The Ghosts of K’aresh Public Test Realm (PTR) is available for testing soon.
These changes are for the first week of PTR testing and do not contain the full patch notes for the update. The War Within: Ghosts of K’aresh Development Notes
CONTINUE THE WAR WITHIN CAMPAIGN
In Ghosts of K’aresh, the campaign continues as more pieces to a troubling puzzle fall into place. With the release of this content update players will be able to immerse themselves in The War Within story as it leads up to the next chapter of the Worldsoul Saga—Midnight.
There’s some unfinished business to be had on K’aresh and the specter of an old enemy looms large. Forces with ill-intent are determined to bring forth Dimensius, the All-Devouring once more to finish off the ethereals. Should he arise, Azeroth will also be in peril from this dangerous Void Lord.
EXPLORE THE SHATTERED WORLD OF K’ARESH
Home of the ethereals, K’aresh is a fragmented void-touched world just waiting for players to explore what remains of this little-known land.
With shadowy forces working toward bringing Dimensius back into the world, players will need to gather their allies in a bid to put a stop to him and his followers. You’ll fight alongside Alleria Windrunner and her mentor Locus-Walker among others to end the clear and present danger he poses.
Players will also have the opportunity to explore Tazavesh, The Veiled Market, work toward restoring the ecosphere in eco-domes, go Phase Diving, and more.
RETURN TO TAZAVESH, THE VEILED MARKET
Not just a dungeon in the Ghosts of K’aresh content update, Tazavesh, the Veiled Market has been brought from the Shadowlands to serve as a home base for adventurers. Glowing glimmering shields of energy protect the city from the dangers of the cosmos beyond allowing the many survivors of this land to have a degree of safety behind them.
You’ll forge through the campaign, gather allies, hunt down the mounting threats found in K’aresh, and set the stage to take on Dimensius himself all from this iconic ethereal and broker hub of activity.
RESHII WRAPSUPGRADEABLE ARTIFACT
Harness the power of the ethereals and see the world through their eyes. An artifact cloak, Reshii Wraps can be used to transform into an energy form much like the ethereals to interact with the world in a new way. You’ll use these wraps to take on a new type of content—Phase Diving— as well as use them in the Manaforge Omega raid, the open world, delves, and more!
Reshii Wraps will upgrade and scale with you and include new visuals as you progress through content.
WRAP UP AND GO PHASE DIVING
Enter untethered space by using your Reshii Wraps to experience a whole new aspect of K’aresh. You’ll experience new creatures, objectives, world quests, and some new mechanics all within this overlay of the world.
You can expect to see anything you normally would in the world such as treasures, rare creatures, or objects, but there will also be some unique opportunities to be found such as Warrants. Aid the constable of Tazavesh by hunting down notorious monsters for fun… and profit.
NEW SYSTEM: ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
Help Ve’nari bring life back to K’aresh with her eco-domes. You’ll help fill them with creatures that thrive within the ecosystem. You’ll scour previously traveled zones to bring back animals to live within the eco-domes and aid them in adjusting to life on K’aresh. It’s up to you to help transform this barren eco-dome into one filled with life and promise for a new future.
MANAFORGE OMEGA RAID
A massive facility built upon the planet to harvest cosmic energy, players will fight their way in and through this raid dungeon to take on the Shadow Guard Ethereals who have set their efforts toward reviving Dimensius.
You’ll join with your allies to ultimately fight Dimensius in a cosmic battle of truly epic proportions to stave off what could be the end of Azeroth as we know it.
Raid Bosses- Plexus Sentinel
- Loom’ithar
- Soulbinder Naazindhri
- Forgeweaver Araz
- The Soul Hunters (optional encounter)
- Fractillus
- Nexus-King Salhadaar
- Dimensius, the All-Devouring
Manaforge Omega will be available for testing in a later PTR build. The raid testing schedule can be found here.THE WAR WITHIN SEASON 3
ECO-DOME ALDANI DUNGEON
Season 3 of The War Within brings with it a new dungeon—Eco-Dome Al’dani. This is a three-boss dungeon where you’ll encounter a variety of creatures including devourers who are consuming the life found there. You’ll also face the Wastelanders who have dug in and learn their purpose within the eco-dome.
This new dungeon will be available immediately in Normal, Heroic, and Mythic0 (baseline) difficulties.
Dungeon Bosses- Azhiccar
- Taah’bat and A’wazj
- Soul-Scribe
NEW DUNGEON POOL
- Eco-Dome Al’dani
- Halls of Atonement
- Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
- Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit
- Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
- The Dawnbreaker
- Priory of the Sacred Flame
- Operation: Floodgate
Tazavesh will also return as a full Mega-dungeon and will count as a Mythic+10 in the weekly Great Vault.
Season 3 dungeons will be available for testing in a later PTR build. The dungeon testing schedule can be found here.NEW DELVE: THE ARCHIVAL ASSAULT
Found within the Azure Vaults within the Dragon Isles, you’ll encounter ethereals, ethereal pirates, and brokers who are plundering the Delve. Using the Reshii Wraps will unlock unique challenge gateways to bosses or challenge rooms. You may also get a glimpse of your friends within the Delve as well or even /mourn them as you observe their ghost from where they died–
this feature will be available in a later PTR build.There’s unfinished business with Nexus Princess Ky’veza as well and you’ll take her on one on one as this season’s Nemesis.
Along the Delver’s Journey progression, unlock customizations for your Delver’s Mana Skimmer–the newest Delve mount attainable during Season 3–and two new toys, the Delver’s Mana-Bound Ethergate–opens a portal to return to the Explorers’ League home base in Dornogal, and Etheric Brannmorpher–summons an Ethereal Transmorpher that can change your appearance.
NEW WORLD BOSS: RESHANOR, THE UNTEATHERED
The ethereals of K’aresh first witnessed this destructive maw of the void after Dimensius’s attack. They believe Reshanor has manifested as their eternal punishment - for it comes back around to keep eating them and their planet as he grows infinitely bigger over the years.
SEASON 3 CLASS SETS
With a new season, also comes a new set of class gear. These new sets will feature set bonuses that will align with your chosen Hero Talents instead of your class or specialization.
Head to the
FEEDBACK: The War Within Season 3 Class Sets forum thread to read all the new set bonuses and leave feedback after trying them out on the PTR. Setzertauren in Stormwind and Orgrimmar will provide class sets for testing.
PVP UPDATES
Several PvP talents will be updated with the content update; players will also be able to undertake a new World Quest to vanquish their foes on Vanquisher’s Wake island. This new point of interest is a perfect spot to hang out for those seeking to go toe-to-toe in some outdoor PvP battles.
No quest required for entry. Simply turn on War Mode and enter with caution.
CLASSES
- DEATH KNIGHT
New Talent: Unholy Momentum – Increases Haste by 2%. - Developer’s notes:In Ghosts of K’aresh we are looking at Death Knight’s raid utility to help give them a better identity that isn’t completely reliant on tuning to make an impact. One immediate change you may notice is that Abomination Limb has been removed, its existence made it incredibly hard for grip to matter in any real capacity because of how potent and easily accessible it became. This led to many raid mobs being immune to grip as way to counter what should normally be one of Death Knight’s most powerful tools. This change limits the number of Death Grips available to a raid at any moment and allows us to design more moments for Death Grip to be tactical and powerful when Death Knights choose to use it. This change should be immediately apparent in the new raid Manaforge Omega.
Secondly, plenty of time has passed since Castle Nathria and it’s given us some time to reflect on our change to capping Anti-Magic Zone. In Ghosts of K’aresh, we are returning AMZ to a % magic damage reduction effect with no cap. We have increased the cooldown and reduced the duration and effectiveness downward from what it was prior to the Castle Nathria nerf which should better align with our expected output for a DPS/Tank Damage Reduction cooldown. We hope that by adding this back as a meaningful cooldown alongside their grips that Death Knight’s will be able to carve out a spot for themselves in raid compositions. - Anti-Magic Zone has been updated – Places an Anti-Magic Zone for 6 seconds, reducing the magic damage taken by party or raid members by 15%. 4 minute cooldown.
- Assimilation has been updated – The cooldown of Anti-Magic Zone is reduced by 60 seconds and its duration is increased by 2 seconds.
- The following talents have been removed:
Abomination Limb - Unholy Ground
Hero Talents - Deathbringer
Exterminate has been updated:
First scythe of Exterminate no longer has a chance to apply Reaper’s Mark. - Frost – First scythe of Exterminate has a 100% chance to grant Killing Machine.
- Blood – The first scythe now has a 25% chance to summon a Dancing Rune Weapon for 6 seconds.
Developer’s notes: We found that relying on chance for Reaper’s Mark created too much variance in damage output, which made it feel inconsistent and unreliable.
San’layn - The Blood is Life has been updated:
Dark Transformation/Dancing Rune Weapon summons a Blood Beast to attack your enemy for 10 seconds.
Developer’s notes: Similar to Exterminate updates, we found that the chance based spawning of Blood Beast created too much variance in damage output and reduced player agency.
Blood Beast now deals 15% of the damage accumulated for Unholy and 25% of the damage accumulated for Blood specialization (was 25%/50%).
Visceral Strength has an additional effect for the Unholy specialization – When Scourge Strike consumes Virulent Plague, your next Outbreak costs no Runes and casts a Death Coil or an Epidemic at 100% effectiveness, whichever you most recently cast.
Infliction of Sorrow has an additional effect – After Gift of the San’layn ends, you gain a charge of Death and Decay.
Infliction of Sorrow buff that makes Scourge Strike/Heart Strike to consume Virulent Plague/Blood Plague now lasts for 30 seconds (was 12 seconds).
Frost - Developer’s notes: In Ghosts of K’aresh, we’re revisiting the core building blocks of Frost Death Knight. We’re making adjustments to reduce friction between how the spec uses its resources and to focus its power into more iconic abilities, alongside some new ones we hope you’ll enjoy.
- Many talents have changed positions and new pathing options added.
- Glacial Advance is now learned at level 10 (was a talent).
Developer’s notes: We’re making Glacial Advance baseline to allow Frost Death Knight to use Runic Power in AoE without having to spend a talent point, especially for early leveling experience.
New Talent: Frostbound Will – Consuming Rime reduces the cooldown of Empower Rune Weapon by 4 seconds.
New Talent: Runic Strikes - Increases the damage of Obliterate by 10% and the damage of Frostscythe by 8%.
New Talent: Runic Overflow - Increases the damage of Frost Strike and Glacial Advance by 10/20%.
New Talent: Icy Onslaught - Frost Strike and Glacial Advance now cause your next Frost Strike and Glacial Advance to deal 15% increased damage and cost 5 more Runic Power. This effect stacks until the next Runic Empowerment.
New Talent: Frostbane – When you cast Glacial Advance, each foe struck has a chance to transform your next Frost Strike into Frostbane. The chance increases with the number of Razorice stacks on the target. Capstone Talent.
- Frostbane – Start a frozen onslaught that strikes twice, unleashing the chilling essence of winter, dealing ap% Frost damage to all enemies caught in its wake with each strike. Each enemy struck reduces the damage dealt to the next foe by 5%, down to 40%.
- Developer’s notes: We wanted to move away from tab-targeting Frost Strike gameplay as it is difficult to execute and track, and used this opportunity to design a new capstone.
New Talent: Killing Streak – Obliterate and Frostscythe consume all Killing Machines to deal 25% increased critical strike damage and grants 1.5% Haste for 6 seconds or each stack consumed. Multiple applications may overlap. New 3rd gate talent before Obliteration.
New Talent: Northwinds – Howling Blast now hits an additional target with maximum effectiveness. Rime increases Howling Blast damage done by an additional 75%.
New Talent: Frostreaper – Obliterate has a chance to tether the souls of its target and a nearby enemy to yours. Frostscythe severs the tethers, dealing Shadowfrost damage to both foes.
New Talent: Howling Blades – Rime empowered Howling Blast unleashes 2 icy blades at its target that deal Frost damage and have a 15% chance to grant Killing Machine.
New Talent: Frozen Dominion – Each enemy Frostywyrm’s Fury damages grants you 8% Mastery, up to 40% for 15 seconds.
Empower Rune Weapon has been redesigned – Drain the will of your enemy to empower your rune weapon, dealing Shadowfrost damage and reduced damage to enemies nearby, gaining 40 Runic Power and grants you Killing Machine. Has 2 charges with a 30 second recharge.
- Developer’s notes: We’ve found that there were too many passive effects that granted Rune or Runic Power in Frost Death Knight’s resource economy. While moving away from some of these passive effects, we want to give you the tools to use your resources more methodically.
Empower Rune Weapon visual effects have been updated and the talent moved to Gate 1.
Breath of Sindragosa has been redesigned – Call upon Sindragosa’s aid in battle, consuming 16 Runic Power to deal Frost damage every second to enemies in a cone in front of you. Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. 1.2 second empower, 2 minute cooldown, and has 3 stages.
- I: Deals Frost damage instantly and lasts for up to 8 seconds. Refunds 75 seconds of its cooldown.
- II: Deals Frost damage instantly and lasts for up to 15 seconds. Refunds 45 seconds of its cooldown.
- III: Deals Frost damage instantly and lasts for up to 30 seconds.
- Grants a charge of Empower Rune Weapon at the start and 2 Runes at the end.
- Castable while moving with 30% reduced movement speed.
- Developer’s notes: We’re exploring a new design space with this iteration of Breath of Sindragosa. We want this update to give you more control over how you use the ability, so you can adapt it to whatever the fight demands. We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback to iterate further or change directions.
Rime has been updated – Frost Strike and Glacial Advance have a 45% chance and Breath of Sindragosa has a 30% chance to cause your next Howling Blast to consume no Runes and deal additional damage (was Obliterate 45% and Frostscythe 22.5%).
- Developer’s notes: One of our main goals with this update is to make Runic Power spenders feel better to use. The interaction between Obliterate and Howling Blast was making it difficult to use Runic Power spenders without over capping on Rime, Killing Machine and Runic Power.
Might of the Frozen Wastes has been updated – Wielding a two-handed weapon now increases Obliterate damage by 30% and Frostscythe damage by 30%. The rest of the effect stays the same.
Frostscythe has been updated – A sweeping attack that strikes all enemies in front of you for Frost damage. Deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets. Consumes Killing Machine to have its critical strikes deal 3 times the normal damage. Costs 2 Runes and has no cooldown.
Frostscythe visual effects and animations have been updated and the talent moved to Gate 1.
Cleaving Strikes has been updated – Frostscythe deals 20% increased damage during Remorseless Winter.
- Developer’s notes: We’re moving away Obliterate cleave and aiming for a new vision for how Frost Death Knight deals damage in AoE with Frostscythe. This will also help us in adjusting the power of abilities more effectively.
Everfrost has been updated – Rime empowered Howling Blast deals 50% increased damage to secondary targets. Remorseless Winter deals 6% increased damage to enemies it hits, stacking up to 10 times.
Rage of the Frozen Champion has been updated – Frost Strike and Glacial Advance have a 15% increased chance to trigger Rime and Howling Blast generates 8 Runic Power while Rime is active. No longer a choice node against Frigid Executioner.
Frigid Executioner has been updated – Runic Empowerment has a 20% chance to refund 1 additional Rune. No longer a choice node against Rage of the Frozen Champion.
Glacial Advance now cost 40 Runic Power (was 30).
Frost Strike now cost 40 Runic Power (was 30).
Frost Strike animations have been updated.
Enduring Strength now increases Strength by 8% (was 15%).
Runic Empowerment now has a 1.6% chance per Runic Power spent to grant a Rune (was 2%).
Runic Command now additionally increases Rune regeneration rate by 8%/15%.
Murderous Efficiency – Consuming Killing Machine now has a 20% chance to grant you 1 Rune (was 25%).
Artic Assault – Consuming Killing Machine fires a Glacial Advance through your target at 45% effectiveness (was 80%). Moved to gate 1.
Obliteration – While Pillar of Frost is active Frost Strike, Glacial Advance, and Howling Blast always grant Killing Machine and have a 20% chance to generate a Rune (was 30%). Now a capstone talent.
Obliteration has an additional effect - During Pillar of Frost, Empower Rune Weapon causes your next Obliterate or Frostscythe to cost no Runes.
Cryogenic Chamber replaces Remorseless Winter – Pillar of Frost now summons a Remorseless Winter that lasts 4 seconds longer. Each time Frost Fever or Empower Rune Weapon deals damage 15% of the damage dealt is gathered into the next cast of Remorseless Winter, up to 20 times.
Inexorable Assault – Obliterate and Frostscythe consume up to 3 stacks of Inoxerable Assault (was 1) and now grants a stack every 4 seconds (was 8).
Shattering Blade now makes Glacial Advance apply Razorice on top of its original effect. Glacial Advance no longer applies Razorice baseline.
Frostwyrm’s Fury is now a 90 second cooldown (was 3 minutes) and stuns targets for 3 seconds baseline. Visual effect and animation has been updated. Now a gate 2 talent.
Biting Cold moved to gate 1.
The following talents have been removed:
- Absolute Zero
- Chill Streak
- Cold Heart
- Enduring Chill
- Frostwhelp’s Aid
- Horn of Winter
- Icecap
- Improved Frost Strike
- Improved Obliterate
- Improved Rime
- Piercing Chill
- Shattered Frost
Unholy - Developer’s notes: With Ghosts of K’aresh we’re looking into reducing the number of cooldowns Unholy Death Knight has and provide some new tools to both apply and remove Festering Wounds in AoE more efficiently.
- Some talents have changed positions.
- New Talent: Plague Mastery – Critical strike damage of your diseases is increased by 25%. Choice node with Grave Mastery.
- New Talent: Grave Mastery – Critical strike damage of your minions is increased by 15%. Choice node with Plague Mastery.
- New Talent: Desecrate – Death and Decay gets replaced by Desecrate after it is cast. Choice node against Defile.
Desecrate – Consume your Death and Decay and crush your enemies within, dealing 150% of its remaining damage instantly and applying 2 Festering Wounds. Grants you the benefits of standing in Death and Decay.
Abomination Limb has been renamed Legion of Souls and redesigned – Summon a legion of clawing souls to assist you, dealing Shadow damage and applying up to 6 Festering Wounds over 12 sec to all nearby enemies. Deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets. Grants you the benefits of standing in Death and Decay. Choice node against Raise Abomination.
All Will Serve has been redesigned – Raise Dead summons an additional skeletal archer at your command that shoots Blighted Arrows.
- Blighted Arrow – An unholy arrow that deals Shadow damage. When consuming Sudden Doom, your Death Coil commands your archer to fire an additional Blighted Arrow at 80% effectiveness. Epidemic will instead cause Blighted Arrow to ricochet and hit up to 2 additional targets.
Reaping has an additional effect – Soul Reaper’s execute effect increases the damage of your minions by 10% for 8 seconds.
Apocalypse now replaces Dark Transformation if it is known and also summons your pet ghoul on cast.
Decomposition – Virulent Plague has a chance to deal 100%/200% of the damage it dealt in the last 4 seconds (was 50%/100%).
Unholy Pact now forms a shadowy chain between you and your pet.
Festering Scythe override aura now lasts for 30 seconds.
Plaguebringer and Clawing Shadows is no longer a choice node.
Improved Festering Strike is now a 1-point talent.
The following talents have been removed:
- Pestilence
- Runic Mastery
- Ruptured Viscera
- Vile Contagion
DRUID - Lycara’s Meditation replaced with Lycara’s Inspiration – You gain a bonus while in each form inspired by the breadth of your Druidic knowledge:
No Form: 4% Magic Damage - Cat Form: 4% Stamina
- Bear: 5% Movement Speed
- Moonkin: 3% Avoidance
Maim now has a 30 second cooldown (was 20 seconds).
Bear Form’s threat generation multiplier has been reduced for Balance, Feral, and Restoration Druids.
Hero Talents - Wildstalker
Symbiotic Blooms and Bursting Growth healing increased by 50%. - Thriving Growth’s base chance for Symbiotic Blooms to grow increased by 30%. Rate at which this increases with larger target counts slightly reduced.
- Twin Sprouts’ chance to generate an additional Bloodseeker Vine or Symbiotic Bloom increased to 30% (was 20%).
- Restoration: Implant also triggers from casts of Wild Growth.
Feral - Brutal Slash damage in Bear Form increased by 25%.
Developers’ notes: This is still below the level it was in before Undermine(d), but we significantly increased the power of Brutal Slash with Wildpower Surge and are keeping that increase.
Lycara’s Teachings gives 6% Mastery while in Moonkin Form (was 2%).
Restoration - Developer’s notes: We’re making an adjustment to healing cooldowns to increase their strength in smaller group play without affecting their performance at 20 targets. This is intended to be an overall large buff in 5 player content, a medium to small buff between 6-19 players, no change at 20 players, and a nerf beyond 20 players.
- Tranquility initial healing increased by 100%, but its healing now reduces more rapidly beyond 5 targets.
- Tranquility healing over time increased by 200%, but its healing now reduces beyond 5 targets.
- Visual effects for the following spells have been updated:
Efflorescence - Lifebloom
- Regrowth
- Rejuvenation
- Swiftmend
- Tranquility
- Wild Growth
EVOKER - Hero Talents
Flameshaper
Engulf damage and healing increased by 100%. - Engulf now requires the target to have Fire Breath or Dream Breath active to be used.
- Engulf effectiveness now scales by 20% with each damage or healing over time effect present (was 50%).
- Fulminous Roar no longer decreases the duration of Fire Breath or Dream Breath.
Scalecommander - Fixed an issue where Breath of Eons would display the incorrect tooltip when talented into Maneuverability.
- Augmentation
Breath of Eons tooltip has been rewritten for clarity and brevity.
Preservation - New Talent: Unshakable – Your empower spells are 10% more effective. While charging a healing empower spell, you cannot be knocked back.
- New Talent: Tempo Charged – Temporal Compression increases the healing or damage of your next empower spell by 5% per stack.
- Just in Time has been redesigned – Now reduces Time Dilation’s cooldown by 10 seconds and grants an additional charge.
- Delay Harm has been redesigned – 15% of damage taken from Time Dilation’s damage over time is absorbed.
Developers’ notes: Preservation doesn’t have access to a damage reduction external ability outside of Renewing Blaze as Flameshaper, which hurts their potential in content like Mythic+. This opens up the possibility for them to save their tank from massive damage.
Temporal Artificer reduces Rewind cooldown by 90 seconds (was 60 seconds).
- Developers’ notes: Stasis’ power has made it feel required to take, which forces players into the bottom right capstone branch. By moving it further up in the tree, we reduce the opportunity cost of picking Stasis. At the same time, we’re offering an easy-to-play talent that competes with Stasis so you don’t feel required to use Stasis if you don’t want to.
Reversion now has 2 charges.
Emerald Blossom healing increased by 25%.
Temporal Anomaly absorption increased by 100%. Absorption beyond 5 targets now diminishes more sharply.
Dream Flight healing increased by 150%. Healing no longer increased by 100% outside of raid and the healing amount now diminishes beyond 5 targets.
Stasis is now a choice with Temporal Artificer.
The following talents have been removed:
HUNTER - New Talent: Harmonize – Pet damage increased by 4%. Choice node with Explosive Shot.
Developers’ notes: Explosive Shot hasn’t found a great home in Beast Mastery’s kit, so we’re offering an opportunity to trade it for some pet damage.
Blackrock Munitions now also increases the pet damage bonus of Harmonize by 2%.
Moment of Opportunity no longer has an internal cooldown.
Hero Talents - Dark Ranger
Several talents have changed positions. - New Talent: Umbral Reach – Black Arrow periodic damage increased by 100%. If Bleak Powder damages 2 or more enemies, gain Beast Cleave/Trick Shots if talented.
Developers’ notes: Black Arrow can have a confusing priority in AOE scenarios for both Marksmanship and Beast Mastery. Umbral Reach should give Black Arrow a clearer place in your AOE rotation without completely circumventing the need to use Multi-Shot.
The Bell Tolls’ previous effect is now baseline to Black Arrow and has been updated – Casting Black Arrow increases all damage dealt by you and your pets by 3% for 12 seconds. Multiple instances of this effect may overlap.
Soul Drinker has been updated – Now increases Black Arrow’s damage by 15% and Bleak Powder’s damage by 20%.
Withering Fire has been updated – Now prioritizes units without Black Arrow’s periodic effect.
Black Arrow’s periodic damage is now a rolling periodic.
Dark Hounds no longer have a chance to summon alongside Dire Beasts.
Black Arrow damage increased by 20% for Beast Mastery only.
Phantom Pain damage share increased to 20% for Beast Mastery only.
Phantom Pain damage share increased to 30% for Marksmanship only.
The following talents have been removed:
- Embrace the Shadows
- Shadow Surge
Pack Leader - Shell Cover has been updated – When dropping below 60% health, summon the aid of a Turtle, reducing the damage you take by 15%. Damage reduction increased as health is reduced, up to 35% damage reduction at 10% health. Can only occur once every 90 seconds.
- Better Together has been updated – Damage dealt by your pets is increased by 5/15%. Frenzy’s attack speed bonus is increased by 4%/Tip of the Spear’s damage bonus increased by 10%.
- Howl of the Pack Leader now displays an activation overlay when a Beast summon is ready.
Sentinel - Lunar Storm now resets the cooldown of Rapid Fire and Wildfire Bomb when it becomes available.
Developers’ notes: This should help to reduce the cognitive load around tracking Lunar Storm while providing some more excitement.
Beast Mastery - Many talents have changed positions.
- New Talent: Wildspeaker – Dire Beasts will now obey your Kill Command, dealing damage at 30% effectiveness. Bestial Wrath now sends your Dire Beasts into a rage, increasing their damage dealt by 15% for 15 seconds.
- Mastery: Master of Beasts has been updated – Now also increase the damage of your shots and traps at 50% value.
Developers’ notes: Player-sourced damage effects such as Black Arrow and Barbed Shot can have more of an impact on Beast Mastery’s stat priority across different builds than we’d like.
Dire Beast has been updated – Now a passive ability. Damage from your bleed effects has a 7% chance of attracting a powerful wild beast that attacks your target for 8 seconds.
Bloodshed has been redesigned – Duration reduced to 12 seconds (was 18 seconds). Tick rate increased to every 1 second (was 3 seconds). Bleed damage increased substantially. Bleed damage from Bloodshed now has a higher chance to attract a Dire Beast. Talent has moved locations on the talent tree.
Killer Instinct has been updated – Kill Command’s damage is increased by 5/10%.
- Developers’ notes: Beast Mastery was bringing more execute damage than we’d like. We’d prefer Marksmanship to be the Hunter class’s premier execute damage contributor.
Huntmaster’s Call has been updated – Now requires 6 Dire Beast summons to trigger. Fenryr’s Ravenous Leap damage increased by 500%.
Barbed Shot now replaces Steady Shot.
Hunter’s Prey no longer causes Kill Shot to strike additional targets.
- Developers’ notes: By removing the additional targets, we can more reliably increase Black Arrow’s power without creeping Beast Mastery Dark Ranger’s AoE.
Dire Beast is no longer tracked on the Cooldown Manger.
Master Handler has had its icon updated.
The following talents have been removed:
- Barrage
- Shower of Blood
- Venomous Bite
Marksmanship - Many talents have changed positions.
- New Talent: Unmatched Precision – The damage bonus of Precise Shots is increased by 20/40%.
- Shrapnel Shot has been redesigned – Explosive Shot has a 100% chance to grant Lock and Load.
Developers’ notes: We’ve heard feedback that players have really enjoyed the gameplay of the Liberation of Undermine set bonus. We’re hoping Precision Detonation and the new Shrapnel Shot will strike a similar chord.
Improved Spotter’s Mark renamed to Avian Specialization and has been updated – Now also teaches your Eagle to Fetch loot from nearby corpses.
Precise Shots has been updated – Now also reduces the global cooldown of affected spells by 50%.
- Developer’s notes - Our goal with this change is to help make Precise Shots spending feel more snappy, responsive, and exciting in all situations.
Kill Zone has been updated – Line of sight ignoring effect now lingers for 3 seconds upon removal.
Light Ammo has returned and has been updated – Now also increases the damage bonus of Aspect of the Hydra by 15%.
Calling the Shots has been updated – Now reduces the cooldown of Trueshot by 30 seconds.
- Developer’s notes: Calling the Shots has been historically inconsistent, so we’re simplifying it to increase its reliability.
Ohn’ahran Winds has been updated – When your Eagle applies Spotter’s Mark, it has a 100% chance to apply a Spotter’s Mark to up to 1 additional nearby enemy at 100% effectiveness.
- Developer’s notes: Our goal with this change is to increase the talent’s consistency and give it a clearer niche.
Moving Target has been updated – Aimed Shot damage bonus reduced to 8%.
- Developers’ notes: We’re moving some of Moving Target’s Aimed Shot damage into Aimed Shot’s baseline power.
Aimed Shot damage increased by 10%.
Lock and Load chance to trigger increased to 10% (was 8%) and it now benefits from bad luck protection.
Precision Detonation damage bonus increased to 40% (was 25%).
Unerring Vision no longer affects Calling the Shots.
Calling the Shots and Unerring Vision are now on a choice node.
Bullseye is no longer a 2-point node.
Resolved many issues with Ohn’ahran Winds targeting.
The following talents have been removed:
Survival - Kill Command cooldown resets will no longer display an activation overlay.
- Improved Wildfire Bomb has returned – Wildfire Bomb damage increased by 8%.
Developers’ notes: Wildfire Arsenal’s was adding a lot of auras and overhead for what amounted to a lower damage contribution than Improved Wildfire Bomb, so we’re bringing back the simpler and more potent Improved Wildfire Bomb node.
Cull the Herd has been redesigned – Kill Shot deals an additional 30% damage over 6 seconds.
- Developers’ notes: We’ve heard feedback that Cull the Herd’s initial implementation felt like a miss, so we’re simplifying it and increasing its power.
Born to Kill has been redesigned – Your chance to gain Deathblow is increased by 5% and Kill Shot’s damage is increased by 25%.
Wildfire Bomb initial damage increased by 50%.
Ruthless Marauder Tip of the Spear chance to trigger increased to 100% (was 20%).
Explosives Expert now increases Wildfire Bomb and Explosive Shot damage by 5/10% (was 2.5/5%).
Bloodseeker no longer causes Kill Command to Bleed.
Wildfire Arsenal has been removed.
MAGE - Inspired Intellect now grants 6% increased Intellect (was 3%).
- Time Anomaly has been removed.
- Hero Talents
Spellslinger
Spellfrost Teachings has been redesigned – Direct damage from Splinters reduces the cooldown of Arcane Orb by 0.5 seconds and Frozen Orb by 0.5 seconds.
Developers’ notes: Spellfrost Teachings was a huge source of variance for both Arcane and Frost Spellslingers. Our goal with this change is to smooth out the rate at which Spellslingers fire Orbs without significantly impacting total number of Orbs casted over the course of an encounter. We’re also moving some of Spellfrost Teaching’s power into the Splintering Orb damage bonus as compensation.
Splintering Orbs damage bonus increased to 25% (was 10%).
Arcane - Mastery: Savant has been updated:
Mana bonuses increased by 10%. - Arcane Blast damage bonus increased by 30%.
- Arcane Barrage damage bonus increased by 40%.
- Arcane damage bonus increased by 10%.
Prodigious Savant has been updated – Arcane Charges now increase the damage of Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage by an additional 15/30%.
- Developers’ notes: We’re simplifying Prodigious Savant and buffing Mastery: Savant to make Mastery a more appealing stat for Arcane.
Arcane Orb travel speed increased to 30 yards/second.
- Developer’s notes: We’re increasing Arcane Orb’s travel speed to help make its charge generation more snappy.
Intuition duration increased to 5 seconds (was 3 seconds).
- Developer’s notes: We’re generally pleased with how Intuition has landed in Arcane Mage’s Barrage priority and are comfortable increasing its duration.
Arcane Rebound and Static Cloud have swapped locations in the talent tree.
Arcane Rebound’s icon has been updated.
Arcane Harmony is now tracked on the Personal Resource Display.
Fire - Meteor has been updated – The enemy closest to the center of Meteor’s impact now takes 40% increased damage.
Developers’ notes: Meteor has been lacking some punch, particularly in single target, so we’re taking a swing at making it a more generally attractive option.
Hyperthermia has been updated – Casting Pyroblast or Flamestrike during Hyperthermia increases the damage of Pyroblast and Flamestrike by 15%, up to 150%.
Frost - Mastery: Icicles has been updated – All damage bonuses increased by 40%.
Developers’ notes: Frost’s Mastery has been significantly behind other stats, so we’re taking a big swing at improving it. We will continue to monitor these changes and update Mastery: Icicles as necessary.
MONK - Vivacious Vivification has been redesigned – Your next Vivify is instant cast after casting Rising Sun Kick.
- Brewmaster
Developers’ notes: We’re making some adjustments to Brewmaster talents to provide new options for smoothing out and stabilizing both damage intake and healing. We’ve also made some adjustments to Invoke Niuzao, with the intent of making Niuzao more consistently present and impactful, as well as improving its integration with the rest of Brewmaster gameplay. - New Talent: Zen State – Your Stagger is increased by up to 20%, based on your missing health.
- New Talent: Niuzao’s Resolve – Healing Spheres now heal over 10 seconds, and their healing is increased by up to 80% based on your missing health.
- New Talent: Celestial Infusion – A strong herbal brew that coalesces purified chi escaping your body into a celestial guard, absorbing 20% of incoming damage, up to 1134% attack power. Purifying Stagger damage increases absorption by up to 200%. Choice talent with Celestial Brew.
- Face Palm has been redesigned – Tiger Palm damage increased by 100% and reduces the remaining cooldown of your Brews by 0.5 additional seconds.
- Invoke Niuzao has been redesigned – Summons an effigy of Niuzao, the Black Ox for 25 seconds that attacks your primary target and Stomps when you cast Purify, damaging all nearby enemies. While active, 40% of damage delayed by Stagger is instead Staggered by Niuzao, and Niuzao is healed for 20% of your purified Stagger.
- Walk with the Ox has been redesigned – Your damaging abilities have a chance to invoke Niuzao, causing him to charge to your target’s location and Stomp.
- Improved Invoke Niuzao has been redesigned – While active, Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox can be recast once to cause Niuzao to stomp mightily and knock nearby enemies into the air.
- The following talents have been removed:
Celestial Flames - Zen Meditation
Mistweaver - Developers’ notes: We’re making an adjustment to healing cooldowns to increase their strength in smaller group play without affecting their performance at 20 targets. This is intended to be an overall large buff in 5 player content, a medium to small buff between 6-19 players, no change at 20 players, and a nerf beyond 20 players
- Revival healing increased by 100%, but its healing now reduces more rapidly beyond 5 targets.
- Restoral healing increased by 100%, but its healing now reduces more rapidly beyond 5 targets.
PALADIN - Holy
New Talent: Pillars of Light – Allies with Beacon of Light or Beacon of Faith are healed every 3 seconds. Beacon of Virtue instantly heals allies. - Beacon of Light now only transfers healing from direct healing and Light of Dawn. Healing transfer amount increased by 10%.
- Infusion of Light now reduces the cast time of Holy Light by 30% and makes your next Flash of Light instant cast. Now activates based on a chance when casting Holy Shock (was activates from Holy Shock critical strikes).
- Divine Favor now reduces mana costs by 100%, but no longer decreases cast times.
- Truth Prevail and Relentless Inquisitor talent locations have been adjusted.
Retribution - Divine Hammer has been updated:
Now has a 2-minute cooldown (was 1 min). - Now lasts for 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Duration now increases by 0.3 seconds per Holy Power spent (was 0.5 seconds).
- Damage increased by 12%.
- An issue causing Divine Hammer to grant stacks to Crusade has been resolved.
- An issue that caused Divine Hammer and Consecrated Ground to disrupt the apparent facing of creatures has been resolved.
PRIEST - Holy Nova mana cost reduced by 87%.
- Discipline
Luminous Barrier absorption increased by 100%, but its absorption now reduces more rapidly beyond 5 targets.
Developers’ notes: We’re making an adjustment to healing cooldowns to increase their strength in smaller group play without affecting their performance at 20 targets. This is intended to be an overall large buff in 5 player content, a medium to small buff between 6-19 players, no change at 20 players, and a nerf beyond 20 players.
Developers’ notes: We’re doing some targeted adjustments to some of Discipline’s direct healing spells so that their mana gradually reduces over time if they are spending a lot of time applying Atonement. We would like Discipline to be able to regenerate mana slowly over time through using damage spells. This helps balance them against other healers who spend more mana than they do. Power Word: Shield mana cost increased by 8%.
Power Word: Radiance mana cost increased by 20%.
Ultimate Penitence healing and damage increased by 35%.
Surge of Light reduces the mana cost of Flash Heal by 50% (was 100%).
Holy - Developers’ notes: We’re making an adjustment to healing cooldowns to increase their strength in smaller group play without affecting their performance at 20 targets. This is intended to be an overall large buff in 5 player content, a medium to small buff between 6-19 players, no change at 20 players, and a nerf beyond 20 players.
- Divine Hymn healing increased by 100%, but its healing now reduces more rapidly beyond 5 targets.
- Surge of Light now reduces the mana cost of Flash Heal by 50% (was 100%).
- Apotheosis now reduces the mana cost of Holy Words by 50% while active (was 100%).
- Heal mana cost reduced by 5%.
- Prayer of Healing mana cost reduced by 5%.
- Flash Heal mana cost reduced by 5%.
- Prayer of Mending mana cost reduced by 5%.
- Holy Word: Serenity mana cost reduced by 5%.
- Holy Word: Sanctify mana cost reduced by 5%.
- Renew mana cost reduced by 5%.
- Holy Fire mana cost reduced by 40%.
- Epiphany now ignores the current cooldown of Prayer of Mending when it triggers instead of resetting it.
Shadow - Developers’ notes: The Shadow tree has undergone a number of changes in Ghosts of K’aresh that we’re excited to share along with our intent with these changes.
A major goal for us was to update the less impactful or interesting talents in the last three rows of the tree. We like the theme with the idols as capstones but have heard from the community that some of their effects have been lacking. We’ve also added a new ability that can be used after Void Torrent called Void Volley which we think will be an exciting rotational and visual addition to the spec.
We’re making some adjustments to Shadow Crash as well, giving it more flexibility and the option to significantly increase its damage. This does come with a reduction in the number of targets Vampiric Touch is applied to from 8 to 6, but we feel this is a necessary change to ensure Shadow’s damage at lower target counts remains competitive when we do our tuning passes.
While the balance between Mind Flay and Mind Spike has been in a good place, we feel it’s best to recenter the spec on its core and iconic fantasies and Mind Flay is the obvious choice for us to keep in the long term, so we’re removing Mind Spike. We’re keeping Mind Melt with some minor adjustments for it to support the same gameplay for Mind Flay and providing an option to choose between increasing the damage of Mind Flay and using it to increase Mind Blast damage which we think will support each Hero Talent tree in meaningfully different ways.
We’re making a simplification change to Deathspeaker with the aim of reducing the potential number of competing priorities the spec has. We’re looking to create more breathing room and clarity in the rotation while still impacting how often you use Shadow Word: Death in the rotation. We’re also bringing back a previous class set we thought had fun interactions as a follow-up node to Deathspeaker.
We look forward to your feedback! - Several talents have changed positions in the talent tree.
- New Talent: Dark Thoughts – Increases the chance for Shadowy Insight to occur by 25%. When consuming Shadowy Insight, Mind Blast generates 1 additional Insanity.
- New Talent: Death’s Torment – Shadow Word: Death deals damage 2 additional times at 15% effectiveness.
- New Talent: Madness Weaving – The damage bonus from your Mastery: Shadow Weaving gains 25%/50% additional benefit from Devouring Plague.
- New Talent: Void Volley – Void Torrent is replaced with Void Volley for 20 seconds after it is cast.
Void Volley – Releases a volley of pure void energy, firing 10 bolts at your target and 1 bolt at all enemies within 10 yards of your target for Shadow damage. Generates 10 Insanity.
New Talent: Subservient Shadows – Summoned minions last an additional 3 seconds and deal an additional 15% damage.
New Talent: Phantom Menace – Increases the critical strike chance of Shadowy Apparitions by 10% and their critical strike damage by 40%.
New Talent: Instilled Doubt – Increases the critical strike chance of Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain by 8%/15% and their critical strike damage by 20%/40%.
New Talent: Descending Darkness – Increases Shadow Crash damage by 300%.
Dark Evangelism has been redesigned – Now increases periodic spell damage by 6%. 1-point talent.
Deathspeaker has been redesigned – Now increases the damage of Shadow Word: Death by 25% and causes it to gain its damage bonus against targets below 35% instead of 20%.
Idol of Y’Shaarj has been redesigned – Your damaging spells have a chance to grant Call of the Void, increasing your Haste by 15% for 12 seconds. When Call of the Void ends you are afflicted with Overburdened Mind, reducing your Haste by 10% for 8 seconds.
Idol of N’Zoth has been redesigned – You create Horrific Visions when casting harmful spells on enemies. At 50 stacks of Horrific Visions, your target sees a nightmare, dealing Shadow damage and granting you 4 Insanity over 3 seconds. At 100 stacks, your target witnesses a vision of N’Zoth, dealing high Shadow damage and granting you 12 Insanity over 3 seconds.
Mind Melt has been renamed to Shattered Psyche and now works with Mind Flay, increasing the critical strike chance of Mind Blast by 8% per stack, stacking up to 12 times.
Shadow Crash now has a 15 second cooldown (was 20 seconds) and has 2 charges.
Shadow Crash now applies Vampiric Touch to 6 targets baseline.
Void Torrent now has a 30 second cooldown (was 45 seconds).
Mental Decay increases the damage of Mind Flay by 15% (was 10%).
Shadowy Apparitions can now critically strike.
Mind Flay now generates 18 Insanity over its duration (was 12).
Mind Flay: Insanity now generates 8 Insanity over its duration (was 12).
Dark Ascension now increases non-periodic Shadow damage by 25% (was 20%).
Mind Devourer now has a 8% chance to occur and is now a 1-point talent.
Insidious Ire now also increases the damage of Void Volley.
Idol of C’Thun now always triggers from Void Volley in addition to Void Torrent. Tooltip updated to reflect this.
The chance for Tormented Spirits to trigger now scales depending on how many Shadow Word: Pains are active.
Tormented Spirits is now a 1-point talent.
The following talents have been removed:
- Malediction
- Mind Spike
- Unfurling Darkness
- Whispering Shadows
ROGUE - Outlaw
Killing Spree has been redesigned – Finishing move that unleashes a barrage of gunfire, rapidly striking random enemies within 8 yards for Physical damage over its duration. Duration and number of strikes increase per combo point spent. Restores 1 combo point every 0.5 seconds.
Now a channeled ability with 0.5 second duration per combo point spent, reduced by Haste (was 0.3 seconds). - Can move and use some travel and defensive abilities while channeling, but movement is slowed by 20%.
- Damage per strike increased by 25%.
SHAMAN - Hero Talents
Stormbringer
Tempest stacks now cancel at the start of raid encounters and mythic+ dungeons.
Enhancement - Thorim’s Invocation secondary effect has been updated – During Ascendance, Windstrike consumes up to 5 Maelstrom Weapon to discharge a Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning at 100% effectiveness at your enemy, whichever you most recently used. When available, it will instead discharge a Tempest at 100% effectiveness, consuming 10 Maelstrom Weapon.
Developers’ notes: The choice of switching from casting Windstrike to Tempest felt counterintuitive to the intended gameplay of Thorim’s Invocation. To improve the flow and clarity of the experience, we’re updating the interaction so that Tempest now works with Thorim’s Invocation.
Restoration - Developers’ notes: We’re making an adjustment to healing cooldowns to increase their strength in smaller group play without affecting their performance at 20 targets. This is intended to be an overall large buff in 5 player content, a medium to small buff between 6-19 players, no change at 20 players, and a nerf beyond 20 players.
- Healing Tide Totem healing increased by 100%, but its healing now reduces more rapidly beyond 5 targets.
WARLOCK - Corruption now deals damage on application and is instant cast.
- The scale of your primary demon is now consistent across all levels.
- Affliction
Xavian Teachings has been removed.
Demonology - Developers’ notes: Going into Ghosts of K’aresh, we are addressing 2 issues with the Demonology talent tree:
First, we want to address the tuning of the right-side of the talent tree to increase the number of options available. We will be monitoring performance throughout this PTR cycle and making additional adjustments based on feedback and playtesting. - Second, we are making minor changes to Demonic Tyrant’s ramp and lowering the requirements for maximizing its throughput. While we want Demonic Tyrant to be an expression of skill for Demonology, we also want maximization of its throughput to be attainable in a variety of different encounters rather than only challenges with lower mobility requirements.
Master Summoner is no longer a PvP talent, has been redesigned, and is now available on the Demonology specialization tree – Reduces the cast time of your Call Dreadstalkers, Summon Vilefiend, and Summon Demonic Tyrant by 25%.
Summon Vilefiend cooldown is now 25 seconds (was 30 seconds).
Summon Demonic Tyrant now empowers 5 Wild Imps (was 10) and increases the damage of affected demons by 25% (was 15%).
Immutable Hatred damage increased by 40%.
Demonic Brutality now increases critical strike damage from your spells and demons by 6% (was 4%).
Improved Demonic Tactics now increases your primary Felguard’s critical strike chance by 50% of your critical strike chance (was 30%).
The following talents have been removed:
- Guillotine
- Reign of Tyranny
Destruction - Developers’ notes: In Ghosts of K’aresh, we will be removing Inferno from Destruction’s talent tree. For a single talent node, Inferno is extremely powerful as it has too much control of Rain of Fire’s tuning as well as effects that activate based on Soul Shards spent.
- Inferno has been removed.
WARRIOR - The global cooldown of Hamstring is now 0.75 seconds (was 1.5 seconds).
- Fixed an issue where Berserker Rage was able to remove Scatter Shot.
- Berserker Rage’s tooltip has been slightly adjusted to indicate it only works on certain Incapacitate effects.
- Protection
Developers’ notes: Many of Protection Warrior’s talents in each gate provide either key capabilities or powerful bonuses that make those talents “locked in”. As a result, Protection Warrior builds don’t change much in different situations or based on personal preferences. In Ghosts of K’aresh, we tried to ensure you have some points left after taking the “must take” talents in each gate. We did this by rearranging the tree to remove some bottleneck talents, making Challenging Shout baseline, and reducing the power of some current “must take” talents so they’re at a comparable power level with optional or utility talents. Where talents lost power in this way, we gave it back in other talents or abilities, so your overall power level remains similar. Once we freed up some flexibility to choose more talents based on situation and personal preference, we added some options to let you lean into different aspects of your kit or customize your defenses. - New Talent: Armor Specialization – Armor increased by 6%.
- New Talent: Heavy Handed – Execute hits up to 2 additional nearby targets for 70% damage.
- New Talent: Whirling Blade – Your attacks have a chance to target a nearby enemy with Ravager for 4 seconds. This is a choice node with Ravager.
- New Talent: Hunker Down – Damage you take from area of effect attacks is decreased by 2%. Spell Reflection reduces magic damage taken by an additional 10%.
- New Talent: Spellbreaker – You have a 4% chance to disrupt magic damage dealt to you, negating 100% of it.
- New Talent: Unyielding Stance – Defensive Stance reduces damage taken by an additional 4%.
- New Talent: Red Right Hand – Execute damage increased by 15%.
- Barbaric Training has been updated – Increases the damage of Revenge by 20% (was 25%) and now also increases the damage of Thunder Clap by 10%.
- Best Served Cold has been updated – Your dodges and parries make your Revenge cost no Rage 20% more frequently and increase the damage your free Revenges deal by 15%. Revenge increases the damage of your next Thunder Clap by 8%. Moved to row 4.
- Brutal Vitality has been updated – 8% of damage you deal adds to your active Ignore Pain or the next Ignore Pain you activate. Your next Ignore Pain can be increased by up to 15% of your total health.
- Tough as Nails has been updated – Now deals damage every time you block an attack but no longer ignores Armor. Its string is updated to reflect that it deals double damage on critical blocks. Damage increased by 100% and moved to row 7.
Developers’ notes: Tough as Nails used to have a 0.5 second delay between when it could deal damage. This delay has been removed, so it deals damage every time you block an attack. It always dealt double damage on critical blocks; that behavior has been added to the description. The intent is for it to do moderate damage against many AoE attackers and help hold threat against them.
Focused Vigor has been updated – Increases Strength by 3% (was 5%), Critical Strike chance by 1% (unchanged) and no longer increases Armor.
Enduring Alacrity has been updated – Increases Stamina by 5% (was 8%) and no longer increases Armor.
Challenging Shout is now learned at level 16 (was a talent).
Sidearm hits 1 additional enemy (was 3) and its damage is increased by 180%.
- Developers’ notes: These changes even out the value of Barbaric Training for Colossus and Mountain Thane somewhat and makes Sidearm a competitive, simple option against small numbers of targets.
Reinforced Plates increases Armor by 8% per point (was 5%).
Fight Through the Flames causes Defensive Stance to reduce magic damage taken by 4% (was 6%).
Fueled By Violence heals for 200% of the damage dealt by Deep Wounds (was 110%).
Bloodborne increases damage of your Deep Wounds and Rend bleeds by 25% (was 10/20%) and no longer affects Thunderous Roar. Now a choice node with Sudden Death.
Punish increases Shield Slam damage by 15% (was 10%).
Shield Charge now grants Shield Block.
Enduring Defenses increased to 2 points and each point increases Shield Block duration by 1 second.
Shield Specialization changed to 1 point that increases block chance by 8%.
Disrupting Shout moved to row 4.
Bolster and Unnerving Focus moved to a choice node on row 6.
Massacre moved to row 9.
Defender’s Aegis/Impenetrable Wall choice node moved to row 9.
Dance of Death/Storm of Steel choice node removed.
The following talents have been removed:
- Battering Ram
- Champion’s Bulwark
- Juggernaut
- Show of Force
- Spell Block
Developers’ notes: Spell Block required a lot of specialized knowledge to use. Not only did you need to know when damage was coming, but also whether it was a form of magic damage that could be blocked or not and thus affected by the ability. AOE damage isn’t blockable, neither is periodic damage. Some tankbusters are and others aren’t. We weren’t happy with the knowledge demanded to use the ability effectively.
DUNGEONS
- Dungeon checkpoints are evolving into Waystones, with a more visual representation of unlocked checkpoints. A new icon will also appear on the map showing you where Waystones are within the dungeon.
- MYTHIC+
Players can now Vote to Abandon a Mythic+ run after a key is socketed. - Players who leave runs before completion, timer end, or a successful Vote to Abandon will eventually be marked as a Keystone Deserter in the Premade Dungeon Finder.
- Marked players can complete Mythic+ runs without leaving, even if untimed, to bring themselves back into good standing and drop their mark.
- Developers’ notes: This feature will be available in a later PTR build.
ITEMS
- Reduced the Mastery scaling of Cyrce’s Circlet Fathomdweller’s Runed Citrine by 50%.
PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER
- Developers’ notes: We are looking at the status of tanks in PvP, particularly in the battleground format, with the goal of increasing the viability of the underrepresented specializations as well as increase their incentive to flag carry in general. We would like the intuitive choice of having a tank carry the flag to be generally correct and viable if they are present in a match. We are also making a global change to Focused Assault and Brutal Assault with the goal of reducing the one-shot possibilities and movement speed punishment at high stacks while making damage feel stickier by reducing healing taken.
- Focused Assault and Brutal Assault now increase damage taken by 8% (was 10%) per stack, decrease healing taken by 8% per stack (was 5%), and Brutal Assault’s movement speed penalty is reduced by 30%.
- All Ghosts of K’aresh class set bonsues are 33% effective in PvP combat.
- DEATH KNIGHT
Blood
New PvP Talent: Price of Progress – You sacrifice 1% of your health every 1 second and in exchange you cannot be slowed below 100% of normal speed, and you are immune to forced movement effects and knockbacks. Lasts until canceled. Replaces Death’s Advance. - If a player is Death Gripped 3 times within 30 seconds by a Blood Death Knight, they become immune to Death Grip for 30 seconds.
DEMON HUNTER - Illidan’s Grasp (PvP Talent) damage increased by 60%.
- Vengeance
New PvP Talent: Lay in Wait – Sigil of Misery has 2 charges and now lays in wait for up to 90 seconds at your selected location until an enemy approaches. - Developers’ notes: While Vengeance Demon Hunters already perform well on CTF maps, their toolkit is lacking for other formats and we would like to increase their ability to handle node protection.
EVOKER - Nullifying Shroud has been redesigned – Verdant Embrace wreathes you in arcane energy, preventing the next full loss of control effect against you. Lasts 4 seconds.
Developers’ notes: Nullifying Shroud is important for Evoker to help keep them in the fray without getting locked down. However, the 3 charges and high duration of Nullifying Shroud proved to be frustrating to deal with. We feel this updated version will both be less frustrating to fight against and also feel more fluid for Evoker. In particular, this should help Preservation feel safer when using Verdant Embrace to heal allies, while also providing Augmentation and Devastation a tool to outplay their opponents.
MAGE - Arcane
New PvP Talent: Nether Flux – Replaces Touch of the Magi. Brand your target, increasing the damage they receive from your next targeted spell by 100%. Generates 4 Arcane Charges. 15 second cooldown. - Slipstream now reduces your movement speed by 10% in PvP only.
MONK - Brewmaster
Niuzao’s Essence now additionally clears snares after casting Celestial Brew, Roll, or Fortifying Brew.
PALADIN - Holy
Hallowed Ground (PvP Talent) has been removed.
Protection - Bear the Burden now decreases the cooldown of Blessing of Freedom by 4 seconds (was 2 seconds).
PRIEST - Shadow
Void Volley (PvP Talent) has been renamed to Cascading Horrors.
WARLOCK - Master Summoner is no longer a PvP talent, has been redesigned, and is now available on the Demonology specialization tree – Reduces the cast time of your Call Dreadstalkers, Summon Vilefiend, and Summon Demonic Tyrant by 25%.
WARRIOR - Dragon Charge (PvP Talent) duration increased to 2.5 seconds (was 1.6 seconds).
- Protection
New PvP Talent: Power Through Adversity – Second Wind reduces damage taken by 10% to 40%, with larger attacks being reduced by more. While Shield Wall or Last Stand are active, healing reductions do not apply to you. - Thunderstruck (PvP Talent) has been redesigned – After casting Avatar, Shockwave, or Stormbolt, your next Thunder Clap roots all targets it damages for 6 seconds.
PROFESSIONS
- New gathering materials local to K’aresh. These new K’areshi materials can be exchanged for Khaz Algar materials.
The vendors that you can exchange these materials for are Om’myuz and Om’reka. An introductory questline will trigger when players gather new Ore or Herbs.
ALCHEMY - New Recipe: Invigorating Healing Potion – This potion will restore even more health than the Algari Healing Potion.
- New Recipe: Umbra Essentia – Slink into darkness, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Effect lasts for 20 seconds–1 minute (depending on potion quality) or ends upon moving. 5 minute combat potion cooldown.
Developer’s notes: We’re adding a new potion in Ghosts of K’aresh that replicates abilities such as the Night Elf Racial Shadowmeld to address its prevalence in high-end Mythic+ play. As a large number of top-performing groups rely on Shadowmeld for certain strategies, we’re looking to offer access to that utility without being locked to a specific race with the goal of reducing the pressure on group composition.
USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY
- The following new cursors have been added or improved in resolution:
Grabbing Hand - Inspect
- Drive
- Resize
There are new options to increase text size on the Friends List under Options > Social.
Added a new sound slider for Gameplay Sound Effects under Options > Sound.
Toys and Expansion names are now searchable from the inventory.
There is now a glow on the Quest Tracker item when the active quest suggests to use the quest item.
