Literally since BFA rework and implementation of both Inevitable Demise and Malefic Rapture this spec is rather a meme than a true competitor. It has it’s monents with gimmicks like Death Bolt but that’s about it. When it doesn’t have any weird one shot this spec is literally a d tier due to ramp up time. Imo Blizzard should rework it kind of WoD way where it causes a real threat while on free cast. At the moment Affliction is only good against casters as it feels tanky against them. Against meeles this spec melts and it feels like there isn’t much you can do about it. The only place in the meta I can see for it is when (if ever) Holy Pala becomes S tier most played healer so Affliction can counter AoE dispel. Other than that this spec is similarly dead to DK specs even though it performs a bit better.
Affli is a damp spec it doesn’t need any huge spike or cheese, they need some kind of survivability more than the drain life thing (too easy to counter).
I’m sl it was doing great I remember fearmydear having a blast and with good kiting and with a good team that’s feels great.
I don’t agree to be honest. This guy quit for a reason and yes Fearmydear, Chan had some success on it but once Destru or Demo became a bit more viable they leave it because Malefic Rapture based gameplay just doesn’t work for PvP. It requires too much build up to even use this spender.
Also historically Affliction was the best Warlock spec in PvP and worked great until they reworked it in BFA. Even Legion UA stacking was better than this. Just remind yourself that back then Wallirikz, Chanimal were Affliction mains even though Destruction was as good. SP had similar issue it was based on spamming instants but for them to deal damage you needed VT on the target that was dispelled on CD. Now casted spells do more and instantly SP is doing better.
Yeah malefic is terrible, I think it’s in bfa where they changed dots classes playstyle from aoe rot to single burst target (terrible idea imo).
For me any dot spec should deal a lot of spread pressure like before and not deal dmg like current sp void torrent build.
Drains are an outdated mechanic.
We can’t stand and channel stuff in arena.
All in all, the spec is very GCD inefficient.
It needs more quick ways to apply multiple DOTs on a single target.
Another issue is that all its defensive tools are tied to self-healing and absorbs. This means it’s one of the specs that gets rekt the most during dampening.
A PvP talent that makes Malefic Rapture instant wouldn’t hurt either.
yeah looking at the screen while he was stomped at 2300 by some random zugzug
thats what having a blast is
and i guess thats why he quit
ironically affli can only kill people in dampening
Soul Swap before the change was good, but they decided to increase gcd for Affliction
I really would prefer Affliction over demo, even with the drains. They need to change siphon Life to be passive on all damage dealt. MR needs to be removed and give Drain Soul as talent there, replacement talent is malefic grasp. So we combine Drain Soul and Drain Life into one spell.
In sl he was playing at the top of the ladder not against 2k3 random.
He was also very active in 2s and played with any kind of spec to a pretty high rating as well so yeah he had a blast in this period for me.
Wouldn’t change a thing, because:
- Self-healing gets rekt by dampening
- Affliction’s issue isn’t long term sustain but surviving big burst of damage.
At this point, it needs its own Burrow, like Shamans.
i dno what are u talking about but every time i logged on his stream he was suffering
playing vs high ranked players doesnt mean ure 100% enjoying what ure doing
I know but i think another burrow effect is stupid.
Warlocks especially Affliction was always about self-sustaining. This should be a big part of the class fantasy.
The UA stacking was good amount of burst but UA is and should always be a dispel protection. If they would change MR to the UA stacking style, would also be a good change.
They definitely need to change a lot for Affliction.
It can’t be with the current RSS design.
If you want that to happen, then dampening needs to be capped at 50%.
Although it would also get rekt by dampening, a defensive spell similar to Evoker’s Renewing Blaze would be fitting for Affliction I think.
Not S1 or 2 it wasn’t lol
In S1 it was the best Warlock spec and in S2 it did good thanks to Death Bolt but once they removed Demon Armor the spec was terrible.
My mate played lock to 2.3 and S1+2 lock in general was awful
Idk what you guys are remembering
Then imagine that this awful was the best time Affli had in SL. As since S3 and Demon Armor removal it was even worse.
When was Deathbolt added / found out about?
S1 from my memory was chain harvest , Condem, vinal verdict and a heap load of other 
My mate complained all the time about not being able to push - he isn’t multi glad or anything
melee on top of him always, poor defensives and had to actually cast unlike now with a heap load of instants
Affliction is hard to balance I think. Remember the outrage in DF Prepatch when Affli was considered really good? People don’t like dying to passive ticking damage while the culprit of that damage is hard to kill. Spriest is a different topic in my eyes because while it deals a significant part of its dmg by passive means, you have to constantly cast or it fades away quickly. (Devouring plague has a short duration and ghosts spawn only when you cast certain abilities)
So first season other specs were so bad that Affli was the best one anyway. Then people discovered Death Bolt in the middle of S2. Big beefy Death Bolt took easily 50-80% hp. Then they turned it into dot in s3.
Not really to be fair current SP build is based on Shadowy Apparitions. You dot everyone and spam Devouring Plague, Mind Blast and SW:D whenever possible to spam them more. It’s even worth to press Mimd Blast over Mind Flay even though it’s less damage to spawn more apparitions. They stack to 25 so you summon that Faceless Void that pumps. Other build was a single target Void Torrent one with the tentacles but it required you to have Dots on the target. You had insane burst with fully channelled Void Torrent but people quickly figured it out and started Interrupting it/dispelling dots.
Yeah. My point was only that shadow for me doesn’t feel like a real “Dot-spec” right now because your “passive dmg” is connected to constantly pressing abilities which create ghostis. You also only have two longer lasting dots while Affli has like 5 or so.^^