Warlock Affliction & Destruction guide

Overview

This warlock build goes into Affliction for strong damage over time and quick kills with Drain spells. In Forever, Curse of Agony is now Bane of Agony, and damage over time spells can crit. Trolls can be warlocks now too.

How to play it

In order of priority for levels 20 to 30, on one target:

1. CorruptionOpen with it. Improved Corruption makes it instant.
2. Bane of AgonyPut it on every mob that will live a while. Only one Bane per target.
3. Siphon LifeAdd it at level 30 for damage and healing.
4. Shadow BoltCast it when Nightfall makes it instant.
5. Drain LifeFinish mobs and heal yourself.
6. Life TapTurn health into mana. It scales with Spirit in Forever.

Several targets

1. CorruptionSpread it on 2 or 3 mobs while your pet tanks.
2. FearSend an extra mob away while you deal with the first.
3. Rain of FireFor packs from level 20. Costs a lot of mana.

Stat priority

1. Spell hit
2. Shadow damage
3. Spell damage
4. Spell crit
5. Stamina
6. Fire damage
7. Intellect

This is the order ONN ranks gear by for Affliction & Destruction. Your weapon matters more than anything for melee.

Talents

21 / 0 / 0 at level 30. One point every level from 10. Take them in this order:

Open this build in the talent calculator

Gear at level 30

The best item for each slot. Hover for the full tooltip.

• HeadShadow Hood
• NeckSenior Sergeant's Insignia
• ShouldersBloodmage Mantle
• BackSergeant's Cloak
• ChestBeguiler Robes
• WristsStonecloth Bindings
• HandsHands of Darkness
• WaistHighlander's Cloth Girdle
• LegsNecromancer Leggings
• FeetHighlander's Cloth Boots
• Ring 1Advisor's Ring
• Ring 2Lorekeeper's Ring
• Trinket 1Rune of Perfection
• Two-handStaff of the Blessed Seer
• WandStarfaller

Full best in slot list, with sources and alternatives

Dungeons to run

Where most of your best gear drops, best first.

• Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard levels 26 to 361 best-in-slot item: Bloodmage Mantle
• Shadowfang Keep levels 22 to 30
• The Stockade levels 24 to 32

Tips

• Send your pet in before you cast so mobs stay on it.
• Drain Soul has a better chance to give a shard with every tick now, and a Drain Soul kill with Soul Harvest doubles your mana regen for 10 sec.
• Pets scale from your stats in Forever, so your gear makes them stronger too.
• Fel Concentration makes damage much less likely to interrupt your drains.
• Get a wand early and use it to finish mobs.

Macros

Make a macro with /macro in game, paste the text, and drag it to your bar.

#showtooltip Bane of Agony
/petattack
/cast Bane of Agony

#showtooltip Corruption
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Corruption

Sources

• Icy Veins: Rogue and Warlock deep dives
• Method: Warlock leveling guide
• Games.gg: Every class change in WoW: Forever
• WoW Forever Talents: Warlock talents