Affliction Warlock Guide
Damage over time and drains, with no demon: Corruption, Immolate, Curse of Agony and Unstable Affliction tick, Drain Life keeps him up, and Drain Mana starves the healer.
- Role Ranged DPS
- Health 4,450
- Resource Mana
Plan your Affliction Warlock build → Demonology Warlock
Toolkit at a glance
Counted from the spell data (every Warlock spell, the Affliction spells, and the row-5 talent spells).
| Stuns, fears, incapacitates | Fear, Howl of Terror, Death Coil |
|---|---|
| Roots and silences | — |
| Interrupts | — |
| Defensives | — |
| Heals | Drain Life, Death Coil, Healthstone |
| Mobility | — |
Affliction Warlock talents
Five rows of three. Pick one per row; rows 1 to 4 are passive and row 5 teaches a spell.
Each tick of your Corruption, and each Drain Life you finish, has a 10% chance to make your next Shadow Bolt instant.
Each tick of your Corruption, Immolate, Curse of Agony and Unstable Affliction has a 6% chance to make you cast 20% faster for 10 sec.
Shadow Bolt and Drain Life refresh your Corruption on the target, so the long cast keeps your dots going.
Curse of Agony also slows its target by 30% while it lasts.
Death Coil also frees you from roots and slows.
Damage doesn't push back your casts and channels: Drain Life and Drain Mana run their full time.
Your spells heal you for 10% of the damage they deal, their damage over time included.
Healthstone holds 2 charges.
Below 35% health, Drain Life heals you twice as much.
Drain Mana also deals 100 Shadow damage each time it drains.
When your Fear ends, the target can't move for 2 sec more.
Shadow Bolt leaves its target healed 20% less for 12 sec.
Learn Haunt: a ghost for 450 Shadow damage, and for 12 sec your damage-over-time effects on the target deal 20% more.
Learn Curse of Tongues: the target's casts and channels take 50% longer for 30 sec.
Learn Siphon Life: 60 Shadow damage every 3 sec for 30 sec, healing you as much.
Affliction spells
| Spell | School | Cost | Cast | Cooldown | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unstable AfflictionWhoever dispels it is silenced for 4 sec and takes 600 Shadow damage over that time. | Shadow | 250 | 1.5 s | — | 30 m |
| Curse of Agony | Shadow | 150 | Instant | — | 30 m |
| Drain Mana | Shadow | 100 | Instant | — | 30 m |
Spells taught by talents (row 5)
| Spell | School | Cost | Cast | Cooldown | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haunt | Shadow | 250 | 1.5 s | 8 s | 30 m |
| Curse of Tongues | Shadow | 100 | Instant | — | 30 m |
| Siphon Life | Shadow | 200 | Instant | — | 30 m |
Spells every Warlock knows
The first eight are the action bar a new character starts with; swap spells on your bar in Spells & Talents (N). ★ = starting bar.
| Spell | School | Cost | Cast | Cooldown | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow Bolt ★ | Shadow | 300 | 2.5 s | — | 30 m |
| Immolate ★ | Fire | 250 | 2 s | — | 30 m |
| Corruption ★ | Shadow | 200 | Instant | — | 30 m |
| Drain Life ★ | Shadow | 250 | Instant | — | 30 m |
| Fear ★ | Shadow | 250 | 1.5 s | — | 25 m |
| Howl of Terror ★ | Shadow | 300 | 1.5 s | 40 s | Self |
| Death Coil ★ | Shadow | 250 | Instant | 45 s | 30 m |
| Healthstone ★A stone, not a spell: a silence doesn't stop it. | Physical | — | Instant | 120 s | Self |
| Shadowflame | Shadow | 300 | Instant | 15 s | Self |
| Life Tap | Shadow | — | Instant | — | Self |
Recommended Affliction Warlock build
Recommended builds for this spec are still being tested. To be added.
Spell names, costs, cooldowns and talent text are read from the game client (v0.21, checked 2026-10-30). The developer calls the numbers “first-pass tuning”, so expect them to change.