- Affliction, identify
- About me
- Rotation priorities
- Resources
- Aoe
- Single target
- Talents
- PvE
- PvP
- Final Thoughts
1.0 Affliction Warlock Identify
The warlock is a dark magic user who pulls power from demonic sources and beings. Each spec does this in different ways, bringing a unique arsenal to bear against his or her foes. The Destruction warlock harnesses the raw power and chaotic fel flame that courses through demons like blood. Demonology warlocks summon demons as slaves and commands them in battle, occasionally taking on demonic traits and even temporarily transforming into a demon themselves.
Affliction on the other hand taps into the power of the Nether. The plane of shadows where the demons dwell and where the demons to return when they die. Shadow and Fel both corrupt anything they are focused on, eating away at it like a parasite. And that is where Affliction walks the line. They don’t use bleeds, diseases or poisons as dots, they channel the shadowy power of the nether in multiple ways to destroy any foe from within.
2.0 About Me
Hello, my name is Jason. I started with warcraft 2 and loved warcraft 3 just as much. Tanked on a warrior in vanilla and dps’d on a shaman in BC. In wrath I played 5 different classes at endgame including warlock. I mained affliction in cata and shadowlands but I have a character from every class at level 50 minimum right now with 3 at 60.
I primarily raid and pre-legion i was big on running heroics but I am not a fan of the loot design of M+ so I have fallen out of that, that said, I have hopes for dragonflight. I have done pvp on multiple classes but it has never honestly appealed to me. So I have the least experience in that.
By trade I am a trucker. It pays the bills but I am going to go to school for game design next year, and I hope to make a career of it. It’s been a hobby up until now. I’ve had extensive experience with level design in both FPS like doom and unreal as well as RTS games like warcraft and starcraft. I have also specialized in system mechanics and class design creating entire classes for various games from D&D to elderscrolls.There are many games I’ve done some level of mod work but I don’t really want to list everything out, this isn’t about me after all.
3.0 Rotation Priorities
When we look at what the Affliction Warlock wants to do, we can see very clearly why there are problems in its current design.
Our goals are:
1 Survive mechanics
2 Apply dots
3 Maintain those dots
4 Amp those dots
5 Fill time
Let’s break them down.
3.1 Survive mechanics
This is fairly straightforward. We need to do whatever is required of us to facilitate aid and survivability to our allies while staying alive. This includes things like evading/ performing boss mechanics or utility such as portals.
3.2 Apply dots
Next we want to apply as many dots as possible to as many targets as possible. How long it lives might make rational sense when deciding to dot it or just drain but in practice we really just want to dot EVERYTHING.
3.3 Maintain those dots
Killing is fun. But if your dot fades before the target dies, it probably won’t, so we want to reapply our dots or maintain them in some way so we have maximum uptime of our damage.
3.4 Amp those dots
It’s not enough to just dot the target, we need to make our dots nastier and cook our target harder.
3.5 Fill time
Only when we can do nothing to improve our dot damage do we want to take our time to fill.
3.6 Conclusion
Community opinion for affliction desires a very significant portion of our damage come from our dots, somewhere around 70-75%. In a vacuum that seems like just numbers tuning but with various single target and aoe scenarios possible multidotting would do a great deal of aoe damage if you could just dot everything with all dots.
This will probably be an unpopular opinion but having our dots deal reduced damage for every instance of its existence works to balance that. For example, if 2 targets have your corruption it deals 80% normal damage. That would scale and cap at 50% normal damage against 5+ targets. I’m speaking of the base damage for the dot, not any amp effects I’ll mention later. This would allow us to maintain our dots as primary damage in all scenarios without making us the best or worst spec at any particular one. And remember, numbers can always be tweaked if the devs decide to shoehorn us into 1 niche or another.
4.0 Resources
Historically soul shards came about as a way to facilitate the warlock’s ability to harness demonic power. By feeding the captured souls of once living creatures to the nether it became much easier to summon demons and harness their power.
Over the years in world of warcraft soul shards have taken many forms. From a collected resource in the early years, to a self generating resource in the golden years, to an active resource in the modern years.
I do not believe the current iteration of soul shards fits the fantasy. Think of Gul’dan draining the souls of countless draenei to open his side of the dark portal. Soul energy acts like a battery, empowering what power already exists, not always enabling new abilities.
As it stands now Demonology and Destruction are in a happy place with their shard use, but Affliction isn’t.
At the beginning of legion demonology was gutted to make way for the demon hunter. It was then transformed into its current play style, using shards actively to spit out demons in a fast pace alternating rotation. The same concept of shard resource was forced upon affliction and destruction at the same time. There was a massive backlash and angry dissenters were vocal in their dislike of the changes but most were blatantly ignored. Destruction was ultimately able to claw back its ember system that made it flow better, but affliction had effigy and limped on in its crippled form.
Effigy was a band-aid to affliction but allowed it to last long enough through legion and early BFA that the current shard system became “grandfathered” in. Thankfully that accursed talent was removed and it really showed the problem with the spec. RNG resource generation isn’t fun, it’s frustrating.
Additionally, the failed attempts to create a satisfying spender, first with unstable affliction, then later with malefic rapture, prove the point. Affliction doesn’t need shards used rotationally to run well and in fact, having shards forced in as a resource complicates the rotation and creates unnecessary button bloat. Nothing makes all this more apparent than the new band-aid, soul tap.
Historically, for an Affliction Warlock, mana was the main limiting resource. Everything chunked your mana and you’d lifetap to restore mana at the cost of health where the casual healers would grumble. At this point in time, none of the Warlock specs care about mana in any way shape or form.
4.1 My proposal
I propose a middle ground. Make mana our primary resource once again. Our fillers, Haunt and most aoe spells would cost 5-15% of our mana per cast but each tic of each dot would restore 1% mana. So it would restore quickly but could be chunked faster. Dot refresh and movement give free opportunity time to regenerate mana in large chunks and allow dynamic control over the mana resource. Dot tic time, filler cast and global gcd would all be affected by haste so they scale together. More mana gen but more casts to drain it at the same time.
As for shards, I would suggest bringing the original soul burn back as Affliction only. That way all 3 specs have a unique way of using shards.
Affliction would generate 1 shard every 12 seconds (affected by haste) capping at 5. Thats 5 shards a minute and there would be a 5 second CD on soulburn.
Just a few Soul Burn ideas
- Haunt: 5 targets in a cone
- Unstable Affliction: a second target dotted
- Seed: sow the seeds
- VT/PS: reduced to 10 sec CD
- Soul swap: apply all known dots to 1 target.
- Shadowbolt: instant/guaranteed crit
- Drain soul: 50% faster channel tic time, same duration channel, can move while channeling.
As I go over various scenarios below I will give examples and reference this resource change idea in more detail.
5.0 AOE
Aff locks have never had a problem with seed spam, especially when we have sow the seeds. Seed of Corruption is a fun and unique spell, add Soul Rot, Vile Taint and Phantom Singularity with talents like Soul Flame to the mix and we have more than enough to do. Malefic Rapture is just not necessary.
The general rotation we’re going to want with 3+ targets would be a single cast of soul rot and vile taint followed by seed spam. Not complicated. Each cast would drain around 15% mana but the dots on each target are all regenerating that mana. Unstable should remain 1 target unless soulburned.
6.0 Single Target
Apply and maintain all dots. Use spells like Haunt and Darksoul:Misery to amp those dots. Shadowbolt and/or Drain soul to fill time.
It seems simple on paper but there are many plates to juggle in between boss mechanics. It doesn’t need to be complicated with shards in the mix. 3-5 dots that need to be manually refreshed at the appropriate time, 1-5 mechanical dot amps and hardcasted or procced fillers. Additional mechanical complexity can be talented for those that desire it.
For 2-3 targets it would be fairly similar to single target with additional soulburns for unstable affliction and haunt.
7.0 Specific Talents and Abilities
I am not going to address all of our talents or abilities but there are a few that should get a spotlight for one reason or another.
7.1 Life Tap
Using mana as the primary resource means that soul tap will not be necessary but life tap could be a clutch tool. I think it should drain health to give mana but there should not be an expectation to use it rotationally. The only expected use should be as a clutch tool. By expectation I am speaking dev balancing.
7.2 Absolute Corruption/Siphon life
Having these as a choice node is really bad. It means that players have a choice between 3 dots or 5 dots in the rotation. They can’t choose to have 4 unless they just don’t take either option. I actually think that siphon life should be on a choice node with writhe in agony.
7.3 Withering bolt/deathbolt
Dots buffing a casted spell is the exact opposite of what affliction desires in rotation. Our damage should be coming from our dots and our efforts in combat should be geared towards making our dots hit harder. Rapid Contagion is the correct direction, however it should NOT be exclusive to pvp. I will discuss my ideas for this when I speak on shadowbolt and drain soul.
7.4 Drain life/inevitable demise
Drain life is a core ability we harbor both love and hate for. Inevitable demise is an example of what we don’t like. Drain Life is clutch. It’s not something we want to use rotationally. Having a buff that stacks up so it does decent damage makes it rotational.
Under the mana model, with dot tics bringing in mana, I’d propose a different version of inevitable demise where: while using your drain life, mana return is suspended on the dotted target, the damage of drain life is increased by say 3% per dot and you instead gain an additional 3% health from each dot.
7.5 Demonic sacrifice
Yes, having a demon pet is a core aspect of being a warlock but there are very few potential pets to choose from. Additionally, pet management is just not for everyone. For some players Demonic Sacrifice is a mandatory talent. For both Lone Wolf and Lonely Winter there is a % damage increase and Demonic Sacrifice should be no different. As a flat damage proc it may be tuned well now but it won’t scale well as we get later into the expansion.
7.6 Shadow Embrace
This talent is a great example of why we don’t want shards as an active resource. As a stacking damage amp that requires maintenance it is just one of many plates we have to juggle. Shadow Embrace is an example of a good damage amp that synergizes w8th the core concept of the playstyle Affliction desires. Amplifying dot damage. I actually think personally though that it should only buff dot damage and the buff should be stronger. Perhaps 4% stacking 5x for a 20% total damage buff to our dots.
7.7 Shadowbolt vs Drain Soul
Though I have never seen anyone favor Shadowbolt over Drain Soul, I have no doubt that there are many who prefer using SB as a filler over DS. That said, Almost everyone I have seen express a preference, has expressed one for draining. It’s a debate that can’t be won either way as there will always be camps on both sides.
The best way I can see to appeal to both camps is to provide different reasons to hit each. I’m not speaking of nightfall and execute, I am speaking of encounter mechanics. It comes down to how much time you have to stand around.
I propose we add Malefic Grasp directly into DS, but a redesigned Malefic Grasp. If we increase the channel duration of DS to 7 seconds and make stack a buff each time it deals damage that increases tic rate of all dots on the target by 2-3%, and have all stacks fall off when you stop channeling, DS becomes ideal for opportunities when you can plant your feet and commit to the drain while emphasizing the dots as our primary damage source. DS should have a high up front mana cost to make it a bit punishing if you’re forced to cut the drain short.
Shadowbolt with a 2 second cast time on the other hand should hit as hard as 3 seconds worth of DS’s damage and critical strikes with SB should extend dot duration by around 3 seconds. This makes them fill the same general role but in unique ways. Knowing when to use each ability will allow a skilled player room to display that skill without completely overshadowing the lesser skilled player. It’s also an easy learning curve that will help lesser skilled players learn mechanics and drive them to improve.
7.8 Night Fall
The current design that makes SB instant and hastens DS is good but I would add 1 thing. It should also make Seed of Corruption instant for 1 use. So all three abilities can make use of it. In aoe use Seed, need to move use SB, got a moment to stand still use DS. Nightfall on DS (30%) could stack with a Soul Burn DS (50%) resulting in a 7 second channel reduced by 80%.
7.9 Soul Swap
Soul Swap is the last one I am going to speak on. When we have potentially 5 dots to maintain Soul swap inhale/exhale becomes crucial in maintaining a strong damage profile in rapidly moving scenarios. When it takes 5-8 seconds in single target to start doing real damage we’re too late to the party against anything except bosses. It is very important that we be able to pull dots off a dying enemy to reapply them elsewhere. Yes the presence of the dots means damage but its the damage amps such as Shadow Embrace, Haunt and Drain Soul that make our dots so deadly. You can’t amp a dot that isn’t there and when things are half dead by the time dots are up we fall far behind.
8.0 PvE
Most of, but not all of, the things I’ve mentioned have been primarily PvE focused. In Mythic+, everything is about speed, gathering trash packs to burn. We need a way to do that, the AoE rotation above with Seed benefiting from Nightfall and a returned Soul Swap should make us to a level equal to other aoe powerhouses 8f the numbers are tuned right.
In raid, the ability to use SB and DS depending on the current scenario while making dots our primary source of damage creates a rewarding gameplay loop that encourages self-improvement.
9.0 PvP
Though my PvP experience is limited I’m sure many factors carry over. I remember back in the vanilla days, it was said you might be able to kill the warlock, but you won’t outlive his pain. This was said because if a warlock got all dots on you it was almost a guaranteed death, dots didn’t fade when the lock died. That is the fantasy I know many players want.
There are two big things I can foresee being the main concerns for Affliction in PvP, dot protection and avoiding interrupts.
Unstable Affliction has an elegant design but I’d propose a pvp talent to improve it. A passive that adds a debuff to the target when you cast UA on them. The debuff has the same backlash damage when dispelled as UA but would be removed before anything else. This could net a lock who is paying attention an opportunity to refresh the debuff before anything more important is removed, it’s also an extra step in the arduous and painful process of trying to remove our primary damage source.
Interrupt protection is also important. What if Agony built a debuff on the target over time, stacking with each tic. Each stack gives you a significant chance (75%ish) to ignore interrupts for a number of seconds equal to the number of stacks when using DS on the target, as it’s used the stack is consumed. Caps at 5 stacks so you can’t armor the entire channel.
To pair with that, a pvp talent to increase the chance for Nightfall to proc when Corruption damages a player, this means faster channels and instant SBs more often.
These are just a few ideas I had to try and make pvp better for affliction but it’s not my wheelhouse so I’d like to hear from all of you who do PvP about your thoughts on all of this.
10.0 Final Thoughts
Not just PvPers, I’d like to hear from everyone what your thoughts are on my ideas and proposals, including the blizz devs, though I doubt that will happen.
Our class and spec is the lens we see the game through, it’s how we experience the world of warcraft and make our mark upon it. It is how we identify ourselves and its toolkit and abilities are what we use each time we log on. If the classes and spec we play are not fun and the rotation is not fun, then the game is not fun. I remember a time when most of the classes were so fun you’d get distracted going from point A to point B just because the rotation was so fun you’d slaughter everything around you enroute. That’s what WoW needs again. Fun.
TLDR… if you break affliction down it becomes clear that our systemic problem is the way shards are used by the spec. It needs to change, and our abilities with them, to bring the spec back to a position that players can really come to love.