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
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.
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 (2023-09-18):Backlash damage increased by 35%.
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).
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].