Shadow, Arms, and More: Big Post-Mythic Class Tuning Details Announced!

The first couple of days of Mythic raiding and Mythic+ dungeons revealed a few specs performing lower than intended, so we’re nudging them up to help their performance. As the PvP season kicks off, we also see some similar underperforming specs and are a few clearly overperforming specs.

Classes

• Death Knight
  • Frost
    • All damage dealt increased by 4%. Not applied to PvP combat.
• Druid
  • Feral
    • All damage dealt increased by 3%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Frantic Frenzy damage reduced by 8%. Not applied to PvP combat.
      • Developers’ notes: Our intention here is to improve Feral damage in raids, without increasing their damage in M+, which is already competitive.
• Hunter
  • Beast Mastery
    • All damage dealt increased by 4%. Not Applied to PvP combat.
  • Survival
    • All damage dealt increased by 4%.
• Mage
  • Arcane
    • Burden of Power now increases Arcane Blast damage by 25% (was 5%) and Arcane Pulse damage by 15% (was 5%).
      • Developers’ notes: Arcane Sunfury is a bit farther behind our expectations in single target damage.
• Priest
  • Shadow
    • Developers’ notes: Shadow Word: Death has been lacking in damage, even in execute range, so we’re significantly increasing its damage to correct this. To increase damage in multi-target situations, we’re targeting some AoE-only sources and shifting some power from some single target sources of damage to Shadowy Apparition damage.
    • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 80%.
    • Mind Blast and Void Blast damage reduced by 10%.
    • Shadow Apparition and Void Apparition damage increased by 35%.
    • Spectral Horrors now increases Shadowy Apparition damage against targets affected by Shadow Word: Madness by 30% (was 50%).
    • Psychic Link causes direct damage spells to inflicts 25% of their damage on all targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 20%).
    • Void Spike from Things from Beyond now deals 25% additional damage to secondary targets.
    • Mind Sear from Void Lashers now deals 25% additional damage.
• Warrior
  • Arms
    • Developers’ notes: Arms single target damage remains lower than intended, particularly Execute.
    • Execute damage increased by 20%. Does not affect PvP.
    • Overpower damage increased by 10%. Does not affect PvP.

Player versus Player

• Hunter
  • Marksmanship
    • Developers’ notes: Marksmanship is a burst outlier, so we’re reducing the power of Aimed Shot and increasing sustained damage from other primary damage sources to keep it feeling powerful, while reducing the peaks of its burst.
    • Aimed Shot damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
    • Kill Shot and Black Arrow damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Rapid Fire damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
• Druid
  • Restoration
    • Developers’ notes: A substantial buff is needed to help Restoration, who have been struggling to keep up in healing throughput as well as defensively.
    • All healing increased by 8% in PvP combat.
    • Regrowth healing increased by 40% in PvP combat.
    • Swiftmend healing increased by 25% in PvP combat.
    • Barkskin now reduced damage taken by 30% in PvP combat (was 20%).
• Mage
  • Arcane
    • Developers’ notes: Arcanosphere damage has fallen behind other sources in Midnight. We’re also buffing Sunfury in all gameplay (above) to make it more competitive with Spellslinger.
    • Arcanosphere damage increased by 250%.
  • Fire
    • Developers’ notes: Fire Mage has strong burst during Combustion which has gotten a bit too strong. We’re aiming to reduce power in this window by adjusting talents that are propping up damage during Combustion and otherwise are looking to keep sustained damage in a similar state.
    • Each stack of Fired Up now increases Fire damage by 2% in PvP combat (was 4%).
    • Burn It All now increases spell damage by 5% during Combustion in PvP combat (was 10%).
• Monk
  • Mistweaver
    • Developers’ notes: Mistweavers have continued to be a step above other healers this season, with strong sustained healing in addition to having strong cooldowns more frequently than other healers. These adjustments target some of those cooldowns.
      ** All healing reduced by 4% in PvP combat.*
    • Conduit of the Celestials: Heart of the Jade Serpent now causes Thunder Focus Tea to increase the recovery rate of Renewing Mist, Rising Sun Kick, Life Cocoon, and Thunder Focus Tea by 30% for 8 seconds in PvP combat (was 75%).
    • Conduit of the Celestials: Celestial Conduit healing reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Windwalker
    • Developers’ notes: We feel that Windwalkers’ burst windows are too difficult to react to, so we’re reducing the damage of Zenith Stomp and Rushing Wind Kick while adding some damage to Fists of Fury which has felt less impactful this season. Additionally, it’s not uncommon to die through Touch of Karma, so we’re increasing the amount of damage it absorbs to increase its effectiveness as a survival tool.
    • Rising Sun Kick damage reduced by 5% in PvP combat.
    • Rushing Wind Kick damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
    • Fists of Fury damage increased by 15% in PVP combat.
    • Touch of Karma now absorbs 20% more damage in PvP combat.
• Paladin
  • Developers’ notes: We’re looking to reduce burst damage to targets at low health for all Paladin specializations, which is mainly caused by Vengeful Wrath. Additionally, Blessing of Spellwarding has been a powerful spell since it was introduced with few counters and works against most specializations which can feel oppressive to play against. We’re reducing its duration in PvP so that it can remain a powerful defensive.
  • Vengeful Wrath now increases Hammer of Wrath damage by up to 20% based on the target’s health (was 50%).
  • Blessing of Spellwarding duration reduced to 6 seconds in PvP combat (was 10 seconds).
  • Holy
    • Developers’ notes: After recent tuning and the general Paladin changes here, Holy is in a good spot. This increase of the power of a major source of healing from Herald of the Sun should shore up the viability of the hero tree.
    • Herald of the Sun: Eternal Flame healing increased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • Protection
    • All damage reduced by 10% in PvP Combat.
  • Retribution
    • Developers’ notes: We’re looking to add more punch to finishers from Ret which have felt weak this season, so we’re increasing the damage of Final Verdict to achieve that. We’re also increasing the damage of Dawnlight to increase the viability of the Herald of the Sun hero talents.
    • Templar’s Verdict and Final Verdict damage increased by 25% in PvP Combat.
    • Herald of the Sun: Dawnlight damage increased by 30% in PvP Combat.
• Rogue
  • Subtlety
    • Developers’ notes: Subtlety has continued to be a strong asset to a team, with its frequent burst and strong crowd control. We’re bringing down some of its potential burst with these changes to keep their power level more in line relative to their overall kit.
    • Death Perception effects now increase finisher damage by 3% each in PvP combat (was 5%).
    • Replicating Shadows bonus damage for Shadow Clones reduced to 5% in PvP combat (was 15%).
• Shaman
  • Developers’ notes: We’re increasing the damage of some Shaman PvP talents that have fallen behind other sources of damage. We’d like Lightning Lasso to feel worth fully channeling and trying to interrupt and for Electrocute to be a noticeable effect when Purging enemies.
  • Lightning Lasso damage increased by 450%.
  • Electrocute damage increased by 35%.
  • Elemental
    • Farseer: All Ancestor healing increased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • Enhancement
    • Developers’ notes: We feel Enhancement is in a good place after last week’s tuning. Enhancement has outlier burst potential with Tempest, so we’re toning down, so that it’s easier to react to its burst.
    • Stormbringer: Tempest damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Restoration
    • Developers’ notes: We’re targeting a buff to Farseer this week. Its healing has fallen behind, and we’re aiming to increase its viability compared to Totemic.
    • Farseer: All Ancestor healing increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Farseer: Elemental Reverb now increases Riptide healing by 25% in PvP combat (was 10%).
• Warrior
  • Arms
    • Developers’ notes: Arms can sometimes struggle to connect, so we’re making a change to Battle Stance to help with mobility against slow and root effects. Additionally, we’re increasing the power of Ignore Pain so that it feels more worthwhile to use when trying to survive.
    • Battle Stance now reduces the duration of movement impairment effects by 25% in PvP Combat (was 10%).
    • Ignore Pain absorption increased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • Fury
    • Developers’ notes: Damage is in a good state for Mountain Thane, but there is some potential for burst from Bloodthirst that we’re looking to reign in. We’re also increasing the damage from Execute to increase the viability of the Slayer hero talents.
    • Execute damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Mountain Thane: Burst of Power now increases the damage of Bloodthirst by 15% (was 35%).