Overview
You win by outlasting: spread DoTs on everything, Fear the melee, drain the healer's mana, and use Death Coil + Howl of Terror to peel while your rot ticks the enemy down.
Strengths
- +Relentless, hard-to-dispel DoT pressure (UA silences dispellers)
- +Felhunter Spell Lock + Devour Magic — elite interrupt/dispel
- +Fear, Howl, Death Coil and Curse of Exhaustion = strong control/peels
Weaknesses
- −Low burst — relies on grinding teams down over time
- −Vulnerable when trained with pet dead and Fear on DR
Stat priority & caps (arena)
Stat caps (arena)
| Stat | Cap | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience | 490 rating | No hard cap — ~350 is the 2v2 entry point, 490+ is competitive. Reduces crit chance, crit damage and DoT damage taken. |
| Spell Hit (vs players) | 4 % | 4% (~50 rating) caps spell misses against same-level players — the raid 16% boss cap does not apply. Hit talents and Misery can cover most of it, so gear little pure hit in arena. |
- Resilience: No hard cap — ~350 is the 2v2 entry point, 490+ is competitive. Reduces crit chance, crit damage and DoT damage taken.
- Spell Hit (vs players): 4% (~50 rating) caps spell misses against same-level players — the raid 16% boss cap does not apply. Hit talents and Misery can cover most of it, so gear little pure hit in arena.
Full gear with usage %, gems and enchants is on the Affliction Warlock PvP BiS list.
Recommended talent build
40/0/21 · RaidThe 40/0/21 Affliction standard: Unstable Affliction and Malediction over full dot mastery, Destruction filled to Ruin for Shadow Bolt filler crits. The early-TBC warlock benchmark — it out-parses destruction until gear catches up.
Affliction
40Reduces the chance for enemies to resist your Affliction spells by 2%.
Reduces the casting time of your Corruption spell by 0.4 sec.
Increases the effect of your Curse of Weakness by 10%.
Returns 7% of your maximum mana if the target is killed by you while you drain its soul. In addition, your Affliction spells generate 5% less threat.
Increases the amount of Mana awarded by your Life Tap spell by 10%.
Increases the amount drained by your Drain Life spell by an additional 2% for each Affliction effect on the target, up to a maximum of 24% additional effect.
Increases the damage done by your Curse of Agony by 5%.
Gives you a 14% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling the Drain Life, Drain Mana, or Drain Soul spell.
Increases the effect of your next Curse of Doom or Curse of Agony by 50%, or your next Curse of Exhaustion by an additional 20%. Lasts 30 sec.
Increases the range of your Affliction spells by 10%.
Gives your Corruption and Drain Life spells a 2% chance to cause you to enter a Shadow Trance state after damaging the opponent. The Shadow Trance state reduces the casting time of your next Shadow Bolt spell by 100%. (Proc chance: 2%)
Your Corruption spell gains an additional 12% of your bonus spell damage effects.
Your Corruption, Curse of Agony, Siphon Life and Seed of Corruption spells also cause the Shadow Embrace effect, which reduces physical damage caused by 1%.
Transfers 15 health from the target to the caster every 3 sec. Lasts 30 sec.
Reduces the target's movement speed by 30 % for 12 sec. Only one Curse per Warlock can be active on any one target.
Increases the damage dealt or life drained by your Shadow spells by 2%.
Increases the damage of Curse of Agony, Corruption and Seed of Corruption by 1% and reduces the chance your Affliction spells will be dispelled by an additional 6%.
Drains 305 of your pet's Mana, returning 100% to you.
Reduces the casting time of your Howl of Terror spell by 0.8 sec.
Increases the damage bonus effect of your Curse of the Elements spell by an additional 1%.
Shadow energy slowly destroys the target, causing 660 damage over 18 sec. In addition, if the Unstable Affliction is dispelled it will cause 990 damage to the dispeller and silence them for 5 sec.
Demonology
0Increases the amount of Health restored by your Healthstone by 10%.
Increases the effect of your Imp's Firebolt, Fire Shield, and Blood Pact spells by 10%.
Increases your total Stamina by 3% but reduces your total Spirit by 1%.
Increases the amount of Health transferred by your Health Funnel spell by 10% and reduces the initial health cost by 10%.
Increases the effectiveness of your Voidwalker's Torment, Consume Shadows, Sacrifice and Suffering spells by 10%.
Increases the Intellect of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Incubus, Felhunter and Felguard by 5% and increases your maximum mana by 1%.
Increases the effect of your Succubus' and Incubus' Lash of Pain and Soothing Kiss spells by 10%, and increases the duration of your Succubus' and Incubus' Seduction and Lesser Invisibility spells by 10%.
Your next Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Incubus, Felhunter or Felguard Summon spell has its casting time reduced by 5.5 sec and its Mana cost reduced by 50%.
Increases the Stamina of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Incubus, Felhunter and Felguard by 5% and increases your maximum health by 1%.
Increases the effectiveness of your Demon Armor and Fel Armor spells by 10%.
Reduces the casting time of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Incubus, Felhunter and Fel Guard Summoning spells by 2 sec and the Mana cost by 20%.
Increases the damage done by your Voidwalker, Succubus, Incubus, Felhunter and Felguard's melee attacks and your Imp's Firebolt by 4%.
Reduces the Attack Speed and Casting Speed penalty of your Subjugate Demon spell by 5% and reduces the resist chance by 5%.
When activated, sacrifices your summoned demon to grant you an effect that lasts 30 min. The effect is canceled if any Demon is summoned. Imp: Increases your Fire damage by 15%. Voidwalker: Restores 2% of total health every 4 sec. Succubus/Incubus: Increases your Shadow damage by 15%. Felhunter: Restores 3% of total mana every 4 sec. Felguard: Increases your Shadow damage by 10% and restores 2% of total mana every 4 sec.
Increases the bonus Fire damage from Firestones and the Firestone effect by 15% and increases the spell critical strike rating bonus of your Spellstone by 15%.
When you gain mana from Drain Mana or Life Tap spells, your pet gains 33% of the mana you gain.
Grants both the Warlock and the summoned demon an effect as long as that demon is active. Imp - Reduces threat caused by 4%. Voidwalker - Reduces physical damage taken by 2%. Succubus/Incubus - Increases all damage caused by 2%. Felhunter - Increases all resistances by .2 per level. Felguard - Increases all damage caused by 1% and all resistances by .1 per level.
Reduces the chance you'll be critically hit by melee and spells by 1% and reduces all damage your summoned demon takes by 5%.
When active, 20% of all damage taken by the caster is taken by your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Incubus, Felhunter, Felguard, or subjugated demon instead. That damage cannot be prevented. In addition, both the demon and master will inflict 5% more damage. Lasts as long as the demon is active and controlled.
Increases your spell damage by an amount equal to 4% of the total of your active demon's Stamina plus Intellect.
Increases melee and spell critical strike chance for you and your summoned demon by 1%.
Summons a Felguard under the command of the Warlock.
Destruction
21Your Shadow Bolt critical strikes increase Shadow damage dealt to the target by 4% until 4 non-periodic damage sources are applied. Effect lasts a maximum of 12 sec.
Reduces the Mana cost of your Destruction spells by 1%.
Reduces the casting time of your Shadow Bolt and Immolate spells by 0.1 sec and your Soul Fire spell by 0.4 sec.
Gives your Destruction spells a 2% chance to daze the target for 5 sec. (Proc chance: 2%)
Reduces the casting time of your Imp's Firebolt spell by 0.25 sec.
Reduces the cooldown of your Succubus' and Incubus' Lash of Pain spell by 3 sec.
Increases the critical strike chance of your Destruction spells by 1%.
Instantly blasts the target for 91 to 104 Shadow damage. If the target dies within 5 sec of Shadowburn, and yields experience or honor, the caster gains a Soul Shard.
Gives you a 35% chance to resist interruption caused by damage while casting or channeling any Destruction spell.
Increases the range of your Destruction spells by 10% and reduces threat caused by Destruction spells by 5%.
Increases the critical strike chance of your Searing Pain spell by 4%.
Gives your Rain of Fire, Hellfire, and Soul Fire spells a 13% chance to stun the target for 3 sec.
Increases the initial damage of your Immolate spell by 5%.
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Destruction spells by 100%.
After being hit with a Shadow or Fire spell, you have a 10% chance to become immune to Shadow and Fire spells for 4 sec. (Proc chance: 10%)
Increases the damage done by your Fire spells by 2% and reduces the cast time of your Incinerate spell by 2%.
Increases your critical strike chance with spells by an additional 1% and gives you a 8% chance when hit by a physical attack to reduce the cast time of your next Shadow Bolt or Incinerate spell by 100%. This effect lasts 8 sec and will not occur more than once every 8 seconds. (Proc chance: 8%, 8s cooldown)
Ignites a target that is already afflicted by your Immolate, dealing 249 to 316 Fire damage and consuming the Immolate spell.
Gives your Shadow Bolt, Shadowburn, Soul Fire, Incinerate, Searing Pain and Conflagrate spells a 10% chance to return health equal to 20% of the damage caused. (Proc chance: 10%)
Your Shadow Bolt and Incinerate spells gain an additional 4% of your bonus spell damage effects.
Shadowfury is unleashed, causing 357 to 422 Shadow damage and stunning all enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
Points are filled on each tree above — hover a talent for its tooltip; highlighted talents are the build's key picks.
Pressure & control
- 1Spread DoTs: Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Curse of Agony, Siphon Life on the kill target.
- 2Fear the melee/off-target; Howl of Terror to peel when trained.
- 3Felhunter Spell Lock the healer's cast; Devour Magic to strip a key buff/HoT.
- 4Death Coil to peel + self-heal; Curse of Exhaustion to kite.
- 5Drain the healer's mana in long games; trinket + Death Coil to break a swap.
Affliction is attrition. Keep DoTs on multiple targets, force dispels into UA silences, and manage your Fear DR carefully — Fear is your best defensive and offensive tool. Use the Felhunter to lock the healer during your pressure and to Devour their key buffs. You rarely global anyone; you make them run out of mana and options.
Warlock macros
Focus macros
Focus Fear
Fear your focus to peel or control without swapping your DoT target.
#showtooltip Fear /cast [target=focus] Fear
Focus Spell Lock (Felhunter)
Interrupt/silence a focus caster with your Felhunter's Spell Lock.
#showtooltip Spell Lock /cast [target=focus] Spell Lock
Defensive
Focus Death Coil
Fear-horror + heal off a focus melee that's training you — your panic-reset button.
#showtooltip Death Coil /cast [target=focus] Death Coil
PvP addons
Full list on the Warlock addons page.
Best race (PvP)
Will of the Forsaken breaks Fear/Sleep/Charm — vital in the Fear-heavy warlock mirror and vs priests. The best PvP warlock.
Escape Artist breaks snares to keep you kiting and casting; Expansive Mind adds mana. Best Alliance PvP warlock.
More on the best race for Warlock page.
Best professions (PvP)
Common mistakes
- ✕Letting the Felhunter die and losing Spell Lock/Devour.
- ✕Overlapping Fears and wasting Fear DR early.
- ✕Forgetting to re-apply UA — the dispel-punish DoT that protects your rot.
Best arena comps
FAQ
Is Affliction the best PvP Warlock spec?
Yes — DoT pressure, the Felhunter's Spell Lock, and UA's dispel-punish make Affliction the arena standard over Demonology and Destruction.
Why does Unstable Affliction matter?
It silences anyone who dispels it, so enemy healers can't cleanly remove your DoTs — making your whole rot much stickier.