Dragonflight Hotfixes Jan 9th – Massive Buffs to Underperformers, Outlaw Rogue Nerf

With scheduled weekly maintenance next week, a number of specializations will receive throughput increases to several spells targeted at improving their performance in Raid and M+ content. It’s our intent that these changes help make these Specializations viable options for raid and dungeon content.

Demon Hunter

• The Hunt’s damage over time effect no longer deals an additional tick on application. Damage dealt over the total duration remains unchanged.
• Vengeance
  • Thick Skin armor bonus increased to 130% (was 100%)
  • Calcified Skin initial damage reduction value increased to 12% (was 10%)
  • Painbringer duration increased to 6 seconds (was 5 seconds)

Druid

• Feral
  • All ability damage increased by 3%.

Evoker

• Devastation
  • Fire Breath damage increased by 10% for Devastation specialization only. Does not apply to PvP combat.
  • Lay Waste increases Deep Breath damage by 15%/30% (was 10%/20%).
  • Eternity Surge damage increased by 10%.
  • Firestorm damage increased by 20%.
  • Eye of Infinity generates 2 Essence on critical strike (was 1 Essence).
  • Spellweaver’s Dominance increases critical strike damage to 230% (was 220%).
  • Iridescence damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).

Hunter

• Survival
  • All ability damage and pet damage increased by 2%.
  • Butchery and Carve damage increased by 10%.
  • Fury of the Eagle damage increased by 10%.
  • Wildfire Bomb damage increased by 15%.

Mage

• Fire
  • Flamestrike damage increased by 15%.
  • Living Bomb damage increased by 25%.
• Frost
  • Frostbolt damage increased by 20%.
  • Ray of Frost damage increased by 40%.
  • Glacial Spike damage increased by 10%.

Monk

• Brewmaster
  • Efficacy of Stagger against Magical damage increased to 45% (was 35%).
  • Cooldown of Celestial Brew reduced to 45 seconds (was 60).
• Mistweaver
  • All healing increased by 5%.
  • Vivify healing increased by an additional 5%.
  • Blackout Kick damage increased by 6%.
  • Rising Sun Kick damage increased by 8%.
  • Tiger Palm damage increased by 15%.
  • Spinning Crane Kick damage increased by 5%.
  • Awakened Faeline now transfers 70% of Spinning Crane Kick’s damage into healing (was 60%).

Paladin

• Retribution
  • Crusader Strike damage increased by 40%.
  • Blade of Justice damage increased by 25%.
  • Final Reckoning damage increased by 15%.
  • Shield of Vengeance’s cooldown reduced to 90 seconds (was 120 seconds).
• Developers’ notes: Some of Retribution’s main rotational buttons do not feel as good to press as we’d like so we’re making some changes to help improve these abilities. Additionally, their survivability isn’t where we would like so we’re making some improvements to their defensive kit as well. We are looking at Retribution as a whole and will have more to share in the future.

Priest

• Holy
  • All healing done increased by 3%.
• Shadow
  • Focused Will provides 10% damage reduction for Shadow (down from 15%).
  • Mind Blast damage increased by 15% (Shadow only).
  • Mind Flay damage increased by 15% (this includes Mind Flay: Insanity, but not the proc from Idol of C’Thun).
  • Mind Spike damage increased by 15%.
  • Void Torrent damage increased by 15%.
  • Devouring Plague damage increased by 15%.
• Developers’ notes: These changes are aimed at improving Shadow’s single target DPS. The change to Focused Will is a targeted change for PvP to reduce Shadow’s survivability.

Rogue

• Outlaw
  • Precise Cuts (Talent) – Reduced bonus to Blade Flurry damage per missing target below its maximum to 2% (was 3%).
• Developers’ notes: As we monitor the developing M+ meta and related data, we have recognized that Outlaw is overperforming. We expect this change will reduce Outlaw’s damage output in encounters with target count above 1 and below 8, as their damage is currently more consistent than we intend for dungeons and encounters that frequently present those circumstances.

Warlock

• Affliction
  • Agony damage increased by 5%.
  • Corruption damage increased by 5%.
  • Drain Soul damage increased by 10%.
  • Pandemic Invocation damage increased by 20%.
  • Seed of Corruption damage increased by 5%.
  • Shadow Bolt damage increased by 10%.
  • Siphon Life damage increased by 10%.
  • Unstable Affliction backlash damage is no longer increased from increased damage dealt modifiers or effects that increase Unstable Affliction’s damage.
• Destruction
  • Channel Demonfire damage increased by 10%.
  • Rain of Fire damage increased by 15%.
  • Soul Fire damage increased by 20%.
  • Infernal and Blasphemy Immolation damage increased by 10%.
  • Conflagrate damage increased by 10%. This change does not apply to PvP combat.
  • Immolate damage increased by 10%. This change does not apply to PvP combat.
  • Incinerate damage increased by 15%. This change does not apply to PvP combat.

Player vs. Player

Demon Hunter

• Soul Rending leech bonus reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
• Havoc
  • Glimpse (PvP Talent) – Damage reduction reduced to 35% (was 75%).
  • Essence Break’s damage bonus for Chaos Strike and Blade Dance reduced by 37.5% in PvP combat.
  • Soulrend damage reduced by 16.7% in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: We have noticed Havoc Demon Hunter overperforming in several facets of PvP including personal survivability, burst damage, and overall DPS. We’re taking action to reduce their effectiveness in these areas while still aiming to keep them competitive.

Evoker

• Preservation
  • Energy Loop’s mana regeneration reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: Energy Loop’s mana restoration has been overperforming compared to its contribution in PvE due to game-wide reduced mana regeneration within PvP instances. We’re adjusting this to bring it in line with expected benefits, but still want this effect to remain a powerful option as we feel it can lead to compelling decision making with Essence resources.

Mage

• Arcane
  • Siphon Storm’s effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: Siphon Storm has been a culprit for one-shot scenarios, so we are adjusting its effectiveness down heavily.
• Frost
  • Glacial Spike – Reduced Glacial Spike’s damage increase from Mastery: Icicles by 25% in PvP combat. This will be reflected in the tooltip in a later patch.
• Developers’ notes: Our goal is that this change to Glacial Spike’s Mastery scaling will preserve it as an option for Frost Mages but temper the effectiveness Mastery stacking had with this spell.

Monk

• Blackout Kick damage increased by 30% in PvP combat (was 15%).
• Tiger Palm damage increased by 30% in PvP combat (was 15%).
• Mistweaver
  • Rising Sun Kick now deals 12.5% additional damage in PvP (was 25%).
• Developer’s note: We are looking to offset the incoming PvE buffs to Rising Sun Kick as we think it currently hits hard enough to be effective for Mistweaver in PvP.
• Windwalker
  • Thunderfist damage reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
  • Skyreach increases critical strike chance by 30% in PvP combat (down from 50%).
  • Fists of Fury damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: Windwalker burst has continued to be above a level we’re comfortable with. We’re targeting Thunderfist and Skyreach, as they have been large contributors to this. We’re also increasing their sustained damage, as we feel there is room for that to improve as their burst is reduced.

Priest

• Flash Heal healing is increased by 30% in PvP combat (was 20%).
• Holy
  • Heal healing is increased by 35% in PvP combat (was 25%).
  • Holy Word: Serenity healing is increased by 15% in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: Holy received PvP reductions in casted healing effectiveness in previous patches that we now feel are unnecessary and are reverting. We also feel Holy Word: Serenity has not been as effective as we would like at handling burst damage, so we are increasing that as well.
• Shadow
  • Shadow Word: Death damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat for Shadow only (was 20%).
  • Mind Blast damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat for Shadow only.
  • Mind Spike damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
  • Devouring Plague damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
  • Vampiric Touch damage reduced by 5% in PvP combat (was increased by 10%).
  • The proc rate of Shadowy Insight has been reduced by 25% while in PvP combat.
  • The proc rate of Surge of Darkness has been reduced by 25% while in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: Shadow Priest has been widely overperforming, so we are looking to offset recent PvE buffs to them and reduce their power defensively through changes to Focused Will. We’re also reducing their instant proc damage availability as we feel Shadow Priests do not have to hard cast spells as often as we would like them to.

Rogue

• Assassination
  • Improved Garrote’s Garrote damage bonus reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
  • Iron Wire’s damage reduction debuff now has a PvP duration of 4 seconds (was the base 8 seconds).
• Developers’ notes: Assassination’s spread and single target Garrote pressure has been very high. We’re targeting this by decreasing the effectiveness of Improved Garrote. Iron Wire’s damage reduction effect has also felt too potent to us at preventing enemy pressure.

Warlock

• Demonology
  • Demonic Strength unleashes a Felstorm that deals 150% increased damage in PvP combat (was 400%).
  • Demonfire damage increased by 75% in PvP combat.
  • Dreadbite damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: We feel Demonic Strength can be a difficult spell to notice and has little counter play compared to Demonic Tyrant and its associated Demonfire casts. We’re looking to adjust Demonology’s burst sources while aiming to keep them at the same relative power. We also want to slightly reduce Demonology’s overall pressure by targeting Dreadbite.

Warrior

• Defensive Stance now reduces damage done by 15% (was 20%) in PvP combat.
• Developers’ notes: Defensive Stance was adjusted in previous patches to address damage issues we no longer feel are present for Warriors. We’re increasing damage done in Defensive Stance to help increase their offensive pressure without affecting them defensively.