Augmentation Evoker DPS Guide - The War Within 11.1

In this Affliction Warlock Guide, we delve into the current state of one of the most powerful and iconic damage dealers in World of Warcraft — the Warlock. Get ready to master the tips and tricks for Affliction Warlock gameplay with our comprehensive guide.

Affliction Warlock Overview

Affliction Warlocks excel at maintaining both single-target and multi-target damage. Their primary source of damage comes from applying damaging DoTs (damage-over-time effects), enabling them to effectively cleave targets spread across an area—something many other specializations struggle with or can't do at all. Like the other Warlock specs, Affliction Warlocks also bring the Demonic Gateway ability to raids, offering an invaluable mobility cooldown that can greatly enhance group movement and positioning.

Affliction Warlock Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• High sustained damage through Damage over Time management
• Great multi-target pressure
• Strong self-healing
• Very good funnel and priority damage

Weaknesses

• Requires ramp-up time for maximum damage
• Low Burst damage (outside of Hellcaller) which requires a setup period
• Damage profile centered around sustained output with relatively weak cooldowns
• Vulnerable to interrupts and dispels

Affliction Warlock Basic Gameplay

Affliction Warlock is a spec centered around Damage over Time effects, cooldown periods that require a setup to get the most out of them, and a relative amount of pet management. At its core, the gameplay is about generating and spending the Warlock's iconic resource: Soul Shards.

Affliction Warlock is a specialization focused on Damage over Time (DoT) effects, with cooldowns that require strategic setup to maximize their potential, along with some pet management. At its core, the gameplay revolves around generating and spending the Warlock’s signature resource: Soul Shards.

The basic rotation is straightforward: keep Corruption and Agony active on your target(s), use Soul Shards to cast Malefic Rapture or Seed of Corruption, and fill in the gaps with Shadow Bolt during downtime.

Affliction Warlock 11.1.0 Changes

Warlock baseline has received an update to Drain Life, with its damage coefficient now quadrupled, while still restoring health equal to five times the damage dealt.

For Affliction, Soul Rot has been slightly redesigned to remove the perception that following up with Drain Life is mandatory in the rotation. Now, it heals for 50% of the damage inflicted.

Additionally, last-minute tuning changes include:

• Summon Darkglare’s direct damage has been increased by 40%, with its scaling per damage-over-time effect improved from 25% to 45%.
• Focused Malignancy talent now provides a 40% bonus.
• Unstable Affliction damage has been raised by 30%.
• Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul now deal 20% more damage.

Affliction Warlock Leveling Guide for The War Within

Affliction Warlock Leveling Playstyle

As a DoT specialization, Affliction Warlock provides an efficient leveling experience by tagging multiple enemies with either Agony or Corruption while moving toward the next target or area. The damage-over-time effects, combined with the pet, are typically strong enough to leave enemies significantly weakened or even eliminate them by the time they are finished off with AoE spells.

Curses, crowd control abilities, and the pet acting as an off-tank help mitigate incoming damage, encouraging an aggressive playstyle. Additionally, personal defensive cooldowns provide a layer of safety, even when overpulling.

For tougher foes like Elites or Rares, sustaining the Voidwalker is often the main priority while gradually wearing the enemy down, as the pet's threat generation cannot keep up with heavy burst damage from spenders.

Gear Options

When leveling, always prioritize selecting the piece of loot with the highest item level. If multiple items have the same item level, choose the one with stats that best suit your specialization. However, if your current item is an Heirloom, it should not be replaced.

Pet Choice for Affliction Warlock Leveling

Summon Imp is your first available demon and is most effective in raid environments. While not particularly useful for leveling, it's your only option during the early levels.

If you're leveling solo, Summon Voidwalker can be a great choice, as it alleviates a lot of the pressure on you. Avoiding casting pushback can also help speed up your leveling process.

Summon Felhunter is a solid option if you're leveling in a group or tackling dungeons. The extra interrupt it provides is valuable for handling troublesome caster mobs.

Affliction Warlock DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents

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Copy the Affliction Warlock talents, paste them into the game.

Single Target Talents

AoE Soul Harvester Talents

AoE Hellcaller Talents

Raiding

Please note that the builds mentioned above don’t take into account specific encounters in the current raid tier. However, we have a dedicated page that offers boss-by-boss talent recommendations, which you can find linked below.

Mythic+

For Mythic+ specific advice, which generally requires a setup that works well for both single-target and AoE, be aware that this can be influenced by affixes, party composition, and pull layout. Check out our dedicated Mythic+ page for more information:

How to Use Affliction Warlock Talents

As several talent choices impact your gameplay, we recommend visiting our rotation page linked below to learn how to adjust your playstyle and priority based on the talents you select:

Choosing Warlock Class Talents

While there are a few talents that boost DPS, the path progression in the talent tree is generally flexible, allowing you to choose or skip utilities depending on the situation. Below, we highlight key talents and suggest what to pick to progress down the tree.

For detailed information on each talent, refer to the spell summary page:

Hero Tree Talents

A standout feature of the new expansion is the Hero Talent Tree system, which further customizes your specialization with unique twists that impact both the visual and, to a lesser extent, the playstyle.

Affliction Warlock players can choose between Hellcaller and Soul Harvester.

For a full overview of both trees and their use cases, follow the link below:

PvP Talents (War Mode)

In our Talents section, you can also enable ""War Mode,"" which provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents are enabled in the outdoor world.
• A 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear weekly.

Given the perks of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, we recommend enabling it. Although it opens you up to the risk of open-world PvP and potential ""ganks"" while leveling or doing World Quests, the benefits generally outweigh the drawbacks.

Best Hero Talents for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

This section is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within.

Raiding Hero Talents for Affliction Warlock

The current recommendation for Hero Talents is Soul Harvester.

Soul Harvester is the preferred choice for single target and small target cleave due to its tuning and overall design. It excels in sustained output unless an encounter places disproportionate emphasis on 1-minute burst windows over sustained damage.

Hellcaller provides stronger burst damage around 1-minute marks and generally performs better in AoE at higher target counts, but at the cost of significantly lower single target damage overall.

Mythic+ Hero Talents for Affliction Warlock

The current recommendation for Hero Talents is Soul Harvester.

Soul Harvester offers superior priority damage and slightly better funneling capabilities, making it an ideal choice for groups that already have specialized AoE DPS and are focused on key target damage.

Hellcaller, with its emphasis on burst windows and large-scale AoE, is suited for Mythic+ scenarios and is somewhat easier to play. However, it does not provide a significantly higher AoE output in practice.

Affliction Warlock DPS Stat Priority

The Basics of Stats for an Affliction Warlock

The stat priority for an Affliction Warlock is as follows:

1. Intellect
2. Mastery & Critical Strike
3. Haste
4. Versatility

This stat priority was determined using a SimulationCraft profile with standard BiS gear and normalized stats. It represents a typical ""average"" player’s gear, but it's important to review this information carefully. We highly recommend simming yourself to determine which stats provide the maximum benefit, as this can change based on your specific ratios.

As players acquire higher item levels, their stat priorities may shift due to varying scaling.

These statistics were obtained through a combination of common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.

Diminishing Return on Secondary Stats

At the release of Shadowlands, Blizzard introduced a diminishing return system with various tiers, which results in an increased penalty on stat amounts as you reach higher percentages:

• From 0% to 30%, there is no penalty.
• From 30% to 39%, there is a 10% penalty.
• From 39% to 47%, there is a 20% penalty.
• From 47% to 54%, there is a 30% penalty.
• From 54% to 66%, there is a 40% penalty.
• From 66% to 126%, there is a 50% penalty.

You can get up to 126% from the gear rating. In practical terms, this will not significantly affect your results when using tools like SimulationCraft or Raidbot, as they already account for these penalties.

Statistics Explanations for Affliction Warlock

Intellect is your primary stat, and you should prioritize it in all of your upgrades. It increases your Spell Power, which in turn boosts the damage of your spells.

Mastery — Mastery: Potent Afflictions increases the damage of your Damage over Time (DoT) abilities (Agony, Corruption, Seed of Corruption, and Unstable Affliction) as well as Malefic Rapture. Mastery does not affect your pets or Soul Shard generation.

Haste reduces the cast time of your spells and increases the number of ticks for your DoTs, which lowers the ramp-up damage from Agony. Haste also reduces the global cooldown and improves the scaling of your pets. Since more DoT ticks generate additional Soul Shards, Haste is the stat with the most impact on resource generation.

Critical Strike increases the chance for your spells and abilities to critically hit.

Versatility provides a flat increase to your damage done and reduces the damage you take.

Affliction Warlock DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

Soul Harvester Single Target Rotation

Affliction Warlocks focus on applying multiple damage-over-time effects to their targets, while also managing procs and using Soul Shards as a resource. A significant part of optimization involves maintaining these active effects and ensuring proper Soul Shard usage.

1. Maintain your Agony, Unstable Affliction, and Corruption effects at all times.
2. Maintain 4 stacks of Shadow Embrace.
3. Apply Malefic Rapture if you are at maximum Soul Shards.
4. Cast Haunt whenever available.
5. Delay Phantom Singularity to cast it with Soul Rot.
6. Ensure you have 2 or fewer Soul Shards before casting Phantom Singularity.
7. Cast Soul Rot whenever available, with either Phantom Singularity or Vile Taint active on the target.
8. Cast Malefic Rapture during the Phantom Singularity window.
9. Cast Malefic Rapture to avoid capping Soul Shards.
10. Cast Drain Soul as a filler.

Soul Harvester Single Target Opener

1. Pre-cast Haunt.
2. Apply Unstable Affliction.
3. Apply Agony.
4. Apply Corruption.
5. Cast Malefic Rapture.
6. Cast Phantom Singularity.
7. Cast Soul Rot.
8. Use your trinkets and racials.
9. Cast Nightfall → Drain Soul.
10. Cast Summon Darkglare to extend all periodic damage effects.

Soul Harvester AoE Rotation

1. Cast Vile Taint.
2. Maintain Agony and Corruption. If there are 3+ targets stacked together, use Seed of Corruption to apply and maintain Corruption.
3. Maintain Unstable Affliction on the primary target.
4. Cast Malefic Rapture if already at 5 Soul Shards to avoid capping.
5. Cast Malefic Rapture if above 2 Soul Shards before Soul Rot comes off cooldown.
6. Cast Soul Rot.
7. Cast Malefic Rapture during the Vile Taint window.
8. Cast Shadow Bolt as a filler.

Hellcaller Single Target Rotation

1. Maintain your Agony, Unstable Affliction, and Wither effects at all times.
2. Maintain 4 stacks of Shadow Embrace.
3. Apply Malefic Rapture if you are at maximum Soul Shards.
4. Cast Haunt whenever available.
5. Cast Vile Taint whenever available.
6. Cast Malevolence after Vile Taint.
7. Cast Soul Rot whenever available with either Phantom Singularity or Vile Taint active on the target.
8. Cast Malefic Rapture during the Vile Taint window.
9. Cast Malefic Rapture to avoid capping Soul Shards.
10. Cast Drain Soul as a filler.

Hellcaller Single Target Opener

1. Pre-cast Haunt.
2. Apply Unstable Affliction.
3. Apply Agony.
4. Apply Wither.
5. Get to 4 stacks of Shadow Embrace with Drain Soul.
6. Cast Malevolence.
7. Cast Vile Taint.
8. Cast Soul Rot.
9. Use your trinkets and racials.
10. Cast Summon Darkglare to extend all periodic damage effects.

Pandemic and Learning to Efficiently Refresh DoTs

Pandemic is a hidden mechanic that allows you to refresh certain damage-over-time (DoT) effects early without any penalty. You can refresh your DoTs when they have less than 30% of their maximum duration remaining. This will extend the new DoT's duration by adding the full duration of the new DoT to the remaining duration of the current one.

For example, if you cast a fresh Agony while your current one has a duration of 3.5 seconds, the new Agony will now have 21.5 seconds left.

The Pandemic values for safe refreshes for your other DoTs are as follows:

• Agony: 5.4 seconds
• Corruption: 4.2 seconds
• Unstable Affliction: 6.3 seconds

When talented with Creeping Death, the Pandemic values change as follows:

• Agony: 4.5 seconds
• Corruption: 3.5 seconds
• Unstable Affliction: 5.4 seconds

Important Notes for Affliction Warlock

Soul Shards

All Warlocks use Soul Shards as their primary resource. Managing your Shards effectively is crucial for success, as overcapping can result in a potential loss of damage.

Malefic Rapture Usage

Malefic Rapture may seem straightforward at first glance, but it has several key implications that aren't immediately obvious.

Due to its linear scaling with each additional damage-over-time effect on a target, maximizing output requires casting it when the most damage-over-time effects are active. This means it's closely tied to talent cooldowns such as Vile Taint, Phantom Singularity windows, and to some extent Summon Darkglare and Soul Rot.

To optimize damage output, it's advisable to pool resources and cast as many Malefic Rapture spells as possible within these windows, essentially creating 1-minute cooldown loops, with only a few Malefic Rapture casts outside of these windows to prevent capping Soul Shards.

Agony

Agony is by far your most important spell, as it is the primary source of Soul Shard generation in the regular rotation. It also provides significant sustained damage. However, the trade-off is that Agony has a long ramp-up period before reaching full effectiveness. This means that if Agony drops off one of your primary targets for any reason, you will lose a substantial amount of DPS.

Maintaining your active Agony casts is the most crucial priority for this specialization, and failing to do so can be the most punishing mistake you can make.

Demon Choice

After the changes in 9.2, Succubus (or Incubus) now has a clear advantage in terms of single-target damage, assuming no frequent swaps to distant targets. However, your pet choice is often influenced by the unique utility each pet offers:

• For defensive dispels and regular swaps between distant targets, Imp provides the highest uptime.
• Use Felhunter whenever an interrupt or purge effect is required.
• Voidwalker can offer additional AoE damage due to its Torment ability, but its most significant utility is its taunt.
• Succubus offers crowd control and a permanent slow on a single target, which can be useful in certain situations.

Affliction Warlock DPS Gems and Consumables

This section covers your character's optimal gems, food, and flasks.

Best Gems for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

The War Within introduced epic meta gems with effects proportional to the number of different gem types socketed at any given time. This incentivizes players to use their first four gems to maximize the effect.

The two meta gems of choice are Culminating Blasphemite (Damage) and Elusive Blasphemite (Utility). Generally, Elusive Blasphemite offers more tangible benefits and is more practical, as the damage gained from Culminating Blasphemite is around 0.3% in Best-in-Slot gear.

When it comes to itemization, due to the relatively low stats offered by gems, the strategy is to gem with less important stats to round out the character. Combinations with Versatility and another secondary stat are typically preferred.

The gems most commonly found in Best-in-Slot setups are as follows:

• Emerald: Masterful Emerald and Versatile Emerald
• Ruby: Versatile Ruby and Quick Ruby
• Onyx: Deadly Onyx
• Sapphire: Masterful Sapphire
• Amber: Masterful Amber or Versatile Amber

Best Flask for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

You should be drinking the Flask of Alchemical Chaos at all times.

Best Potion for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

Stat Potions

Your primary stat potion should be Tempered Potion. Use this during moments when you deal the most damage with your abilities, typically during your cooldowns and/or Bloodlust or Heroism. You can also obtain Fleeting Tempered Potion from cauldrons spawned by Alchemists.

Healing Potions

Keep a stock of Algari Healing Potions to use when at low health. If you have a Warlock in your group, be sure to grab their Healthstones as well. However, do not macro these together, as they are best used separately! Additionally, you can acquire leeting Algari Healing Potion from cauldrons spawned by Alchemists.

Best Food for Affliction Warlock in The War Within

Feasts

You should always eat from a feast whenever possible. The best options include:

• Feast of the Divine Day
• Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
• Hearty Feast of the Midnight Masquerade

Alternative Food Options

If feasts are not available, consider eating one of the following:

• Outsider's Provisions
• Beledar's Bounty
• Jester's Board
• Empress' Farewell

Augment Runes

If you can afford it, use Crystallized Augment Runes to increase your primary stat. However, keep in mind that these runes are expensive and will disappear upon death, so use them wisely!

Weapon Runes for Affliction

Algari Mana Oil is the best temporary oil in any situation.