Want to get busy afflicting pain and agony on the monsters / other players of the world, but don’t know how to start being an affliction warlock after patch 4.3? Don’t worry. We’ve got the basics of affliction – talent spec, glyphs, gems and reforging, enchants, and of course priorities – covered here so you can be petting fluffy bunnies smiting your opponents in no time at all.
Updated Feb 22nd 2012 for Patch 4.3
Patch 4.3 changes for Affliction Warlocks
Not much has changed in ‘flick land with this patch. Soul Fire has had a small buff (but we don’t really use it anyway), and Shadow Bolt has a new graphic, but that’s about it.
Our tier 13 set bonuses are fun. The 2-piece simply gives us more fun times with our Doomguard or Infernal, but our 4-piece tier bonus changes our rotation fundementally. When we achieve 4T13, we should use Soulburn with Soul Fire whenever it’s available.
Affliction warlock rotation
Affliction Warlocks don’t use a strict rotation – instead, they use a priority system. So, cast the spell nearest the top of the list that’s off cooldown:
Single target: Haunt > Demon Soul > Bane of Doom > Corruption > Unstable Affliction > Drain Soul (if target is below 25% health) > Shadowflame > Shadow Bolt
- Always use Haunt and Demon Soul whenever they’ve cooled down.
- Keep Bane of Doom, Corruption and Unstable Affliction up on the target at all times.
- Make sure to use Curse of Elements if another class isn’t providing an identical debuff (CoE is also covered by Unholy DKs, Mut rogues and Boomkin.)
Two targets: Get your DoTs on a target them use (glyphed) soul swap to transfer them to the other.
Three or more targets: Use Soulburn: Seed of Corruption.
Remember to keep Dark Intent up on a healer (if you’re on progression) or other DPS (if you’re on farm content). Use your Doomguard for single-target fights or your Infernal for AOE fights, during burn phases.
Want to stay up to date?
Want to stay up to date with what's happening in the world of WoW and other MMOs?
Subscribe to the Melting Pot on Twitter or by a feedreader (Google Reader or others) to learn about everything that's going on in the MMORPG world, before it goes mainstream.
Affliction talent spec
- Standard talent build for level 85 Affliction warlock in Patch 4.3 – uses Shadow Bolts as a filler.
Which warlock demon should I use?
Like most WoW warlock builds, you should use the Fel Hunter.
Stats, reforging and gems as an Affliction warlock
Stats order: Intellect > Hit (until hit capped at 1742 /17%) > Haste > Critical Strike Rating > Mastery
- Reforge Mastery and Critical Strike Rating into Hit until hit capped, then everything into Haste. If you can’t reforge to Haste reforge to Critical Strike Rating.
- Gem for intellect (Brilliant Inferno Ruby). Use split intellect/haste (Reckless Ember Topaz) in yellow sockets or split Intellect/Hit (Veiled Demonseye) in blue sockets in the socket bonus is +20 Int or +30 of another stat or more.
Affliction Warlock enchants
Remember to check if your profession enchants are better! (Check the stat weights above – it’s likely to be pretty obvious if so).
| Head | Arcanum of Hyjal |
| Shoulders | Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone |
| Back | Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect |
| Chest | Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer – Mighty Intellect |
| Hands | Enchant Gloves – Haste |
| Belt | Ebonsteel Belt Buckle |
| Legs | Powerful Ghostly Spellthread |
| Feet | Enchant Boots – Lavawalker |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon – Power Torrent |
| Off-Hand Weapon | Enchant Weapon – Superior Intellect |
Glyphs
Primes: Glyph of Unstable Affliction — Glyph of Corruption — Glyph of Haunt
Major:Glyph of Soul Swap — Glyph of Shadow Bolt — Glyph of Life Tap. If you need to CC, you should use Glyph of Fear instead of one of the other Glyphs.
Minor: Glyph of Drain Soul and user’s choice.
Links
- Killing em Slowly – warlock blog with Affliction resources
- Cynwise has some fantastic Warlock resources.
- Affliction in Cataclysm – Elitist Jerks – not updated to 4.3 yet.
- WoW Insider’s warlock section
You also might find the rest of MMO Melting Pot interesting – we look for the best articles about WoW and other MMOs and deliver them straight to you, all in one place. Check out the latest articles.
Did you find this guide useful? If so, please consider sharing it! You can find Twitter, Google+ and Facebook buttons below.
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t forget to use the Doomguard on single-target pulls and Infernal in AoE. It’s not on a priority system with a 10 minute CD, but you should be using it during the burn phase of a boss.
You should also seriously consider the Glyph of Fear for CC situations in all PvE content.
@Cynwise – You forgot to mention Curses, you silly warlock. Use Elements or Weakness if those debuffs aren’t covered by another class.
@Cynwise – Thanks very much for these comments – they’re very helpful indeed.
I’m going to be bashing on the Warlock guides tomorrow, so will incorporate them then.
I assume that the Glyph of Fear comment applies to all lock specs equally?
You should also include enchants
@retro – Good timing – I’m currently going through all these guides and adding enchants. Look again next week, they’ll be there.
I just made my first Warlock and I’m going for Affliction! >:D
Don’t much about locks, my main is a rogue, and because of that, I have a question:
What is the debuff that a Mut rogue can provide that covers Curse of Elements?
By the way, awesome guide!
Dose this cover PVP?
@Sam – No, I’m afraid not. This is a PvE focussed guide.
@Bruxo – Antonidas – Master Poisoner (talent) is the debuff you’re looking for.
I am trying to follow the affliction rotaion however I dont have a spell called “Demon Soul” ? which you show as 2nd to Haunt?
Demon Soul should be found on your Demonology tab of you spellbook. It’s taught by a Warlock trainer at level 85.
I usually play a demonology spec lock, but I am trying out affliction. You have some very useful tips and I also like reading others comments as well. I do have one question though. I cannot figure out why I can’t get my dps over 8k with the rotation and glyphs above. I am an 85 lock, fairly geared, but I just can’t seem to do any damage whatsoever as an affliction lock.
Any suggestions as to why I look like such a noob? lol
Please help! Thanks.
@Rosa – Hmm – it could be a number of things. Afflic in particular is notoriously tricky to play, so if you would consider it, it may be worth trying another spec and seeing if your damage improves.
Other than that –
1) Are you raiding or doing 5-mans?
2) Do you use keyboard or mouse to click your abilities?
3) What addons are you using to help your play?
@Hugh Hancock – Thank you for your reply Hugh. I do play another spec, right now my main is demonology and I am able to pull about 28k in dps with that spec when I blow all my cds; otherwise I cap at around 18k. I just really wanted to try something else; I had already tried destro and that was even worse for dps than the affliction spec for me. I had already reforged all my gear to hit (not hit capped yet) and have re-gemed, as well as have pretty much every enchant you have listed.
I myself am not much of a group player, I pretty much like to solo as much as possible (hence the Loremaster title I had just earned six months ago lol). My husband is the raider and group player, and once in a while convinces me to play along with others; otherwise, he plays my character to get her geared for me lmao. I don’t know the fights that well and I don’t feel like pissing others off by looking like a total noob and aggroing crap that I am not supposed to. I just haven’t really felt that confident in my dps skills to play with others, but I have been coming out of my shell little by little which enabled me to complete the hour of twilight dungeons this last week.
Sorry, got off track. I use my keyboard for my abilities, and I use only a few addons such as – gear score, bagnon, x-perl, bartender 4, NPC scan, Gathermate, Everyquest, and recount. So, pretty much nothing that I can see that would really aid me in my dps of course. I also don’t want to have too many addons so that my load time and gameplay is not too laggy.
I appreciate your opinions, any insight would be helpful.
I play Affliction and pull great DPS. DoT clipping or dropping is a huge loss of DPS. Power Auras Classic is what I use to monitor DotS. 5 secs before Haunt will drop, a haunt icon shows on my screen as a reminder to refresh. 3.5 secs before drop for Unstable Affliction. Bane of Doom icon shows up when it drops. I also have graphic that shows up when Power Torrent, Volcanic Eruption, and my cloak enchant all proc at same time (refresh Dots here whether need it or not cause they take snapshots and with huge int proc running they hit harder). I have it setup to show a graphic when boss health hit 25% so I know to spam Drain Soul in place of Shadow Bolt filler (huge increase in DPS)… remember to recast drain Soul if int procs happen (hits harder). Also remember to refresh DoTs when due during Drain Soul (Drain Soul hits harder with bonus damage for each DoT running). When it is time to pop Doomguard… drink volcanic potion immediately before popping him (have macro to do this). He will take a snapshot of your stats. After gettin hit cap… stack haste to get extra ticks on your DoTs, also you get faster cast time on Shadowbolts, which means much more damage on long fights.
Hope this helps.
Rosa.
You mention you like to solo. One thing about Affliction is there is no burst capability. Affliction centers around Damage over Time (DoT). This basically means that your damage will start low and ramp up as time goes along. Thing is… for big dps numbers, your target has to live for awhile. If you are questing and killing adds… they likely will die before DoTs get a chance to do anything. This would explain why the DPS is around 8K. This assumes your spec, reforge, glyphs, etc are right.
Forgot one important thing… if your in a raid… put Dark Intent on a Shadow Priest or Boomkin (fire mage if the previous two are not present)if you are not in progression (farm boss). Put Dark Intent on a Druid healer or Shammy if no Druid available.
These classes crit alot so you will get an extra 9% haste buff.
@Angelusvetus – Thanks! Great tips, particularly on the DOTs and addons front.
Thank you so much for all your insight and advice, it is greatly appreciated. You would think that after all these years of playing a warlock that I would have it down pact, but I’m still trying to figure my toon out, lol. I will give affliction another shot.
Thanks again!
You mention that soul fire isn’t really used but due to it’s insane scaling at the moment it is more beneficial to throw in a quick cast it with soul burn whenever is off cooldown, assuming that all dots/debuffs are present and haunt is on cooldown.
@Aethidd – Do you have a source for the theorycrafting on that which I could look into?
EJ currently only recommend using Soul Burn / Soul Fire on CD if you’ve got 4 piece T13, and tbh I’d be inclined to say an additional 10% spellpower scaling on Soul Fire still doesn’t look like a rotation changer. However, I’m willing to be proved wrong!
No source of theory crafting only some in head calculations and some dummy twacking. It works with my gear (adverage ilevel 378) but might change when it comes to higher levels of haste and spell power. Soulfire for me does around 8.4k with a cast time of 1.5(GCD) seconds. Shadowbolt 9.6k with a cast time of 2.4 seconds. So soulfire is doing about about 12.5% less damage at the cost of 0.9 seconds which is easy to see is better.
However this changes with both haste and spell power. With my current spell power I would need enough haste to get shadowbolt down to a 1.685 second cast using (1.5/100)*12.5= 0.1875 to calculate the difference.
Again Spell power would effect it but I’m too lazy to calculate when the difference could be. But we can defiantly tell that there is a point since shadowbolt scales with 85.71% and soul burn 72.6% so it will be a slow creep up with both haste and spellpower.
I don’t have any math to back it up but I’m guessing by the time you get to the right level of spellpower/haste you will have 4s t13 anyways and be using soul fire to get the soul shard back.
@Aethidd – That’s very interesting indeed – thanks!
I’m going to have a think about this, but your numbers make sense, and it’s true that one of EJ and similar guides’ weaknesses is that they tend to focus on top-end gearing. It looks like a Soulfire / Shadowbolt swap would be an intelligent move, but I’ll do some research and see if there’s any more theorycraft out there on the subject.
Thanks again – comments like this are awesome!
Yeah not sure if you wanted to change the guide over this though, I guess it’d come under more advanced play as there are a few variables which skew the priority, for instance having demon soul up sorta knocks soul fire out of the park. Bloodlust has some pretty big effects on this also for obvious reasons.
@Aethidd – I have tried the SoulFire thing, but for a few reasons, this does not appeal to me enough to change yet.
My gear is mostly 378-384 and tier 13… 2- piece bonus. My shadowbolt and Soulfire both hit for 10K+. My soulfire is a much longer cast time than shadowbolt. Buffed in raid… with my haste levels… soulfire is a dps loss for me. It hits no harder than shadowbolt, but even with soulburn insta-cast… it does eatup a gcd… one that could have been used for a shadowbolt (that would keep shadows embrace buff rolling). In Dragon Soul there are bosses that have some AoE content so my shards must be saved for this (to spread corruption to adds using soulburn + seed of corruption). With two piece set bonus I have no way to replenish my shards, other than drain soul. Which during AoE phase… if I start draining souls just to replenish shards on adds (who die to quickly for drain soul to tick for damage)… I take a tremendous DPS loss by not spamming seed of corruption.
Now that I have burned up my shards by instacasting soulfire, and have no 4-set bonus to replenish them with insta soulfire casts, and cant wait for adds, or take huge DPS loss by trying to replenish shards with drainsoul on adds when they do spawn… not to mention that if the shards are used up when the adds do spawn… now I can’t spread corruption to all of them because I have no shards to do it with… I take an even bigger DPS loss.
Also not to mention that if my Felhunter dies (another DPS loss… he does 4K-5K of my damage) taking 25% of my damage (glyphed) and damage from boss… I have to hard cast another (no shards left for insta cast) which is a loss of several GCD’s that could have been used to damage the boss. Basically (in raid), the only advantage I can see of instacasting soulfire is as a fast method of regenerating shards (with minimal DPS loss) used up in AoE phases and pet summons during a boss fight. The increased buff damage to soulfire just does not exceed the DPS loss I will get trying to use SoulFire for damage as opposed to a shard regeneration tool.
The target dummy is a good place to get comfortable with keybinds if you are working on a new rotation, but as far as a measure of damage… it really is the worst place to do that. When in raid… the boss has buffs/debuffs on him… I will have buffs/debuffs on me that will make my gear and abilities perform differently than they will on the target dummy.
What you are saying about your gear and soulfire makes sense on the target dummy, but have you tried it in raid yet? Are the numbers the same?
When I try it in raid… I take a big DPS loss. Maybe this will change as gear progresses for me.
@ aethidd – Dude, its completely retarded to swap shadowbolt for soul fire because you will be losing your shadows embrace debuff on your target which increase your shadow damage (pretty much everything in affli spec) for nothing in return from soul fire. You won’t be getting improved soul fire buff because this is a destro talent too far down the tree. I don’t see why you would want to lose all this total damage especially seeing how long it lasts and is refreshed by every shadow bolt. The only reason you should ever use soul fire in affli is when you have the 4set (which is still under debate for best in slot right now) which will give you the 10% spell power increase once every 45 seconds when your shard is off cd. This will scale your dow depending in the duration of the encounter. The reason this is under debate is because some people don’t want to waste the time in casting a soul fire with a soul shard instead if just continuing to pump out dps with gear that is aimed for much more haste instead of the set bonuses. Time will have to tell but I have a feeling the set bonus will prove to have a slightly stronger hand as blizzard seem to be trying to get people to use spell from other specs to proc tier gear in order to ready pele for the future talent tree system.
@Bloodseeka – Let’s keep the debate friendly – no need to call people “retarded”. Nonetheless, thanks for the informative post.
First of all, I need to acknowledge that I made a couple of mistakes in writing my previous response to your approach on Soul Fire. I got the name of the shadowbolt buff wrong it should be shadow and flame. Also I made reference to using soulfire to replenish shards… it only replenishes the one used to insta cast soulfire. Apologies to all for the mistake. That being said…
I have the 4-set now and have had a chance to try the 4-set bonus during normal Dragon Soul (not LFR), 8 of 8 bosses killed. Personally, I would have to say that I do not like the Tier 13 4-set bonus at all (would much rather have the tier 12 one back). I have tried the new bonus in a couple of ways… One was to use it on cd when I am running (better than fel flame and have to do something besides lifetap while unable to cast). Because the buff only lasts 10 seconds, I really (really) wish I had the t-12 4-set back. There is a slight dps boost, but if the difference in dps between using it or not (in raid) determines whether we wipe or kill the boss… chances are the raid does not have sufficient dps for the kill, or something went wrong in the course of the fight.
On the other hand I have found one use for it that does work well and is part of my rotation on Madness (not LFR). That fight is long enough that I summon doomguard twice. Insta casting Soulfire for a 10% spell power buff immediately before summoning him (even better if other procs line up), he gets the buff for the duration of his lifetime. I only get it for 10 secs… my doomguard seems to be the only one who really benefits from the tier 13 4-set bonus.
I may be missing something, and I am open to suggestions on better ways to use this buff, but it just really does not help me much… in comparison to the gear I just traded for this new tier… it is an extreme nerf as far as set bonus goes.
I’m having same issue. Reforged, gemmed, decent gear 381 avg. & my DPS is avging only to about 9k. I’m doing the 5 man heroics & I use my mouse & spellflash and dot addons. All my DOTS are up constantly and I m always casting…but dps is still “meh”.
@Twheelz – LFD is a very unfriendly environment for Afflic – things tend to die before your DOTs have a chance to seriously kick out damage. How do you do in LFR or raid environments?
Strange… unless your target only lives for 15 secs… you should be much higher.
When I had that gear level (keep in mind this was in raid with buffs)… I was pulling 20K+. Currently I pull 30K + on a standing fight Single target (Ultraxion–Normal). Assuming your spec and reforges are correct… even in 5 man heroics you should be twice that much dps.
Maybe this will help… My lock is Angelusvetus on Dunemaul server… check his gear, stats, reforge, chants, etc… basically it is the same as recommended in the above guide.
My opener is CoE, SB, Haunt, UA, Cor, BoD, shadowflame if Im close enough, SB spam till haunt or any dots need refreshed… SB spam… repeat this till target HP = 25%… replace SB spam with Drain Soul. during Drain soul refresh your dot as needed… go back to drain soul.
Haste is a big killer of dps (if you dont have enough)… assuming you are hit capped… you should be stacking the hell out of haste. Normally I hang around 20% unbuffed (unless like now Gear transitions can drop it a tad). Ideally I get 30% haste with raid buffs… dots tick faster my SB casts faster … also dont for get to multi dot if more than one target around. Affliction loves haste… on LFR madness… I can get 62K with no problem because of the haste increase in there… I love haste
Unless your gear combo (stats) are good you should be able to do nice dps just doing this. If you gear is not well matched and you chose it more for the ilvl instead of the stats, then you dps will suffer… ilvl means nothing if it is the wrong gear for your class/spec
@Angelusvetus – One thing I do is my demon soul is macroed in to all of my abilities as well as petattack, that way as soon as it comes off cd it pops again and my pet is allways attacking the same target I am. There are situations where doing that is not optimal, but for the most part, doing it that way gives you less things to worry about.
One thing that you can try, if youre finding your DPS lower is instead of using Shadow Bolt, use Drain Life as a filler. And i know everyone will say this does not work, becuse of the Pet you are using, or the extra boosts from the Shadow Bolt, but in fights where your opponent does not have too much HP ( say 300k or so ) you wont lost time casting and then finding that time was wasted becuse he/she/it died before you were able to complete the long cast. Drain Life eliminates that, and gives your overall Dps a boost on weaker mobs, especially in dungeons.
For bosses, and Aoe entanglements, this is not the best thing to do. Suprisingly, even on long fights, the Dps loss using this, is not that bad, ( my i lvl is about 380 ) and the diffence on boss fights is about 1000 dps ( that sounds like a lot, but your healer never really has to worry about you at all)
“CoW is covered by all tanks except DKs.”
Blood Death Knights have 10% physical damage reduction as well.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=81132/scarlet-fever
Noted, thanks. Updating.
My big issue and it’s about to get me tossed from my raid group is this. I’m a 396 gear Affliction loc but at best on a stand still fight with full buffs i’m only able to do 22 to 26k dps. My haste is 3196(24.96%), crit is near 18% and mastery is 11%, hit is 17.03% I’m using the same rotation as Angel is but something is missing. They are wanting me to be doing 32k for Heroic ultrax and I cant seem to figure out how i’m gonna find 10k more dps.
If it helps i’m casting haunt at 4 seconds as it seems to take 2 seconds to refresh.
Thanks for any suggestions,
Matted
Korgath(if you wanna go look at my gear)
I’m pulling right at 32K on reg Ultax atm. There are a couple of ways to squeeze more DPS out for this fight. A big DPS killer for any fight though is lag.
My world lag is around 79mS. Lag will kill DPS. I turn off ALL unnecessary addons for this fight. Recount or equivalent addosn are a lag generator because of all the data they are dealing with.
In Ultrax (reg) I get more DPS by doing this:
1. I make sure my DI is on a shadow priest or resto druid (this gives me a constant 9% haste boost). The trinkets I have are Unbinding Will and Cunning of the Cruel.
2. When the twighlight thing comes out… I cheat a bit and watch Ultrax’s cast bar. I keep casting till the cast bar hits 95% the I heroic will out of the realm. Doing this pops me out of the realm and immediately back in to continue casting. Popping it sooner will leave you standing there doing nothing for to long… this adds up throughout the fight to a lot of time that you could have been casting your damage.
Care must be taken to have a good feel for your lag as if you wait to long, your lag can get you dead.
3. Fading Light is dealt with the same as Twilight, but instead of watching the cast bar I watch the debuff icon it puts on me… it will have a countdown number in it… it pop out of realm at 2 secs. Again, be mindful of your lag or you will wake up dead.
4. On this fight I add the shadow flame thing everytime it comes off CD.
5. I prepot on the tanks countdown (on 2) by popping my doomguard macro that drinks volcanic potion then summons doomguard. I lead my opener with bane of doom just to get doomguard firing right away. I drink another pot on heroism later in the fight.
6. Demon soul is macroed into all of my abilities to keep it popping as soon as it comes off CD.
7. Another thing I do is when my procs come up together (power torrent, tailors cloak chant), I refresh bane of doom, Unstable Affliction (even if they are not ready yet), to give them the benefits of the procs
8. I have curse of elements on to boost my damage.
Can’t stress enough the “turning off any addon that is not absolutely necessary to reduce lag as much as possible” thing. Before the raid… I also reboot modem and router to reduce lag there too.
Hope this helps.
Angel
Could you list what the macros are that you are using? I’m just now learning about them and was confused by you saying you have Demon Soul macro’d into all of your abilities. Your posts were very helpful to me by the way. I realized a couple things I’ve been doing wrong that will get me over the 30k mark. I’ve been in the low-20s and my raid group is asking me to be over 30k, so every bit counts as I’m reading.
With fel hunter ALWAYS on passive… here is a sample of one of my ability buttons. The same applies for each of the other buttons (name and ability will differ )
#showtooltip corruption
/petattack
/demon soul
/cast corruption
this is a very simplified macro that always keeps my pet attacking my target, and pops demon soul as soon as it comes off cd (keeps me from forgetting and missing out on potential dps).
All of my stuff is setup for single target (boss is the only target that matters).
We do not count AoE when evaluating players, as AoE is trash, and we are interested in only what a player can do to the boss.
As a side note, on large trash pulls (when I pop everything), I have peaked over 100K, but other than making me feel badass (for a very short time)… it does nothing for downing the boss and looting the gear. Hope this helps.
Angel
Correction… just got off work and head not on straight yet
#showtooltip
/petattack
/cast demon soul
/cast corruption
OMG lol… I gotta quit work lol… Sorry again.
#showtooltip corruption
/petattack
/cast demon soul
/cast corruption
If you quit work, there is no wow lol Thanks for the info. Very helpful. I always have my pet on active, so that was another great tip as well. I’ve learned a ton today, hopefully it’ll translate into being a fellow badass. Also, how do you know when your enchants/trinkets are “procced”? I always forget to use trinks and use stuff.
Bam…
This is how I tell.
It is an old setup, but should give you something to work with.
For on-use trinkets you can add this to the above macro so it pops off cd…
/use name of trinket goes here
put it just above the
/cast corruption
My current setup is more refined, but due to my recent retirement from WoW (wife gave me a choice… her or the street)… I do not have it on my PC any longer.
This is a snippet from the guild website when I was the Lock CC.
1. Highlight and copy my setup script (CTR + C), from this post (I will have it at the end of the post).
2. Click Import Set.
3. Press CTR + V to paste my script into your Import Set window. Press accept.
Now my setup should be in you power auras. It will have overwritten anything in there previously (that is why we backed it up before-hand)
Go to the target dummy and try it out. Basically if you see an Icon for a dot or ability show up… refresh it. Spam Shadow Bolts in between like they are going out of style
There are a few other items that will pop up on screen… wreaths around you character mean you power torrent and/ or volcanic destruction has procced.
I used to have the wreaths setup (two overlaid directly atop each other to appear as one). If the wreath was red… it was volcanic destruction proc… if blue power torrent proc… if purple (red and blue) both procs were active and it was time to refresh all dots for the int boost. If the targets health hits 25%… a bright yellow sun will appear on the left of your screen (time for drain soul). After you are done… if you want to restore your power auras back to the way it was… copy your script that you backed up and paste it into the Import Set window… press accept and it will be back the way it was.
Haunt is setup to pop icon up 5 seconds before it drops off (giving you time to finish cast and re-apply).
Unstable Affliction is set to pop up 3.5 seconds before it drops off.
Try it out and let me know what you like or dislike about the setup. This should get you spot-on with your DoTs. and let you get the max amount of Shadow Bolts in too.
Here is my Power Auras Script:
Set=Page 1@
Aura[1]=Version:4.22; b:0.251; g:0.6549; target:true; icon:Spell_Shadow_AuraOfDarkness; buffname:bane of doom; x:-110; customname:bane of doom; unitn:Only for raid/group.; bufftype:2; mine:true; stacksOperator:=; customtex:true; combat:true; size:0.18; y:159; texmode:2; inverse:true@
Aura[2]=Version:4.22; InvertAuraBelow:5; b:0.251; g:0.6549; target:true; icon:Ability_Warlock_Haunt; buffname:haunt; x:-110; customname:haunt; unitn:Only for raid/group.; bufftype:2; texture:17; mine:true; stacksOperator:=; customtex:true; combat:true; size:0.18; y:113; texmode:2@
Aura[3]=Version:4.22; InvertAuraBelow:3.25; b:0.251; g:0.6549; target:true; icon:Spell_Shadow_UnstableAffliction_3; buffname:unstable affliction; x:-110; customname:unstable affliction; unitn:Only for raid/group.; bufftype:2; texture:17; mine:true; stacksOperator:=; customtex:true; combat:true; size:0.18; y:67; texmode:2@
Aura[4]=Version:4.22; b:0.4157; g:0.0941; icon:Spell_Lightning_LightningBolt01; buffname:volcanic destruction; x:1; customname:volcanic destruction; combat:true; size:0.51; y:46; texmode:1@
Aura[5]=Version:4.22; g:0.6275; icon:Ability_Paladin_SacredCleansing; buffname:power torrent; r:0.2039; combat:true; size:0.51; y:45; texmode:1@
Aura[6]=Version:4.22; icon:Spell_Lightning_LightningBolt01; buffname:volcanic destruction; x:194; texture:71; multiids:5; combat:true; size:0.61; y:-136@
Aura[7]=Version:4.22; target:true; icon:inv_alchemy_elixir_05; x:-386; bufftype:8; texture:199; alpha:1; sound:22; threshold:24; combat:true; size:1.04; y:105; texmode:1@
Aura[8]=Version:4.22; g:0.949; icon:Spell_Fire_Fireball; buffname:conflagrate; r:0.9608; x:-110; customname:conflagrate; bufftype:7; texture:101; customtex:true; combat:true; size:0.18; y:65; texmode:2@
Aura[9]=Version:4.22; target:true; icon:Spell_Shadow_AbominationExplosion; buffname:corruption; x:-110; customname:corruption; bufftype:2; mine:true; stacksOperator:=; customtex:true; combat:true; size:0.18; y:112; inverse:true@
Aura[10]=Version:4.22; icon:Ability_Warlock_ChaosBolt; buffname:chaos bolt; x:-110; customname:chaos bolt; bufftype:7; customtex:true; combat:true; size:0.18@
Aura[11]=Version:4.22; InvertAuraBelow:5; target:true; icon:Spell_Fire_Immolation; buffname:immolate; x:-110; customname:immolate; bufftype:2; mine:true; stacksOperator:=; customtex:true; combat:true; size:0.18; y:17@
It has been awhile since I used this particular setup as my gear evolved and I refined the setup accordingly. The addon used was Power Auras Classic.
My Affliction spec was my primary spec. If your Affliction is secondary… you may have to go in to check which spec you want each aura to be active in… choices are spec1, spec2, any. Set them accordingly. Set everything to any if you are unsure.
Bam… hope this helps. I likely will not be posting anything else… hard to do this without getting caught, my 4 years of WoW was AWESOME, but circumstances force me to move on… too bad I can’t get paid to play WoW… then wife would likely ease up
Raiding was AWESOME… too much so.
Enjoy
and good luck.
Angel
Thanks for the tips, I tried them out then realized i didnt have recount so i’m gonna say its working lol. As for the raid they actually just dropped me and one other person. The bar they set is 35k to be in the raid now, which is a shame since i’ve raided with them five months. I’ll work on my 4 set and finish up my staff, just need 5 more runs, and see how much that will help.
Yeah, that sounds like what they are doing is not working… 32K should have been plenty for the kill. Are they single healing it or using multiple healers? Alot of people are solo healing it to gain an extra dps.
Great guide, Hugh; I know I’m viewing it after the additions, but it’s doing fine and is a tip-top resource.
The problem with Affliction is that people hugely underestimate the massive difference made by seemingly little things. Haunt falling off is a killer; Dark Intent missing or on a bad target is a killer; Drain Soul used poorly is a killer; I could go on. The point is that Affliction is punished very heavily for mistakes in comparison to other specs, and (if you can believe it) the nukes that prop up other specs just aren’t that important to Affliction, despite Shadowbolt often topping your damage done.
Those finding their DPS low, despite saying their warlock is specced, geared and played properly, usually complain about their performance in five-mans; Affliction is notoriously bad in five-man content, easily amongst one of the worst specs IMHO. Passable AoE, no burst and a preference for extended execute phases just don’t translate well to your average heroic dungeon. Due to the DoT priority of the spec, you’re often wasting time putting up a curse, a bane, Haunt, Corruption and Unstable Affliction because it takes eight to ten seconds to get them all up. You’re better off just spamming Shadowbolts, honestly.
The point is that you shouldn’t judge Affliction in five-man content because it’s invariably terrible. Concentrate on keeping up your DoT’s properly, getting Drain Soul up with prudence, finding a decent target for Dark Intent and then see what your DPS is on a raid boss (Ultraxion the obvious example these days).
I recommend TellMeWhen as your AddOn, but there are others out there that are just as good.
Thanks! This is a great comment – much appreciated.
I’m considering doing seperate “Help – my DPS is low” pages for these guides – would you mind if I quoted you on the Afflic one if that ends up happening?
You mean Zellviren, the elitist bastard who told everyone who wasn’t as good as him to get lost, might be credited with HELPING people?!
I’m incredulous, honestly. How dare you consider the concept of me EVER helping someone that wasn’t I?
My rage is incandescent. Effervescent, even.
Or… Of course you can.
But on one condition – you let me link my own blog back to the MMO Melting Pot. A lot of good work goes into it, and I don’t think you get enough credit.
Ooh, big ask – let me think about it
I’d love it if you linked to us – and thanks for the kind words! A lot of time does go into these guides, and it’s always very nice to hear it’s appreciated.
Not just the guides, but the site in general.
Incidentally, at this stage of the expansion, I’m not sure it would be worth such an undertaking for each individual spec – the Mists of Pandaria beta is expected within a week, so I’d imagine the rewrites are going to be needed soon, anyway.
So far into the expansion and people still refer (or think) Dark Intent is 9% Haste.
It’s a 3% Passive Haste just from the buff, the stacking buffs are 3% to DoTs and HoTs and stacking 3 times. (3% on yourself and 1% on the Dark Intent target for each stack).
And people have mentioned they have put Doomguard into their prepot macro- DO NOT DO THIS.
You want to pop Doomguard about 8 seconds into the fight. This is where your pot is still up, Power Torrent has procced and you have atleast 5 stacks of your trinket (if you have Will of Unbinding). Also if you’re a Tailor, you’ll have your cloak thread procced.
Popping it at the same time as your prepot only gives it the pot as a buff, instead of the other 2-3 buffs; making it hit a lot harder.
Another thing i saw, people are opening with Curse of Elements (CoE). Don’t do this either.
When you prepot (roughly 2 seconds before the pull) you should pre cast a Shadowbolt while the pull is happening. Meaning it will hit JUST after the tank has taunted/started hitting, then you can instantly CoE when the cast has finished.
Then you should carry on the list as normal;
Haunt (with Demon Soul (macro together if you wish)) > Bane of Doom > Corruption > Unstable Affliction > Shadowbolt >> And so on.
{ 4 trackbacks }