Talent Builds
Single Target
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With Soulrot going back to 1 minute CD due to the removal of the Soul Eater’s Gluttony talent, in ST Affliction builds play phantom singularity and hold it for every Soulrot. This is our main burst window every minute
A common theme with all Warlock specs in The War Within is picking up AoE spells even in Single Target builds, this is by virtue of how the spec talent trees are laid out and what talents are locked behind picking such AoE spells. In Afflictions case we are pathing through Seed of Corruption in order to pickup Kindled Malice as it is an overall net gain in dps, despite never casting Seed of Corruption in ST
Talents to Watch
Our new capstone Oblivion is a chunk of our ST damage. However, with current tuning the two talent points we have to spend to acquire it (by pathing through Xavius’ Gambit) are better placed elsewhere.
Spread Cleave
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The Cleave build is similar to ST as in the case of our ST build we path through AoE spells like Seed and phantom singularity / Vile Taint. Such spells now have much more value with an increase in targets. In a cleave scenario Hellcaller is superior to Soul Harvester due to the sheer damage that wither deals
phantom singularity and Vile Taint are interchangeable depending on how much stacked AoE there is; when there is more AoE, use Vile Taint.
This build is extremely flexible and can be streamlined into a more funnel build if there is a priority boss and there are only say 3 total main targets. This is done by dropping talents that gain more value with the more targets such as Cull the Weak which gains max value at 5 targets but is still a go-to at 4, and these points can be put into Contagion for a more single target based build. In the case where it’s a council fight and you want as much cover damage in a stacked cleave vile taint can be picked up (you can drop infirmity too since it’s largely useless with VT) and pick up Dark Harvest
Remember our main Spender in AoE / Cleave has changed from Seed to Malefic Rapture in TWW. Seed of corruption is only used for mass spreading corruption. If 3 or more targets are stacked together then it’s better to apply Corruption via Seed.
AoE / Mythic+
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This build uses Vile Taint instead of phantom singularity due to its mass application of 8 Agony’s. Resulting in less time “setting up” in order to be able to dps. “Setting up” refers Affliction’s need to dot our targets before going into spending our shards on our hard damaging abilities.
Again, our main spender in this scenario is still Rapture but Corruption should be applied via Seed.
This build also opts for Drain Soul instead of Improved Shadow Bolt due to its ability to snipe dying mobs and gain shards. Most effective for starting the following pack with full shards
Even in scenarios such as mythic plus there is the need for “some” single target damage and this build tries to maintain that. There is an option to swap out Malediction for Improved Haunt and Focused Malignancy to further enhance our single target damage. If this change is made then I would also pull a point from Contagion to pick up Death’s Embrace. As the soft execute is worth way more than 1 point in Contagion. This is mostly personal preference and may vary depending on dungeon and team composition.
With regards to team composition there are a few floater points within our class tree that we can swap around depending on our comp. If you are the only CR in the group it may be worth picking up Swift Artifice by dropping Demonic Fortitude. In the same vein if the group is lacking AoE stops then Darkfury to reduce the CD (and increase range) of shadowfury is also a good option. If the group is looking strong on both AoE stops and CR’s then Fiendish Stride can be taken to reduce the spot healing on you when you inevitably forget to turn off burning rush.
Class Talents
The Warlock class talent tree has remained largely the same with a few changes. Our capstones are still generally weak in terms of providing raw dps but allow for strong utility and survivability.
Our new capstone Pact of Gluttony provides the warlock with their own Demonic Healthstones, which still provides the regular kind for the rest of the group (even other warlocks). These are the exact same as regular healthstones but instead of a once per combat consumption these Demonic Healthstones can be consumed as many times as needed, though coming with a 60 second cooldown between snacks.
Another new talent near the bottom of the tree is Swift Artifice which reduces the cooldown of both Soulstone and Create Healthstone by 50%. This is mainly taken for the reduction in cast time for Soulstone, our combat resurrection, which can be handy if you find yourself the only person able to CR within a group. Just remember to soulstone yourself first because if you die, who’s going to rez you?
Some talent changes that are worth noting is Fiendish Stride reducing burning rush damage by 10% instead of 25% / 50% per point, up to 2 points. The damage from burning rush can now really be felt so if you’re used to having it on for the added mobility just beware it’s now going to be ticking a lot harder.
As such I would say Fiendish Stride isn’t a nailed on talent pick and would consider the point from it to be the “utility” point, depending on what content you’re doing and what that group needs. This point can be put in the aforementioned Swift Artifice for faster CR or if the group lacks CC it can be put in Shadowfury for AoE CC or Banish for further ST CC
As always warlock have their own 40yd teleport in Demonic Circle which is useful for traversing large boss rooms though it requires prior knowledge of encounter. As Well as having Demonic Gateway for the group which can be placed in a pinch (providing you have a soulshard) by casting Soulburn and then Demonic Gateway resulting in it being able to be placed while moving.
The other Soulburn effects each have their uses but are more niche, though with Demonic Healthstones + Soulburn - we have access to a 1 minute lay on hands (full heal) but only usable on themselves and provided at least 1 soul shard.
Other than these most of the warlock class tree is survivability whether it be pre-emptive to absorb big damage in Dark Pact or passive absorbs through Soul Leech.
Demonic Tactics is one of our already straight damage increases within our class tree. While being picked even at the start of TWW it is also worth noting for later in the expansion, this talent gives us 10% more critical strike stat from all sources which may be relevant once secondary stat numbers increase but for now our stat priority remains the same.
Spec Talents
The Affliction Warlock spec tree has been redesigned heading into TWW. As mentioned in the talents section we currently path through AoE spells like Seed of Corruption even when the encounter is entirely single target based. This is due to the talent that lays behind Seed, Kindled Malice being a significant enough dps increase to warrant “wasting” a talent point in Seed in order to pick up. While this is not ideal, this problem isn’t unique to the Affliction warlock spec tree but other warlock spec’s tree also.
An interesting new talent we have in TWW is Volatile Agony, which deals AoE damage to the target and surrounding enemies whenever Agony is refreshed with 10 seconds or less remaining. This shifts our refresh of said DoT from the pandemic window to as close to 10 seconds as possible. Vile Taint also applies and thus it can refresh Agony’s duration, meaning in stacked AoE scenarios casting Vile Taint on 8 targets when their Agony duration is 10 or less seconds simultaneously triggers 8 Volatile Agony applications.
One of our previous tier sets has been turned into a talent in TWW by the name of Infirmity, this ability will mainly be taken with Phantom Singularity as its Vile Taint effect isn’t as useful. When opting for Phantom Singularity: Enemies damaged by Phantom Singularity take 10% increased damage from the warlock for its duration. This ability is pretty strong and gives us a damage amplification every 45 seconds, though we hold it 1 minute to pair with soul rot (another one of our dots).
There is a strange interaction between our haste stat and Phantom Singularity though when looking at through the lens of Infirmity. The higher our haste stat, the lower the duration that Phantom Singularity is meaning we gain the 10% damage amp for a less amount of time as our haste increases. These two talents (Phantom Singularity and Infirmity) seem at odds with each other, a more logical solution would be to make Phantom Singularity like a regular DoT with a set duration with haste increasing its tick rate.
In our spec tree we have the option for improved shadow bolt or drain soul. Generally shadow bolt is better when there is an absence of adds to snipe, in this add-filled scenario drain soul gains more value as draining a dying mob provides the warlock with a soul shard, though hero talents do break this generality. (see below in Hero Talents Discussion)
Summon Darkglare is in the middle of our tree and is our big cooldown. This extends the duration of all our DoTs while also dealing damage to a primary target based on the number of our DoTs on said target. By picking up Malevolent Visionary while also buffing Darkglare’s damage it adds a cleave element. By virtue of Aff’s damage being mainly DoT based Darkglare is one of our most important spells
Tormented Crescendo provides us with free, instant cast malefic raptures which can be useful for casting on the move or for adding more damage into our burst windows
Another one of our old tier sets makes it as a talent in TWW, Malign Omen makes it so that after casting Soul Rot our next 3 raptures deal increased damage but also those 3 raptures each extend the duration of all our DoT’s by 2 seconds.
Our last notable talent is the return of Death’s Embrace (from legion) this provides Affliction with an execute effect: Increasing the damage of our main DoT’s and Malefic Rapture by 10% when a target is at or below 35% health. While not as strong as the actual spell Execute this talent can help close out tough boss fights wherein the last phase is normally the hardest. It is also important to note any bosses that start at reduced health percentages as Death’s Embrace will have more uptime on these.
Overall, the Affliction warlock spec tree is fair albeit some of the capstones and 2nd last row talents are a little lacking.
Hero Talents
Hellcaller
The Hellcaller hero path replaces Corruption with a beefed up version by the name of Wither, we share this hero path with the Destruction Warlock spec (they have Wither instead of Immolate). Wither is Shadowflame damage and thus gets bonus damage from both shadow and fire modifiers. Our hero talent capstone, Malevolence works well with Affliction’s cyclical nature: ramping damage every minute with the combination of Phantom Singularity and Soul Rot, Malevolence provides us with a 20 second haste buff every minute to enhance our burst window. Wither counts up in stacks similar to how Agony works but instead of the stacks increasing purely by duration (see Agony) it is whenever we spend a shard that the stack count increases by 1.
Malevolence also gives us a 20 second buff that each time we spend shards wither gains 1 stack, further consolidating that burst window every minute. Interestingly though with each shard spent Wither has a chance to “collapse” consuming its own stacks and dealing damage per stack consumed (1 stack per second) until 1 stack remains. At max level the highest Wither will go to will be 8 due to Seeds of Their Demise. Stacks can also be gained through critical strikes of Wither.
Wither like the spell it replaces is a largely passive effect and doesn’t affect gameplay too much - you’ll still want to prevent capping your shards outside of burst windows.
Soul Harvester
Soul Harvester is a bit more active in its playstyle when compared to Hellcaller. Where’s Hellcaller revolves around burst windows every minute with Malevolence and passive damage via Wither, Soul Harvester is a lot more proc based, while also peaking every minute. The damage profiles of the two hero talents are quite similar.
Soul Harvester is a lot more active than Hellcaller, in the sense that you are generating and spending considerably more shards. This is done by more abilities proccing Nightfall, giving us reduced cast time on Drain Soul (or instant shadow bolt) in turn these faster casts give us more chance to proc Tormented Crescendo which gives us free raptures.
In the Soul Harvester tree, Soul Rot also gives us 3 guaranteed Succulent Soul Shards on cast which aids in contributing to a more active playstyle.
Nightfall is essential to the playstyle of Soul Harvester as consuming Nightfall’s deals flat damage and also activates our middle Hero talent options in Shared Fate, an AoE effect but strong in single target too and Feast of Souls, a chance at a Soul Shard which is guaranteed to be a Succulent Soul. Succulent Souls empower the Warlock’s next Malefic Rapture by 20% and it also deals raw damage. These Succulent Souls are generated randomly whenever a regular Soul Shard would be.
As you can see Soul Harvester is about trying to get Succulent Souls and Nightfall procs in order to trigger our other synergistic talents for massive damage. Soul Harvester’s mass spending of shards also works better with our season 1 4pc set bonus when compared to Hellcaller.