Affliction Warlock Guide & Best Runes – Phase 4 Season of Discovery (SoD)

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Welcome to the SoD Phase 4 Affliction Shadow Warlock DPS Guide!

This guide focuses exclusively on the Affliction specialization, exploring key components such as Runes, Talent Trees, Stat Priorities, Rotations & Abilities, Best Professions, BiS (Best in Slot) items, and Race Choices. The new Rune System introduced in the Season of Discovery has overhauled the way Affliction Shadow Warlock plays, straying away from the classic Shadow Bolt spam experience to a far more advanced play style. As such, the specialization became far more powerful and interactive, with several new DoT and Direct Damage spells being added into the mix.

Talents

affliction shadow warlock standard build phase 4 season of discovery sod

Runes

Stat Priority

  1. Hit Chance
  2. Spell Damage/Spell Power
  3. Critical Strike Chance
  4. Intellect
  5. Spirit
  6. Stamina

Rotations & Abilities

Phase 4 introduced some very important changes to Affliction Shadow Warlock’s abilities, entirely revamping Shadowflame and making it stackable with Unstable Affliction. As such, Shadow Warlock no longer has to rely on Immolate for an extra damage output. Additionally, with the way Soul Siphon works now, Shadow Warlock gains a powerful execution tool that will replace Shadow Bolt entirely from the rotation once the target reaches a certain threshold. Furthermore, they gain access to a new powerful buff ability, Fel Armor, which increases their overall Spell Damage by a considerable amount.

Single-Target Rotation

  1. Maintain Fel Armor at all times
  2. Cast Curse of Shadow if possible
  3. Cast Curse of the Elements/Curse of Recklessness if no other Warlock can provide it
  4. Cast Curse of Agony if Curse of Shadow is already present on the target and your group doesn’t require Curse of Recklessness or Curse of the Elements
  5. Cast Haunt on cooldown and aim to upkeep it on the target at all times
  6. Cast Corruption (Refreshes automatically when you cast either one of Drain Life/Drain Soul/Haunt/Shadow Bolt)
  7. Cast Drain Life on cooldown (Instant Cast DoT thanks to Master Channeler)
  8. Cast Unstable Affliction and refresh it once its duration ends
  9. Cast Shadowflame and refresh it once its duration ends
  10. Cast Shadow Bolt (Main Filler)
    • Cast Shadow Bolt whenever you don’t need to refresh one of your DoTs
  11. Cast Drain Soul on the target reaches 20% HP (Execution Tool)
    • Spam Drain Soul and upkeep DoTs while beneath the 20% HP threshold

AoE Rotation

  1. Maintain Fel Armor at all times
  2. Swap to Shadow Bolt Volley for encounters that have 5 or less targets
  3. Swap to Lake of Fire for AoE encounters
  4. Cast Curse of Shadow on multiple mobs before positioning yourself
  5. Cast Rain of Fire while having the Lake of Fire rune equipped
  6. Cast Shadow Bolt while having the Shadow Bolt Volley rune equipped
  7. Cast Hellfire if your tank can handle aggro in encounters that feature more than 10-15 mobs

Pre-Raid Best in Slot

Best in Slot

Best Professions

Tailoring

Tailoring is by far the best profession that Affliction Shadow Warlock can use as it not only allows you to craft the new Season of Discovery epic gear pieces but also provides you with a consistent way of generating gold. Furthermore, it pairs extraordinarily well with Enchanting.

Enchanting

Enchanting is the second-best profession that an Affliction Shadow Warlock can use, providing a powerful synergy with Tailoring, the ability to add beneficial stats to equipment, and even disenchant gear pieces into magical essences. Enchanting is also viewed as one of the best gold generation tools in the game besides the bonuses it offers and the access to the specific Season of Discovery enchanting sigils.

Best Races

The best possible race for Alliance when it comes to Affliction Shadow Warlock is Gnome thanks to Expansive Mind and Escape Artist while the best race for the Horde is Orc thanks to Command.

Human

Gnome

Orc

Undead

 

About the Author

Nevermore

Hey there folks, I am Nevermore and have been deeply passionate about WoW for more than a decade. Whether we talk about the hidden mysteries of Azeroth or the otherworldly Outland, my journey brought me here to share the things that I have experienced with you all.
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