Our Guide Writers have given their thoughts on the Patch 9.1 PTR Class Changes for Build 38312. Check out their opinions below!
Balance Druid Changes - Guide Writer ThoughtsAffliction Warlock - Guide Writer Thoughts
Fire Mage - Guide Writer ThoughtsPriest and Destruction Warlock - Guide Writer Thoughts
Unsurprisingly, Affliction received a large number of nerfs going into patch 9.1. As a frontrunner of endgame Raid content, Affliction was a little too well-rounded and generally good at everything, in addition to bringing unique buffs in the form of
Gesundheitsstein,
Seelenstein, and
Dämonisches Tor.
The first major nerf of note is
Unheilvolle Euphorie. The base spell got nerfed by 18%, and the conduit
Konzentrierte Bosheit which buffs
Unheilvolle Euphorie's damage to one target got nerfed by nearly 50%. For compensation,
Agonie damage has been buffed by 20%. Although this is an overall nerf, I think this is a good thing for Affliction in the long run. Affliction damage was heavily anchored by
Unheilvolle Euphorie damage - a return to DoTs doing a larger portion of your damage gives Affliction a multi-dot oriented spec identity, instead of a general good at everything, but not great at anything identity.
In 9.1, I think these specific nerfs will push Affliction back behind both Demonology and Destruction, both of which should see significant play in 9.1 content. In addition to these changes,
Zorn der Aufzehrung got a slight quality of life buff in how you generate stacks, and
Sacrolashs Dunkelstoß has been entirely reworked. For PvE purposes, this doesn't really change much of how you will use Affliction - neither of these legendaries should see uses outside of very specific use cases.
