WotLK Classic Affliction Warlock Guide

Affliction Warlock is widely known as one of the best specializations in Wrath of the Lich King. Highly focused on their array of damage-over-time abilities, known as DoTs, Affliction Warlock prefers to sit back and watch their enemies rot away slowly. A dominant force in both PvE and PvP content, you can assured that you will always find yourself feeling powerful while having fun at the same time.

Affliction is extremely strong throughout Wrath Classic, bringing massive single-target and execute damage, while only suffering slightly from long ramp-up times. Drain Soul is the hardest hitting execute ability in the game, mixed with the constant self healing from Siphon Life and Fel Armor, you'll have no problem finding a spot within a raid roster. Affliction Warlock excels in all PvP content as well, with their many DoTs rotting away all enemies.

For a better understanding of where Warlock stands in regards to other classes and specializations in Wrath Classic, you can check out our PvE DPS rankings below. However, ultimately, you should not let these lists dissuade you from playing what you enjoy.

Only a couple Races of each faction can be Warlock. The best race for Warlock is Human if you are Alliance, and Orc if you are Horde.

For Alliance players, Human grants you an excellent PvP racial in the form of Will to Survive, as well as additional Spell Power via Fel Armor, Glyph of Life Tap, and the bonus Spirit Humans gain from The Human Spirit.

For the Horde, Command and Blood Fury are both very strong for a Warlock, making Orc by far the best choice.

Human in the best race for Warlocks in both PvE and PvP. Spirit converts into Spell Power thanks to our Fel Armor and Glyph of Life Tap. Humans also have Will to Survive, which will get you out of any stuns, fears and movement effects. Additionally, Humans also have Perception, a strong in PvP perk.

Gnomes are still a great race for Warlocks. Escape Artist is a niche ability for PvE, but a very strong ability in PvP, able to instantly get you out of any slows, roots and snares. Gnomes come with Expansive Mind, which increases your Intellect by 5%. Intellect increases your Mana and also increases Critical Hit chance with your spells. As a bonus, Gnomes come with Engineering Specialization, increasing your engineering skill by 15. While niche, they do have Arcane Resistance, which offers slight resistance against Arcane enemies.

Orc is an amazing race that brings a very strong cooldown in Blood Fury, which significantly buffs your damage and, when combined with all your other cooldowns, can be a very powerful. Command buffs your Demons damage by an additional 5% damage, which is nice because we always have a pet out. Lastly, Orcs have Hardiness which reduces the duration of stun effects by an additional 15%. This is not too helpful in PvE content, but can be life saving in both battlegrounds and inside the Arena.

Undead doesn't bring too much to the table in terms of their PvE content, but is the solid choice for anyone looking to dominate the PvP scene. Will of the Forsaken is one of the best PvP racials in the game. Allowing you to remove any Fear, Sleep and Charm effect on a two minute cooldown. They also have Shadow Resistance, which reduces the chance you will be hit by Shadow Spells by 2%. This can be really handy in PvP content, as Warlocks and Shadow Priests are fairly common. Undead also have Cannibalize, allowing you to eat other Humanoids or Undead mobs and it heals you in return.

Overall, Affliction Warlock has a few viable options for professions and which you choose depends on which one you want. You can go Tailoring for the big Lightweave proc, which will more often than not proc on pull with your trinkets and whatever else, allowing for a big opener.

The second profession you want is Engineering. Engineering is pretty tandard and is even required among many guilds due to all its explosives, Nitro Boosts and of course the best in slot Glove enchant Hyperspeed Accelerators.

Engineering is extremely strong and is the best profession you can get in terms of damage. You get an insane Haste enchant called Hyperspeed Accelerators on your gloves that gives you 340 Haste for 12 seconds on a one-minute cooldown. This is an absolutely amazing ability and is worth Engineering simply for that. You can pop this with your Trinkets and all your other cooldowns.

Engineering also gives you access to the infamous Nitro Boosts, which are put onto your current boots. It is not a separate pair of boots like it was in Classic and TBC. They not only give you some much needed mobility, but the boots can get you out of many sketchy situations. One good use for them, since you should be constantly trying to seed, you'll naturally fall back every so often. You can use the boots to catch quickly back up to the raid and continue seeding.

Another perk to Engineering is what has been known for years: the explosives. You have Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, and even a Frag Belt, all of which require Engineering to use and provide a solid boost in your overall damage.

You also get a cloak enchant called Springy Arachnoweave. This cloak provides 27 Spell Power and can be used as a parachute cloak.

Tailoring allows you to enchant your cloak with Lightweave Embroidery, which is a proc chance of 295 Spell Power for 15 sec with a 60-second internal cooldown. This is phenomenal for Affliction as it allows you to do a ton of extra damage and typically all in the beginning window opener when you have all your other cooldowns and Bloodlust up.

With Jewelcrafting you get the special Gems that only Jewelcrafters can wear that were once the best. However with the unlocking of epic gems in Phase 3, it's no longer more beneficial to go Jewelcrafting as gain from Jewelcrafting-only gems don't outweigh the big Spell Power gain from Tailoring's Lightweave Embroidery.

Using macros and addons makes your life significantly easier when playing Wrath Classic, and they can improve your experience a lot, depending on how skilled you are at customizing them.

If you are interested in learning more about addons and macros suited to Affliction Warlock, check out our guides below: