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Live
PTR
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Guide Contents
Patch 12.0.1
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Affliction Warlock DPS Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.2.5
By Xyronic
Updated:
2022/11/28
Welcome to our Affliction Warlock starter guide, which covers everything you need to start playing a new character in . While our other guide pages go into more detail about individual aspects of Affliction Warlock gameplay, this simple starter guide covers all the basics in one place.
Visit the complete Affliction Warlock guide pages linked in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page for more in-depth information!
Overview
BiS Gear
Rotation
Talent Builds
Consumables
Stats
Basics
About the Author
This guide was written by
Xyronic
. You might know of me from my time as a world first raider and founding member of
Liquid
, or as an MDI caster. You can check out my
twitch
page where I frequently stream anything to do with WoW. If you have any questions or comments, it's best to PM me on discord @Xyronic#0001 or DM me on twitter
@LimitXyronic
.
Watch live video from Xyronic on www.twitch.tv
Best Affliction Warlock Covenant
Unfortunately, due to some pretty hefty nerfs in late beta, only two covenants are really viable for most content. By far, Night Fae is head and shoulders above the rest in all content. Kyrian can be pretty decent in single target situations, but falls off hard in any real multitarget situations. Venthyr Should only really be considered for Mythic+, but still falls behind Night Fae. Each covenant offers its own special abilities, soulbinds, conduits, transmoggable armor sets, and other perks, so check out our Covenant pages for more information to help you decide which covenant to pledge to. Keep in mind, the choice also is not final and can be periodically changed.
Best Raid Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Kyrian
Great
Pelagos
Necrolord
Poor
Emeni
Night Fae
Amazing
Niya
Venthyr
Poor
Nadjia
Best Mythic+ Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Kyrian
Low Keys
: Poor
High Keys
: Poor
Pelagos
Pelagos
Necrolord
Low Keys
: Poor
High Keys
: Poor
Emeni
Emeni
Night Fae
Excellent
Niya
Venthyr
Low Keys
: Good
High Keys
: Good
Nadjia
Nadjia
Best Affliction Warlock Covenant
Kyrian Affliction Warlock GuideNecrolord Affliction Warlock Guide
Night Fae Affliction Warlock GuideVenthyr Affliction Warlock Guide
Best Affliction Warlock Legendaries
For Legendaries, Affliction Warlocks have essentially one great legendary for everything. For Raid and decent Mythic+ damage, your best bet is
Relic of Demonic Synergy
. It's generally strong, and will be a 10% damage amp about half of the time.
Affliction Warlock Legendaries Guide
Best Affliction Warlock Talents
Affliction Warlocks use the same talents in a lot of content - with only some minor changes when you swap from single target to multitarget/aoe. The below talent build will get you started on most content in the game - if you're interested in all the different talent builds, check out the full guide linked below.
Affliction Warlock Talents Guide
Affliction Warlock Stat Priority
In shadowlands, warlocks are similar to most classes in that our main stat, Intellect, has significantly higher impact than it did in previous expansions versus our secondaries. In you're interested in more in-depth explanations of our stat weights, you can check out the
Stats Guide
- in addition to this, you can check out the
Gear Guide
.
Intellect > Mastery > Haste > Crit = Vers
Critical Strike
: Chance for extra effectiveness on attacks and heals.
Haste
: Increases attack speed and spell casting speed. Haste also decreases the duration of a dot, but increases how fast a dot will tick on the target.
Mastery
: Increases the damage done by your dots.
Versatility
: Increases damage and reduces damage taken by half.
Affliction Warlock Stats Guide
Affliction Warlock Enchants and Consumables
Rings:
Enchant Ring - Tenet of Haste
or
Enchant Ring - Tenet of Mastery
Weapon:
Enchant Weapon - Celestial Guidance
Chest:
Enchant Chest - Eternal Stats
Cloak: Any of these three -
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Leech
,
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Speed
, or
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Avoidance
. Whichever tertiary stat benefits you the most. There is a third option for just 30 stamnia, which is a flat 10 stamina or 200 health more than the others, but this is vastly less useful than the free tertiary stats.
Feet:
Enchant Boots - Soul Treads
Bracers:
Enchant Bracers - Eternal Intellect
Affliction Warlock Enchants Guide
Affliction Warlock Rotation Guide
Apply and maintain
Agony
.
Apply and maintain
Corruption
.
Apply and maintain
Unstable Affliction
.
Apply and maintain
Siphon Life
, if talented.
Apply and maintain
Shadow Embrace
.
Cast
Haunt
on cooldown.
Cast
Phantom Singularity
on cooldown, if talented. Delay if an add phase comes <20 seconds from when spell is off cooldown.
Cast
Malefic Rapture
if you're capped on
Soul Shards
.
Last but not least, cast your filler, whether it's the default
Shadow Bolt
, or if you're talented into
Drain Soul
.
For a more in-depth rotation guide, including other talents and covenants, check out the link below.
Affliction Warlock Rotation Guide
Back to Top
Our Affliction Warlock guides are always updated with the latest information from in-game experience, simulations, and logs. Make sure to check our changelog for this page by clicking on
View Changelog
in the Quick Facts column or on the book icon at the top of the page. If you are interested in more in-depth Affliction Warlock guides for , make sure to browse the
Navigation Bar
at the top of the page.
Feedback
Thanks for reading our class guides! If you have any feedback, feel free to leave a comment in the section below, and we will reply as quickly as possible. If you'd like to talk with any of our writers directly, you can do so by joining our
Discord server
and finding them there!
Share your comments about this guide in our Warlock forum!
Tags:
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