Warlock Affliction Rotation & Opener
Built from the current top-100 Mythic parses on WarcraftLogs — the real opener sequences, casts-per-minute and buff uptimes of the best Affliction players, not theorycraft.
AI coach — raid
How to play: Agony never drops (6.5/min), Unstable Affliction is your high-frequency core (top players: 19.5/min), Haunt on cooldown (3.6/min), Shadow Bolt or Malefic Grasp fills. Dark Harvest and Summon Darkglare align with burst — DoTs fully rolled before opening. Watch: every DoT's remaining time — everything Affliction does stands on full DoT coverage; never cap soul shards, bank them before Darkglare windows.
Real Opener Sequences — Vorasius
First ~12 casts of actual top-ranked kills. Trinkets and racials vary by setup; the skill order is what to copy.
Babybrain — Area 52 (US)
1.
Agony
2.
Corruption
3.
Unstable Affliction
4.
Unstable Affliction
5.
Dark Harvest
6.
Summon Darkglare
7.
Emberwing Heatwave
8.
Light's Potential
9.
Unstable Affliction
10.
Unstable Affliction
11.
Unstable Affliction
12.
Unstable Affliction
jukeumuigangreokyunseongmaen — ajeusyara (KR)
1.
Haunt
2.
Agony
3.
Corruption
4.
Unstable Affliction
5.
Light's Potential
6.
Unstable Affliction
7.
Unstable Affliction
8.
Dark Harvest
9.
Summon Darkglare
10.
Emberwing Heatwave
11.
Unstable Affliction
12.
Malefic Grasp
Suyyzi — 无尽之海 (CN)
1.
Haunt
2.
Agony
3.
Light's Potential
4.
Unstable Affliction
5.
Corruption
6.
Emberwing Heatwave
7.
Summon Darkglare
8.
Unstable Affliction
9.
Dark Harvest
10.
Unstable Affliction
11.
Unstable Affliction
12.
Malefic Grasp
Casts Per Minute — Raid Benchmark
| Ability | Top-player CPM |
|---|---|
| Unstable Affliction | 19.5 |
| Shadow Bolt | 12.8 |
| Agony | 6.5 |
| Malefic Grasp | 4.4 |
| Haunt | 3.6 |
| Dark Harvest | 1.4 |
| Burning Rush | 0.8 |
| Summon Darkglare | 0.6 |
| Emberwing Heatwave | 0.6 |
CPM = median casts per minute across the sampled top kills. If you're far below on a core ability, that's usually the first thing to fix.
Buff Uptimes to Watch
| Buff | Top-player uptime |
|---|---|
| Cascading Calamity | 97.3% |
| Ebon Might | 96.9% |
| Visage | 90.0% |
| Arcanoweave Insight | 67.5% |
| Soul Leech | 65.6% |
| Might of the Void | 59.0% |
| Alnscorned Essence | 54.2% |
| Earthliving Weapon | 43.5% |
| Alnsight | 39.2% |
| Nightfall | 37.4% |
Mythic+ Differences
AI coach — Mythic+
How to play: Lead packs with Seed of Corruption (one cast blankets everything), hang Agony and UA on primary targets, channel Drain Soul as usual. Dark Pact rhythmically for survival. Watch: detonate Seeds off high-health targets (so they actually pop); your Soul Leech shield (84.7% uptime) is a passive health bar — it keeps flowing as long as your DoTs do.
Casts Per Minute — Mythic+ Benchmark
| Ability | Top-player CPM |
|---|---|
| Seed of Corruption | 14.2 |
| Agony | 6.9 |
| Unstable Affliction | 6.5 |
| Drain Soul | 4.9 |
| Haunt | 3.3 |
| Dark Harvest | 1.3 |
| Dark Pact | 0.8 |
| Spell Lock | 0.5 |
| Summon Darkglare | 0.4 |
| Burning Rush | 0.4 |
| Emberwing Heatwave | 0.4 |
| Mortal Coil | 0.3 |
Mythic+ Buff Uptimes
| Buff | Top-player uptime |
|---|---|
| Soul Leech | 84.7% |
| Demonic Circle | 71.6% |
| Arcanoweave Insight | 67.9% |
| Alnscorned Essence | 55.7% |
| Might of the Void | 53.6% |
| Succulent Soul | 37.4% |
| Alnsight | 35.9% |
| Nightfall | 25.6% |
| Manifested Demonic Soul | 18.1% |
Compare yourself in-game, live
The GearInsight addon overlays your own CPM and buff uptimes next to these benchmarks during combat.