WoW Forever Affliction Warlock — Guide (Beta Test)
viewsAbout the Class
This guide is based on the World of Warcraft: Forever beta and covers gameplay up to level 20. The talents and combat tips are starting recommendations built on the spells and talents available in the beta. They will be refined as testing continues.
Affliction Warlock is for players who enjoy watching an enemy slowly rot under several damage over time effects. You drain the enemy's Health to restore your own, then sacrifice it for mana. Once you learn to balance these tools, you will have almost no downtime, which makes Affliction one of the best specializations for leveling.
The talent tree received some very interesting changes in Forever. Damage over time can now critically strike. 
Bane of Agony no longer competes with your curse, so you can keep up your main damage and apply the debuff your group needs at the same time. At level 20 only the start of this toolkit is available, and the rest comes as you level up.
Strengths
- One of the best specializations for leveling: almost no downtime thanks to
Drain Life and 
Life Tap. - Damage over time can crit in Forever.
- Bane of Agony no longer takes up the curse slot.
- Your demon tanks the enemy while you apply your effects.
Weaknesses
- Your damage only comes into its own on targets that live long enough.
- Soul Shards have to be farmed with
Drain Soul. - Lots of buffs, demons, and effects to keep track of.
- At level 20 most of the drain interactions are not available yet.
Stat Priority
- 1Spell Power
- 2Hit
- 3Intellect
- 4Spirit
- 5Critical Strike
- 6Stamina
- 7Haste
Talents
Talent Notes
- Improved Life Tap 2/2 — more mana from Life Tap.
Suppression 3/5 — reduces the chance for your Affliction spells to be resisted.
Improved Corruption 5/5 — reduces the cast time of Corruption.- Soul Harvesting 1/1 — if the target dies while affected by Drain Soul, you gain the Soul Harvest buff for 10 seconds.
Ability Priority
At level 20, Affliction's main damage comes from damage over time effects, and your filler is the wand. Send your demon at the target first so it builds threat, and only then apply your effects. The longer the enemy lives, the more damage your effects have time to deal.
- Send your demon at the target
- Curse: on bosses and elite enemies in dungeons, use
Curse of Recklessness or 
Curse of the Elements depending on your group. The former increases the group's physical damage, the latter its magic damage 
Immolate- Corruption
- Bane of Agony if the enemy will live long enough
- Drain Life when you need Health
- Wand as a filler or to finish the enemy off. At level 20,
Shadow Bolt deals less damage than a Greater Magic Wand in the same amount of time, and it also costs mana and generates extra threat - Drain Soul as a finisher when you need Soul Shards or want to trigger Soul Harvesting
- Stop spending mana if the effects already on the enemy will finish it off on their own
Important Abilities
Best in Slot (BiS)
A first list of level 20 items has already been put together for the beta. Almost all of the Warlock's best set currently comes from Tailoring, plus staves from the class quest and from dungeons. The list will be updated as the test goes on.
Enchants, Gems, Consumables
ConsumablesCampfire Bonuses
Campfires are worth visiting while leveling too. A basic campfire from Cooking holds three profession items, and each player adds one. Sit or craft nearby for a minute to get the bonuses. Similar campfire and class buffs do not stack, so check what you already have.
Best Race
Cannibalize lets you eat a nearby Humanoid or Undead corpse to restore Health and mana — one more way to recover quickly between fights. Will of the Forsaken removes charm, fear, and sleep effects on a short cooldown. Touch of the Grave has a 10% chance to drain Health from the target when you cast spells.
Blood Fury grants 10% Spell Power once every 2 minutes. Early on you have little Spell Power, so the bonus is modest, but by endgame Orc will most likely be the best choice. Shatter Curse removes curses and Banes, grants immunity to them, and reduces magic damage taken by 15% for 8 seconds.
Expansive Mind increases your maximum mana, Escape Artist removes slows, and Eureka!, used on cooldown, reduces the cost of your next three offensive spells by 50% and increases their damage by 10%.
The Human Spirit increases Spirit by 5%, and Life Tap now scales with Spirit. Sword Specialization grants 2% Critical Strike chance with a sword, so you can give up a little Spell Power for a sword. Will to Survive removes stuns once every 2 minutes.
Best Professions
A popular starting pair. Tailoring puts all the cloth you pick up while leveling to use and provides very useful armor and bags: almost all of the Warlock's best set currently comes from here. Enchanting turns unwanted gear into enchanting materials and lets you craft the Lesser and Greater Magic Wands.
Before you sink a lot of gold into a specific recipe, check exactly what the trainers offer in the beta.
Author
Fouren
Fouren has been playing World of Warcraft for over 15 years. He is an active player with 12 Cutting Edge achievements under his belt, and has reached the top 1% and 0.1% multiple times on various classes. His main classes are healers, particularly Holy Paladin.
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