Affliction Warlock is a great class to keep multiple targets under the constant pressure, Unstable Affliction is the most powerful spell which makes healers to think twice when they dispel DoTs because it deals damage and silences enemies when dispelled.
It has a low cast time and with other DoTs you can make pretty good DPS on battlegrounds.
When it comes to dueling every melee class will make you cry, when classes like warrior, DK and feral have spells which make them immune to fear effect it becomes a nightmare for warlocks.
On the other side against casters, Affliction Warlocks can be really tough enemies to play against, your pets, low cast time spells, instant DoTs, healing, fears and 1250+ resilience makes you one of the toughest enemies there (for some classes unkillable).
Gear
As main set you want full Wrathful set:
Neck: Wrathful Gladiator’s pendant of subjugation.Back: Wrathful Gladiator’s cloak of subjugation.Wrist: Wrathful Gladiator’s cuffs of alacrity.Waist: Wrathful Gladiator’s belt of alacrity.Feet: Wrathful Gladiator’s treads of alacrity.Weapon: Wrathful Gladiator’s blade of celerity or Bloodsurge, Kel’Thuzad’s blade of agony.Wand: Wrathful Gladiator’s Piercing touch or Wrathful Gladiator’s wand of alacrityRings: Ashen Band of Endless Destruction, Ring of Rapid Ascent or Wrathful Gladiator’s Band of Dominance.Trinkets: Dislodge Foreign Object, Phylactery of the Nameless Lich as your BiS, medallion of the Alliance, Charred Twilight Scale or Corroded Skeleton Key as other options.
You can choose these shoulders (Titan-forged shoulderpads of salvation) instead of Relentless because they give haste stat instead of crit.
Stats
Hit: 3-4%Resilience: 1250+Haste: 750+Spell Pen: 130
I have 2.67% hit rating plus suppression talent = 5.67%, I rarely miss but you can go up to 4% if you wish.
Stack as much resilience as you can against rogues and hunters.
I don’t recommend switching your dps trinket for Medallion if you are human, only maybe against rogues because of their potential to avoid a lot of spells, DPS trinkets always outperform 1500 resilience.
Talents
If you look at Warlock talent tree you will see that Corruption spell has a lot of improvements.
Improved Fear can be good against melee classes, you have to choose between this talent or 3 above to go further (not 1 of them is that useful)
If you wish you can rush “CoA build” and go here 1/5 (Shadow Embrace) and set 2 points of Improved CoA (Curse of Agony).
This is one of many reasons to set Corruption on multiple targets always (Eradication), one more reason for Corruption (Siphon Life), also this one is important if you wish to use Glyph of Siphon Life to even more increase healing from ticks.
Health Funnel is an important spell to keep your pet alive in duels, some casters always tend to kill your pet and disable your source of silence.
Fel Domination is important for switching pets in duels in no time.
Glyphs
Glyph of Quick Decay: no need to explain why this glyph is a must, your whole talent tree is around this spell.
Glyph of Shadowflame: Shadowflame is good against melee classes only, when you want to practice dueling go for it, it can make you space for casting at least one spell, I replace this glyph with Siphon Life when dueling classes with pets, clones(mages), also you can use Glyph of Soul Link.
Glyph of Corruption: this one is a MUST; its potential comes on battlegrounds when you have shadow bolt almost always.
For minor glyphs: Glyph of Drain Soul, Glyph of Curse of Exhaustion and Glyph of Unending Breath.
Pets
Fel hunter is the most used pet among those 3 because of his silence and cleanse, devour magic removes 1 beneficial spell from enemy and 1 harmful magic effect from you or your partner (I will show macros).
When you put all DoTs on enemies just click Shadow Bite for more DPS.
Save your Spell Lock for enemies strongest casting spells and be careful of fake casts.
Succubus is well known for her charm, use it against rogues and warriors, this pet goes better with destruction warlocks because of DoTs, keep her in stealth so rogues can’t sap you and kill her.
Use Void walker’s shield when you expect some huge damage incoming, his shield is dispellable so be careful, also Void walker’s Consume Shadows spell quite increases your stealth detection so use it for stealthers.
Spells
Use Haunt whenever it comes from CD, Haunt and Unstable Affliction are your main casting spells, keep Unstable Affliction in combination with Corruption on all targets, it deals huge damage plus deals huge damage if dispelled.
Fear is your main source of CC, spam it as much as you can.
Use Curse of Agony for 1v1 for more dps, Curse of Elements if you have a caster partner or against Mage’s armor.
Shadowflame can be used to reveal stealth enemies, but with glyph it can be useful to make space.
Shadow Bolt is here to be casted only instantly with talents and glyphs.
Howl of Terror is an aoe instant fear, use it for warlock pets, mage clones or melee classes.
Curse of Exhaustion: use it while chasing someone.
Curse of Tongues: use it against classes to slow their cast time, you can also use it on Gargoyle.
Rain of fire: use it as a revealing spell for stealth classes.
Life Tap: it converts your health into mana.
Drain life is your main filler spell when you set all DoTs.
Death Coil is an important CC spell for important situations, it also heals for some amount.
Use Shadow Ward shield against shadow damage (Priests, Warlocks or DKs).
Demonic Circle: used in specific situations to teleport on summoned circle and make some space.
Drain Soul: start draining at 25% for max dps.
Drain Mana: use this against healers with this spell.
Health Funnel: is important for your pet so you must use it.
Banish: use Banish on demon pets, also you can use banish on resto druids when they’re in tree form.
Soul Link: without this spell Warlock couldn’t be played, always keep soul link up, its like 20% less damage from resilience.
Macros
(Macro #1) Sometimes enemies CC’s you and run away with your pet to kill him, all you have to do is call your pet back to you.
(Macro #2) Macro for Felhunter’s cleanse on you.
(Macro #3) Death Coil macro for target and focus, button for target and button + shift for focus target.
(Macro #4) This macro is for Devour Magic on enemies, removing 1 beneficial magic buff.
(Macro #5) Felhunter’s Shadow Bite DPS spell.
(Macro #6) Fear for target and focus target, fighting your target while fearing your focus without switching targets.
(Macro #7) Important macro which casts Fel Domination plus any of your pets with soul link, it’s a BIG shortcut.
(Macro #8) I use voidwalker just for his shield in the middle of the fight, so you will cast it in no time and cast his shield in no time.
(Macro #9) Casts both shields, Shadow Ward and Voidwalker shield, if voidwalker is not summoned just uses Shadow Ward.
(Macro #10) Same button for both Demon and Fel Armor.
(Macro #11) Macro for CC spells, Spell lock if Felhunter is summoned and Charm if succubus is summoned.
(Macro #12) Succubus instant cast with Fel Domination.
Rotation
If you open with Curse of Elements:
Open with Haunt, Unstable Affliction, Corruption and then drain life, use Shadow Bolt when you get an instant proc for it.
If you use Curse of Agony:
Open with Haunt, Unstable Affliction, Corruption and Curse of Agony, then drain life, use Shadow Bolt when you get an instant proc for it.
[13:51] Gameplay vs Frost Mage
Every good frost mage will try to kill your fel hunter first, so try everything to keep your pet alive.
Put instant Corruption on both mage and his pet, this is a must.
He started killing my pet, he used icy veins, so he goes all in on the pet. I don’t hesitate to use my trinket because if my pet lives it's fine, use Health Funnel but be careful of Counterspell.
If Counterspell hits there is 8 seconds without cast and pet is dead, bite him with fueling tick by tick but don’t channel it.
He saw I used trinket and he is getting closer so he can CS me or Polymorph.
Don’t panic when your pet dies, put Corruption on multiple targets and summon pet with Fel Domination macro, also download cheese addon so you can see these 2 shadow lines by sides when instant SM procs.
When he uses CS, cast all you have, I was fake casting after it because I was watching his CDs and didn’t see CS.
[17:47] Gameplay vs Arms Warrior
First use Demon Skin and start with Succubus, a lot of warriors will rush with BS on start just to kill your pet, good thing about BS at start is that you can instantly use your circle to get out, but most likely your pet is dying there.
Use howl to force his Berserker Rage or trinket and prepare to use Death Coil while it lasts, fake for Bash or Pummel or Spell Reflect.
Warriors are extremely hard to beat as Affliction Warlocks, you are under constant pressure, not to be interrupted or spell reflected while you are a cloth user without freezes, blinks, etc.
[19:32] Gameplay vs Sub Rogue
Start with Demon Armor and Succubus, interrupt his opening with charm.
As soon as you leave stun try to place any DoT on him and use howl to force his Cloak of Shadows if he is not under charm.
Destro locks is much better in this situation since they can hit hard with chaos bolts while he is charmed, DoTs from affliction will be gone as soon he uses cloak of shadows.
Ideal would be to make space and start rotation while he is under charm so when he leaves charm, he would probably shadowstep to get to you, that would be a perfect time to use circle.
When you use circle while they’re under cloak, they will either shadowstep behind you or vanish to reopen, if they shadowstep wait for cloak to end and instant coil.
[21:08] Gameplay vs Shadow Priest
Start with double fear because of his fear ward, try to silence or coil his vampiric touches, use shadow ward every time it comes off the CD.
Use howl to fear his pet.
When priests are running to you, you can either Curse of Exhaustion to slow him and run or use Circle because they want to fear you.
[25:32] Tips for other classes
Hunters: take high resilience, start with voidwalker and his shield, chase hunter as much as you can and use howl near him, but be careful with deterrence, always keep corruption up on both hunter and his pet.Death Knight: you can’t win.Druid: if he is a balance druid you don’t need any tip since he is the easiest opponent out there, if feral use voidwalker and his shield on openings, try somehow to kite while he is under berserk, use coil for example, berserk expire go for instant fear, use high resilience.
Thanks for watching!
