Affliction Warlock in 5.1

Affliction Warlock changes in 5.1

No huge changes for Afflic warlocks, aside from a bunch of alterations to Demonic Gateway, and some nerfs to Kil’Jaiden’s Cunning (which wasn’t our preferred Tier 6 talent anyway).

Affliction “Rotation” and Priorities

Affliction’s ability rotation has been considerably simplified in MoP, which is a bit of a relief. You’ll still need to keep track of multiple Damage Over Time spells, though – we recommend installing an addon like Need To Know to keep track of when your spells end.

Single-target DPS

Start out by casting Agony, Corruption and Unstable Afflication on your target.

• Top Priority: If any of Agony, Corruption or Unstable Afflication are about to drop, re-cast them. It is particularly important not to let Agony drop.
• Second Priority: If you have a Soul Shard or the Shadow Trance buff is currently active, cast Haunt.
• Third Priority: If you don’t have anything else to do, cast Drain Soul if your target is below 20% health, or Malefic Grasp otherwise.

If you need to refresh any of your Damage Over Time spells when the target’s below 20%, just use Soulburn, then Soul Swap to refresh all three.

Above 20%, you may find it more convenient to use Fel Flames to refresh both Corruption and Unstable Affliction by 6 seconds.

AOE DPS

For 2 or 3 targets, Cast Soulburn then Soul Swap on each one to afflict them with Agony, Corruption and Unstable Affliction.

Then:

• Top Priority: Keep all your DoTs running on all targets by using Soulburn->Soul Swap to refresh them.
• Second Priority: Regenerate Soul Shards so you can keep Soulburning by using Drain Life.
• Third Priority: If you have Shadow Trance, cast Haunt, otherwise cast Malefic Grasp.

Against 4 or more enemies, open with Soulburn followed by Seed Of Corruption, then attempt to use Soulburn->Soul Swap on as many targets as possible. If there are 5 or more, cast Rain of Fire too.

Affliction AOE has always been a bit tricky, and it continues to be so. If you’re new to multi-dotting, don’t worry if you don’t get it right straight away – practise makes perfect!

Cooldowns

• Use Dark Soul: Misery whenever it’s available, unless Time Warp/Heroism/Bloodlust is running, in which case wait for that to end.
• Use Summon Doomguard for single-target DPS and Summon Infernal for multi-target DPS. Use whichever is most appropriate whenever available.
• Use Life Tap when you run low on mana.
• Use Soulshatter to drop aggro from monsters attacking you. Particularly important before using Life Tap!
• Unending Resolve reduces damage you take – particularly valuable if you’re on low life thanks to Life Tap.
• Soulstone now functions as a combat resurrection – remember to use it if no-one else can combat res.

Buffs

Remember to summon a demon. If you’re using Grimoire of Sacrifice (see Talents) it doesn’t matter which one – otherwise, use Felhunter.

Remember to cast Dark Intent, and summon a Soulwell if your party or raid wants one! Also, if no-one else in your raid or party can do so, cast Curse of the Elements on important targets.

Affliction Warlock Talent Choices

As you get more experienced with these talents, and MoP progresses, you’ll probably change them on an encounter-by-encounter basis – but here’s a solid talent setup to start playing with:

• Tier 1: Soul Leech – makes all your damage spells heal you (a bit).
• Tier 2: Mortal Coil – gives you a self-heal spell.
• Tier 3: Dark Bargain – gives you an 8-second 100% damage protection. Very useful!
• Tier 4: Unbound Will – gives you a cooldown which removes movement impairing effects, mind control, and magic debuffs.
• Tier 5: Grimoire of Sacrifice – Sacrifice your demon for a powerful 20-minute buff.
• Tier 6: Archimonde’s Vengeance. Use it when you’ll be taking damage.

Stats, reforging and gemming for Affliction Warlock

Intellect is the most important stat for Affliction warlocks, with Hit to hit cap (15% / 5100 ) followed by Mastery as the most important secondary stats.

Reforging: Reforge to hit cap first (15% / 5100), then reforge to Mastery. Reforge from Hit over cap, then Crit first.
Gems: Use Brilliant gems in Red sockets, Veiled in Blue Sockets and Artful in Yellow sockets.
Meta Gem: Burning meta gem, whichever you can afford.
Note on Expertise: Expertise counts toward the Hit Cap, so if you can’t reforge to Hit, you can still reforge to Expertise.

Afflic Warlock Glyphs

A number of glyphs have situationally specific uses, but here’s a good no-downsides selection:

Major: Glyph of Soul Shards, Glyph of Soul Swap, Glyph of Siphon Life
Minor: Your choice. No real effects in DPS terms.

Affliction Warlock enchants and item enhancements

You should almost always use a profession enhancement item if it provides appropriate stats instead of a general enchant.

• Shoulders – Greater Crane Wing Inscription
• Back – Enchant Cloak – Superior Intellect
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Glorious Stats
• Wrist – Enchant Bracer – Super Intellect
• Hands – Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery or Superior Expertise
• Belt – Living Steel Belt Buckle
• Legs – Greater Cerulean Spellthread
• Feet – Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Jade Spirit
• Off-Hand Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Major Intellect

Links

There are a couple of great guides out there if you’re looking for more info to support your ‘flicking:

• Megan O’Neill writes on Warlocks for WoW Insider, and is doing a great job coveringeverything you need to know about 5.0
• Icy Veins has a very good, highly detailed guide to Affliction – useful for the greater detail sections in particular.

For those that want to know about the grimoire of sacrifice.

Succubus: Seduction
Felhunter: Spell Lock
Voidwalker: Shadow Bulwark
Imp: Singe Magic
Felguard: Pursuit

These spells replace your “Command Demon” ability in your spellbook.

Other Ideas

I would reccomend mastery as i just reforged all my haste to it and saw 80k on maddness and 35 – 40 on most other fights. Zagam on icy viens is the on who lead me there read his affliction tips in the forums.