the best choice in this tier. This gives you
a reliable way to burst an enemy down without having to use cooldowns. Before
using
Drain Life, make sure the enemy does not have any interrupts
to stop you from channeling Drain Life. This also synergizes very well with
the Night Fae covenant ability for Warlocks,
Soul Rot allowing for
Drain Life to be cast on multiple targets.
Tier 2 (Level 25) Talents
Writhe in Agony is the best choice in this tier. This makes
your
Agony significantly stronger and is an increase to your
spread pressure.
Tier 3 (Level 30) Talents
Dark Pact is the best choice in this tier. This defensive talent
sacrifices a portion of your health for a massive shield. This option is significantly
better than
Demon Skin for defensive purposes.
Tier 4 (Level 35) 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 being
instant cast without costing a Soul Shard.
Tier 5 (Level 40) Talents
Versus most teams, Howl of Terror is the best choice in this tier.
This is an instant, off the global cooldown AoE Fear that will help deal with
melee that are targeting you or one of your teammates. Additionally, it is very
useful against teams trying to run away from you on the pillar.
Against Warrior teams, Mortal Coil is an alternative choice due to
Berserker Rage reducing the effectiveness of
Howl of Terror.
Tier 6 (Level 45) Talents
Grimoire of Sacrifice is the best choice in this tier. The talent
gives you one of your pet abilities and deals a significant amount of passive
damage. It also removes the potential enemy strategy of killing your pet, which
has very low survivability.
A quick note on pets: Against a team that has multiple magic crowd control
for your healer ( Freezing Trap,
Hammer of Justice), you can
sacrifice your Imp for
Singe Magic. Against any other composition, you
should sacrifice your Felhunter for
Spell Lock.
Tier 7 (Level 50) Talents
Dark Soul: Misery is the best choice in this tier. Because Dark Soul
significantly increases your Haste, this will be your primary offensive
cooldown.
PvP Talents for Affliction Warlocks
You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents. The two mandatory choices are the most essential, with the third being switched out depending on the matchup.
Mandatory PvP Talents
Rapid Contagion gives you on-demand burst damage and has a very short
cooldown. This should be used in every game when you have your DoTs on multiple
targets.
Rampant Afflictions is another mandatory PvP talent. This makes it
so
Unstable Affliction can be used on up to 3 targets. Because your
win condition will be to rot the enemy team with your AoE pressure, this is a
must have talent to play. For 2v2, this can be skipped depending on the matchup.
Situational PvP Talents
Demon Armor increases your health and armor by a significant amount.
This is a crucial PvP talent because you will likely be the main target for most
teams. Use this versus teams with melee on it that will target you.
Deathbolt deals 50% of the remaining damage on your DoTs in a quick cast
which is dealt over 3 seconds and is undispellable. This talent is very powerful when
stacked with
Soul Rot,
Phantom Singularity, and damage modifiers
such as
Dark Soul: Misery. In general, this talent is better for 2v2 rather than
3v3 as it requires a lot of setup.
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. This should be used versus teams with casters on it.
Amplify Curse increases the effectiveness of your
Curse of Tongues,
Curse of Exhaustion and
Curse of Weakness spells significantly. Coupled with
Sacrolash's Dark Strike, this is an excellent situational talent against teams
without a decurse.
Shadow Rift creates a portal that teleports anyone inside the targeted circle
to your
Demonic Circle: Teleport after 2 seconds. This talent is useful as it
can be used very creatively to kite or create kill opportunities.
Changelog
- 02 Mar. 2022: Updated for Shadowlands 9.2.
- 17 Nov. 2021: Updated for Shadowlands 9.1.5.
- 06 Jul. 2021: Updated for Shadowlands 9.1.
- 30 Mar. 2021: Updated for Shadowlands 9.0.5.
- 08 Jan. 2021: Updated for Shadowlands Season 1.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
This guide is written and maintained by Chanimal, BlizzCon Champion Warlock with Rank 1 titles since 2011, competing in AWC. He streams Warlock PvP daily on Twitch, with highlights on YouTube.
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