Affliction Warlock in WoW TBC
You don't need to be in the fight to win it. Your curses are already there.
Affliction stacks DoTs across multiple targets and lets them tick away independently of your attention — devastating in PvP where targets can't simply cleanse their way out, and strong in any fight requiring sustained pressure over time.
How Affliction Warlock plays
Affliction is a DoT-management spec. You layer Corruption, Curse of Agony, Unstable Affliction and Siphon Life on a target, keep them all rolling, and drain with Shadow Bolt or Drain Life in the gaps while Nightfall procs shape your filler. Juggling multiple timers without letting a dot fall off — often across several targets — is the entire craft of the spec.
Leveling an Affliction Warlock
Affliction is an excellent, safe leveller. Your dots kill while you barely take damage, Drain Life and your Voidwalker keep you alive, and Life Tap turns health into mana so downtime is minimal. You can dot several mobs at once and let them die as you move, one of the most efficient ways to reach 70.
Affliction Warlock in raids & PvP
In raids Affliction brings unique debuffs — Curse of the Elements or Curse of Shadow — plus steady, position-independent damage. In PvP it is the best Warlock spec: dots that are hard to cleanse, Fear, and an Unstable Affliction that punishes dispels make it relentless, draining pressure that wins long fights.
Strengths
- ✓Excellent sustained damage independent of positioning
- ✓Best PvP Warlock spec — DoTs are hard to counter
- ✓Curse of Agony/Corruption provide steady pressure
Trade-offs
- ✗Lower burst than Destruction in execute windows
- ✗Damage ramps up slowly at the start of a fight
- ✗Soul Shard management for utility spells
Best for
Best race for Warlock
Best race
Alliance Gnome · Horde Orc. Undead Will of the Forsaken is arguably the best Warlock PvP racial in the game; Gnome Escape Artist keeps you free to cast.
Best professions for Affliction Warlock
Frozen Shadoweave / Spellfire cloth sets are best-in-slot and enchanting both rings stacks spell power onto your DoTs.