- Author: Passion
- Date: January 30, 2024
- Updated: January 30, 2024
- Expansion: WoW Classic
A little over a week away from the official release of Phase 2, we have our first actual preview. So far we have only had teasers and hints, but tonight we’re getting so much more.
Starting with what most players want to know first, each class has had two new Runes revealed. These are confirmed as “some of” the Runes, and not “all of”, meaning there will be more per class.
The previewed Runes are all one Belt option and one Boot option, both of which are new slots as far as Runes are concerned.
Paladin
Paladins received the Sheath of Light Rune in the Belt slot. This causes melee damage to boost the Paladins Spell Power by 30% of their Attack Power, and Critical Healing Spells to place a 12 second Heal Over Time effect on the target.
They are also receiving the Boot slot Rune Guarded by the Light. This Rune will restore Mana to the Paladin over 15 seconds, but half the amount their Healing spells do, effectively functioning similarly to Divine Plea in Wrath of the Lich King.
Hunter
Hunters are receiving the Belt Rune Melee Specialist, reducing the cooldown of Raptor Strike and turning it into an Instant ability, instead of “On Next Hit”. Additionally, this Rune will remove the cooldown of Mongoose Bite, and give Raptor Strike a 30% chance to not trigger a cooldown.
Their Belt Rune is Trap Launcher, allowing them to place traps at up to a 40-yard range, while in combat. The trap cooldowns have also been split, giving Immolation and Explosive Trap their own shared cooldown, and Frost Trap and Ice Trap a separate one.
Warrior
The Belt Rune previewed for Warriors is Blood Surge, giving Heroic Strike, Bloodthirst, and Whirlwind a 30% chance to make the next cast of Slam be instant and cost no Rage.
The Boot Rune is Rallying Cry, effectively an AoE version of Last Stand, giving all raid members within 40-yards 15% increased Maximum Health for 10 seconds.
Rogue
Rogues are being blessed with an AoE spell, and surprisingly, it isn’t just Fan of Knives! The new Belt Rune Shuriken Toss will throw a shuriken, hitting up to 5 targets for 25% of the Rogues Attack Power, granting 1 Combo Point.
Significantly less interestingly, their Boot Rune is Master of Subtlety, granting a 10% damage boost to attacks made from Stealth and all attacks for 6 seconds after breaking Stealth.
Priest
Mind Spike will be keeping the pants of Shadow Priests up, dealing Shadowfrost damage and granting a stacking Critical Chance boost to Mind Blast.
In the Boot slot Priests get Pain Suppression, a long time favorite for Discipline Priests everywhere, giving a target a 40% damage reduction and a 65% Dispel resistance.
Warlock
The Rune Invocation is available in the Belt slot. This causes most DoTs to deal one tick worth of damage if you happen to clip them on refresh, making refreshing DoTs significantly easier without worrying about losing a tick.
Your Boots will allow you to perform the Dance of the Wicked, granting the Warlock and their pet Dodge Chance equal to the Warlocks Spell Critical Chance when a spell crits, as well as restoring 2% maximum mana to both the Warlock and Pet when this happens.
Mage
Mages will be getting Missile Barrage in their Belt slot. This grants Arcane Blast, Fireball, and Frostbolt a chance to reduce the cast time of the next Arcane Missiles by 50%, as well removing the mana cost.
For Boots, Mages will get the new spell Chronostatic Preservation. According to the tooltip, the Mage can fuse their three schools of magic into chronomantic energy to be stored for up to 15 seconds, but you can “unleash” it at any point within those 15 seconds for a heavy single target heal. Without a full description, this spell reads somewhat ambiguous, as we do not know cooldowns or cast times.
Shaman
Shamans have three Runes previewed, unlike the two of all other classes. The odd one out is Two-Handed Mastery which is a Chest Rune. This gives Two-Handed Weapons a 30% Attack Speed boost for 10 seconds after hitting an enemy.
Shamans will also be getting Maelstrom Weapon in the Belt slot, giving each melee attack a chance to reduce the cast time of most Shaman spells by 20%, stacking up to 5 times and lasting for 30 seconds.
Finally, the Boot Rune previewed is Spirit of the Alpha, allowing a Shaman to buff a target with an inverse Blessing of Salvation, granting 45% increased threat for 30 minutes.
Druid
Druids will be receiving the Eclipse Rune for their Belt slot, functioning similarly to later iterations of the ability. This causes Starfire to improve the Critical Chance of the next two Wraths, and Wrath to increase the Critical Chance of the next Starfire. Both effects can stack up to 4 times. This also grants a flat 70% pushback protection to both spells.
For Boots we have King of the Jungle, making Tiger’s Fury increase all Physical damage dealt by 15% instead of the low flat number of Classic, as well as instantly granting 60 Energy and being removed from the global cooldown.
Quality of Life Skillbooks
A new feature for Phase 2 is that 5-player dungeons can now drop quality-of-life Skillbooks. These are not Runes and are simply learned by consuming the book. The three demonstrated are: Enhanced Blessings for Paladins, Totemic Projection for Shamans, and Redirect for Rogues.
It is likely that Enhanced Blessings will increase the duration of Paladin Blessings to a more reasonable time. Totemic Projection does not sound like Totemic Recall, meaning it is likely the version that allows Shamans to reposition their totems as a group, instead of having to drop them down one by one each and every encounter. Finally, Redirect is likely similar to the Cataclysm ability, allowing Rogues to “redirect” their Combo Points onto a different target, instead of losing them whenever they change target.
About the Author
