Though there have inevitably been some hiccups along the way, World of Warcraft is currently lurching from exciting moment to exciting moment. Up next is the game’s 20th Anniversary, and there are a lot of changes that players should know.
The biggest change is that Dracthyr fans will be able to play other classes outside of the Evoker. As with all races, this will be limited, with the only available options being Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Warrior, or Warlock.
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Alongside new events, currencies and rewards for players to get hold, there are a bunch of tangible balancing changes to the class system in The War Within. In particular Hero Talents are being overhauled in some areas as Blizzard seeks to bring underutilized trees into further relevance.
Here’s our full breakdown of all the upcoming changes.
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WoW: The War Within 20th Anniversary patch notes
The complete patch notes for the 20th Anniversary are as follows:
Characters
- Dark Iron Dwarf
- Mole Machine exits have been added for zones in Kul Tiras, Zandalar, Dragon Isles, and Shadowlands.
Classes
- Death Knight
- Blood
- San’layn
- Gift of the San’layn has been updated – While Dancing Rune Weapon is active you gain Gift of the San’layn (was Vampiric Blood).
- San’layn
- Frost
- Arctic Assault now fires a Glacial Advance at 80% effectiveness (was 100%).
- Blood
- Demon Hunter
- Sigil of Spite’s icon has been updated.
- The Hunt’s icon has been updated.
- Hero Talents
- Fel-Scarred
- Focused Hatred now provides bonus damage beyond 1-target only, with the bonus reducing by 10% for each target beyond 1.
- Fel-Scarred
- Vengeance
- Metamorphosis now heals you for 40% of your maximum health instead of modifying your health directly.
- Casting Metamorphosis while in Demon Form no longer heals you. Triggering Last Resort always heals you for 40% of your base maximum health.
- Druid
- Mark of the Wild now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
- Adaptive Swarm’s icon has been updated.
- Convoke the Spirits’ icon has been updated.
- Hero Talents
- Druid of the Claw
- Ravage can now be used within 20 seconds of it triggering (was 15 seconds).
- Elune’s Chosen
- Arcane spells cast by Convoke the Spirits now trigger Lunation.
- Druid of the Claw
- Balance
- New Talent: Sunseeker Mushrooms – Sunfire damage has a chance to grow a magical mushroom at the target’s location. After 1 second, the mushroom detonates, dealing Nature damage and then an additional Nature damage over 10 seconds. Affected targets are slowed by 50%. Generates up to 20 Astral Power based on targets hit.
- New Talent: Whirling Stars – Celestial Alignment’s cooldown is reduced to 100 seconds and it now has two charges, but its duration is reduced by 20%.
- New Talent: Astronomical Impact – The critical strike damage of your Astral spells is increased by 20%.
- New Talent: Crashing Star – Shooting Stars has a 15% chance to instead call down a Crashing Star, dealing Astral damage to the target and generating 4 Astral Power.
- New Talent: Hail of Stars – Casting a free Starsurge or Starfall grants Solstice for 3 seconds. Free spells cast by Convoke the Spirits grant a 1 second version of this effect.
- Touch the Cosmos has been updated – Casting Wrath in an Eclipse has a 12% chance to make your next Starsurge or Starfall free. Casting Starfire in an Eclipse has an 18% chance to make your next Starsurge or Starfall free.
- Starfall is learned by all Balance Druids at level 15 (was a talent).
- Starfall damage increased by 10%.
- New Moon damage increased by 20%.
- Half Moon damage increased by 10%.
- Rattle the Stars increases Starsurge and Starfall damage by 10% (was 12%).
- Umbral Inspiration increases damage by 30% (was 35%).
- Wild Mushroom now generates 10 Astral Power upon hitting a single target (was 5).
- Warrior of Elune increases Astral Power generation of affected Starfires by 30% (was 40%).
- Nature’s Grace no longer increases the damage of affected Wraths and Starfires.
- Umbral Intensity is now a 1-point talent that increases the damage of Solar Eclipse Wrath by 20% (was 15%), Lunar Eclipse Starfire by 15%, and the damage Starfire does to nearby enemies by 30%.
- Astral Smolder’s chance to trigger is reduced to 35% (was 40%), and it deals 60% of damage dealt (was 50%).
- Orbit Breaker calls down a Full Moon every 30th Shooting Stars (was 25).
- Power of Goldrinn is now a 1-point talent (was 2) and its damage has been reduced by 35%.
- Astral Communion no longer grants Astral Power on entering an Eclipse. Instead, entering an Eclipse causes your next Starsurge or Starfall to cost 15 less Astral Power.
- Spells cast by Convoke the Spirits now trigger Starlord.
- Many talents have changed positions in the talent tree.
- Added a connection between Force of Nature/Warrior of Elune and Celestial Alignment.
- Added a connection between Umbral Intensity and Starlord.
- Cosmic Rapidity tooltip description updated for clarity and now says your periodic effects deal damage more frequently.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Greater Alignment
- Lunar Shrapnel
- Starfall (now learned at level 15)
- Elune’s Chosen
- Lunar Calling increases Starfire damage by 100% (was 80%).
- Keeper of the Grove
- Potent Enchantments causes Whirling Stars to reduce the cooldown of Celestial Alignment by an additional 10 seconds.
- Control of the Dream now reads “are available to be used or at maximum charges.” If the player has Whirling Stars, it reduces the cooldown of Celestial Alignment based on time spent at maximum charges.
- Guardian
- Elune’s Chosen
- Lunar Beam no longer causes Lunation to reduce the cooldown of Lunar Beam.
- Elune’s Chosen
- Restoration
- New Talent: Reactive Resin – When your Restoration heal over time effects are removed by enemies, they are replaced with Reactive Resin, healing an ally over 6 seconds. Multiple stacks may overlap. Passive ability.
- New Talent: Twinleaf – Nature’s Swiftness now has 2 charges.
- New Talent: Wildwood Roots – Abundance now also reduces the cast time of Regrowth by 5% per stack. Cenarion Ward’s cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds and its duration is increased by 2 seconds.
- New Talent: Renewing Surge – The cooldown of Swiftmend is reduced by up to 40%, based on the current health of the target. Cooldown is reduced more when cast on a lower health target.
- New Talent: Forest’s Flow – Consuming Clearcasting now causes your Regrowth to also cast Nourish onto a nearby injured ally at 60% effectiveness, preferring those with your heal over time effects.
- Dream of Cenarius has been redesigned – Wrath and Shred transfer 50% of their damage and Starfire and Swipe transfer 33% of their damage into healing onto a nearby ally. This effect is increased by 200% while Heart of the Wild is active.
- Omen of Clarity is now a passive ability learned at level 12 (was a talent).
- Harmonious Blooming is now a 1-point talent.
- Flourish’s visual effect has been improved.
- Wildstalker
- Flourish now affects Symbiotic Blooms.
- Evoker
- Tail Swipe is now learned baseline for Evokers.
- Permeating Chill is now baseline for Evoker.
- Unravel damage increased by 25%.
- Blessing of the Bronze now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
- Clobbering Sweep reduces Tail Swipe’s cooldown by 2 minutes (was 45 seconds).
- Heavy Wingbeats reduces Wing Buffet’s cooldown by 2 minutes (was 45 seconds).
- Renewing Blaze is no longer affected by healing received modifiers (both positive and negative). Dampening in arena is a special case and will continue to decrease the healing of Renewing Blaze.
- Heavy Wingbeats and Clobbering Sweep are no longer a choice node, and their position has changed in the class tree.
- Permeating Chill no longer spams immune messages when attacking enemies who are immune to slows.
- Hero Talents
- Scalecommander
- Bombardments now summon a variety of different Dracthyr models.
- Scalecommander
- Devastation
- Unravel now benefits from and consumes Iridescence: Blue.
- Hunter
- New Talent: Deathblow – Kill Command/Aimed Shot has a 10% chance to grant Deathblow. Deathblow: The cooldown of Kill Shot is reset. Your next Kill Shot can be used on any target, regardless of their current health.
- Developer’s note: Each Hunter specialization has a way to generate Deathblow, but only Marksmanship referred to it as Deathblow. These changes are meant to unify the Deathblow design while still allowing each specialization to interface with it in a unique way.
- Steady Shot now generates 10 Focus baseline for all specs.
- Tranquilizing Shots empowered by Kodo Tranquilizer will now prioritize players.
- Updated animations for Volley and Rapid Fire.
- Improved Kill Shot has been removed.
- Hero Talents
- Dark Ranger
- New Talent: Bleak Arrows – Your auto shot now deals Shadow damage. Your auto shot has a 20%/8% chance to grant Deathblow.
- New Talent: Phantom Pain – When Kill Command/Aimed Shot damages a target affected by Black Arrow, 8% of the damage dealt is replicated to each other unit affected by Black Arrow.
- New Talent: Banshee’s Mark – Murder of Crows now deals Shadow damage and casting Black Arrow has a 25% chance to summon a Murder of Crows on your target.
- New Talent: The Bell Tolls – Black Arrow is now usable on enemies with greater than 80% or less than 20% health.
- New Talent: Shadow Dagger – While in combat, casting Disengage releases a fan of daggers at nearby enemies, dealing very low Shadow damage and slowing affected targets by 30%.
- New Talent: Bleak Powder – Casting Black Arrow while Beast Cleave/Trick Shots is active causes Black Arrow to explode upon hitting a target, dealing moderate damage to nearby enemies.
- New Talent: Soul Drinker – When an enemy affected by Black Arrow dies, you have a 10% chance to gain Deathblow.
- Black Arrow has been redesigned – Kill Shot is now replaced with Black Arrow. Black Arrow: You attempt to finish off a wounded target, dealing high Shadow damage and low Shadow damage over time for 10 seconds. Only usable on enemies with less than 20% health.
- Withering Fire has been redesigned – Every 3 casts of Bestial Wrath/While Trueshot is active, you surrender to darkness for 12 seconds. When you gain Deathblow, and Black Arrow automatically fires at your target and two additional Black Arrows at 50% effectiveness.
- Shadow Surge has been redesigned – Periodic damage from Black Arrow has a small chance to erupt in a burst of darkness, dealing moderate Shadow damage to all enemies near the target. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
- Visual effects updated for Shadow Surge, Bleak Powder, Withering Fire, and Black Arrow.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Dark Empowerment
- Darkness Calls
- Death Shade
- Grave Reaper
- Overshadow
- Shadow Erasure
- Shadow Lash
- Pack Leader
- Scattered Prey duration increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
- Sentinel
- Lunar Storm’s visual effects have been updated.
- Dark Ranger
- Beast Mastery
- New Talent: Snakeskin Quiver – Your auto shot has a 15% chance to also fire a Cobra Shot.
- New Talent: Serpentine Rhythm – Casting Cobra Shot increases its damage by 25%, stacking up to 4 times. Upon reaching 4 stacks, the bonus is removed, and you gain 8% increased pet damage for 8 seconds.
- New Talent: Barbed Scales – Casting Cobra Shot reduces the cooldown of Barbed Shot by 2 seconds.
- Cobra Senses has been redesigned – Now reduces the Focus cost of Cobra Shot by 5 and increases its damage by 35%.
- Hunter’s Prey has been redesigned – Kill Shot will strike 1 additional target and deal 10% increased damage for each of your active pets. Stacks up to 5 times.
- Multi-Shot damage increased by 300%.
- Barbed Shot damage increased by 100%.
- Barbed Shot cooldown increased to 18 seconds (was 12 seconds) and duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Barbed Shot’s pet frenzy duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Thrill of the Hunt duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Pack Tactics energy regeneration increased to 125% (was 100%). Pack Tactics now replaces Steady Shot.
- Animal Companion no longer reduces the damage of all your pets by 35%.
- The following pet ability damage has been reduced by 35%:
- Bite
- Bloodshed
- Claw
- Kill Command
- Smack
- Stomp
- Training Expert is now a 1-point talent.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Improved Kill Command
- Kindred Spirits
- Dark Ranger
- Shadow Hounds has been updated – When summoning a Dire Beast, you have a 25% chance to also summon a Shadow Hound. Shadow Hounds now have Beast Cleave for their duration.
- Marksmanship
- New Talent: Pin Cushion – Casting Steady Shot reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 2 seconds. Choice node with Improved Steady Shot.
- New Talent: Improved Deathblow – Aimed Shot now has a 15% chance and Rapid Fire now has a 25% chance to grant Deathblow. Kill Shot’s critical strike damage is increased by 25%.
- Improved Steady Shot has been updated – Now makes Steady Shot grant an additional 10 Focus.
- Precise Shots renamed to Precise Shot and has been updated – Now empowers your next cast of Arcane Shot, Chimera Shot, or Multi-Shot to deal 100% increased damage (was 2 casts at 70% bonus).
- Steady Focus has been updated – Casting Steady Shot increases your Haste by 8% for 15 seconds (was casting Steady Shot twice in a row).
- Steady Focus no longer plays its visual effects when it is refreshed.
- Trueshot now reduces the focus cost of Aimed Shot baseline.
- Rapid Fire Barrage Rapid Fire effectiveness increased to 40% (was 30%).
- Razor Fragments is now a rolling periodic.
- Master Marksman now benefits from Unnatural Causes.
- Wailing Arrow no longer consumes Trick Shots.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Wailing Arrow from benefitting from Hydra’s Bite.
- Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus updated – Consuming Precise Shots increases the damage of your next Aimed Shot by 20% (was 10%).
- Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus no longer stacks (used to stack 2 times).
- Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will no longer be inconsistently consumed by Trick Shots-empowered Aimed Shots.
- Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will now consistently benefit all damage instances of a Trick Shots-empowered Aimed Shot.
- Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will now behave properly with spell-queued Arcane Shots and Multi-Shots.
- The position of Unerring Vision and Calling the Shots has swapped.
- Eagletalon’s True Focus has been removed.
- Survival
- Ruthless Marauder has been redesigned – Fury of the Eagle’s damage is increased by 10% and damage from Fury of the Eagle has a 20% chance to generate a stack of Tip of the Spear. When Fury of the Eagle ends, your Haste is increased by 8% for 10 seconds. Now a 1-point talent.
- Merciless Blows has been redesigned – Butchery causes affected targets to bleed for heavy damage over 8 seconds.
- Sic ‘Em has been updated – Kill Command’s chance to grant Deathblow is increased to 15% and Deathblow now makes Kill Shot strike up to 2 additional targets. Your chance to gain Deathblow is doubled during Coordinated Assault.
- Exposed Flank has been updated – Now empowers your next Kill Command to deal 50% increased damage, strike 3 targets, and generate a Tip of the Spear stack for each target it hit.
- Grenade Juggler has been updated – Now resets the cooldown of Explosive Shot instead of automatically firing it.
- Developer’s note: By allowing you to manually fire Explosive Shot, we can open up this talent’s ability to synergize with existing effects (like Grenade Juggler’s own cooldown reduction) while also eliminating some frustrating edge-cases.
- Butchery damage increased by 50%.
- Butchery no longer has charges and its cooldown has been increased to 15 seconds.
- Fury of the Eagle damage increased by 25%.
- Fury of the Eagle channel time reduced to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- Fury of the Eagle now consumes a stack of Tip of the Spear when the channel begins, and the damage bonus will persist for the duration of the channel.
- Kill Command resets no longer reduce the cooldown of Fury of the Eagle.
- Tip of the Spear’s consumption grace period has been reduced to 0.3 seconds (was 0.7 seconds).
- Relentless Primal Ferocity now grants 2 additional stacks of Tip of the Spear (was 1).
- Frenzy Strikes Wildfire Bomb cooldown reduction per target hit increased to 3 seconds (was 1 second).
- Killer Companion now increases Kill Command’s damage by 10/20% (was 5/10%).
- Bombardier’s aura is now removed at more reasonable times.
- Spearhead’s cast animation now blends with other animations.
- Spearhead will no longer go on cooldown if the pet is out of range.
- Ranger and Terms of Engagement have swapped positions in the talent tree.
- Harpoon will now find an appropriate destination during the Rasha’nan fight in The Dawnbreaker dungeon.
- Pack Leader
- Howl of the Pack now also increases Wildfire Bomb damage by 20%.
- Wild Attacks now also increases the damage of Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite by 20%.
- Sentinel
- Symphonic Arsenal damage increased by 200%.
- New Talent: Deathblow – Kill Command/Aimed Shot has a 10% chance to grant Deathblow. Deathblow: The cooldown of Kill Shot is reset. Your next Kill Shot can be used on any target, regardless of their current health.
- Mage
- Arcane Intellect now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
- Alter Time’s visuals have been updated.
- Shifting Power’s icon has been updated.
- Ice Floes now allows you to cast Portal and Teleport spells while moving.
- Hero Talents
- Frostfire
- Excess Fire has been updated – No longer generates Living Bomb. Instead generates a Frostfire Burst, dealing moderate Frostfire damage in an 8 yard radius. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
- Frostfire Burst damage increased by 25%.
- Frostfire Burst’s visuals have been updated.
- Frostfire Infusion damage increased by 50%.
- Isothermic Core Meteor damage increased by 15%.
- Isothermic Core Comet Storm damage increased by 25%.
- Spellslinger
- New Talent: Signature Spell – Arcane: When Magi’s Spark explodes, you conjure 6 Arcane Splinters. Frost: Consuming Winter’s Chill with Glacial Spike conjures 2 additional Frost Splinters.
- Splintering Orbs can now generate a maximum of 6 Splinters (was 4 Splinters).
- Volatile Magic now correctly benefits from damage bonuses.
- Gravity Lapse cooldown increased to 40 seconds (was 30 seconds).
- Sunfury
- Gravity Lapse target cap increased to 8 targets (was 5) and Gravity Lapse now stuns instead of rooting.
- Gravity Lapse now roots instead of stunning in PvP only.
- Gravity Lapse’s visual effects have been updated.
- Meteorites are now summoned instantly.
- Spellfire Spheres are now anchored relative to your chest’s position.
- Frostfire
- Arcane
- New Talent: Aethervision – Consuming Nether Precision with Arcane Blast increases the damage of your next Arcane Barrage by 10% and causes it to generate 2 Arcane Charges. Stacks up to 2 times.
- Time Loop has been updated – Now also increases the duration of Arcane Debilitation by 2 seconds and its chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 15%).
- Leydrinker has been updated – No longer affects Arcane Barrage and casting Touch of the Magi now grants Leydrinker. Leydrinker’s chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 20%).
- Charged Orb has been updated – Now also increases the damage of Arcane Orb by 15%.
- Consortium’s Bauble has been updated – Now increases Arcane Blast’s damage by 8% and reduces its mana cost by 5%. Consortium Bauble’s position in the tree has changed.
- Fixed an issue that caused Arcane Debilitation to contribute twice its damage increase.
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to double dip the last stack of Nether Precision with a spell-queued Arcane Barrage.
- Arcane Missiles no longer consumes Ice Floes if you have Slipstream talented.
- Some talents have changed positions.
- Resonant Orbs has been removed.
- Spellslinger
- Arcane Splinter damage increased by 26%.
- Spellfrost Teachings chance to trigger reduced to 2%.
- Splinterstorm now has a 5% chance to generate Clearcasting.
- Unerring Proficiency damage bonus increased to 20% (was 16%).
- Spellfrost Teachings now properly increases your Arcane Orb damage by 10% for 10 seconds.
- Fixed an issue where Splinterstorm damage was not equal to Splinter damage.
- Sunfury
- Glorious Incandescence has been updated – Now causes Arcane Barrage to deal 30% increased damage in addition to its previous effects.
- Memory of Al’ar’s Arcane Soul extension amount increased to 1 second (was 0.5 seconds).
- Ignite the Future now also increases the maximum stacks of Mana Cascade to 15.
- Burden of Power no longer affects Arcane Barrage.
- Fixed an issue that was causing Mana Cascade to grant 0.5% Haste per stack to Arcane instead of 1%.
- Arcane Soul’s overlay has been updated.
- Fire
- Majesty of the Phoenix has been updated – Casting Phoenix Flames causes your next Flamestrike to have its critical strike chance increased by 20% and critical strike damage increased by 20%. Stacks up to 3 times.
- All ability damage reduced by 3%.
- Lit Fuse now has a 6% chance to trigger (was 4%).
- Explosive Ingenuity now increases Lit Fuse’s chance to trigger by 4% (was 3%).
- Explosive Ingenuity now increases Living Bomb’s damage by 50% (was 25%).
- Explosivo’s Living Bomb damage increase while in Combustion reduced to 30% (was 40%).
- Sparking Cinders now triggers 3 times per minute (was 2).
- Sparking Cinders damage bonus increased to 15% for Pyroblast and Flamestrike (was 10% for Pyroblast and 20% for Flamestrike).
- Heat Shimmer can once again trigger while casting Scorch.
- Heat Shimmer is no longer consumed when it triggers during a Scorch cast.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Pyromaniac from being able to trigger Hyperthermia.
- Fixed an issue that caused Controlled Destruction to increase Ignite damage by an additional 0.5% per stack.
- Hyperthermia’s overlay has been updated.
- Lit Fuse no longer highlights Fire Blast.
- Lit Fuse is now displayed on the Personal Resource Display.
- Fuel the Fire is now shown in the spellbook.
- Sunfury
- Glorious Incandescence has been updated – Now causes Fire Blast to hit up to 2 nearby targets in addition to its previous effects.
- Burden of Power now increases Pyroblast damage by 20% (was 15%).
- Burden of Power now increases Flamestrike damage by 30% (was 60%).
- Memory of Al’ar’s Hyperthermia extension amount increased to 1 second (was 0.5 seconds).
- Glorious Incandescence now highlights Fire Blast.
- Frost
- Spellslinger
- Frost Splinter damage increased by 44%.
- Spellfrost Teachings chance to trigger reduced to 2.5%.
- Spellfrost Teachings Orb damage bonus on proc increased to 30% (was 20%).
- Unerring Proficiency damage bonus increased to 5% (was 3%).
- Splinterstorm no longer applies Winter’s Chill.
- Splinterstorm now has a 5% chance to grant Brain Freeze.
- Spellslinger
- Monk
- Weapons of Order and Jadefire Stomp icons have been updated.
- Hero Talents
- Shado-Pan
- Added an energy tracker aura. This aura shows the player how much energy they have spent towards their next set of Flurry Strikes.
- Flurry Charges are no longer cancelable and no longer have a duration.
- Flurry Strikes unleash energy trigger threshold is now 240 energy (was 300).
- Flurry Strike damage reduced by 8%.
- Flurry Strike Accumulator Threshold increased by 47%.
- Wisdom of the Wall bonus effects duration reduced to 16 seconds (was 20%).
- Against All Odds duration reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Developer’s note: The goal of these changes is to allow Shado-Pan to activate Flurry Strikes more frequently and have a better understanding of when the Flurry Strikes are going to to be unleashed on their foes.
- Shado-Pan
- Mistweaver
- New Passive Ability: Dome of Mist – Enveloping Mist transforms 80% of its remaining periodic healing into a Dome of Mist when dispelled, absorbing damage and increasing healing received by the Monk by 30% for 8 seconds. Learned at level 45.
- New Talent: Jadefire Teachings – After casting Jadefire Stomp or Thunder Focus Tea, Ancient Teachings transfers an additional 140% damage to healing for 15 seconds. While Jadefire Teachings is active, your Stamina is increased by 5%.
- New Talent: Refreshment – Life Cocoon now grants 5 stacks of Mana Tea and applies 2 stacks of Healing Elixir to its target.
- New Talent: Rushing Wind Kick – Kick up a powerful gust of wind, dealing Nature damage in a 25 yard cone to enemies in front of you, split evenly among them. Damage is increased by 5% for each target hit, up to 30%. Grants Rushing Winds for 4 seconds, increasing Renewing Mist’s healing by 50%. Replaces Rising Sun Kick, choice node with Jadefire Teachings.
- New Talent: Jade Empowerment – Casting Thunder Focus Tea increases your next Crackling Jade Lightning’s damage by 1000% and causes it to chain to 4 additional enemies. Choice node with Dance of Chi-Ji.
- Calming Coalescence has been redesigned – Increases the absorb amount of Life Cocoon by 80%.
- Ancient Teachings is now a baseline effect and transfers damage from Crackling Jade Lightning, but now transfers 30% of damage into healing.
- Blackout Kick damage increased by 25%.
- Awakened Jadefire now additionally causes Blackout Kick to strike 2 additional targets at 70% effectiveness.
- Crackling Jade Lightning now channels 25% faster.
- Dance of Chi-Ji’s chance to trigger has been increased by 100% and has moved talent locations.
- Enveloping Mist can now be dispelled.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Ancient Concordance
- Nourishing Chi
- Windwalker
- Blackout Kick’s damage increased by 20%.
- Flurry of Xuen damage increased by 40%.
- Fixed an issue that caused Courageous Impulse to incorrectly buff the damage of Blackout Kick by more than intended when multiple stacks are active.
- Fixed an issue that caused Courageous Impulse to incorrectly buff Teachings of the Monastery Blackout Kicks.
- Paladin
- New Talent: Holy Ritual – Allies are healed when you cast a Blessing spell on them and healed again when the blessing ends.
- New Talent: Worthy Sacrifice – You automatically cast Blessing of Sacrifice onto allies within 40 yards when they receive damage while below 35% health and you are not in a loss of control effect. This effect activates 100% of Blessing of Sacrifice’s cooldown.
- New Talent: Steed of Liberty – Divine Steed also grants Blessing of Freedom for 3 seconds.
- New Talent: Eye for an Eye – Melee and ranged attackers receive Holy damage each time they strike you during Ardent Defender or Divine Protection and Divine Shield.
- New Talent: Stoicism – The duration of stun effects on you is reduced by 20%. 10% in PvP combat.
- New Talent: Wrench Evil – Turn Evil’s cast time is reduced by 100%.
- New Talent: Stand Against Evil – Turn Evil now affects 5 additional nearby enemies.
- New Talent: Righteous Protection – Blessing of Sacrifice now removes and prevents all Poison and Disease effects.
- New Talent: Light’s Countenance – The cooldowns of Repentance and Blinding Light are reduced by 15 seconds.
- New Talent: Sacred Strength – Holy Power spending abilities are 2% more effective. Choice node with Divine Purpose.
- New Talent: Divine Spurs – Divine Steed’s cooldown is reduced by 20%, but its duration is reduced by 40%.
- New Talent: A Just Reward – After Cleanse successfully removes an effect from an ally, they are healed.
- New Talent: Empyreal Ward – Lay on Hands grants the target 30% increased armor for 8 seconds and now ignores healing reduction effects. 50% increased armor in PvP combat.
- New Talent: Lightbearer – 10% of all healing done to you from other sources heals up to 4 nearby allies, divided evenly among them.
- New Talent: Selfless Healer – Flash of Light and Holy Light are 30% more effective on your allies and 40% of the healing done also heals you.
- New Talent: Inspired Guard – Ardent Defender and Divine Protection increase healing taken by 15% for their duration.
- New Talent: Holy Reprieve – Your Forbearance’s duration is reduced by 10 seconds.
- New Talent: Light’s Revocation – Removing harmful effects with Divine Shield heals you for 10% for each effect removed. This heal cannot exceed 30% of your maximum health. Divine Shield may now be cast while Forbearance is active.
- New Talent: Blessed Calling – Allies affected by your Blessings have 15% increased movement speed.
- New Talent: Lead the Charge – Divine Steed reduces the cooldown of 4 nearby ally’s major movement ability by 3 seconds. Your movement speed is increased by 3%.
- New Talent: Divine Reach – The radius of your auras is increased by 20 yards.
- Fist of Justice has been redesigned – The cooldown of Hammer of Justice is reduced by 15 seconds.
- Sanctified Wrath has been redesigned – Now increases the duration of Avenging Wrath and causes its respective specialization effect (was able to be its own spell).
- Consecrated Ground is now a class tree talent (was a Protection and Retribution talent).
- Auras of the Resolute now additionally teaches the paladin Crusader Aura.
- Seasoned Warhorse is now a passive learned at level 40.
- Judgment damage increased by 10%.
- Judgment cooldown has been reduced by 1 second.
- Hammer of Justice base cooldown is reduced to 45 seconds (was 60 seconds).
- Avenging Wrath now increases Critical Strike chance by default.
- Unbound Freedom now additionally targets a nearby ally by default if you cast Blessing of Freedom on yourself.
- Lightforged Blessing now heals for 2% of maximum health for all specializations (was 1% for Holy and Protection).
- Of Dusk and Dawn: Blessing of Dawn’s effect has been increased by 10% for Protection and Retribution and by 5% for Holy Paladins.
- Fixed an issue that caused Seal of the Crusader to display the incorrect heal value.
- Fixed an issue that caused Faith’s Armor to appear multiple times in the talent tree for Protection Paladins.
- Divine Toll’s icon has been updated.
- Many talents have changed locations.
- The following talents are now 1 point:
- Fist of Justice
- Holy Aegis
- The following talents are now 2 points:
- Vengeful Wrath
- Zealot’s Paragon
- The following talents have been removed:
- Avenging Wrath: Might
- Crusader Aura
- Fading Light
- Golden Path
- Incandescence
- Seal of Mercy
- Seal of Order
- Seal of the Crusader (Retribution and Protection)
- Seasoned Warhorse (now learned at level 40)
- Strength of Conviction
- Touch of Light
- Vanguard’s Momentum (Holy)
- Hero Talents
- Herald of the Sun
- Dawnlight’s activation stacks now appear on the personal resource display.
- Dawnlight now appears on enemy nameplates.
- Lightsmith
- New Talent: Authoritative Rebuke – Successfully interrupting an enemy’s spellcast reduces your Rebuke’s cooldown by 1 second. Effect increased by 100% while wielding a Holy Armament.
- New Talent: Tempered in Battle – When you or an ally wielding a Holy Bulwark are healed above maximum health, transfer 100% of the overhealing to your ally. When you or an ally wielding a Sacred Weapon drop below 40% health, redistribute your health immediately and every 1 second for 4 seconds.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Excoriation
- Fear No Evil
- Herald of the Sun
- Holy
- Healing increased by 3%.
- Word of Glory healing increased by 5%.
- Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 10%.
- Developer’s note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
- Divine Favor now appears on the personal resource display and no longer has a visual effect.
- Awakening’s judgment buff now appears on the personal resource display.
- Protection
- New Talent: Refining Fire – Enemies struck by Avenger’s Shield burn with Holy Fire, suffering damage over time.
- Damage increased by 6%.
- Word of Glory healing increased by 20%.
- Base armor increased by 10%.
- Armor from Shield of the Righteous increased by 10%.
- Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 20%.
- Developer’s note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
- Blessed Hammer cooldown reduced by 10%.
- Judgment cooldown reduced by 10%.
- Hammer of the Righteous cooldown reduced by 10%.
- Inmost Light cooldown reduction increased to 33% (was 20%).
- Several talents and connections have changed locations.
- The following talents are now 1 point:
- Gift of the Golden Val’kyr
- Uther’s Counsel
- Consecrated Ground has been removed.
- Retribution
- Damage increased by 6%.
- Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 20%.
- Word of Glory healing increased by 10%.
- Developer’s note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
- Priest
- Power Word: Fortitude now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
- Hero Talents
- Archon
- Sustained Potency has been updated – It now also pauses the duration of Apotheosis, Dark Ascension, or Voidform for up to 20 seconds while out of combat or affected by a loss of control effect.
- Fixed an issue causing Cyclone and similar effects to prevent Halos from Power Surge from firing.
- Fixed an issue causing Halo to not be castable during Divine Ascension.
- Voidweaver
- Entropic Rift now has a hostile variant for PvP combat, so you can differentiate it from a friendly Entropic Rift.
- Entropic Rift now displays a low-noise version for your allies, instead of being completely invisible.
- Archon
- Holy
- From Darkness Comes Light has been updated to also trigger from Holy Fire damage.
- Rogue
- New Talent: Thrill Seeking – Shadowstep(Assassination/Subtlety)/Grappling Hook(Outlaw) has 1 additional charge.
- New Talent: Supercharger – Shiv/Roll the Bones/Symbols of Death supercharges [1/2] combo points. Damaging finishing moves consume a supercharged combo point to function as if they spent 2 additional combo points. 2-point talent.
- Developer’s note: It is intended that Supercharger’s bonus count towards any ability that scales with combo points spent and not just the damage value of finishing moves. Examples include Rupture’s duration, Poison Bomb’s effect chance, Restless Blades’ cooldown reduction, and Flagellation’s lashes dealt.
- New Talent: Forced Induction – Increase the bonus granted when a damaging finishing move consumes a supercharged combo point by 1.
- Echoing Reprimand has been redesigned – After consuming a supercharged combo point, your next Mutilate/Sinister Strike/Backstab strikes with an Echoing Reprimand dealing Physical damage.
- Thistle Tea now automatically drinks when Energy falls below 30.
- Cut to the Chase now grants Slice and Dice duration, instead of requiring an existing Slice and Dice to extend.
- Shadowstep has been removed. Shadowstep is still automatically granted for Assassination and Subtlety.
- Soothing Darkness now heals for 30% of max health over 6 seconds (was 15%). Effect no longer triggers from Shadow Dance.
- Cheap Shot duration increased to 6 seconds. PvP duration has not changed (4 seconds).
- Feint no longer triggers a global cooldown when activated.
- Subterfuge now also grants duration to combat bonuses that require Stealth and also have a duration that persists after breaking Stealth, including:
- Improved Garrote (Assassination)
- Indiscriminate Carnage (Assassination)
- Master Assassin (Assassination)
- Take ’em by Surprise (Outlaw)
- Echoing Reprimand’s icon has been updated.
- Flagellation’s icon has been updated.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Resounding Clarity
- Reverberation
- Hero Talents
- Fatebound
- Inevitability renamed to Inevitable End.
- Inevitable End/Double Jeopardy effects now indicate they can match any flip outcome (including ‘edge’), not just one face or the other.
- Delivered Doom now provides bonus damage when more than 1 target is nearby, with the bonus reducing by 6% for each nearby target beyond 1.
- Edge Case now flips a Fatebound Coin on its edge when you activate Deathmark/Adrenaline Rush instead of your next finishing move after activation.
- Trickster
- Coup de Grace now correctly attributes its combo point bonus to abilities that are affected by number of combo points spent, including numerous finishing moves and passives, similar to the function of the Supercharger talent.
- Activating Coup de Grace no longer grants 1 second of immunity that prevents player actions for the duration.
- Fatebound
- Assassination
- Master Assassin duration increased to 6 seconds (was 3 seconds) and bonus to critical strike reduced to 25% (was 30%).
- Iron Wire silence and damage reduction durations reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds and 8 seconds). PvP duration of the damage reduction effect reduced to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds). PvP duration of the silence effect has not changed (3 seconds).
- Twist The Knife now enables Envenom’s beneficial effect to overlap up to 2 times.
- Envenom Tooltip updated to contextually reflect the overlapping behavior when Twist the Knife is known.
- Outlaw
- Crackshot now also refreshes the cooldown of Between the Eyes upon gaining Stealth.
- Precise Cuts now increases Blade Flurry’s damage by 4% per missing target below its max (was 2%).
- Keep It Rolling cooldown reduced to 6 minutes (was 7 minutes).
- Blade Flurry’s area-of-effect range increased to match the same distance it was when the previous version of Acrobatic Strikes was talented.
- Blade Flurry’s initial damage effect radius increased to match the area of its primary effect.
- Subtlety
- New Talent: Death Perception – Symbols of Death has [1/2] additional charge(s) and increases damage by an additional 3/6%. 2-point talent.
- The First Dance has been redesigned – Remaining out of combat for 6 seconds increases the duration of your next Shadow Dance by 4 seconds. In PvP combat, the effect requires 10 seconds out of combat and increases Shadow Dance duration by 2 seconds.
- Shadow Blades cooldown reduced to 1 minute 30 seconds (was 2 minutes) and duration reduced to 16 seconds (was 20 seconds).
- The following talents have been removed:
- Invigorating Shadowdust
- Sepsis
- Shaman
- Skyfury now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
- All Shaman Ascendance models have been updated. Fire for Elemental, Lightning for Enhancement, and Water for Restoration.
- New Glyph: Glyph of Energetic Ascendance – Your Ascendance transformations embody energetic forms, unleashing their power.
- New Glyph: Glyph of Traditional Ascendance – Your Ascendance transformations embody their traditional forms.
- Shaman can now float on water while in their Ascendance form.
- Poison Cleansing Totem now has a 2 minute cooldown (was 45 seconds).
- Developer’s note: Similar to changes we made to Mass Dispel in Dragonflight, the availability of Poison Cleansing Totem is allowing Shamans to trivialize dungeon mechanics where poison debuffs are spread to the group. We’re increasing its cooldown to reduce its frequency while keeping its potency the same so it still shines when used.
- Mana Spring no longer has an aura displaying who is benefiting from it.
- Updated spell visuals for Lava Burst.
- Primordial Wave’s icon has been updated.
- Hero Talents
- Farseer
- Ancestors now prefer to Chain Lightning your target when you cast Chain Lightning or the targeted version of Earthquake.
- Ancestors are now summoned equipped with a historic shaman set.
- Stormbringer
- New Talent: Lightning Conduit – You have a chance to get struck by lightning, increasing your movement speed by 50% for 5 seconds. The effectiveness is increased to 100% in outdoor areas. You call down a Thunderstorm when you Reincarnate.
- New Talent: Electroshock – Tempest increases your movement speed by 20% for 5 seconds.
- Storm Swell has been redesigned – Tempest grants 10% Mastery for 6 seconds.
- Nature’s Protection has been redesigned – Lightning Shield reduces the damage you take by 3%.
- Surging Currents has been redesigned – When you cast Tempest you gain Surging Currents, increasing the effectiveness of your next Chain Heal or Healing Surge by 20%, up to 100%.
- Conductive Energy spell icon updated to be the same as Lightning Rod.
- Unlimited Power tooltip updated to have it be consistent with other talents with similar functionality.
- Shocking Grasp has been removed.
- Farseer
- Elemental
- New Talent: Herald of the Storms – Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning casts to reduce the cooldown of Stormkeeper by 2 seconds.
- New Talent: Erupting Lava – Increases the duration of Flame Shock by 6 seconds. Lava Burst consumes up to 3 seconds of Flame Shock, instantly dealing that damage. Lava Burst overloads benefit at 50% effectiveness.
- New Talent: Charged Conduit – Increases the duration of Lightning Rod by 4 seconds and increases its damage bonus by 25%.
- New Talent: Earthshatter – Increases the damage of Earth Shock and Earthquake by 8% and increases the stat bonuses granted by Elemental Blast by 25%.
- Ascendance has been redesigned – Transform into a Flame Ascendant for 15 seconds, instantly casting a Flame Shock and a 100% effectiveness Lava Burst at up to 6 nearby enemies. While ascended, Elemental Overload damage is increased by 150% and spells affected by your Mastery: Elemental Overload cause 1 additional Elemental Overload.
- Ascendance no longer increases the critical strike damage of Lava Burst, replaces Chain Lightning with Lava Beam, or removes the cooldown of Lava Burst.
- Mastery: Elemental Overload now also increases pet damage.
- All damage reduced by 8%.
- Lava Burst damage increased by 32%.
- Earthquake damage increased by 17%.
- Elemental Blast damage increased by 12%.
- Frost Shock damage increased by 30%.
- Surge of Power now causes Lightning Bolt to trigger 1 additional Elemental Overload (was 2).
- Icefury can now trigger from casting Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning in addition to Lava Burst.
- Icefury now causes your next Frost Shock to be empowered (was 2) and now causes Frost Shock to hit 4 additional targets.
- Icefury now increases Frost Shock damage by 150% (was 225%).
- Icefury now causes Frost Shock to generate an additional 7 Maelstrom.
- The cooldowns of Meteor, Immolate, Call Lightning, and Stormfury are now reset when Fire Elemental or Storm Elemental are refreshed due to casting the ability while an elemental is already active.
- Wind Gust from Storm Elemental now grants 4% Haste instead of 3% cast time reduction and stacks up to 4 times (was 10).
- Wind Gust is now on the Personal Resource Display.
- Stacks of Wind Gust no longer reset when a Lesser Storm Elemental from Echo of the Elementals spawns.
- Deeply Rooted Elements now triggers from Earth Shock, Elemental Blast, or Earthquake instead of Lava Burst.
- Frost Shock, Flame Shock, and Primordial Wave now generates 3 Maelstrom.
- Primordial Wave now also grants Lava Surge.
- Liquid Magma Totem now generates 8 Maelstrom.
- Flash of Lightning no longer reduces the cooldown of Nature spells when Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning are cast.
- Fire Elemental and Storm Elemental now last 20 seconds (was 30 seconds).
- Lesser Elementals from Echo of the Elementals now last 10 seconds (was 15 seconds).
- Storm Frenzy now reduces the cast time of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 30% (was 40%).
- Storm Frenzy now also reduces the global cooldown of its associated spells if the spell has a low enough cast time to be under the normal global cooldown.
- Fury of the Storms now summons a powerful Lightning Elemental for 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Lightning Conduit renamed to Lightning Capacitor.
- Fixed an issue causing the tooltip of Improved Flametongue Weapon to be incorrect when talented into Enhanced Imbues.
- Fixed an issue causing Deeply Rooted Elements to trigger from Earthquake’s periodic damage effects.
- Several talents have moved positions.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Unrelenting Calamity
- Skybreaker’s Fiery Demise
- Farseer
- Elemental Blasts from Ancestors now prioritize your most recently attacked target when possible.
- Routine Communication now also triggers from Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Icefury, and Frost Shock.
- Routine Communication now has a 5% chance to call an Ancestor (was 8%).
- Stormbringer
- Fixed several issues with interactions between Tempest and other specialization talents.
- Fixed an issue with Arc Discharge granting 1 instant cast Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning instead of 2.
- Enhancement
- New Talent: Flowing Spirits – Your damaging abilities have a chance to summon a Feral Spirit for 8 seconds. Replaces Feral Spirit. Functions with Elemental Spirits and Alpha Wolf.
- New Talent: Molten Thunder – The cooldown of Sundering is reduced by 10 seconds, but it can no longer incapacitate. Stormsurge has a small chance to also reset the cooldown of Sundering.
- New Talent: Voltaic Blaze – Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning has a 18% chance to make your next Flame Shock become Voltaic Blaze. Voltaic Blaze instantly shocks the target and 5 nearby enemies with blazing thunder, causing Nature damage and applying Flame Shock. Generates 1 stack of Maelstrom Weapon.
- New Talent: Unrelenting Storm – When Crash Lightning hits only 1 target, it activates Windfury Weapon and its cooldown is reduced by 40%.
- Ice Strike has been redesigned – Whenever you spend Maelstrom Weapon, your Frost Shock has a chance to become Ice Strike.
- Stormblast has been updated – Stormstrike has an additional charge. Stormsurge now also causes your next Stormstrike to deal 25% additional damage as Nature damage, stacking up to 2 times.
- Stormblast’s additional Nature damage now functions for both main-hand and off-hand attacks.
- Arc Discharge has been updated – Tempest makes your next Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt instant cast, deal 40% increased damage, and cast an additional time. Does not consume Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
- Doom Winds has been updated – Unleash a devastating storm around yourself, dealing Stormstrike damage every 1 second to nearby enemies for 8 seconds. Increases your chance to activate Windfury Weapon by 200%, and the damage of Windfury Weapon by 10%.
- The damage effect of Doom Winds is no longer considered a melee weapon attack and does not generate Maelstrom Weapon or trigger Flametongue Weapon.
- Arc Lightning has been updated – Tempest causes your next Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt to be instant cast, deal 40% increased damage, and cast an additional time.
- Thorim’s Invocation has been updated – Now causes Deeply Rooted Elements to last 2 seconds longer/Reduces the cooldown of Ascendance by 60 seconds in addition to increased the damage of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 20%.
- When Thorim’s Invocation is slated to use Chain Lightning, it will no longer cast a 5-stack tempest as a replacement of Chain Lightning when using Windstrike.
- If Lightning Bolt hits multiple enemies with Primordial Wave while Thorim’s Invocation is set to cast Chain Lightning, it will no longer switch to Lightning Bolt.
- The second part of Enhancement Shaman Mastery that resets Stormstrike cooldown has been renamed from Stormbringer to Stormsurge.
- Supercharge’s Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning now have a 35% chance to refund 2 Maelstrom Weapon stacks (was 3 Maelstrom Weapon stacks).
- Chain Lightning now reduces the cooldown of Crash Lightning by 0.5 seconds for each target hit (was 1 second).
- Crash Lightning’s range changed to 8 yards (was 12 yards).
- Molten Assault’s range changed to 10 yards (was 12 yards).
- Primal Maelstrom now causes Primordial Wave to generate 3/5 stacks if Maelstrom Weapon (was 5/10).
- Witch Doctor’s Ancestry now reduces the cooldown of Feral Spirit by 1 second whenever a stack Maelstrom Weapon is generated (was 2 seconds).
- Flametongue Weapon damage increased by 20%.
- Fire Nova is now unavailable when there are no Flame Shock targets within 40 yards.
- Deeply Rooted Elements now activates from Tempest, Lightning Bolt, or Chain Lightning.
- Deeply Rooted Elements chance to trigger reduced to 3% (was 7%) and now triggers on cast rather than on damage dealt.
- Developer’s note: In a future patch, we’re going to change this to be based on Maelstrom Weapon stacks spent rather than per cast of ability that consumes Maelstrom Weapon and readjust the proc rate.
- Ascendance now correctly reduces the cooldown of Stormstrike by 60%.
- Windfury Weapon attacks now have an animation, sound effect, and an impact visual effect.
- Doom Winds now has an animation, a sound effect, and an impact visual effect.
- Stormstrike replacement Windstrike animation and visual effects have been updated.
- Stormbringer only highlights Stormstrike and displays the UI overlay for 1.25 seconds.
- Mastery reset on Stormstrike no longer has a UI overlay and now displays in combat text.
- Overflowing Maelstrom now has a UI overlay when Maelstrom Weapon stacks reach 10 stacks.
- Hot Hand no longer has a UI overlay display.
- Hot Hands now has a visual effect on the character when the effect is active.
- Hot Hands now has a visual effect on character on activation.
- Ashen Catalyst no longer highlights Lava Lash when it reaches 8 stacks.
- Ashen Catalyst stacks are now displayed on Lava Lash ability.
- Ice Strike now has a new talent variant that causes your next Frost Shock to become Ice Strike when you spend Maelstrom Weapon. This talent is on a choice node with the current version of Ice Strike.
- Ice Strike no longer highlights Frost Shock on the action bars.
- Ice Strikes’ Frost Shock buff is now on personal resource display.
- Elemental Weapons is now a 1-point talent.
- Stormbringer
- Awakening Storms damage reduced by 35%.
- Fixed an issue causing Awakening Storms damage to not be affected by Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
- Fixed several issues with interactions between Tempest and other specialization talents.
- Totemic
- Reactivity has been redesigned – While Hot Hand is active Lava Lash shatters the earth, causing a Sundering at 30% effectiveness. Sunderings from this effect do not incapacitate.
- Reactivity’s previous effect, Searing Volley to up to 5 nearby enemies, has been merged into Lively Totems.
- Whirling Elements: Whirling Fire has been redesigned – Your next Lava Lash or Fire Nova grants you Hot Hands for 8 seconds. This will add its time to an active Hot Hands if it’s active.
- Whirling Elements: Whirling Earth has been redesigned – Direct damage of your next Flame Shock is increased by 300% and it is applied to 5 nearby enemies.
- Whirling Elements: Whirling Air has been redesigned – Your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Elemental Blast unleashes 3 Surging Bolts at your totem.
- Imbuement Mastery has been updated – Increases the chance for Windfury Weapon to trigger by 10% and increases its damage by 15%. When Flametongue Weapon triggers from Windfury Weapon attacks, it has a chance to gather a whirl of flame around the target, dealing its damage to all nearby enemies 3 additional times.
- Totemic Rebound triggering spells updated from Stormstrike to Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Elemental Blast.
- An issue causing Whirling Earth to not be consumed has been resolved.
- An issue causing Whirling Earth to be consumed on Lava Lash spreading has been fixed.
- Restoration
- New Talent – Coalescing Water: Chain Heal increases the initial healing of your next Riptide by 75%, stacking up to 2 times and Chain Heal’s mana cost is reduced by 15%. Reactive Warding now also allows Earth Shield and Water Shield to consume charges of the shields 1 second faster.
- High Tide’s progress is now tracked through an aura called Swelling Tide. When Swelling Tide’s stack count reaches 100, High Tide triggers.
- High Tide’s progress now resets at the start of raid encounters and Mythic+.
- Totemic
- Chain Heals from Lively Totems are now cast by the Shaman. This is intended to clarify that Chains Heals cast this way will interact with Shaman talents and effects that enhance Chain Heal.
- Updated the wording on Surging Totem and Oversurge to clarify its functionality.
- Fixed an issue causing Nature’s Swiftness to be consumed when Surging Totem is used.
- Fixed an issue causing the Chain Heal from Totemic Rebound to sometimes target pets instead of players.
- Fixed an issue causing Reactive Warding to not heal the Shaman sometimes when refreshing Earth Shield with Elemental Orbit and Earthen Communion talented.
- Warlock
- Soul Rot’s icon has been updated.
- Hero Talents
- Diabolist
- The cycle of Diabolic Ritual is now reset when entering an arena, entering a battleground, starting a raid encounter, or starting a Mythic+ dungeon.
- Overlord will now use an alternative attack if there are no available paths for charging. There should be no difference in throughput between the alternative attack and his current attack.
- Diabolist
- Destruction
- Diabolic Ritual has been updated – Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, and Shadowburn grant Diabolic Ritual for 20 seconds. If Diabolic Ritual is already active, its duration is reduced by 1 second instead. When Diabolic Ritual expires you gain Demonic Art, causing your next Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, or Shadowburn to summon an Overlord, Mother of Chaos, or Pit Lord that unleashes a devastating attack against your enemies.
- Touch of Rancora has been updated – Demonic Art increases the damage of your next Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, or Shadowburn by 100% and reduces its cast time by 50%. Chaos Bolt reduces the duration of Diabolic Ritual by 1 additional second.
- Developer’s note: We’re adjusting Diabolic Ritual to avoid a situation where constantly casting Rain of Fire, due to its instant cast time, provides the best output for Diabolist. To avoid adding to Diabolic Ritual’s already lengthy tooltip, we’re adding functionality to Touch of Rancora to add further value to casting Chaos Bolt so that its cast time doesn’t hinder its usefulness to Diabolist warlocks.
- Warrior
- Thunderous Roar now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (was 8).
- Champion’s Spear icon has been updated.
- Hero Talents
- Slayer
- Overwhelmed now stacks up to 10 times (was 12).
- Slayer
- Arms
- Warbreaker’s radius increased to 10 yards (was 8 yards).
- Warbringer now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.
- Fury
- Raging Blow damage increased by 25%.
- Bloodthirst damage increased by 30%.
- Developer’s note: This change does not affect Reckless Abandon’s Bloodbath.
- Developer’s note: Currently Reckless Abandon is outperforming Anger Management in all situations, so we’re bringing them closer in power by bringing up Raging Blow and Bloodthirst’s base damage, which will also improve Fury’s baseline single-target damage.
- Crushing Force now increases Bloodthirst critical strike damage by 5/10% (was critical strike chance by 2/4%).
- Odyn’s Fury now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (was 8).
The changes are set to go into effect from October 23, at the usual server reset time for your region. If you’re looking to jump into the festivities, make sure to check out our complete guide to the 20th Anniversary event.
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