Affliction Warlock PvP Guide for WotLK Classic

Affliction Warlock is one of the most difficult but rewarding and strong PvP specs 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.

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 2 points in Improved Shadow Bolt can be moved to Improved Curse of Agony if playing with a melee such as a Warrior. Additionally, these 2 points can be put into Improved Life Tap as high levels of Haste result in going out of mana very quickly.

1. Glyph of Quick Decay — Causes your Corruption to scale with your Haste levels, reducing the amount of time it takes to tick compared to the normal 3 seconds per tick. This Glyph is a massive DPS increase.
2. Glyph of Corruption — Causes your Corruption an extra 4% to proc an instant Shadow Bolt, increasing your damage dealt and providing a small window of burst.
3. Glyph of Shadowflame — Snares targets hit by your Shadowflame, allowing you to kite or peel for your teammates.

1. Glyph of Curse of Exhaustion — Increases the range of your Curse of Exhaustion spell, allowing it to be used from 41 yards away.
2. Glyph of Drain Soul — Allows you to gain extra Soul Shards when casting Drain Soul.

There is no 3rd 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 Wrath of the Lich King 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, reduced chance to be crit as well as reducing the damage taken from any crits that land. Affliction Warlocks want to stack as much of this stat as possible to the soft cap of 1414.

In order for your spells (and your pet's spells) to land without missing, you need to reach Hit Rating thresholds. Against level 80 players, this cap is 4%. However, there are certain specs such as Retribution Paladins and Subtlety Rogues who require an extra 4%. Additionally, certain races such as Draeneis, Blood Elves and Undead require an extra 2%. As such, the realistic Hit Rating % to aim for is 6%. Suppression adds 3% Hit Rating, so from gear you will only need to reach 3%.

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 130 Spell Pentration as possible.

Haste is the best stat 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. Importantly, it increases the damage dealt by your Corruption due to the Glyph of Quick Decay.

Spell Power increases 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.

If you are looking to optimise your Affliction Warlock in Wrath of the Lich King PvP, these are the recommended professions:

1. Jewelcrafting — Gives you three Jewelcrafting specific gems, Mystic Dragon's Eye, totalling an extra 42 Resilience.
2. Engineering — Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket gives you an off-global instant Rocket that deals a moderate amount of damage, allowing for extra burst or sniping a Tremor Totem.
3. Blacksmithing — Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves gives you 2 extra sockets in your gear, totalling an extra 40 Resilience.

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 kill targets and melee.
• 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 Haunt on your kill target.
• Cast Drain Life as a filler once all your DoTs and Haunt are up.
• Cast Drain Soul when your enemy target is under 25% to execute.
• If Fear is dispelled or runs out, re-cast it or on another target.

The list linked below includes the best possible gear setup for a 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.