Affliction Warlock talents guide

Recommended Raiding Build

Single Target:

• Tier 1 Drain Soul
• Tier 2 Siphon Life
• Tier 3 Dark Pact
• Tier 4 Phantom Singularity
• Tier 5 Mortal Coil
• Tier 6 Haunt
• Tier 7 Dark Soul: Misery

Cleave (Multi DoT 2-3):

• Tier 1 Drain Soul
• Tier 2 Siphon Life / Writhe in Agony
• Tier 3 Dark Pact
• Tier 4 Phantom Singularity / Sow the Seeds
• Tier 5 Mortal Coil
• Tier 6 Haunt
• Tier 7 Dark Soul: Misery

Cleave (Multi DoT 4+):

• Tier 1 Drain Soul
• Tier 2 Writhe in Agony
• Tier 3 Dark Pact
• Tier 4 Phantom Singularity / Sow the Seeds
• Tier 5 Mortal Coil
• Tier 6 Dark Caller
• Tier 7 Dark Soul: Misery

You pick Sow the Seeds if targets are stacked and Phantom Singularity if they are spread. Same logic for Siphon Life / Writhe in Agony. If you don’t have enough GCD to keep up 3rd dot then you drop Siphon Life.

Recommended Mythic+ Build for low keys:

• Tier 1 Drain Soul
• Tier 2 Writhe in Agony
• Tier 3 Dark Pact
• Tier 4 Sow the Seeds
• Tier 5 Mortal Coil
• Tier 6 Haunt
• Tier 7 Dark Soul: Misery

Recommended Mythic+ Build for high keys:

• Tier 1 Drain Soul
• Tier 2 Writhe in Agony
• Tier 3 Dark Pact
• Tier 4 Sow the Seeds
• Tier 5 Mortal Coil
• Tier 6 Haunt
• Tier 7 Dark Soul: Misery

NightfallPassive

Inevitable DemisePassive

Drain SoulChanneled

Nightfall: Corruption damage has a chance to make the next Shadow Bolt instant and do 50% more damage.

Inevitable Demise: Damage with Agony increases the damage of your drain soul by 15% stacking up to 50%.

Drain Soul: Replace Shadow Bolt with a channel doing 100% more damage when the target is under 20% if a target dies while getting drained you gain a soulshard.

Raiding: Drain Soul Strong for shard sniping and the execute damage.

Mythic: Drain Soul Strong for shard sniping and the execute damage.

Writhe in AgonyPassive

Absolute CorruptionPassive

Siphon LifeInstant

Writhe in Agony: Agony stack up to 18 stacks and start with 4 stacks.

Absolute Corruption: Corruption will become permanent and deal 15% more damage

Siphon Life: An additional DoT that will heal you for 30% of the damage it does.

Raiding: Siphon Life works well with Malefic Rapture by increasing it’s damage but depending on build you may not have enough GCD to keep everything up then Writhe in Agony or Absolute Corruption will come in handy depending on if you play Sow the Seeds or not.

Mythic+: With recent buff of SoC Sow the Seeds build is too strong for m+ which makes Absolute Corruption useless and there isn’t enough GCD for Siphon Life which makes Writhe in Agony our only talent in this tier.

Demon SkinPassive

Burning RushInstant

Dark PactInstant

Demon Skin: Soul Leech passively recharge 0.5% maximum health every 1 sec up to 15% of maximum health.

Burning Rush: Increase movement speed by 50% dealing 4% of maximum health every 1 sec.

Dark Pact: Sacrifice 20% max HP gaining 250% shield of sacrificed HP.

Demon Skin is strong when there is consistent ticking damage to help the healers. Burning Rush is very good when there is a lot of movement when you can't pre-plan it with Circle. Dark Pact is very good if there is a short high burst mechanic that you need to stack extra health/shield to survive.

Raiding: Situational, all 3 are viable depending on the situation but with the recent buff of Dark Pact it makes it a very good option in this tier.

Mythic: Situational, all 3 are viable depending on the situation but with the recent buff of Dark Pact it makes it a very good option in this tier.

Sow the SeedsPassive

Phantom SingularityInstant

Vile Taint1.5 sec cast

Sow the Seeds: Seed of corruption get 2 more seeds.

Phantom Singularity: A strong AoE DoT that damages everything in a 15-yard radius healing you for 25% of damage dealt.

Vile Taint: Strong burst AoE DoT costs 1 shard to cast and slowing targets by 30%.

Phantom Singularity is the strongest for a single target and you want to line it up with your shard dumping for most damage output.

Raiding: Phantom Singularity is a strong single target/cleave talent which also increases damage of Malefic Rapture. For some bosses with stacked targets Sow the Seeds may also be good.

Mythic+: With recent buff of SoC Sow the Seeds build outperforms any other build in m+ by a mile regardless of losing single target damage.

DarkfuryPassive

Mortal CoilInstant

Howl of TerrorInstant

Darkfury: Reduces the cooldown of Shadowfury by 15 sec increasing radius by 2 yards.

Mortal Coil: Horrifies target for 3 sec and healing you for 20% max HP 45 sec cooldown.

Howl of Terror: Instant fear all targets within 10 yards for 20-sec breaks on damage taken.

Darkfury can be good if there are a lot of adds you need to stun or use it often. Mortal Coil is very strong just as a 20% heal every 45 seconds. Howl of Terror can be hard to find the right time to use due to fears breaking very fast.

Raiding: Mortal Coil Very strong 45-sec heal to help out the healers.

Mythic+: Mortal Coil Very strong 45-sec heal to help out the healer.

Shadow EmbracePassive

Haunt1.5 sec cast

Grimoire of SacrificeInstant

Shadow Embrace: Shadow Bolt/Drain Soul applies Shadow Embrace, increasing your damage dealt to the target by 3% for 16 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.

Haunt: Does small damage on impact and increased damage dealt to the target by 10%.

Grimoire of Sacrifice: Sacrifice your pet to gain a chance on hit to do splash damage.

Raid: Haunt Strong increase to single/Prio targets.

Mythic+: Haunt outperforms other talents.

Soul ConduitPassive

Creeping DeathPassive

Dark Soul: MiseryInstant

Soul Conduit: 15% chance to refund a shard.

Creeping Death: Your DoTs tick 15% faster.

Dark Soul: Misery: Increase your haste by 30% for 20 sec.

Raiding: Dark Soul: Misery

Mythic+: Dark Soul: Misery