Unstable Affliction

Unstable Affliction
	Unstable Affliction; Row 2 Affliction warlock talent; 40 yd range; 1% of base mana; 1.5 sec cast; Afflicts one target with (202.4% of Spell Power) Shadow damage over 16 sec.; ; If dispelled, deals (435.4% of Spell Power) damage to the dispeller and silences them for 4 sec.; ; Generates 1 Soul Shard if the target dies while afflicted.;
Properties
Class	Warlock
School	Shadow
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Talents
Talent required	[Malefic Rapture]
Improvements	[Creeping Death], [Pandemic Invocation], [Rampant Afflictions], [Soul-Eater's Gluttony], [Tormented Crescendo], [Xavius' Gambit]
Related debuff
	Magic ; Unstable Affliction ; Suffering (25.3% of Spell power) Shadow damage every 2 sec. If dispelled, will cause (435.4% of Spell power) damage to the dispeller and silence them for 4 sec. ; Duration: 16 seconds ;

For the Season of Discovery rune, see [Unstable Affliction].

Unstable Affliction is an Affliction warlock talent that places a damage over time debuff on the target. If the debuff is dispelled, the dispeller will be dealt substantial damage and silenced for 4 seconds.

Notes

The silence effect from this ability is subject to diminishing returns.
Certain abilities that "remove" harmful effects rather than "dispelling" them, such as a rogue's [Cloak of Shadows] or a mage's [Ice Block], can remove Unstable Affliction without triggering its secondary effects. The Felhunter's [Devour Magic] is considered a dispel effect, and so will trigger Unstable Affliction's effects.

Tips and tactics

This is a great spell for warlocks in arena. With all the curses a warlock has, a priest will be forced to dispel, which results in the direct damage.
In PvE, this spell is just another DoT. Most raid bosses do not dispel, and therefore the damage and silence of effects of dispelling this spell are wasted.
In PvP, it can help prevent your DoTs from being dispelled safely, as its secondary effects can cause significant damage to the dispeller.

Patch changes

Hotfix (2023-12-19): Backlash damage increased by 8%.
Hotfix (2023-09-18): Backlash damage increased by 35%.
Patch 10.1.5 (2023-07-11):
- Damage increased by 10%.
- Now deals 25% increased damage in PvP combat.
Hotfix (2023-06-05): Backlash damage increased by 50%.
Hotfix (2023-02-06): Backlash damage increased by 35%.
Hotfix (2023-01-09): Backlash damage is no longer increased from increased damage dealt modifiers or effects that Unstable Affliction's damage.
Patch 10.0.2 (2022-11-15): No longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): Now a row 2 Affliction talent (was a level 13 Affliction ability). Rank 2 effects are now baseline. Rank 3 removed.
Patch 9.2.5a (2022-08-02):
- Damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
- Backlash damage when dispelled deals 20% more damage, but can no longer critically strike.
Patch 9.1.0 (2021-06-29): Fixed an issue that prevented Unstable Affliction from contributing towards [Soul Leech] absorb when [Rampant Afflictions] was selected.
Hotfix (2021-01-26): Unstable Affliction will now appear as a high priority debuff on raid frames.
Hotfix (2020-12-16): Damage is now increased by [Shadow Embrace] and [Haunt].
Patch 9.0.2 (2020-11-17): Rank 3 added at level 56: Unstable Affliction's duration is increased by 5 seconds.
Hotfix (2020-10-20): Damage dealt when it is dispelled has been reduced by 35%.
Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13):
- Duration is now 16 seconds (was 8 seconds), no longer costs a Soul Shard, and no longer stacks.
- Damage backlash when dispelled has been increased substantially.
- Now learned at level 13 (was 14). Rank 2 now learned at level 43 (was 26).
Patch 8.2.0 (2019-06-25): A new aura icon will indicate to healers that a target has Unstable Affliction active.
Patch 8.1.0 (2018-12-11): Damage reduced by 9%.
Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): The effect from the former talent [Contagion] has been built into Unstable Affliction.
Hotfix (2017-12-05): Damage reduced 4%.
Hotfix (2017-06-29): Damage increased by 10% in PvP situations.
Hotfix (2017-06-15): Unstable Affliction's dispel backlash can no longer be reflected or grounded.
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): The Warlock may now afflict a target with up to 5 Unstable Afflictions at once, and the dispel damage is now based on the number of stacks instead of the remaining duration.
- Damage increased by 5%.}
- Now learned at level 14 (was 10), and the Soul Shard refund has been moved to Rank 2 at level 26.
Hotfix (2016-09-23): Unstable Affliction damage increased by 15%.
Hotfix (2016-08-11): When Unstable Affliction is dispelled, it now deals 120% of the remaining spell damage (was 200%).
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Redesigned. Afflicts the target with (320% of spell power) Shadow damage over 8 sec. Multiple casts accumulate increased damage. If dispelled, deals 200% of its remaining damage to the dispeller and silences them for 4 sec. Refunds 1 Soul Shard if the target dies before 8 sec have elapsed.
Old: Causes (235.2% of Spell power) damage over 14 sec. If dispelled, the dispeller suffers (235.2% of Spell power) instant Shadow damage and is silenced for 4 sec. This damage is always a critical strike.
Patch 6.2.2 (2015-09-01): Now deals 10% less damage in PvP combat.
Patch 6.2.0 (2015-06-23): Now deals 12% more damage.
Hotfix (2014-12-15): Unstable Affliction's damage has been increased by 20%.
Patch 5.4.0 (2013-09-10): Damage has been increased by 21%.
Patch 5.2.0 (2013-03-05): Unstable Affliction's Backlash effect is now always a critical hit and deals approximately 15% more damage.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Now an Affliction specialization ability available at level 10. Duration reduced from 15 to 14 sec. No longer limited to one target.
Hotfix (2011-05-02): Due to the damage increase when Unstable Affliction is dispelled post-patch 4.1, the spell power coefficient applied to its dispel damage has been reduced.
Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Damage done when it is dispelled has been doubled, but this damage can no longer be critical. Damage dealt by Unstable Affliction when it is dispelled now properly benefits from [Shadow Mastery].
Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): Silence effect has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 5.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Now a primary spell in the Affliction tree, learned at level 10 (was a tier 9 Affliction talent).
Patch 3.3.3 (2010-03-23):
- The feedback damage from when this spell is dispelled is now affected by resilience as intended.
- Tooltip clarified to state that this spell is exclusive with [Immolate].
Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04): Immolate and Unstable Affliction: All ranks of these two spells will now overwrite each other.
Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): Feedback damage from dispelling this debuff will no longer be modified by effects on the victim which modify the damage the victim does.
Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): Will now gain the correct damage modifiers for the creature type of the target.
Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Silence effect reduced to 3 seconds, down from 5.
Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): The silence from this ability is now subject to diminishing returns.
Patch 2.2.0 (2007-09-25): This spell will no longer fail when a Warlock deselects their target midway through the cast.
Patch 2.0.3 (2007-01-09): The feedback from dispelling Unstable Affliction is now affected by [Shadow Mastery].
Patch 2.0.1 (2006-12-05): Added.