Affliction Warlock Mythic+ Guide

• Your Corruption is turned into Wither.
• You have access to a 1-minute cooldown called Malevolence.
• Wither can stack up and has multiple neat interactions with different talents which can increase its stack count or have other benefits.
  • Spending Soul Shards on damaging spells increases the stacks of Wither by 1 and has a chance to gain an additional stack due to Blackened Soul.
  • Casting Malevolence increases all active Wither stacks by 6 while each Malefic Rapture adds 1 additional stack during its duration.
  • Mark of Peroth'arn gives Wither the chance to add a stack whenever it crits.
  • Whenever Blackened Soul deals damage you have a chance to gain Tormented Crescendo stack.
• Wither has a built-in mechanic which consumes its' accumulated stacks one after another for more damage. This mechanic is called Acute.
  • The Acute state of Wither is triggered by the following:
    • Chance whenever Wither gains a stack.
    • If Wither reaches 8 stacks.
    • If the target Wither is on reaches 20% hp or is below 20% already.
    • When Malevolence is up.

When to use this Spec

Use this spec in higher Mythic+ keys. Hellcaller performs better in bigger pulls and benefits more from trash living longer.

Talent Adjustments

Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.

Spec Tree

• Added
  • *Improved Shadow Bolt
    • Reduces the cast time and increases the damage of Shadow Bolt.
  • Sacrolash's Dark Strike
    • Increases the damage of Wither and makes your curses last longer.

• Removed
  • Drain Soul
    • Changed to Improved Shadow Bolt.
  • Withering Bolt
    • Changed to Sacrolash's Dark Strike.

*Consider keeping Drain Soul instead of Improved Shadow Bolt if you feel like you are struggling with Soul Shards in your dungeons.

Hero Talents

Changed Soul Harvester to Hellcaller for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.

• Curse of the Satyr
  • Your default pick since both talent choices are very niche and this one has more use cases than the other one.
• Hatefury Rituals
  • Outperforms Bleakheart Tactics currently.
• Zevrim's Resilience
  • Helps you recover your lost health from using Dark Pact.

Opener

• Your goal in the opener is to apply and maintain all the DoTs and debuffs while also not overcapping on Soul Shards with Nightfall and Tormented Crescendo procs. Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks when using the recommended Hellcaller specю

• Always keep up Unstable Affliction, Agony, Wither, Haunt and Shadow Embrace on the target.
• Keep in mind that Haunt has travel time so you should precast it roughly ~2 seconds before the pull. Thus, half of your next cast, Unstable Affliction, is also casted before the fight even starts.
• All Soul Shards should be spent while Soul Rot and Vile Taint are active on the target.

Priority List

This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.

1. Keep up Unstable Affliction, Agony and Wither.
2. Cast Haunt on cooldown.
3. Cast Summon Darkglare on cooldown whenever Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
4. Cast Malefic Rapture if you are otherwise capping on Soul Shards or have Tormented Crescendo stacks.
5. Cast Shadow Bolt to refresh Shadow Embrace stacks or have Nightfall stacks.
6. Cast Vile Taint on cooldown. Make sure to have every second cast line up with Soul Rot.
7. Cast Malevolence on cooldown. Sync it with Soul Rot every time.
8. Cast Soul Rot on cooldown.
9. Cast Malefic Rapture to spend all Soul Shards whenever Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
10. Cast Shadow Bolt as your filler spell.

Opener

• Your goal in the AoE opener is similar to single-target with the only difference of applying DoTs to more targets, mostly through Seed of Corruption and Vile Taint. Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks when using recommended Hellcaller spec.

• You can apply Agony while the pull is gathering. Initially, Agonys damage is very low and it's unlikely for you to overaggro threat because of it. Just make sure your tank tagged it first before DoTing it.
• All Soul Shards should be spent while Soul Rot and Vile Taint are up.

Priority List

1. Keep up Agony on up to 8 targets.
2. Keep up Unstable Affliction on the main target.
3. Cast Haunt on cooldown on the main target.
4. Cast Summon Darkglare on cooldown when Vile Taint and Soul Rot are up.
5. Cast Vile Taint on cooldown. Make sure to have every second cast line up with Soul Rot.
6. Cast Malevolence on cooldown. Sync it with Soul Rot every time.
7. Cast Soul Rot on cooldown.
8. Cast Malefic Rapture if you are about to cap on Soul Shards or have Tormented Crescendo proc.
9. Cast Shadow Bolt if you have Nightfall procs.
10. Cast Malefic Rapture whenever you have Soul Shards.
11. Cast Shadow Bolt as your filler spell.

While Haunt, Shadow Bolt and Unstable Affliction could lower your overall dps in big pulls, it's still a damage gain on a priority target. And the way modern WoW works is that every single pull has at least one or two important trash mobs that are beneficial to kill fast to make the pull easier. That is the reason why these spells are mentioned in the AoE rotation and are recommended to be used.

Boss Tips

Orator Krix'vizk

• Help out your healer by dispelling Shadows of Doubt with your Imp's Singe Magic.
• Use your defensives during Vociferous Indoctrination.
• Burning Rush helps you dodge Terrorize.

Fangs of the Queen

• Watch out for Knife Throw. Use defensives if you're targeted by this ability.
• You can either dispel Ice Sickles with Singe Magic or cleanse it with Soulburn: Demonic Circle.
• Make sure to position yourself close to the boss to maximise cleave uptime since Shadow Shunpo targets a random player.

The Coaglamation

• Use your defensives for Dark Pulse. This happens at 100 boss energy.
• Keep an eye on tank movement and make sure to not outrange the boss or your healer.

Izo, the Grand Splicer

• Shifting Anomalies move onto players location. Thus it is recommended to move together as a group throughout the whole fight to dodge the mechanic easier as it's going to be much more predictable. As a bonus it is also going to be easier to deal with Umbral Weave this way.
• Make sure to always have Vile Taint ready for Umbral Weave to help your team and yourself get rid of the webs.
• Use your defensives for Splice since it's the highest damage event during this fight.

Trash Tips

• Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
  • Web Bolt from Sureki Silkbinder.
  • Grimweave Blast from Covert Webmancer.
  • Mending Web from Covert Webmancer.
  • Twist Thoughts from Herald of Anurek. Good target for Curse of Tongues.
  • Void Wave from Sureki Unnaturaler.

Pre Dungeon Start

• Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
• Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Boss Tips

E.D.N.A.

• Always stack up to spawn Volatile Spikes close together to ensure you can detonate them all with 1 Refracting Beam.
  • Use Dark Pact whenever it's ready for this ability.
• Use Unending Resolve for Earth Shatterer.
• Utilize your Imp's Singe Magic to dispel Seismic Reverberation off of your tank.
  • Dispel it right before Seismic Smash to give your tank the 50% damage reduction from Stone Shield.

Skarmorak

• Be careful with killing Crystal Shards as they explode upon destruction dealing damage to all players.
• Use your defensive before Unstable Crash happens or while you have multiple stacks of Unstable Energy.

Master Machinists Brokk and Dorlita

• Make sure to use your Felhunter for this fight, set it to passive, and use pet attack on Speaker Brokk to quickly interrupt Molten Metal with Spell Lock whenever he jumps away.
• Use your defensive during Exhaust Vents and Blazing Crescendo.

Void Speaker Eirich

• Place your Demonic Circle in the middle of the room to quickly teleport back after dropping Entropy from Entropic Reckoning.
• Use your defensive on Entropic Reckoning.
• Unbridled Void is a cone so it becomes wider the further away you are. Keep that in mind and try to position yourself closer to the boss when possible to make it easier to dodge for yourself or pre-place Demonic Circle as an emergency.

Trash Tips

• Focus down Earth Burst Totem from Cursedforge Stoneshaper. They have a low amount of health but are not affected by AoE abilities.
• Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
  • Howling Fear from Ghastly Voidsoul.
  • Censoring Gear from Turned Speaker.
  • Piercing Wail from Void Bound Howler.
  • Restoring Metals from Forgebound Mender and Cursedforge Mender.
  • Arcing Void from Cursedheart Invader.

Pre Dungeon Start

• Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
• Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Boss Tips

Speaker Shadowcrown

• Do not try to Demonic Circle: Teleport over a Obsidian Beam. It still applies the dot to you which deals a ton of damage.
• Consider using a defensive if you're affected by Collapsing Night. Getting out of this quickly is important since it deals a lot of damage every 0.5 seconds.
• You can utilize your Imp's Singe Magic to dispel Burning Shadows.
• Cast Curse of Tongues on the boss to increase the cast time of Shadow Bolt.

Anub'ikkaj

• Prepare a Demonic Circle to quickly teleport back after moving out to position the Dark Orb path.
• Stun Animate Shadows with Shadowfury.
• Use defensives for the Dark Orb and Shadowy Decay.

Rasha'nan

• Pre-place a Demonic Circle close to the boss to quickly deliver Arathi Bombs.
• Be aware of Erosive Spray. It applies Lingering Erosion which is dangerous when combined with other damage events.
• During Phase 2 you can mitigate a lot of damage by pre-placing a Demonic Circle in the middle of your playing area to quickly teleport after dropping your Spinneret's Strands.

Trash Tips

• Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
  • Night Bolt from Nightfall Shadowmage.
  • Ensnaring Shadows from Nightfall Shadowmage.
  • Tormenting Beam from Nightfall Darkcaster.
  • Umbral Barrier from Nightfall Darkcaster.

Pre Dungeon Start

• Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
• Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Boss Tips

Ingra Maloch

• Interrupt Spirit Bolt every time a non-tank player is targeted. Because you can interrupt with your pet while crowd-controlled, you should hold your Spell Lock for whenever everybody is affected by Repulsive Visage.
  • Cast Curse of Tongues to Ingra Maloch to deal with kicks easier.
• Try to avoid Tears of the Forest pools behind or around you whenever Repulsive Visage is about to happen as it may fear you right into them.
• Try to line up your cooldowns with Droman Oulfarran's Droman's Wrath to gain a huge DPS boost. This happens when Droman Oulfarran reaches 20% health.

Mistcaller

• Fear the Illusionary Vulpins to prevent them from reaching their target.
  • If your group is not crowd-controlling the Illusionary Vulpins you can DoT it and slow it with Curse of Exhaustion.
• Use your defensives during the Guessing Game.

Tred'ova

• When casting ‍Acid Expulsion the boss tries to predict the movement of the players from the previous ‍Acid Expulsion. Try not to move too much during it to make dodging later on easier.
• Demonic Gateway and Demonic Circle help you and your group break Mind Link quickly.
• Try to predot adds during Accelerated Incubation with Agony while they are gathering.

Trash Tips

• Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
  • Spirit Bolt from Drust Harvester.
  • Harvest Essence from Drust Harvester.
  • Nourish the Forest from Mistveil Tender.
  • Bramblethorn Coat from Mistveil Shaper.
  • Stimulate Regeneration from Spinemaw Staghorn.
  • Stimulate Resistance from Spinemaw Staghorn.

Pre Dungeon Start

• Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
• Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Boss Tips

Blightbone

• Dark Pact if you're targeted by Heaving Retch.
• Always use Shadowfury on Carrion Worms.
  • Cast Seed of Corruption on one of the Carrion Worms if they are spawned too far from the boss and are not going to get cleaved from it.

Amarth, The Harvester

• Cast Curse of Tongues on the boss to make kicking Necrotic Bolt easier.
• If any adds are still alive during Final Harvest, use Shadowfury or Mortal Coil to crowd control them. With them crowd controlled, the boss doesn't cast Final Harvest even though an add is alive.

Surgeon Stitchflesh

• Place Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway towards Surgeon Stitchflesh's grandstand to easily line up Meat Hooks throughout the fight.
• Use your defensives when you get affected by Stitchneedle.

Nalthor the Rimebinder

• Using Soulburn: Demonic Circle allows you to immune the Frozen Binds. Keep in mind that you need to cast it before the debuff is applied on you, during the boss cast.
• Setup a Demonic Gateway for players to use right before they get hit by the Dark Exile projectile.
  • Do note that you still die after 50 seconds after doing this. It's a gain if the boss has low health or the targeted player could struggle in the extra phase.
  • Don't do it if you have 0 combat resurrections ready!

Trash Tips

• Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
  • Drain Fluids from Corpse Harvester and Corpse Collector.
  • Necrotic Bolt from Zolramus Sorceror & Zolarmus Necromancer.
  • Rasping Scream from Skeletal Marauder.
  • Frostbolt Volley from Reanimted Mage.
  • Goresplatter from Corpse Collector.
  • Repair Flesh from Flesh Crafter.

Pre Dungeon Start

• Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
• Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Boss Tips

Chopper Redhook

• Line up your cooldowns with the boss walking over Bombs which afflict him with Heavy Ordnance.
• Demonic Circle helps you kiting the boss into Bombs.

Dread Captain Lockwood

• Focus down the Ashvane Cannoneer during the phase change to quickly use Unstable Ordnance to get the boss down from the ship.
• If your group has no other slow for Evasive then you can use Curse of Exhaustion.

Hadal Darkfathom

• If you can't find a safe spot for Tidal Surge you can also use Demonic Circle to jump over the waves.
• Be careful where you position yourself during Break Water as they leave water pools which may make hiding from Tidal Surge harder than it should be.

Viq'Goth

• Use your Imp's Singe Magic to help your healer dispel Putrid Waters during the fight.
• Pre-place Demonic Circle somewhere on the active platform in case you get knocked by Putrid Waters dispell.
• You can utilize Demonic Gateway to cross the water faster between phases.

Trash Tips

• Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
  • Brackish Bolt from Irontide Waveshaper.
  • Watertight Shell from Irontide Waveshaper.
  • Water Bolt from Bilge Rat Tempest.
  • Choking Waters from Bilge Rat Tempest.
  • Bolstering Shout from Ashvane Commander.

Pre Dungeon Start

• Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
• Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Boss Tips

General Umbriss

• Demonic Circle and Burning Rush help you dodge Shadowflame Breath from Commanding Roar.
• Use Dark Pact before Commanding Roar.
• Try to place Rumbling Earth on the edges of the room.

Forgemaster Throngus

• Use Dark Pact during Blistering Heat.

Drahga Shadowburner

• Use Dark Pact during Twilight Buffet.
• Apply Curse of Exhaustion on Shadowflame Spirits to prevent them from reaching the player who is fixated.
• Keep in mind that Drahga Shadowburner at the start is not the main boss and doesn't have that much HP so don't overcommit to it. Valiona that appears later on also dies at 50% so plan accordingly.

Erudax, the Duke of Below

• Use defensives during Abyssal Corruption and Void Surge.
• Be careful with AoE as killing Twilight Hatchling applies a Shadow Wound on your group which may lead to bad overlaps with Shadow Gale.

Dark Pact usage:

Trash Tips

• Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
  • Earth Bolt from Twilight Earthcaller.
  • Mass Tremor from Twilight Earthcaller.
  • Shadowflame Bolt from Twilight Beguiler.
  • Sear Mind from Twilight Beguiler.

Pre Dungeon Start

• Always cast Soulstone on the tank or healer before the key starts as it stays active and might come in handy.
• Use Fel Domination shortly before starting the dungeon. Starting a dungeon despawns your pet, and this enables you to rapidly summon your pet without spending a Soul Shard while still having Fel Domination off cooldown in case your pet dies later.

Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.