Affliction Warlock PVE Guide – Cataclysm

Welcome to the PVE Affliction Warlock Guide for World of Warcraft Cataclysm!

This guide will teach you how to play an Affliction Warlock in a raid. It covers talents, glyphs, gems, enchantments, rotation, and gameplay tips.

This talent build takes the standard Affliction Warlock talents.

Prime Glyphs

• Glyph of Corruption
• Glyph of Haunt
• Glyph of Unstable Affliction

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Life Tap
• Glyph of Shadow Bolt
• Glyph of Soul Swap

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Curse of Exhaustion
• Glyph of Drain Soul
• Glyph of Health Funnel

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta – Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
• Red/Prismatic – Brilliant Queen’s Garnet, Brilliant Inferno Ruby, or Brilliant Chimera’s Eye (Jewelcrafting)
• Yellow
  • If Socket Bonus is not at least +20 Intellect or +30 of another stat, Brilliant Queen’s Garnet or Brilliant Inferno Ruby
  • Otherwise, Reckless Lava Coral or Reckless Ember Topaz
• Blue
  • If Socket Bonus is not at least +20 Intellect or +30 of another stat, Brilliant Queen’s Garnet or Brilliant Inferno Ruby
  • Else, Veiled Shadow Spinel or Veiled Demonseye

• Head – Arcanum of the Hyjal
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone or Felfire Inscription (Inscription)
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect or Lightweave Embroidery (Tailoring)
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
• Bracers – Enchant Bracer – Mighty Intellect or Enchant Bracer – Precision (cheaper) or Draconic Embossment – Intellect (Leatherworking) with Socket Bracer (Blacksmithing)
• Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery or Enchant Gloves – Haste with Synapse Springs (Engineering) or Socket Gloves (Blacksmithing)
• Waist – Grounded Plasma Shield (Engineering) or Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
• Legs – Powerful Enchanted Spellthread or Master’s Spellthread (Tailoring)
• Boots – Enchant Boots – Lavawalker or Enchant Boots – Haste (cheaper) or Enchant Boots – Precision (for hit cap)
• Rings – Enchant Ring – Intellect (Enchanting)
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Power Torrent or Enchant Weapon – Hurricane (cheaper)
• Off-hand – Enchant Off-Hand – Superior Intellect

Take Spirit until you’re happy with your mana regeneration. Haste is only useful up if you can hit soft caps, so don’t bother adding extra haste until you can reach the next cap.

• Intellect
• Hit Rating (to spell hit cap of 17%)
• Haste
• Critical Strike
• Mastery

If no one else in the raid is applying it, keep Curse of the Elements on your current target. Keep Fel Amor on at all times. Use Dark Intent as assigned.

Single Target Rotation

• If boss is at or above 25% HP
  • Use Corruption and maintain (refreshed by Haunt)
  • Use Unstable Affliction and maintain
  • Use Bane of Doom and maintain
  • Use Haunt
  • Use Shadowflame, if it’s safe to be in melee range
  • Use Shadowbolt
• If boss is below 25% HP
  • Maintain Corruption with Haunt and Drain Soul)
  • Maintain Unstable Affliction with Drain Soul
  • Maintain Bane of Doom
  • Use Haunt on cooldown
  • Use Drain Soul
  • Use Shadowbolt to refresh Shadow and Flame if necessary

Multi Target Rotation

• 2 enemies
  • Keep Corruption/Unstable Affliction maintained on both targets
  • Use Bane of Doom on one target and maintain
  • Use Bane of Agony on the other target and maintain
  • Use Soul Swap to maintain Corruption/Unstable Affliction on the secondary target
  • Use Haunt on one target, then the other next time through the rotation
  • Use Shadowflame, if it’s safe to be in melee range
  • Use Shadowbolt on one target, then the other next time through the rotation
• 3-5 enemies
  • Use Soulborn: Seed of Corruption on one target, repeat when Soulborn is available
  • Maintain DoTs on all targets
  • Use Shadowflame, if it’s safe to be in melee range
• 6+ enemies
  • Use Seed of Corruption on a single target
  • Use Shadowflame, if it’s safe to be in melee range

Cooldowns

• Use Demon Soul: Felhunter on cooldown, ideally paired with Heroism/Bloodlust/Timewarp and trinket procs
• Use Summon Doomguard when you have as many buffs as possible, generally at the start of the fight — unless you are facing a large group of enemies that require burst, in which case you can Summon Infernal