Affliction WarlockRestoration Shaman

Warlock / Resto Shaman

A tier2v2mediumLS

An attrition comp built on unstoppable DoT pressure and totem utility. It rarely scores fast kills; it wins by making every second of the match cost the opponent more than it costs you.

Medium confidence: proven Classic archetype, core toolkit confirmed in demo footage, tuning unverified. Tiers revised weekly from community theorycraft; see the changelog below.

Specs

  • Affliction Warlock Caster DPS
  • Restoration Shaman Healer

Game plan

Spread Corruption, Curse of Agony and Siphon Life on everything, chain Fear when Tremor Totem is safe from purge, and let the Shaman answer swaps with Nature's Swiftness. Win the two-minute fight, not the first thirty seconds.

Why it works: synergy

  • Tremor Totem protects the comp from mirror fear chains while the Warlock fears freely.
  • Grounding Totem eats Polymorph, Frostbolt or Fear every 10 seconds, breaking setup comps' rhythm.
  • Drain Life plus totem sustain makes the pair extremely hard to kill through DoT-cleave chip damage.
  • Purge strips HoTs, Power Word: Shield and mage armors at trivial mana cost.

Counters

A clean opener on the Shaman before totems are down can end the game before attrition starts.

Cleanse removes Warlock DoTs and fears absurdly efficiently, and Mortal Strike outpaces totem sustain.

Dangers: how this comp loses

  • Totems die to a single melee swing; a coordinated opener can delete Tremor and Grounding instantly.
  • Paladin Cleanse is cheaper than the DoTs it removes, inverting the mana war.
  • The comp has no true burst, so a lost attrition war has no comeback mechanic.

What Forever changes

  • Troll Warlock (confirmed new combo) adds Berserking pressure casts to the archetype.
  • Dwarf Shaman (confirmed new combo) brings Stoneform-style utility to a class that never had Alliance-side options in Classic.

Keep going

Read the Forever PvP primer, classes and races in PvP and the talent calculator to build these specs yourself.

Changelog

  1. 2026-09-14
    Seeded at A tier for 2v2 in the launch tier list.
    Proven Classic-era archetype whose core toolkit is confirmed intact in the BlizzCon demo footage; tier carried over with Forever adjustments noted.