Quick answer: Apply Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony, then channel Wrack. All three tick 100% faster during the channel, and each one adds to Soul Siphon’s bonus, up to 36%.
For leveling in World of Warcraft: Forever, choose the Affliction Warlock specialization. Your drain spells sustain you while your demon occupies enemies. A hotfix on 10 November revised Wrack, the spec’s 31-point talent, making the rotation begin with your damage-over-time spells instead of leaving them out.
What changed for Affliction on 10 November
Wrack is still a channel that tears the target apart for 6 sec, dealing Shadow damage every 1 sec. While you channel it, your Siphon Life, Corruption and Bane of Agony on that target deal their periodic damage 100% faster. In exchange, Wrack itself deals 30% less damage, and it no longer raises the damage of your periodic effects.
This haste changes tick frequency, not the effects’ duration. Bane of Agony still lasts 24 seconds, but ticks twice as often while Wrack affects the target. Any progress Wrack adds to a tick timer remains when the channel ends or is interrupted. For instance, channeling Wrack for 1 second partway through Corruption’s 3-second tick interval advances Corruption by 2 seconds rather than 1; its next tick then arrives in 1 second, not 2. Previously, stopping the channel just before a tick produced no benefit.
Soul Siphon’s effect was revised too: for each of your Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony effects on the target, it now boosts Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack by 4/8/12%, depending on rank, to a maximum of 36%. Previously, any Affliction spell could count.
Blizzard’s rationale was that channeling Wrack continuously outperformed casting Siphon Life, Corruption and Bane of Agony too. The adjustment makes those three spells worthwhile alongside Wrack, while leaving Affliction’s overall damage unchanged.
How to play Affliction Warlock now
Every pull follows the same order.
Drain Life and Drain Soul also benefit from Soul Siphon, dealing more damage once all three effects are active. If Drain Soul kills an enemy while Soul Harvest is active, your Mana regeneration doubles for 10 sec. When you take a hit, Fel Concentration gives your drains and Wrack a 70% chance to retain their cast time. Corruption, Drain Soul, Drain Life and Wrack each have a 4% chance through Nightfall to make your next Shadow Bolt instant; cast Shadow Bolt when that proc occurs.
Affliction Warlock talent order from 10 to 60
You begin earning talent points at level 10 and have 51 by level 60. Each successive row requires five additional points spent in the tree, while gold medal talents unlock at 11, 16, 21 and 31 points. Fully ranked Affliction talents account for 46 points, leaving five for Demonic Embrace in Demonology, which grants +15% Stamina. To reset talents, visit a class trainer in a major city; Dual Specialization becomes available at level 40.
| Level | Talent | Points | What it does at max rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-14 |  Improved Corruption | 5/5 | Reduces the casting time of your Corruption spell by 2 sec and increases the damage it deals by 10%. |
| 15-17 |  Improved Drains | 3/3 | Increases Health drained, damage done, or Mana drained by your Drain Life, Drain Soul, and Drain Mana spells by 20%. |
| 18-19 |  Soul Harvest | 2/2 | Killing a non-trivial target afflicted by your Drain Soul increases your Mana regeneration by 100% for 10 sec and allows 100% of normal Mana regeneration to continue while casting. |
| 20 |  Amplify Curse | 1/1 | Increases the effect of your next Curse of Weakness or Bane of Agony by 50%, or your next Curse of Exhaustion by 20%. Lasts 30 sec. |
| 21-23 |  Fel Concentration | 3/3 | Gives your Drain Life, Drain Mana, Drain Soul, and Wrack spells a 70% chance to not lose casting time when you take damage. |
| 24 |  Improved Bane of Agony | 1/2 | Increases the damage done by your Bane of Agony by 10%. |
| 25 |  Curse of Exhaustion | 1/1 | Reduces the target's movement speed by 30% for 12 sec. Only one Curse per Warlock can be active on any one target. |
| 26-27 |  Nightfall | 2/2 | Gives your Corruption, Drain Soul, Drain Life, and Wrack spells a 4% chance to cause you to enter a Shadow Trance after damaging the opponent. The Shadow Trance reduces the casting time of your next Shadow Bolt spell by 100%. |
| 28-29 |  Malevolence | 2/5 | Increases the critical effect chance of your Shadow spells by 5%. |
| 30 |  Siphon Life | 1/1 | Transfers 11 health from the target to the caster every 3 sec. Lasts 30 sec. |
| 31-33 |  Soul Siphon | 3/3 | Increases the damage done or health drained by your Drain Life, Drain Soul, and Wrack spells by 12% per each of your Corruption, Siphon Life, and Bane of Agony spells active on the target, up to a maximum increase of 36%. |
| 34 | Malevolence | 3/5 | Increases the critical effect chance of your Shadow spells by 5%. |
| 35-39 |  Shadow Mastery | 5/5 | Increases the damage dealt or life drained by your Shadow spells by 10%. |
| 40 |  Wrack | 1/1 | Tears the target apart from within for 6 sec, inflicting Shadow damage every 1 sec. While channeling, your Siphon Life, Corruption, and Bane of Agony effects on the target deal their periodic damage 100% faster. |
| 41-42 | Malevolence | 5/5 | Increases the critical effect chance of your Shadow spells by 5%. |
| 43-45 |  Pandemic | 3/3 | Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Corruption, Bane of Agony, Bane of Doom, Drain Soul, Drain Life, Siphon Life, and Wrack spells by 100%. |
| 46 | Improved Bane of Agony | 2/2 | Increases the damage done by your Bane of Agony by 10%. |
| 47-51 |  Suppression | 5/5 | Improves your chance to hit by 5% and reduces all threat you generate by 20%. |
| 52-53 |  Improved Life Tap | 2/2 | Increases the amount of Mana awarded by your Life Tap spell by 20%. |
| 54-55 |  Grim Reach | 2/2 | Increases the range of your Affliction spells by 20%. |
| 56-60 |  Demonic Embrace | 5/5 | Increases your total Stamina by 15%. |
The suggested order front-loads what keeps you alive and killing while leveling. Levels 10 to 14 go into Improved Corruption 5/5, which cuts 2 sec from Corruption’s cast time and adds 10% damage. Levels 15 to 17 take Improved Drains 3/3 for +20% on Drain Life, Drain Soul and Drain Mana. Levels 18 and 19 finish Soul Harvest 2/2 for the Mana from Drain Soul kills.
Level 20 picks up Amplify Curse, the 11-point gold medal, which makes your next Curse of Weakness or Bane of Agony 50% stronger. Levels 21 to 23 take Fel Concentration 3/3 so drains survive being hit. Level 24 puts the first point in Improved Bane of Agony. Level 25 grabs Curse of Exhaustion, the 16-point gold medal, a 30% slow for 12 sec. Levels 26 and 27 take Nightfall 2/2, and levels 28 and 29 start Malevolence at 2/5 for +1% Shadow crit per point.
Level 30 unlocks Siphon Life, the 21-point gold medal, which restores 11 health every 3 sec for 30 sec. Levels 31 to 33 fill Soul Siphon 3/3, which matters immediately because Siphon Life is now one of its three stacks. Level 34 adds the third Malevolence point, levels 35 to 39 take Shadow Mastery 5/5 for +10% Shadow damage, and level 40 spends the 31st point on Wrack.
Once Wrack is taken, use levels 41 and 42 to finish Malevolence. For levels 43–45, select Pandemic 3/3; it grants a 100% critical damage bonus to Wrack, Siphon Life, your drains, Bane of Doom, Bane of Agony and Corruption. Complete Improved Bane of Agony at level 46. Spend levels 47–51 on Suppression 5/5 for +5% hit and 20% less threat, then take Improved Life Tap 2/2 at levels 52 and 53. Levels 54 and 55 go into Grim Reach 2/2, increasing Affliction spell range by 20%. Put levels 56–60 into Demonic Embrace 5/5.
Affliction spells and demons
You learn Corruption at level 4, and Drain Life becomes available at level 14. Bane of Agony takes the place of Curse of Agony, and each Warlock can have only one Bane on a target at a time.
Your demon pet holds enemies while your drains and periodic damage do the work. For solo play, bring the Voidwalker.
