Devastation Evoker: Midnight Expansion Preview

Welcome to our Midnight expansion guide for Devastation Evoker. Ahead of launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about the Devastation Evoker spec in the forthcoming Midnight expansion, including changes, Apex Talent Trees, and some light predictions on the state of the spec going into the expansion.

This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regular changes expected as updates hit the Midnight Alpha/Beta. This is not meant to be a launch guide for Devastation Evoker, but instead serves as a resource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving, and what you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.

Blizzard have decided on two very significant changes that they are aiming to pursue moving forward. These come in the form of massive reductions and limitations to functionality of add-ons and the kind of information they can provide, as well as the removal of "button bloat" and the simplification of rotations.

What immediately jumps out is that there will no longer be mandatory add-ons such as WeakAuras or BigWigs. Almost every player who wishes to perform at a high level felt the need to spend time customising these, before they could be used efficiently. Secondly, it means that you will have fewer keybinds to use, and by extension less buttons to press. Our core rotation will be a simplified, slightly varied version of what we had when the class was originally released in Dragonflight.

The button bloat removal does not stop with offensive abilities; defensives have been removed and reworked across all specs, with Devastation Evoker losing two of them which will be detailed below.

Midnight has major implications for all specs thanks to the Apex Talent system, new tier sets, and the stat squish bringing numbers back down to a much more reasonable level.

Devastation Evoker will still have access to the Flameshaper and Scalecommander Hero Talent Trees. In the sections below, we will talk more deeply about the implications of the changes to these Hero Talent Trees for the spec, and some thoughts on what looks strong and weak ahead of launch. But first let's go over the removed and adjusted core aspects of our spec.

There are a few highly significant changes that are coming to the spec baseline, so let's begin with a hugely positive one:

Animosity - Animosity has had its extension cap removed. Previously we were only able to extend our Dragonrage to a maximum of 36 seconds, now the number does not have a listed maximum but seems to cap out at a little over 70 seconds.

Shattering Star - Another very positive change is the rework to Shattering Star. It has gone from being a mundane low damage spell which provides a damage amplification, to an ability that procs additional damage when you cast Eternity Surge. This has changed ES from an ability that was essentially an afterthought in TWW, back into a powerhouse button you actively want to press.

Azure Sweep - A new talent point that will change Azure Strike into Azure Sweep after we cast Eternity Surge. This will take Azure Strike from an ability that hits a maximum of 3 targets, to an ability that will hit every target and make it feel like a rotational button you actively want to press in AoE.

Unravel - Probably my single favorite change to the class thus far. Unravel is now a passive that will automatically deal additional damage to shields when you cast Fire Breath. This is an enormous quality-of-life improvement, as the button was rarely worth pressing during all of TWW.

Renewing Blaze - The next major adjustment is the removal of Renewing Blaze. Whilst this ability technically still exists, it is now a talent that applies itself when you cast Obsidian Scales, albeit at reduced effectiveness compared to its original value. This makes it almost worthless in nearly every scenario, and you are likely only taking this when you have excess talent points to spend.

Rescue - While unchanged by itself, the talent Twin Guardian has been changed. Instead of providing an absorb shield for yourself and the person you rescue, you will instead grant both players the ability to cast while moving for 3 seconds. While this is a small defensive hit, you can actively use it for utility purposes much more regularly.

The new Apex talents for Devastation Evoker is Rising Fury, greatly buffing the power of our Dragonrage by granting us 3 significant bonuses:

• A stacking haste buff that gives 4% haste every 6 seconds stacking up to 5 times, for a total of 20% haste at maximum.
• A 15% damage increase once our haste buff has reached 5 stacks.
• A buff that persists for 20 seconds once Dragonrage ends granting you both the haste and the damage increase, additionally giving you a charge of Essence Burst every 4 seconds.

This really helps make Dragonrage feel like a real cooldown again, after having it be lackluster for quite some time.

• 2-piece set bonus Evoker Devastation 12.0 Class Set 2pc
• 4-piece set bonus Evoker Devastation 12.0 Class Set 4pc

The tier set for the first season of Midnight is focused around the new ability Azure Sweep with the 2-piece bonus increasing its damage by 50% and an additional 100% on your primary target. The 4-piece will cause Eternity Surge casts to grant you an additional charge of Azure Sweep and casting your Azure Sweep will reduce the cooldown of Eternity Surge by 2 seconds.

This is unlikely to have any impact on your rotation as these abilities were already pressed off cooldown.

Unfortunately, Flameshaper is looking incredibly underwhelming in its current iteration. it has two very notable changes which players are forced to deal with should they intend on playing this hero tree in Midnight.

Engulf - This ability has been completely removed from FS going forward. Since this used to be the "Core" of the hero tree in TWW, it feels like the heart has been ripped out of this thematic hero talent. The tree itself seems incredibly underwhelming and full of very counter-intuitive passives that do not really work that well in practice.

Consume Flame - Due to the removal of Engulf, the way CF works has been entirely redesigned. It will now consume a portion of the current duration of Fire Breath on each target to deal damage to them. This leads to Disintegrate continually consuming Fire Breath to deal damage on single-target, while Pyre will do the same on AoE.

In place of Engulf we now have Legacy of the Lifebinder, which simply grants us an additional charge of Fire Breath. This was a necessary change as consuming the FB DoT on both ST and AoE has become a core part of the rotation, meaning we need the extra charge for extra FB uptime.

In our opinion, the changes to the current FS playstyle and tree have essentially killed its soul. The spec is now almost exclusively focused on Fire Breath, and the new Consume Flame does not synergize all that well alongside it. You cannot maintain the FB debuff on either ST or AoE, which invalidates multiple talents on the Devastation spec tree, specifically Catalyze and Burnout. I am expecting both of these talents to be reworked or removed to make them have a place moving forward, because with this new Flameshaper design, they are incredibly low value.

The definitive winner of the two hero trees in Midnight thus far. Scalecommander kept almost everything that was introduced in TWW, and even retained the Season 3 "Squad" set bonus that many players have come to love.

There is not a whole lot to say here moving into Midnight, as the hero tree still looks amazing. The only minor nerf it received is that Slipstream will only refund 1 hover charge instead of 2. The addition of the new talent Strafing Run is a massive power gain, allowing you to recast your Deep Breath again within 18 seconds of the original cast. Seeing as we get enormous benefits for a short duration after each DB cast, this will be incredibly valuable.

It is VERY early days in the development cycle so there is going to be a lot more changes to come so I will leave out anything related to potential tuning or numbers. The worst hit by this is definitely Flameshaper as it feels like it lost a whole lot and gained nothing in return, losing its primary button and becoming a purely passive tree with very clunky interactions that need serious work to make them viable is not a great thing but there is plenty of time for Blizzard to remedy these things during the development cycle.