Affliction Warlock Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (2024)

Last updated on Jun 10, 2024 at 21:10by Motoko41 comments

Welcome to the War Within expansion preview for AfflictionWarlock, a resource page where to find changes, Hero talent trees andsome initial assessment on the state of the spec.

The purpose of this page is to offer an up-to-date overview ofhow Affliction Warlock is changing in the forthcoming The WarWithin expansion, as such it is not to be treated as a guide or areplacement, since the current state of tuning is not representative of whatthe final product will be.

Affliction Warlock received a whole talent restructurealongside some changes that altered the Class Tree.

Below are the most notable changes:

• Demonic Circle is no longer baseline;
• Demonic Tactics is a new output node;
• Soul Link has been consolidated as a 2 points node,removing Profane Bargain;
• Inquisitor's Gaze and Summon Soulkeeper node has beenreplaced by Soul Conduit at 1 point of effectiveness;
• likewise Grim Feast has been replaced by a much more appealingnode in Pact of Gluttony.

The introduction of Pact of Gluttony specifically has created a newissue in only 1 or 2 floating point to spare after acquiring all 3 capstonesand output/stamina/health nodes, with a triage situation occurring with thefollowingnodes: Shadowfury, Demonic Circle, Fiendish Stride, Amplify Curseand Banish.

As a result the updated class tree pathing has created a restrictive feel,of not being able to talent into several utilities due how taxing the "core"of the tree is, which coupled with the lack of party-wide non-exclusive aurasor utility is going to be detrimental in Mythic+ dungeons.

Moving on the Affliction side, the whole tree has been overhauled, withthe intention of creating a pathing well-rounded and able to tackle mostsituations, progressing from a first gate almost devoid of choices towardsthe third gate which holds most of the options comparatively.

See below a list of the most transformative changes:

• Seed of Corruption identity has been moved as amass Corruption application, with Malefic Rapturebeing the primary non-cooldown spender in both single target and AoE;
• Sow the Seeds has been removed as a result;
• in the first gate Volatile Agony offers a similar idea to thenow deprecated Pandemic Invocation but limitedto Agony while dealing AoE damage as well;
• Improved Shadow Bolt is a welcomed new choice nodewith Drain Soul offering distinct use cases depending on thesituation;
• similarly a new talent Summoner's Embrace is now sharing thechoice node with Grimoire of Sacrifice;
• Cunning Cruelty is a new talent that offer Shadowbolt Volleyprocs;
• Soul Flame, Soul Swap and Inevitable Demisehave been removed;
• the oldcapstones Dread Touch, Doom Blossom, Grand Warlock's Designand Grim Reachhave been removed;
• Oblivion is the new single target/hard swap capstone spender,dealing tremendous damage over a brief duration, every 45s.

Overall the Affliction tree design feels more consolidated and focused,more cohesive in its intention of augmenting fewer but more meaningfulrotational abilities, and in a way simplify the interactions with the newHero Trees.

In practice there is a notable distinction in how more dynamic and lessscripted the spec plays, thanks to several proc talents, while retaining thedistinctive damage over time management. The difference between how busy itis in single target and multitarget has also been attenuated, withmultitarget being more interactive and less dull.

Hero Talents are perhaps the most notable addition to The War Within, witheach spec having access to 2 out of the 3 available for theclass. Affliction Warlock in this case can opt betweenHellcaller and Soul Harvester Hero Talent Trees.

The Hellcaller Hero tree is themed around Shadowflame and a new Damage overTime effect replacing Corruption in the case of Affliction. Asthe centerpiece of the tree Wither role is to provide a new way tointeract with Tormented Crescendo procs and it is the base upon whichsetup burst window every minute through Malevolence. Its uniquemechanic is its ability to become acute, providing additional damage.

In terms of playstyle, the tree has a passive foundation in dot management,which can be trivialized with its interactionwith Absolute Corruption, and is about reacting to the very frequentprocs of Tormented Crescendo stemmingfrom Seeds of Their Demise.

Regarding defensive options and utility, Warlock hero trees are somewhatlight in that department, with the option to either consolidate the benefitof both Curse of Weakness and Curse of Tongues in thenew Curse of the Satyr or the ability to automatically curse every enemyin 30 yards during Unending Resolve with a very sporadicuptime. The other node is vastly undertuned withboth Zevrim's Resilience and Illhoof's Design providingbasically intangible benefit, if not being even detrimental in the case ofthe latter.

Soul Harvester Hero tree takes a different approach, with a theme-centeredaround shard cost reduction for spenders, direct damage increase, andadditional damage over time in the form of Soul Anathema.

The strong synergy with Nightfallthrough Necrolyte Teachings, Mantle of the Harvesterand Sataiel's Ambition creates a playstyle that is fast, guaranteesconsistent procs that offer high burst damage single target and still offersa major burst window every minute, tied in this case to Soul Rot,followed by Malefic Raptures dump.

While in AoE it does not offer the same level of passive prowessHellcaller provides, its synergy with Cunning Cruelty andgenerally stronger spenders help mitigate the disparity.

In terms of defensive and utility options, again few improvements in termsof Gorebound Fortitudeoffering Soulburn Healthstones at no additional shard cost,and Friends In Dark Places giving an additional 25% to the baselineabsorb value of Dark Pact. Eternal Servitude on the other handenable a more frequent pet swapping/resummoning as a quality-of-life change,with the alternative of an improved combat ress in Gorefiend's Resolvesimilar to other classes.

Season 1 Tier Set Bonuses for Affliction Warlock in The WarWithin are the following:.

• Warlock Affliction 11.0 Class Set 2pc — Malefic Rapturedamage increased by 5% and its critical strike chance is increased by10%.
• Warlock Affliction 11.0 Class Set 4pc — Malefic Rapturehas a chance to increase damage dealt byyour Agony, Corruption, and Unstable Affliction by15% for 8 sec.

Both set bonuses offer a talent-agnostic passive damage increase, asintended in their design, with neither suffering from target count orencounter timing, and instead offering consistency first and foremost.

No details as the time of writing if the 4 pieces effect is RPPM or simplya flat chance, so being able to play around it may not be feasible, but atthe very least should not be treated as a maintenance buff like the nowdeprecated Dread Touch.

How Good is the Affliction Warlock Tier Bonus in The WarWithin?

If tuned following the general goal of providing between 10 to 15% increasewith the 2 and 4 pieces together, Affliction tier set has a widepracticality, and should perform well in any scenarios, be it instanced PVEor outdoor, with PVP maybe suffering from a underwhelming 4P in that specificcontext.