Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Guide

11.0.2 - The War Within

Last Updated:October 4, 2024|Change Log|FAQ

Welcome to the Affliction Warlock Mythic+ guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!

Overview

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock
Affliction WarlockMythic+
Single-Target
Excellent
AoE
Excellent
Utility
Average
Survivability
Excellent
Mobility
Weak
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Best in Slot

Hero Talents

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock
  • Soul Harvester performs better on smaller amount of targets while Hellcaller excels at bigger amount of targets.
Soul Harvester
Hellcaller
  • Generating a Soul Shard now has a chance to grant a Succulent Soul.
    • Succulent Soul empowers your next Malefic Rapture cast.
  • Sataiel's Volition makes Haunt grant you a Nightfall proc.
    • Be careful to not overcap on Nightfall stacks as Sataiel's Volition also makes your Corruption tick faster which leads to more frequent procs.
  • Necrolyte Teachings increases Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul damage and amplifies Nightfall.
  • Shadow of Death makes your Soul Rot grant 3 Soul Shards that each contain a Succulent Soul.
  • Your Corruption is turned into Wither.
  • You have access to a 1-minute cooldown called Malevolence.
  • Wither can stack up and has multiple neat interactions with different talents which can increase its stack count or have other benefits.
    • Spending Soul Shards on damaging spells increases the stacks of Wither by 1 and has a chance to gain an additional stack due to Blackened Soul.
    • Casting Malevolence increases all active Wither stacks by 6 while each Malefic Rapture adds 1 additional stack during its duration.
    • Mark of Peroth'arn gives Wither the chance to add a stack whenever it crits.
    • Whenever Blackened Soul deals damage you have a chance to gain Tormented Crescendo stack.
  • Wither has a built-in mechanic which consumes its' accumulated stacks one after another for more damage. This mechanic is called Acute.
    • The Acute state of Wither is triggered by the following:
      • Chance whenever Wither gains a stack.
      • If Wither reaches 8 stacks.
      • If the target Wither is on reaches 20% hp or is below 20% already.
      • When Malevolence is up.

Talents

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock
Soul Harvester
Hellcaller
Soul Harvester Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build

When to use this Spec

Use this spec in low to mid-range of Mythic+ keys. Soul Harvester performs better in smaller pulls and has more on-demand damage.

Gameplay Altering Talents

Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.

Spec Tree

  • Seed of Corruption
    • Allows you to spread your Corruption on a large number of targets quickly. Costs 1 Soul Shard.
  • Vile Taint
    • Strong AoE DoT that also applies Agony on up to 8 targets, another tool to spread your DoTs faster.
  • Soul Rot
    • Strong AoE DoT on up to 5 targets.
    • Malign Omen and Dark Harvest allow you to have a short damage burst every minute both on ST and AoE.
  • Nightfall
    • Buff that reduces the cast time of your next Drain Soul by half and increases its damage. Stacks up to 2.
  • Tormented Crescendo
    • Buff that helps you with Soul Shard drought on ST or when there are a low number of targets. Stacks up to 2.
  • Haunt
    • Flat 10% damage increase debuff on your main target.
  • Summon Darkglare
    • Main cooldown for burst windows. Extends the duration of all your DoTs on every enemy.
    • Malevolent Visionary also grants the ability to do instant AoE burst damage on demand.
  • Cunning Cruelty and Volatile Agony
    • Boost your filler windows with passive AoE during your Drain Soul spam and refreshing Agony with less than 10 seconds remaining.
  • Cull the Weak
    • Allows you to have funnel options with Malefic Rapture doing more damage the more targets it hits.

Class Tree

  • Fel Domination
    • Helps you recover quickly in the event of death by allowing you to resummon a pet rapidly without cost.
  • Burning Rush
    • Your main mobility spell aside from Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway, however, both of which require preplanning.
  • Curses of Enfeeblement
    • Gives you access to Curse of Exhaustion and Curse of Tongues.
    • Remember that you can only have one curse active per target.
    • Curse of Tongues can be very useful in pug groups to make it easier to deal with dangerous enemy casts.
  • Soulburn
    • Empowers a multitude of utility spells for the cost of 1 Soul Shard.
    • Mainly used for Demonic Circle: Teleport, Demonic Gateway and Healthstone.
  • Shadowfury
    • Your only AoE CC that can affect an unlimited amount of targets.
  • Mortal Coil
    • A single-target CC that can also be used as a defensive spell if you need to heal on demand.
    • Keep in mind that coiled and feared targets generally run away from you, so position yourself properly before casting it if needed.
  • Dark Pact
    • A defensive spell that grants you a big absorb shield depending on your current health plus a certain amount on top of it.
  • Sweet Souls
    • Passive heal whenever your teammates use a Healthstone from you.
    • Can be considered a fairly big defensive and shouldn't be overlapped with your own Healthstone to avoid overhealing in high keys.
  • Pact of Gluttony
    • Combining Healthstone with Soulburn becomes a strong 1 minute defensive CD on long boss fights.

Hero Talents

  • Friends In Dark Places
    • Your default pick because it increases your overall survivability unlike the other talent choice.
  • Shared Fate
    • Outperforms Feast of Souls.
  • Eternal Servitude
    • Your default pick but can be swapped for Gorefiend's Resolve if you are the only CR in the team.
Hellcaller Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build

When to use this Spec

Use this spec in higher Mythic+ keys. Hellcaller performs better in bigger pulls and benefits more from trash living longer.

Talent Adjustments

Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.

Spec Tree

  • Added
    • Improved Shadow Bolt
      • Reduces the cast time and increases the damage of Shadow Bolt.
    • Sacrolash's Dark Strike
      • Increases the damage of Wither and makes your curses last longer.
  • Removed
    • Drain Soul
      • Changed to Improved Shadow Bolt.
    • Withering Bolt
      • Changed to Sacrolash's Dark Strike.

Hero Talents

Changed Soul Harvester to Hellcaller for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.

  • Curse of the Satyr
    • Your default pick since both talent choices are very niche and this one has more use cases than the other one.
  • Hatefury Rituals
    • Outperforms Bleakheart Tactics currently.
  • Zevrim's Resilience
    • Helps you recover your lost health from using Dark Pact.

Rotation

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

Tier Set

  • 2-Set: Malefic Rapture damage increased by 5% and its critical strike chance is increased by 10%.
  • 4-Set: Malefic Rapture has a chance to increase damage dealt by your Agony, Corruption, and Unstable Affliction by 15% for 8 seconds.

Single-Target

Soul Harvester
Hellcaller

Opener

  • Your goal in the opener is to apply and maintain all the DoTs and debuffs while also not overcapping on Soul Shards with Nightfall and Tormented Crescendo procs. Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks when using the recommended Soul Harvester spec.
Affliction Warlock Single-Target opener in Mythic+
  • Always keep up Unstable Affliction, Agony, Corruption, Haunt and Shadow Embrace on the target.
  • Keep in mind that Haunt has travel time so you should precast it roughly ~2 seconds before the pull. Thus, half of your next cast, Unstable Affliction, is also casted before the fight even starts.
  • Soul Harvester has a higher number of total Nightfall procs over the fight which leads to a higher amount of Tormented Crescendo procs compared to Hellcaller. Always keep that in mind and never overcap on either of the procs.

Priority List

This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.

  1. Keep up Unstable Affliction, Agony and Corruption.
  2. Cast Haunt on cooldown but you can delay it for a few seconds if the debuff is not about to expire on the target and you have maximum amount of Nightfall stacks.
  3. Cast Summon Darkglare on cooldown whenever Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
  4. Cast Malefic Rapture if you are otherwise capping on Soul Shards or have Tormented Crescendo stacks.
  5. Cast Drain Soul to refresh Shadow Embrace stacks or have Nightfall stacks.
  6. Cast Vile Taint on cooldown. Make sure to have every second cast line up with Soul Rot.
  7. Cast Soul Rot on cooldown.
  8. Cast Malefic Rapture whenever you have Soul Shards.
  9. Cast Drain Soul as your filler spell.

Opener

  • Your goal in the opener is to apply and maintain all the DoTs and debuffs while also not overcapping on Soul Shards with Nightfall and Tormented Crescendo procs. Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks when using the recommended Hellcaller specю
Affliction Warlock Single-Target opener in Mythic+
  • Always keep up Unstable Affliction, Agony, Wither, Haunt and Shadow Embrace on the target.
  • Keep in mind that Haunt has travel time so you should precast it roughly ~2 seconds before the pull. Thus, half of your next cast, Unstable Affliction, is also casted before the fight even starts.
  • All Soul Shards should be spent while Soul Rot and Vile Taint are active on the target.

Priority List

This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.

  1. Keep up Unstable Affliction, Agony and Wither.
  2. Cast Haunt on cooldown.
  3. Cast Summon Darkglare on cooldown whenever Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
  4. Cast Malefic Rapture if you are otherwise capping on Soul Shards or have Tormented Crescendo stacks.
  5. Cast Shadow Bolt to refresh Shadow Embrace stacks or have Nightfall stacks.
  6. Cast Vile Taint on cooldown. Make sure to have every second cast line up with Soul Rot.
  7. Cast Malevolence on cooldown. Sync it with Soul Rot every time.
  8. Cast Soul Rot on cooldown.
  9. Cast Malefic Rapture to spend all Soul Shards whenever Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
  10. Cast Shadow Bolt as your filler spell.

AoE

Soul Harvester
Hellcaller

Opener

  • Your goal in the AoE opener is similar to single-target with the only difference of applying DoTs to more targets, mostly through Seed of Corruption and Vile Taint. Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks when using recommended Soul Harvester spec.
Affliction Warlock AoE opener in Mythic+
  • You can apply Agony while the pull is gathering. Initially, Agonys damage is very low and it's unlikely for you to overaggro because of it. Just make sure your tank tagged it first before DoTing it.
  • All Soul Shards should be spent while Soul Rot and Vile Taint are up.

Priority List

  1. Keep up Agony on up to 8 targets.
  2. Keep up Unstable Affliction on the main target.
  3. Cast Haunt on cooldown on the main target.
  4. Cast Summon Darkglare on cooldown when Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
  5. Cast Vile Taint on cooldown. Make sure to have every second cast line up with Soul Rot.
  6. Cast Soul Rot on cooldown.
  7. Cast Malefic Rapture if you are about to cap on Soul Shards or have Tormented Crescendo proc.
  8. Cast Drain Soul if you have Nightfall procs.
  9. Cast Malefic Rapture whenever you have Soul Shards.
  10. Cast Drain Soul as your filler spell.

While Haunt, Drain Soul and Unstable Affliction could lower your overall dps in big pulls, it's still a damage gain on a priority target. And the way modern WoW works is that every single pull has at least one or two important trash mobs that are beneficial to kill fast to make the pull easier. That is the reason why these spells are mentioned in the AoE rotation and are recommended to be used.

Opener

  • Your goal in the AoE opener is similar to single-target with the only difference of applying DoTs to more targets, mostly through Seed of Corruption and Vile Taint. Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks when using recommended Hellcaller spec.
Affliction Warlock AoE opener in Mythic+
  • You can apply Agony while the pull is gathering. Initially, Agonys damage is very low and it's unlikely for you to overaggro threat because of it. Just make sure your tank tagged it first before DoTing it.
  • All Soul Shards should be spent while Soul Rot and Vile Taint are up.

Priority List

  1. Keep up Agony on up to 8 targets.
  2. Keep up Unstable Affliction on the main target.
  3. Cast Haunt on cooldown on the main target.
  4. Cast Summon Darkglare on cooldown when Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
  5. Cast Vile Taint on cooldown. Make sure to have every second cast line up with Soul Rot.
  6. Cast Malevolence on cooldown. Sync it with Soul Rot every time.
  7. Cast Soul Rot on cooldown.
  8. Cast Malefic Rapture if you are about to cap on Soul Shards or have Tormented Crescendo proc.
  9. Cast Shadow Bolt if you have Nightfall procs.
  10. Cast Malefic Rapture whenever you have Soul Shards.
  11. Cast Shadow Bolt as your filler spell.

While Haunt, Shadow Bolt and Unstable Affliction could lower your overall dps in big pulls, it's still a damage gain on a priority target. And the way modern WoW works is that every single pull has at least one or two important trash mobs that are beneficial to kill fast to make the pull easier. That is the reason why these spells are mentioned in the AoE rotation and are recommended to be used.

Deep Dive

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

Burn Windows

As an Affliction Warlock, you want to cast as many Malefic Raptures as possible during your Burn Windows.

  • Burn Window is whenever you have Soul Rot with Phantom Singularity or Vile Taint up. Thus, your main goal is to save as many Soul Shards as you can for those windows without overcapping them.
  • Keep in mind that you can use Vile Taint as a Mini-Burn Window all alone and spend some Shards here as well. Still, your main goal is to save as many Soul Shards as you can for your Main Burn with Soul Rot. Any extra Soul Shards that would have been used to not overcap could all be spent in Mini-Burn instead. The amount of Soul Shards spent in Mini-Burn depends on the number of targets you fight. For example, if you fight 8 targets or more then you can spend every Shard you get during Vile Taint but if it is single or low number of targets then it would only be few casts of Malefic Rapture. It all depends on how many Soul Shards you can generate in a 30 second window in between your Mini and Main Burn.

With experience, you get a better understanding of how many Soul Shards you want to spend outside of your burns, which varies on the number of targets you fight.

Managing Soul Shards as Hellcaller vs Soul Harvester

Main difference is that as a Hellcaller you want to save Soul Shards for your Burn Windows but as a Soul Harvester it is the opposite. You shouldn't save any Soul Shards and spend them whenever you can. Your main goal is to cast as few unbuffed Drain Souls as possible, almost never. That way it will be much easier to manage and not overcap on your procs and Soul Shards.

Once you are more used to the Soul Harvester playstyle you can try saving *1* Soul Shard for your Burn Windows to make them slightly more efficient. It is not recommended to save any more than 1 as it is very likely or guaranteed to overcap with 2 or more.

Although Burn Windows are more important with Hellcaller playstyle rather than Soul Harvester, it is still useful to know for the later one as it may change your priority slightly. For an example, in the end of the Burn Window, if you have a Nightfall proc but not overcapping on it, you may want to cast Malefic Rapture, if you can, instead of Drain Soul.

Nightfall and Tormented Crescendo

With the addition of hero talents, the amount of procs you get over the fight is significantly increased. To the point that managing them and not overcapping is as important as keeping up your DoTs and not failing you Burn Windows.

Hellcaller increases your Tormented Crescendo proc rate with Seeds of Their Demise and Soul Harvester increases amount of Nightfalls you get with Sataiel's Volition.

Difference between Hellcaller and Soul Harvester is quite big to the point that you need to manage your Soul Shards differently depending on the spec. That is due to Nightfall also interacting with how you get Tormented Crescendo. You have a very high chance of getting Tormented Crescendo proc during your Drain Soul channel buffed by Nightfall. Thus, as a Soul Harvester, you end up with an increased amount of both Tormented Crescendo and Nightfall procs.

Drain Soul clipping

Clipping means manually interrupting your cast. It is not necessary to finish your Drain Soul channel cast unless it is buffed by Nightfall. So any time you cast Drain Soul without it, you should clip it whenever any other spell higher in priority comes in.

For example, if you are casting normal unbuffed Drain Soul and you get a Nightfall or Tormented Crescendo proc then you should clip your cast and spend the proc.

Malefic Rapture vs Seed of Corruption

With The War Within coming, there is no more confusion on what spender to cast anymore. Your next cast should always be:

  • Seed of Corruption if you need to apply Corruption on the pack of mobs.
  • Malefic Rapture in any other situation, it is your main and only spender.

Vile Taint and Soul Rot

Although both spells should be used on cooldown, there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind.

  • Soul Rot is a 1 minute cooldown spell and should always be paired with Vile Taint.
  • Vile Taint being a 30 second cooldown spell allows it one additional use before Soul Rot comes off CD.

Minmaxing Volatile Agony

Another small thing to manage in The War Within is a new passive effect of refreshing Agony with less than 10 seconds remaining as it does decent AoE damage if executed properly. Aside from manually refreshing Agony, it is more important to remember that Vile Taint also triggers Volatile Agony. So in AoE scenarios, if trash lives long enough for a second Vile Taint, it's often beneficial to hold it for a few seconds to trigger more Volatile Agonys for more AoE output.

Optimizing Summon Darkglare

The main feature of Summon Darkglare lies in extending your DoTs, rather than just gaining pure damage from it, thus increasing the duration of your Burn Windows. Make sure to only cast it when Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up alongside your other DoTs.

Another important thing to know is that Summon Darkglare is a guardian and how it updates its stats. It happens differently the moment Darkglare is summoned and when it is already up.

Once you cast Summon Darkglare it snapshots your characters stats instantly but when it is already active it may take up to few seconds to update. That is why you should press potion, racial and any on use stat trinket right before Summon Darkglare and not after.

Spymaster's Web

By far the strongest on use trinket this season which also works in a unique way.
You passively generate stacks that grant you Intellect. Later on you can trade accumulated stacks for a 20 second Intellect buff which gets stronger the more stacks you've traded.
The play with this trinket would be to wait for maximum amount of stacks and then use it with your Summon Darkglare.

Understanding Mechanics

Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.

Dungeons

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

← Scroll for more Dungeons

Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
City of Threads
The Stonevault
The Dawnbreaker
Mists of Tirna Scithe
The Necrotic Wake
Siege of Boralus
Grim Batol
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in Ara-Kara, City of Echoes

Boss Tips

Avanoxx

  • Rotate defensives such as Dark Pact on Alerting Shrill.
  • Avoid kiting Starved Crawlers into the boss else the boss receives Insatiable.
    • Use Shadowfury to keep them stacked.
    • AoE them down as soon as possible.
  • Utilize Demonic Gateway or Demonic Circle to bait Gossamer Onslaught on the edge of the platform or a pre-determined stack up location.

Anub'zekt

  • Pre-place Demonic Circle to quickly teleport away when you're targeted by Burrow Charge.
  • Kill Bloodstained Webmages fast and interrupt Silken Restraints.

Ki'katal the Harvester

  • Use a defensive while you're affected by Cultivated Poisons since it hits like a truck!
  • When you're affected by Grasping Blood you can use any form of crowd control instead of killing it to cancel your root.
  • Cosmic Singularity can also be avoided by pre-placing Demonic Circle and Teleporting at the last 0.7 seconds of the cast.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Resonant Barrage from Trilling Attendant.
    • Horrifying Shrill from Ixin.
    • Revolting Volley from Bloodstained Webmage.
    • Venom Volley from Blood Overseer.
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Alarm Shrill from Sentry Stagshell
      • A really long cast that needs to get disrupted.
    • Massive Slam from Nerubian Hauler and Hulking Bloodguard
      • A short stun that ramps in damage done per cast.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in City of Threads

Boss Tips

Orator Krix'vizk

  • Help out your healer by dispelling Shadows of Doubt with your Imp's Singe Magic.
  • Use your defensives during Vociferous Indoctrination.
  • Burning Rush helps you dodge Terrorize.

Fangs of the Queen

  • Watch out for Knife Throw. Use defensives if you're targeted by this ability.
  • You can either dispel Ice Sickles with Singe Magic or cleanse it with Soulburn: Demonic Circle.
  • Make sure to position yourself close to the boss to maximise cleave uptime since Shadow Shunpo targets a random player.

The Coaglamation

  • Use your defensives for Dark Pulse. This happens at 100 boss energy.
  • Keep an eye on tank movement and make sure to not outrange the boss or your healer.

Izo, the Grand Splicer

  • Shifting Anomalies move onto players location. Thus it is recommended to move together as a group throughout the whole fight to dodge the mechanic easier as it's going to be much more predictable. As a bonus it is also going to be easier to deal with Umbral Weave this way.
  • Make sure to always have Vile Taint ready for Umbral Weave to help your team and yourself get rid of the webs.
  • Use your defensives for Splice since it's the highest damage event during this fight.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Web Bolt from Sureki Silkbinder.
    • Grimweave Blast from Covert Webmancer.
    • Mending Web from Covert Webmancer.
    • Twist Thoughts from Herald of Anurek. Good target for Curse of Tongues.
    • Void Wave from Sureki Unnaturaler.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in The Stonevault

Boss Tips

E.D.N.A.

  • Always stack up to spawn Volatile Spikes close together to ensure you can detonate them all with 1 Refracting Beam.
    • Use Dark Pact whenever it's ready for this ability.
  • Use Unending Resolve for Earth Shatterer.
  • Utilize your Imp's Singe Magic to dispel Seismic Reverberation off of your tank.
    • Dispel it right before Seismic Smash to give your tank the 50% damage reduction from Stone Shield.

Skarmorak

  • Be careful with killing Crystal Shards as they explode upon destruction dealing damage to all players.
  • Use your defensive before Unstable Crash happens or while you have multiple stacks of Unstable Energy.

Master Machinists Brokk and Dorlita

  • Make sure to use your Felhunter for this fight, set it to passive, and use pet attack on Speaker Brokk to quickly interrupt Molten Metal with Spell Lock whenever he jumps away.
  • Use your defensive during Exhaust Vents and Blazing Crescendo.

Void Speaker Eirich

  • Place your Demonic Circle in the middle of the room to quickly teleport back after dropping Entropy from Entropic Reckoning.
  • Use your defensive on Entropic Reckoning.
  • Unbridled Void is a cone so it becomes wider the further away you are. Keep that in mind and try to position yourself closer to the boss when possible to make it easier to dodge for yourself or pre-place Demonic Circle as an emergency.

Trash Tips

  • Focus down Earth Burst Totem from Cursedforge Stoneshaper. They have a low amount of health but are not affected by AoE abilities.
  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Howling Fear from Ghastly Voidsoul.
    • Censoring Gear from Turned Speaker.
    • Piercing Wail from Void Bound Howler.
    • Restoring Metals from Forgebound Mender and Cursedforge Mender.
    • Arcing Void from Cursedheart Invader.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in The Dawnbreaker

Boss Tips

Speaker Shadowcrown

  • Do not try to Demonic Circle: Teleport over a Obsidian Beam. It still applies the dot to you which deals a ton of damage.
  • Consider using a defensive if you're affected by Collapsing Night. Getting out of this quickly is important since it deals a lot of damage every 0.5 seconds.
  • You can utilize your Imp's Singe Magic to dispel Burning Shadows.
  • Cast Curse of Tongues on the boss to increase the cast time of Shadow Bolt.

Anub'ikkaj

  • Prepare a Demonic Circle to quickly teleport back after moving out to position the Dark Orb path.
  • Stun Animate Shadows with Shadowfury.
  • Use defensives for the Dark Orb and Shadowy Decay.

Rasha'nan

  • Pre-place a Demonic Circle close to the boss to quickly deliver Arathi Bombs.
  • Be aware of Erosive Spray. It applies Lingering Erosion which is dangerous when combined with other damage events.
  • During Phase 2 you can mitigate a lot of damage by pre-placing a Demonic Circle in the middle of your playing area to quickly teleport after dropping your Spinneret's Strands.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Night Bolt from Nightfall Shadowmage.
    • Ensnaring Shadows from Nightfall Shadowmage.
    • Tormenting Beam from Nightfall Darkcaster.
    • Umbral Barrier from Nightfall Darkcaster.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in Mists of Tirna Scithe

Boss Tips

Ingra Maloch

  • Interrupt Spirit Bolt every time a non-tank player is targeted. Because you can interrupt with your pet while crowd-controlled, you should hold your Spell Lock for whenever everybody is affected by Repulsive Visage.
    • Cast Curse of Tongues to Ingra Maloch to deal with kicks easier.
  • Try to avoid Tears of the Forest pools behind or around you whenever Repulsive Visage is about to happen as it may fear you right into them.
  • Try to line up your cooldowns with Droman Oulfarran's Droman's Wrath to gain a huge DPS boost. This happens when Droman Oulfarran reaches 20% health.

Mistcaller

  • Fear the Illusionary Vulpins to prevent them from reaching their target.
    • If your group is not crowd-controlling the Illusionary Vulpins you can DoT it and slow it with Curse of Exhaustion.
  • Use your defensives during the Guessing Game.

Tred'ova

  • When casting ‍Acid Expulsion the boss tries to predict the movement of the players from the previous ‍Acid Expulsion. Try not to move too much during it to make dodging later on easier.
  • Demonic Gateway and Demonic Circle help you and your group break Mind Link quickly.
  • Try to predot adds during Accelerated Incubation with Agony while they are gathering.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Spirit Bolt from Drust Harvester.
    • Harvest Essence from Drust Harvester.
    • Nourish the Forest from Mistveil Tender.
    • Bramblethorn Coat from Mistveil Shaper.
    • Stimulate Regeneration from Spinemaw Staghorn.
    • Stimulate Resistance from Spinemaw Staghorn.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in The Necrotic Wave

Boss Tips

Blightbone

  • Dark Pact if you're targeted by Heaving Retch.
  • Always use Shadowfury on Carrion Worms.
    • Cast Seed of Corruption on one of the Carrion Worms if they are spawned too far from the boss and are not going to get cleaved from it.

Amarth, The Harvester

  • Cast Curse of Tongues on the boss to make kicking Necrotic Bolt easier.
  • If any adds are still alive during Final Harvest, use Shadowfury or Mortal Coil to crowd control them. With them crowd controlled, the boss doesn't cast Final Harvest even though an add is alive.

Surgeon Stitchflesh

  • Place Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway towards Surgeon Stitchflesh's grandstand to easily line up Meat Hooks throughout the fight.
  • Use your defensives when you get affected by Stitchneedle.

Nalthor the Rimebinder

  • Using Soulburn: Demonic Circle allows you to immune the Frozen Binds. Keep in mind that you need to cast it before the debuff is applied on you, during the boss cast.
  • Setup a Demonic Gateway for players to use right before they get hit by the Dark Exile projectile.
    • Do note that you still die after 50 seconds after doing this. It's a gain if the boss has low health or the targeted player could struggle in the extra phase.
    • Don't do it if you have 0 combat resurrections ready!

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Drain Fluids from Corpse Harvester and Corpse Collector.
    • Necrotic Bolt from Zolramus Sorceror & Zolarmus Necromancer.
    • Rasping Scream from Skeletal Marauder.
    • Frostbolt Volley from Reanimted Mage.
    • Goresplatter from Corpse Collector.
    • Repair Flesh from Flesh Crafter.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in Siege of Bolarus

Boss Tips

Chopper Redhook

  • Line up your cooldowns with the boss walking over Bombs which afflict him with Heavy Ordnance.
  • Demonic Circle helps you kiting the boss into Bombs.

Dread Captain Lockwood

  • Focus down the Ashvane Cannoneer during the phase change to quickly use Unstable Ordnance to get the boss down from the ship.
  • If your group has no other slow for Evasive then you can use Curse of Exhaustion.

Hadal Darkfathom

  • If you can't find a safe spot for Tidal Surge you can also use Demonic Circle to jump over the waves.
  • Be careful where you position yourself during Break Water as they leave water pools which may make hiding from Tidal Surge harder than it should be.

Viq'Goth

  • Use your Imp's Singe Magic to help your healer dispel Putrid Waters during the fight.
  • Pre-place Demonic Circle somewhere on the active platform in case you get knocked by Putrid Waters dispell.
  • You can utilize Demonic Gateway to cross the water faster between phases.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Brackish Bolt from Irontide Waveshaper.
    • Watertight Shell from Irontide Waveshaper.
    • Water Bolt from Bilge Rat Tempest.
    • Choking Waters from Bilge Rat Tempest.
    • Bolstering Shout from Ashvane Commander.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.
Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Build in Grim Batol

Boss Tips

General Umbriss

  • Demonic Circle and Burning Rush help you dodge Shadowflame Breath from Commanding Roar.
  • Use Dark Pact before Commanding Roar.
  • Try to place Rumbling Earth on the edges of the room.

Forgemaster Throngus

  • Use Dark Pact during Blistering Heat.

Drahga Shadowburner

  • Use Dark Pact during Twilight Buffet.
  • Apply Curse of Exhaustion on Shadowflame Spirits to prevent them from reaching the player who is fixated.
  • Keep in mind that Drahga Shadowburner at the start is not the main boss and doesn't have that much HP so don't overcommit to it. Valiona that appears later on also dies at 50% so plan accordingly.

Erudax, the Duke of Below

  • Use defensives during Abyssal Corruption and Void Surge.
  • Be careful with AoE as killing Twilight Hatchling applies a Shadow Wound on your group which may lead to bad overlaps with Shadow Gale.

Dark Pact usage:

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Earth Bolt from Twilight Earthcaller.
    • Mass Tremor from Twilight Earthcaller.
    • Shadowflame Bolt from Twilight Beguiler.
    • Sear Mind from Twilight Beguiler.

Pre Dungeon Start

  • Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
  • Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Affixes

The Affix system got revamped going into The War Within Season 1 retiring most Affixes as well as introducing new kiss-curse ones while also changing on which key level these appear.

  • +2 Affixes -- Rotates on a weekly basis
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
  • +4 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis
    • Tyrannical
    • Fortified
  • +7 Affix
    • Challenger's Peril
  • +10 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis, is always the opposite of the +4 Affix
    • Tyrannical
    • Fortified
  • +12 Affix
    • Xal'atath's Guile -- Replaces the +2 Affix

Following you get some useful tips for handling different Mythic+ Affixes as an Affliction Warlock.

  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
    • Use Shadowfury to hit as many orbs as possible.
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
    • Make sure to DoT Void Emissary as soon as it appears.
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
    • Collect the orbs for a damage buff and use Burning Rush if needed.
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
    • Dispell yourself with Imp's Singe Magic. Otherwise consider using a defensive, Demonic Healthstone or Mortal Coil if needed.

Stat Priority

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Mythic+ dungeons as a Affliction Warlock. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.

Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Stat Priorities

Main thing that you need to understand as an Affliction Warlock, when it comes to stats, is that Mastery is very valuable on AoE and any type of cleave and that Versatility is your worst stat and should be avoided.

Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.

All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!

Tertiary

  • Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
  • Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing. The damage of your pets does not heal you thus Leech is a great tertiary for you since most of your damage is coming from your own spells.
  • Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. Makes playing certain mechanics a lot easier.

Gear

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock
Best in Slot
Farmable Alternatives
SlotItemLocation
HeadHexflame Coven's All-Seeing EyeTier / Catalyst
NeckSureki Zealot's InsigniaSikran
ShoulderHexflame Coven's AltarTier / Catalyst
CloakWings of Shattered SorrowRasha'nan
ChestHexflame Coven's Ritual HarnessTier / Catalyst
WristConsecrated CuffsCrafting
GlovesSubduer's TerrorgripsCity of Threads
BeltAcrid Ascendant's SashQueen Ansurek
LegsHexflame Coven's LeggingsTier / Catalyst
BootsAssimilated Eggshell SlippersBroodtwister Ovi'nax
Ring 1Seal of the Poisoned PactThe Silken Court
Ring 2Writhing RingwormBroodtwister Ovi'nax
Trinket 1Spymaster's WebSilken Court
Trinket 2Ara-Kara SacbroodAra-Kara, City of Echoes
WeaponSovereign's DisdainQueen Ansurek
Off-handVagabond's TorchCrafting

Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.

SlotItemLocation
HeadIntertwiner's ShadowcowlCity of Threads
Neck"Emergency Stop" KeychainThe Stonevault
ShoulderReanimator's MantleThe Necrotic Wake
CloakAnvilhide CapeThe Stonevault
ChestArachnofrost VestCity of Threads
WristCrimsonborne BracersGrim Batol
GlovesSubduer's TerrorgripsCity of Threads
BeltDorlita's Safety BeltThe Stonevault
LegsArchaic Venomancer's FootwrapsAra-Kara, City of Echoes
BootsMembranous SlippersThe Dawnbreaker
Ring 1Seal of the City WatchSiege of Boralus
Ring 2Umbriss BandGrim Batol
Trinket 1Gale of ShadowsGrim Batol
Trinket 2Ara-Kara SacbroodAra-Kara, City of Echoes
WeaponMelodious Iron SongspireThe Stonevault

Trinkets

Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the mythic+ dungeon.

Every active trinket but Spymaster's Web this season is very weak compared to passive alternatives. So if you were unlucky with dropping Spymaster's Web in the raid then it's highly recommended to farm one of the passive alternatives from Mythic+, preferably Ara-Kara Sacbrood and Gale of Shadows.

Active Trinket alternatives

  • Treacherous Transmitter
    • Decent on-use trinket that buffs your primary stat but requires you to do "tasks" that may become a slight hindrance at times.
  • Mereldar's Toll
    • Decent on-use trinket that deals a little bit of damage and buffs you and your teammates with a Vers buff.
  • High Speaker's Accretion
    • Decent on-use trinket that deals damage and buffs your Intellect.
  • Mad Queen's Mandate
    • Deals good upfront single target damage but has a cast time and loses value heavily with any kind of cleave.

Passive Trinket alternatives

  • Gale of Shadows
    • Very strong stat stick that ramps up over time.
  • Candle Confidant
    • Very strong passive damage trinket from delves. Only downside to it is it's limited maximum ilvl and that it loses value in a higher target count scenariouses.
  • Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
    • Good passive trinket that buffs a random secondary stat.
  • Unbound Changeling
    • Good passive trinket that buffs all secondary stats.
  • Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
    • Decent passive stat stick.
  • Harvester's Edict
    • Decent passive trinket that either deals some damage or buffs your Mastery.
  • Hadal's Nautilus
    • Decent passive damage trinket.
  • Satchel of Misbegotten Minions
    • Decent passive damage trinket.
Affliction Warlock ST trinket sims in M+

Embellishments

  • 1x Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension
    • Only crafted on your main hand or off-hand weapon. Craft it on your main hand for more power early on or on your off-hand for long-term BiS.
  • 1x Writhing Armor Banding
    • The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots or Waist depending on your available gear.

or

  • 1-2x Elemental Focusing Lens
    • Deals a decent amount of damage in Single-Target.
    • The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots or Waist depending on your available gear.

or

  • 1-2x Dawnthread Lining
    • The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots or Waist depending on your available gear.

Simcraft

To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.

Consumables

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock
  • Phials
    • Flask of Alchemical Chaos -- maximum DPS.
    • Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but more survivability.
  • Food
    • Feast of the Midnight Masquerade -- default
  • Combat Potion
    • Tempered Potion
  • Health Potion
    • Algari Healing Potion -- a big burst of healing
  • Weapon Oil
    • Algari Mana Oil -- default
    • Oil of Deep Toxins
  • Augment Rune
    • Crystallized Augment Rune
  • Sockets
    • Masterful Ruby
    • Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem color to enhance your Culminating Blasphemite.
      • Masterful Sapphire
      • Masterful Emerald
      • Deadly Onyx

Enchantments

HeadNerubian Gemweaver
NeckMagnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
CloakEnchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace
ChestEnchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance
WristEnchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance
Nerubian Gemweaver
WaistNerubian Gemweaver
LegsSunset Spellthread
BootsEnchant Boots - Scout's March
Ring 1Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike
Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
Ring 2Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike
Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
WeaponEnchant Weapon - Authority of Radiant Power
Affliction Warlock Enchantments in Mythic+

You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists & Waist.

Races

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

For min-maxing a Affliction Warlock in Mythic+, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your character. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.

  • Stoneform -- Dwarf
    • One of the most potent racials in Mythic+ currently and historically.
    • Dispels Magic and Bleed debuffs.
    • Use-cases:
      • Cultivated Poisons, Ki'katal the Harvester (Ara-Kara, City of Echoes)
      • Putrid Waters, Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
      • Curse of Entropy, Drahga Shadowburner (Grim Batol)
  • Shadowmeld -- Night Elf
    • Also one of the most potent racials in Mythic+ historically.
    • Use-cases
      • Run past basically any mob and then cast Shadowmeld to make them reset. Even works on mobs that have stealth detection if you get enough distance before you Shadowmeld.
  • Blood Fury -- Orc
    • Strong racial for damage both because of Command and Blood Fury which lines up with Summon Darkglare.
    • 20% reduced Stun duration on you which can be useful in some Mythic+ dungeons.
  • Escape Artist -- Gnome
    • Free yourself from roots.
  • Rocket Jump -- Goblin
    • Do a small jump in the direction your character is facing.
    • While you're in the Rocket Jump animation you are placed on a global cooldown until your character lands.
  • Berserking -- Troll
    • Strong DPS racial but lines up poorly with Summon Darkglare.
    • Reduce the duration of movement impairing effects by 20%.
Affliction Warlock race sims in Mythic+

Recommendation

Dwarf and Night Elf abilities have such a big impact on your Mythic+ experience that you need to use either of them if you're serious about pushing keys with your Affliction Warlock.

Macros

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

Discover recommended macros for Affliction Warlocks during Mythic+ dungeons and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.

Macro Import Guide Video

Cursor Macros

Phantom Singularity and Vile Taint -- Casts Phantom Singularity on your target or Vile Taint on your cursor without confirmation, depending on what spell is picked in your talent tree.

#showtooltip
/cast [known:Phantom Singularity,harm,nodead]Phantom Singularity; [known:Vile Taint,@cursor] Vile Taint

Shadowfury -- Casts Shadowfury on your cursor without confirmation.

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Shadowfury

Mouseover Macros

Pet Macros

Utility Macros

Addons

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Affliction Warlock, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Mythic+ dungeons to make your life easier.

Affliction Warlock User Interface in Mythic+

Addons

WeakAuras

Changes this Patch

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

Patch 11.0.2

Patch 11.0

FAQ

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Affliction Warlock

Q: Why my Malefic Rapture does so little damage?

Q: What pet should I use?

Credits

Written By: Wexi

Reviewed By: Wolfdisco

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