Dragonflight: Embers of Neltharion Content Update Notes—Now Live!
VENTURE INTO ZARALEK CAVERN
Muster your courage as you continue your adventure through the Dragon Isles and pursue your enemies into the dangers of the Zaralek Cavern. Along the way, dive deeper into the mysteries of the Black Dragonflight, meet new allies and foes, discover treasures and rewards, and more. [LEARN MORE]
ABERRUS, THE SHADOWED CRUCIBLE RAID
Millennia ago, Neltharion carved deep places in the earth where he conducted world altering experiments. After his death, these sites were lost to time, until now. Forces seeking to claim the Earth-Warder’s legacy raid his dominion in search for powerful artifacts. Now the champions of Azeroth must venture into darkness and ensure the crucible’s dangerous power doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. [LEARN MORE]
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible features nine boss encounters: Kazzara, the Hellforged, The Amalgamation Chamber, The Forgotten Experiments, Assault of the Zaqali, Rashok, the Elder, The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn, Magmorax, Echo of Neltharion, and Scalecommander Sarkareth.
Raid release schedule:
- Week of May 9: Raid Finder Wing 1, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties will open with the weekly maintenance for each region
- Week of May 23: Raid Finder Wing 2 opens
- Week of June 6: Raid Finder Wing 3 opens
- Week of June 20: Raid Finder Wing 4 opens
CRUCIBLE CLASS ARMOR SET
Collect the Crucible armor set for unique bonuses to your class abilities by conquering Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible raid bosses, through the Great Vault, or by converting armor pieces via the Revival Catalyst the week of June 13.
DRAGONFLIGHT SEASON 2
Dragonflight Season 2 begins the week of May 9. Players will be able to gather their allies and breach Neltharion’s secret laboratory in Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulty.
The new season also brings a new PvP Ladder, increased item level gear, and new rewards: Arena title: “Obsidian Gladiator”, Rated Solo Shuffle title: “Obsidian Legend”, a new weapon illusion, tabard, cloak, pennant, weapon appearances, Obsidian Gladiator’s Slitherdrake mount, new dragonriding appearance, and new Vicious mounts–Alliance and Horde-themed Snails.
Dragonflight Season 2 Mythic+ brings new and adjusted affixes, and new dungeons to the Mythic+ rotation: Brackhide Hollow, Halls of Infusion, Uldaman, Legacy of Tyr, Neltharus, Freehold (Battle for Azeroth), The Underrot (Battle for Azeroth), Vortex Pinnacle (Cataclysm), and Neltharion’s Lair (Legion).
The new seasonal rewards for Mythic+ include the two new titles “the Smoldering” and “the Smoldering Hero”, dungeon teleports, and a new coloration of the Mythic+ Armoredon mount. [LEARN MORE]
Mythic+ Affixes:
- New: Incorporeal – While in combat, incorporeal beings appear and attempt to destabilize players with spells that reduce their damage and healing done. Incorporeal beings are susceptible to all forms of crowd control.
- New: Afflicted – While in combat, Afflicted Souls appear that seek the aid of players. Afflicted Souls spawn with poison, curse, and disease afflictions. Removing any of these afflictions or restoring the soul to full health causes it to despawn. Fail to remove their afflictions in time will inflict players with a negative status effect.
- New: Entangling – While in combat, entangling vines snare players.
- The following affixes have been retired for Dragonflight Season 2: Quaking, Grievous, and Explosive.
- The progression of when affixes are added to keystones have been increased to higher levels to give players more time to acclimate to dungeons before additional mechanics come online, and to better match the complexity of a Mythic+ dungeon to the rewards it offers.
- Keystone Level 7 Affixes (was level 4): Afflicted, Entangling, Incorporeal, Storming, and Volcanic.
- Keystone Level 14 Affixes (was level 7): Bolstering, Bursting, Raging, Sanguine, and Spiteful.
At the beginning of Season 2 (May 9 in this region), Keystones will drop 9 levels in addition to any normal weekly reduction that may have occurred. Here’s what that might look like:
- Example 1: You completed a +15 the week of May 2-9, but didn’t time it. The resulting key would normally drop by 1 level, because your highest key wasn’t timed (15 > 14). It will then drop an additional 9 levels due to the season rollover decay (14 > 5).
- Example 2: You timed a +15 the week of May 2-9. The resulting key would normally be level 15, because you had timed the 15 last week. But would then drop the additional 9 levels due to season rollover decay (15 > 6).
FYRAKK ASSAULTS
Fyrakk’s forces are gathering resources at Suffusion Camps located in the Azure Span and Ohn’ahran Plains. It’s up to the heroes of Azeroth to disrupt their efforts to lure Fyrakk and his disciples out. Fyrakk Assaults will become available alongside Dragonflight: Season 2 the week of May 9.
CROSS-FACTION GUILDS
Players who have been enjoying Cross-Faction Instances now have the ability to join the same guild as their opposite-faction friends and benefit from conveniences like shared chat and guild repairs.
Guilds are still affiliated with either the Horde or the Alliance, depending on the faction of the guild leader. Guild achievements and guild vendors, for example, will still reflect the guild’s primary faction. Opposite faction members may benefit from unlocked shared perks but may be unable to contribute to certain achievements (e.g. we would not expect Alliance members of a Horde guild to be able to contribute progress towards the “Alliance Slayer” guild achievement). [LEARN MORE]
NEW UPGRADE SYSTEM
A new upgrade system will replace many of the various upgrade systems currently in place, such as Valor and Storm Gear, with a single system that covers most of the game.
The basics of this system are simple: you’ll earn a new currency called Flightstones from just about anything you do— complete a world quest, kill a unique creature, run a Mythic Keystone dungeon, kill a raid boss, etc. You’ll also get items called Shadowflame Crests (or fragments of them), which come in four varieties from different content difficulty levels. Shadowflame Crests and their fragments will also come from a wide range of content, including outdoor gameplay, Mythic+ dungeons, and raids. You’ll be able to upgrade almost any item in Dragonflight: Season 2’s max-level gameplay ecosystem, whether it comes from a World Quest or a Heroic raid boss, by spending Flightstones and Shadowflame Crests. [LEARN MORE]
CHARACTERS
- Added 4 new eye colors and 5 new hair colors for Nightborne.
- Added 4 new skin tones and 4 new hair colors for Dark Iron Dwarves.
- Blind eye options have been moved from Eye Color to the new Eyesight customization option. Now all eye colors for all races can be customized to be blind.
- Worgen (New Racial): Calm the Wolf – Activate to control your worgen instincts and automatically assume human form when you leave combat. Learned when players learn Two Forms.
CLASSES
- Developers’ note: Leech is proving to be a very strong sustain stat in Dragonflight. To keep it at an appropriate level of power, and avoid marginalizing the importance of the Healer role to a group’s survival, we are reducing the value of Leech rating by 25%. Leech percent granted by talents remains unchanged.
- Leech rating now gives 25% less Leech stat.
- Developers’ note: We’ve decided to increase both player stamina and enemy damage by 25% in Embers of Neltharion. This is very much like an adjustment that was made just before the launch of Dragonflight, and it’s for the same reasons.
When damage mitigation abilities and healing are too strong relative to player health, the only way to threaten players is to make enemy damage very high and spiky. If healers can very quickly top off their teammates and mana isn’t a limiting factor, enemies have to be tuned to have the capacity to do burst damage that kills players before healers can react. That isn’t very satisfying gameplay. Increasing player health gives players more time to react to incoming damage, and it makes players’ choices about cooldowns and mana management more meaningful.
Along with this change, you’ll see several adjustments to hybrid healing spells, items, and enchantments, as well as percentage-based healing spells. - Player stamina increased by 25%, and enemy spell and melee damage increased by 25%, and self-healing and absorb shield spells for damage dealers and tanks have been increased by a commensurate amount, so that they retain their impact when solo or when supporting a group.
- DEATH KNIGHT
- Frost
- Vault of the Incarnates: 2-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Obliterate and Frostscythe critical strike damage is increased by 10% (was 15%).
- Unholy
- Fixed an issue with Gargoyle stutter casting when the cast time of Gargoyle Strike was lower than 1 second.
- Gargoyle Strike damage reduced by 8%.
- Developers’ note: Now that Gargoyle properly casts without stuttering when falling below 1 second cast times, we are reducing the damage of Gargoyle Strike to counter the extra casts.
- Reaping damage bonus increased to 30% (was 25%).
- Festering Wound damage increased by 10%.
- Scourge Strike/Clawing Shadows damage increased by 15%.
- Death Coil damage increased by 10%.
- Frost
- DEMON HUNTER
- Havoc
- Demon’s Bite damage increased by 8%.
- Demon Blades damage increased by 8%.
- Felblade damage increased by 8%.
- Chaos Strike/Annihilation damage increased by 8%.
- Serrated Glaive (Talent) debuff duration increased to 15 seconds, and now retains up to 30% additional duration when refreshed (was 10 seconds).
- Fixed an issue that prevented Chaos Theory’s (Talent) bonus to crit chance from affecting off-hand hits of Chaos Strike/Annihilation.
- Serrated Glaive now causes enemies hit by Throw Glaive to take 20% increased damage from Chaos Strike, in addition to its current effect.
- Accelerating Blade has been renamed to Accelerated Blade.
- Accelerated Blade now causes Throw Glaive to deal 60% increased damage (was 20%) and its damage is reduced by 30% for each previous enemy hit.
- Fodder to the Flame now heals for 20% of maximum health (was 25%).
- Vault of the Incarnates 4-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Chaos Strike and Blade Dance have a 20% chance to increase damage you deal by 5% for 6 seconds (was 8%).
- Havoc
- DRUID
- Skull Bash interrupt duration decreased to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- Balance
- Developers’ note: The changes to Balance Druid are intended to provide more build flexibility to players. The Astral Power generation of Stellar Flare has been reduced to make it less essential, and Wild Surges has been added as an alternative. Balance’s builder spells generate more Astral Power and their spenders hit with more punch. Finally, several of the talents at the bottom of their spec tree have been strengthened to make them more appealing choices.
- New Talent: Wild Surges – Your chance to critically strike with Wrath and Starfire is increased by 15% and they generate 2 additional Astral Power. This is a choice node with Stellar Flare.
- Starsurge damage increased by 20%.
- Starfall damage increased by 14%.
- Wrath damage increased by 10%.
- Wrath and Starfire generate 10 Astral Power (was 8).
- Moonfire and Sunfire generate 6 Astral Power (was 2).
- Full Moons generated by Orbit Breaker now generate 80% Astral Power, in addition to its current effect.
- Starfire now deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets. Starfire’s tooltip will be updated in a future patch.
- Nature’s Balance generates 2 Astral Power every 3 seconds (was 1 every 2 seconds).
- New Moon, Half Moon, Full Moon, and Fury of Elune Astral Power generation increased by 20%.
- Chance for Shooting Stars to fall increased by 15%. Shooting Stars can no longer be triggered by Stellar Flare.
- Stellar Flare damage increased 12%. Stellar Flare Astral Power generation increased to 12 (was 8).
- Cosmic Rapidity increases the rate at which Moonfire, Sunfire, and Stellar Flare deal damage by 20% (was 25%).
- Astral Smolder deals damage over 8 seconds (was 4 seconds) and its damage is increased to 40/80% of spell damage done (was 20/40%).
- Soul of the Forest now increases Wrath Astral Power gain by 30% (was 50%) and Starfire’s damage and Astral Power generation during Eclipse by 20% for each target hit beyond the first, up to 60% (was 150% bonus to Starfire’s area-of-effect damage).
- Power of Goldrinn damage increased by 60%.
- Denizen of the Dream Faerie Dragon damage increased by 20%.
- Friend of the Fae now increases Arcane and Nature damage by 8% for 20 seconds (was 4% for 30 seconds).
- Elune’s Guidance now reduces the cost of Starsurge by 8 and Starfall by 10 during Incarnation: Chosen of Elune (was reduces the cost of Starsurge by 5 and Starfall by 8).
- Radiant Moonlight increases the damage dealt by New Moon, Half Moon, and Full Moon by 25%.
- Radiant Moonlight also increases Fury of Elune’s damage by 50% and now reduces its cooldown by 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
- The second Moonfire cast by Twin Moons no longer generates Astral Power.
- Rattle the Stars duration increased to 6 seconds (was 5 seconds) and damage bonus reduced to 8% per stack (was 10% per stack).
- Vault of the Incarnates 4-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Touch the Cosmos now reduces the Astral Power cost of your first Starsurge or Starfall after entering Eclipse by 5 and increases its damage by 20% (was free and 35% increased damage).
- Feral
- Developer’s note: Feral’s Berserk has been redesigned to provide more engaging gameplay and allow more abilities and talents to provide their full value during Berserk. We’ve added Thrashing Claws for players who are looking for a less complex rotation, and adjusted the power of talents like Bloodtalons, Relentless Predator, and Convoke the Spirits to create more build diversity.
- Berserk has been redesigned – Go Berserk for 20 seconds. While Berserk: Generate 1 combo point every 1.5 seconds. Finishing moves restore up to 3 combo points generated over the cap. Shred and Rake damage increased by 50%. Combo point generating abilities generate one additional combo point.
- New Talent: Thrashing Claws – Shred damage is increased by 5% to bleeding targets and Shred and Swipe apply the Bleed damage over time from Thrash. This talent is a choice with Merciless Claws.
- All ability damage increased by 5%.
- Shred damage increased by 7%.
- Thrash damage increased by 22%.
- Swipe damage increased by 22%.
- Rake damage increased by 2%.
- Rip damage increased by 4%.
- Brutal Slash damage increased by 18%.
- Moonfire damage with Lunar Inspiration increased by 13%.
- Wild Slashes bonus to Swipe and Thrash damage increased to 25% (was 20%).
- Bloodtalons now enhances your next 3 Rips or Ferocious Bites per activation (was 2).
- Relentless Predator reduces Ferocious Bite Energy cost by 20% (was 40%).
- Increased the damage of Ferocious Bites cast by Convoke the Spirits to be as if 5 combo points were spent (was 4).
- Dreadful Bleeding Rip damage bonus increased to 18% (was 15%).
- Tear Open Wounds’ damage conversion rate reduced to 60% (was 70%).
- Protector of the Pack’s maximum heal value increased by 25%.
- Updated descriptions of Pouncing Strikes and Bloodtalons to specify they increase the damage of your attacks for their full duration.
- Guardian
- Several new combat animations added to the Might/Blight of the Grizzlemaw Druid Bear Form customizations.
- Restoration
- Developers’ note: Wild Growth’s healing is being decreased to offset the increased healing that the fix to the falloff issue provides.
- Fixed an issue that caused Wild Growth’s healing to falloff incorrectly and heal for less than intended.
- Wild Growth’s healing has been decreased by 4%.
- Fixed an issue that caused Overgrowth to cast the incorrect version of Lifebloom if using the Undergrowth talent.
- Incarnation: Tree of Life and Convoke the Spirits now properly override each other on your Action Bar when swapping talents.
- EVOKER
- Devastation
- Developer’s note: In Embers of Neltharion, we’re making targeted adjustments to a few key talents to address a nuance of the Dragonrage extension loop where it can be optimal to aggressively cancel and re-cast Disintegrate back to back, in order to maximize the effects of cooldown reduction talents such as Causality. This specific behavior is fairly unintuitive, and these changes are intended to make fully channeling Disintegrate the more rewarding way to play. Additionally, the bottom section of the spec tree has been significantly rearranged. It has fewer 2-point nodes, and some under-used talents have gotten partial or full reworks to introduce new build and playstyle options.
- Feed the Flames has been redesigned – After casting 9 Pyres, your next Pyre will explode into a Firestorm. Does not trigger from Volatility bounces.
- Causality has been redesigned – Disintegrate reduces the remaining cooldown of your empower spells by 0.5 seconds each time it deals damage. Pyre reduces their cooldowns by 0.4 seconds per enemy struck, up to 2 seconds. Causality is no longer a choice talent.
- Imminent Destruction has been redesigned – Deep Breath reduces the Essence costs of Disintegrate and Pyre by 1 for 10 seconds after you land. Now a 1-rank talent.
- Eye of Infinity has been redesigned – Eternity Surge deals 15% increased damage to your primary target.
- Arcane Vigor has been redesigned – Shattering Star grants Essence Burst.
- New Talent: Raging Inferno – Firestorm’s radius is increased by 25%, and Pyre deals 20% increased damage to enemies within your Firestorm.
- New Talent: Event Horizon – Eternity Surge’s cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds. Choice talent with Eye of Infinity.
- Dragonrage duration increased to 18 seconds (was 14 seconds).
- Animosity duration extension decreased to 4 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Engulfing Blaze’s cast time increase for Living Flame reduced to 0.3 seconds (was 0.5 seconds) and damage bonus to Living Flame reduced to 25% (was 40%).
- Font of Magic now also causes your empower spells to reach maximum level in 20% less time.
- Snapfire’s chance to trigger Firestorm increased to 15% (was 12%).
- Snapfire damage bonus to Firestorm increased to 100% (was 40%).
- Shattering Star cooldown increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
- Everburning Flame is no longer a choice node with Feed the Flames.
- Lay Waste is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).
- Burnout is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and its chance to trigger is now 16%, the former 2-rank value.
- Scintillation is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and damage effectiveness is 50% (was 60%, the former 2-rank value).
- Power Swell is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and the duration is 4 seconds, the former 2-rank value.
- Devastation
- HUNTER
- Developers’ note: In Embers of Neltharion, we’re looking to update some active abilities that don’t feel impactful while they are active, replace some talents that didn’t work out as well as we had hoped, and also adjust some numbers across a few talents. Several changes have been made across all three specializations that should make some talents more viable and exciting to use.
- Roar of Sacrifice is now a talent in the core tree as a choice node against Hunter’s Avoidance.
- Revive Pet now has a 2.5 second cast time (was 3 seconds).
- Revive Pet’s spell school is now Physical, and can no longer be stopped by Silence and Interrupt effects (was Nature).
- Rejuvenating Wind now heals for 8%/16% of maximum health (was 10%/20%).
- Beast Mastery
- Bloody Frenzy has been redesigned – While Call of the Wild is active, your pets have the Beast Cleave effect, and Cobra Shot applies Serpent Sting to any target hit.
- Aspect of the Wild now causes Cobra Shot to hit 2 extra targets (was 1), to a total of 3 targets.
- Master Handler cooldown reduction value increased to 4 seconds (was 2 seconds).
- Snake Bite bonus damage increased to 75% (was 30%).
- Fixed an issue where the Animal Companion Pet talent was not working as intended when using a Pterrodax family pet as your second pet.
- Marksmanship
- New Talent: In the Rhythm – Fully channeling Rapid Fire now grants you 12% Haste for 6 seconds.
- Lethal Shots has been replaced with In the Rhythm.
- Bombardment has been redesigned – Kill Shot now grants you Trick Shots.
- Legacy of the Windrunners has been slightly redesigned – Aimed Shot now always shoots 2/4 Wind Arrows at your target. Every 24 Wind Arrows fired generates a charge of Aimed Shot and 30 Focus.
- Wind Arrows from Legacy of the Windrunners have had their damage reduced by 66%.
- Windrunner’s Guidance now grants 6 seconds of Trueshot (was 10 seconds).
- Bullseye is now 1 rank talent for the same benefit as the previous 2-rank version.
- Survival
- Developers’ note: The Dragonflight Season 1 Survival Hunter tier set bonus is very powerful in single target scenarios, but will potentially cause issues in Season 2 where you are not encouraged to upgrade your gear to the new tier set. We’re lowering the values on the Season 1 2-piece and 4-piece set bonuses, and increasing the damage dealt by your class to compensate for these changes.
- Vault of the Incarnates: 2-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery damage increased by 12% (was 15%).
- Vault of the Incarnates: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery have a 20% chance to make your next Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery cost 10 less Focus and deal 40% increased damage (was 100% Focus cost reduction and 50% increased damage).
- All damage dealt by you and your pet’s abilities increased by 8%.
- Lunge has new functionality added in addition to its current effect – Each melee auto attack reduces the cooldown of Wildfire Bomb by 1 second. Lunge’s Wildfire Bomb cooldown reduction now requires you to have a 2-handed weapon equipped.
- Ruthless Marauder is now a 2 rank talent for the same benefit as the previous 3-rank version.
- MAGE
- Counter Spell interrupt duration decreased to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Arcane
- Radiant Spark duration increased to 12 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Touch of the Magi duration increased to 12 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Arcane Blast damage increased by 10%.
- Arcane Missiles damage increased by 8%.
- Arcane Barrage damage increased by 8%.
- Fire
- Developers’ note: The most recent buffs to Fire were slightly more than intended. We are going to reduce the damage of Ignite to keep a relatively similar gain in single target while reducing the effectiveness of the buffs in area-of-effect.
- Ignite damage reduced by 6%.
- Pyroblast damage increased by 8%.
- Fire Blast damage increased by 10%.
- Fireball damage increased by 15%.
- Scorch damage increased by 15%.
- Improved Combustion now grants Mastery equal to 75% of your Critical Strike stat (was 50%).
- Improved Scorch duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
- Frost
- Glacial Assault damage increased by 20%.
- Comet Storm damage increased by 10%.
- Snowstorm’s Cone of Cold damage increased by 12% per stack (was 10%).
- Frozen Orb damage increased by 8%.
- Blizzard damage increased by 12%.
- Brain Freeze now causes Flurry to deal 65% additional damage (was 50%).
- MONK
- Song of Chi-Ji has moved to the class tree on a choice node with Ring of Peace.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Ferocity of Xuen from not increasing your summoned pet damage.
- Spear Hand Strike interrupt duration decreased to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- Brewmaster
- Fluidity of Motion’s tooltip has been updated to clarify that the damage of Blackout Kick is reduced.
- Mistweaver
- Developers’ note: Ancient Teachings is a primary piece of Mistweaver’s healing toolkit in Dragonflight, but its previous design was unreliable – a single Rising Sun Kick’s targeting could sometimes determine life or death for an ally. That level of variance between results on healing out of your direct control wasn’t healthy for the specialization. Our goal is to land somewhere in the middle – a single Rising Sun Kick likely shouldn’t save an ally on its own, but it also shouldn’t condemn them either. This new design is more dynamic and capable of handling a variety of healing profiles, and we feel will offer greater reliability for Mistweaver’s consistent healing. Additionally, with a redesign of Ancient Teachings that is more focused on group-wide healing, we are adjusting Vivify’s healing profile slightly to increase Mistweaver’s spot healing.
- Ancient Teachings has been redesigned – After casting Essence Font or Faeline Stomp, your Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, and Rising Sun Kick heal up to 5 injured allies within 30 yards for 150% of the damage done, split evenly among them. Lasts 15 seconds.
- Developers’ note: Chrysalis has been a staple honor talent for Mistweavers in PvP. We fill that this reliance on this talent has been indicative of Mistweaver’s lack of external cooldowns options in many forms of content. We are moving this to the spec tree to free up an honor talent slot and offer a new PvE relevant option in this choice node.
- New Talent: Chrysalis – Reduces the cooldown of Life Cocoon by 45 seconds. Located on a choice node with Burst of Life.
- Burst of Life no longer reduces the cooldown or effectiveness of Life Cocoon. Healing increased by 30%.
- Vivify primary healing increased by 50% (was 20%).
- Invigorating Mist healing reduced by 12%.
- Chi Cocoon now provides a shield for 8% of your maximum health (was 10%).
- Developers’ note: Mistweavers rely heavily on Faeline Stomp and we feel in some situations not resetting Faeline Stomp could feel too punishing. Our goal is for it still to be optimal to reset Faeline if possible, but not impact the flow of the spec too much if you miss one.
- Faeline Stomp cooldown reduced by 10 seconds.
- Calming Coalescence and Song of Chi-Ji have been removed.
- Chrysalis icon has changed.
- Revival and Restoral now properly override each other on your Action Bar when swapping talents.
- Invoke Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent and Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane now properly override each other on your Action Bar when swapping talents.
- Windwalker
- Tiger Palm damage increased by 15%.
- Rising Sun Kick damage increased by 15%.
- Blackout Kick damage increased by 8%.
- PALADIN
- Seal of the Crusader damage increased by 100%.
- Rebuke interrupt duration decreased to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- Fixed a tooltip error with Consecrated Ground displaying Divine Hammer for non-Retribution Paladins.
- Fixed an issue causing Consecrated Ground’s radius increase to not apply to Hallowed Ground (PvP Talent) and Golden Path.
- Fixed an issue with Afterimage’s tracker failing to update immediately after the echo.
- Fixed an issue with Sanctified Wrath’s tooltip duration.
- Holy
- Avenging Crusader has been redesigned – You become the ultimate crusader of light for 12 seconds. Crusader Strike and Judgment cool down 30% faster and heal up to 5 injured allies for 575% of the damage done, split evenly among them. If Avenging Wrath is talented, also increases Judgment, Crusader Strike, and auto-attack damage by 30%.
- Avenging Crusader healing is now increased by Mastery: Lightbringer.
- Light’s Hammer healing increased by 60%.
- Holy Prism healing increased by 150% and damage increased by 100%.
- Light’s Hammer and Holy Prism now properly override each other on your Action Bar when swapping talents.
- Protection
- Aegis of Light (specialization passive) stamina bonus reduced to 30% (was 35%) and armor bonus reduced to 10% (was 15%).
- Righteous Protector’s cooldown reduction is now 2 seconds (was 3 seconds).
- Sentinel’s health increase per stack is now 1% (was 2%).
- Added support for Sentinel to Glyph of Winged Vengeance.
- Removed spell replacement text for Sentinel.
- Retribution
- Light’s Celerity increases Flash of Light healing by 20% (was 50%).
- Guided Prayer casts a Word of Glory at 60% effectiveness (was 100%).
- Justicar’s Vengeance heals for 5% of maximum health (was 6%).
- Fixed an issue causing Recompense to sometimes heal instead of dealing damage.
- Templar’s Verdict now correctly triggers Empyrean Legacy.
- Searing Light is now called down upon the target rather than on yourself.
- Consecration, Divine Hammer, and Divine Storm tooltips now correctly update when Burning Crusade is talented.
- Crusading Strikes tooltip now updates damage types correctly.
- Expurgation tooltip has been updated to be clearer.
- Art of War changed to a circle on the talent tree.
- Templar’s Verdict and Justicar’s Vengeance changed to a square on the talent tree.
- PRIEST
- Shadow Word: Death now has a 10 second cooldown (was 20 seconds).
- Improved Mass Dispel reduces the cast time of Mass Dispel by 0.5 seconds (was 1 second).
- Psychic Scream now hits all enemies within 8 yards (was a maximum of 5 enemies).
- Void Tendrils now hits all nearby enemies within 8 yards (was a maximum of 5 enemies).
- Divine Star and Halo should now properly override the other on your Action Bar when swapping talents.
- Discipline
- Enduring Luminescence now also reduces the cast time of Power Word: Radiance by 30%.
- Fixed an issue causing Divine Aegis to double dip into absorption increase or reduction mechanics.
- Divine Aegis once again creates an absorb shield for 5%/10% of the amount healed (was 3%/6%).
- Power Word: Radiance now has a spell school of Radiant (was Holy).
- Holy
- The bounce radius of Prayer of Mending has been increased by 10 yards.
- Divine Image now spawns 1 Naaru that is empowered and grows with further Holy Word casts.
- Developers’ note: This is intended to have the same effectiveness as the current design while reducing clutter on the battlefield.
- Divine Image now teleports near the Priest when the Priest casts a Holy Word spell if the Image is further than 15 yards away.
- Dazzling Lights healing from Divine Image reduced by 50%.
- Empowered Renew now only triggers when casting Renew.
- Empowered Renew now causes Renew to instantly heal your target for 40% of its total periodic effect (was 10%).
- Healing Chorus now causes Renew to increase the healing done by your next Circle of Healing by 2%, stacking up to 50 times (was 1%).
- Divine Favor: Chastise and Divine Favor: Serenity have been added to the Personal Resource Display.
- Shadow
- Developers’ note: Greetings! We have several changes coming to Shadow Priest Talents in Embers of Neltharion that are aimed at addressing spec issues and adding new Talent options.
- Button bloat: Shadow has more rotational abilities than most other specializations. We’re working to reduce this by having Mind Spike replace Mind Flay and removing Mind Sear.
- Mind Sear: We feel Mind Sear as a spender was a worthy experiment in Dragonflight, but the gameplay has not been as smooth as we envisioned. We are removing the spell and focusing Shadow’s AoE kit further on Psychic Link.
- Flooded rotation: There are times in the rotation where several spells are competing to be cast due to proc frequency and overall Insanity generation. We are adjusting some proc and the Insanity generation of several talents for a clearer rotational flow.
- Lack of distinct builds: With updates to existing talents and some new talents, we aim for more build-defining choices such as investing in cooldowns, damage over time effects, critical damage, or Shadowy Apparitions.
- PvP: In Dragonflight, Shadow has had access to more instant cast spells through procs and cooldowns than ever before. Because it was difficult to prevent Shadow Priests from scoring kills, we reduced their damage in Season 1. We’ve removed some of the problematic procs and cooldowns moving into 10.1.0, so there is more counterplay to Shadow’s offense. This allows us to ease up on some of the damage nerfs to the spec.
- Updated the Shadow Priest starter build.
- Screams of the Void has been redesigned – Devouring Plague causes your Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch to deal damage 40%/80% faster for 3 seconds.
- New Talent: Thought Harvester – Mind Blast gains an additional charge.
- New Talent: Whispering Shadows – Shadow Crash generates an additional 6 Insanity and applies Vampiric Touch to up to 8 targets it damages.
- New Talent: Voidtouched – Increases your Devouring Plague damage by 6% and increases your maximum Insanity by 50.
- New Talent: Mastermind – Increases the critical strike chance of Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Mind Spike, and Shadow Word: Death by 4%/8% and increases their critical strike damage by 20%/40%.
- New Talent: Phantasmal Pathogen – Shadowy Apparitions deal 75%/150% increased damage to targets affected by your Devouring Plague.
- New Talent: Mind’s Eye – Reduces the Insanity cost of Devouring Plague by 5.
- New Talent: Distorted Reality – Increases the damage of Devouring Plague by 20%, but Devouring Plague deals its damage over 12 seconds and its Insanity cost is increased by 5.
- Shadowy Insight no longer passively grants an additional charge of Mind Blast.
- Shadowy Insight no longer temporarily increases the maximum charges of Mind Blast when it triggers.
- Psychic Link now affects Devouring Plague and Shadow Word: Death. Now a 1-point talent and has been moved to Mind Sear’s location.
- Psychic Link’s tooltip has been reworded – Your damaging single target spells deal 30% of their damage to all other targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards. Does not apply to damage from Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch.
- Auspicious Spirits now causes Shadowy Apparitions to have a chance to generate 1 Insanity (was always generate 1).
- Maddening Touch now increases the damage of Vampiric Touch by 15%/30% and has a chance to generate 1 to 2 Insanity.
- Shadow Crash generates 6 Insanity (was 15) and no longer applies Vampiric Touch.
- Shadow Crash damage reduced by 70% and now has a 20 second cooldown (was 30 seconds).
- Death and Madness Insanity generation reduced to 8 (was 30).
- Death and Madness generates Insanity immediately instead of over 3 seconds.
- Shadow Word: Death now generates 4 Insanity.
- Shadow Word: Death damage reduced by 32% and deals 250% increased damage below 20% health (was 150%).
- Deathspeaker chance to reset the cooldown of Shadow Word: Death increased by 50%.
- Deathspeaker now increases the damage of Shadow Word: Death by 25% while active.
- Deathspeaker now temporarily increases the maximum charges of Shadow Word: Death by 1.
- Deathspeaker no longer triggers Death and Madness’ cooldown.
- Devouring Plague instant damage increased by 75%.
- Devouring Plague extends the duration of Voidform by 2.5 seconds (was 2 seconds).
- Mind Devourer now has a 5%/10% chance to grant a free cast of Devouring Plague (was 10%/20%).
- Mind Devourer now increases the damage of your next Devouring Plague by 20% when it triggers.
- Mind Melt no longer reduces the cast time of Mind Blast. Now a 2-point talent.
- Mind Melt increases the critical strike chance of Mind Blast by 10%/20% (was 25%), stacking up to 4 times (was 2).
- Insidious Ire now also affects Void Torrent damage.
- Void Torrent generates 24 Insanity over its duration (was 60) and has a 45 second cooldown (was 60 seconds).
- Casting Void Torrent now always triggers Idol of C’Thun.
- Idol of C’Thun can now trigger from Mind Spike and Void Torrent damage.
- Idol of C’Thun now spawns a Void Lasher if there are more than 2 targets nearby and otherwise spawns a Void Tendril.
- Idol of C’Thun Mind Flay damage reduced by 58%.
- Idol of C’Thun Mind Sear damage increased by 23%.
- Void Tendril and Void Lasher from Idol of C’Thun generate 15 Insanity over their duration (was 30).
- Mind Sear from Idol of C’Thun now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.
- The cast speed of Mind Sear from Idol of C’Thun no longer scales with Haste.
- Mind Flay and Mind Sear from Idol of C’Thun, Echoing Void from Idol of N’Zoth, and Void Torrent now have 5% damage variance.
- Mind Spike damage increased by 9% and now replaces Mind Flay.
- Dark Evangelism can now also be triggered by Mind Spike.
- Mind Spike: Insanity damage reduced by 11% and generates 6 Insanity (was 8).
- Mind Flay: Insanity has been renamed to Surge of Insanity.
- Surge of Insanity generates 12 Insanity over its duration (was 16) and now lasts 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Surge of Insanity now empowers your next Mind Flay or Mind Spike.
- Surge of Insanity can now accumulate up to 2 charges.
- Surge of Insanity now has a Spell Alert while active.
- Surge of Insanity has moved to Encroaching Shadows’ position.
- Void Bolt generates 10 Insanity (was 12).
- Mental Decay now also increases the duration of Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch by 2 seconds when Mind Spike is cast and also increases the damage of Mind Flay and Mind Spike by 10%.
- Mental Decay and Void Bolt now update the maximum duration of Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch so that the remaining durations are more easily understood.
- Vampiric Embrace no longer triggers from Psychic Link damage and no longer triggers Hallucinations.
- Inescapable Torment damage reduced by 40% and increases the duration of Mindbender by 0.7 seconds (was 1 second).
- Mindbender and Shadowfiend generates 2 Insanity per attack (was 3).
- Throes of Pain generates 1 Insanity per rank (was 3 and 5).
- Unfurling Darkness damage increased by 75%.
- Unfurling Darkness and Mental Decay have swapped positions on the talent tree.
- Ancient Madness, Mind Melt, Malediction, and Inescapable Torment are now a 1-point talent.
- Several nodes in the talent tree have changed position.
- Mind Flay: Insanity and Mind Spike: Insanity have been added to the Personal Resource Display.
- Dark Ascension and Void Eruption should now properly override the other on your Action Bar when swapping talents.
- Mind Sear, Dark Void, Coalescing Shadows, Puppet Master, Harnessed Shadows, Pain of Death, Surge of Darkness, Encroaching Shadows, and Damnation have been removed.
- Developers’ note: Greetings! We have several changes coming to Shadow Priest Talents in Embers of Neltharion that are aimed at addressing spec issues and adding new Talent options.
- ROGUE
- Kick interrupt duration decreased to 3 seconds (was 5 seconds).
- Soothing Darkness now heals for 24% of maximum health (was 30%).
- Fixed an issue that prevented Nightstalker’s damage bonus from applying in its intended circumstances.
- Assassination
- All ability damage increased by 5%. These changes do not affect PvP combat.
- Mutilate damage increased by 5%. These changes do not affect PvP combat.
- Envenom damage increased by 5%. These changes do not affect PvP combat.
- Shiv damage increased by 20%. These changes do not affect PvP combat.
- Kingsbane damage increased by 12%. These changes do not affect PvP combat.
- Outlaw
- Dispatch damage increased by 5%.
- Between the Eyes damage increased by 20%.
- Summarily Dispatched (Talent) now increases Dispatch damage by 6% per stack, to a maximum of 30% (was 5% per stack, max 25%).
- Developers’ note: While the buff will provide the correctly updated bonus, the tooltip for the base talent will be changed in a future update.
- Subtlety
- Shadowstrike damage increased by 10%.
- Eviscerate damage increased by 6%.
- SHAMAN
- Developers’ note: The Deeply Rooted Elements talent could sometimes feel like you received many Ascendance activations, or none. We have made adjustments to how this talent works to lower the very high and very low proc rates.
- Deeply Rooted Elements should now activate more consistently for all specializations.
- Bloodlust and Heroism now cost 2% of base mana (was 21%).
- Spiritwalker’s Grace now has a grace period, allowing you to continue to cast while moving for a short period if the ability expires while casting.
- Wind Shear interrupt duration decreased to 2 seconds (was 3 seconds).
- Earthgrab Totem now has a 30 second cooldown (was 1 minute).
- Elemental
- Flame Shock’s dispel protection from Control of Lava (PvP Talent) is now a baseline part of Flame Shock.
- Lava Surges triggered by Primordial Surge increase the damage of your next Lava Burst by 15% (was 25%).
- Lava Burst damage increased by 12%. Does not affect PvP combat.
- Elemental Blast damage increased by 6%. Does not affect PvP combat.
- Earth Shock damage increased by 6%. Does not affect PvP combat.
- Lightning Bolt damage increased by 6%. Does not affect PvP combat.
- Enhancement
- Developers’ note: A few talent changes have been made in an effort to allow you to opt into a reduction of the frequency and number of keybinds that feel required to play as Enhancement. We’re hoping that the changes to Thorim’s Invocation and Static Accumulation make your Lightning spells your primary spenders and not require you to also use Elemental Blast. Changing Fire Nova to deal Flamestrike damage should help the talent feel more viable when focusing on a physical damage build.
- Windfury Weapon damage increased by 50%.
- All ability and pet damage dealt increased by 5%.
- Forceful Winds damage per stack reduced to 20% (was 40%).
- Static Accumulation now grants Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning a 10/20% chance to refund Maelstrom Weapon spent on Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning.
- Thorim’s Invocation now also increases Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning damage by 20%.
- Elemental Weapons now increases your elemental damage dealt by 2.5% per active weapon imbue.
- Fire Nova now deals both Fire and Physical spell school damage.
- Flame Shock’s dispel protection from Control of Lava (PvP Talent) is now a baseline part of Flame Shock.
- Maelstrom Weapon damage increase now has a separate value from its healing increase. This applies to Improved Maelstrom Weapon and Raging Maelstrom.
- Improved Maelstrom Weapon increases the healing of your next healing spell by 5%/10% (was 10%/20%).
- Vault of the Incarnates 4-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Consuming Maelstrom Weapon stacks increases your Haste by 1% per stack for 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- WARLOCK
- Spell Lock interrupt duration decreased to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Demon Skin now recharges Soul Leech at a rate of 0.2%/0.4% of maximum health (was 0.2%/0.5%).
- Demonology
- Developers’ note: Demonology received some powerful single-target additions to their talent tree in 10.0.7. We’re making these adjustments after observing that their throughput is a bit higher than what was originally intended and that these talents have overshadowed other talent choices. We’ll continue to monitor Demonology, along with Affliction and Destruction, and appreciate the community’s continued feedback.
- Reign of Tyranny now increases the damage of Demonic Tyrant by 40% (was 50%).
- Immutable Hatred now increases the damage of Legion Strike by 100% (was 120%). Does not affect PvP combat.
- From the Shadows has been renamed to The Houndmaster’s Stratagem.
- Developers’ note: It is intentional that From the Shadows, now The Houndmaster’s Stratagem, does not benefit Demonic Tyrant or your other pets. We’re updating the wording of this tooltip for clarity.
- The tooltip of The Houndmaster’s Stratagem has been updated to the following – Dreadbite causes the target to take 20% additional Shadowflame damage from your spells and abilities for the next 12 seconds.
- Destruction
- Ruin no longer increases the damage of Channel Demonfire.
- Channel Demonfire damage increased by 20%.
- Shadowburn damage increased by 20%. Does not apply in PvP combat.
- WARRIOR
- Pummel interrupt duration decreased to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- Titanic Throw no longer affects crowd-controlled targets.
- Pain and Gain heals for 3.5% of maximum health (was 4.5%).
- Fixed an issue that prevent Spear of Bastion from being cast while the Warrior was silenced.
- Arms
- All ability damage increased by 4%. These changes do not affect PvP combat.
- Auto-attack damage increased by 12%. These changes do not affect PvP combat.
- Fatal Mark now lasts 3 minutes (was 2 minutes).
- Bloodletting now also causes Mortal Strike to inflict Rend on targets below 35% health if you have Rend talented.
- Storm Wall now heals for 8% of maximum health (was 10%).
- Fury
- All ability damage increased by 4%.
- Auto-attack damage increased by 4%.
- Invigorating Fury now heals for 15% of maximum health (was 20%).
- Fixed an issue causing Onslaught to have unpredictable behavior with Whirlwind’s chain buff.
DRAGONRIDING
- Discover 8 new Dragonriding Glyphs in Zaralek Cavern to unlock 2 new Dragonriding traits:
- Ground Skimming – When dragonriding near the ground, you regenerate 1 Vigor every 30 seconds. This effect does not occur while affected by Thrill of the Skies.
- Land’s Blessing – Ground Skimming regenerates 1 Vigor every 20 seconds.
- New Drakewatcher Manuscripts and dragonriding mount: Winding Slitherdrake.
- New dragonriding races and world quests are available in Zaralek Cavern.
DUNGEONS AND RAIDS
- MYTHIC+
- AFFIXES
- Bolstering
- Bolster no longer increases the health of affected enemies (was health and damage).
- Raging
- Raging now grants enemies immunity to crowd control effects for 20 seconds upon reaching 30% health remaining (was 50% increased damage done until defeated).
- Sanguine
- Sanguine Ichor puddles now last for 12 seconds (was 20 seconds).
- Spiteful
- Spiteful Shades melee damage reduced by 10%.
- Spiteful Shades health and damage no longer scale after keystone level 20.
- Bolstering
- AFFIXES
- BRACKENHIDE HOLLOW
- Hackclaw’s War-Band
- Gashtooth will now sharpen her knife and laugh at her target as they stumble around when blinded by Decayed Senses (was attack her blinded targets).
- Hackclaw’s War-Band
- FREEHOLD
- Many enemies have had their abilities and visuals updated.
- Skycap’n Kragg
- Azerite Powder Shot is now a 60 yard cone and its impact damage reduced. Visual updated to support this (was 100 yards).
- Azerite Powder Shot’s damage over time effect can now be dispelled.
- Council o’ Captains
- Confidence-Boosting Freehold Brew now increases critical strike chance by 30% (was 50%).
- Captain Raoul’s Blackout Barrel targeting updated. Now prefers damage dealers, then healers, then tanks as a last resort.
- Captain Raoul’s Barrel Smash duration was reduced to 2 seconds (was 4 seconds) and its damage increased to compensate.
- Captain Eudora’s Powder Shot avoids shooting the same player twice within 6 seconds.
- Captain Eudora’s Grapeshot leap will no longer jump to a location she is already standing at.
- Captain Eudora’s Grapeshot now applies a stacking damage over time effect each time a player is hit and it’s impact damage has been reduced.
- Ring of Booty
- Lightning now has 3 stacks of Greasy (was 5).
- Ludwig Von Tortollan’s health has been reduced by 25%.
- Trothak’s Shark Tornado duration was reduced to 3 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Trothak’s Shark Tornado visual has been updated.
- Harlan Sweete
- New Ability: Whirling Dagger – Hurls a dagger at a player, inflicting Physical damage and Physical damage every 1 second for 3 seconds. While Loaded Dice: All Hands! is active, Whirling Dagger ricochets between all players.
- Swiftwind Saber has been redesigned – Now fires a single saber at a random player. While Loaded Dice: All Hands! is active, Swiftwind Saber shoots 5 sabers in random directions.
- Irontide Grenadier’s Black Powder Bomb visual has been updated.
- Irontide Grenadiers no longer channel Black Powder Bomb. Black Powder Bomb now damages all enemies within 8 yards (was 5 yards).
- HALLS OF INFUSION
- Primal Tsunami
- Infuse stacks are now reset between intermissions.
- Rogue Waves has been removed.
- Primal Tsunami
- THE VORTEX PINNACLE
- Grand Vizier Ertan
- Most visual effects have been updated.
- Ertan now casts her abilities in a different order.
- New Ability: Cyclone Shield Fragments – Ertan’s cyclones emit fragments of energy, players that come into contact with a fragment suffer Nature damage and have their movement speed and Haste reduced by 30% for 6 seconds. This ability is on Mythic+ difficulty only.
- Summon Tempest now summons multiple Lurking Tempests. This ability is on Mythic+ difficulty only.
- Cyclones now have a 3 second cast time when the encounter begins.
- Ertan now channels during Storm’s Edge preventing any additional casting.
- Storm’s Edge damage reduced by 20%.
- Altairus
- New Ability: Cold Front – Altairus forms a Cold Front around the arena, players standing in the area suffer Frost damage every 1.5 seconds and their damage and healing done is reduced by 50%. This ability is on Mythic+ difficulty only.
- New Ability: Downburst – A downburst forms near Altairus, inflicting Nature damage to players standing within 8 yards of the impact area and expands outwards. The expanding ring of air silences players it passes over and deals Nature damage every 1 second for 5 seconds. This ability is on Mythic+ difficulty only.
- New Ability: Biting Cold – Altairus’ presence chills the air around him, inflicting Frost damage to all players every 3 seconds.
- Standing upwind or downwind of Altairus no longer changes your movement speed.
- Standing downwind of Altairus now inflicts periodic Frost damage.
- You are now confined to the inner 40 yard portion of Altairus’ arena 5 seconds after engaging in combat.
- Lightning Blast has been removed.
- Asaad
- Static Cling is now a 3.5 second cast (was 1.25 seconds) and inflicts Nature damage to all players on the ground the when cast completes.
- Chain Lightning now deals more damage.
- Skyfall Star renamed to Skyfall Nova. Now inflicts Arcane damage to all players.
- Grand Vizier Ertan
- ULDAMAN
- Bromach
- Call of the Deep now always calls 3 Stonevault Ambushers and 1 Stonevault Geomancer to join the battle.
- Sentinel Talondras
- Unrelenting damage bonus reduced to 5% per stack (was 10%).
- Chrono-Lord Deios
- The damage of most abilities has been reduced.
- Bromach
- UNDERROT
- Many enemies have had their abilities updated and adjusted.
QUESTS
- The “Embers of Neltharion” campaign continues! New Campaign chapters and local stories are available.
- The first part of the “Embers of Neltharion” campaign is already available in game! Players can complete the prologue story, “A Creche Divided,” at the Forbidden Reach in 10.0.7. This chapter begins with “The Best We Have” at the Forbidden Reach, and ends with “A Creche Divided.”
- Once you finish the quest “Six Hundred Feet Under” on any character, concluding the “Breaking Ground” chapter of the Embers of Neltharion campaign, it opens up repeatable content in Zaralek Cavern for other characters on your World of Warcraft account.
All text above
