Dragonflight Class Tuning – Shadow Priest Nerfs and Restoration Shaman Tier Buffed

Working from player feedback and internal data, we’ve developed the following class tuning changes to address several over- and under-performing classes. These adjustments will be applied to the live game with scheduled weekly maintenance on Tuesday, June 27 in this region.

Classes

Death Knight

• Blood
  • All damaging abilities increased by 6.5%.

Demon Hunter

• Havoc
  • Chaos Strike/Annihilation damage increased by 15%.
  • Melee autoattack damage increased by 15%.
  • Demon Blades damage increased by 15%.
  • Demon’s Bite damage increased by 15%.
  • Felblade damage increased by 15%.

Druid

• Feral
  • All damaging abilities increased by 3%.

Hunter

• Beast Mastery
  • Kill Shot damage increased by 10%. This does not apply to PvP combat.
• Marksmanship
  • Aimed Shot, Kill Shot, and Rapid Fire damage increased by 10%. Kill Shot damage increase does not apply to PvP combat.

Monk

• Windwalker
  • All damaging abilities increased by 3%.

Priest

• Shadow
• Developers’ notes: Shadow has been overperforming in AoE environments. We’re bringing down some of its sources of AoE and increasing the damage of some direct damage to offset this in single target.
  • Mind Blast damage increased by 10%.
  • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 10%.
  • Mind Spike: Insanity damage increased by 10%.
  • Mind Spike damage increased by 10%.
  • Mind Flay: Insanity damage increased by 10%.
  • Mind Flay damage increased by 10%.
  • Void Bolt damage increased by 10%.
  • Void Spike damage from Idol of Yogg-Saron reduced by 35%.
  • Psychic Link now causes direct damage spells to inflict 25% of their damage onto all other targets with Vampiric Touch (was 30%).
• Holy
• Developers’ notes: Holy Priests have continued to trail behind other healers in DPS output, so we’re increasing the damage of a variety of spells to bring them more in line.
  • Holy Fire damage increased by 10%.
  • Smite damage increased by 15%.
  • Holy Word: Chastise damage increased by 35%.
  • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 25%.

Shaman

• Restoration
  • Aberrus (2) Set Bonus: Tidewaters healing increased by 40%.
  • Aberrus (4) Set Bonus: Duration of Rainstorm increased to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds).

Warrior

• Protection
  • Defensive Stance increased to 20% damage reduction (was 15%).

Player Versus Player

Items

• Gladiator’s Distinction primary stat bonus reduced to 20% (was 25%) for all damage dealing and tank specializations.

Druid

• Balance
• Developers’ notes: The cast time on Cyclone is too fast for enemy players to deal with, so we’re reducing its cast speed from Owlkin Adept and also reducing Precognition’s haste in Fractures in Time. Solar Beam’s duration lasting 8 seconds was an oversight, as it should have been reduced in the crowd control reduction pass in Embers of Neltharion.
  • Owlkin Adept reduces the cast time of Cylcone and Entangling Roots by 15% (was 20%).
  • Solar Beam lasts 6 seconds in PvP combat (was 8 seconds).
• Restoration
  • Reactive Resin’s snare duration increased to 8 seconds (was 5 seconds).
  • Verdant Infusion now extends heal-over-time effects by 4 seconds (was 8 seconds) in PvP combat.
  • Master Shapeshifter now refunds 2500 Mana from Ironfur (was 1250), 3500 Mana from Wrath / Starfire / Starsurge (was 2000), and 10000 Mana from spending 5 combo points in Cat Form (was 5000) at level 70.

Monk

• Mistweaver
  • Enveloping Mist healing is now increased by 12% in PvP combat (was 5%).

Priest

• Catharsis now stores 15% of damage taken (was 20%) and the stored amount cannot exceed 12% of the Priest’s maximum health (was 15%).
• Discipline
• Developers’ notes: Discipline damage and Atonement healing continues to be lower than we’d like in PvP, so we’re increasing them to allow Discipline to be more offensive.
  • All damage increased by 10% in PvP combat.
  • Atonement healing is now increased by 70% in PvP combat (was 50%).
• Shadow
• Developers’ notes: Instant damage from Catharsis and Unfurling Darkness is accounting for more of Shadow’s burst damage than we’re aiming for, so we’re bringing their power down. Shadow is also getting PvE damage buffs that affect PvP, which puts some of this power loss back into rotational spells.
  • Unfurling Darkness now deals 25% reduced damage in PvP combat.

Rogue

• Subtlety
  • Secret Technique damage is now reduced by 40% in PvP combat (was 33%).
  • Thief’s Bargain (PvP Talent) damage penalty increased to 10% (was 6%).

Shaman

• Developers’ notes: We’re redistributing the amount of healing from instant cast sources for all Shaman and increasing the power of cast heals, so that cast heals are both more frequent and more meaningful.
  • Healing Stream healing is now increased by 20% in PvP combat (was 30%).
• Elemental
  • Earth Shield healing is now reduced by 60% in PvP combat (was 70%).
  • Healing Surge healing is now increased by 20% in PvP combat.
• Enhancement
  • Earth Shield healing is now reduced by 60% in PvP combat (was 70%).
  • Healing Surge healing is now increased by 4% in PvP combat (was reduced by 13%).
• Restoration
  • Earth Shield healing is now reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Healing Surge healing is now increased by 27% in PvP combat (was 6%).
  • Healing Wave healing is now increased by 56% in PvP combat (was 30%).
  • Water Shield’s melee attack Mana refund is now 20% effective in PvP combat (was 50%).
  • Water Shield now regenerates 75% more Mana from its passive effect in PvP combat.

Warlock

• Developers’ notes: We’re targeting the defensive power of Demonology with these changes as they are often a difficult target to take down relative to other DPS specs. We’re also lowering the healing from Mortal Coil to lower overall self-healing from Warlocks in PvP.
• Mortal Coil healing is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
• Soul Link’s shared damage with the Warlock’s pet is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
• Profane Bargain’s increase to the effectiveness of Soul Link at low health is now 40% effective in PvP combat.