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20th Anniversary Celebration Content Update Notes

· 392 class changes

The 20th Anniversary Celebration content update is now live!

Change text quoted from the official notes © Blizzard Entertainment. Pick-rate figures are Whats-the-meta.com's own.

Death Knight

Blood

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  • San'layn Gift of the San'layn has been updated – While Dancing Rune Weapon is active you gain Gift of the San'layn (was Vampiric Blood).

Frost

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  • Arctic Assault now fires a Glacial Advance at 80% effectiveness (was 100%).

Demon Hunter

Vengeance

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  • Metamorphosis now heals you for 40% of your maximum health instead of modifying your health directly.
  • Casting Metamorphosis while in Demon Form no longer heals you. Triggering Last Resort always heals you for 40% of your base maximum health.

Druid

Guardian

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  • Elune's Chosen Lunar Beam no longer causes Lunation to reduce the cooldown of Lunar Beam.

Restoration

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  • New Talent: Reactive Resin – When your Restoration heal over time effects are removed by enemies, they are replaced with Reactive Resin, healing an ally over 6 seconds. Multiple stacks may overlap. Passive ability.
  • New Talent: Twinleaf – Nature's Swiftness now has 2 charges.
  • New Talent: Wildwood Roots – Abundance now also reduces the cast time of Regrowth by 5% per stack. Cenarion Ward's cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds and its duration is increased by 2 seconds.
  • New Talent: Renewing Surge – The cooldown of Swiftmend is reduced by up to 40%, based on the current health of the target. Cooldown is reduced more when cast on a lower health target.
  • New Talent: Forest's Flow – Consuming Clearcasting now causes your Regrowth to also cast Nourish onto a nearby injured ally at 60% effectiveness, preferring those with your heal over time effects.
  • Dream of Cenarius has been redesigned – Wrath and Shred transfer 50% of their damage and Starfire and Swipe transfer 33% of their damage into healing onto a nearby ally. This effect is increased by 200% while Heart of the Wild is active.
  • Omen of Clarity is now a passive ability learned at level 12 (was a talent).
  • Harmonious Blooming is now a 1-point talent.
  • Flourish's visual effect has been improved.
  • Wildstalker Flourish now affects Symbiotic Blooms.

Evoker

Devastation

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  • Unravel now benefits from and consumes Iridescence: Blue.

Hunter

Beast Mastery

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  • New Talent: Snakeskin Quiver – Your auto shot has a 15% chance to also fire a Cobra Shot.
  • New Talent: Serpentine Rhythm – Casting Cobra Shot increases its damage by 25%, stacking up to 4 times. Upon reaching 4 stacks, the bonus is removed, and you gain 8% increased pet damage for 8 seconds.
  • New Talent: Barbed Scales – Casting Cobra Shot reduces the cooldown of Barbed Shot by 2 seconds.
  • Cobra Senses has been redesigned – Now reduces the Focus cost of Cobra Shot by 5 and increases its damage by 35%.
  • Hunter's Prey has been redesigned – Kill Shot will strike 1 additional target and deal 10% increased damage for each of your active pets. Stacks up to 5 times.
  • Multi-Shot damage increased by 300%.
  • Barbed Shot damage increased by 100%.
  • Barbed Shot cooldown increased to 18 seconds (was 12 seconds) and duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Barbed Shot's pet frenzy duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Thrill of the Hunt duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Pack Tactics energy regeneration increased to 125% (was 100%). Pack Tactics now replaces Steady Shot.
  • Animal Companion no longer reduces the damage of all your pets by 35%.
  • The following pet ability damage has been reduced by 35%: Bite; Bloodshed; Claw; Kill Command; Smack; Stomp
  • Training Expert is now a 1-point talent.
  • The following talents have been removed: Improved Kill Command; Kindred Spirits
  • Dark Ranger Shadow Hounds has been updated – When summoning a Dire Beast, you have a 25% chance to also summon a Shadow Hound. Shadow Hounds now have Beast Cleave for their duration.

Marksmanship

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  • New Talent: Pin Cushion – Casting Steady Shot reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 2 seconds. Choice node with Improved Steady Shot.
  • New Talent: Improved Deathblow – Aimed Shot now has a 15% chance and Rapid Fire now has a 25% chance to grant Deathblow. Kill Shot’s critical strike damage is increased by 25%.
  • Improved Steady Shot has been updated – Now makes Steady Shot grant an additional 10 Focus.
  • Precise Shots renamed to Precise Shot and has been updated – Now empowers your next cast of Arcane Shot, Chimera Shot, or Multi-Shot to deal 100% increased damage (was 2 casts at 70% bonus).
  • Steady Focus has been updated – Casting Steady Shot increases your Haste by 8% for 15 seconds (was casting Steady Shot twice in a row).
  • Steady Focus no longer plays its visual effects when it is refreshed.
  • Trueshot now reduces the focus cost of Aimed Shot baseline.
  • Rapid Fire Barrage Rapid Fire effectiveness increased to 40% (was 30%).
  • Razor Fragments is now a rolling periodic.
  • Master Marksman now benefits from Unnatural Causes.
  • Wailing Arrow no longer consumes Trick Shots.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Wailing Arrow from benefitting from Hydra’s Bite.
  • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus updated – Consuming Precise Shots increases the damage of your next Aimed Shot by 20% (was 10%).
  • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus no longer stacks (used to stack 2 times).
  • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will no longer be inconsistently consumed by Trick Shots-empowered Aimed Shots.
  • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will now consistently benefit all damage instances of a Trick Shots-empowered Aimed Shot.
  • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will now behave properly with spell-queued Arcane Shots and Multi-Shots.
  • The position of Unerring Vision and Calling the Shots has swapped.
  • Eagletalon’s True Focus has been removed.

Survival

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  • Ruthless Marauder has been redesigned – Fury of the Eagle's damage is increased by 10% and damage from Fury of the Eagle has a 20% chance to generate a stack of Tip of the Spear. When Fury of the Eagle ends, your Haste is increased by 8% for 10 seconds. Now a 1-point talent.
  • Merciless Blows has been redesigned – Butchery causes affected targets to bleed for heavy damage over 8 seconds.
  • Sic ‘Em has been updated – Kill Command’s chance to grant Deathblow is increased to 15% and Deathblow now makes Kill Shot strike up to 2 additional targets. Your chance to gain Deathblow is doubled during Coordinated Assault.
  • Exposed Flank has been updated – Now empowers your next Kill Command to deal 50% increased damage, strike 3 targets, and generate a Tip of the Spear stack for each target it hit.
  • Grenade Juggler has been updated – Now resets the cooldown of Explosive Shot instead of automatically firing it. Developer's note: By allowing you to manually fire Explosive Shot, we can open up this talent’s ability to synergize with existing effects (like Grenade Juggler’s own cooldown reduction) while also eliminating some frustrating edge-cases.
  • Butchery damage increased by 50%.
  • Butchery no longer has charges and its cooldown has been increased to 15 seconds.
  • Fury of the Eagle damage increased by 25%.
  • Fury of the Eagle channel time reduced to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
  • Fury of the Eagle now consumes a stack of Tip of the Spear when the channel begins, and the damage bonus will persist for the duration of the channel.
  • Kill Command resets no longer reduce the cooldown of Fury of the Eagle.
  • Tip of the Spear’s consumption grace period has been reduced to 0.3 seconds (was 0.7 seconds).
  • Relentless Primal Ferocity now grants 2 additional stacks of Tip of the Spear (was 1).
  • Frenzy Strikes Wildfire Bomb cooldown reduction per target hit increased to 3 seconds (was 1 second).
  • Killer Companion now increases Kill Command’s damage by 10/20% (was 5/10%).
  • Bombardier’s aura is now removed at more reasonable times.
  • Spearhead’s cast animation now blends with other animations.
  • Spearhead will no longer go on cooldown if the pet is out of range.
  • Ranger and Terms of Engagement have swapped positions in the talent tree.
  • Harpoon will now find an appropriate destination during the Rasha'nan fight in The Dawnbreaker dungeon.
  • Pack Leader Howl of the Pack now also increases Wildfire Bomb damage by 20%.
  • Pack Leader Wild Attacks now also increases the damage of Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite by 20%.
  • Sentinel Symphonic Arsenal damage increased by 200%.

Mage

Arcane

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  • New Talent: Aethervision – Consuming Nether Precision with Arcane Blast increases the damage of your next Arcane Barrage by 10% and causes it to generate 2 Arcane Charges. Stacks up to 2 times.
  • Time Loop has been updated – Now also increases the duration of Arcane Debilitation by 2 seconds and its chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 15%).
  • Leydrinker has been updated – No longer affects Arcane Barrage and casting Touch of the Magi now grants Leydrinker. Leydrinker's chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 20%).
  • Charged Orb has been updated – Now also increases the damage of Arcane Orb by 15%.
  • Consortium’s Bauble has been updated – Now increases Arcane Blast’s damage by 8% and reduces its mana cost by 5%. Consortium Bauble’s position in the tree has changed.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Arcane Debilitation to contribute twice its damage increase.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed players to double dip the last stack of Nether Precision with a spell-queued Arcane Barrage.
  • Arcane Missiles no longer consumes Ice Floes if you have Slipstream talented.
  • Some talents have changed positions.
  • Resonant Orbs has been removed.
  • Spellslinger Arcane Splinter damage increased by 26%.
  • Spellslinger Spellfrost Teachings chance to trigger reduced to 2%.
  • Spellslinger Splinterstorm now has a 5% chance to generate Clearcasting.
  • Spellslinger Unerring Proficiency damage bonus increased to 20% (was 16%).
  • Spellslinger Spellfrost Teachings now properly increases your Arcane Orb damage by 10% for 10 seconds.
  • Spellslinger Fixed an issue where Splinterstorm damage was not equal to Splinter damage.
  • Sunfury Glorious Incandescence has been updated – Now causes Arcane Barrage to deal 30% increased damage in addition to its previous effects.
  • Sunfury Memory of Al’ar's Arcane Soul extension amount increased to 1 second (was 0.5 seconds).
  • Sunfury Ignite the Future now also increases the maximum stacks of Mana Cascade to 15.
  • Sunfury Burden of Power no longer affects Arcane Barrage.
  • Sunfury Fixed an issue that was causing Mana Cascade to grant 0.5% Haste per stack to Arcane instead of 1%.
  • Sunfury Arcane Soul’s overlay has been updated.

Fire

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  • Majesty of the Phoenix has been updated – Casting Phoenix Flames causes your next Flamestrike to have its critical strike chance increased by 20% and critical strike damage increased by 20%. Stacks up to 3 times.
  • All ability damage reduced by 3%.
  • Lit Fuse now has a 6% chance to trigger (was 4%).
  • Explosive Ingenuity now increases Lit Fuse’s chance to trigger by 4% (was 3%).
  • Explosive Ingenuity now increases Living Bomb’s damage by 50% (was 25%).
  • Explosivo's Living Bomb damage increase while in Combustion reduced to 30% (was 40%).
  • Sparking Cinders now triggers 3 times per minute (was 2).
  • Sparking Cinders damage bonus increased to 15% for Pyroblast and Flamestrike (was 10% for Pyroblast and 20% for Flamestrike).
  • Heat Shimmer can once again trigger while casting Scorch.
  • Heat Shimmer is no longer consumed when it triggers during a Scorch cast.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Pyromaniac from being able to trigger Hyperthermia.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Controlled Destruction to increase Ignite damage by an additional 0.5% per stack.
  • Hyperthermia’s overlay has been updated.
  • Lit Fuse no longer highlights Fire Blast.
  • Lit Fuse is now displayed on the Personal Resource Display.
  • Fuel the Fire is now shown in the spellbook.
  • Sunfury Glorious Incandescence has been updated – Now causes Fire Blast to hit up to 2 nearby targets in addition to its previous effects.
  • Sunfury Burden of Power now increases Pyroblast damage by 20% (was 15%).
  • Sunfury Burden of Power now increases Flamestrike damage by 30% (was 60%).
  • Sunfury Memory of Al’ar's Hyperthermia extension amount increased to 1 second (was 0.5 seconds).
  • Sunfury Glorious Incandescence now highlights Fire Blast.

Frost

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  • Spellslinger Frost Splinter damage increased by 44%.
  • Spellslinger Spellfrost Teachings chance to trigger reduced to 2.5%.
  • Spellslinger Spellfrost Teachings Orb damage bonus on proc increased to 30% (was 20%).
  • Spellslinger Unerring Proficiency damage bonus increased to 5% (was 3%).
  • Spellslinger Splinterstorm no longer applies Winter’s Chill.
  • Spellslinger Splinterstorm now has a 5% chance to grant Brain Freeze.

Monk

Mistweaver

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  • New Passive Ability: Dome of Mist – Enveloping Mist transforms 80% of its remaining periodic healing into a Dome of Mist when dispelled, absorbing damage and increasing healing received by the Monk by 30% for 8 seconds. Learned at level 45.
  • New Talent: Jadefire Teachings – After casting Jadefire Stomp or Thunder Focus Tea, Ancient Teachings transfers an additional 140% damage to healing for 15 seconds. While Jadefire Teachings is active, your Stamina is increased by 5%.
  • New Talent: Refreshment – Life Cocoon now grants 5 stacks of Mana Tea and applies 2 stacks of Healing Elixir to its target.
  • New Talent: Rushing Wind Kick – Kick up a powerful gust of wind, dealing Nature damage in a 25 yard cone to enemies in front of you, split evenly among them. Damage is increased by 5% for each target hit, up to 30%. Grants Rushing Winds for 4 seconds, increasing Renewing Mist's healing by 50%. Replaces Rising Sun Kick, choice node with Jadefire Teachings.
  • New Talent: Jade Empowerment – Casting Thunder Focus Tea increases your next Crackling Jade Lightning's damage by 1000% and causes it to chain to 4 additional enemies. Choice node with Dance of Chi-Ji.
  • Calming Coalescence has been redesigned – Increases the absorb amount of Life Cocoon by 80%.
  • Ancient Teachings is now a baseline effect and transfers damage from Crackling Jade Lightning, but now transfers 30% of damage into healing.
  • Blackout Kick damage increased by 25%.
  • Awakened Jadefire now additionally causes Blackout Kick to strike 2 additional targets at 70% effectiveness.
  • Crackling Jade Lightning now channels 25% faster.
  • Dance of Chi-Ji's chance to trigger has been increased by 100% and has moved talent locations.
  • Enveloping Mist can now be dispelled.
  • The following talents have been removed: Ancient Concordance; Nourishing Chi

Windwalker

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  • Blackout Kick's damage increased by 20%.
  • Flurry of Xuen damage increased by 40%.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Courageous Impulse to incorrectly buff the damage of Blackout Kick by more than intended when multiple stacks are active.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Courageous Impulse to incorrectly buff Teachings of the Monastery Blackout Kicks.

Paladin

Holy

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  • Healing increased by 3%.
  • Word of Glory healing increased by 5%.
  • Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 10%. Developer's note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
  • Divine Favor now appears on the personal resource display and no longer has a visual effect.
  • Awakening’s judgment buff now appears on the personal resource display.

Protection

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  • New Talent: Refining Fire – Enemies struck by Avenger's Shield burn with Holy Fire, suffering damage over time.
  • Damage increased by 6%.
  • Word of Glory healing increased by 20%.
  • Base armor increased by 10%.
  • Armor from Shield of the Righteous increased by 10%.
  • Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 20%. Developer's note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
  • Blessed Hammer cooldown reduced by 10%.
  • Judgment cooldown reduced by 10%.
  • Hammer of the Righteous cooldown reduced by 10%.
  • Inmost Light cooldown reduction increased to 33% (was 20%).
  • Several talents and connections have changed locations.
  • The following talents are now 1 point: Gift of the Golden Val’kyr; Uther’s Counsel
  • Consecrated Ground has been removed.

Retribution

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  • Damage increased by 6%.
  • Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 20%.
  • Word of Glory healing increased by 10%.
  • Developer's note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.

Priest

Holy

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  • From Darkness Comes Light has been updated to also trigger from Holy Fire damage.

Rogue

Assassination

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  • Master Assassin duration increased to 6 seconds (was 3 seconds) and bonus to critical strike reduced to 25% (was 30%).
  • Iron Wire silence and damage reduction durations reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds and 8 seconds). PvP duration of the damage reduction effect reduced to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds). PvP duration of the silence effect has not changed (3 seconds).
  • Twist The Knife now enables Envenom's beneficial effect to overlap up to 2 times.
  • Envenom Tooltip updated to contextually reflect the overlapping behavior when Twist the Knife is known.

Outlaw

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  • Crackshot now also refreshes the cooldown of Between the Eyes upon gaining Stealth.
  • Precise Cuts now increases Blade Flurry’s damage by 4% per missing target below its max (was 2%).
  • Keep It Rolling cooldown reduced to 6 minutes (was 7 minutes).
  • Blade Flurry's area-of-effect range increased to match the same distance it was when the previous version of Acrobatic Strikes was talented.
  • Blade Flurry's initial damage effect radius increased to match the area of its primary effect.

Subtlety

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  • New Talent: Death Perception – Symbols of Death has [1/2] additional charge(s) and increases damage by an additional 3/6%. 2-point talent.
  • The First Dance has been redesigned – Remaining out of combat for 6 seconds increases the duration of your next Shadow Dance by 4 seconds. In PvP combat, the effect requires 10 seconds out of combat and increases Shadow Dance duration by 2 seconds.
  • Shadow Blades cooldown reduced to 1 minute 30 seconds (was 2 minutes) and duration reduced to 16 seconds (was 20 seconds).
  • The following talents have been removed: Invigorating Shadowdust; Sepsis

Shaman

Elemental

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  • New Talent: Herald of the Storms – Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning casts to reduce the cooldown of Stormkeeper by 2 seconds.
  • New Talent: Erupting Lava – Increases the duration of Flame Shock by 6 seconds. Lava Burst consumes up to 3 seconds of Flame Shock, instantly dealing that damage. Lava Burst overloads benefit at 50% effectiveness.
  • New Talent: Charged Conduit – Increases the duration of Lightning Rod by 4 seconds and increases its damage bonus by 25%.
  • New Talent: Earthshatter – Increases the damage of Earth Shock and Earthquake by 8% and increases the stat bonuses granted by Elemental Blast by 25%.
  • Ascendance has been redesigned – Transform into a Flame Ascendant for 15 seconds, instantly casting a Flame Shock and a 100% effectiveness Lava Burst at up to 6 nearby enemies. While ascended, Elemental Overload damage is increased by 150% and spells affected by your Mastery: Elemental Overload cause 1 additional Elemental Overload.
  • Ascendance no longer increases the critical strike damage of Lava Burst, replaces Chain Lightning with Lava Beam, or removes the cooldown of Lava Burst.
  • Mastery: Elemental Overload now also increases pet damage.
  • All damage reduced by 8%.
  • Lava Burst damage increased by 32%.
  • Earthquake damage increased by 17%.
  • Elemental Blast damage increased by 12%.
  • Frost Shock damage increased by 30%.
  • Surge of Power now causes Lightning Bolt to trigger 1 additional Elemental Overload (was 2).
  • Icefury can now trigger from casting Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning in addition to Lava Burst.
  • Icefury now causes your next Frost Shock to be empowered (was 2) and now causes Frost Shock to hit 4 additional targets.
  • Icefury now increases Frost Shock damage by 150% (was 225%).
  • Icefury now causes Frost Shock to generate an additional 7 Maelstrom.
  • The cooldowns of Meteor, Immolate, Call Lightning, and Stormfury are now reset when Fire Elemental or Storm Elemental are refreshed due to casting the ability while an elemental is already active.
  • Wind Gust from Storm Elemental now grants 4% Haste instead of 3% cast time reduction and stacks up to 4 times (was 10).
  • Wind Gust is now on the Personal Resource Display.
  • Stacks of Wind Gust no longer reset when a Lesser Storm Elemental from Echo of the Elementals spawns.
  • Deeply Rooted Elements now triggers from Earth Shock, Elemental Blast, or Earthquake instead of Lava Burst.
  • Frost Shock, Flame Shock, and Primordial Wave now generates 3 Maelstrom.
  • Primordial Wave now also grants Lava Surge.
  • Liquid Magma Totem now generates 8 Maelstrom.
  • Flash of Lightning no longer reduces the cooldown of Nature spells when Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning are cast.
  • Fire Elemental and Storm Elemental now last 20 seconds (was 30 seconds).
  • Lesser Elementals from Echo of the Elementals now last 10 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Storm Frenzy now reduces the cast time of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 30% (was 40%).
  • Storm Frenzy now also reduces the global cooldown of its associated spells if the spell has a low enough cast time to be under the normal global cooldown.
  • Fury of the Storms now summons a powerful Lightning Elemental for 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Lightning Conduit renamed to Lightning Capacitor.
  • Fixed an issue causing the tooltip of Improved Flametongue Weapon to be incorrect when talented into Enhanced Imbues.
  • Fixed an issue causing Deeply Rooted Elements to trigger from Earthquake's periodic damage effects.
  • Several talents have moved positions.
  • The following talents have been removed: Unrelenting Calamity; Skybreaker’s Fiery Demise
  • Farseer Elemental Blasts from Ancestors now prioritize your most recently attacked target when possible.
  • Farseer Routine Communication now also triggers from Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Icefury, and Frost Shock.
  • Farseer Routine Communication now has a 5% chance to call an Ancestor (was 8%).
  • Stormbringer Fixed several issues with interactions between Tempest and other specialization talents.
  • Stormbringer Fixed an issue with Arc Discharge granting 1 instant cast Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning instead of 2.

Enhancement

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  • New Talent: Flowing Spirits – Your damaging abilities have a chance to summon a Feral Spirit for 8 seconds. Replaces Feral Spirit. Functions with Elemental Spirits and Alpha Wolf.
  • New Talent: Molten Thunder – The cooldown of Sundering is reduced by 10 seconds, but it can no longer incapacitate. Stormsurge has a small chance to also reset the cooldown of Sundering.
  • New Talent: Voltaic Blaze – Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning has a 18% chance to make your next Flame Shock become Voltaic Blaze. Voltaic Blaze instantly shocks the target and 5 nearby enemies with blazing thunder, causing Nature damage and applying Flame Shock. Generates 1 stack of Maelstrom Weapon.
  • New Talent: Unrelenting Storm – When Crash Lightning hits only 1 target, it activates Windfury Weapon and its cooldown is reduced by 40%.
  • Ice Strike has been redesigned – Whenever you spend Maelstrom Weapon, your Frost Shock has a chance to become Ice Strike.
  • Stormblast has been updated – Stormstrike has an additional charge. Stormsurge now also causes your next Stormstrike to deal 25% additional damage as Nature damage, stacking up to 2 times.
  • Stormblast's additional Nature damage now functions for both main-hand and off-hand attacks.
  • Arc Discharge has been updated – Tempest makes your next Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt instant cast, deal 40% increased damage, and cast an additional time. Does not consume Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
  • Doom Winds has been updated – Unleash a devastating storm around yourself, dealing Stormstrike damage every 1 second to nearby enemies for 8 seconds. Increases your chance to activate Windfury Weapon by 200%, and the damage of Windfury Weapon by 10%.
  • The damage effect of Doom Winds is no longer considered a melee weapon attack and does not generate Maelstrom Weapon or trigger Flametongue Weapon.
  • Arc Lightning has been updated – Tempest causes your next Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt to be instant cast, deal 40% increased damage, and cast an additional time.
  • Thorim's Invocation has been updated – Now causes Deeply Rooted Elements to last 2 seconds longer/Reduces the cooldown of Ascendance by 60 seconds in addition to increased the damage of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 20%.
  • When Thorim’s Invocation is slated to use Chain Lightning, it will no longer cast a 5-stack tempest as a replacement of Chain Lightning when using Windstrike.
  • If Lightning Bolt hits multiple enemies with Primordial Wave while Thorim's Invocation is set to cast Chain Lightning, it will no longer switch to Lightning Bolt.
  • The second part of Enhancement Shaman Mastery that resets Stormstrike cooldown has been renamed from Stormbringer to Stormsurge.
  • Supercharge's Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning now have a 35% chance to refund 2 Maelstrom Weapon stacks (was 3 Maelstrom Weapon stacks).
  • Chain Lightning now reduces the cooldown of Crash Lightning by 0.5 seconds for each target hit (was 1 second).
  • Crash Lightning’s range changed to 8 yards (was 12 yards).
  • Molten Assault’s range changed to 10 yards (was 12 yards).
  • Primal Maelstrom now causes Primordial Wave to generate 3/5 stacks if Maelstrom Weapon (was 5/10).
  • Witch Doctor's Ancestry now reduces the cooldown of Feral Spirit by 1 second whenever a stack Maelstrom Weapon is generated (was 2 seconds).
  • Flametongue Weapon damage increased by 20%.
  • Fire Nova is now unavailable when there are no Flame Shock targets within 40 yards.
  • Deeply Rooted Elements now activates from Tempest, Lightning Bolt, or Chain Lightning.
  • Deeply Rooted Elements chance to trigger reduced to 3% (was 7%) and now triggers on cast rather than on damage dealt. Developer's note: In a future patch, we're going to change this to be based on Maelstrom Weapon stacks spent rather than per cast of ability that consumes Maelstrom Weapon and readjust the proc rate.
  • Ascendance now correctly reduces the cooldown of Stormstrike by 60%.
  • Windfury Weapon attacks now have an animation, sound effect, and an impact visual effect.
  • Doom Winds now has an animation, a sound effect, and an impact visual effect.
  • Stormstrike replacement Windstrike animation and visual effects have been updated.
  • Stormbringer only highlights Stormstrike and displays the UI overlay for 1.25 seconds.
  • Mastery reset on Stormstrike no longer has a UI overlay and now displays in combat text.
  • Overflowing Maelstrom now has a UI overlay when Maelstrom Weapon stacks reach 10 stacks.
  • Hot Hand no longer has a UI overlay display.
  • Hot Hands now has a visual effect on the character when the effect is active.
  • Hot Hands now has a visual effect on character on activation.
  • Ashen Catalyst no longer highlights Lava Lash when it reaches 8 stacks.
  • Ashen Catalyst stacks are now displayed on Lava Lash ability.
  • Ice Strike now has a new talent variant that causes your next Frost Shock to become Ice Strike when you spend Maelstrom Weapon. This talent is on a choice node with the current version of Ice Strike.
  • Ice Strike no longer highlights Frost Shock on the action bars.
  • Ice Strikes' Frost Shock buff is now on personal resource display.
  • Elemental Weapons is now a 1-point talent.
  • Stormbringer Awakening Storms damage reduced by 35%.
  • Stormbringer Fixed an issue causing Awakening Storms damage to not be affected by Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
  • Stormbringer Fixed several issues with interactions between Tempest and other specialization talents.
  • Totemic Reactivity has been redesigned – While Hot Hand is active Lava Lash shatters the earth, causing a Sundering at 30% effectiveness. Sunderings from this effect do not incapacitate.
  • Totemic Reactivity's previous effect, Searing Volley to up to 5 nearby enemies, has been merged into Lively Totems.
  • Totemic Whirling Elements: Whirling Fire has been redesigned – Your next Lava Lash or Fire Nova grants you Hot Hands for 8 seconds. This will add its time to an active Hot Hands if it's active.
  • Totemic Whirling Elements: Whirling Earth has been redesigned – Direct damage of your next Flame Shock is increased by 300% and it is applied to 5 nearby enemies.
  • Totemic Whirling Elements: Whirling Air has been redesigned – Your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Elemental Blast unleashes 3 Surging Bolts at your totem.
  • Totemic Imbuement Mastery has been updated – Increases the chance for Windfury Weapon to trigger by 10% and increases its damage by 15%. When Flametongue Weapon triggers from Windfury Weapon attacks, it has a chance to gather a whirl of flame around the target, dealing its damage to all nearby enemies 3 additional times.
  • Totemic Totemic Rebound triggering spells updated from Stormstrike to Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Elemental Blast.
  • Totemic An issue causing Whirling Earth to not be consumed has been resolved.
  • Totemic An issue causing Whirling Earth to be consumed on Lava Lash spreading has been fixed.

Restoration

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  • New Talent – Coalescing Water: Chain Heal increases the initial healing of your next Riptide by 75%, stacking up to 2 times and Chain Heal’s mana cost is reduced by 15%. Reactive Warding now also allows Earth Shield and Water Shield to consume charges of the shields 1 second faster.
  • High Tide’s progress is now tracked through an aura called Swelling Tide. When Swelling Tide’s stack count reaches 100, High Tide triggers.
  • High Tide’s progress now resets at the start of raid encounters and Mythic+.
  • Totemic Chain Heals from Lively Totems are now cast by the Shaman. This is intended to clarify that Chains Heals cast this way will interact with Shaman talents and effects that enhance Chain Heal.
  • Totemic Updated the wording on Surging Totem and Oversurge to clarify its functionality.
  • Totemic Fixed an issue causing Nature’s Swiftness to be consumed when Surging Totem is used.
  • Totemic Fixed an issue causing the Chain Heal from Totemic Rebound to sometimes target pets instead of players.
  • Totemic Fixed an issue causing Reactive Warding to not heal the Shaman sometimes when refreshing Earth Shield with Elemental Orbit and Earthen Communion talented.

Warlock

Destruction

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  • Diabolic Ritual has been updated – Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, and Shadowburn grant Diabolic Ritual for 20 seconds. If Diabolic Ritual is already active, its duration is reduced by 1 second instead. When Diabolic Ritual expires you gain Demonic Art, causing your next Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, or Shadowburn to summon an Overlord, Mother of Chaos, or Pit Lord that unleashes a devastating attack against your enemies.
  • Touch of Rancora has been updated – Demonic Art increases the damage of your next Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, or Shadowburn by 100% and reduces its cast time by 50%. Chaos Bolt reduces the duration of Diabolic Ritual by 1 additional second. Developer's note: We’re adjusting Diabolic Ritual to avoid a situation where constantly casting Rain of Fire, due to its instant cast time, provides the best output for Diabolist. To avoid adding to Diabolic Ritual’s already lengthy tooltip, we’re adding functionality to Touch of Rancora to add further value to casting Chaos Bolt so that its cast time doesn’t hinder its usefulness to Diabolist warlocks.

Warrior

Arms

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  • Warbreaker’s radius increased to 10 yards (was 8 yards).
  • Warbringer now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.

Fury

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  • Raging Blow damage increased by 25%. Developer's note: This change does not affect Reckless Abandon’s Crushing Blow.
  • Bloodthirst damage increased by 30%. Developer's note: This change does not affect Reckless Abandon’s Bloodbath.
  • Developer’s note: Currently Reckless Abandon is outperforming Anger Management in all situations, so we’re bringing them closer in power by bringing up Raging Blow and Bloodthirst’s base damage, which will also improve Fury’s baseline single-target damage.
  • Crushing Force now increases Bloodthirst critical strike damage by 5/10% (was critical strike chance by 2/4%).
  • Odyn’s Fury now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (was 8).