Affliction Warlock PvE DPS Guide

Is Affliction Warlock worth a raid spot?

Usually assign one when the raid needs Malediction-boosted Curse of the Elements (+13% Arcane, Fire, Frost, and Shadow damage taken, -88 Arcane, Fire, Frost, and Shadow resistance) to amplify raid-wide caster damage. While Affliction's personal damage is typically lower than Destruction, 3/3 Malediction combined with multi-target DoT pressure makes a dedicated Affliction Warlock one of the highest total raid-value caster slots in a 25-man roster. Duplicate coverage depends on overall raid composition and secondary curse assignments.

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Open in Talent Calculator

Rotation priority

Maintain the assigned highest-rank 3/3 Malediction Curse of the Elements with 100% uptime (+13% Arcane, Fire, Frost, and Shadow damage taken, -88 Arcane, Fire, Frost, and Shadow resistance); if another warlock covers Elements, maintain Curse of Doom (or Curse of Agony).
Maintain Corruption and Siphon Life on long-lived targets; let each final tick land before recasting, as refreshing early clips a full tick of damage (this build does not take Unstable Affliction).
Consume Nightfall (Shadow Trance) with the next Shadow Bolt without cancelling a hard cast already in progress; keep required curse and DoT refreshes covered.
Cast Shadow Bolt as your primary filler between DoT refresh windows.
Use Life Tap during movement or safe downtime to maintain mana pool; avoid entering Bloodlust starved of mana.
Use Shadowburn during movement or when the target will die before a Shadow Bolt lands, when its damage justifies the Soul Shard. It has no sub-20% execute damage bonus.

Opener

Curse of the Elements Corruption Siphon Life Shadow Bolt Destruction Potion

Pre-cast Shadow Bolt at maximum range only when the tank's pull timing and threat lead allow it to land safely after engagement; otherwise open directly with the assigned curse.
Apply highest-rank 3/3 Malediction Curse of the Elements on the first global cooldown.
Apply Corruption and Siphon Life in sequence to stagger expiration timers. If activating an on-use spell trinket or Destruction Potion to snapshot spell power onto initial DoTs, trigger it after combat starts, immediately before DoTs (standard shared 2-minute cooldown starts at use).
Cast Shadow Bolt filler, consuming Nightfall procs without interrupting a hard cast already in progress.
Activate on-use spell trinkets and racial cooldowns during planned stationary burn windows after tank threat is stable; keep Soulshatter ready.

Cooldowns

Curse of the Elements

3/3 Malediction provides +13% Arcane, Fire, Frost, and Shadow damage taken and -88 Arcane, Fire, Frost, and Shadow resistance to the boss; primary raid debuff with 100% uptime requirement.

Amplify Curse

3-minute cooldown; increases the damage of your next Curse of Doom (+50%) or Curse of Agony (+50%). Use on cooldown when assigned a damage curse.

Soulshatter

Instant cast on a 5-minute cooldown consuming 1 Soul Shard; reduces your threat by 50% on enemies within 50 yards. Use before pulling aggro.

Shadowburn

Instant Shadow damage on a 15-second cooldown costing 1 Soul Shard. Use during movement or when the target will die before a hard cast lands; it has no bonus damage or requirement below 20% health.

Stat caps

Affliction Spells Hit Cap

164 Spell Hit Rating

All breakpoints vs Boss (73) with 0/5 Suppression.

16% from gear (202 rating) without external hit support.

13% from gear (164 rating) with only Totem of Wrath (+3%) in your group.

15% from gear (190 rating) with only Draenei Inspiring Presence (+1%) in your group.

12% from gear (152 rating) with Totem of Wrath (+3%) in your group and Draenei Inspiring Presence (+1%) in your group.

The listed requirement reaches the attainable spell-hit cap; spells retain the unavoidable miss floor.

Spell Power

No hard cap

Spell power scales Shadow Bolt and DoTs. Corruption has a 1.296 total coefficient with 3/3 Empowered Corruption (0.936 base + 0.36 talented), before damage multipliers. This build does not take Unstable Affliction.

Spell Haste

Sim it 15.77 rating = 1%

Haste reduces Shadow Bolt and cast-time DoT cast times and accelerates filler cadence toward the 1.0-second GCD floor.

Spell Crit

Moderate priority

DoT ticks cannot critically strike. Ruin improves Destruction spell crits and Improved Shadow Bolt adds raid value, but this 40/0/21 build does not take Shadow and Flame. Compare spell power, haste, and crit in complete sets.

Consumes

Type	Consumable	Use
Flask	Flask of Pure Death	Use instead of Battle + Guardian elixirs
Potion	Destruction Potion	Snapshot & burst throughput
Potion	Super Mana Potion	Mana recovery
Food	Blackened Basilisk	Spell power option
Weapon buff	Brilliant Wizard Oil
Mana restore	Dark Rune	Off-GCD mana
Reagent	Soul Shard	Reserve for Shadowburn, Soulshatter, summons and stones

Gems and socket bonuses

Activate your meta, cover spell hit for the talents and raid support you actually have, then favor spell power. Use hybrids where the secondary stat and socket bonus together are worth the spell power you give up.

Use epic cuts on gear you expect to keep. Listed budget cuts suit temporary items or a tighter budget; compare your server’s prices before upgrading.

Type	Gem	Use
Meta	Chaotic Skyfire Diamond	Improves damaging spell crits. Use blue-counting gems to activate it; it does not make damage-over-time ticks crit. Requires: At least 2 blue gems.
Default	Runed Crimson Spinel Budget: Runed Living Ruby	The usual spare-socket choice once spell hit and meta colors are covered.
Hit correction	Veiled Pyrestone Budget: Veiled Noble Topaz	Adds spell hit while retaining some spell power. Replace it when the complete set no longer needs that hit.
Crit option	Potent Pyrestone Budget: Potent Noble Topaz	Crit mainly supports direct casts such as Shadow Bolt; it does not make your damage-over-time spells crit. Favor spell power when DoTs make up more of the damage.
Meta colors	Glowing Shadowsong Amethyst Budget: Glowing Nightseye	Supplies blue for meta activation while retaining spell power and adding stamina.

When to match sockets

Any ordinary gem fits any non-meta socket. Matching every socket on an item activates its bonus; a mismatch keeps the gem’s own stats. Hybrid gems count as both colors for your meta, regardless of the socket they occupy.
Match a socket when the total gain is useful, not simply because the colors line up. Hit gems lose their offensive value above the relevant spell-hit cap. Put the blue-counting gems needed for Chaotic Skyfire Diamond into sockets with useful bonuses where possible.
A socket tradeoff
For a yellow socket with a +2 spell power bonus, Runed Crimson Spinel adds 12 spell power. Veiled Pyrestone plus the bonus adds 8 spell power. You trade 4 spell power for 5 spell-hit rating.
Assumes your meta is already active; before talents and buffs.

When to swap gems

Suppression reduces the hit needed by Affliction spells, not Shadow Bolt. Decide which spells you are capping before replacing hit gems; the guide’s cap cards separate these targets.
For unavoidable damage: keep enough stamina to survive, using blue-counting spell-power/stamina gems where they also satisfy your meta.
After replacing gear or changing gems, recheck your meta across the whole equipped set. A color that looked expendable may be keeping it active.

Enchants

Slot	Enchant	Materials
Head	Glyph of Power	The Sha'tar · Revered
Shoulders	Greater Inscription of Discipline	The Aldor · Exalted
Back	Enchant Cloak — Subtlety	Small Prismatic Shard ×4 Greater Planar Essence ×2 Primal Shadow ×8
Chest	Enchant Chest — Exceptional Stats	Large Prismatic Shard ×4 Arcane Dust ×4 Greater Planar Essence ×4
Wrists	Enchant Bracer — Spellpower	Large Prismatic Shard ×6 Primal Fire ×6 Primal Water ×6
Hands	Enchant Gloves — Major Spellpower	Greater Planar Essence ×6 Large Prismatic Shard ×6 Primal Mana ×6
Legs	Runic Spellthread	Rune Thread ×1 Primal Mana ×10 Primal Nether ×1
Feet	Enchant Boots — Boar's Speed	Large Prismatic Shard ×8 Primal Earth ×8
Main hand	Enchant Weapon — Soulfrost	Void Crystal ×12 Large Prismatic Shard ×10 Greater Planar Essence ×8 Primal Water ×6 Primal Shadow ×6

Professions

Engineering

Strongest raid utility: Super Sapper Charges, Destruction Holo-gogs, and bombs.

Tailoring

Crafted cloth progression and high-value spell power pieces.

Enchanting

Enchant Ring - Spellpower (+12 spell damage per ring / +24 total).

Leatherworking

Party drums under Anniversary Tinnitus rules (one Leatherworker per party).

Ready to gear? The full list covers every slot with caps, alternatives, and who should actually take each drop.

Open the full BiS list DPS tier list

Reviewing your logs

DPS tier list

Review 3/3 Malediction Curse of the Elements uptime on boss targets (should be 99%+).
Check Corruption and Siphon Life uptime and verify final ticks landed before refreshing (no early DoT clipping).
Inspect Nightfall (Shadow Trance) reaction time and confirm instant Shadow Bolts were fired promptly without being overwritten.
Check Shadow Bolt filler cast counts and confirm zero Unstable Affliction casts in the 40/0/21 Ruin build.
Review Life Tap timing: verify taps occurred during movement or safe windows rather than during Bloodlust or stationary burn.

Tips and Common Mistakes

Practical tips

TBC has no pandemic refresh mechanic; wait for the final tick of Corruption or Siphon Life to register before recasting to avoid clipping damage.
Stagger your DoT application timers on pull so Corruption and Siphon Life do not expire on the exact same global cooldown.
Use Destruction Potion after combat starts, immediately before DoTs, when snapshotting bonus spell power onto initial Corruption and Siphon Life applications.
Track Nightfall procs and consume them promptly with Shadow Bolt, without cancelling an in-progress cast.
Use a focus or mouseover macro for Curse of the Elements to reapply the curse to secondary targets without dropping primary boss focus.

Common mistakes

Clipping DoT ticks by refreshing Corruption or Siphon Life before the final tick lands.
Letting 3/3 Malediction Curse of the Elements drop, costing the entire raid 13% Arcane, Fire, Frost, and Shadow damage taken on the boss.
Assuming the 40/0/21 Ruin build has Suppression (it has 0/5) or attempting to cast Unstable Affliction.
Expecting spell haste to make DoTs tick faster (haste only reduces cast times and GCD in TBC).
Neglecting Nightfall procs and letting Shadow Trance sit unused during filler casting.

Affliction Warlock PvE DPS Guide — TBC Classic