Affliction Warlock

Mirrors the current rank-1 Sinister Single parse — every slot is what the best Affliction Warlock actually wears.

Midnight Season 2 · Soul Harvester · updated 2026-08-05

Simulated DPS on the best-in-slot profile below, five-minute patchwerk. Compare every spec →

How it plays

• Unstable Affliction is both what you press most and where the damage comes from: 20% of it, at roughly 18 casts a minute.
• Damage is spread thin: the top three abilities are only 41% of it, so the spec rewards keeping everything rolling rather than protecting one button.

Measured on the reference parse below, not a description of the spec — so it changes when the tuning does.

Stat priority

Critical Strike > Mastery > Haste > Versatility

These are not weights pulled from a spreadsheet — they are the live ratings on the reference character this build is taken from, so the order reflects what the best-performing Affliction Warlock is actually stacking right now.

Source: Dalote — the log. Rank 1 Affliction Warlock on Sinister Single (Dummy Dome), avg ilvl 335.

Talent build

Laid out exactly as the in-game talent UI draws it, hero tree Soul Harvester. Lit nodes and gold lines are the path this build takes; everything dimmed was passed over. Hover any node for what it does.

Rotation

Soul Shards go into Unstable Affliction on one target and Seed of Corruption on several. The dots are the damage; the shards are how you make them hurt more.

Openers

Single target

1. Agony, then Corruption.
2. Haunt, then Unstable Affliction.
3. Summon Darkglare with everything ticking.
4. Malefic Grasp through the window.

Where the damage comes from

Measured on the reference log — a 300-second single-target parse. Worth comparing against the rotation above: the button you press most is rarely the one doing the most.

Source: Sinister Single, 300s.

Best in slot

The finished loadout, built by Pathfinder — the strongest item available for every slot, with the item level to chase and where it drops. 334 average item level across 15 slots, gathered from 3 places.

Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Ula'tek ✦ Empowered Hex of Leeching

Aqirbane Reliquary 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Ula'tek ◆ Powerful Eversong Diamond

Spires of the Damned Necrolyte 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — The Lost Explorers ✦ Silvermoon's Mending

Adherent's Silken Shroud 331 · Spark Crafted +Myth Epic Profession Items — Tailoring

Damned Necrolyte's Rattling Robes 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Vashnik the Malignant ✦ Mark of the Worldsoul

Aetherlume Silken Cuffs 331 · Spark Crafted +Myth Epic Profession Items — Engineering

Venomancer's Winged Channeler 334 · Myth 6/6 · Two-handed The Venomous Abyss — Vashnik the Malignant ✦ Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Affliction Warlock 334 average item level

Damned Necrolyte's Charred Grasps 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Entombed Sentinels ✦ Gloves Enchant (+3 Stamina)

Caustic Chain-Wrapped Sash 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Sszorak

Damned Necrolyte's Leg Bindings 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Sszorak ✦ Sunfire Silk Spellthread

Nek'zali's Spiritwalkers 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Nek'zali the Soulcoiler ✦ Lynx's Dexterity

Apex Brute's Claw Ring 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Sszorak ✦ Nature's Fury◆ Flawless Quick Garnet

Vile Alchemist's Band 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Vashnik the Malignant ✦ Nature's Fury◆ Flawless Quick Garnet

Stormbound Emblem of Dazar 334 · Myth 6/6 Kings' Rest — Dazar, The First King

Gebbo's Bottomless Bag 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — The Lost Explorers

Where to spend bonus rolls as Affliction Warlock

A Voidcore pays out an item every time — the question is only whether it is one you wanted. For this build, in order:

Roll Sszorak — 3 of its 3 drops are on your list

Every roll here lands something on the list — this boss cannot miss. In The Venomous Abyss, it owes you waist, legs and ring 1.

Then Vashnik the Malignant — 3 of its 4 drops are on your list

75% of every roll here lands something on the list. In The Venomous Abyss, it owes you chest, ring 2 and main hand.

The general principles behind this — knockout protection, why finishing one boss beats spreading rolls, and the crests a roll quietly costs you — are in the bonus roll guide.

Week-by-week route

1. Pre-season: the campaign, a world tour of Mythic 0s for a 292 loadout, and the weekly Spark quest. No Myth crests exist yet — bank the Spark.
2. Week 1: farm +10 keys to a full Hero 3/6 (311) loadout and fill the vault. The first Myth crests arrive, so spend the banked Spark on Adherent's Silken Shroud. Every Hero crest goes into lifting pieces toward 6/6 (321).
3. Week 2: first Voidcore — roll Sszorak, where 3 of 3 drops are on this list. Catalyse the set slots for the 4-set. Second Spark goes to Aetherlume Silken Cuffs.
4. Weeks 3–6: one Voidcore a week down the order above — finish a boss before starting the next. Keep spending Hero crests; every slot should sit at 321 by about Week 6.
5. Week 7 onward: two Voidcores a week (the vault and Orin Straylight). Roll Myth-track bases in the set slots, re-catalyse them, and take each to 6/6 for 80 Myth and 20 Hero crests.
6. Late season: everything here caps at Myth 6/6 (334); this list has no end-boss item to chase past it.

The fast variant

Same stat priority, 1 slot moved. Pathfinder builds the list above for raw power and does not care how many bosses that takes; Slate prices the route as well, and takes an equal-strength item from a boss you are already farming over one that sends you somewhere new. It visits 3 places against the strongest list's 3, at the same average item level.

• Head — Errant Scrollsage's Hood instead of Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl

Errant Scrollsage's Hood 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — The Lost Explorers ✦ Empowered Hex of Leeching

Aqirbane Reliquary 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Ula'tek ◆ Powerful Eversong Diamond

Spires of the Damned Necrolyte 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — The Lost Explorers ✦ Silvermoon's Mending

Adherent's Silken Shroud 331 · Spark Crafted +Myth Epic Profession Items — Tailoring

Damned Necrolyte's Rattling Robes 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Vashnik the Malignant ✦ Mark of the Worldsoul

Aetherlume Silken Cuffs 331 · Spark Crafted +Myth Epic Profession Items — Engineering

Venomancer's Winged Channeler 334 · Myth 6/6 · Two-handed The Venomous Abyss — Vashnik the Malignant ✦ Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Affliction Warlock 334 average item level

Damned Necrolyte's Charred Grasps 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Entombed Sentinels ✦ Gloves Enchant (+3 Stamina)

Caustic Chain-Wrapped Sash 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Sszorak

Damned Necrolyte's Leg Bindings 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Sszorak ✦ Sunfire Silk Spellthread

Nek'zali's Spiritwalkers 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Nek'zali the Soulcoiler ✦ Lynx's Dexterity

Apex Brute's Claw Ring 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Sszorak ✦ Nature's Fury◆ Flawless Quick Garnet

Vile Alchemist's Band 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — Vashnik the Malignant ✦ Nature's Fury◆ Flawless Quick Garnet

Stormbound Emblem of Dazar 334 · Myth 6/6 Kings' Rest — Dazar, The First King

Gebbo's Bottomless Bag 334 · Myth 6/6 The Venomous Abyss — The Lost Explorers