Affliction Warlock Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Hellcaller vs. Soul Harvester

Posted 2024/08/15 at 10:28 AM by Kalamazi

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Blood DK
Frost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid

Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk
Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination Rogue
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Affliction Warlock in the War WithinHero Talent Showdown: Soul Harvester vs. Hellcaller Soul Harvester

Strengths

Weaknesses

Malefic RaptureSoul Rot Hellcaller

Strengths

Weaknesses

MalevolenceWitherWhat's Changed? Soul HarvesterShadow of DeathDemonic SoulMalefic RaptureSoul Rot HellcallerWitherMalevolenceAnd the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Soul Harvester (Winner).
Both Hero Talents have exciting visuals to work with! Hellcaller has Malevolence which turns your character a shadowy purple color with horns, while Soul Harvester has your Demonic Soul which spawns behind you every time you consume a Succulent Soul or Nightfall effect. In the end, your Demonic Soul is visible much more often than Hellcaller with Malevolence, so the nod has to go to Soul Harvester for Class Fantasy and Visuals, but both looks great.

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Hellcaller (Winner)
Both have their own varying playstyles, but I have found Hellcaller to be more exciting to play when compared to Soul Harvester and that is mainly due to Malevolence. Having a 1-minute cooldown that grants Haste (a stat you can feel), does damage and interacts directly with Wither is too hard to pass up.

Difficulty: Soul Harvester (More Difficult)
Hellcaller and Soul Harvester both have their own intricacies, but Soul Harvester does feel slightly more challenging than its counterpart due to the synergies between abilities. It is very important to not over cap on Nightfall stacks, while also being sure to spend enough Soul Shards before you cast Soul Rot, to not "waste" the 3 it generates upon cast. There is also the potential to want to hold shards going into a Rapture window if they are Succulent Soul, which is a baseline Soul Harvester mechanic.

Defensiveness & Utility: Tie between both Soul Harvester and Hellcaller (Tie)
I feel that its quite close when it comes to utility and defensives for both Hero Talents, which is why I am calling it a draw. Friends In Dark Places is quite a powerful ability from the Soul Harvester tree, but also has other mediocre choices in Eternal Servitude and at times Gorefiend's Resolve. Hellcaller has Curse of the Satyr/Aura of Enfeeblement which can be incredibly powerful in the right settings, but overall are seen as niche.

Leveling: Hellcaller (Winner)
The clear winner here to me is Hellcaller. Wither is an exceptionally powerful spell and you begin to get damage amplifications to it quite early in Blackened Soul and such. While Malevolence won't essentially be available while leveling (being a capstone), Hellcaller is strong enough to stand on its own (while leveling) without it.

Mythic+: Hellcaller (Winner, but close)
Both Hero Talents are close when it comes to Mythic +, but I would CURRENTLY give a slight edge to Hellcaller. As mentioned, Wither is an incredibly powerful ability and having Malevolence as a 1-minute cooldown (essentially every pack), is quite powerful. Soul Harvester does have certain abilities like Shared Fate and Quietus, but they feel a bit lackluster at times on certain pulls or during boss encounters.

Raid: Tie between both Soul Harvester and Hellcaller (Tie)
When it comes to raiding however, both Hero Talents feel very close at the moment. In Raid settings, cooldowns and boss abilities are often known/planned in advance, which can make a case for Soul Harvester having additional value based around knowing optimal Soul Rot windows and death effects if adds are present. It also feels (currently) that both Hero Talents are very close to each other when it comes to single target damage tuning, potentially even favoring Soul Harvester. Soul Harvester also has a bit more stationary gameplay, which can be punishing at times. Having a strong 1-minute cooldown in Malevolence is also quite relevant however, so I think its best to call the Raid category a draw, with MAYBE a SLIGHT bias towards Hellcaller, but that could change at any moment with tuning.

Best Overall: Hellcaller (Winner)
Soul Harvester and Hellcaller each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but I feel the overall winner with current tuning is Hellcaller by a slight margin. Having Malevolence as a short, 1-minute cooldown is quite impactful in raid settings and Mythic + alike. Having the ability to allocate a short cooldown to a certain chokepoint in a raid encounter, then have it available a minute later is quite strong. The fact that it is available essentially every trash pack in M+ as well (and how it interacts with Wither) make it an incredibly potent ability.

With all that being said however, Soul Harvester is not far behind and in certain settings (potentially Hectic Add Cleave) I could easily see it being the play over Hellcaller. Soul Harvester also does appear to have higher initial AOE burst when compared to Hellcaller, which can be relevant. Blizzard has done a great job at making both Hero Talents powerful, but also having exceptional, niche value in their own respective settings, it just feels that Soul Harvester may be a TAD bit more niche than Hellcaller.

Hero Talent Feedback Soul HarvesterNightfallFeast of SoulsMalefic RaptureSoul RotMalevolenceHellcallerWitherBlackened SoulMalevolenceMalefic RaptureUnstable AfflictionBase Affliction Warlock Gameplay & TalentsDread TouchSiphon LifeAbsolute CorruptionMalefic RaptureOblivionMalefic TouchWitherVile TaintAgonyMalefic RaptureShould You Play Affliction Warlock in the War Within?Dread TouchSiphon LifeSiphon LifeHero Talent Guides for the War Within Launch

Get instant notifications when the latest news is published via the Wowhead Discord Webhook!

Add Discord Webhook

Stay up to date with all the latest news with Wowhead News Notifications!

Enable News Notifications

Comments

Comment by Hilgono

They need to make Oblivion benefit from mastery, or channel faster. and buffing siphon life and deaths embrace

Comment by dreadmarbles

Warlock overall one of the coolest damn classes in the entire game

Comment by Stormbringer4190

why would i play with SL and risk making wither run out with all its stacks when i can pick AC? especially in aoe situations where you can just spread it out and just forget about it

Comment by Shadrazaar

Hellcaller sounds amazing. Can't wait to play it

Comment by Cravens

Why aren't they reworking Vile Taint? Affli and Spriest are very similar. Yet Shadow Crash not only has a shorter cooldown, not only it doesn't cost any resource, but instead provides with more.. aaand it's also an instant cast.

Explain ?

Comment by rarehunter122

Aff is so boring with only 2 dots to maintain

Comment by rarehunter122

why would i play with SL and risk making wither run out with all its stacks when i can pick AC? especially in aoe situations where you can just spread it out and just forget about it

The stacks should be falling off eventually anyway after it hits 8. If you screw up, you just set yourself back, not permanently screwed.

Comment by dalq

Yall should really proofread your articles before hitting that send button

Comment by Stormbringer4190

why would i play with SL and risk making wither run out with all its stacks when i can pick AC? especially in aoe situations where you can just spread it out and just forget about it

The stacks should be falling off eventually anyway after it hits 8. If you screw up, you just set yourself back, not permanently screwed.

yeah but that's the mechanic of it, build stacks and let them run down again, build up again and let it collapse

Comment by ShurqElalle

I have not been this excited for warlock in years. Absolutely love Kalamazi. Great guides and true warlock lover.

Comment by gringoboy70

why would i play with SL and risk making wither run out with all its stacks when i can pick AC? especially in aoe situations where you can just spread it out and just forget about it

The stacks should be falling off eventually anyway after it hits 8. If you screw up, you just set yourself back, not permanently screwed.

That's not what he is talking about at all. He's saying running SL you run the risk of the wither dot falling off. Meaning you lose ALL stacks of Blackened Soul. Meaning you lose all the DPS they would have done. You could easily lose 12+ stacks in a malevolence window if you aren't refreshing the dot in aoe which is isnt a minor set back.

Comment by Souledk

Can't Shadow Crash still miss because it has a travel time?

Comment by Brimz

Vile Taint - Agony is still miserable especially with lot of mobs to reapply Agony just to send VT 3 sec later, dont know how its still not fixed

Hellcaller's biggest enemy is Wither: 1 spell can defy the whole spec, therefore the fear week by week when they post bluepost is gonna be insane. If they nerf Wither Hellcaller is done, if they buff, its broken.

I still miss Legion Aff, still would like to get dot extension just like spriests and boomies, still would like to apply multiple dots with 1 button just like spriests, still would like to get back execute succ with drainsoul, still would like to get a drainsoul which hits multiple targets.

Comment by Clinoclase

It's kind of crazy that all these guides talk about visuals but only like one or two shows them to us at all

Comment by Superbriggs

Annnnddddd....rapture is still terrible and ruining the spec.

Comment by Trucao

Thanks for the guide. I have played Aff in Legion and Dragonflight. I love the fantasy but I cannot play for another expansion the awful playstyle of re-applying agony one by one. I cannot fathom the reason as to why Blizzard keeps leaving VT CD longer than Agony duration. It is not about dmg. It is about gamestyle and quality of life.

Comment by FuryXHD

This has been brought up a few times, Blizzard is yet to explain why.
Back in beta shadowlands, you were able to do it, but then they increased the cooldown of Viletaint so it meant you were a few seconds off.
Its actually super frustrating not being able to cast this frequently to capture agony's, especially with the new AOE agony talent where agony under 10 second recast can benefit from a massive vile taint reapply.

They can't extend agony time because of PVP reasons, but they could easily flag a PVP condition where in PVP Agony is shorter, and PVE it is longer. We just need about 6 seconds added to agony to make vile taint fit in.

It is...so frustrating they have yet to explain why.