On this page, we list your Affliction Warlock coreabilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of WarcraftMoP 5.4. We also explain whento use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtletiesthat you will need to know if you want to excel at playing an AfflictionWarlock.

The other pages of our Affliction Warlock guide can be accessedfrom the table of contents on the right.

1. Single Target Rotation↑top

Your rotation consists in the priority list below.

1. Apply Agony and keep it up.
2. Apply Corruption and keep it up.
3. Apply Unstable Affliction and keep it up.
4. Cast Haunt when:
   • one of the following is true
     • Haunt's debuff is not applied on the target, or has less than 2 seconds remaining;
     • you will not have to refresh any of your DoTs for the next 8 seconds;
     • you will not need to use Life Tap in the next 8 seconds;
   • and one of the following is also true
     • your DoTs are buffed with trinket procs;
     • Dark Soul: Misery is up;
     • you have four Soul Shards.
5. Cast Malefic Grasp as a filler.

When the enemy is below 20% health, Drain Soul replaces Malefic Graspin the rotation. Doing so will grant you more Soul Shards than you can possiblyspend. This means that, when the enemy is below 20% health, you should always refresh your DoTs by using Soulburnand Soul Swap (this causes Soul Swap to apply all your DoTs on the target).

At the pull, apply your DoTs by using Soulburn and Soul Swap twice(to apply them with the maximum duration).

Remember to apply and maintain Curse of the Elements if no oneelse in your raid/party can provide the same debuff.

Pandemic and DoTs play a major role in your performance as an AfflictionWarlock. Made sure to read our section dedicated toPandemic and DoTs.

For an opening sequence, make sure to check outthis section.

2. Multiple Target Rotation↑top

Against 2 enemies, use your normal rotation on one of themand keep your DoTs up on the other.

Against 3 or 4 enemies, keep your DoTs upand cast Malefic Grasp or Drain Soul(if target is below 20%) the rest of the time.

Against 5 or more enemies, you will need to start using Soulburnwith Seed of Corruption. While Seed of Corruption is ticking, youshould maintain your DoTs on as many targets as possible.

To apply your DoTs, use Soulburn+ Soul Swap twice on one target (thiswill apply the DoTs at their maximum duration). After that, use Soul Swap Exhaleto copy those DoTs over to the other targets and then to keep the DoTs up.

3. Demon↑top

For single-target and multiple-target DPS, your demon of choice is theFelhunter (or the Observer), if you have all the raid buffs. If your raidis missing the 12% armor reduction and the +4% physical damage taken debuffs,then you are better off using the Succubus instead.If you use Grimoire of Service, use the Felhunter.

For fights where you often have to switch targets (and these targetsare not right next to each other), use the Imp (or the Fel Imp) or theSuccubus (or the Shivarra).

If you use Grimoire of Sacrifice, the demon you will sacrifice will notaffect your DPS. However, bear in mind that you are given their Command Demon ability.

4. Cooldowns↑top

Dark Soul: Misery is your main DPS cooldown. It increases your spell hasteby 30% for 20 seconds. Use it on cooldown. When there is less than 30 secondsremaining on Dark Soul's cooldown, start saving Soul Shards to use themduring Dark Soul (for Haunt and Soulburn+ Soul Swap).

Summon Doomguard and Summon Infernal share a cooldown. As such,you will have to decide which of the two you will use. These two abilitiesare on a 10-minute cooldown, so you will realistically only use them once perfight. Summon Doomguard is better when fighting 3 enemies or less,while Summon Infernal is better when fighting 4 enemies or more.

If you choose Grimoire of Supremacy, as a Tier 5 talent, thenSummon Doomguard becomes Summon Terrorguard and Summon Infernalbecomes Summon Abyssal.

In addition, a number of defensive cooldowns are available to you tocompensate for your frequent use of Life Tap, which is mandatory formana management. We detail these cooldowns in a mana management section.

Finally, your talents give you a number of offensive cooldowns, whichwe detail in a talent cooldowns section

5. Optional Read: Mastering Your Affliction Warlock↑top

Overall, playing an Affliction Warlock is not difficult, and following thepriorities listed above will yield excellent results. Despite this, there area few concepts that we feel require a bit of additional explanation for you tofully understand your class.

5.1. Soul Shards and Soulburn

Soul Shards are an Affliction-only resource. Demonology Warlocks use Demonic Fury and Destruction Warlocks use Burning Embers.

Soul Shards regenerate automatically when you are out of combat, thanks to your Soul Harvest passive ability. You can have between 0 and 4 Soul Shardsavailable.

During combat, Soul Shards are generated by channeling Drain Soul.You will regain 1 Soul Shard every 2 ticks. Additionally, each time you dealdamage with your most recently applied Corruption, you have a 10% chance to proc Nightfall, which regenerates a Soul Shard. When Nightfallprocs, you gain the Shadow Trance effect, which is just a temporarycosmetic effect to let you know that you have just regenerated a Soul Shard.

Your two Soul Shard consuming abilities are Haunt and Soulburn, which you will use extensively during fights.

Below, you will find the list of spells that are modified by Soulburn.

• All your curse spells automatically apply the curse to all enemies within10 yards of your target.
• Demonic Circle: Teleport increases your movement speed by 50% andmakes you immune to snares and roots for 8 seconds.
• The healing component of Drain Life is improved by 50%.
• The healing component of Harvest Life (Tier 1 talent that replaces Drain Life) is improved by 33%.
• Health Funnel instantly restores 36% health and reduces damage takenby 30% for 10 seconds.
• The detonation of Seed of Corruption causes all nearby enemies tobecome afflicted with Corruption.
• Soul Swap instantly applies Corruption, Unstable Affliction, and Agony on your target.
• Unending Breath enables you to walk on water.
• Your demons are summoned instantly.

DPS-wise, using Soulburn on Soul Swap and Seed of Corruption is the most attractive choice.

5.2. Refreshing Your DoTs

As an Affliction Warlock, a great part of your DPS comes from your 3DoTs ( Corruption, Unstable Affliction and Agony).For this reason, you must strive to maintain 100% uptime on all of them.

Maintaining 100% uptime with Agony is particularly importantas this spell stacks every time it deals damage, up to 10 stacks.It deals the most damage at 10 stacks. Whenyou refresh it, the stacks are preserved. If you let the stacks drop, thenyou will lose DPS, as it will take the full duration of one application of Agony to reach 10 stacks again.

5.2.1. Pandemic

Pandemic is your level 90 ability. It causes the remaining durationof your DoTs to be added to the new duration when you refresh them, up to 50%of the base duration.

If a DoT has a base duration of 24 seconds and you refresh it when there are10 seconds remaining, the new duration will be 34 seconds, thanks to Pandemic.

5.2.2. How do DoTs benefit from statistics?

DoTs benefit from your statistics at the time when the DoT was cast orrefreshed. This means that the DoT will take into account your haste,spellpower, etc. at the time when you cast the DoT, and it will not beaffected by any change in your stats while the DoT is running.

5.2.3. Pandemic and Statistics: When to Refresh?

The implication of Pandemic and the fact that DoTs benefit fromyour statistics as they were when you applied them is that whenever aDoT has less than 50% of its normal duration remaining, you shouldrefresh it, if you have better statistics than when you cast it(trinket proc, Dark Soul, potion, encounter-specific buff, etc.). Otherwise, refresh the DoT when it is about to expire.

As an Affliction Warlock, when you have a temporary stat increase and allyour DoTs are below 50% of their duration and you have a largetemporary increase in stats (like 9 stacks of Wushoolay's Final Choice, forexample), then you should refresh them with Soulburn and Soul Swap, if you have a Soul Shard.

At certain times, you may want to recast DoTs when a powerfulproc is up, even if they are not below 50% of their duration. Thiscan be very hard to track, so using an addon likeaffdots can be very useful.

A special case occurs if you have Unerring Vision of Lei-Shen. Thistrinket temporarily increases your critical strike chance by 100%. If youhave a Soul Shard available when this proc occurs, then you shouldimmediately refresh your DoTs with Soulburn and Soul Swap, regardlessof the remaining duration on them.

5.3. Opening Sequence

Your default opener is:

1. Haunt;
2. Dark Soul;
3. Soulburn+ Soul Swap;
4. Malefic Grasp (until your procs are up);
5. Soulburn+ Soul Swap again (to improve your DoTs);
6. keep Haunt up for the full duration of these strong DoTs and channel Malefic Grasp.

5.4. Demons

By default, you can summon one of four demons to help you fight your foes. Exceptfor the Voidwalker, they are all viable for raiding.

• The Felhunter will automaticallycast the following abilities: Devour Magic and Shadow Bite. Itcan also cast Spell Lock if you instruct it to.
• The Imp will automatically cast the following abilities: Firebolt and Singe Magic. It can alsocast Flee or Cauterize Master if you instruct it to.
• The Succubus will automatically cast the following abilities: Lash of Pain, Seduction, and Lesser Invisibility. Itcan also cast Whiplash if you instruct it to.
• The Voidwalker will be your demon of choice while leveling up. It will automatically cast the following abilities: Shadow Bulwark, Suffering, and Torment. It can also cast Disarm if you instruct it to.

You also have two demons that you can use as DPS cooldowns: a Doomguard( Summon Doomguard) for single-target damage or an Infernal ( Summon Infernal) for AoE damage.

Finally, you have the Command Demon ability, which, if put onyour action bar, will change with the demon you are using. For theVoidwalker, the Felhunter, and the Succubus, this ability will cast theirmanual ability.For the Imp, it will cast Cauterize Master.

5.4.1. Grimoire of Supremacy

Grimoire of Supremacy is a Tier 5 talent that improves your demonsand gives them better abilities.

• The Felhunter becomes an Observer. Devour Magic is replaced with Clone Magic, Shadow Bite with Tongue Lash, and Spell Lock with Optical Blast.
• The Imp becomes a Fel Imp. Firebolt is replaced with Felboltand Singe Magic is replaced with Sear Magic.
• The Succubus becomes a Shivarra. Lash of Pain is replaced with Bladedance, Seduction with Mesmerize, and Whiplash with Fellash.
• The Voidwalker becomes a Voidlord. Shadow Bulwark is replaced with Threatening Presence.

The Observer remains the demon with the highest DPS.

Your demon DPS cooldowns are replaced with more powerful versions: a Terrorguard( Summon Terrorguard) for single-target damage or an Abyssal( Summon Abyssal) for AoE damage.

Finally, you have the Command Demon ability, which, if put onyour action bar, will change with the demon you are using. For theObserver, the Shivarra, and the Voidlord, this ability will cast theirmanual ability.For the Fel Imp, it will cast Cauterize Master (as it does for the Imp).

5.5. Mana Management

Life Tap is your main source of mana regeneration. You will needto use it roughly every 30 to 40 seconds. This ability costs health to useand for this reason, you are given a number of defensive abilities.

You have a total of 6 defensive cooldowns/abilities, 3 of which are granted by talents.You have to make use of them wisely to preserve your health and preventyour casts of Life Tap from giving more work to your healers.

• Soulshatter reduces your threat by 90% for all enemies within 50 yards.It has a 2-minute cooldown.
• Unending Resolve reduces all damage taken by 40% and preventsyour spells from being interrupted or silenced for 8 seconds. It hasa 3-minute cooldown.
• Dark Regeneration is a Tier 1 talent that restores 30% of your health and that of your pet,and increases healing received by 25% over 12 seconds.
• Sacrificial Pact is a Tier 3 talent that sacrifices 25% of your demon's health (or 25% of your healthif you have no demon) to create an absorption shield on you for 400% of the sacrificed health.
• Dark Bargain is a Tier 3 talent that prevents all damage from 8 seconds. When the effect fades, 50% of the damageprevented is dealt over 8 seconds.
• Healthstones can be much more beneficial to Warlocks than they areto other classes, because of Glyph of Healthstone. Do not hesitate tomake good use of them!

5.6. More on Offensive Cooldowns

In addition to your Dark Soul: Misery, Summon Doomguard,and Summon Infernal, you have other offensive cooldowns,the majority of which will depend on your choice of talents. We present themin this section, but first, a we need to say more about your Doomguard andyour Infernal.

5.6.1. Doomguard and Infernal

For most situations, summoning a Doomguard is your best choice.In case you are faced with a large number of enemies that you wish to useextra burst on, you should use Summon Infernal.

Summon Doomguard/ Summon Infernal will summon a Doomguard/Infernalto fight by your side for 45 seconds. The ability has a 10 minute cooldown,meaning that it will realistically only be usable once per fight. YourDoomguard/Infernal's damage will scale dynamically with your own Spell Powerand Critical Strike Rating, so any change in your stats after your Doomguard/Infernalhas been summoned will affect him.

Ideally, you need to use your Doomguard/Infernal at the pull or when yourraid uses Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp.

Everything we said in this section is still valid for Summon Terrorguardand Summon Abyssal, if you choose Grimoire of Supremacy as yourtier 5 talent.

5.6.2. Offensive Talent Cooldowns

Grimoire of Service is a Tier 5 talent that enables you to summon an additionaldemon to fight for you for 20 seconds. This ability should be used on cooldownand preferably when you have a trinket/weapon enchant proc or when you deal increaseddamage on the boss, as your demon benefits from a number of your stats.

Mannoroth's Fury is a Tier 6 talent that enables you to greatly increase the damageand area of your AoE spells. Use it whenever you need to do heavy AoE damage. It has a1-minute cooldown, which lets you use it many times a fight.

6. Changelog↑top

• 20 Nov. 2013: Evrelia's improvement of the advice for choosing your demon.
• 11 Sep. 2013: Patch 5.4 update.
  • Added more information for when to use Haunt.
  • Soul Swap can now be used to spread DoTs to other targets.
• 18 May 2013: Evrelia's review and Patch 5.3 update.
  • Added opening sequence.
  • Added Imp (and Fel Imp) as advised demons for fights where you often have to move.
• 10 Mar. 2013: Improved conditions for refreshing DoTs with Soulburn+ Soul Swap. Removedadvice to use Drain Soul in AoE situations for the sole purpose of regenerating Soul Shards.
• 06 Mar. 2013: Patch 5.2 update.
  • Added a condition for using Haunt: no cast of Life Tap in the next 8 seconds.
  • Updated and improved the multiple-target rotation.
  • Improved advice for using Doomguard/Infernal.
  • Greatly improved section about refreshing DoTs. Added a note for Unerring Vision of Lei-Shen, a new trinket from Patch 5.2.
  • Removed mention of Kil'jaeden's Cunning, which no longer has an active component.

Builds, Talents, and Glyphs

Buffs, Debuffs, and Useful Abilities