Undermine(d) Content Update Notes
The Undermine(d) 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
- Developers' notes: Currently Frost and Unholy Death Knights are incredibly survivable often boasting lower death rates then tanks and far above any other specs in the game. From a fantasy perspective it makes sense for Death Knights to be incredibly durable and their kit lends itself well to it, but it currently leans too far in the unkillable direction. We fully expect Frost and Unholy Death Knight to continue being one of the more survivable specs but this should bring them closer to a more sane level.
Blood
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- All ability damage increased by 20%. Developers' notes: We have noticed damage dealt by tanks has not been keeping pace with damage dealers, we are adjusting damage of all tank specs to bring them into a closer alignment with DPS specs.
Frost
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- All ability damage increased by 5%.
- Obliterate damage increased by 20%.
- Frost Strike damage increased by 15%.
- Rime now increases the damage of Howling Blast by 275% (was 225%).
- Breath of Sindragosa damage increased by 10%.
- Veteran of the Third War now increases Stamina by 12% (was 20%), and 6% in PvP combat (was 10%).
- Null Magic now reduces the magical damage you take by 5% (was 8%), and 3% in PvP combat (was 4%).
- Permafrost now generates an absorb shield at 30% of your auto attack damage (was 40%).
- Glacial Advance visual has been updated.
Unholy
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- All ability and pet damage increased by 5%.
- Soul Reaper damage increased by 35%.
- Clawing Shadows damage increased by 15%. Does not affect Vampiric Strike.
- Scourge Strike damage increased by 15%. Does not affect Vampiric Strike.
- Gargoyle Strike damage increased by 50%.
- Apocalypse ghoul damage increased by 25%.
- Magus of the Dead damage increased by 55%.
- Doomed Bidding now summons a Magus of the Dead for 6 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Commander of the Dead now increases the damage of Gargoyle and Army of the Dead by 45% (was 35%).
- Apocalypse and Raise Dead now summon ghouls instantly and visuals have been updated.
- Veteran of the Third War now increases Stamina by 12% (was 20%), and 6% in PvP combat (was 10%).
- Null Magic now reduces the magical damage you take by 5% (was 8%), and 3% in PvP combat (was 4%).
- Permafrost now generates an absorb shield at 30% of your auto attack damage (was 40%).
- Rider of the Apocalypse All Horsemen damage increased by 10%. Does not include Undeath and Trollbane's Icy Fury.
Demon Hunter
- Lost in Darkness has been redesigned – Spectral Sight has 5 second reduced cooldown and no longer reduces movement speed.
- Spectral Sight has been reworked: No longer removed upon taking an action.; No longer removed when taking damage.; Now removed by loss-of-control effects.; Now Magic-dispelled.; Movement penalty reduced to 20% (was 30%).
- Immolation Aura damage increased by 6%.
- The Hunt damage increased by 8%.
- Sigil of Spite damage increased by 8%.
- Sigil of Flame damage increased by 6%.
- Imprison now breaks based on a small damage threshold instead of any damage.
- Activating Vengeful Retreat now enforces a brief cooldown for Felblade, similar to its behavior with Fel Rush.
- Activating Felblade shortly after activating Vengeful Retreat will now cancel Vengeful Retreat’s movement if Felblade’s target is too close to dash to it.
- Hero Talents Aldrachi Reaver; Fel-Scarred
Havoc
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- New Talent: Screaming Brutality – Blade Dance automatically triggers Throw Glaive on your primary target for 100% damage and each slash has a 50% chance to Throw Glaive an enemy for 35% damage.
- Momentum renamed Exergy and has been updated – The Hunt and Vengeful Retreat increase your damage by 5% for 20 seconds.
- Inertia has been updated – The Hunt and Vengeful Retreat cause your next Fel Rush or Felblade to empower you, increasing damage by 18% for 5 seconds.
- Unbound Chaos has been updated – The Hunt and Vengeful Retreat cause your next Fel Rush or Felblade to deal 500% increased damage.
- Cycle of Hatred has been redesigned – Eye Beam reduces the cooldown of your next Eye Beam by 2.5/5 seconds, stacking up to 10/20 seconds.
- Cycle of Hatred additional aura stacks generated now persist until the Demon Hunter has been out of combat for 60 seconds without casting Eye Beam.
- Mastery: Demonic Presence effectiveness increased by 25%.
- All ability damage increased by 5%.
- Blade Dance damage increased by 33% (does not affect Death Sweep).
- Immolation Aura damage increased by 12%.
- Soulscar damage reduced to 80% of your Throw Glaive (was 100%).
- A Fire Inside now also causes your Immolation Aura to deal Chaos damage instead of Fire, in addition to its existing effects.
- Fixed an issue that caused Demon Hide to apply an inflated bonus for Immolation Aura, Sigil of Flame, The Hunt, Sigil of Spite, and Burning Wound.
- Exergy and Inertia choice node has swapped locations with Unbound Chaos.
- Cycle of Hatred is now a 1-point talent (was 2).
- Any Means Necessary has been removed.
- Fel-Scarred Enduring Torment now increases Blade Dance and Chaos Strike damage while not in Demon Form by 15% (was 10%).
- Fel-Scarred Burning Blades now deals 50% of listed ability damage over 6 seconds (was 35%).
- Fel-Scarred Demonsurge now causes Metamorphosis to increase Fury generated by Demon Blades by 3 (was 5).
- Fel-Scarred Flamebound radius bonus now also affects Ragefire.
Vengeance
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- All ability damage increased by 20%. Developers' notes: We have noticed damage dealt by tanks has not been keeping pace with damage dealers, we are adjusting damage of all tank specs to bring them into a closer alignment with DPS specs.
- Burning Blood bonus to Fire damage reduced to 8% (was 10%).
- Fiery Demise bonus to Fire damage dealt to targets affected by your Fiery Brand reduced to 15/30% (was 20/40%).
- Demon Spikes duration increased to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Cycle of Binding effect is now triggered by Sigil of Flame (was all Sigil skills) and reduces Sigil skill cooldowns by 5 seconds (was 2 seconds).
- Fallout’s chance to generate Soul Fragments has been increased at lower target counts, with 1 guaranteed Soul Fragment generated when striking a single target. Maximum possible remains 5.
- Feed the Demon is now a 1-point talent (was 2).
- Feed the Demon now reduces the cooldown of Demon Spikes by 0.35 seconds per Soul Fragment consumed (was 0.25/0.5 seconds).
- Fel-Scarred Demonsurge damage reduced by 10%.
- Fel-Scarred Burning Blades now deals 40% of listed ability damage over 6 seconds (was 35%).
- Fel-Scarred Fixed an issue where Fel Devastation did not share a cooldown with Fel Desolation.
Druid
- New Talent: Grievous Wounds – Rake, Rip, and Thrash damage increased by 10%.
- New Talent: Gale Winds – Increases Typhoon's radius by 20% and its range by 5 yards.
- New Talent: Incessant Tempest – Reduces the cooldown of Typhoon by 5 seconds.
- New Talent: Circle of the Wild – Physical damage dealt by your abilities increased by 5% (25% for Restoration Druids).
- New Talent: Circle of the Heavens – Magical damage dealt by your spells increased by 5% (25% for Restoration Druids).
- New Talent: Lycara's Meditation – You retain Lycara's Teachings' bonus from your most recent shapeshift form for 5 seconds after shifting out of it. Developers’ notes: Lycara’s Meditation is meant to retain some power when you shapeshift. It is not intended as a buff you would want to always maintain, and since Druids can swap into humanoid form instantly at no cost, the humanoid form bonus is not retained. Druids must also stay in Cat Form for 2 seconds to retain the Cat Form bonus if they entered Cat Form by casting Skull Bash with Fluid Form.
- New Talent: Symbiotic Relationship – Form a bond with an ally. Your self-healing also heals your bonded ally for 10% of the amount healed. Your healing to your bonded ally also heals you for 8% of the amount healed.
- New Talent: Aessina's Renewal – When a hit deals more than 12% of your maximum health, instantly heal for 10% of your health. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
- New Talent: Perfectly-Honed Instincts – Well-Honed Instincts can trigger up to once every 90 seconds.
- Ursoc's Spirit has been updated – Stamina increased by 4%. Stamina in Bear Form increased by an additional 5%. Developers' notes: These bonuses multiply together, so Druids' health in Bear Form remains unchanged.
- Light of the Sun replaces Skull Bash for Balance Druids only – The remaining cooldown of Solar Beam is reduced by 15 seconds when it interrupts its primary target.
- Improved Rejuvenation has been changed to Lingering Healing – Rejuvenation's duration is increased by 3 seconds. Regrowth's duration is increased by 3 seconds when cast on yourself.
- Instincts of the Claw is now a 1-point talent (was 2) and has been updated – Ferocious Bite and Maul damage increased by 8%.
- Lore of the Grove is now a 1-point talent (was 2) and has been updated – Moonfire and Sunfire damage increased by 10%.
- Fluid Form has been updated – Skull Bash can now be used in any form and shifts you into Cat Form if necessary.
- Fluid Form causes Wrath and Starfire to transform you into Moonkin Form at the end of their casts, instead of at their starts. Developers' notes: It should always take a global cooldown to transform to a shapeshift form, either from a direct transformation or a Fluid Form ability. Starting a Wrath or Starfire cast and cancelling it allowed Druids to transform into Moonkin without a global cooldown.
- Moonkin Form has been added to the Class talent tree in Sunfire’s previous position. Developers' notes: Restoring Moonkin Form to the class talent tree empowers Restoration Druids to use Convoke the Spirits for magic damage, like they can currently use Cat Form for physical damage.
- Rejuvenation healing increased by 5%.
- Wild Growth healing increased by 5%.
- Rip damage reduced by 9%.
- Shred damage increased by 10%.
- Swipe damage increased by 10%.
- Ferocious Bite damage reduced by 8%.
- Cyclone duration is now 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Improved Sunfire’s effect is now included in Sunfire.
- Disorienting Roar now breaks based on a small damage threshold instead of any damage.
- Many talents have changed positions in the class tree.
- Rising Light, Falling Night has been removed.
- Hero Talents Druid of the Claw
Balance
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- Balance Druids now learn Moonkin Form in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
- Light of the Sun has been moved to the Class Talent Tree for Balance Druids.
- Power of Goldrinn damage increased by 100%.
- Starsurge damage increased by 5%.
- Touch the Cosmos chances increased to 18% from Wrath (was 15%) and 25% for Starfire (was 22%).
Feral
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- Feral Druids now learn Thrash in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
- All ability damage increased by 8%.
- Melee auto-attack damage increased by 25%.
- Adaptive Swarm damage over time increased by 25%.
- Brutal Slash damage increased by 10%.
- Killer Instinct no longer increases damage dealt by Moonfire cast with Lunar Inspiration.
- Wildstalker Bursting Growth damage increased 20%.
Guardian
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- New Talent: Ursol’s Warding – Gain magical damage reduction equal to 5/10% of your damage reduction from armor.
- Reinvigoration has been updated – Frenzied Regeneration heals over 1/2 additional seconds, and casts Rejuvenation and Regrowth on you at 100/200% effectiveness.
- Raze has been updated – Strike with the might of Ursoc, dealing Physical damage to your target and to all other enemies in front of you. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets. Developers' notes: This change causes Raze to always deal increased damage to the primary target, even if other targets exist.
- Guardian Druids now learn Verdant Heart in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
- All ability damage increased by 26%. Developers' notes: We have noticed damage dealt by tanks has not been keeping pace with damage dealers, we are adjusting damage of all tank specs to bring them into a closer alignment with DPS specs.
- Moonfire damage increased by 20%.
- Mangle damage increased by 10%.
- Maul damage reduced by 8%.
- Raze damage reduced by 8%.
- Raze now replaces Maul.
- Layered Mane has been removed.
- Elune's Chosen Fury of Elune damage increased by 80%.
Restoration
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- Restoration Druids now learn Improved Nature's Cure in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
- Mastery: Harmony effectiveness increased by 45%. Now reduces its bonus with each additional heal over time effect. Developers' notes: This update to Mastery: Harmony is intended to reward more heavily the first few heal over time effects applied to allies while tempering the scaling at large heal over time counts. This scaling will still always make it a bonus to have additional heal over time effects on targets.
- All damage reduced by 20%. Developers' notes: This damage reduction keeps Restoration Druid’s physical or magic damage dealt equivalent to previous updates when selecting the Circle of the Wilds or Circle of the Heavens talents. We are making this change with the goal of moving Restoration Druids towards utilizing either their damaging physical abilities or magic spells instead of weaving between them both in order to reduce the damage rotation complexity.
- Tranquility channel time reduced to base 5 seconds (was 8 seconds). Total healing unchanged.
- Nature’s Swiftness now increases the healing of Regrowth by 200% (was 100%).
- Flourish now causes an initial heal effect on affected allies, split evenly among them.
- Master Shapeshifter now refunds 30% less mana from caster form spells.
Evoker
- Rescue now clears movement impairing effects from you and your target.
- Sleep Walk now has a 1.7 second cast time (was 1.5 seconds).
- Disintegrate now displays a more subtle visual when viewed by allies in raids and dungeons.
- Hero Talents Flameshaper
Augmentation
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- New Talent: Rockfall – Upheaval reaches maximum empower level 20% faster and has a 60% chance to grant Essence Burst.
- Close as Clutchmates has been re-added – Ebon Might and Breath of Eons are now 10% more effective outside of raid.
- Developers' notes: The following change is intended to reduce the defensive power of Augmentation in dungeons. Augmentation has consistently been overperforming in pushing high keys, so we’re making Ebon Might only apply to damage dealers. At the same time, we’re increasing Ebon Might’s effectiveness so that Augmentation’s damage throughput is increased to make up for the lost utility of buffing tanks and healers.
- Ebon Might no longer applies to tanks and healers.
- Motes of Possibility chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 15%).
- Rumbling Earth deals 30% of Upheavals damage (was 50%).
- Breath of Eons now accumulates 8% of damage taken (was 10%).
- Shifting Sands Versatility effectiveness reduced by 20%.
- While in dungeons and raids, allies can no longer see additional Upheavals from Rumbling Earth.
- Seismic Slam talent has moved to PvP talents.
Devastation
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- New Talent: Azure Celerity – Disintegrate ticks 1 additional time, but deals 10% less damage.
- All spell and ability damage increased by 10%.
- Fire Breath’s damage over time increased by 15%.
- Eternity Surge damage increased by 20%.
- Eternity Surge now targets enemies within a 25 yard radius around the Evoker (was a 12 yard radius around the target).
- Scintillation triggers Eternity Surge at 40% power (was 50%).
- Firestorm damage increased by 50% and duration reduced to 6 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Scorching Embers damage increase now scales with empower level, up to a maximum of 40%, similar to Molten Embers for Augmentation.
- Hoarded Power has been removed.
Preservation
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- Dream Breath now heals yourself and 5 injured allies (was 5 injured allies). Developers' notes: This guarantees a Dream Breath heal over time effect will always be on yourself, so you never have to purposely miss allies with the breath cone.
- Dream Breath and Reversion no longer snapshot with Mastery: Lifebinder. Instead, they will re-evaluate the Mastery bonus each time they tick based on the target’s current health and yours. Developers' notes: Emerald Blossom has historically triggered Echo for consistency reasons, but this has made it difficult to weave these spells together effectively. We’re updating Echo to no longer trigger from Emerald Blossom so players who want to make use of Emerald Blossom can do so without “wasting” any active Echoes.
- Emerald Blossom may no longer be Echoed.
- Echo’s tooltip has been updated. It now states that Essence spells cannot be Echoed.
Hunter
- Kindling Flare has been redesigned – Now increases the radius of flare by 50%.
- Territorial Instincts has been redesigned – Now reduces the cooldown of Intimidation by 10 seconds and no longer summons a pet for you if you do not have a pet out.
- Wilderness Medicine has been updated – Now additionally increases the cooldown reduction effect of Natural Mending by 0.5 seconds.
- No Hard Feelings has been updated – Now additionally reduces the cooldown of Misdirection by 5 seconds.
- Roar of Sacrifice has been updated for Marksmanship Hunters only – Instructs your pet to protect a friendly target from critical strikes, making attacks against that target unable to be critical strikes. Lasts 12 seconds. While Roar of Sacrifice is active, your Spotting Eagle cannot apply Spotter’s Mark.
- Intimidation now has a unique variant when you’re in Marksmanship spec that does not require line of sight and uses your Spotting Eagle.
- Eyes of the Beast is now only learned by Survival and Beast Mastery Hunters.
- Eagle Eye is now only learned by Marksmanship Hunters.
- Freezing Trap now breaks based on a small damage threshold instead of any damage.
- Implosive Trap knock up radius increased to 8 yards (was 5 yards).
- Explosive Shot and Tranquilizing Shot travel speeds increased.
- Panthara cats no longer require Fresh Talbuk Meat to tame.
- Many talents have changed positions in the class and specialization trees.
- The following abilities have had their visuals updated: Aspect of the Cheetah; Counter Shot; Disengage; Hi-Explosive Trap; Implosive Trap; Posthaste
- Hero Talents Dark Ranger; Pack Leader; Sentinel
Beast Mastery
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- Developers' notes: We’re happy with how Beast Mastery Hunter is playing and performing, we are just adding more hooks to ensure that this spec has appropriate area of effect tunability.
- New Talent: Dire Cleave – When summoned, Dire Beasts gain Beast Cleave at 100% effectiveness for 8 seconds.
- New Talent: Poisoned Barbs – Direct damage from Barbed Shot has a 30% chance to explode on impact, applying Serpent Sting and dealing Nature damage to nearby enemies. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
- New Talent: Solitary Companion – Your pet damage is increased by 35% and your pet’s size is increased by 10%. Developers' notes: Our vision for Beast Mastery's fantasy is tied to Animal Companion, but for players who would like to opt-in to solo-pet Beast Mastery, this talent should allow you to enjoy that playstyle with only a marginal throughput loss. We've taken some initial steps to ensure that this talent doesn't dramatically increase the throughput of spells like Call of the Wild and we'll be making changes as necessary if issues arise.
- New Talent: Thundering Hooves – Casting Explosive Shot causes all active pets to Stomp at 200% effectiveness.
- Stomp has been updated – Now deals separate damage instances between its primary target and secondary targets.
- All damage dealt reduced by 8%.
- Kill Command damage increased by 10%.
- Serpent Sting damage increased by 50%.
- Barrage damage increased by 100%.
- Barrage focus cost reduced to 40 (was 60).
- Bestial Wrath damage bonus increased to 30% (was 25%).
- Beast Cleave effectiveness reduced to 80% (was 90%).
- Kill Cleave effectiveness reduced to 80% (was 90%).
- Alpha Predator now increase Kill Command's damage multiplicatively rather than additively.
- Additional Kill Shots fired from Hunter’s Prey will now target enemies regardless of health percentage.
- Call of the Wild now reduces the cooldown of Barbed Shot and Kill Command by 25% per pet summoned (was 50%).
- Dire Command summon chance reduced to 20% (was 30%).
- Dire Beast's visual effects have been updated.
- Dire Beasts now leap to their target when summoned.
- Dire Frenzy is now a 2-point talent and replaces Basilisk Collar.
- Barbed Shot's travel speed increased and visuals have been updated.
- Solitary Companion’s aura will now be removed and applied more consistently.
- Serpent Sting is no longer tracked on nameplates for Beast Mastery only.
- Fixed an issue causing Dire Command to grant stacks to Huntmaster’s Call.
- The following talents have been removed: Basilisk Collar; Explosive Venom; Venom’s Bite
- Dark Ranger Black Arrow damage increased by 26%.
- Dark Ranger Withering Fire has been updated: Now triggers from Call of the Wild (was every 3 Bestial Wraths) and lasts for the duration of Call of the Wild.; No longer allows Black Arrow to ignore health requirements.; Now grants Deathblow every 4 seconds for the duration of Withering Fire.; Developers' notes: These changes are targeted at simplifying Withering Fire and improving its consistency for Beast Mastery.
- Dark Ranger Fixed an issue causing Unnatural Causes to benefit Black Arrow’s direct damage rather than just its periodic damage.
Marksmanship
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- Developers' notes: Moving into Undermine(d), we are looking to reimagine Marksmanship’s Sharpshooter fantasy and reconcile some large spec friction points such as Lone Wolf. Undermine(d) is seeing Marksmanship lose their pet functionalities and it is instead joined in battle by a unique Eagle pet that will exist outside of the game space but continue to support you in combat in a uniquely Marksmanship way.
- New Ability: Harrier's Cry – Your Eagle descends from the skies with a screech, giving the signal to attack. Increases Haste by 30% for all party and raid members for 40 seconds. Allies receiving this effect will become Sated and unable to benefit from Harrier's Cry or similar effects again for 10 minutes. Learned at level 48.
- New Passive: Manhunter – Damaging a player with Aimed Shot applies Grievous Injury, reducing the healing they receive by 25%. Learned at level 11. Developers' notes: Marksmanship lost access to Mortal Wounds by losing pet access, so we’re returning Aimed Shot’s ability to apply Mortal Wounds.
- New Passive: Eyes in the Sky – Gain the aid of a Spotting Eagle. Damaging an enemy with an ability empowered by Precise Shots has a 30% chance to cause your Spotting Eagle to mark your target. Enemies marked by your Spotting Eagle take 10% increased damage from your Aimed Shot. Replaces Call Pet and all associated Pet abilities. Learned at level 13.
- New Talent: Aspect of the Hydra – Aimed Shot, Rapid Fire, and Arcane Shot now hit a second nearby target for 60% of their damage.
- New Talent: Improved Spotter's Mark – Spotter's Mark's damage bonus is increased by 20%.
- New Talent: Moving Target – Consuming Precise Shots increases the damage of your next Aimed Shot by 20% and grants Streamline.
- New Talent: Obsidian Arrowhead – The damage of Auto Shot is increased by 25% and its critical strike chance is increased by 15%.
- New Talent: Shrapnel Shot – Damaging an enemy with Explosive Shot increases the damage they receive from your next Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot by 30%.
- New Talent: Magnetic Gunpowder – Consuming Precise Shots reduces the cooldown of Explosive Shot by 2 seconds. Consuming Lock and Load reduces the cooldown of Explosive Shot by 8 seconds.
- New Talent: Precision Detonation – Casting Explosive Shot grants Streamline. When Aimed Shot damages a target affected by your Explosive Shot, Explosive Shot instantly explodes, dealing 25% increased damage.
- New Talent: On Target – Consuming Spotter’s Mark grants 4% increased Haste for 10 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. Multiple instances of this effect can overlap.
- New Talent: Quickdraw – Lock and Load now increases the damage of Aimed Shot by 15%.
- New Talent: Target Acquisition – Consuming Spotter's Mark reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 2 seconds.
- New Talent: Eagle’s Accuracy – Spotter’s Mark’s Aimed Shot damage bonus is increased by 5/10%.
- New Talent: Headshot – Kill Shot can now benefit from Precise Shots at 25% effectiveness. Kill Shot now consumes Precise Shots.
- New Talent: Feathered Frenzy – Trueshot sends your Spotting Eagle into a frenzy, instantly applying Spotter's Mark to your target. During Trueshot, your chance to apply Spotter's Mark is increased by 100%.
- New Talent: Tensile Bowstring – While Trueshot is active, consuming Precise Shots extends Trueshot’s duration by 1 second, up to 5 seconds. Additionally, Trueshot now increases the effectiveness of Streamline by 50%.
- New Talent: Incendiary Ammunition – Bulletstorm now increases your critical strike damage by 2% and Bulletstorm now stacks up to 5 more times.
- New Talent: Bullet Hell – Damage from Multi-Shot reduces the cooldown of Rapid Fire by 0.3 seconds. Damage from Volley reduces the cooldown of Rapid Fire by 0.5 seconds. Damage from Aimed Shot reduces the cooldown of Volley by 0.25 seconds.
- New Talent: Improved Streamline – Streamline’s cast time reduction effect is increased to 30%.
- New Talent: Windrunner Quiver – Precise Shots can now stack up to 2 times, but its damage bonus is reduced to 90%. Casting Aimed Shot has a 100% chance to grant an additional stack of Precise Shots.
- New Talent: Eagle’s Accuracy – Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire's damage is increased by 2.5/5%.
- New Talent: Cunning – Your Spotting Eagle gains the Cunning specialization, granting you Master’s Call and Pathfinding.
- New Talent: Tenacious – Your Spotting Eagle gains the Tenacity specialization, granting you Air Superiority and Endurance Training.
- New Talent: Ohn’ahran Winds – When you Eagle applies Spotter’s Mark, it has a 25% chance to apply a Spotter’s Mark to up to 3 additional nearby enemies.
- New Talent: Double Tap – Casting Trueshot or Volley grants Double Tap, causing your next Aimed Shot to fire again at 80% power, or your next Rapid Fire to fire 80% additional shots during its channel. This talent's effectiveness is reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
- New Talent: Killer Mark – Spotter's Mark now additionally increases the critical strike chance of Aimed Shot by 15%.
- New Talent: Deadeye – Kill Shot now has 2 charges and has its cooldown reduced by 2 seconds. Developers' notes: Headshot has substantial rotational implications, and Deadeye should provide a simpler option for players who want to improve Kill Shot’s throughput without substantially increasing cognitive load.
- New Talent: Unbreakable Bond – Regain access to Call Pet. While outdoors, your pet deals 15% increased damage and takes 15% reduced damage. Developers' notes: While Marksmanship's unique Eagle pet will continue to be the source of their pet utility, such as Master's Call, Bloodlust, and similar effects, we want to provide the option for Marksmanship Hunters to be able to continue to traverse Azeroth with their beloved companions.
- Streamline has been updated – Rapid Fire’s damage is increased by 15%. Casting Rapid Fire grants Streamline. Streamline: Your next Aimed Shot has a 20% reduced cast time. Stacks up to 2 times.
- Precise Shot renamed to Precise Shots and has been updated – Aimed Shot causes your next Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot to deal 100% more damage and cost 40% less Focus. Your Auto Shot damage is increased by 100% and increases the time between Auto Shots by 2 seconds.
- Focused Aim has been updated – Precise Shots reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 0.75 seconds.
- Trueshot has been redesigned – Increases your critical strike chance by 10% and critical strike damage by 15 seconds. Reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire by 60%.
- Razor Fragments has been updated – Now only triggers when Deathblow is gained (was when Trick Shots was consumed or Deathblow was gained).
- Calling the Shots has been updated – Consuming Spotter’s Mark reduces the cooldown of Trueshot by 2 seconds.
- Bulletstorm has been updated – Damage from Rapid Fire increases the damage of Aimed Shot by 2% for 15 seconds, stacking up to 15 times. New stacks do not refresh duration and are removed upon casting Rapid Fire. This talent's effectiveness is reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
- In the Rhythm has been updated – Channeling Rapid Fire decreases the time between Auto Shots by 1 second for 12 seconds.
- Intimidation has been updated – Now requires line of sight against non-players.
- Fan the Hammer renamed to Ammo Conservation and has been updated – Now also reduces Aimed Shot’s cooldown by 1 second.
- Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus updated – Now increases Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire damage by 4%.
- Multi-Shot now learned at level 10 (was a talent).
- All damage dealt increased by 6%.
- Aimed Shot damage increased by 26%.
- Aimed Shot cast time increased to 3 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).
- Rapid Fire now grants 2 Focus per shot (was 1).
- Volley damage increased by 100%.
- Steady Shot damage increased by 30%.
- Steady Shot now grants 20 Focus.
- Trueshot now increases your critical strike damage by 20% (was 10%).
- Spotter’s Mark damage bonus increased to 20% (was 10%).
- Small Game Hunter now increases Explosive Shot's damage by 15% (was 25%).
- Pin Cushion’s functionality is now baseline to Steady Shot (was a talent).
- Salvo is now passive and only triggers from Volley.
- Surging Shots will now properly highlight Rapid Fire when its cooldown is reset.
- Many tooltips, talents, and aura descriptions have been updated for clarity.
- Bullseye is now a 2-point talent.
- The following talents have been removed: Barrage; Careful Aim; Chimera Shot; Crack Shot; Heavy Ammo; Hydra’s Bite; Improved Steady Shot; Legacy of the Windrunners; Light Ammo; Lone Wolf; Multi-Shot (now learned at level 10); Pin Cushion (effect added to Steady Shot); Rapid Fire Barrage; Readiness; Serpentstalker’s Trickery; Steady Focus; Tactical Reload; Wailing Arrow
- Dark Ranger Withering Fire has been updated – No longer allows Black Arrow to ignore health requirements. Developers' notes: Marksmanship does not struggle to produce Deathblow procs, so this effect was being largely wasted.
- Dark Ranger Black Arrow damage increased by 15%.
- Dark Ranger Fixed issues with Phantom Pain’s interactions with Double Tap and Aspect of the Eagle.
- Dark Ranger Fixed an issue causing Unnatural Causes to benefit Black Arrow’s direct damage rather than just its periodic damage.
- Dark Ranger Fixed an issue causing Black Arrow to deal more damage than intended in PvE only.
Survival
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: We’re mostly happy with Survival Hunter's gameplay after the 20th Anniversary Celebration update, but the spec continues to have a lot of cognitive load around what buttons to press and when. To better condense Survival's rotational decision space, we're making access to Butchery and Flanking Strike mutually exclusive. Both spells have their own strengths and nuances, but having access to both at all times creates a crowded rotation that is absent of filler spells like Raptor Strike or Mongoose Bite.
- New Talent: Cull the Herd – Kill Shot increases the damage units receive from your Bleed effects by 30% for 6 seconds. Developers' notes: The emergent power of Survival's bleed effects paired with old Pack Leader's Cull the Herd mechanic was compelling, so we thought we'd preserve it and expand upon it in the spec tree to ensure some spec depth isn't lost with the Pack Leader rework.
- New Talent: Born to Kill – Your chance to gain Deathblow is increased by 5% and the duration of Cull the Herd is increased by 2 seconds. Cull the Herd now additionally increases the damage taken from your Kill Shot by 25%.
- New Talent: Wildfire Arsenal – Quick Shot and auto attacks with two-handed weapons increase the direct damage of your next Wildfire Bomb by 4%, stacking up to 3 times. Casting Coordinated Assault grants 3 stacks of Wildfire Arsenal.
- Frenzy Strikes has been updated – Now additionally causes Flanking Strike to deal 15% increased damage and increases your attack speed by 25% for 12 seconds.
- Merciless Blow has been updated – Now additionally causes enemies damaged by Flanking Strike to suffer a heavy bleed over 8 seconds. Developers' notes: The damage of Flanking Strike's Merciless Blow damage is equivalent to 20th Anniversary Celebration update Butchery's Merciless Blow damage.
- Spearhead has been updated – Now also benefits your pet’s abilities and attacks.
- Deadly Duo has been updated – Now also benefits your pet’s abilities and attacks.
- Viper’s Venom has been updated – Now also increases Mongoose Bite and Raptor Strike damage by 15%.
- Contagious Reagents has been updated – Now spreads Serpent Sting to 4 nearby targets (was 2).
- Explosives Expert has been updated – Now increases Wildfire Bomb and Explosive Shot damage by 2.5/5%.
- Bombardier has been updated – Now grants 1 charge of Wildfire Bomb (was 2).
- Wildfire Bomb damage increased by 6%.
- Mongoose Bite damage increased by 30%.
- Raptor Strike damage increased by 10%.
- Wildfire Bomb damage increased by 10%.
- Flanking Strike damage increased by 30%.
- Fury of the Eagle damage increased by 20% and damages up to 8 targets (was 5).
- Alpha Predator now increase Kill Command's damage multiplicatively rather than additively.
- Merciless Blow's Butchery bleed damage reduced by 50%.
- Tactical Advantage now additionally increases the damage of Butchery.
- Fixed an issue where casting Flanking Strike from range could occasionally leave you with an incorrect number of Tip of the Spear stacks.
- Flanking Strike and Butchery are now on a choice node.
- The following talents have been removed: Exposed Flank; Improved Wildfire Bomb
Mage
- Mass Barrier mana cost reduced to 8% base mana (was 12%).
- Polymorph health regeneration reduced by 50%.
- Polymorph now breaks based on a small damage threshold instead of any damage.
- Time Anomaly procs now ignore mana costs.
- Mirror Images now have their Frostbolt missiles hidden for allies in raids and dungeons.
- Hero Talents Frostfire; Sunfury
Arcane
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- New Talent: Aether Fragment – Intuition’s damage bonus increased by 20%.
- New Talent: Intuition – Casting a damaging spell has a 5% chance to make your next Arcane Barrage deal 50% increased damage and generate 4 Arcane Charges.
- New Talent: Arcane Rebound – When Arcane Barrage hits more than 2 targets, it explodes, dealing light Arcane damage to all enemies within 10 yards of the primary target.
- Resonance has been updated – Now increases Arcane Barrage damage by 15% per target it hits beyond the first.
- Leydrinker has been updated: Now triggers from consuming Clearcasting (was consuming Nether Precision).; Chance to trigger increased to 40% (was 25%).; Echo damage increased to 70% (was 60%).; Leydrinker’s visuals have been updated.; Developers' notes: Our goal with these changes is to increase the likelihood that you'll have Nether Precision available when Leydrinker procs.
- Enlightened has been updated – Arcane damage dealt is increased based on your current mana, up to 6% at full mana. Mana regen is increased based on your current mana, up to 20% when out of mana.
- Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus updated – Now increases Arcane Missiles and Arcane Orb damage by 15%. Developers' notes: With Intuition’s inclusion into the Arcane talent tree, the Season 1 tier bonus needs to be replaced.
- Arcane Barrage damage increased by 45%.
- Arcane Explosion damage increased by 35%.
- High Voltage bad luck protection chance increased to 15% (was 10%).
- Arcane Surge is now tracked on the personal resource display.
- Arcane Echo’s impact visual is now caster only.
- Concentration has been removed.
- Sunfury Burden of Power has been updated – Now benefits Arcane Barrage. Developers' notes: To alleviate having to swap to Arcane Blast in AOE, we’re letting Burden of Power work on Arcane Barrage to help things continue to flow across all target counts.
- Sunfury Burden of Power is now tracked on the personal resource display.
- Sunfury Arcane Soul has been updated – Additionally causes each cast of Arcane Barrage during Arcane Soul to increase Arcane Barrage’s damage by 15%.
- Sunfury Fixed an issue that caused the Arcane Phoenix to occasionally cast the player’s version of Meteorite.
Fire
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: Fire’s resource economy post-The War Within has been too generous, which has made certain spells like Fireball and Scorch feel unnecessary while also impacting how we can tune Pyroblast and Flamestrike. Our goal here is to reduce access to Phoenix Flames and less-so Fire Blast while amping up your spenders to help increase skill expression, increase your reliance on casting, and make exciting spells hit a bit harder.
- Heat Shimmer has been updated – No longer makes Scorch instant-cast. Now increases Scorch damage by 10%.
- Pyrotechnics has been updated – Critical chance increased to 20% (was 10%).
- Controlled Destruction has been updated – Now also triggers from Fireball.
- Master of Flame has been updated – Now increases Ignite and Fireball’s damage by 15% when Combustion is not active.
- Call of the Sun King has been updated – No longer grants an additional charge of Phoenix Flames and now grants 15% increased Phoenix Flames damage.
- Fire Blast cooldown increased to 14 seconds (was 12 seconds).
- Hyperthermia duration reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Hyperthermia’s chance to trigger has been reduced.
- Pyroblast damage increased by 10%.
- Pyroblast mana cost reduced to 1.5% base mana (was 2.5%).
- Flamestrike damage increased by 10%.
- Flamestrike mana cost reduced to 1.5% base mana (was 2.5%).
- Unleashed Inferno damage bonus increased to 70% (was 60%).
- Phoenix Reborn now refunds 1 Phoenix Flame charge on use (was 2).
- Phoenix Reborn's Phoenix Flames damage bonus increased to 200% (was 100%).
- Phoenix Reborn’s description, auras, and tooltips have been updated to better communicate their effects.
- Fixed an issue that caused Pyromaniac to grant Hyperthermia more often than it should.
- You can no longer trigger Hyperthermia when you already have it and it’s chance to trigger has been reduced.
- Frostfire Frostfire Infusion damage reduced by 10%.
- Frostfire Excess Fire Phoenix Flames cooldown reduction reduced to 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Frostfire Excess Frost cooldown reduction reduced to 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Frostfire Excess Frost Ice Nova effectiveness decreased to 150% (was 200%).
- Frostfire Excess Frost now reduces the cooldown of Meteor by 5 seconds when consumed (was 3 seconds).
- Frostfire Isothermic Core now causes Comet Storm at 250% effectiveness (was 200%).
- Frostfire Flash Freezeburn can no longer trigger from Combustions granted from Sun King's Blessing or Time Anomaly. Developers' notes: Flash Freezeburn combined with Sun King's Blessing was a large contributor to the resource and proc overflow Fire Mages can experience while using this Hero Talent tree. To remain consistent, we've also adjusted the effect for Frost Mages as well.
- Sunfury Glorious Incandescence Fire Blast cooldown reduction increased to 2 seconds when a meteorite strikes (was 1 second).
- Sunfury Memory of Al’ar will now extend an existing Hyperthermia instead of replacing it.
- Sunfury Fixed an issue causing Ignite the Future to not increase Mana Cascade stacks.
- Sunfury Fixed an issue that caused the Arcane Phoenix to occasionally cast the player’s version of Meteorite.
Frost
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Freezing Winds has been redesigned – Now causes Frozen Orb to deal 15% more damage to units affected by your Blizzard. Developers' notes: Freezing Winds was impacting our ability to increase access to Frozen Orb or put more power into Fingers of Frost. With the addition of Hero Talents, Frost is more flooded with Fingers of Frost than ever before, and we’d like to reduce Fingers of Frost’s proc rate so it can feel more meaningful when you have it while also giving us the design space to do more with it in the future.
- Wintertide has been updated – Now grants 2/4% increased Icicle and Glacial Spike damage, stacking up to 2 times. Glacial Spike no longer consumes Wintertide.
- Ice Lance damage increased by 20%.
- Blizzard damage increased by 8%.
- Blizzard increased to a 12 yard radius (was 8 yards).
- Blizzard duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds). Developers' notes: We’re interested in increasing Blizzard’s usability so it remains a compelling option when Frost Mages are in area of effect scenarios without requiring too much cognitive load.
- Winter’s Chill duration increased to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Fingers of Frost’s Frozen Orb chance to trigger reduced to 5% (was 10%).
- Ice Lances empowered by Fingers of Frost no longer consume Winter’s Chill.
- Glacial Assault’s description has been updated to better communicate its effects.
- Permafrost Lance’s talent icon has been updated to match its aura icon.
- Fixed an issue with Wintertide’s aura being removed inconsistently.
- Water Jet is now hidden for allies in raids and dungeons.
- Frostfire Frostfire Infusion damage reduced by 10%.
- Frostfire Excess Frost cooldown reduction reduced to 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Frostfire Excess Frost Ice Nova effectiveness decreased to 150% (was 200%).
- Frostfire Flash Freezeburn can no longer trigger from Icy Veins granted by Time Anomaly. Developers' notes: To remain consistent with Fire Mage's updates to Frostfire, we are updating Flash Freezeburn for Frost to not trigger from Icy Veins procs.
- Spellslinger Consuming Fingers of Frost or Winter’s Chill now generates a Splinter (was Winter’s Chill). Developers' notes: Fingers of Frost not consuming Winter’s Chill means that Spellslinger would now not generate Splinters in many situations they would’ve previously. This adjustment is to make the flow of generating Splinters feel more consistent from your core rotation while pulling back on the Splinter generation from ancillary effects.
- Spellslinger Splintering Orbs now generates 4 Splinters for Frost Mages (was 6).
- Spellslinger All Splinter damage increased by 8%.
- Spellslinger Spellfrost Teachings' Frozen Orb damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 30%).
- Spellslinger Spellfrost Teachings chance to trigger reduced to 2% (was 2.5%).
Monk
- Paralysis now breaks based on a small damage threshold instead of any damage.
Brewmaster
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- All ability damage increased by 15%. Developers' notes: We have noticed damage dealt by tanks has not been keeping pace with damage dealers, we are adjusting damage of all tank specs to bring them into a closer alignment with DPS specs.
- Invoke Niuzao now absorbs 40% of Staggered damage while active (was 25%).
- Invoke Niuzao’s Stomp damage increased by 22%.
- Purified Chi maximum stacks reduced to 6 (was 10) and now increases Celestial Brew's absorb amount by 35% per stack (was 20%).
Mistweaver
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: We’re making several updates to Mistweaver focused on smoothing out their healing output on varying target sizes and making it more obvious when to optimally use offensive spells.
- New Talent: Emperor’s Favor – Sheilun's Gift's healing is increased by 150% and its cast time is reduced by 100%, but it now only heals a single ally.
- Dance of the Wind has been redesigned – Now reduces physical damage taken by 10% and an additional 10% every 4 seconds until you receive a physical attack.
- Jade Empowerment has been redesigned – Increases Crackling Jade Lightning’s damage by 2500% to its primary target and cleaves 4 additional enemies at 15% effectiveness.
- Jade Bond has been redesigned – Chi Cocoons now apply Enveloping Mist for 4 seconds when they expire or are consumed, and Chi-Ji's Gusts of Mists healing is increased by 20% and Yu'lon's Soothing Breath healing is increased by 500%. Developers’ notes: These changes to Jade Bond are intended to refocus Chi-Ji into a powerful cooldown that encourages more intentional uses. We’re reducing the baseline cooldown of both Celestials to account for the loss of dynamic cooldown reduction and increasing the effectiveness of Chi Cocoons cast by longer cooldown Celestials to make intentional uses of this longer cooldown feel more immediately impactful.
- Mastery: Gust of Mist healing decreased by 10%.
- Yu’lon’s Whisper healing increased by 160%.
- Blackout Kick damage increased by 75%.
- Spinning Crane Kick damage increased by 40%.
- Rushing Wind Kick now increases Renewing Mist's healing by 150% (was 100%).
- Resplendent Mist now increases Gust of Mist's healing by 60/120% (was 75/150%).
- Mana Tea now refunds 15% less mana.
- Chi Cocoon's absorb amount now scales with the cooldown of your celestial (now 100% more effective when not using Gift of the Celestials).
- Lotus Infusion increases healing taken by 10% (was 8%). Developers’ notes: We’re making a small adjustment to Lotus Infusion given that we’re expecting the upcoming class set to influence talent decisions around this talent node and we’d like Lotus Infusion to remain a viable, more passive option for those who prefer it.
- Jadefire Awakening now causes Blackout Kick to cleave 2 additional enemies at 20% effectiveness (was 70%).
- The cooldowns of Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane and Invoke Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent have been reduced to base 2 minutes (was 3 minutes).
- Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane now causes 3 Gust of Mists per target (was 1) but only activates once per Blackout Kick and Rushing Wind Kick cast. Developers' notes: Teachings of the Monastery Blackout Kicks will continue to function to activate additional gusts but not from their cleave damage.
- Sheilun’s Gift’s talent location has been moved up to above the final talent gate and now connects with Focused Thunder.
- Fixed an issue that caused Enveloping Mists caused by Misty Peaks or Jade Bond to cancel Celestial Conduit.
- Fixed an issue that sometimes allowed spells to be cast during Mana Tea’s channel.
- Mending Proliferation now prefers players.
- Conduit of the Celestials Celestial Conduit damage increased by 322%.
- Conduit of the Celestials Heart of the Jade Serpent now triggers on every cast of Sheilun’s Gift and scales its duration with the number of clouds consumed. Developers’ notes: The goal for this change is to reduce the amount of tracking required to optimally use Heart of the Jade Serpent.
- Conduit of the Celestials August Dynasty no longer has a proc cooldown (was 8 seconds).
- Master of Harmony Overwhelming Force damage decreased to 5% (was 15%).
Windwalker
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- New Talent: Slicing Winds – Envelop yourself in razor-sharp winds, then lunge forward dealing Nature damage to enemies in your path. Damage reduced beyond 5 enemies. Hold to increase lunge distance. Replaces Flying Serpent Kick.
- Dance of the Wind has been redesigned – Now reduces physical damage taken by 10% and an additional 10% every 4 seconds until you receive a physical attack.
- Mastery: Combo Strikes effectiveness increased by 35%. Developers' notes: We’re increasing the value Mastery: Combo Strikes for Windwalker Monks with the goal of pushing it as a stat.
- All damage done reduced by 2%.
- Spinning Crane Kick damage increased by 80%.
- Courageous Impulse now increases the damage of Blackout Kick by 350% (was 200%).
- Shadowboxing Treads now increases the damage of Blackout Kick by 10% (was 20%).
- Xuen’s Bond now reduces the cooldown of Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger by a static 30 seconds.
- Last Emperor's Capacitor now increases the damage of Crackling Jade Lightning by 400% per stack (was 200%).
- Power of the Thunder King now cleaves Crackling Jade Lightning at 80% effectiveness (was 100%).
- Ordered Elements now reduces Chi costs by 1 during Storm, Earth, and Fire (was Rising Sun Kick reduces Chi costs during Storm, Earth, and Fire for 7 seconds).
- The following talents have been removed: Darting Hurricane; Mark of the Crane
- Conduit of the Celestials Heart of the Jade Serpent now reduces the cooldown of Flying Serpent Kick.
- Conduit of the Celestials Heart of the Jade Serpent now triggers each time you cast Strike of the Windlord, but its duration has been decreased to 6 seconds. Developers’ notes: We’d like to reduce the tracking required around Heart of the Jade Serpent as well as make it a more fundamental part of playing as a Conduit of the Celestial Monk.
- Conduit of the Celestials Rising Sun Kick has been added back to Heart of the Jade Serpent. Developers’ notes: We weren’t satisfied with the rotational outcome of this change and are reverting it.
Paladin
- Seal of the Crusader healing reduced by 50%.
- Lightforged Blessing now heals 1% of health (was 2%).
- A Just Reward now has a more just reward, its healing increased by 140%.
- Blinding Light and Repentance now break on a damage threshold instead of breaking on any damage.
- Hero Talents Herald of the Sun; Lightsmith; Templar
Holy
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- New Talent: Unbound Freedom – Blessing of Freedom increases movement speed by 30%, and you gain Blessing of Freedom when cast on a friendly target.
- Unending Light has been redesigned – Now causes Holy Power spent on Word of Glory to increase the healing of Light of Dawn.
- All healing done increased by 4%.
- Flash of Light mana cost reduced to 0.6% base mana (was 1.8%).
- Flash of Light healing decreased by 25%.
- Holy Light healing increased by 128% and now costs 7% base mana (was 6.4%).
- Truth Prevails healing decreased by 20%.
- Greater Judgment's absorb reduced by 25%.
- Holy Prism healing increased by 20%.
- Holy Shock damage increased by 100%.
- Holy Shock healing increased by 40%.
- Light of Dawn healing increased by 29%.
- Word of Glory healing increased by 15%.
- Hammer and Anvil healing decreased by 33%.
- Infusion of Light now increases the healing of Holy Light by 30% (was 100%).
- Infusion of Light now increases the healing of Flash of Light by 30% (was reduce mana cost).
- Inflorescence of the Sunwell now increases Infusion of Light’s healing increase to Flash of Light by an additional 15%.
- Inflorescence of the Sunwell now increases the healing of Holy Light by an additional 15% (was 50%). Developers' notes: Flash of Light and Holy Light have a lot of power tied into talents modifying their effectiveness and we would like these spells to be more effective to cast without these talents and casting these spells without Infusion of Light active to be a more viable option.
- Light’s Conviction now additionally causes Holy Shock to refund half its mana cost when cast offensively.
- Echoing Blessings now increases movement speed during Blessing of Freedom by 30% (was 15%).
- Commanding Light now increases the healing transfer of Beacon of Light by 5% (was 10%).
- Divine Favor now increases healing done by Holy Light or Flash of Light by up to 20% (was 40%). Developers’ notes: These changes are targeted at redistributing some of Holy Paladin’s healing breakdown into a few active healing spells that are not having enough direct impact.
- Beacon of Virtue now costs 4.5% base mana (was 5%).
- Herald of the Sun Fixed an issue that caused Second Sunrise to sometimes decrease the healing of Holy Shocks from Rising Sunlight.
- Lightsmith: Hammer and Anvil healing decreased by 20%.
- Lightsmith: Blessed Assurance now increases the damage of Crusader Strike by 20% (was 180%).
Protection
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- All ability damage increased by 15%. Developers' notes: We have noticed damage dealt by tanks has not been keeping pace with damage dealers, we are adjusting damage of all tank specs to bring them into a closer alignment with DPS specs.
- Strength in Adversity reduced to 3% parry per enemy struck (was 5%).
- Strength in Adversity now displays with stacks.
- Cooldown reduction from Uther’s Counsel reduced to 15% (was 30%).
- Refining Fire damage reduced by 30%.
- Templar Undisputed Ruling has been updated – Hammer of Light grants Shield of the Righteous, erupts a Consecration beneath its target, and increases your Haste by 12% for 6 seconds. Additionally, Eye of Tyr grants 3 Holy Power.
Retribution
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Divine Hammer has been redesigned -- Divine Hammers spin around you, striking enemies nearby for Holy damage every 2 seconds for 8 seconds. While active, each Holy Power spent increases the duration of Divine Hammer by 0.5 seconds. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets. Costs 3 Holy Power and has a 1 minute cooldown.
- All ability damage increased by 5%. Developers' notes: Empyrean Hammer's damage output was higher than desired on the overall breakdown. We're redistributing the power across the rest of the abilities.
- Final Reckoning damage increased by 75%.
- Flash of Light healing increased by 35%.
- Word of Glory’s mana cost has been increased to 15% (was 10%).
- Healing Hands now only functions to increase Word of Glory’s healing on the Paladin themselves (was increased healing on allies).
- Divine Toll will now cast Judgments at units near your main target, even if you're not in combat with them.
- Crusade will now consistently display the correct spell visual when Glyph of Winged Vengeance is being used.
- Herald of the Sun Second Sunrise has been updated – Divine Storm and Hammer of Wrath has a 20% chance to cast again at 50% effectiveness (was 15% chance at 30% effectiveness).
- Herald of the Sun Sun's Avatar damage increased by 50%.
- Templar Empyrean Hammer damage reduced by 30%.
- Templar Hammer of Light now benefits from Undisputed Ruling Judgment.
- Templar Hammer of Light now benefits from the stacks it adds to Crusade. Developers’ notes: The reimplementation of Hammer of Light inadvertently altered its interactions with Crusade and Judgment. We have now adjusted these interactions to match the current live versions.
- Templar Hammer of Light initial hit now benefits from Final Reckoning.
Priest
- Hero Talents Voidweaver
Discipline
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- Developers' notes: The goal of these changes is to reduce the number of cooldowns Discipline has access to and bake some of that power into other abilities. In addition, we're resolving some pain points in the talent tree and making it easier to quickly get Atonements on allies by moving Overloaded with Light into a more central location. Finally, we're re-theming Purge the Wicked into a Shadow spell so that Twilight Equilibrium can be more consistently activated.
- New Talent: Divine Procession – Smite extends the duration of an active Atonement by 3 seconds.
- New Talent: Inner Focus – Flash Heal, Power Word: Shield, Penance, Power Word: Radiance, and Power Word: Life have a 20% increased chance to critically heal.
- Purge the Wicked renamed to Encroaching Shadows and has been updated – Now causes Shadow Word: Pain to spread instead of overriding Shadow Word: Pain with a new spell.
- Aegis of Wrath has been renamed to Eternal Barrier and has been updated – No longer decays over time and instead increases the duration of Power Word: Shield by 5 seconds and its absorption by 20% (was 30%).
- Void Summoner has been updated – Now reduces the cooldown of Shadowfiend, Mindbender, or Voidwraith by 50%.
- Void Summoner now only triggers from Mind Blast and Penance casts. Void Summoner reduces the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 8 seconds or Mindbender by 4 seconds (was 4 seconds and 2 seconds).
- Evangelism healing increased by 40%.
- Evangelism now heals all targets affected by Atonement for 4200% spell power, split amongst targets healed. Evangelism continues to extend Atonement by 6 seconds and its visual has been updated.
- Contrition has been made baseline and now logs as Penance healing.
- Penance damage and healing increased by 50%.
- The cooldown of Penance is now reduced by Haste. Developers' notes: Penance has many stacking modifiers that affect its power, which has made it feel weak when the player doesn’t have all these modifiers active. We would like Penance to still feel good on its own, so we’re reducing the effectiveness of Power of the Dark Side and Harsh Discipline while also increasing the base damage and healing of Penance.
- Penance healing now triggers Divine Aegis.
- Harsh Discipline now only increases the number of Penance bolts by 1 per talent point invested (was up to 2). The buff will continue to stack up to 2 times but will now represent charges instead of increasing the number of bolts per stack.
- Power of the Dark Side increases the damage and healing of Penance by 30% (was 50%).
- Power Word: Shield absorption increased by 15%.
- Power Word: Radiance healing radius increased to 40 yards (was 30 yards).
- Luminous Barrier healing increased by 20%.
- Smite damage increased by 25%.
- Shadow Word: Pain damage increased by 44%. Developers' notes: Shadow Word: Pain should be an important part of Discipline’s healing on Atonement targets to provide a steady stream of healing over time. Its damage has been weaker than we would like, especially compared to other spells in the kit like Entropic Rift, so we’re bringing it up and reducing Entropic Rift’s damage. This has a side effect of boosting Oracle’s damage comparatively to Voidweaver.
- Expiation no longer increases the damage of Shadow Word: Death and Mind Blast. Instead, it now deals damage equal to 200% of the duration consumed from Shadow Word: Pain.
- Indemnity increases the duration of Atonement applied by Power Word: Shield by 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
- Ultimate Penitence now shields the Priest for 100% of their health (was 50%).
- Priests may now slowly move during Ultimate Penitence and can control their landing upon finishing the channel.
- Pain and Suffering increases the damage of Shadow Word: Pain by 15/30% (was 7/15%).
- Pain and Suffering now increases the duration of Shadow Word: Pain by 2 seconds per talent point invested.
- Divine Aegis no longer triggers from periodic healing or Atonement or causes Power Word: Shield critical heals to be stronger. Absorption increased to 30% (was 5%).
- Divine Aegis now displays on raid frames.
- Atonement’s heal impact visual is now hidden for allies in raids and dungeons.
- Several talents have changed positions in the talent tree.
- The following talents have been removed: Heaven's Wrath; Rapture; Train of Thought
- Oracle New Talent: Twinsight – 3 additional Penance bolts are fired at an enemy within 40 yards when healing an ally with Penance or fired at an ally within 40 yards when damaging an enemy with Penance.
- Oracle Premonition now has 2 charges baseline.
- Oracle Divine Providence has been removed.
- Voidweaver Entropic Rift damage reduced by 20%.
- Voidweaver Voidwraith grants the reduced effectiveness version of Shadow Covenant while talented into Mindbender.
- Voidweaver Voidwraith now returns 0.2% mana when talented into Mindbender (was 0.5%).
Holy
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: We're aiming to provide a better experience when using Divine Hymn while pulling back on the number of raid cooldowns available to the specialization. We're also doing some consolidation in the tree by removing Circle of Healing and adding more interactions with Prayer of Healing. Finally, we're looking to provide options for a gameplay style centered around Renew uptime in addition to existing playstyles.
- Several talents have changed positions in the talent tree.
- New Talent: Lasting Words – Holy Word: Serenity applies 12 seconds of Renew to its target and Holy Word: Sanctify applies 4 seconds of Renew to allies it heals.
- New Talent: Light in the Darkness – Increases the healing done by Holy Word: Serenity and Holy Word: Sanctify by 20%/40%. Increases the radius of Holy Word: Sanctify by 15%/30%.
- New Talent: Dispersing Light – 5% of healing done with Heal, Flash Heal, and Power Word: Life is replicated to 4 injured allies within 40 yards.
- New Talent: Divinity – Your healing is increased by 10% while Apotheosis is active. When you activate Apotheosis, your next 3 Heal or Prayer of Healing casts are instant and heal for 25% more.
- New Talent: Eternal Sanctity – Your Holy Words extend the duration of Apotheosis by 1 second.
- New Talent: Holy Celerity – Reduces the cooldown of your Holy Words by 15 seconds.
- New Talent: Empowered Renew – Renew reduces the cooldown of Sanctify by an additional 6 seconds and heals for 60% more when cast, but has a 12 second cooldown.
- Voice of Harmony has been updated – Power Word: Life now also reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Serenity. Divine Star and Halo now reduce the cooldown of Holy Word: Sanctify.
- Seraphic Crescendo has been redesigned and moved from PvP talents to the Holy tree – Now reduces the cooldown of Divine Hymn by 60 seconds.
- Gales of Song has been redesigned – While channeling Divine Hymn, place 2 stacks of Prayer of Mending on up to 3 allies within its range every 1 second.
- Prayerful Litany has been redesigned – Now causes the primary target of Prayer of Healing to be healed for 75% more.
- All healing reduced by 8%.
- Holy Mending healing increased by 30%.
- Prayer of Healing healing increased by 69%.
- Prayer of Healing mana cost increased by 25%.
- Prayer of Healing cast time is now 2.5 seconds (was 2 seconds).
- Prayer of Healing now prioritizes nearby injured targets instead of the closest targets.
- Prayer of Healing now has an impact visual on allies it heals.
- Prayer Circle now triggers from Holy Word: Sanctify.
- Cosmic Ripple healing increased by 150%.
- Lightwell’s health threshold is now 75% (was 50%).
- Resonant Words now also affects Power Word: Life.
- Lightweaver now increases the healing of Heal and Prayer of Healing by 18% (was 25%).
- Lightweaver can now also be consumed by Prayer of Healing in addition to Heal.
- Lightweaver now accumulates up to 4 charges (was 2).
- Divine Hymn channel duration is now 5 seconds (was 8 seconds). Total healing unchanged.
- Afterlife no longer grants a resurrection cast during Spirit of Redemption.
- Holy Nova now reduces the cooldown of Chastise by 4 seconds baseline and no longer interacts with Voice of Harmony.
- Crisis Management now also increases the critical strike chance of Power Word: Life.
- Apotheosis now reduces the cooldown of Holy Words by 200% (was 300%).
- Prismatic Echoes now also increases the healing of Renew by 15%/30%.
- Prismatic Echoes increases the healing of Mastery: Echo of Light by 5%/10% (was 6%/12%).
- Resonant Words is now on the Personal Resource Display.
- The following talents are now 1-point: Crisis Management; Epiphany; Prayers of the Virtuous; Prismatic Echoes; Resonant Words; Voice of Harmony
- The following talents have been removed: Circle of Healing; Guardians of the Light; Healing Chorus; Holy Word: Salvation; Orison; Pontifex; Revitalizing Prayers; Sanctified Prayers; Say Your Prayers
- Oracle New Talent: Twin Sight – An additional 2 stacks of Prayer of Mending is placed on a second ally within 40 yards when casting Prayer of Mending.
- Oracle Preemptive Care now increases the duration of Renew by 25% (was 6 seconds).
- Oracle Premonition now has 2 charges baseline.
- Oracle Divine Providence has been removed.
Shadow
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- All damage increased by 13%.
- Voidweaver Void Blast damage increased by 25%.
- Voidweaver Collapsing Void damage increased by 15%.
- Voidweaver Inner Quietus increases the damage of Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch by 35% (was 25%).
Rogue
- Rupture damage increased by 6%.
- Blind and Gouge now break on a damage threshold instead of breaking on damage.
- Hero Talents Deathstalker; Trickster
Assassination
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Crimson Tempest damage increased by 6%.
- Arterial Precision now causes Shiv to strike 8 targets (was 5).
- Sudden Demise now increases Bleed damage by 15% (was 10%).
Outlaw
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- All damage increased by 6%.
- Sleight of Hand’s bonus now also affects Roll the Bones’ chance to roll 5 combat enhancements (was only increased chance to roll 2 combat enhancements).
- Sleight of Hand’s bonus chance for Roll the Bones to roll additional combat enhancements reduced to 12% (was 15%).
- Sleight of Hand now grants 16% increased chance to roll 2 or more matches (was 12%). Developers' notes: These bonuses are now weighted for each potential outcome to grant an appropriate total bonus: Each bonus increases the chance to roll a 2-buff by 12% and chance to roll a 5-buff by 4%, combining to the total 16% chance to roll 2 or more.
- Sleight of Hand now grants 20% increased chance of granting additional matches (was 16%).
- Roll the Bones’ base chance to roll a 5-buff increased to 2% (was 1%).
- Precise Cuts now increases Blade Flurry damage by 5% per missing target below its max (was 4%).
- Trickster Nimble Flurry now increases Blade Flurry damage by 25% (was 20%).
Subtlety
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- All damage increased by 10%.
- Trickster Nimble Flurry now causes 60% of listed ability damage to strike nearby enemies (was 50%).
Shaman
- The initial shield from Stone Bulwark Totem is no longer dispellable. The repeating shields will continue to be dispellable.
- Ghost Wolf visuals have been updated to scale with player model and have been made more transparent to reduce visual clutter.
- Lightning Bolt has a new spell visual.
- Ancestral Guidance has been removed. Developers' notes: We have a couple goals we are trying to address with this change. One is to reduce the overlap between Ascendance and Ancestral Guidance for Restoration, they both serve a similar purpose and are often combined together. Second, we'd like to bolster Enhancement and Elementals off-healing utility from intentional global cooldown usage while pulling back on more passive ways to restore group health.
Elemental
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Deeply Rooted Elements is now a small percent chance per Maelstrom spent rather than being a flat chance per Maelstrom Spender. Developers' notes: This change should make it equally valuable to cast a Maelstrom spender while talented into Deeply Rooted Elements, so abilities such as Elemental Blast no longer generate less Ascendance activations over time.
- Primordial Wave has been redesigned – Now deals a high amount of damage to all targets affected by your Flame Shock. Developers' notes: Primordial Wave is a complicated spell to manage and get optimal use out of. We're adjusting it to be more of a big damage impact upon activating the ability rather than priming your next Lava Burst to hit many targets.
- Healing Stream Totem healing increased by 80%.
- Ascendance now requires a target to cast. Flame Shock and Lava Burst from casting it will always hit your primary target.
- Lightning Rod's visual has been updated.
- Chain Lightning overload is no longer displayed to allies in raids and dungeons.
- Chain Lightning now displays a more subtle visual when viewed by allies in raids and dungeons.
- Earthquake Overload is no longer displayed to allies in raids and dungeons.
- Farseer Maelstrom Supremacy now increases the healing of Healing Surge and Chain Heal by 15% (was 8%).
- Stormbringer Arc Discharge can now accumulate up to 2 charges.
Enhancement
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: Enhancement Shaman currently have Maelstrom Weapon spending abilities that potentially do very high damage, while their melee abilities are not hitting as hard as we would like them to be. We're redistributing some of your overall damage to be less weighted towards Maelstrom Weapon spenders and more damage towards your melee abilities, and making some buffs like Feral Spirits always grant bonuses to your physical damage abilities regardless of what talent options you have chosen.
- New Talent: Primordial Storm – Primordial Wave transforms into a single use Primordial Storm for 15 seconds after it is cast. Devastate nearby enemies with a Primordial Storm dealing Flamestrike, Froststrike, Stormstrike damage, and unleashing a Lightning Bolt or a Chain Lightning at 150% effectiveness (100% in PvP combat). Deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets. Consumes all Maelstrom Weapon for increased damage.
- Molten Thunder has been updated – Sundering has a 40% chance to reset its own cooldown, increased by 12% for up to 5 targets. Each consecutive reset reduces these chances by half. Developers' notes: Molten Thunder proc rates were a bit too unpredictable, causing significant shifts in damage output, especially with the Totemic hero talent tree. We're making adjustments to make it more predictable while preserving its functionality. Additionally, we're transferring some power away from Tremor and Earthsurge into other abilities alongside the proc trigger adjustments.
- Elemental Spirits has been updated – Your Feral Spirits are now imbued with Fire, Frost, or Lightning, increasing your damage dealt with that element by 10%, but now only increase your Physical damage dealt by 10%.
- Voltaic Blaze has been updated – Tempest, Lightning Bolt, and Chain Lightning have a high chance to make your next Flame Shock become Voltaic Blaze. Developers' notes: With this change, we're aiming to make Voltaic Blaze procs more consistent, allowing them to align better with the Enhancement Shaman rotation.
- Voltaic Blaze damage now scales with Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
- Voltaic Blaze chance to trigger has been slightly reduced.
- Lashing Flames has been updated – Lava Lash and Sundering increases the damage of Flame Shock on its target by 100% for 20 seconds.
- Primordial Wave has been updated – Now deals a high amount of damage to all targets affected by your Flame Shock. Developers' notes: Primordial Wave is a complicated spell to manage and get optimal use out of. We're adjusting it to be more of a big damage impact upon activating the ability rather than priming your next Lightning Bolt to hit many targets.
- Primordial Wave generates 5 Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
- Primordial Wave is now disabled and enabled on the action bar depending on the availability of Flame Shock targets.
- Stormstrike is now learned at level 10 (was a talent). Developers' notes: The primary resource system, Maelstrom Weapon, was not very noticeable as a passive in the spell book. To address this, we're making Stormstrike the introductory ability for those choosing the Enhancement specialization and replacing its spot on the talent tree with Maelstrom Weapon. Alongside this update, we're allowing Stormstrike to be cast without an offhand weapon for the new player experience.
- Stormstrike can now be used without an offhand weapon, dealing only its main hand weapon damage.
- Maelstrom Weapon passive is now the first node on the talent tree.
- Stormstrike damage increased by 50%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
- Ice Strike damage increased by 100%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
- Lava Lash damage increased by 60%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
- Chain Lightning damage reduced by 15%.
- Windfury Attack damage reduced by 10%.
- Crash Lightning initial damage increased by 200%.
- Elemental Blast damage increased by 20%.
- Healing Stream Totem healing increased by 100%.
- Flametongue Attack now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.
- Molten Assault now spreads Flame Shock up to 5 nearby enemies (was 4).
- Ashen Catalyst now increases the damage of Lava Lash by 8% per stack (was 12%).
- Chain Lightning now increases the damage of next Crash Lighting by 10% per target struck (was 20%).
- Electrostatic Wager now increases the damage of Crash Lightning by 15% per stack (was 18%).
- Hot Hands duration reduced to 6 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Ice Strike now generates 1 Maelstrom Weapon.
- Swirling Maelstrom no longer causes Ice Strike to generate Maelstrom Weapon.
- Deeply Rooted Elements is now a small percent chance per Maelstrom Weapon stack consumed, rather than being a flat chance per Maelstrom Weapon stack consumer. Developers' notes: This change should no longer make it seem advantageous to always try to cast as many spells as possible while at exactly 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon. Any amount of Maelstrom Weapon stacks consumed grant the same linear chance towards getting an Ascendance activation.
- Maelstrom Weapon no longer highlights spenders when they become instant cast at 5 stacks. Developers' notes: The constant highlighting of Maelstrom Weapon spending abilities has become a hindrance in understanding how to play Enhancement Shaman, causing too much information overload that is often inaccurate. Our goal here is to let the fundamental design of the specialization speak for itself, similar to our other specializations, and be more deliberate with procs that require immediate actions. Moving into Undermine(d), we will be rolling back most of the highlights on the main resource system, and start relying on UI overlays (Top) and personal resource display to show the current state of Maelstrom Weapon. We do not take these changes lightly, and realize there will be an adjustment period. We are excited for you to experience Enhancement Shaman in this new way and look forward to hearing your feedback.
- Maelstrom Weapon will display a UI overlay at the top for when it reaches 10 stacks, overriding the 5-stack display (was at the bottom).
- Maelstrom Weapon will not be highlighting Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Elemental blast at 10 stacks. Developers' notes: After the user experience improvements in the 20th Anniversary Update, which dedicated the UI overlay space exclusively to Maelstrom Weapon, we no longer believe that highlighting your baseline spender abilities is necessary. The initial five stacks for Maelstrom Weapon will be displayed at the top as usual. Upon reaching ten stacks, another visual will override the five-stack display, utilizing the visual previously used for the mastery reset on Stormstrike's cooldown.
- Maelstrom Weapon highlights Tempest when it is at 10 stacks.
- Maelstrom Weapon will highlight Primordial Storm when it is at 10 stacks.
- Maelstrom Weapon and Stormweaver spender abilities will now indicate in their tooltip that they consume Maelstrom Weapon or Stormweaver to increase cast speed, as well as damage or healing if talented into.
- Static Accumulation will highlights Maelstrom Weapon spenders for a short duration when the refund effect triggers.
- Arc Discharge will highlights Maelstrom Weapon spenders while its active.
- Forceful Winds now increases the damage of Windfury Weapon by 15% per stack (was 20%).
- Legacy of the Frost Witch duration is increased to 8 seconds (was 5 seconds).
- Rank 1 of Legacy of the Frost Witch talent now grants 15% increased Physical and Frost damage. Developers' notes: After the Maelstrom Weapon economy pace adjustments and the increased access to Stormstrike, Legacy of the Frost Witch has significantly fallen in power compared to other 3rd gate talents. We're adjusting the value gained from investing 1 talent point into it.
- Ice Strike now highlights Frost Shock.
- Ice Strike buff is no longer on the personal resource display.
- Lava Lash now consumes Whirling Earth if it activates Molten Assault.
- Crash Lightning's visual, animation and sound has been completely revamped.
- Fire Nova spell visual updated.
- Lightning Rod's visual has been updated.
- Ice Strike empowered Frost Shock visual and sound updated.
- Ice Strike impact sound updated.
- Glyph of Spirit Raptors now function with Flowing Spirits.
- Doom Winds damage now scales with Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
- Doom Winds now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.
- Doom Winds is no longer on personal resource display.
- Hot Hands is now on personal resource display.
- Fixed an issue causing Hot Hands to grant 50% increased damage to Lava Lash through Whirling Elements when not talented into Hot Hands.
- Fixed an issue causing Hot Hands to display 0% value on its aura tooltip.
- Some talents have moved locations.
- Splintered Elements is now a 2-point talent and moved to Primal Maelstrom's location.
- Some talent icons have been updated.
- Primal Maelstrom has been removed.
- Stormbringer Tempest damage increased by 15%.
- Stormbringer Tempest secondary target damage reduced by 15%.
- Stormbringer Awakening Storms damage increased by 20%.
- Stormbringer Awakening Storms will now grant Tempest every 4 times it occurs (was 3).
- Stormbringer Arc Discharge now stacks up to 2 times (was 1).
- Stormbringer Conductive Energy now causes Primordial Wave to apply Lightning Rod to its targets.
- Stormbringer When Conductive Energy is talented, Chain Lightning will apply Lightning Rod to one of the secondary targets if the main target is already affected by Lightning Rod. If all secondary targets are already affected, the duration of Lightning Rod on the main target will be refreshed.
- Stormbringer Voltaic Surge now increases the damage of Crash Lightning and Chain Lightning by 10% (was 15%).
- Stormbringer Lightning Rod now deals 8% of the damage dealt by Maelstrom Weapon spenders (was 10%).
- Totemic Searing Bolt damage increased by 40%.
- Totemic Searing Volley damage increased by 12%.
- Totemic Surging Totem Tremor damage reduced by 32%.
- Totemic Imbuement Mastery now increases the chance for Windfury Weapon to trigger by 5% (was 10%).
- Totemic Imbuement Mastery now increases the damage of Windfury Weapon 8% (was 15%).
- Totemic Oversurge now increases Surging Totem damage during Ascendance by 50% (was 150%).
- Totemic While active, Surging Totem is replaced with a relocation spell that summons your Surging Totem nearby. This spell has a 6-second cooldown and does not trigger the global cooldown.
- Totemic Sundering from Lava Lash Reactivity procs now trigger Earthsurge at 50% effectiveness.
- Totemic Earthsurge now causes a Tremor at the target area at 100% effectiveness (was 200%).
- Totemic An issue causing Reactivity Sundering not to trigger Windfury Weapon has been resolved.
- Totemic Pulse Capacitor now increases the damage of Surging Totem Tremor by 18% (was 25%).
Restoration
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: Our updates to Restoration Shaman are focused on simplification, condensing keybind space, and adding support to Riptide focused builds.
- New Talent: Mana Tide – Healing Tide Totem now additionally grants 80% increased mana regeneration to allies.
- New Talent: Therazane’s Resilience – Earth Shield and Water Shield no longer lose charges and are 115% effective.
- New Talent: Whispering Waves – 10% of Healing Wave's healing is duplicated onto each of your targets with Riptide.
- Healing Wave is now learned at level 11 (was a talent).
- Healing Wave now costs 2.5% of base mana (was 3%). Developers' notes: We're making an adjustment to the cost of Healing Wave to solidify its role as a mana efficient heal.
- All healing increased by 9%.
- Acid Rain damage increased by 25%.
- Wavespeaker’s Blessing now additionally increases the periodic healing of Riptide by 10/20%.
- Spiritwalker’s Tidal Totem now triggers after casting Healing Tide Totem.
- Downpour now overrides Healing Rain for 8 seconds (was 6 seconds). Developers' notes: We are leaving some room for this to expire before the cooldown of Healing Rain or Surging Totem becomes available to avoid having to cancel the buff or wait for it to expire when Downpour is not necessary to cast.
- Master of the Elements now lasts 30 seconds (was 15 seconds).
- Ancestral Vigor is now a 2-point talent.
- Several talents have moved positions and the Starter Build has been updated.
- The following talents have been removed: Healing Wave (now learned at level 11); Mana Tide Totem; Primordial Wave
- Farseer All Ancestor healing now benefits from Mastery: Deep Healing.
- Farseer All Ancestor healing reduced by 15%.
- Farseer Ancestors now cast Healing Wave when the Shaman casts Healing Wave. Healing Wave heals for slightly more than Healing Surge.
- Farseer Whispering Waves now also duplicates Healing Wave healing done by Ancestors.
- Farseer Maelstrom Supremacy now increases the healing of Healing Wave, Healing Surge, Wellspring, Downpour, and Chain Heal by 15% (was 8%).
- Farseer Elemental Reverb now increases Riptide healing by 10% (was 5%).
- Totemic Downpour now overrides Surging Totem for 22 seconds (was 12 seconds).
Warlock
- Drain Life damage increased by 300%.
Affliction
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: Soul Rot provides Affliction with a burst damage window that focuses on casting Malefic Rapture in quick succession. While the Drain Life functionality of Soul Rot is unique and has some niche uses, it goes largely unused and can be confusing to newer players as to what they should be doing while Soul Rot is active. To address this, we are updating Soul Rot to heal its caster for a percentage of the damage dealt. This retains some of Soul Rot’s identity as an Affliction spell while providing a benefit that doesn’t clash with throughput.
- Soul Rot has been redesigned - Devour the life force of your current target and up to 4 additional targets nearby, causing your primary target to suffer Shadow damage and secondary targets to suffer Shadow damage over 8 seconds. Damage dealt by Soul Rot also heals you for 50% of damage done.
- Summon Darkglare has been adjusted – Darkglare damage increased by 40% and each damage over time effect you have active on their current target increases their damage dealt by 45% (was 25%).
- Focused Malignancy has been adjusted – Malefic Rapture deals 40% increased damage to targets suffering from Unstable Affliction (was 25%). Does not affect PvP combat.
- Unstable Affliction damage increased by 30%. Does not affect PvP combat.
- Shadow Bolt damage increased by 20%. Does not affect PvP combat.
- Drain Soul damage increased by 20%. Does not affect PvP combat.
Demonology
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: In Undermine(d), the duration of Doom is now reduced for each Soul Shard spent on Hand of Gul’dan. Our goal with this change is to provide more control over when Doom explodes since its application is dependent on randomly receiving a Demonic Core. In addition, Doom Eternal wasn’t attractive enough to warrant a talent point but still felt missed as it made Doom feel incomplete since its duration reduction wasn’t maximized. Considering this, we’ve redesigned Doom Eternal to increase the uptime of Doom and provide a slight nudge to the Demonic Core economy.
- Doom has been updated – Consuming a Demonic Core no longer reduces the duration of Doom. The duration of Doom is now reduced by 1 second per Soul Shard spent on Hand of Gul’dan.
- Doom Eternal has been redesigned – When Doom expires, you have a 30% chance to generate a Demonic Core.
- Demonic Calling now has a 20% chance to make your next Call Dreadstalkers cost 2 fewer Soul Shards and have no cast time (was 10%).
Destruction
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: War Within introduced a lot of new spells to Destruction’s kit, increasing its complexity considerably compared to prior versions of the specialization. In Undermine(d), we are adding passive versions of Dimensional Rift and Channel Demonfire as well as adding the ability to change Rain of Fire’s targeting to an enemy target rather than a reticle. These changes are aimed at providing more options for players to customize their gameplay to fit their preferred level of complexity when it comes to playing Destruction.
- New Talent: Demonfire Infusion – Periodic damage from Immolate/Wither has a 4% chance to fire a Demonfire bolt at 100% increased effectiveness. Incinerate has a 25% chance to fire a Demonfire bolt at 100% increased effectiveness.
- Dimension Ripper has been redesigned – Periodic damage dealt by Immolate/Wither has a 5% chance to tear open a Dimensional Rift.
- Havoc duration is now 15 seconds (was 12 seconds).
- Mayhem now has a 35% chance to activate (was 25%).
- Decimation will now highlight Soul Fire while active.
- Diabolic Embers has been moved to row 10.
- Rain of Fire is now a choice node that can be used to change the targeting from reticle to your current target.
Warrior
- Developers' notes: We feel that Warriors are in a good place overall, however, there are a few places we'd like to make improvements to each spec, and to the class as a whole. Warrior survivability in particular has been a weak point, and Endurance Training competing against powerful throughput nodes in the bottom of the Warrior tree makes it difficult to talent into. We’re combining Endurance Training and Reinforced Plates to put the choice in the second tier, which has more choice against other utility and survival nodes and thus be easier to spend points on. The Weapon Specialization nodes have been increased to 2 points to keep the tree structure and overall talent build costs similar, and the nodes have been rearranged slightly to make the choice about how to access Avatar more distinct for each spec.
- Reinforced Plates is now a 2-point talent that grants 5% Stamina and 5% Armor per point.
- Overwhelming Rage is now a 1-point talent that increases maximum Rage by 30.
- Two-Handed Weapon Specialization (Arms) is now a 2-point talent that grants 3% damage and 2% reduction of damage from area-of-effect attacks while wielding a 2-hand weapon per point.
- Dual Wield Specialization (Fury) is now a 2-point talent that grants 3% damage and 2% movement speed while dual-wielding per point.
- One-Handed Weapon Specialization (Protection) is now a 2-point talent that grants 3% damage and 2% Leech per point.
- Thunderous Words increases your Bleed damage by 20% on affected targets (was 30%).
- Cruel Strikes, Wild Strikes, and the Weapon Specialization nodes have changed positions in the tree.
- Endurance Training has been removed.
Arms
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- All ability damage reduced by 5%.
- Mortal Strike damage increased by 66%.
- Cleave damage increased by 26%.
- Overpower damage increased by 44%.
- Dreadnaught damage increased by 44%.
- Execute damage increased by 32%.
- Slam damage increased by 45%.
- Whirlwind damage increased by 40%.
- Martial Prowess' Overpower now increases the damage of your next Mortal Strike or Cleave by 15% per stack, up to 2 (was 30%). Developers' notes: Arms Warriors should always feel good about using Mortal Strike when it's available, so we're moving damage from the Overpower buff into Mortal Strike and Cleave baseline to open up more rotational and build options.
- Bloodborne increases Bleed effect damage by 5/10% (was 7.5/15%).
- Bloodsurge now causes damage from Deep Wounds to have a chance to generate 5 Rage.
- Colossus Smash and Warbreaker have new visuals.
- Warbreaker’s area of effect is now centered around a point slightly in front of the Warrior, to better align with the new visuals.
- Colossus Demolish damage increased by 30%.
- Colossus Practiced Strikes increases Mortal Strike and Cleave damage by 20% (was 15%).
- Colossus Arterial Bleed increases Rend and Deep Wounds damage by 5% per stack of Colossal Might (was 3%).
- Colossus Colossal Might is no longer applied by Execute. Developers' notes: Using your hard-hitting rotational ability regularly is core to the Colossus playstyle, and Execute applying Colossal Might pushed Colossus away from that during Execute phases.
- Colossus Fixed an issue causing Demolish's animation to not correctly play sometimes.
- Slayer Opportunist increases the damage and critical strike damage of your next Overpower by 25% (was 20%).
- Slayer Cleave will only trigger Reap the Storm if 3 or more targets are hit.
- Slayer Imminent Demise and Death Drive now correctly require the Sudden Death talent to be taken to function. Developers' notes: This was an oversight during implementation. Slayers are expected to talent into Sudden Death.
Fury
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developers' notes: Fury is overall in a place we are happy with, and we're taking this opportunity to redesign some talents to keep their effects unique and powerful.
- Titan’s Torment has been redesigned – While Avatar is active Rampage's Rage cost is reduced by 20 and Bloodthirst's cooldown is reduced by 1.5 seconds. Developers' notes: We want to provide a new option for Avatar to impact Fury's rotation, and let you make the best use of your Avatar duration with more Rampages and Bloodthirsts. This change will also allow us to maintain Odyn’s Fury as a powerful and signature Fury ability independent of Avatar.
- Reckless Abandon has been redesigned – Activating Recklessness generates 50 Rage and while Recklessness is active, Raging Blow and Bloodthirst are replaced by Crushing Blow and Bloodbath. Crushing Blow – A powerful dual-weapon strike that deals 20% increased Critical Strike damage.; Bloodbath – A powerful attack that applies a Bleed to the target that is extended by its full duration when reapplied.; Developers' notes: Reckless Abandon has been having an outsized impact on rotations and we’d like to bring the focus of the talent back to Recklessness as well as make Crushing Blow and Bloodbath abilities with unique additional effects.
- All ability damage reduced by 5%.
- Bloodthirst damage increased by 38%.
- Bloodbath instant damage increased by 38%.
- Raging Blow damage increased by 44%.
- Crushing Blow damage increased by 44%.
- Rampage damage increased by 44%.
- Odyn's Fury damage increased by 15%.
- Onslaught damage increased by 30%.
- Whirlwind damage increased by 30%.
- Slayer Imminent Demise and Death Drive now correctly require the Sudden Death talent to be taken to function. Developers' notes: This was an oversight during implementation. Slayers are expected to talent into Sudden Death.
- Mountain Thane Thunder Blast damage increased by 25%.
- Mountain Thane Strength of the Mountain increases Bloodthirst and Rampage damage by 25% (was 30%).
Protection
No pick-rate comparison for this patch — Whats-the-meta.com's snapshot history doesn't span it yet.
- Developer's notes: Protection Warrior is a very active spec, requiring constant decision-making both for tanking decisions as well as managing cooldown resets and free ability uses. However, there are some elements of the current design that can lead to Protection Warriors requiring more active play than we intend. Frequent Shield Slam cooldown resets are one part of the issue, as they occupy a large amount of the rotation and generate a significant amount of Rage. This leaves little room in the rotation to spend Rage on anything that uses the global cooldown, and coupled with most Protection major cooldowns generating a large amount of additional Rage, leads to using Ignore Pain frequently, even when it provides little or no mitigation value. To address this, we are reducing the frequency of Shield Slam cooldown resets and Rage generated by major cooldowns and in exchange, supplementing Rage generation from passive or rotational sources. It is our goal that this will make Protection easier to approach and play, while still leaving plenty of room for skillful and active play at higher levels.
- All ability damage increased by 26%. Developers' notes: We have noticed damage dealt by tanks has not been keeping pace with damage dealers, we are adjusting damage of all tank specs to bring them into a closer alignment with DPS specs.
- Shield Slam damage increased by 20%.
- Execute damage increased by 10%.
- Brace for Impact stacks up to 3 times (was 5), and grants 10% Shield Slam damage and shield block value by 5% (was 5% Shield Slam damage and 3% shield block value).
- Punish reduces damage the punished target deals to you by 3% (was 2%).
- Bloodsurge now causes damage from Deep Wounds to have a chance to generate 5 Rage.
- Instigate causes Devastator to generate 2 Rage (was 1).
- Chance to reset the cooldown of Shield Slam from Devastator and Strategist reduced to 25% (was 30%).
- Impenetrable Wall no longer increases Rage generated by Shield Slam.
- Booming Voice causes Demoralizing Shout to generate 20 Rage (was 30).
- Champion’s Bulwark no longer increases the Rage generated by Shield Charge.
- Violent Outburst has been rebuilt to be easier to understand and track progress towards the next Outburst. Additional Rage generated from Violent Outburst reduced to 50% (was 100%).
- Shield Wall cooldown reduced to 3 minutes (was 3.5 minutes).
- Amount of damage ignored from each use of Ignore Pain increased by 30%.
- Ignore Pain’s icon now displays the remaining absorb amount as a percentage of the maximum absorb amount.
- Barbaric Training no longer increases the Rage cost of Revenge.
- Frothing Berserker now has a chance to refund 50% of the Rage spent on Revenge (was 25%).
- Colossus Practiced Strikes increases Rage generated by Shield Slam by 3.
- Colossus Colossal Might is no longer applied by Execute. Developers' notes: Using your hard-hitting rotational ability regularly is core to the Colossus playstyle, and Execute applying Colossal Might pushed Colossus away from that during Execute phases.
- Colossus An issue causing Demolish's animation to not correctly play sometimes is now fixed.
- Mountain Thane Thunder Blast damage increased by 10%.
- Mountain Thane Avatar of the Storm has a chance to grant 6 seconds of Avatar (was 4 seconds).