Affliction/Hybrid Warlock PvP guide: The Tank 21/21/9 Soul Link build

Affliction Warlock PvP guide

Level 60 · Affliction Warlock in battlegrounds and world PvP.

An Affliction Warlock in PvP spreads pressure: damage over time on several players, Fear to break focus, and drains to outlast a duel. The Classic idea of a Soul Link drain tank still works in WoW Forever, and the new Curse and Bane split helps: Curse of Exhaustion and Bane of Agony can sit on the same target, so a slowed enemy is also taking damage. Fel Concentration keeps Drain Life going when melee hits you.

Your role in a fight

In battlegrounds you are a pressure dealer and area denier. Put Corruption, Bane of Agony and Siphon Life on every enemy healer and flag carrier, keep Curse of Exhaustion on whoever is chasing your team, and Fear or Death Coil melee off your healers. In world PvP, a Soul Link drain warlock is hard for one melee to kill.

Strengths

- Pressure on many targets with instant Corruption, Bane of Agony and Siphon Life.

- Sustain: Siphon Life and Drain Life heal you, Soul Link moves 30% of your damage taken onto your demon.

- Control: Curse of Exhaustion, Fear, Death Coil and the Felhunter’s Spell Lock.

- Drains through pressure with Fel Concentration, while Molten Skin reduces all damage taken by 8%.

Weak points

- Dispels: priests, paladins and Felhunters can remove your work quickly.

- Burst: a coordinated kill on you can outpace Soul Link and drains.

- Immunity to Fear from Berserker Rage, Will of the Forsaken or trinkets removes your best escape.

- Unknown level 60 PvP: the battleground list, honor track and rewards are not confirmed for WoW Forever.

Level 60 PvP talent build

Affliction 21 / Demonology 21 / Destruction 9, all 51 points.

Affliction (21)

- Improved Corruption 5/5 — Instant Corruption with 10% more damage, so you can apply pressure while moving.

- Malediction 5/5 — +5% periodic damage from all your Warlock spells.

- Improved Bane of Agony 2/2 — +10% Bane of Agony damage.

- Fel Concentration 3/3 — A 70% chance to keep Drain Life, Drain Mana and Drain Soul going when you take damage.

- Amplify Curse 1/1 — Strengthens your next Curse of Exhaustion by 20%, or Curse of Weakness or Bane of Agony by 50%. A 3-minute cooldown and the prerequisite for Curse of Exhaustion.

- Malevolence 3/5 — +3% Shadow spell crit chance. The October 8 change removed the reduction to crit damage against players.

- Curse of Exhaustion 1/1 — An instant 30% slow for 12 seconds at 30 yards. Keeps melee away and slows fleeing targets without replacing your Bane.

- Siphon Life 1/1 — An instant DoT that heals you every 3 seconds for 30 seconds. Rank 4 drains 41 health per tick, adding steady healing alongside your other defenses.

Demonology (21)

- Demonic Embrace 5/5 — +15% Stamina, giving you more health to survive pressure and spend on Life Tap.

- Demonic Aegis 2/2 — Strengthens Demon Skin and Demon Armor by 30%, improving their armor, Shadow resistance and health regeneration.

- Fel Vitality 3/3 — +15% demon health and mana, plus 15% more maximum mana for you. A healthier demon helps keep Soul Link working.

- Demonic Energies 2/2 — Your spell damage heals your demon for 15% of the damage dealt, and Life Tap gives it the same mana you receive.

- Demonic Sacrifice 1/1 — Required for Soul Link. Keep your demon summoned while using this build so Soul Link stays active.

- Master Summoner 2/2 — Demon summons cast 4 seconds faster and cost 40% less mana, helping you replace a pet during a fight.

- Decimation 1/2 — Reduces Soul Fire’s cooldown by 45%. Shadow Bolt or Searing Pain hitting a target below 35% health makes Soul Fire cast 20% faster and cost no Soul Shard for 10 seconds. The cast still takes about 4.8 seconds, so use it when you have room to finish.

- Fel Domination 1/1 — Your next demon summon casts 5.5 seconds faster and costs 50% less mana. Your emergency pet replacement on a 5-minute cooldown.

- Demonic Brand 3/3 — Searing Pain brands a target for 10 seconds. Your demon’s next six attacks deal 65–68 extra Fire or Shadow damage each, depending on the demon.

- Soul Link 1/1 — Transfers 30% of your damage taken to your demon, and increases both your damage by 3%. Stays active while that demon is summoned.

Destruction (9)

- Improved Shadow Bolt 5/5 — A Shadow Bolt crit makes the target take 20% more Shadow damage from you for 12 seconds. Also supplies the five first-row points needed to reach Molten Skin.

- Molten Skin 4/5 — Reduces all damage taken by 8%, adding another layer of protection alongside Soul Link.

**Talent placement:** Build this in the game’s talent pane. The beta data places Demonic Energies on row 2 and Demonic Brand on row 4. This allocation has 15 points above row 4 and 20 above Soul Link; moving points out of the earlier rows can block access to later talents.

Key abilities

- Corruption, Bane of Agony, Siphon Life: instant pressure on every enemy in range.

- Curse of Exhaustion: keeps a flag carrier or melee slowed without replacing your Bane.

- Fear and Howl of Terror: break a focus target, or clear melee off a healer.

- Death Coil: an instant horror and heal, your answer to a stun lock that just ended.

- Drain Life: restores health during a long duel, with Fel Concentration helping you channel through incoming damage.

- Felhunter Spell Lock and Devour Magic: silence a healer and remove crowd control from yourself.

Matchups

- Warriors · Curse of Exhaustion, Fear and Death Coil; stay out of Intercept range and drain while they are feared.

- Rogues · survive the opener with Soul Link, then Fear and dot them so their bandages and Stealth resets fail.

- Mages · dots break Polymorph; Spell Lock their Frostbolt and drain while they are silenced.

- Priests · their dispels remove your effects, so reapply faster than they can dispel and Spell Lock the heals.

- Druids · Curse of Exhaustion and Fear in caster form; Drain Life outlasts their healing over time.

- Other warlocks · whoever keeps their demon alive and dispels better usually wins.

Resources and cooldowns

Life Tap turns health into mana, and Soul Link plus Siphon Life make that safer than it looks. Keep Soul Shards for Death Coil, Soulstones and Healthstones before each battleground. Fel Domination is your emergency pet button; Eureka! is best when you reapply effects to several targets at once.

Gear

This site’s beta datamine lists no warlock PvP set yet, so the honor rewards for warlocks are unknown. For a drain build, Stamina is the stat that wins duels: Demonic Embrace multiplies it, Life Tap spends it and Soul Link protects it. After that, Shadow spell damage and enough spell hit that Fear and Curse of Exhaustion are not resisted. The Tier 1 Demonheart Raiment is a raid set; its 2-piece hit bonus is the only part that also helps in PvP.

Consumables and engineering

- Free Action Potion so a stun or root does not stop your Fear at the wrong moment.

- Major Healing Potion and Healthstones to pay for Life Tap between fights.

- Soul Shards: a full Soul Pouch before each battleground for Death Coil and resummons.

- Engineering: explosives give you a stun to go with Fear.

Tips

- Spread Corruption across the enemy team before a big fight starts, so healers have to spend their time dispelling.