DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Affliction Warlock abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0.0).

Single Target

Ensure Haunt is precast before combat begins.

• HauntView detailsCast on cooldown.
• Unstable AfflictionView detailsMaintain uptime.
• AgonyView detailsKeep active on target.
• CorruptionView detailsMaintain DoT.
• Summon DarkglareView detailsUse during damage windows.
• MalevolenceView detailsPair with Summon Darkglare.
• Dark HarvestView detailsUse when available.
• Drain SoulView detailsUse as filler.

Maintain Haunt, Unstable Affliction, and Agony on your target. Use Summon Darkglare and Malevolence together for burst damage, and Drain Soul as a filler.

AoE

• Seed Of CorruptionView detailsApply to multiple targets.
• HauntView detailsCast on priority target.
• AgonyView detailsSpread to multiple targets.
• Summon DarkglareView detailsUse during AoE windows.
• MalevolenceView detailsPair with Summon Darkglare.
• Dark HarvestView detailsUse when available.
• Drain SoulView detailsUse as filler.
• Refresh DoTsView detailsAs they fall off.

For AoE, prioritize Seed Of Corruption and spread Agony to multiple targets. Use Summon Darkglare and Malevolence together for burst, and refresh DoTs as needed.

Cooldowns

• Summon DarkglareView detailsUse before chaining Unstable Affliction.
• Dark HarvestView detailsUse for burst damage and Soul Shard generation.
• MalevolenceView detailsPair with Summon Darkglare every two minutes.

Use Summon Darkglare before chaining Unstable Affliction for max DPS. Pair Malevolence with Summon Darkglare and use Dark Harvest for burst and resource generation.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.