Patch 8.3 Class Changes

The following section is dedicated to class changes coming in Patch 8.3 and their general philosophy.

Specializations which excel at dealing Damage over Time will be nerfed in Patch 8.3, because they have been dealing perhaps too much damage over the course of many tiers of content. On top of that, some Essences were not performing as expected, so Blizzard is increasing their effectiveness to bring them on par with other Essences.

Developer comments: Specs which excel at DoTs on multiple targets have, over the course of many tiers of content, generally had a very high performance on average. Their DPS advantage in raid encounters that play into their multi-target strength (which are relatively common) is not balanced by a comparable disadvantage in other areas. A small reduction in damage on these specs will leave them noticeably strong in the situations in which they are strong (albeit slightly less than before), and give other specs more opportunity to stand out at other times. At the same time, a few of the Essences added in Rise of Azshara are not performing as well as we would have liked, so we are increasing the effectiveness of some parts of them to help keep them competitive with the other Essences available.

You can find all class-specific changes linked below.

In Patch 8.3, Essences from Mechagon and Nazjatar will be easier to get for new and returning players. Blizzard is also buffing certain Essences to bring them in line with other available options. You can read more about that on our dedicated page.