Affliction Warlock PvP Guide for Cataclysm Classic

While rewarding, Affliction Warlock is one of the most difficult PvP specs to play in the game. Dealing extremely high spread pressure while maintaining control on the enemy and being incredibly durable, an Affliction Warlock is one of the most feared specs in PvP.

Strengths

• High spread pressure against multiple enemies.
• Great disruption and crowd control.
• Ability to protect important debuffs and CC from being dispelled.

Weaknesses

• Heavily dependent on having a pet alive for durability.
• Prone to being interrupted due to one school for casting.
• Pressure based and needs time to ramp up.

This is the standard talent build for an Affliction Warlock in PvP. Most of the talents should not be adjusted, however there are situations where it could be optimised. The points in Demonic Embrace and Fel Synergy can be adjusted depending on if there is a preference for the pet to be tankier or yourself. In addition, a point could be redirected to Shadow and Flame from either of those two talents if you want to have a more offensive build.

1. Glyph of Corruption. — Causes your Corruption to give an extra 4% chance to proc an instant Shadow Bolt. This Glyph is a massive DPS increase.
2. Glyph of Haunt — Causes your Haunt to grant an extra 3% bonus damage.
3. Glyph of Unstable Affliction. — Reduces the cast time of your Unstable Affliction spell by 0.2 seconds.

1. Glyph of Shadowflame — Causes your Shadowflame spell to snare enemys hit by 70%.
2. Glyph of Howl of Terror — Your Howl of Terror cooldown is reduced by 8 seconds.
3. Glyph of Soul Swap — Your Soul Swap does not take the DoT effects off your target, allowing you to copy them to another target.

1. Glyph of Curse of Exhaustion — Increases the range of your Curse of Exhaustion spell, allowing it to be used from 45 yards away.
2. Glyph of Health Funnel — Reduces pushback received while channeling your Health Funnel spell.

There is no third glyph slot that has any combat benefit in a PvP setting.

As an Affliction Warlock, it is important to prioritise the correct stats in order to perform in Cataclysm PvP. Below, we go over relevant stats that you should aim for.

Resilience is the single most important stat for an Affliction Warlock in PvP. This stat grants a flat damage reduction from any player or pet and applies to your pet as well.

In order for your spells (and your pet's spells) to land without missing, you need to reach Hit Rating thresholds. Against level 85 players, this cap is 4%.

Similar to Hit Rating, Spell Pentration is another stat that is required so that your spells don't resist. Spell Penetration counteracts Magic Resistance such as Shadow Resistance. For an Affliction Warlock, you should aim for as close to 195Spell Pentration as possible.

Spell Power and Intellect increase the damage dealt by all of your abilities. This stat is the best stat to aim for if you want to increase your DPS output.

Haste is the best secondary stat in PvP after Resilience, Hit Rating and Spell Pentration. While Haste is not the best stat for increasing raw DPS output, it allows you to dish out damage and maintain all your DoT effects and curses. Additionally, it reduces your Global Cooldown time and reduces your cast time.

Mastery is the best secondary stat for raw output, however should be prioritised under Haste. Mastery increases the damage of all your shadow periodic damage over time effects.

Critical Strike is the worst secondary stat for Affliction Warlocks in PvP, and should be avoided and reforged from as much as possible.

If you are looking to optimise your Affliction Warlock in Cataclysm PvP, these are the recommended professions:

1. Engineering — Synapse Springs grants you 480 Intellect for 10 sec on a 1 minute cooldown.
2. Tailoring — Lightweave Embroidery grants you a 580 Intellect proc for 15 seconds.

Affliction Warlocks do not have a set rotation, but raher a priority system. The playstyle should emphasise maintaining DoTs on as many targets as possible while disruption and control are the primary goal. An Affliction Warlock should try to always keep someone in a Fear while covered by Unstable Affliction to protect it from dispels.

• Apply Curse of Tongues to enemy healer and casters.
• Apply Curse of the Elements to 1 target, preferably a pet. This spreads via Jinx
• Apply Unstable Affliction to a target you want to CC.
• Cast Fear to the target you want to CC.
• Cast Corruption on all enemies.
• Cast Unstable Affliction on all enemies.
• Cast Bane of Agony on all enemies.
• Cast Haunt on your kill target.
• Cast Shadowflame on your kill target if close range.
• Cast Drain Life as a filler once all your DoTs and Haunt are up.
• If Fear is dispelled or runs out, re-cast it or on another target.
• If Unstable Affliction is about to run out and your opponent has an interrupt available, use Fel Flame to extend.

The list linked below includes the best possible gear setup for an Affliction Warlock in PvP.

When it comes to evaluating Affliction Warlock's place within the Arena, we have created a number of guides devoted to listing a variety of popular team compositions which you can find below.