Keep your rot ticking, then pour Soul Shards into Unstable Affliction under Darkglare.
Damage
Gear: Method.ggBuilds: Archon consensus, M+ This Week (+7–+19)Updated 10/29/2026 by Guild guides
Playing
Affliction keeps Agony, Corruption and Haunt rolling on everything worth dotting, and spends the Soul Shards that Agony generates on Unstable Affliction for one target or Seed of Corruption for a pack. Midnight removed Malefic Rapture, Soul Rot and Vile Taint: Dark Harvest is the 1-minute cooldown and Summon Darkglare the 2-minute burst, during which your filler becomes Malefic Grasp.
Difficulty
Three damage-over-time effects to keep rolling, Nightfall procs to spend before they cap, and a Darkglare window you have to arrive at with shards. Nothing is hard on its own, but it all runs at once.
Pick any button below to follow it through the guide: where it sits in the opener, which rung of the priority fires it, and every mistake it is part of.
1Agony
2Corruption
3Wither
415sHaunt
5Unstable Affliction
6Seed of Corruption
7Drain Soul
8Shadow Bolt
91mDark Harvest
02mSummon Darkglare
-Malefic Grasp
=1mMalevolence
s124sSpell Lock
s23mUnending Resolve
s31mDark Pact
s445sMortal Coil
s51mShadowfury
s62mBlight of Tongues
s710sDemonic Gateway
s830sDemonic Circle: Teleport
s910mSoulstone
Rotation
What do I press?
Press order
1Agony0.0s
2Agony1.5s
3Agony3.0s
4Haunt4.5s
5Seed of Corruption6.0s
6Summon Darkglare8.0s
7Dark Harvest9.5s
8Seed of Corruption12.5s
9Seed of Corruption14.5s
10Seed of Corruption16.5s
11Malefic Grasp18.5s
12Agony22.5s
13Seed of Corruption24.0s
14Shadow Bolt26.0s
Agony0.0s
Fires because fewer than 4-5 enemies have Agony, or one has under 5 seconds left. Four to six Agonies are enough shard income to keep casting Seeds.
0s5s10s15s20s25s30s
Summon Darkglare
One press per global at base haste (1.5s), longer for casts. Real pulls drift with haste and procs; the order is what matters.
Cooldowns and when to use them
2-minute burst that boosts Agony, Corruption and Unstable Affliction while out. Refresh short dots and have 3+ shards and Dark Harvest ready going in.
From SimulationCraft's warlock_affliction.simc, changed Sep 19, 2026. This is what the simulations behind most guides press; conditions are shown as SimC writes them.
What top players actually cast
Below are the opening rotations from a small sample of recent top Affliction Warlock rankings for Altar of Fangs. You can use this to compare to your own opener and find potential points of improvement. Note that the opener for some specs may vary based on when certain buffs proc.
AgonyOver timeInstant · 18s longYour Soul Shard generator: its ticks sometimes give a shard and its damage ramps up the longer it stays on. Never let it drop.
CorruptionOver timeInstant · 14s longInstant damage over time that procs Nightfall. With Absolute Corruption it is permanent on the target.
WitherOver timeInstant · 18s longHellcaller only: replaces Corruption, gains stacks when you spend shards and burns them off for extra damage.
HauntOver time1.5s cast · 15s cd · 18s longHits the target and makes it take more of your damage for 18 seconds. Your Apex talents make it worth casting on cooldown, not just keeping up.
Unstable AfflictionSpender1.5s cast · 8s long · -1 Soul ShardYour single-target spender in Midnight (it replaced Malefic Rapture). Casts stack on the target, and each one shortens Dark Harvest with Cull the Weak.
Seed of CorruptionSpender2s cast · 12s long · -1 Soul ShardYour AoE spender. The seed bursts on the pack and applies Corruption to everything it hits; Sow the Seeds plants it on extra targets.
Drain SoulFiller5s castChannelled filler taken over Shadow Bolt for single target; double damage below 20% health. Clip it whenever something higher is ready.
Shadow BoltFiller2s castThe filler when you take Improved Shadow Bolt instead of Drain Soul, which most Mythic+ builds do because it is stronger on several targets.
Malefic GraspProc4s castReplaces your filler while Darkglare is out. Each tick makes your other damage over time effects instantly deal part of their damage.
Cooldowns
Dark HarvestCooldown3s cast · 1m cdChannel that drains every target with your damage over time on it. Soul Harvester gets 3 Soul Shards back during the channel, so cast it near empty. Every Unstable Affliction or Seed shortens its cooldown.
Summon DarkglareCooldownInstant · 2m cd · 20s longYour 2-minute burst: Agony, Corruption and Unstable Affliction deal more damage while it is out. It no longer extends your dots, so refresh short ones before pressing it.
MalevolenceCooldownInstant · 1m cd · 20s longHellcaller only: adds stacks to every Wither and boosts your Haste. Bank a few shards and spend them right after pressing it.
Survival
Unending ResolveDefensiveInstant · 3m cd · 8s long25% damage reduction plus immunity to interrupts and silences. Dark Accord shortens the cooldown; Strength of Will raises the reduction to 40%.
Dark PactDefensiveInstant · 1m cd · 20s longTrades 20% of your current health for a shield worth twice that. Press it at high health, before the damage lands.
Mortal CoilDefensiveInstant · 45s cdMakes one enemy flee for 3 seconds and heals you. Short range, so step in to use it.
Utility
Spell LockInterruptInstant · 24s cdYour Felhunter's interrupt (press Command Demon). It locks the school for a few seconds. You only have it with the Felhunter out.
ShadowfuryUtility1.5s cast · 1m cd · 3s long3-second area stun on a target spot. Your best tool for stopping a pack's casts in keys.
Blight of TonguesUtilityInstant · 2m cd · 12s longMidnight's area Curse of Tongues: every enemy near the target casts much slower for 12 seconds.
Demonic GatewayMovement2s cast · 10s cdPortal pair the whole group can use. Soulburn makes it instant; Frequent Traveler lets you use it twice.
Demonic Circle: TeleportMovementInstant · 30s cdTeleports you back to your Demonic Circle. Soulburn first to also shed slows and pre-empt roots.
SoulstoneUtility3s cast · 10m cdBattle resurrection. Cast it on a dead ally, or on a living one ahead of time.
Builds / Talents
Raid and Mythic+ talents
Soul HarvesterRaid and Mythic+The default everywhere right now: Method and Maxroll both say it beats Hellcaller in single target, cleave and AoE, and 37 of the top 50 Mythic+ Affliction players run it. Dark Harvest refills 3 Soul Shards over its channel and Succulent Souls empower your Unstable Afflictions.
HellcallerSituationalTurns Corruption into Wither and adds Malevolence, a 1-minute cooldown that adds Wither stacks. It reads like a spread-cleave tree, but current tuning leaves it behind Soul Harvester almost everywhere; take it only if a sim says so for your gear.
27 of the top 50 Mythic+ players run Soul Harvester (3742–4031 rating). Murlok.io
Mythic+
17,174 logs · 2026-11-05T12:00:00Z
Consensus loadoutRecommended
Popularity 92.9% heatmap match · 92.9% heatmap match
Recommended loadout is the closest match to Archon’s aggregate popularity across top parses — not a single one-off key.
Sample size: 17174 top parses. Only talents in the recommended loadout are drawn.
Class
Specialization
Hero
Only talents in this loadout are drawn (Soul Harvester). Hover a node for its Wowhead tooltip.
Across 17,174 logs. A talent has to show up in at least 40% of them before it is part of the build.
Gear
What do I wear and enchant?
Stats for Mythic+
1Intellect
›
2Haste
›
3Critical Strike
›
4Mastery
›
5Versatility
Left to right — highest priority first. Sim your character when secondaries are close.
Based on data in the last 2 weeks, the stat priority for Affliction Warlock looks to be Intellect > Haste > Crit > Mastery > Vers. However, there may be bias based on what gear is available to players.
What the top Mythic+ players actually have
Haste28% +1132
Critical Strike28% +945
Mastery69% +750
Versatility4% +202
Average secondary stats of the top 50 Mythic+ players (3742–4031 rating), from Murlok.io, updated 19 minutes ago.
4×piece set: Affliction Warlock16×slots
Best in slot from Method.gg. Every slot is on the figure. Point at a piece to light it.
Wear 4 tier pieces. The 4-piece bonus is what this spec is tuned around.
2-piece: Corruption damage increased by 25%. Agony damage increased by 15%.
4-piece: Each active Unstable Affliction increases your damage dealt by your spells and abilities by 2%, up to 6%. Seed Of Corruption Applies Unstable Affliction at 20% effectiveness to your target.
Patch 12.1.5
HeadTierBiS
Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl (Tier Set)
Ula'tek (Catalyst)
NeckBiS
Aqirbane Reliquary
Ula'tek
ShoulderTierBiS
Brood Cleanser's Amice (Tier Set)
Temple of Sethraliss (Catalyst)
BackBiS
Adherent's Silken Shroud ( Arcanoweave Lining )
Tailoring
ChestTierBiS
Robes Of The Reborn Serpent (Tier Set)
Temple of Sethraliss (Catalyst)
WristBiS
Martyr's Bindings ( Arcanoweave Lining )
Tailoring
HandsTierBiS
Handwraps Of Oscillating Polarity (Tier Set)
Temple of Sethraliss (Catalyst)
WaistBiS
Ethereal Netherwrap
Voidscar Arena
LegsTierBiS
Voidweaver's Leggings (Tier Set)
Kith'ix (Catalyst)
FeetBiS
Cackling Soultreads
The Coiled Altar
Finger 1BiS
Band Of The Amani Warlord
Altar of Fangs
Finger 2BiS
Alluring Bubbleband
Nymrissa Wavecaller
Trinket 1BiS
Twisted Horror's Tendril
Kith'ix
Trinket 2BiS
Stormbound Emblem Of Dazar
King's Rest
Main HandBiS
Jan'thrazet, The Soul Fang
Ula'tek
Off HandBiS
Kokia's Burnout Rod
Ruby Life Pools
Log meta from Archon · updated 2026-11-05T12:00:00Z
Best-to-good single-target order from Liquid Armory (Oct 12, 2026). Filled marks = higher on the list. Your own gear can change the order — sim before you buy.
Soul Harvester's Dark Harvest refunds 3 shards over the channel. Cast it with 2 or fewer or the refund is wasted.
Looking for Malefic Rapture
Wrong
Agony
Corruption
Malefic Rapture
Right
Agony
Corruption
Unstable Affliction
Malefic Rapture, Soul Rot, Vile Taint and Phantom Singularity were removed in Midnight. Unstable Affliction is the single-target spender and Seed of Corruption the AoE one.
Darkglare onto expiring dots
Wrong
Agony (2 sec left)
Summon Darkglare
Agony
Right
Agony
Corruption
Summon Darkglare
Darkglare no longer extends your dots. It boosts them while it is out, so refresh anything short first.
Letting Nightfall cap
Wrong
2 Nightfall stacks
Unstable Affliction
Haunt
Nightfall proc lost
Right
2 Nightfall stacks
Drain Soul
Unstable Affliction
A third proc on a full stack is lost. Spend a Nightfall before generating more.
Playstyle
Is this spec for me?
How it plays
Agony generates your Soul Shards; it must never fall off anything you are fighting.
Sunfire Silk Spellthread
Mark of the Worldsoul
Rite of the Hash'ey
Indecipherable Eversong Diamond
Flawless Quick Garnet
