Adventurers,
Dark clouds churn atop the summit of Blackrock Mountain. Wingbeats thunder from its peaks. Something sinister stirs within the keep’s obsidian halls; ancient, wicked, and scheming. The Firelord’s defeat paves the way to a greater evil, and new experiments lay in store:
Prepare for the Assault
Prepare to ascend the spire and face the new evil locked within. Leading up to Blackwing Lair's release, you’ll encounter events and updates across Ascension culminating in the release of EXPANDED Blackwing Lair.
Here’s what you can expect:
May 22nd
- Alterac Valley Call to Arms
May 25th
- Bronzebeard Balance Patch
- NEW Tank and Healer Archetypes (Warlock and Mage)
- The article for the changes are coming LATER THIS WEEK
- These changes may come earlier than May 25th if they’re ready
- Updates will roll out as soon as they are ready for live, with full release by May 25th
May 30th
- Blackwing Lair EXPANDED
- Crafting Expansion
- PvP Progression 4
Alterac Valley Call to Arms
The heat of Blackrock’s fire is matched only by the chill of Alterac’s frozen wastes: the next Alterac Valley Call to Arms event begins Friday, May 22nd.
Wage war between the savage Frostwolf Clan and the stalwart Stormpike Guard. Capture bunkers, siege strongholds, slay bosses, secure graveyards, and ultimately take down the enemy general. In Alterac Valley, you’ll pit yourself against other players in all-out-war, fighting in huge 40v40 battles. Put your unique build, spells, and Mystic Enchantments to the test as you battle other players and bring in victory.
- Alterac Valley returns 5/22
- Completely re-mastered for Cross-Faction Play
- Scales from a minimum of 20v20 to a maximum of 40v40
- Available only during Call to Arms events
The cold chill of Alterac beckons: answer the call and claim victory in Alterac Valley!
Bronzebeard Balance Patch + New Tank and Healer Archetypes
Shadows Over Blackrock brings significant buffs to several classes and specs as you prepare to face the new horrors in Blackwing Lair. These changes improve how these specializations perform in Dungeons and Raids across the board.
More information is coming this week.
- New Archetypes
- Dark Apotheosis Warlock Tank
- Mind Shift Mage Healer
- Buffs to OG 9 Classes to prepare for the dangers of Blackwing Lair
In addition, Glyph Mystic Enchantments that are underperforming compared to crossover talents will also receive buffs.
Finally, the potency of some proc-based weapons are reduced to fix some outlandish power spikes.
The Assault on Blackwing Lair - BWL Expanded
The shadows churn.
Deep within the halls stretching up to Blackrock’s peak, Nefarian, the Broodlord, concocts his sickening experiments. Fusing the blood of other dragons he aims to create a twisted flight: one with the power of all the rest. You must put an end to his machinations:
Blackwing Lair releases on Warcraft Reborn!
Bronzebeard’s Blackwing Lair features a new boss lair and a brand new boss:
Descend into the depths of Nefarian’s cruel laboratories where goblins labor to fuse the blood of all the different flights. Through the dark halls and chromatic flowing blood tubes, you’ll encounter horrors beyond imagining in the first Blackwing Lair experience EVER with the RPG Creature Overhaul! What weaknesses will you exploit facing down all the colors of each dragonflight? Where will your class outshine all others, and what weaknesses can you exploit to survive?
Enter Blackwing Lair and face the Nefarian’s first experiment:
- Custom Boss
- Custom Lair
- Custom Rewards
- New Mechanics available on EVERY difficulty
New Items in the Lair
Blackwing Lair features dozens of brand new items, many with original models that you can discover to massively empower your class. You can find these items at all difficulty levels, and even stronger versions of them as you move past normal into Heroic, Mythic, and Ascended BWL.
New Crafted Items
As you storm Blackwing Lair you’ll find more than just new gear: you’ll find brand new crafting recipes that change the way you play.
From new explosives that leave lingering elemental ground effects that change how you interact with the RPG Creature Overhaul, to brand new craftables for EVERY profession, you’ll have tons of new ways to challenge BWL and beyond.
Expanded Crafting arrives with Blackwing Lair!
Inside Blackwing Lair, you’ll find Elementium Ore. This metal normally has a specific use, but with Expanded Crafting it becomes so much more: Elementium Ore can now be used both to smelt Elementium Bars, OR broken down into Elementium Shards which are used to craft all new items. Additionally, mobs inside of Blackwing Lair can drop Elementium Shards in addition to all of its previous loot, which can then be used to improve your gear.
Forge new weapons, armor, upgrade your gear further with new Upgrade Kits, discover new enchantments, and even new PvE-focused B O M B S, these new craftables give you totally new ways to gear up and take the fight to the Broodlord. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the items you can craft: and keep in mind that when YOU craft them, they’ll have an additional affix on them as well.
These are just a few of the new BWL items you can forge.
You can also use Elementium to absolutely blast through your enemies: introducing Elementium Bombs!
These are long-lasting RPG-focused bombs that leave a burning patch on the ground, dealing a whopping amount of damage over 1 minute. This makes them powerful tools in PvE where creatures may be standing still for a longer period of time: now YOU can make foes stand in the fire!!
You can also use Elementium as an enchanting material, unlocking brand new, powerful enchantments and a wand.
Elementium previously only had one use: now this rare metal can serve you and your raid in dozens of new ways. Be sure to collect it as you climb to the peak of the Lair!
Realm Firsts Up For Grabs
The First Group to clear ALL bosses on Ascended 10 or 25 Man and claim WORLD FIRST for Blackwing Lair will receive a World First companion of the New Boss for their respective difficulty, 1 for 10 man and 1 for 25 man.
To be eligible:
- You must have completed all of the bosses in the raid with 10 players to receive the companion for 10 man OR
- You must have completed all of the bosses in the raid with 25 players to receive the companion for 25 man.
Each companion will be able to place your guild or group's name under it, you will be rewarded with the Realm First for Conquering Blackwing Lair and last but not least, this pet will go into your vanity collection and be usable on all characters on your accounts.
Additionally, if your guild or group is the first to claim this Feat of Strength, all members who had contributed significantly to the group's progression can be rewarded this as well.
New Tier Sets in Blackwing Lair
Claim new Tier Sets to expand your class’s strengths and empower your chosen spec: you’ll find new tier sets for Druids, Shamans, and Paladins so that each class can successfully play ALL of their specs, DPS, Tank, and Heal. This makes sure you can thrive in ANY class and spec you choose to play!
- Example: Shamans now have 4 different Tier Sets so that you can gear up as a Tank, Enhancement, Elemental, or Restoration Shaman
Additionally, all tier sets have their bonuses changed to a 3 and 6 piece bonus, allowing you to mix and match with other pieces of gear to find the fit that’s right for you.
New Reputation - The Ruby Attrition
You don’t have to face Nefarian’s horrors alone: The Ruby Attrition is a new faction coming with Blackwing Lair.
The Ruby Attrition is a sanctum of the Red Dragonflight, who of all the flights are the most ferocious in pursuing Nefarian’s end. Earn their favor, unlock new items and crafting recipes, and aid the red flight in the Black Prince’s demise.
- New Weapons
- New Armor
- New Recipes
- New Enchantments
Global Tier Tokens
Global Tier Tokens replace standard tier item drops on Warcraft Reborn since there’s so many new tier sets. With Tier Tokens, every boss is ALWAYS valuable to every member of your raid, and no one spends 5 months praying to RNGeasus to get their Judgment Sabatons. Grab a Tier Token, trade it for the piece you want, and keep powering up.
Bosses in Blackwing Lair drop the tier tokens equivalent to the set items they used to drop.
There are unique Tier Tokens for each difficulty, so if you dive into Ascended Blackwing Lair, you’ll be gaining tokens to get Ascended level Tier sets.
Horizontal Tier Progression
What if you want to play multiple specs?
Horizontal Tier Progression means that once you’ve turned in a Tier Token for a set piece, you can buy pieces of ANY other tier set for that slot for gold. For example, if you’re on your Tank Shaman and you turn in Molten Handguards for your tank gloves, you can then buy gloves for your Elemental, Enhancement, and Resto specs gloves for gold.
This lets you try out and enjoy multiple specs: if you get your full Tier 2 set as a Resto Druid, you can pick up your Feral Cat set for gold and swap between DPS and Healing for your raid when they need you.
Visit Major Mattingly or Overlord Runthak, then a new option will appear once you have any of these achievements. Clicking it will allow you to purchase any of the items you’ve already earned.
Updated Itemization
Blackwing Lair is filled with iconic items: many of which are now upgraded to be wildly exciting and useful to different classes while staying true to their original theme. Below are a few examples of re-worked items:
The Denman Brothers
The Denman Brothers are a group of cunning merchants who recently established their venture to Stormwind and Orgrimmar. These jewelers sell epic rings with unique stat combinations that you can use to fill out niche aspects of your build:
For example, maybe you need just a bit more Hit and Expertise on your Fury Warrior, or Spell Penetration on your Mage. The Denman Brothers carry rings that have just the stat combinations you’re looking for.
These rings can be upgraded with each new Raid Release: and that means with Blackwing Lair you can polish up your rings even further.
Seek out the Denman Brothers in Stormwind and Orgrimmar to see if they sell a piece that’s right for you.
Worldforged Items
Upgrade your Worldforged Items even further with Blackwing Lair's release, granting new strength to your favorite weapons, armor, trinkets, and more.
With Blackwing Lair’s release, you can use Runes of Ascension to upgrade your Worldforged Items into their next tier versions, giving you even more ways to power up and gear your unique character.
With the release of Blackwing Lair, all previous Worldforged Upgrade costs are reduced.
To upgrade them, you’ll need to first take down Nefarian on any difficulty.
Base Worldforged
Blackwing Lair Upgrade
Callboard Caches
Callboard Caches begin dropping Blackwing Lair gear with the Raid’s release! As long as you have an item level of at least 69, you’ll be able to find BWL gear inside your Callboard Caches.
How to use the Callboard
The Callboard is a unique quest board located inside major cities. As you complete quests from the board, you’ll earn points towards your next chest of treasure. Complete enough quests, get a cache of spoils.
With the release of Blackwing Lair, once you have an item level of 69 or higher, two things will happen:
- The number of points needed to unlock a Callboard Cache will increase
- Your Callboard Caches will always contain a Blackwing Lair item and will have a chance for bonus items from Mythic Dungeons and items
Bloodforged and Heroic Bloodforged BWL
With BWL’s release, you will also start finding Bloodforged Blackwing Lair Items in High Risk PvP. Hover over your Treasure Hunter Buff to see if you’re strong enough to uncover these powerful items.
Romus the Redeemer
Raider’s Commendations ensure that you’re always making progress towards getting the item you want, even if it doesn’t drop in your raid. You’ll receive Raider’s Commendations each time you slay a boss in any raid. These tokens can be traded to Romus the Redeemer in capital cities for any item from a raid you’ve cleared.
Collect Raider’s Commendations to make progress towards the exact item you want and grow stronger.
In order to use Raider’s Commendations, you need to slay the final boss in the raid that drops the gear you want: for example, if you want a Shadowflame Staff, you’ll need to slay Nefarian first.
PvP Progression 4
PvP Season 4 Begins on May 30th @ 18:00 Server Time!
Join the ranks of the elite in PvP, gather Conquest Points to trade for EPIC gear, and compete against other players for new PvP weapons, armor, trinkets, enchantments, mounts, and titles.
- PvP Progression Concludes May 30th at 17:59:00 Server Time
- Those in the top 10 in any bracket get an exclusive mount unique to PvP Progression 3 and are rewarded the title “Gladiator”
- Any Conquest Points you have will be converted to Honor Points
- Honor Points persist are not reset
- PvP Progression 4 Begins May 30th at 18:00:00 Server Time
- New PvP Rewards release from PvP Vendors at that time
Once PvP Progression 4 is live, all PvP Progression 3 Gear will become available for HONOR, allowing you to quickly get the pieces you need to jump into the fray.
Class and Balance Changes
Warrior
Arms
Arms changes are aimed at preserving the spec’s identity as a high-impact weapon damage dealer without letting that pressure overrun PvP. In PvE, Arms is receiving some focused buffs, especially around Mortal Strike, while Colossus Smash is being adjusted to remain a powerful and satisfying attack against monsters without being too powerful against players.
[Warrior] [Mortal Strike] This ability now deals 20% increased damage when fighting monsters. Its damage against players is unchanged.
[Warrior] [Heroic Fury] This ability is no longer affected by the global cooldown.
[Warrior] [Legendary: Heavyweight] This now increases the damage of Mortal Strike by 50%, up from 40%.
[Warrior] [Legendary: Colossus Smash] This now deals 280% weapon damage to monsters and 240% vs players, changed from 270%.
[Warrior] [Epic: Onslaught] The cooldown reduction from this enchant is now baseline in Colossus Smash. This enchant has a new additional effect: Your Execute deals 20% more damage when hitting targets below 20% health.
[Warrior] Overpower now deals 10% reduced damage against players.
[Warrior] [Rare: Glyph of Sweeping Strikes] Reduces the rage cost of Sweeping Strikes ability by 100% and it lasts for 3 additional strikes now.
Fury
This update aims to make Fury’s damage profile less dependent on random chance and proc-weapon power, while also giving underpicked Legendary enchants like Dragon Roar and Raging Blow clearer reasons to be played.
[Warrior] [Piercing Howl] This ability now exists as a cross-over enchant, making it available to specs other than Fury.
[Warrior] [Shattering Throw] Shattering Throw can now be cast in Berserker Stance.
[Warrior] [Legendary: Dragon Roar] Instead of reducing enemies movement speed, Dragon Roar now increases your attack speed by 10% for 15 seconds.
[Warrior] [Legendary: Raging Blow] This now has an 8 second cooldown, down from 10 seconds. This change reduces the reliance of chance-on-hit effects for this playstyle.
[Warrior] [Epic: Power Slam] This has been adjusted and now reads: Your Slam is now instant and does not delay your attack timer when cast, but its damage is halved. It has a 50% chance to trigger 5 seconds of your Enrage talent and Bloodsurge (if known). Bloodsurge now removes the damage penalty.
[Warrior] [Epic: Raging Onslaught] This enchant has been simplified: It now makes your Bloodthirst criticals (previously 50% chance on any hit) trigger the effect making your next Raging Blow cost no rage and trigger no cooldown. It also increases the critical chance of Raging Blow by 30% permanently (previously only empowered Raging Blows).
[Warrior] [Rare: New Glyph of Slam] Increases the damage of Slam by 10% and allows Slam to be cast while moving.
Protection
Protection Warriors are capable of performing well across different types of content, but some of their tools still feel a bit strained in some cases including multi-target threat. These changes give more weight to Storm Bolt, Thunder Clap, and underused Protection support tools.
[Warrior] [Legendary: Storm Bolt] The damage of Storm Bolt has been increased by 30% and the threat doubled. Using Stormbolt against monsters now also reduces the cooldown of Thunder Clap by 25% in addition to increasing its critical chance.
[Warrior] [Epic: Jab Cross] This now increases the critical chance of your next ability by 20%, up from 15%.
[Warrior] [Epic: Crackling Thunder] The damage of this enchant has been increased by 20%.
[Warrior] [Epic: Devastating Blademaster] This has been slightly reworked and now reads: “Increases your chance to Parry by 3%. After parrying an attack your next Devastate deals an additional 40% damage to all enemies within 8 yards.”
[Warrior] [Epic: Shield Finesse] This now also increases the armor you gain from your equipped shield by 30%.
[Warrior] [Glyph of Revenge] This now makes your next Heroic Strike or Cleave after using Revenge cost no rage (previously only Heroic Strike).
[Warrior] [Glyph of Intervene] This now also removes the Rage cost of Intervene.
[Warrior] [Thunder Clap] Thunder Clap now generates 30% increased threat while in Defensive Stance.
[Warrior] [Rare: Glyph of Sunder Armor]: Your Sunder Armor ability affects three nearby enemies.
[Warrior] [Rare: Glyph of Shockwave] Reduces the cooldown on Shockwave by 3 seconds and increases the damage of Shockwave by 20%.
Rogue
Assassination
Assassination’s poison and bleed spec paths both have clear niches and strong performance in PvE. This update brings some minor adjustments while their performance will be monitored.
[Rogue] [Wound Poison] Fixed an issue causing this poison to have lower proc chance than intended
under some rare circumstances.
[Rogue] The damage of Envenom, Rupture and Eviscerate have been increased by 5% in PvP combat.
[Rogue] [Rare: Glyph of Garrote] No longer decreases the duration of Garrote by 3 seconds.
Combat
Combat’s strongest playstyles gain a lot from Adrenaline Rush uptime and attack-speed support from Mystic Enchantments. Some of that peak pressure is being reduced while preserving their capacity to convert uptime into damage.
[Rogue] [Epic: Assassin’s Rush] This now passively increases your attack speed by 10%, down from 15%. It increases your attack speed and movement speed while Adrenaline Rush is active by 20%, down from 30%.
[Rogue] [Rare: Glyph of Backstab] Backstab increases the duration of your Rupture on the target by 2 seconds, up to 8 additional seconds.
Subtlety
Subtlety is receiving the largest Rogue support in this patch, focused on making its PvE damage loop feel more complete without removing its setup-based identity. Energy support through Hemorrhage, stronger Ambush scaling, and buffs to key Subtlety enchants should make its damage windows easier to reach and more rewarding when executed well.
[Rogue] [Ambush] The damage of Ambush has been increased by 26% in PvE combat, and 8% in PvP combat.
[Rogue] [Legendary: Rush of Blood] This now has an additional mechanic: Using Hemorrhage three times in a row regenerates 30 energy.
[Rogue] [Legendary: Assuaging Shadows] The buff granted by this enchant now increases your damage done by 5% for 15 seconds, changed from 6% for 10 seconds. It now stacks up to 3 times.
[Rogue] [Glyph of Ambush] This enchant now increases the critical damage of Ambush by 15% in addition to its previous effect.
[Rogue] [Glyph of Hemorrhage] This glyph has been reworked: it now makes your Hemorrhage criticals restore 10 energy.
[Rogue] [Subtlety: Slaughter from the Shadows] This talent now reduces the energy cost of Hemorrhage by 7 at max rank, up from 4.
[Rogue] [Epic: From the Shadows] This enchantment increases your damage against monsters by 30%, up from 20%.
[Rogue] [Epic: Methodical Approach] This enchant reduces the cost of your next Eviscerate by 15, up from 10.
[Rogue] [Subtlety: Dirty Deeds] This now increases the damage of targets below 35% health by 25%, up from 20%.
Priest
Disc
Discipline’s shield-based mana tools are being adjusted so less power sits in Shattered Renewal and more comes from the spec’s iconic Rapture talent. This update also gives Improved Flash Heal a stronger role as a low-health recovery option.
[Priest] [Epic: Shattered Renewal] This enchant now grants 5% base mana, down from 7%.
[Priest] [Discipline: Rapture] This now has a 10 second internal cooldown, down from 12 seconds.
[Priest] [Discipline: Improved Flash Heal] This now increases the critical chance of Flash Heal on targets below 50% health by 7/14/20%, up from 4/7/10%.
Holy
Holy has several compelling healing directions, but too much of its power has been concentrated into a few very efficient raid-healing tools. This update trims some of that peak AoE efficiency while strengthening other parts of the Holy toolkit.
[Priest] [Serendipity] This now reduces the cast time and mana cost of the affected spells by 5/10/15% per stack, changed from only reducing cast time by 4/8/12%.
[Priest] [Legendary: Halo] The healing from this enchant has been reduced by approximately 12%.
[Priest] [Epic: Prayer Circle] This now reduces the mana cost of Prayer of Healing by 50%, down from 100%.
[Priest] [Epic: Refilling the Well] This enchant now also increases the amount of targets your Lightwell can heal by 5.
[Priest] [Epic: Overflowing Light] This now restores 12% base mana, up from 8%.
[Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Inner Fire] Now increases the spell power in addition to the armor gained from Inner Fire by 50%.
Smite
Smite’s changes focus on making its damage loop feel cleaner without letting one spell pattern take over every situation. Twilight Paragon is being tuned toward clearer single-target and multi-target choices, while Centered and Accelerated Ascension gain useful support.
[Priest] [Holy Fire] Holy Fire now deals 6% increased damage in PvE combat.
[Priest] [Legendary: Twilight Paragon] The extra Twilight damage dealt by Mind Flay has been increased by roughly 6% and the extra Twilight damage dealt by Mind Sear reduced by the same amount. Twilight Treason now deals damage to all enemies near your target. These changes are intended to ensure Mind Flay is always worth using when fighting a single enemy, while Mind Sear remains better when fighting several.
[Priest] [Epic: Centered] The buff granted by this enchant now grants 20% haste (up from 15%) and is no longer consumed by Smites made instant by Surge of Light.
[Priest] [Epic: Accelerated Ascension] This enchantment now also reduces the cooldown of Guardian Spirit in addition to Holy Fire.
[Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Holy Nova] Increases the damage and healing of Holy Nova by 25% from 20%. [Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Spirit of Redemption] Increases the duration of Spirit of Redemption by 6 seconds and increases the healing done in Spirit of Redemption by 15%.
[Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Surge of Light] Increases the effectiveness of Smite and Flash Heal by 30% from 15% when cast through Surge of Light.
[Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Lightwell] Increases the amount healed by your Lightwell by 20% and increases the amount of heals by 3.
[Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Holy Fire] The periodic damage from Holy Fire can now critically strike and if the target is above 80% health, Holy Fire is guaranteed to critically strike.
[Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Long Renewal] Decreases the amount healed from your renew by 20% but increases the duration by 6 seconds.
Shadow
Shadow has several distinct spec paths, so this pass focuses on supporting them without collapsing their niches together. The spec gains some mana and damage support, Silence becomes easier to access, and Vampiric Embrace is prevented from creating unintended value through guardians.
[Priest] [Shadow: Vampiric Embrace] This now only heals players and can no longer target guardians such as the demons summoned by Nether Portal.
[Priest] [Shadow Word: Pain] Damage increased by 4% in PvE combat.
[Priest] [Shadow: Silence] This talent no longer requires the Improved Psychic Scream talent to be learnt.
[Priest] [Shadow: Spirit Tap] This now makes your mana regenerate at 100% its rate while casting, changed from 83%.
[Priest] [Shadow: Improved Spirit Tap] This now makes your mana regenerate at 25/50% its rate while casting, changed from 17/33%.
[Priest] [Legendary: Shadow Visions] The Mind Flay empowerment from consuming Soul Fragments now grants 30% increased damage in addition to 30% increased critical strike chance, changed from adding 33% critical strike chance with no increase to damage.
[Priest] [Rare: Glyph of Shadow Word: Death] Reduces the damage you take from Shadow Word: Death by 25% and targets below 35% health take an additional 1% damage for every 1% health they are under 35% from Shadow Word: Death.
Warlock
Affliction
Affliction’s playstyle has unexplored potential around multi-dotting and long-duration pressure, and this update gives those pieces more room to matter. Several Affliction Legendary paths are strengthened, Soul Swap gets a new multi-dotting role, while Corruption pressure in PvP is reduced.
[Warlock] [Legendary: Soul Erosion] This now increases the damage of your Drain Soul by 300%, up from 200%.
[Warlock] [Legendary: Endless Agony] When fully stacked this now increases the damage of your Curse of Agony by 80% (up from 60%) and Curse of Doom by 140% (up from 120%).
[Warlock] [Malediction] This talent now also makes Curse of Elements increase the target’s magic damage taken by an additional 1/2/3%.
[Warlock] [Epic: Eternal Torment] This enchant has been slightly reworked. It now reads: Your Haunt increases the damage of your Shadow damage-over-time effects by an additional 7% (up from 5%). Your Soul Swap: Exhale can now be cast to apply your DoTs on two targets.
[Warlock] [Curse of Doom] The damage of Curse of Doom has been increased by 8%.
[Warlock] [Unstable Affliction] The damage of Unstable Affliction has been increased by 6% in PvE combat.
[Warlock] [Corruption] The damage of Corruption has been reduced by 8% in PvP combat.
[Warlock] [Rare: Glyph of Corruption] Now has a 5% chance to trigger up from 4%.
[Warlock] [Rare: Glyph of Unstable Affliction] Now lasts for 3 additional seconds and the cast time is reduced by 0.2 seconds.
Demonology
Demonology has a strong and well-established identity around empowered demons, high pet damage, and Metamorphosis windows. This update keeps that identity intact while slightly reducing how much damage amplification can stack on demons and making Unholy Power more flexible, while the biggest changes to this spec come through the new Dark Apotheosis archetype.
[Warlock] [Demonology: Unholy Power] This is now a 3-point talent, increasing the damage of the affected summoned demons by 5/10/15%, changed from 4/8/12/16/20%. This change is intended to slightly reduce the amount of damage amplifiers Demons can stack on top of each other, reigning in the damage potential of Demonology while freeing up a few talent points to be used elsewhere.
[Warlock] [Epic: Demonic Persistance] This now stacks up to 3 times, instead of 5. This change is intended to slightly reduce the power of the Hand of Gul’Dan enchant kit.
Dark Apotheosis Tank
Warlocks are gaining an entirely new tank archetype through Dark Apotheosis, turning Demonology into a demonic caster-tank built around armor conversion, high-threat spells, Soul Link, and self-sustain. Their demon helps absorb damage, Soul Gorge gives frequent self-healin, Maw of Dread brings attack-speed reduction, and Feeding the Abyss lets them store incoming damage before turning it back into healing and threat. Dark Apotheosis tanks are durable, unstable, self-fueled, and dangerous to stand near.
[Warlock] [New Spell: Dark Apotheosis] Transform yourself into a demon, increasing your health by 15%, armor contribution from cloth items by 666% and significantly increasing your threat. While shapeshifted you are immune to pushback effects and damage dealt by you and your pets is reduced by 30%. While in Dark Apotheosis your Searing Pain spell is instant and you learn Challenging Howl, Demon Charge and Maw of Dread.
[Warlock] [New Dark Apotheosis Spell: Soul Gorge] Hurls demonic ruin at up to five enemies, causing Shadow damage. Casting this restores 40% of your base mana mana and regenerates 5% of your max health. Can be cast while moving.
[Warlock] [New Dark Apotheosis Spell: Maw of Dread] Releases a demonic howl in a wide cone before you, causing Shadow damage to enemies caught within and slowing their attacks by 20% for 15 seconds.
[Warlock] [Demonology: Challenging Howl] This spell has been reworked and now reads: Taunts the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you. This spell can not miss.
[Warlock] [New Talent Ability: Reign of Dread] Surge into the air and scorch all enemies below with Shadowflame damage over 2 seconds. While airborne melee attacks against you have $s1% increased chance to miss. Requires level 60.
[Warlock] [New Talent: Dark Fixation] Increases your armor by 100/200% of your spell power. Damage dealt to yourself with Life Tap is converted into an absorb shield equal to 50/100% the self-inflicted damage. Requires level 15.
[Warlock] [New Talent: Taste for Torment] Soul Gorge’s healing is increased by up to 10/20/30% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds. Searing Pain has a 10/20/30% chance to reset the cooldown of Soul Gorge. Requires level 30.
[Warlock] [Demonology: Demonic Resilience] This now reduces the chance to be critically hit by 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.
[Warlock] [Demonology: Improved Demonic Tactics] This talent now has an additional effect: When your pet is below 20% health, the damage it takes from your Soul Link is reduced by 90%.
[Warlock] [New Epic Enchant: Searing Brand] Your Searing Pain reduces the target's attack power. This does not stack with other similar effects. The first time a target is branded they take additional high-threat Fire damage. Requires Dark Apotheosis.
[Warlock] [New Epic Enchant: Dread Communion] Your demon is healed for 25% of the healing you receive. Casting Demonic Empowerment triples the effect of your Master Demonologist talent for 10 seconds.
[Warlock] [New Legendary Enchant: Feeding the Abyss] Your ability to Dodge is replaced with a dark hunger. You have a chance [10% plus your spell critical chance] to fully absorb incoming physical damage, storing it for later use. After 10 seconds the stored damage is fed to the abyss, causing your next Life Tap to deal damage to nearby enemies, healing you and your pet based on the damage dealt.
[Warlock] [Epic: Searing Flames] This enchant has been reworked, it now reads: The periodic effect of Immolate now deals damage to all enemies within 8 yards of the target, but can only be active on one target at a time. Each time Immolate deals periodic damage, Imp’s Firebolt crit chance increases by 3%, consumed when it critically hits.
Destruction
Destruction can already deliver very powerful moments when its Fire tools line up properly, but it has room for a little more support around its sustained Fire package. This update gives minor help to Immolate, Imp synergy, and Searing Flames, while slightly reducing Conflagrate burst against players.
[Warlock] [Legendary: Cataclysmic Burst] This now increases the damage of your Immolate by 10%, up from 8%.
[Warlock] [Imp: Firebolt] The mana cost of Firebolt has been reduced by approximately 20%.
[Warlock] [Epic: Searing Flames] This enchant has been reworked, it now reads: The periodic effect of Immolate now deals damage to all enemies within 8 yards of the target, but can only be active on one target at a time. Each time Immolate deals periodic damage, Imp’s Firebolt crit chance increases by 3%, consumed when it critically hits.
[Warlock] [Conflagrate] Conflagrate deals 10% reduced damage in PvP combat.
[Warlock] [Destruction: Empowered Imp] This now increases the critical strike chance of your Imp by 10/20/30% instead of increasing its damage. This will make this talent trigger much more frequently.
[Warlock] [Rare: Glyph of Shadow Burn] Increases the critical strike chance and damage by 20% when the target is below 35% health.
[Warlock] [Destruction] Shadowburn now deals 14% increased damage.
Hunter
Beastmastery
Beast Mastery is receiving a slightly larger pass focused on making the hunter-and-pet relationship scale better and feel more rewarding at higher gear levels. Barbed Shot and its supporting enchants are being rebuilt into a clearer pet-focused spec path, while pet scaling is being adjusted so pets are less front-loaded early and grow more naturally with the Hunter.
[Hunter] [Legendary: Barbed Shot] This enchant has been reworked. It now reads: Fires a shot that tears through your enemy, causing them to take bleed damage over 15 seconds and making your pet’s attacks bypass 10% of their armor per stack, stacking up to 5 times.
[Hunter] [Epic: Beastmaster’s Gambit] This has been reworked and now reads: Dealing damage with Arcane Shot on a target affected by your Barbed Shot has a 20% chance per stack to tear open the wound, increasing your pet’s damage against the target by 20% for 3 seconds.
[Hunter] [Epic: Fetch Me Their Bones] The damage of the charge effect has been increased significantly in PvE combat. The damage is also tripled when hitting a target with an open wound from Beastmaster’s Gambit.
[Hunter] [Epic: Savage Momentum] This enchant now also extends the duration of your Stampede debuff on the target by 2 seconds when it triggers.
[Hunter] [Pets] The base strength, base agility and base damage of all Hunter pets have been reduced by 20%.
[Hunter] [Pets] The attack power inheritance of pets has been increased by approximately 36% (from 22% to 30%).
[Hunter] [Pets] Pets now inherit 100% of the owner's armor penetration.
[Hunter] [Pets] These changes will reduce the performance of pets at low levels and early gear levels, but ensure they grow in power in tandem with their Hunter. This fixes an issue that pets were very powerful while leveling and at low gear levels, but then became relatively weak. With these changes the power curves are aligned.
[Hunter][Legendary: Stampede] Fixed a bug where the Stampede Damage increase was overridden by other hunters using Stampede.
Marksmanship
Marksmanship changes are aimed at making its hardest-hitting shot feel more rewarding. The Scorpid fix also keeps its PvP utility more predictable and fair to play against.
[Hunter] [Legendary: Powershot] This now reduces the target's armor by 30%, up from 25%. It now also benefits from the Piercing Shots talent.
[Hunter] [Epic: Power Through] This can now stack up to 12 times, up from 8.
[Hunter] [Chimera Shot - Scorpid] This now properly has a 1 minute internal cooldown on the disarm effect.
[Hunter] [Glyph of Arcane Shot] Arcane Shot has 8% increased critical strike chance and now refunds 50% of the mana cost if the target has one of your stings.
[Hunter] [Rare: Glyph of Steady Shot] Increases the damage of Steady Shot by 15% (up from 10%) when your target is affected by Serpent Sting.
[Hunter] [Rare: Glyph of Quick Shot] In addition to its previous effects now also reduces the global cooldown by 0.5 seconds.
Survival
Melee Hunter is getting direct support to make its close-range Survival tools hit harder. Carve, Laceration, and Apex Predator all receive help, with Laceration also gaining a clearer armor-reduction role.
[Hunter] [Carve] Carve now deals 240% weapon damage from 200%.
[Hunter] [Laceration] Now deals 40% damage over the duration from 33% (No longer requires a critical strike). Additionally, this now additionally reduces the target’s armor by 20% for 20 seconds. This does not stack with similar effects.
[Hunter][Apex Predator] The buff granted from now lasts for 8 seconds from 6 seconds.
[Hunter] [Glyph of Immolation Trap] Now causes auto-shot to deal 30% damage as fire damage up from 25%.
[Hunter][Explosive Shot] The damage of Explosive Shot has been increased by 10%.
Mage
Arcane
Arcane is receiving modest support focusing on making more Arcane buttons feel worthwhile, improving casting reliability, and making Arcane Mind easier to fit into talent setups.
[Mage] [Arcane Barrage] Damage increased by 8% in PvE combat.
[Mage] [Arcane Explosion] Damage increased by 14%.
[Mage] [Arcane Stability] Arcane Stability now reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting or channeling any Arcane spell, changed from only reducing it for Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles and is now a 3 point talent (34/67/100%) from 5 points.
[Mage] [Arcane Mind] This is now a 3-point talent, granting 5/10/15% increased intellect, changed from 3/6/9/12/15%.
[Mage] [Rare: Glyph of Arcane Blast] Each Stack of Arcane Blast reduces the cast time of Arcane Blast by 4% from 3%.
[Mage] [Rare: Glyph of Mirror Image] Mirror Image now lasts for 30 more seconds and you now create a 4th copy.
[Mage] [Arcane Empowerment] This now increases the damage of your Arcane Blast by up to 8/16/25% of your spell power, up from 7/14/20%, and your Arcane Missiles by up to 8/16/25%, changed from 10/20/30%.
[Mage][Presence of Mind] Now has a 90 second cooldown from 120 seconds.
Arcane Healer
Arcane Mages are gaining a new healing archetype through Mind Shift, turning Arcane’s precision, mana control, and spell-stacking gameplay into an actual healing role. Arcane Mending and Arcane Resonance provide the core healing tools, while Arcane Barrier converts Arcane Blast stacks into physical protection and Mind Mending Armor turns mana management into healing through Arcane Echo.
[Mage] [New Spell: Mind Shift] You shift into an Arcane dimension, increasing your healing by 50% and reducing your damage done by 50%. While shifted, your spells cannot miss, your hit rating is converted into Intellect, and you gain access to Arcane Mending and Arcane Resonance.
[Mage] [New Spell: Arcane Mending] Heals your target and 2 nearby allies. 1.5 second cast time.
[Mage] [New Spell: Arcane Resonance] Channels healing into your target every 1 second for 6 seconds. You can change your target while channeling.
[Mage] [New Spell: Mind Mending Armor] Increases your healing power by 30% of your Intellect. While at or above 40% mana, your effective heals trigger Arcane Echo on the ally after a short delay. Arcane Echo drains 0.5 mana for each point of healing. The more mana you have, the more healing the echo does. This spell is available at level 28.
[Mage] [New Spell: Arcane Barrier] Consumes your Arcane Blast stacks to instantly heal a friendly target and surround them with an Arcane Barrier for 4 seconds per stack. The barrier absorbs 30% of physical damage taken, up to an amount equal to 10% of your maximum mana. Each point of damage absorbed costs 0.1 mana.
[Mage] [New Talent: Arcane Recovery] Increases all healing done by 3/6% and increases your mana by 125/250% of your Intellect.
[Mage] [Student of the Mind] This Spirit-increasing talent was almost never used and has been removed.
[Mage] [New Talent: Arcane Attunement] Arcane Blast no longer increases damage and mana cost. Instead, it increases your healing done by 3/6%. Arcane Resonance generates 1/2 Arcane Blast stacks over its channel duration.
[Mage] [New Talent: Arcane Momentum] Arcane Mending can consume an Arcane Blast stack to cast 10/20/30% faster and gain 20/40/60% increased critical strike chance.
[Mage] [Missile Barrage] This now also affects Arcane Resonance and can trigger from Arcane Mending. The effect now reads: Gives your Arcane Blast a 14/27/40% chance, and your Arcane Barrage, Arcane Mending, Fireball, Frostbolt, and Frostfire Bolt spells a 7/14/20% chance to empower your next Arcane Missiles or Arcane Resonance. Arcane Missiles channel twice as fast. Arcane Resonance triggers three times faster and heals nearby injured allies.
[Mage] [Arcane Potency] This now benefits healing spells.
[Mage] [Arcane Instability] This now benefits healing spells.
[Mage] [Mind Mastery] This now also affects healing spell power.
[Mage] [World in Flames] This now affects Arcane Resonance.
[Mage] [Master of the Elements] This now works with Arcane Mending and Arcane Resonance.
[Mage] [Arcane Power] This now also increases healing.
[Mage] [Arcane Empowerment] This now increases the damage of your Arcane Blast by up to 8/16/25% of your spell power, up from 7/14/20%, and your Arcane Missiles by up to 8/16/25%, changed from 10/20/30%. This talent now also affects Arcane Resonance and Arcane Mending.
[Mage] [New Glyph: Glyph of Mending Images] Your Mirror Images now cast a lesser rank of Arcane Mending instead of dealing damage.
[Mage] [Mana Gem] This can now be created at level 15.
[Mage] [Epic: Infused Gems] This Mystic Enchantment can now be chosen from the level 15 Epic Mystic Enchantment quest for Mage.
[Mage] [Mage Armor] This is now available at level 10.
[Mage] [Glyph of Mage Armor] This has been reworked. It now reads: Your Mage Armor regenerates 2% of your maximum mana every 5 seconds, but no longer grants mana regeneration while casting.
[Mage] [Glyph of Mage Armor] This Mystic Enchantment can now be chosen from the level 10 Rare Mystic Enchantment quest for Mage.
[Mage] [New Legendary: Arcane Reverberation] Your Arcane Echo healing is tripled and costs 25% less mana. Arcane Power is transformed into Resonating Power: Tap into Arcane resources, making your Arcane Echo heal as if you had full mana but cost no mana. While active, you also gain 2% increased healing done and 2% haste every 2 seconds. Maintaining this buff slowly drains your mana and will last until your mana drops below 30% or for 30 seconds, after which it restores the borrowed mana over 3 seconds before expiring.
[Mage] [Rare: Glyph of Arcane Blast] Each Stack of Arcane Blast reduces the cast time of Arcane Blast by 4% from 3%.
[Mage][Rare: Glyph of Mirror Image] Mirror Image now lasts for 30 more seconds and you now create a 4th copy.
[Mage][Netherwind]: Netherwind Grasp’s Tier 2 6P Set now increases the critical effectiveness of your healing spells in addition to damage spells.
Fire
Fire Mages thrive when the fight starts to ignite around them: fast pressure, sudden bursts of flame, and burning targets turning every crit into the next opening. These changes are meant to make that fantasy show up more reliably, so Fire has stronger pressure in both focused damage windows and situations where its flames can spread.
[Mage] [Fire: Incineration] This now increases the critical strike chance of Fire Blast, Scorch, Arcane Blast and Cone of Cold by 3/6/9%, up from 2/4/6%.
[Mage] [Fire Blast] Damage increased by approximately 15% for all ranks up to and including level 60.
[Mage] [Pyroblast] Damage increased by 6% in PvE combat.
[Mage] [Legendary: Blazing Flame] Casting Scorch or Pyro Blast while Blazing Speed is active now extends the duration of Blazing Speed by 2 seconds, up from 1.
[Mage] [Epic: Flame Alignment] This enchant has been reworked. It now reads: Casting Fire Blast now restores 15% base mana and grants you a small absorb shield. The buff granted from Cauterize now lasts for an additional 3 seconds and increases your spell critical strike chance by 50%.
[Mage] [Epic: Precision Impact] Precision Impact now increases the damage of your Scorch in addition to Meteor.
[Mage] [Epic: Fire Fire Fireball] This no longer increases the cast time of your empowered Fireball and no longer makes it guaranteed to critically strike. Instead, it hits twice.
[Mage] [Epic: Trisolaris] This enchant now has an additional effect: Dealing direct Fire damage to a target afflicted by your Living Bomb has a 20% chance to cause it to spontaneously combust. This does not consume Living Bomb.
Frost
Frost Bomb has become the center of gravity for Frost, and this update pulls some of that weight back toward the wider Frost toolkit. The Shatter fix helps those powerful Shatter combos land more reliably.
[Mage] [Frost Bomb] The damage of the Frost Bomb pulse has been reduced from 20% to 17%.
[Mage] [Epic: Biting Frost] The internal cooldown of the guaranteed Frostbite proc has been reduced to 5 seconds, down from 15. This enchant also makes triggering Frostbite restore 20% of your base mana.
[Mage] [Epic: Frozen Conduit] This enchant now makes your Frostbolt reduce both the mana cost and channel time of your Blizzard (previously only mana cost) by 20% (previously 15%), stacking up to 3 times.
[Mage] [Epic: Shatter] Fixed an issue causing this damage increase to be consumed too quickly when casting Frostbolt from short range.
Druid
Balance
This Balance pass does two things at once: it raises the floor of the core Moonkin toolkit, and it gives Sunfire a clearer place as a DoT-focused single-target option. Mana, Eclipse consistency, and updates to differentiating playstyles should make Balance Druid feel less constrained and pigeonholed into a singular build.
[Druid] [Moonkin Form] The 2% mana regeneration from spell critical strike now triggers also from periodic critical strikes. It now also grants 3% mana up from 2%.
[Druid] [Balance: Moonfire] The damage of Moonfire has been increased by approximately 20% in PvE.
[Druid] [Balance: Insect Swarm] The damage of Insect Swarm has been increased by approximately 12% in PvE.
[Druid] [Balance: Eclipse] Eclipse now has a 34/66/100% chance to trigger when you critically hit with Wrath, from 20/40/60%.
[Druid] [Legendary: Sunfire] Sunfire now lasts for 18 seconds, up from 15. This now increases the periodic damage of your Moonfire and Insect swarm by 20%, increased by 10% per additional target hit, and changed from 15% per target hit.
[Druid] [Epic: Critical Cycles] This enchant has been reworked and now reads: Casting Wrath or Starfire empowered by Eclipse increases the damage of your next Insect Swarm or Moonfire by 10% (5% against players), stacking up to 10 times. Casting Wrath or Starfire not empowered by Eclipse increases the duration of your Insect Swarm and Moonfire on the target by 5 seconds.
[Druid] [Epic: Elune’s Fury] This enchant has been reworked and now reads: Periodic damage from your Moonfire and Insect Swarm can now critically hit, dealing 100% bonus damage. In addition, dealing damage with Starfall increases your critical chance by 15%, lasting for 1 second per target hit.
[Druid] [Legendary: Touch of Elune] This enchant is now Epic quality, changed from Legendary. Its damage increase has been reduced to 10%, from 15%.
[Druid] [Epic: Graceful Insurgence] This now increases the damage of Wrath, Starfire and Starsurge against targets below 35% health by 25%, up from 15%.
[Druid] [Epic: Stellar Convergence] This now also reduces the cooldown of Touch of Elune.
[Druid] [Epic: Surging Eclipse] The tooltip of this enchant has been updated not to incorrectly state that it cannot trigger while Eclipse is active.
[Druid] [Glyph of Focus] This now decreases the radius of Starfall by 30%, changed from 50%. It also makes Starfall last an extra 2 seconds.
[Druid] [Glyph of Wrath] This now increases the critical chance of Wrath by 15% but also increases its cast time by 0.15 seconds.
[Druid] [Glyph of Starfire] This has been reworked, it now increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Starfire by 25%.
Feral
Feral is getting more weight on underused Cat support, better AoE hooks, and a healthier spread of Bear threat across its main abilities. The intent is to make more of the Feral kit matter without heavily changing where the spec already has strong footing.
[Druid] [Thrash] The damage and threat of Thrash has been increased by approximately 12%.
[Druid] [Lacerate] The damage and threat of Lacerate has been increased by approximately 10%.
[Druid] [Mangle (Bear)] The damage and threat of Mangle (Bear) has been increased by approximately 8%.
[Druid] [Maul] The damage and threat of Maul has been reduced by approximately 12%. These baseline changes aim to even out the damage distribution of Bear abilities somewhat, making weaker abilities feel more powerful.
[Druid] [Legendary: Fury Unleashed] This now increases the critical strike chance of Mangle by 20%, up from 15%.
[Druid] [Epic: Tiger’s Instinct] The cooldown reduction to Tiger’s Fury granted from this enchant has been increased to 2 seconds, up from 1.5. It now also triggers from using Swipe (Cat).
[Druid] [Epic: Razor Sweep] This now makes your next Claw or Mangle hit two additional targets after you use Rake, changed from only one additional target.
[Druid] [Epic: Omen of Fatality] The buff from this enchant now grants 25% attack speed, up from 20%.
[Druid] [Epic: Relentless Laceration] This now grants 3% increased critical chance per stack, up from 2%.
[Druid] [Feral Charge] This ability now exists as a cross-over enchant, making it available to specs other than Feral.
Restoration
Restoration’s changes are aimed at making the familiar HoT blanket feel more alive. Rejuvenation and Regrowth interactions, Swiftmend support, and Flourishing Nature all push the spec toward more responsive decision-making while preserving the identity as a proactive healer.
[Druid] [Restoration: Swiftmend] This no longer consumes Rejuvenation or Regrowth on the target.
[Druid] [Glyph of Swiftmend] This enchantment now makes Swiftmend refresh the duration of your Rejuvenation and Regrowth on the target.
[Druid] [Legendary: Spirit of the Forest] Rejuvenations cast while Spirit of the Forest is active now have 9 second increased duration.
[Druid] [Epic: Symbiotic Nature] This now increases the healing of Rejuvenation and Regrowth by 20%, up from 15%.
[Druid] [Epic: Flourishing Nature] This enchant has been reworked, it now reads: When Rejuvenation triggers your Revitalize talent, the target has a chance to flourish. Casting Regrowth on a flourishing target will refresh your heal over time effects on them and apply Rejuvenation to two additional allies within 30 yards.
[Druid] [Epic: Everliving] Each stack of this now reduces the cooldown of your next Swiftmend by 1.5 seconds, up from 1. It now stacks to 10, down from 15. This means you will gain its full effect faster.
[Druid] [Glyph of Regrowth] This now increases the critical chance of Regrowth by 20% in addition to increasing the healing by 20%.
Paladin
Holy
Holy Paladin is receiving support for several underutilized tools, with special attention on Epic enchantments that have not had enough room to shine. The result is a broader Holy toolkit, with more ways for their healing spells to serve distinct roles in protecting and healing their allies.
[Paladin] [Artifact: Aegis of the Martyr] This now also instantly heals the target.
[Paladin] [Legendary: Glimmer of Light] The buff granted by Glimmer of Light now increases the critical chance of Flash of Light and Holy Light by 15%, instead of only increasing Flash of Light by 25%.
[Paladin] [Epic: Spark of Hope] This now also increases the critical effect chance of Holy Shock on targets below 50% health, in addition to Holy Light and Flash of Light.
[Paladin] [Epic: Sacred Light] This now increases the healing the target of your Sacred Shield takes from you by 10%, up from 8%.
[Paladin] [Epic: Synergistic Light] Each stack of Synergistic Light now grants 15% increased critical effect chance and reduced mana cost to Holy Light after casting Flash of Light, up from 10%.
[Paladin] [Holy: Light’s Grace] The buff granted by Light’s Grace is no longer dispellable.
[Paladin] [Epic: A New Dawn] This now generates one Holy Power when casting Holy Light, instead of previously when healing the target of your Beacon of Light to full health.
[Paladin] [Glyph of Beacon of Light] This has been changed to: Beacon of Light now has a 2 second cast time but lasts for 10 minutes.
[Paladin] [Rare: Glyph of Consecration] Increases the Duration and Cooldown of Consecration by 2 seconds and increases the damage by 20%.
Protection
Protection already has a lot going for it in dungeons and multi-target tanking, but its single-target defensive support has had some awkward gaps, especially around Vindication. These changes keep the spec’s active, multi-button feel while making its mitigation and threat tools connect more cleanly.
[Paladin] [Legendary: Hammerstorm] This now lasts for 6 seconds (up from 5) and has a 20 second cooldown (down from 25). The duration of the attack speed slow is now 15 secs, down from 20.
[Paladin] [Epic: Shield of Wrath] This enchantment also makes casting Avenger’s Shield grant you Holy Shield.
[Paladin] [Epic: Righteous Light] This now increases the damage and threat of your Shield of Righteousness by 20%, up from 15%. The buff granted now lasts for 20 seconds, up from 10.
[Paladin] [Epic: Consecrated Zeal] This has been changed to: Standing inside your Consecration increases your Holy damage done by 8% and reduces physical damage taken by 4%. It previously stacked up to a maximum of 6% Holy damage and 3% physical damage.
[Paladin] [Glyph of Shield of Righteousness] This glyph now also increases the critical chance of Shield of Righteousness by 20%.
[Paladin] [Rare: Glyph of Judgement] Your Judgement now deals 25% more damage but now has a 1 second increased cooldown and is guaranteed to trigger Vindication if known.
Retribution
Retribution has been heavily shaped by Twist of Faith, so this update gives its other enchants more room to stand beside it. Execution Sentence and Judgements especially see several improvements, resulting in more ways to make the Retribution skillset feel active and rewarding.
[Paladin] [Seal of Righteousness] Seal of Righteousness now uses your base weapon speed for its damage calculation. This means that if you get more attack speed or haste, your Seal damage will not go down.
[Paladin] [Judgement of Righteousness] The damage of this Judgement has been increased by 15% in PvE combat.
[Paladin] [Legendary: One with the Light] This enchantment now also increases your healing taken by 10%. The damage of the triggered effect of this enchant has been increased by 20%.
[Paladin] [Legendary: Twist of Faith] The Seal echos granted by this enchant now last for 12 seconds, up from 8. You can only have one echo active at a time. This means there will be a bit more space in the rotation.
[Paladin] [Legendary: Execution Sentence] Execution Sentence now stores 20% of your damage dealt to the target while the debuff is active and adds it to the final burst.
[Paladin] [Epic: Swift Execution] This enchant has been reworked and now reads: Activating Avenging Wrath resets the cooldown of Execution Sentence. In addition, your Judgement of Righteousness deals 25% increased damage (5% against players) tripled while Avenging Wrath is active.
[Paladin] [Epic: Execution Verdict] This now also grants a Holy Power when using Exorcism. The empowerment of Templar’s Verdict now adds 25% damage in addition to the 25% increased critical chance.
[Paladin] [Epic: Branding Zeal] This now increases the damage of both the Seal and Judgement of Righteousness by 15%, changed from only increasing Seal by 20%. This primarily shifts the damage distribution somewhat in favor of Judgements, but also slightly reduces the power of this enchantment for Twist of Faith and slightly increases it for all other Legendary enchants. It also no longer triggers when the Seal of Righteousness is not active.
[Paladin] [Epic: Divine Resurgence] This has been slightly reworked. It now reads: Your Divine Storm and Judgement spells have 15% increased critical strike chance and have a 20% chance not to trigger any cooldown.
[Paladin] [Rare: Glyph of Crusader Strike] Increases Critical Strike Chance of Crusader Strike by 3% and reduces its mana cost by 50%.
[Paladin] [Rare: Glyph of Judgement] Your Judgement now deals 25% more damage but now has a 1 second increased cooldown and is guaranteed to trigger Vindication if known.
[Paladin] [Rare: Glyph of Hammer of Wrath] In addition to its previous effects, it now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of Hammer of Wrath by 25% and doubles for targets under 20% health.
Shaman
Elemental
Elemental is getting a path-variety pass more than a simple damage pass. Booming Thunder remains the cleave/funnel anchor, but Flame Ascendance gets smoother Lava Burst flow, Tethered Elemental becomes easier to maintain, and Chain Lightning gets some minor adjustments while Lightning Bolt receives enough support to matter more when the fight calls for focused casting.
[Shaman] [Lightning Bolt] The damage of Lightning Bolt has been increased by 12%.
[Shaman] [Lava Burst] The damage of Lava Burst has been increased by 8% in PvE combat.
[Shaman] [Chain Lightning] The damage of Chain Lightning has been increased by 8%. This is intended to offset other changes that reduce its damage.
[Shaman] [Legendary: Flame Ascendance] This now has an additional effect: While in Flame Ascendance, casting Flame Shock fully resets the cooldown of Lava Burst and Lava Beam.
[Shaman] [Legendary: Ascending Flames] The damage bonus to Flame Shock when it is already on the target has been increased to 50%, from 40%.
[Shaman] [Epic: Primordial Aftershocks] This now resets the cooldown of your shocks whenever you cast Lava Burst, Elemental Blast or Lava Beam. It no longer requires the spell to critically hit to reset the cooldown.
[Shaman] [Talent: Shamanism] This talent now increases the spell damage coefficient of Lightning Bolt by 25%, changed from 20%.
[Shaman] [Epic: Lightning Strikes Twice] This now reduces the damage of Chain Lightning by 25%, up from 20%.
[Shaman] [Epic: Elemental Momentum] This enchantment no longer increases the damage of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning on targets below 35% health. Instead, it increases the critical chance of Lightning Bolt by 15% while Clearcasting from Elemental Focus is active.
[Shaman] [Epic: Tethered Power] Elemental Synergy now increases damage by 8% per stack, stacking up to 5 times. This is changed from 4% per stack, stacking up to 10 times. It also lasts for 20 seconds, up from 15. These changes are intended to make it easier to stack and maintain.
[Shaman] [Epic: Shock Tactics] This enchant also makes your Shock spells reduce the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt or Healing Wave by 0.5 seconds.
[Shaman] [Glyph of Lightning Bolt] This glyph now increases the critical strike chance of Lightning Bolt by 7%, in addition to increasing its damage by 7%. It no longer increases the damage of Chain Lightning.
[Shaman] [Rare: Glyph of Flame Shock] Increases the critical strike damage bonus of Flame Shock by 100% up from 60%.
[Shaman] [Rare: Glyph of Lava] Lava Burst, Flame Shock, Flametongue and Fire Nova now gain an additional 10% of your spell power.
Enhancement
Enhancement is getting a path-definition pass: Air Ascendance, Wind Lash, and Lava Sweep are being given clearer niches and more distinct Epic enchant packages rather than all leaning on the same core options. Enhancement Tank is also receiving support through stronger threat, more damage, and Stoneclaw as a new tank-focused enchant.
[Shaman] [Earthen Guardian] This now reduces damage and healing by 20%, changed from 25%. Its increased threat has been increased to 200%, up from 180%.
[Shaman] [NEW Epic: Stoneclaw] Increases your attack power by 1 for every 300 armor you have and increases your threat by 15%. You learn Stoneclaw: Empowers your next three main hand swing to generate extra threat to all nearby enemies. This ability shares a cooldown with Stoneclaw Totem and can trigger Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem and Totemic Bond. Requires Earthen Guardian.
[Shaman] [Epic: Cataclysmic Sundering] The damage from this enchantment has been increased by 35%.
[Shaman] [Epic: Leader of the Elements] This now stacks 3 times, down from 4. It now triggers from any Shock spell. This change is intended to reduce the power of this enchantment a little while providing more freedom around which Shock spell to use.
[Shaman] [Epic: Converging Elements] This enchant has been slightly reworked. It now reads: Increases the damage and critical chance of your Flametongue and Frostbrand weapon by 20% and gives them a chance to make your next Stormstrike not trigger any cooldown.
[Shaman] [Epic: Fury of the Wind] The buff granted by this enchantment has been changed from 20% armor penetration to 20% increased physical damage (10% vs players) and 20% attack speed. It now lasts for 20 seconds, up from 10.
[Shaman] [Epic: Zephyr] This now increases the damage done of Wind Lash in addition to Windfury and Stormstrike. It also passively increases the damage of your Stormstrike by 50% against monsters.
[Shaman] [Epic: Stormborn] This has been slightly reworked. It now makes your Stormstrike always reduce the cooldown of Shamanistic Rage and Air Ascendance by 2 seconds (not just while they aren’t active). The range of the damaging effect of this enchant has been increased significantly. Its damage has been increased by approximately 50%, but it now gains less damage beyond 3 targets.
[Shaman] [Talent: Maelstrom Weapon] This can now stack up to 8 times, but still consumes a maximum of 5 stacks when cast. This means that fewer Maelstrom stacks will be lost from overcapping.
[Shaman] [Rare: Glyph of Lightning Shield] In addition to previous effects now also increases the charges of Lightning Shield by 2.
Restoration
Restoration Shaman is receiving a broad healing pass across throughput, mana, utility, and playstyle variety. Chain Heal, Riptide spreading, Cloudburst, Earthliving, Spirit Link, Spiritwalker’s Grace, and totem management all get support, giving Resto Shaman more ways to answer different fight shapes.
[Shaman] [Artifact: Spirit Link Totem] This totem is now placed where you click rather than going to the default Air totem slot.
[Shaman] [Artifact: Spiritwalker’s Grace] This now has a 60 second cooldown, down from 90 seconds.
[Shaman] [Legendary: Transcendental Embrace] This now reduces the cast time of Chain Heal by 25%, up from 20%.
[Shaman] [Legendary: Spreading TIdes] This enchant has been deprecated, its effect has been moved to Low Tide.
[Shaman] [Epic: Low Tide] This now also makes critical heals with Healing Wave on targets affected by your Riptide spread Riptide to an ally within 15 yards. This no longer has an internal cooldown.
[Shaman] [Epic: Cloudburst Totem] This totem now captures 40% of your healing, up from 30%.
[Shaman] [Epic: Earthen Grace] This now increases your healing done on targets of your Earthliving Weapon by 8%, up from 5%. It also extends the duration of your Earthliving Weapon effect by 6 seconds.
[Shaman] [Epic: Nature’s Flow] This now grants 15% haste (up from 10%) for 15 seconds (up from 10 seconds).
[Shaman] [Glyph of Earthliving Weapon] This now increases the chance to trigger Earthliving Weapon by 10%, up from 5%.
[Shaman] [Glyph of Chain Heal] This now also increases the distance your Chain Heal can jump by 10 yards.
[Shaman] [NEW: Glyph of Water Shield] Water Shield gains two additional charges.
[Shaman] [Glyph of Mana Tide] This also makes Mana Tide reduce the mana cost of your spells by 80%.
[Shaman] [Totemic Recall] This ability now refunds 75% of the cost of the totems, up from 25%.
[Shaman] [NEW Spell: Totemic Projection] Relocates your active totems to the specified location. 10 sec cooldown.
[Shaman] [Restoration: Blessing of the Eternals] The increased Earthliving proc chance of this talent is now effective on targets at or under 50% health. Previously, this required your target to be below 35% health AFTER the heal was applied. Now it calculates the proc chance BEFORE you healed them.
[Shaman] [Rare: Glyph of Healing Wave] Your Healing Wave also heals you for 20% of the amount when you heal someone else. If you're full health, you instead heal a nearby ally.
Item Proc Effects
Item proc effects have been extremely dominant in all forms of content, requiring some players in their raids to pick up these items, despite them not being very good, solely for the benefit of their raid-wide buffs. This resulted in a significant asymmetrical balance between 10-man raids, who could not afford to dedicate a slot to these essential buffs, and 25-man raids, who could more easily afford the sacrifice. The changes below are framed to reduce this dominance and promote healthier itemization and being able to equip and look forward to upgrades throughout raid tiers.
- Reduced proc damage and scaling for Bloodfist, Mother’s Loose Fang, Venom-Infused Screwdriver, Gatorbite Axe, and Gargoyle Shredder Talons by up to 40%.
- Reduced the proc chance of Flurry Axe by 25%.
- Reworked Armor Reducing Item Proc Effects like Bashguuder and Rivenspike from raid-wide armor reduction into owner-only armor bypass, at 5% armor bypass per stack up to 3 stacks.
- Nightfall now provides a personal debuff, rather than a raid-wide debuff and has 45 attack power and 36 spell power in addition to 28 stamina. Its ppm has been doubled.
- Eshkandar's 2 Set Bonus now has a 1minute ICD and lasts for 60 seconds from 2 minutes with no icd. Its chance has been increased to 10% from 1%.
- Worldforged items will be refundable for the marks that you’ve spent.
- The Mythic Coin Cap is increased by over 15,000 to account for any changes in gearing that is needed.
- The amount of Mythic Coins gained from recycling has been increased by 50%.
Armor Penetration
Armor Penetration is stronger now than before. Details below.
The way that armor penetration debuffs interact with armor penetration on your character (from buffs or talents or your gear) has been updated and improved.
Previously these were calculated separately – the armor of your enemy would first be reduced by debuffs (such as Sunder Armor) and then your personal armor penetration would apply. So if the target had 6000 armor, -20% from Sunder Armor and you had 50% Armor Penetration, it would go like this:
Step 1: Target has 6000 armor, which is 50% damage reduction. That 50% damage reduction is reduced by 20%: the target now has 40% damage reduction.
Step 2: Your armor penetration applies to that 40% damage reduction. You have 50% armor penetration, meaning you cut it in half: the target has 20% damage reduction remaining.
Outcome: Your attacks deal 80% damage.
After the change, this is simplified and improved:
Step 1: The target has 6000 armor, which is 50% damage reduction. That is reduced by 20% (debuff) + 50% (your armor penetration), bringing it down to 15% damage reduction.
Outcome: Your attacks deal 85% damage.
This effectively means that Armor Penetration now is a more powerful stat whenever you attack targets debuffed with any armor-reducing effect.
Separately from this, the certain armor-reducing procs from weapons have been made personal. That will slightly reduce the benefit of this for raids that utilized these procs, but it is still an overall increase to the value of armor penetration.
The amount of armor penetration rating required for 1% armor penetration has also been reduced from 5 to 4.2, making armor penetration rating a more desirable stat. Together with the change in armor penetration calculations, this means armor penetration will become a highly sought-after stat for physical damage dealers.
THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT BUFF TO ARMOR PENETRATION RATING.
