The following compares the current state of Affliction Warlocks to Unholy Death Knights using the latest SimulationCraft data for end-game PvE in World of Warcraft The War Within patch 11.0.2.
Comparison
Category
Winner
Unholy Death Knight
+9.98%
When simulating boss fight encounters, Unholy Death Knights averaged 9.98% more DPS than Affliction Warlocks (+154K DPS).
Unholy Death Knight
+7.83%
When simulating AoE DPS, Unholy Death Knights averaged 7.83% more DPS than Affliction Warlocks (+74K DPS).
Affliction Warlock
+41.74%
Affliction Warlocks have higher spike damage potential, achieving +4.2M more DPS than Unholy Death Knights.
Spike damage is the peak DPS achieved in any given moment and is not sustained DPS.
Affliction Warlock
+2.91%
When upgrading the gear for both specs by +44 ilvl, Affliction Warlock DPS improved the most, +2.91% more than Unholy Death Knight. In total, Affliction Warlocks DPS increased by 67.88% and Unholy Death Knights by 64.97%.
Unholy Death Knight
+5.57%
+ Movement and latency lowered the DPS by 6.15% for Unholy Death Knights.
+ Movement and latency lowered the DPS by 11.71% for Affliction Warlocks.
When introducing occasional movement and real-world latency, Unholy Death Knights performed better, as Affliction Warlocks suffered a +5.57% DPS loss.
Affliction Warlock
When evaluating abilities used during boss encounters, Affliction Warlocks had fewer damaging abilities in total, indicating a potentially less complex rotation.
The comparisons above highlight some of the key differences between Affliction Warlock and Unholy Death Knight in the current meta, which can hopefully help you determine which spec to play or group up with.
Unholy Death Knight
Affliction Warlock