5.4 Affliction Warlock DPS Guide - Warcraft Academy

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Visit www.warcraftaca... for more information on warlock training, and for many more guides in general! This is a complete PvE guide for Affliction Warlocks in Patch 5.4. www.warcraftaca...
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Music: Sunlight by Machinimasound.com

[@Sammysapphira]

I miss this playstyle so much

[@MrV1r00zz]

same after playing aff in mop i legit cant do it anymore legit only get depressed over how much more fun it was back then xD

[@eriknoonan1019]

Tauri folks :) I’m doing it right now and it’s amazing

[@oleysmusic]

2 things 1) I tested my DPS haste heavy and mastery heavy (talking single target) haste heavy (think I was 35% haste) and I was about 50 K over when I was mastery heavy 2) I tested using my soul shards for soulburn/soulswap insta DoTs timed with trinket procs ( keeping in mind the snapshot concept to reapply DoTs when my INT trinks were procing) AND I also just went the other way, (sorta) but I started with CoE/ dark soul misery/ Haunt/ SB SS/ MG and then pretty much just kept DoTs up manually and kept haunt up as much as possible, I found that going haste heavy and keeping haunt up as much as possible seemed to work best for me, I was very happy with my DPS with this setup, by the way I am only in 544 gear so I have a ways to go yet, but I noticed a lot of the super geared AFF locks have around 35 % haste and well over 100% mastery, just from stats on their gear and they gem for hit/ expertise, I have all the hit rating on my gear reforged to haste or mastery, I have a few haste / hit gems just for the int bonus, and I am still well over the hit cap, around 18%% here is my armory if anyone has any suggestions they would be appreciated us.battle.net/wow/en/character/crushridge/Malevolence/simple

[@talexa40]

I never thought I'd say this... but I kinda miss MoP... Other than the 14 month long 5.4

[@Sammysapphira]

Treeman Grizz I miss it too classes had so much depth

[@HbVki]

Indeed

[@sunsparkda]

Thanks for the guide. It's helped my DPS quite a bit, in a way that just reading Icy Veins had not.

[@samht3539]

It's Archimonde's Darkness now. Archimonde's Vengeance was the one that passively reflects 5% or something, and has a cooldown. That was pre 5.4.

[@MrBraffZachlin]

hey, great guide. just came back to wow and felt overwhelmed on learning all over again. i can't use all of it yet cause my lock is only lvl72 but i sub's and bookmarked this vid for when i do get to 90.

[@evreliagaming]

Thank you!

[@MrBlaesbjerg]

Hello Evrelia! thanks for an awesome guide! i have a little improvement on you opener: aprox 30 sek before the fight is starting you can use soulburn - if you do this you will regen another soul before loosing your buff (soulburn) and that way you will get 1 extra soulsshard to open with! Cheers and thaks again

[@evreliagaming]

It's very hard to time that correctly as most tanks won't do 30 second pulls timers. Can be nice though with some luck :)

[@MrBlaesbjerg]

***** Yes, i was actually alittle bit wrong, the buff is on for 30 sek and it takes 20 sek to regen a new one, so you have a 10 sek window, and if you cant pull it off you wont loose anything, so i think it should be done !

[@evreliagaming]

It is not guaranteed, or even likely to proc within 2 minutes. At 543 it has 0.40 PPM for warlocks, which means an average of one proc every 2.5 minutes. You're likely to go several minutes at once with no proc.

[@jeroendriessen8946]

What an amazing guide! keep up the good work !

[@evreliagaming]

Thank you sir!

[@evreliagaming]

Gnosis. .There's a video on here somewhere that shows my entire UI.

[@Zozin]

Wow man! ur such a big help! thank you for this guide!

[@TheKageX]

Great Work! I've been waiting for this for quite sometime. ^.^ Thank You

[@amady971]

Possible have the guilde on FR pliz ?

[@evreliagaming]

Could be any number of things. I offer personal training on my website.

[@MrMaximum2010]

When i'm playing affli, i got lot of problems, because i really fast run out of soul shards, so i cant keep me dps up. What am i doing wrong?

[@evreliagaming]

It does.

[@Giferis]

Archimonde's Vengence? :D

[@francescodigiovannantonio1353]

Can you write the single spell's that you must tap in a pve combat? And the right demon that must use in a pve combat? Please, write the rotation because i don't understand some suggestion about the rotation....

[@ThePekwang]

why is Uvls not on the trinket list? isn't it still good specially on multitarget like protectors and darkshman

[@MrTobasko]

Awesome guide, keep up the good work! subbed

[@MrLnzcrew]

whats its a addon to bosses frame in exaple in 12 minutes in fallen protector bosses frame with dots i need it !

[@kevingrubba9964]

I know Demo sucks right now. but im decent at that spec and just awful at the others. I was hoping you would do a demo guide, at least for tips on top dps

[@DaYawnarh]

Hello Evrelia, I really appreciate all your guides - both on our specs and the fights in the various raid dungeons. I do wonder though which addon you use as your cast bar? Thanks.

[@frejaostergren3442]

This looks so hard that im afraid to even try it out in lfr.. but I really wanna beat guildies on heroic :(

[@ZCalderone0823]

@ 12.20 what is that addon that shows the nameplates off to the side and that your able to click?

[@Prollo87]

Hey nice guide again

[@jeremymiller2092]

one thing i dont see in any videos is numbers for the stat build, your i lvl is 562 and your critting 1.7 million. on my lock 560 ilvl the max i hit in a boss fight is between 1 million and 1.5 million and thats only iff all of my trink/enchant procs are up + dark soul. i sit comfertably at 14.90%hit 95% mastery 22% haste 21.5% crit unbuffed averaging around 170k-200k dps, so my question out of all of that is what is the percentages for you mastery hast and crit?

[@Alcior1]

What the name of that frame addon to nice switching between bosses?

[@Korupcija]

How do you make that boss frame and the dots timers on the left of it?

[@DannyTheGlover]

that was awesome, rerolling a lock now lol!

[@dosmaiz7361]

Does Haunt still do damage when it first lands on a target? I thought that was removed last patch.

[@DannyTheGlover]

Evrelia one question, I just rerolled a lock, since I just got the heir staff to drop off garrosh should I level him to 60 and 90 boost him, or boost him from lvl 1? thanks bud, and keeep up the good work

[@xXxSNipzzXx]

when is the destro guide coming? :) keep up the great work

[@Sabenn]

YAY Been waiting forever for these! Too bad Demo got nerfed so hard =/

[@nvn0072011]

Could u put a link to ur UI please? maybe an addon pack or smth

[@hxigg]

I just started using this guide, I'm only pulling around 76k dps in LFR at 527 ilvl, do you ahve any idea what I may be doing wrong?

[@kompot4270]

What is a Dots cd(target) addon

[@Maleficer]

Hey man whats up love your guides, just a question I know I don't have the best gear to play affly (at 541) but the burst that affly does at my itemlevel is around 320-340k (if everything procs perfectly) but I cant managed to stay a high DPS I drop to a steady 150k is that normal our is it just me ?

[@Duraant]

How did you get tidy plates like that? Mine looks different

[@Dricksus]

What are you using to get your raid frames on bottom like that? I cant figure it out from the video you made with your addons and such

[@8779tmyers]

Great guilds. I have been looking for your addon guild. mainly for affdots. Can you link where your guild is at for addons or if you have a guild just for affdots. Thanks

[@hern8469]

Great job and realy professional !

[@humarjonson4998]

can you plz make a rouge guide

[@cruzader0]

How does the observer do highest dps? It does the lowest whenever I put it on a dummy to dps and compare between the pets...

[@evreliagaming]

You have to account for raid buffs. Also, don't just use recount to guess their DPS, because it stops counting in between their hits. You have to manually divide total damage done by time.

[@williamhudon8273]

Whats the addon for the action bar? its fkg sexy

[@zaliex963]

Nice video Evrelia, can you mabye make a Destruction or Demo Guide? ;D

[@glenthompson8556]

what addons do you use for raiding?

[@Trusemugglugg]

What addon is used on the part on protectors? To line up the bosses with the dots track next to it?

[@Trusemugglugg]

And your haste caps listed in the start, is that counting spellhaste buff or not?

[@tankisttv471]

thank you bro ill subscribe and like!!!!!!!!

[@hxigg]

Unfortunately, I'm a poor college student and I can't really afford your training :(

[@thomasbreivik5261]

Awesome guide! I will try affliction now ! :)

[@Ineverememberuser]

Which addon is the one that displays the three health bars with dots during Fallen Proectors fight? I can't tell if it's tidyplates or shadowed unit frames. Or a combination of the two, the rest of the interface doesn't matter to me.

[@Ineverememberuser]

Oh and the cast bar that shows channeled ticks? I used to have it but don't remember

[@zeffix99]

The boss frames at the top tracking his dots is shadowed unit frames (or pitbull, not sure which he uses). Tidyplates is the addon that displays nameplates + dots over enemy heads. Good luck setting it up! :D

[@kelnarlie]

Hey Evrelia, thanks for the guide. I was wondering if the 13737 haste cap is buffed haste or unbuffed. (Since AMR uses buffed haste as guidelines.) Thanks!

[@syracuse14546]

That's a rating, so it's unbuffed

[@demetriusporter7740]

I have seen many warlocks (as well as my self personally) using Their Fel Imp with "Glyph of Demon Training" it seems to do a substantially higher amount of dps compared to the observer. Any thoughts or theories so support or contradict this pet-setup? Amazing video btw =D

[@evreliagaming]

Glyph of demon training does not provide any dps gain whatsoever. Pets are energy limited, not cast time limited.

[@demetriusporter7740]

Okay, thanks very much for the input. I guess my question is what makes the observer the highest dps of all the pets? My shivarrah and fel imp do extremely close damage to the observer. sometimes less, sometimes more. Is using a specific pet really a definite? I understand that it is important to know which pet to use for some encounters based on the amount of movement/target switching in the encounter, but sometimes my observer seems to under perform compared to my other pets. Any thoughts?

[@evreliagaming]

He's the highest DPS purely because he mathematically does more damage on average than the other pets, assuming all buffs and debuffs are present. If you're just comparing DPS from one try to the next, your data is not statistically significant enough to make a conclusion. His damage has been calculated based on tens of thousands of simulations, and is, on average, higher than the other pets. If you don't have certain raid debuffs (such as armor reduction or melee vulnerability), then the other pets start to catch up a bit).

[@demetriusporter7740]

Thank you so much!

[@emtek1k]

Whats is the highest dps specc for warlocks atm, say at ilvl 500-520?

[@nodenspvpve]

Depends on the boss.

[@rohollagolami811]

? whats youre addons name

[@andydinh7928]

Hes wrong when he says archimondes darkness is a must, yes, in some fights, but the fights affli can actually beat destro (malkorok for example) you actually need cunning, maybe on TFP is the only fight you don't

[@evreliagaming]

No. Just no. You do not "need" cunning for any fights except perhaps Garrosh. www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/nLKTMCHjz2pF1fPb#fight=8

[@andydinh7928]

***** Lunyy and Verdisha of paragon, sparkuggz of method are pretty much the best afflocks in the world use cunning more often than not, and always come top in global dps meters, I just think you should put more emphasis on when to use cunning as I don't think it should be ignored for every fight

[@evreliagaming]

Andy Dinh I never said you should ignore it for every fight. I use it on Sha of Pride and sometimes Siegecrafter. However, to say it's "needed" is plain misguided and wrong. There are so many fights in SoO where you can just life tap or soul swap or refresh a dot during movement that KJC is just unnecessary. (Also, basing your entire argument on "x person says this" isn't really a valid way to argue a point).

[@andydinh7928]

***** Not sure why you took 'need' literally. You know you don't actually NEED any talents right? Talents are there for added benefits and specific to the encounter and largely preference. One talent might be better in an encounter and another might in another encounter but no talent is actually needed as an absolute for everything. I wasn't being literal. And as there are warlocks in world first guilds who DO take cunning on several fights, your statement saying the other 90 talents tend not to match up to AV seems to be a blanket statement and in itself misguided. You should have been more specific and explained why KJC might be beneficial in other encounters and what those encounters are. Not trying to flame or downplay this by the way, trying to help, take it aggressively if you want. But since method/paragon raiders are using KJC on like 5 fights, your viewpoint is not set in stone.

[@evreliagaming]

Andy Dinh So you make a comment on a video, then claim you weren't being literal? Ok buddy. Also, backing up my point.. a quote from Sparkuggz: "Feel out the fight, what do you need, there isn’t really that many KJC worthy fights besides Siegecrafter and maybe Garrosh!" So I don't know where you're getting your ideas from about them using cunning "more often than not". However, I do feel the written guide on evrelia.com sums it up a little more accurately than the video though: "Generally, you should take Archimonde’s Darkness in most situations, and then Kil’jaeden’s Cunning cunning on extremely high movement encounters." In my experience most locks tend to over-use KJC when they could be using AD, so I'd rather tell them to use AD as the default choice and then KJC only when necessary.

[@positvechao]

Is black blood a must or just a good choice?

[@evreliagaming]

It's a must.

[@DubskillzTV]

Should I go for the 2 Part or 4 Part Tier Bonus? if 4 Parts, what Piece as offpiece ?

[@evreliagaming]

4 piece with the legs from Iron Juggernaut as your offpiece.

[@DubskillzTV]

Thank You

[@Metaljesuslol]

Darkness*

[@rynelmagada7808]

i love yout so helpful ty great vid

[@Bloodhawk759]

I cant even get over 60k dps on raid dummy 536ilvl... help?

[@evreliagaming]

www.warcraft.evrelia.com/personal-training/

[@Bloodhawk759]

***** Not really, did great in destro. Not playing until WoD.

[@unlogik1]

what the fuck xD

[@BIGSLOW.]

Wonder why this is in my recommended

[@DaYawnarh]

Thanks :-)

[@necrosedbr]

what addons u use to track your dots?

[@grifontaxd8749]

affdots

[@cyphol]

Stopped watching after your theory on GoSup and Archimondes being superior... or should I say, no theory to why they are superior. Its not obvious, as casting and running can be a lot more superior to 2 charges of DS or GoSac actually being equal/better in most cases. Most top locks always prefer GoSac over GoSup. In theory its always patchwerk kind of playstyle but not in reality. Your pet can get out of range e.t.c. and same goes for last tier talents.

[@evreliagaming]

There is no "theory". GoSup is categorically superior to GoSac for Affliction. It is mathematically proven, and every top ranking aff parse on WoL uses it. Learn to use Simcraft and read data before making a fool of yourself. If your pet has range issues, use the Shivarra or Fel Imp instead. It still beats GoSac. With regards to KJC vs AD, Affliction is extremely mobile with so many instant casts, which makes AD a better choice in most situations since you can be casting an instant during movement usually. KJC is great for extreme movement fights like Siegecrafter, but truthfully most warlocks are guilty of using it too often. Never, ever use GoSac for Aff.

[@evreliagaming]

Gnosis =]

[@ivangadzhanov]

Still watching in 2023

[@Moonboy-wt5ns]

didnt you mistake something? expertise for caster? ^^ is kinda strange... i meann about geming i saw in this video - intel+mastery or EXPERTISE+mastery for red slot xD

[@evreliagaming]

+Talis Tukāns This video is 3 years old - not sure it's still the case now as I don't play anymore but Expertise gives spell hit in WoD.

[@Moonboy-wt5ns]

+evreliagaming in MoP isnt like that... exp for dodging aand parrying stuff... need right 7.5% or if more orr leess then y get more dmg from bosses...

[@evreliagaming]

In MoP Expertise gave spell Hit. That's why it was recommended.

[@hichemward4398]

+evreliagaming oh you're still active :o I love your videos bro

[@Mily1200]

www.noxxic.com/wow/dps-rankings/maximum#553 Is it truth? Aff has the lowest dps?, Please anwser. I love dot's but it seems to be really bad.

[@blumatrix1960]

it is SO obvious you are cutting and pasting your voice-over between videos. :p great videos though thank you so much evreliagaming

[@evreliagaming]

Not sure where you get that idea. Each video is recorded separately. Can't really cut and paste when you're talking about different things..

[@blumatrix1960]

hehe its from the identical parts of similar videos where the volume adjusts slightly on a part where you have previously said the same thing. the destro lok guide and affli lok guide is one example.

[@ahmedsamir3163]

sub !!

[@evreliagaming]

Nope. It sucks.

[@ashrasmun1]

expertise on warlock? the fuck?

[@darkinfalcon9508]

Expertise is Hit rating

[@darkinfalcon9508]

DarkIn Falcon for casters

[@KovLexGaming]

DarkIn Falcon no, hit rating is hit rating. Spells cant be dogded or parried

[@daustin01]

KovLexGaming Expertise was changed. Now, for casters, it is converted to hit rating. If you have a item with hit and haste for example, you can reforge the haste for expertise and get additional hit.

[@Ineverememberuser]

KovLexGaming They changed it, don't act like you know what you are talking about when you don't.