New Bracer and Helm Rune Previews for Phase 3 of Season of Discovery

• Author: Luxrah
• Date: March 25, 2024
• Updated: March 25, 2024
• Expansion: WoW Classic

Along with the announcement today that Phase 3 will launch on April 4th, Blizzard previewed a lot of the content that we’ll see in this new phase, including new runes.

Each class will see six new runes added in Phase 3, which will be applied in the bracer and helm slots. Many runes for those slots were already datamined in Phase 2, and those can be seen on our class rune pages. Naturally these runes may have changed a lot in the time since those were datamined, and they may not all make it into the game.

Blizzard also previewed two runes for each class (three for warriors) in their Phase 3 Preview video. The Runes section of the preview begins at 5:56. We’ll cover all of the runes we saw in the video below. We also expect to see some fresh datamining for Phase 3 in the coming week or so.

Phase 3 Druid Runes

Both of the Druid Runes that were revealed in the preview were seen previously in datamining.

Gore looks mostly the same as the version that was datamined in Phase 2 except that it now grants Rage. This is a new proc for Feral Druids that will reduce the cooldown of Mangle for bears or Tiger’s Fury for cats.

Improved Barkskin looks exactly the same as it did in datamining. This rune removes all the downsides of Barkskin and allows you to cast it on allies while shapeshifted, making it a much more useful defensive cooldown.

Phase 3 Hunter Runes

One of the Hunter Runes in the preview is completely new while the other was seen previously in datamining.

Focus Fire is exactly what we saw in the datamining. This rune causes your pet to gain Frenzy stacks which increase its attack speed. You’ll be able to use this ability to consume those Frenzy stacks to give your hunter an attack speed buff instead, granting your pet some extra Focus at the same time.

Lock and Load is a new rune we haven’t seen before. It causes your triggered traps to remove the mana cost and cooldown from the next Shot you use.

Phase 3 Mage Runes

Both of the Mage Runes that were previewed had previously been seen in datamining, and neither has changed at all from their datamined versions.

Balefire Bolt is a new spammable ability for Arcane and Fire Mages that deals Spellfire damage which is checked against the lower of the target’s Arcane or Fire resistance. This spell has a huge downside: it reduces your Spirit by 10% for 30 seconds each time you cast it, and if you reach 0%, you die. The video also mentions that this rune may be found early on by new or lower-level mages.

Deep Freeze digs in the Frost specialization’s heels as primarily a PvP/control spec, offering a five-second stun on frozen targets. For targets that are immune to Stun, it deals damage instead, making it a solid damage cooldown in PVE content.

Phase 3 Paladin Runes

The new Paladin Runes that were previewed were both datamined previously and appear to be unchanged from their datamined versions.

Improved Sanctuary buffs Blessing of Sanctuary for tanks, further increasing the damage it prevents by 100% and the damage it does by 30% of your block.

Wrath buffs Consecration so it can crit, and gives your Exorcism, Holy Shock, Holy Wrath, and Consecration spells an increased chance to crit that’s equal to your melee crit chance. This definitely reads like an attempt to make a Shockadin build more viable.

Phase 3 Priest Runes

One of the Priest Runes that was revealed is completely new while the other was datamined previously.

Pain and Suffering is a new rune that we haven’t seen before, and it causes Mind Flay to refresh your Shadow Word: Pain. Whether this rune will be at all useful remains to be seen since most Shadow Priests don’t currently use Mind Flay in their rotation.

Surge of Light is the same spell we datamined previously, although the reference to Binding Heal has been removed. This causes your crits to make your next Flash Heal or Smite an instant cast. Although this is likely meant to be a healing rune, it could also help anyone who’s attempting to pull off a Smite Priest build.

Phase 3 Rogue Runes

The Rogue Runes in the preview include one brand new rune and one that was datamined with Phase 2.

Cut to the Chase is the one we haven’t seen yet, and it’s designed to help you maintain either Blade Dance or Slice and Dice by allowing Eviscerate and Envenom to refresh their buffs.

Honor Among Thieves was previously datamined and hasn’t changed since then. With this rune, you’ll gain a combo point on your current target any time a player in your party crits, with a short cooldown on the proc of just 1 second. The video promises “you’ll be swimming in combo points with this rune.”

Phase 3 Shaman Runes

We didn’t see any additional datamined Shaman Runes with Phase 2, so both of the runes in the preview are new.

Mental Dexterity causes damage from your melee weapons to increase your Attack Power by 100% of your Intellect, but also increase your spell damage and healing by 30% of your Attack Power. This should make certain Enhancement abilities better able to keep up at higher levels.

Riptide looks to be a solid buff for struggling the Restoration Shaman, giving them a powerful heal-over-time spell that also buffs the next Chain Heal that is cast on the target, consuming the remaining HoT.

Phase 3 Warlock Runes

Both of the Warlock Runes in the preview were previously datamined and appear to be unchanged.

Pandemic allows many of your DoTs to crit, which is a huge buff for Affliction Warlocks. Buffed abilities are Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Curse of Agony, Immolate, Curse of Doom, and Siphon Life.

Summon Felguard allows you to summon a powerful new demon pet. The video also mentions that this is not the only new demon that will be included in Phase 3, so it sounds like Blizzard is throwing a bone to the neglected Demonology specialization.

Phase 3 Warrior Runes

We got not two, but three Warrior Runes in the preview, all of which have been seen in datamining to some degree.

Sword and Board is unchanged from its datamined version, offering a chance for your Devastate and Revenge abilities to refresh the cooldown of Shield Slam and reduce its Rage cost by 100%.

Taste for Blood is also the same as the version we saw in the Phase 2 datamining, and causes Rend to activate Overpower.

Gladiator Stance was seen in very early datamining. This is a new stance for dealing damage as a Protection Warrior, increasing damage done and block chance when you’re wearing a shield but reducing your armor and threat. Most importantly, it allows you to use any of your abilities, regardless of their stance requirements.