The Affliction-Heavy Warlock Build

Time has gone by and Secronus, my Alliance warlock, has begun his ascent into the heights of warlock power. Having given up on my Demonology-heavy Horde warlock Thaos, due entirely to my brother’s reluctance to turn to the dark side, I decided to try something a little different with Secronus. This experimentation has led me to conclude that Affliction is definitely a talent tree worthy of attention, even moreso than the Demonology tree that I had extolled so fervently until now.

While some may scoff at the idea, the truth of the matter is that, at least in PvE, drain-tanking works. I feel safer now being hit by every enemy than I ever did with my voidwalker trying to hold aggro. Improved Drain Life and Fel Concentration turn an already wicked ability into a shining jewel of the warlock arsenal. Later in the build, Shadow Mastery and Nightfall only help to accentuate its true usefulness. Just stand there all day long spamming your Drain Life and you won’t have to worry about the damage that your enemies are inflicting.

The only drawback of the Affliction-heavy warlock is that it is mana intensive. This is easily overcome, however, with the advent of Life Tap and especially Dark Pact, that priceless crown atop the Affliction tree. If you are spam-draining and reach a surplus (i.e. you’ve reached your maximum health but are still healing), just throw out a quick, mid-battle Life Tap to make the best use of your resources. Between battles, especially when running to your next kill, spam Dark Pact. I find it useful to use my succubus but turn off all of her abilities. Sure, all she’ll do is hit things, but she does good damage and she has a lot of mana to feed off of. No need to worry about her keeping aggro, either, since you’ll be generating so much hate that the most specced-out voidwalker in the world won’t be able to keep the mobs off of you.

The summary of tactics for an all-Affliction warlock is quite complex and revolves around resource management. Start the battle off with Amplify Curse if you’re facing off against a tougher opponent. I like to cast Immolate first since it’s the only DOT in your arsenal that has a casting time (i.e. it’s the only one that can be interrupted). Then I follow with Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Corruption, in that order. If your opponent hasn’t already laid into you with heavy damage, be sure to throw a quick Life Tap out to gain maximum benefit from Siphon Life and the draining you’re about to do. Next comes Drain Life, and lots of it. Keep draining over and over again, using Life Tap if you get an excess and Shadow Bolt if your Nightfall procs. I manage to kill most of my opponents using this method in less than 30 seconds, and regularly grind against mobs four levels higher than me.

I highly recommend this 31-point Affliction build, which includes all of the talents mentioned above. If you really need the range, you can swap out two points of Suppression for Grim Reach, although I never found it useful. Curse of Exhaustion is a lousy, underpowered curse for PvE, and I rarely throw anything other than Curse of Agony anyway. Still, it’s lauded as useful in PvP, so take it if you must.

Overall, I stand by Affliction as the most potent warlock build available. Demonology is underpowered at lower levels and provides poor survivability or levelling efficiency. Destruction may have a few promising talents, and may be an adequate counterpart to Affliction (e.g. Nightfall + Improved Shadow Bolt + Devastation = Nasty). I hear that the 1.9 patch will bring with it Soul Shard bags, making Shadowburn a great deal more tempting. Still, I wouldn’t dream of going much deeper than that, even for the promise of Conflagrate. Nobody knows what the future will bring, of course, as the folks who run World of Warcraft continue to update and refine the system. Maybe a patch will come out one day that makes me change my mind. Until then, I say Affliction is the way to go.

I just respec’d to this build, only a level 32 warlock, gonna see how it goes

yo, what do u suggest for teh rest?

Good question, Crickets. Personally, I’ve been experimenting with Demonology into my 50’s. However, I’d say there isn’t much you can get out of 20 points in the tree. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a fan of Demonology. Unfortunately, it’s only really worthwhile at higher tiers.

Thus, I’d recommend distributing the remaining 20 points into Destruction. You’ll get more bang for your buck out of Devastation, Shadowburn, and Intensity than the mediocre low-level Demonology talents. It is lamentable that you won’t be able to pick up Ruin, though, but such is the price you pay to have Dark Pact.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.