Affliction Warlock guide for WoW Forever

The Affliction Warlock in WoW Forever puts damage over time on the enemy and drains its health back. Four changes shape the spec: new drain talents, Banes split off from Curses, DoTs that can crit and a Life Tap that scales with Spirit. This guide covers the build, rotation, demons and stats.

Role	Damage, the most self-sufficient Warlock spec solo
Build at level 30	Drain tank, 21 points in Affliction
Key talents	Improved Corruption, Suppression, Improved Drains, Soul Siphon
Strength	Self-sustain, damage on the move, group utility
Weakness	Slow start, stationary filler, health as a resource
Talent order per level	Warlock level build

What changes for Affliction

• New drain talents. Improved Drains and Soul Siphon make Drain Life strong enough to tank with.
• Banes are not Curses. Bane of Agony is now a Bane, so you can add Curse of Weakness, Curse of Tongues or Curse of Recklessness on the same target.
• DoTs can crit. Pandemic raises the critical strike bonus of your DoTs and drains.
• Life Tap scales with Spirit. Rank 3, from level 26, converts 140 health plus your Spirit into mana.
• Ritual of Summoning matters more. Meeting Stones no longer summon, so Ritual of Summoning is the only way to summon players.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
Health and mana work as one resource	DoTs need time to pay off
Instant DoTs keep ticking while you move	Drain Life is a channel, you cannot move
DoTs on several targets at once	Every Life Tap costs health
Soulstone, Healthstones and summons	Hellfire also burns your own health

The drain tank build at level 30

This build uses 21 points for drain tanking. With 5 points in Talented from the Legacy system you have 26 points at level 30. Then take Soul Siphon to 3/3 first, and two more points in Malediction reach 25 points in Affliction, which opens Shadow Mastery for the last point.

Talent	What it does in Forever
Improved Corruption	At 5/5 Corruption becomes instant and deals 10% more damage
Suppression	1% hit and 4% less threat per point. 4 points remove misses against enemies of your level
Improved Drains	Drain Life and Drain Soul deal 20% more at 3/3
Fel Concentration	Up to 70% chance that damage does not interrupt your drains
Improved Life Tap	20% more mana from Life Tap at 2/2
Amplify Curse	A stronger Bane of Agony on every cooldown, needed for Curse of Exhaustion
Soul Siphon	Drains deal 4% more per Affliction effect on the target per point, up to 36% at 3/3
Malediction	1% more periodic damage per point, Drain Life included

Pandemic only raises critical strike damage. With little crit at level 30 it adds little, so it can wait. Siphon Life deals little damage, but it pays for itself on long fights and counts as an Affliction effect for Soul Siphon.

The Warlock level build on this site takes another route to level 35, with Pandemic and Malevolence for more crit on your DoTs. Both work. The drain tank gives up some damage for fewer breaks.

Rotation

One enemy

1. Send your demon in.
2. Pull with Bane of Agony. Its first ticks are weak, which gives your demon time to take threat.
3. Cast Corruption.
4. Cast a curse, such as Curse of Weakness on enemies that hit hard. It is your third Affliction effect for Soul Siphon.
5. Channel Drain Life until the enemy dies. Use your wand when it is almost dead.
6. Cast Life Tap whenever you have more health than mana.

Two enemies. Put Bane of Agony and Corruption on the first, plus Siphon Life if you have it, and Fear it. Send your demon at the second, put your DoTs on it and drain it. Fear the first again when it comes back. With a focus target and a modifier key you can cast on the feared enemy without switching targets.

Dungeons. Curse, then Bane of Agony and Corruption, and Drain Life on the tank’s target. Skip DoTs on enemies that die within about 12 seconds. From level 50, Curse of the Elements raises the magic damage your group deals. Curse of Recklessness suits a group with mostly melee.

Health and mana

Life Tap turns health into mana, and Drain Life takes that health back. With the drain talents, a full channel heals you for more than the Life Taps you need to pay for it. Two rules keep you from drinking:

• A lot more health than mana? Cast Life Tap. Do not stay at full health while Drain Life heals you.
• A lot more mana than health? Cast Drain Life. Do not shoot your wand while your mana is full.

Do not refresh DoTs early, because you lose the ticks they had left. Bane of Agony deals most of its damage at the end of its 24 seconds, so let it run out. Corruption ticks every 3 seconds.

Demons

• Succubus or Incubus (Summon Succubus): the most damage. It does not hold threat without Demonology talents, but that does not matter while you drain tank. Your default solo demon.
• Voidwalker (Summon Voidwalker): your tank for elites and dangerous pulls.
• Felhunter (Summon Felhunter): Spell Lock from level 36 and Devour Magic. Strong against casters and in PvP.
• Imp (Summon Imp): little damage, but Blood Pact gives the group Stamina.

The new Move command lets you place your demon anywhere. Bind Attack and Follow to keys you can press without thinking.

Stats and gear

Spell damage and Shadow damage first, then Stamina and Spirit, then Intellect. Stamina gives more health to tap, Spirit gives more mana per Life Tap. Hit and crit are rare on gear at level 30, and Haste does nothing for DoTs or channels.

• Tailoring has new soulbound Shadow pieces such as Shadow Gown and Shadow Gloves, which only the tailor can wear.
• Weapons. The Warlock quest for the Orb of Soran’ruk lets you choose between Staff of Soran’ruk and Orb of Soran’ruk. Staff of the Shade from Razorfen Kraul is excellent if it drops.
• Wands. Gravestone Scepter from Blackfathom Deeps is the strongest wand before level 30. After that Drain Life deals more in this build.

Races and professions

Faction	Race	Why
Horde	Undead	Touch of the Grave scales with Stamina, Cannibalize also restores mana, Will of the Forsaken breaks Fear
Horde	Orc	Blood Fury: 10% more spell power for 15 seconds, Shatter Curse against curses
Horde	Troll	Rapid Regeneration heals 50% of your health over 6 seconds, Beast Slaying against beasts
Alliance	Human	The Human Spirit for more Spirit, Sword Specialization with a sword
Alliance	Gnome	Expansive Mind for more mana, Eureka! for three stronger, cheaper spells

None of these is strong enough to skip a race you like more.

Professions. Tailoring makes Shadow gear at almost every level, and its camp buff gives Spirit. Enchanting pairs well with it. First Aid gives bandages and now also potions and cures for poison, disease and bleeds, which a Warlock cannot remove otherwise. Alchemy makes Lesser Arcane Elixir and Lesser Mageblood Elixir.