Hello,
I play Affliction since 2007 (TBC) and would like to share my feedback for talents and abilities which could return or be reworked in Dragonflight for this specialization. I was trying to address most of weakness points of Affliction, which I currently see, and put a little more complexity and control into Affliction rotation.
To make things little clearer to read I had listed Active abilities in above, and passives into second tab as in below example:
Active ability
Description
Current problem and how spell should be changed/removed.
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Active ability (above) passives
Description
Current problem and how spell should be changed/removed.
Here we start…
Soul Shards [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Soul Shards are generated by your Agony’s damage over time. Soul Shards are consumed to cast your most powerful spells and summon demons to serve you. While out of combat you regenerate up to 3 Soul Shards.
Problem: Outside of all three specializations Affliction baseline shard generation is done totally randomly which makes the Affliction less enjoyable to play in my opinion. Additionally random effects reduce the possibilities of player to control the gameplay just at start and put the output damage more to the value of luck.
Solution: 5 Soul Shards can be represented as 50 Soul Shard Fragments same as Destruction. Soul Shards can be spent on more powerful spells and generate with few fillers spells like Agony or Shadowbolt/Drain Soul from the Affliction toolkit.
Death’s Embrace [Legion talent ability]
Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Seed of Corruption, Phantom Singularity, and Drain Soul deal up to 50% increased damage on targets below 35% health. Higher damage increase against lower health targets.
Problem: None, just very cool ability for Affliction.
Solution: Just working with Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction would be enough… otherwise Seed and mainly Rapture damage can reach the sky in execute phase which can bring tuning problems
Soul Swap [Cataclysm baseline ability]
Inhales your damage over time effects from the target, preserving their duration.
Your next use of Soul Swap within 10 sec will exhale those damage over time effects onto the new target and deal 6% of the target’s total health in Shadow damage.
Problem: Current Affliction target swapping time is a pain, like TOP Banner or SD second boss add.
Solution: Very welcome ability.
Reap Souls [Legion Artifact Weapon / reworked]
Consume all Tormented Souls collected by Ulthalesh, increasing your damage by 10% and doubling the effect of all of Ulthalesh’s other traits for 5 sec per soul consumed.
Problem: In the Shadowlands the is 1 min Soul Rot + Legendary damage window. Outside Shadowlands expansion the Affliction toolkit is limited to 2 min cooldown abilities, with lack of anything in the middle. Not to be too powerful but meaningful and rewarding cooldown.
Solution: I think this is one of iconic abilities which reminds an Affliction player a Legion expansion. It can be found very good in AoE scenarios but for sure should also have a value in Single Target, maybe working somehow with Shadowbolt and Drain Soul.
Shadowbolt [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing Shadow damage.
Problem: Most of the community of Affliction players would like to see a Drain Soul as a main filler.
Solution: With a new talent tree design some options are on the table. Would propose to make Drain Soul spell as option somewhere in the tree, but not in the way where you feel that selecting Drain Soul make you lose something else which is also very important. In this case any player can spend a point to just play how he prefers.
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Withering Bolt / Malefic Grasp [Shadowlands conduit]
Drain Soul deals x% or Shadow Bolt deals x% increased damage per damage over time effect you have active on the target.
Problem: -
Solution: Very welcome focus damage which Affliction is lacking in baseline toolkit. -
Rend Soul [Legion Artifact Weapon / reworked]
Drain Soul or Shadowbolt will generate an additional Soul Shard Fragment (Drain Soul = 5 for full channel, Shadowbolt = 3).
Problem: At the current state of Affliction during the Single Target combat, shard generating and control of it then very lacking.
Solution: With new passive we can have better shard generation in Single Target and more control over Shards. The numbers are proposed but in general Shadowbolt should generate more Soul Shard Fragment as it requires complete full cast to get this reward.
Corruption [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Corrupts the target, causing Shadow damage over 14 sec.
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Corruption – Rank 2 [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Corruption is now instant. -
Corruption – Rank 3 [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Corruption now instantly deals damage. -
Harvester of Souls [Legion Artifact Weapon]
Each time Corruption deals damage, it heals you for 15% of the damage dealt.
Problem: Siphon Life doesn’t bring a “fun” of additional difficulty in Single Target combat.
Solution: The Single Target rotation should be moved from number of timers which need to be maintained to more complex playstyle with baseline spells. Additionally the Corruption spell itself need to bring some rewards for spreading it outside just damage. -
Nightfall [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Corruption damage has a chance to cause your next Shadow Bolt to be instant and deal 50% increased damage. (Also affecting Drain Soul with reduce tick rate)
Problem: The Corruption ability for Affliction is a nostalgic spell which does not provide no additional effects for the specialization.
Solution: Same as Agony is generating Soul Shards, the Corruption should provide some additional effect outside of damage. In this case the Nightfall talent can make Affliction better funneling and have more Single Target priority damage. Works very well when high mobility is required and rewarding you for spreading a Corruption, same as Shards generating for spreading Agony. -
Absolute Corruption [Shadowlands talent ability]
Corruption is now permanent and deals 15% increased damage.
Duration reduced to 24 sec against players. -
Name placeholder [New]
Reduces the global cooldown of your Corruption by 0.5 sec.
Problem: Mostly in case of AoE situations, cause of GCD, the Corruption is typically spread with Seed of Corruption as there are no other options do to it faster.
Solution: It’ not as critical as the Agony spell but it would be very interesting to give a player to choose in some scenarios to spread corruption one by one instead of using Seed. It can be a flat value but also it can scale in addition with Mastery.
Agony [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Inflicts increasing agony on the target, causing up to Shadow damage over 18 sec. Damage starts low and increases over the duration. Refreshing Agony maintains its current damage level.
Agony damage sometimes generates 1 Soul Shard.
Problem: As follow with a Soul Sard problem.
Solution: Agony damage generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment. Could be reduced above X number of targets but its good to remember that Agony is only spread manually, which mean it’s taking more time when player does not spend his Soul Shards.
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Agony – Rank 2 [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Agony may now ramp up to 10 stacks. -
Agony – Rank 3 [New]
Agony critical damage generates 2 Soul Shard Fragment.
Problem: -
Solution: Typically, the Affliction value the Haste/Mastery in AoE situations. This would also put some meaning in the Critical Strike. -
Name placeholder [New]
Applying an Agony will also affect target with the Curse of Tongues or Curse of Weakness.
Problem: In case of AoE situation it’s hard to see possibility of using Curses cause of other priority damage spells.
Solution: When you apply Agony and there is no Curse effect already on the target then the smart-Curse is applied. If there is already a Curse, it’s extending its time. -
Writhe in Agony [Shadowlands talent ability]
Agony’s damage starts at 4 stacks and may now ramp up to 18 stacks.
Problem: The ability is rewarding the player and punishing him at ones. From one side you, can do more damage, but at the other hand you need to wait 14 stacks instead of 10 to uncover the full power. To say it more general, if you are talented in this one thing in life, it doesn’t mean you are doing it better and slower… but the same time gives the better result from others.
Solution: The 10 is a good number of max ranks, it should start from 4 and do 80% more damage. -
Inevitable Demise [Shadowlands talent ability]
Damaging an enemy with Agony increases the damage of your next Drain Life by 15%. This effect stacks up to 50 times.
Problem: Very good but underplayed in PvE cause of Drain Soul talent.
Solution: As above, Drain Soul as an option to Shadowbolt. -
Name placeholder [New]
Reduces the global cooldown of your Agony by 0.5 sec.
Problem: Spreading Agony in AoE situation is taking a little too long.
Solution: It can be a flat value but also it can scale in addition with Mastery.
Unstable Affliction [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Afflicts one target with Shadow damage over 16 sec. If dispelled, deals damage to the dispeller and silences them for 4 sec.
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Unstable Affliction – Rank 2 [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Generates 1 Soul Shard if the target dies while afflicted. -
Unstable Affliction – Rank 3 [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Unstable Affliction’s duration is increased by 5 seconds. -
Contagion [Battle for Azeroth baseline ability]
You deal 10% increased damage to targets affected by your Unstable Affliction.
Problem: Lack of priority damage coming from spreading a DoTs, witch anyway are not a impactful part of the damage at the moment.
Solution: Adding 10% to Unstable Affliction, remove Haunt because it is just another timer to maintain. The additional 1% damage effect will reward player for correcting playstyle of Affliction as damage over time spreader. As example:
“You deal 10% increased damage to targets affected by your Unstable Affliction and additional 1% for each Agony and Corruption at any target.” -
Compounding Horror [Legion Artifact Weapon]
When target affected by Unstable Affliction dies, your next Malefic Rapture or Seed of Corruption is instant cast and cost no Soul Shard for 30 seconds.
Problem: Long damage ramp up time in AoE situations.
Solution: Rewarding for casting Unstable Affliction even in AoE situations, not just ones per pull but to be more reacting the current situation in combat. Benefits the player skill level. Giving a possibility to use on another pack in M+.
Malefic Rapture [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Your damaging periodic effects erupt on all targets, causing Shadow damage per effect.
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Deliberate Malice [Shadowlands Tier Set Bonus]
Malefic Rapture’s damage is increased by 25% and each cast extends the duration of Corruption, Agony, and Unstable Affliction by 2 sec.
Problem: -
Solution: Very good ability which helps you keep up with the DoTs and focus more on other things during the combat. The Malefic Rapture buff should go baseline, but the extend duration part should be as a talent.
Seed of Corruption [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Embeds a demon seed in the enemy target that will explode after 12 sec, dealing Shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yards and applying Corruption to them.
The seed will detonate early if the target is hit by other detonations, hit by another Seed, or takes damage from your spells.
Problem: Seed can overwrite Seed buff on the targets which leads to damage lose as some detonations didn’t occur.
Solution: If the target is currently buffed with Seed effect, another Seed which will be cast on it will make previous Seed detonate.
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Soul Flame [Legion Artifact Weapon]
When you kill a target, its soul bursts into flames, dealing (30% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage to all nearby enemies.
Problem: Affliction have problem with handling small HP pack of mobs.
Solution: Would be very helpful to handle with many low HP adds. Example:
“Corruption applied by Seed of Corruption additionally soul bursts enemy target into flames. When you kill a target, it’s dealing Shadowflame damage to all nearby enemies.” -
Sow the Seeds [Shadowlands talent ability]
Seed of Corruption now embeds demon seeds into 2 additional nearby enemies. -
Deathbloom [Battle for Azeroth Azerite ability]
Range of Seed explosion increased by x yd.
Problem: Range is sometimes low in M+.
Solution: It should stand somehow in the opposite way of more DoTs spreading way of play with a Malefic Rapture. Which as Affliction warlock you can be more stative-stack Seed bombardier or quick-spread DoT and Malefic Rapture spreader.
Summon Darkglare [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Summons a Darkglare from the Twisting Nether that extends the duration of your damage over time effects on all enemies by 8 sec.
The Darkglare will serve you for 20 sec, blasting its target for (32% of Spell power) Shadow damage, increased by 10% for every damage over time effect you have active on any target.
Problem: Since a BFA the basic rotation had changed which caused this ability undervalue.
Solution: As a baseline its damage can be easily tripled to a value of 100% spell power. Which mean, when you call this demon, you can be sure it will do meaningful damage to the target you selected. More AoE values could be selected further.
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Summon Darkglare – Rank 2 [Shadowlands baseline ability]
Reduces Summon Darkglare’s cooldown by 60 seconds. -
Corrupting Leer
Agony and Unstable Affliction damage have a x% chance to reduce the cooldown of Summon Darkglare by 5 sec.
Problem: When we look at the Fire or Frost Mage, we can see that the reducing your major cooldown with a smaller abilities can be very addictive. At this moment for Warlocks the cooldown reduction is good in AoE scenarios, but low in Single Target, but the cooldown is doing a Single Target damage which can a little awkward.
Solution: The point is to make it good in Single Target and not overpowered in AoE, this can be solved with connecting the x value of cooldown reduction (0.5 second) just with an Unstable Affliction. It can make more constant and predicable flow of the cooldown and damage. -
Dark Soul: Misery [Shadowlands talent ability]
Infuses your soul with the misery of fallen foes, increasing haste by 30% for 20 sec.
Problem: Main problem is that this is a go to pick in any scenario for both BFA and Shadowland. In general, this ability does nothing to the Affliction, it’s just smaller Bloodlust what makes it disappointing. When we look at Destruction or Demonology last row of talent, we can see more rotation/playstyle change of talents (outside of the damage values).
Solution: Can be combined with Darkglare as additional last row ability talent. Haste value is very nice but as a DoTs specialization we could see something like Agony, Corruption and Unstable Affliction rate increase by decent value. Which would scale good with shard generation and Nightfall procs from both Agony and Corruption. This would be a key which you for sure feel after pressing.
Vile Taint
Unleashes a vile explosion at the target location, dealing (93.75% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 10 sec to all enemies within 10 yds and reducing their movement speed by 30%.
It’s currently interesting talent which stands strongly in opposite to Sow of Seed playstyle.
Problem: Very often happens that enemy affected with Seed of Corruption jump away from a pack and then Seed explode, spreading Corruption just to this one target. Feels weak as a talent, picked only to buff Malefic Rapture damage.
Solution: Vile Taint also applies Corruption, same as Seed of Corruption does. Will open an Affliction another (choose-able) way to apply Corruption, which will be something very freshly for specialization itself.
It’s area-circle spell and gives more control to the player. If one enemy will jump away from its area, it’s less painful comparing to Seed of Corruption wasted explosion.
It will make opener shorter, from [Agony X times → Seed of Corruption → Vile Taint → Soul Rot…] to [Agony X times → Vile Taint → Soul Rot…]. On the paper it’s just one spell less, but in reality it would be huge quality of life improvement.
For sure it should still cost a Soul Shard and be on 20 sec cooldowns.
