Patch 6.2, Fury of Hellfire, has arrived (June 23. ) This is official. So the class tweaks/buffs/nerfs below are pretty final. Except for the hotfixes. Buffed or Nerfed, that is the question, isn’t it? So let’s see.
Mastery got a lot of small nerfs and some basic strikes got buffs. Others got Mastery buffs and their attacked nerfed (Demonology!) I have no comments on whether any of the nerfs make any sense at all, especially to those Demo ‘locks.
There are a number of other changes in that patch, as well. This post just looks at the class changes and tweaks.
Drop down to the bottom to add your piece.
Updated for hotfixes through July 20.
Skip down to: Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
Death Knight
General
- Anti-Magic Shell now absorbs 100% of all magical damage (up from 75%). However, damage absorbed no longer causes Resolve. Apparently Bliz decided that Glyph of Anti-Magic Shell was very popular. The nerf to Resolve might be significant.
Blood
- Mastery: Blood Shield‘s Physical damage absorption shield from Death Strike now also counts as having an active mitigation effect active.
Frost
Frost should be quite happy with 6.2. Nothing like a bit more damage to bring out the best in a spec.
Update: Three abilities were unbuffed. A 6/26 hotfix restored Frost Strike and Obliterate to pre-Patch 6.2.0 levels. Howling Blast now deals slightly more damage than before Patch 6.2.0.
- Frost Strike now deals 20% more damage.
- Howling Blast now deals 20% more damage.
- Might of the Frozen Wastes now increases Frost Strike‘s damage by 100% (up from 50%) while dual-wielding.
- Obliterate’s damage has increased by 20%, but deals only 80% of normal damage against player-controlled targets. The increase and the decrease should nicely cancel out in PvP, but will be a nice buff in PvE.
- June 30 Hotfix: Obliterate should now correctly deal full damage against other players in PvP combat.
Unholy
- Necrosis now deals 8% less damage: down to 18.4% added shadow damage, from 20% before 6.2.
Talents
- Breath of Sindragosa now costs 20 Runic Power per second (up from 15) for Blood only.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Icy Runes has been removed. Probably because no one was using it.
Also see the Death Knight changes in Warlords
Druid
Feral and Guardian got buffs, and Balance got a small nerf. I expect that Bear tanks will be pretty happy this time around.
June 30 Hotfix: Wondering why certain spells seemed extra weak in bear/cat form? Fixed a bug that was preventing Balance and Restoration Druids from gaining attack power from Intellect in Bear Form or Cat Form.
General
- Frenzied Regeneration now refunds a proportional amount of excess healing dealt back to the Druid as Rage. Nope, this was slain.
- Thrash now deals 10% more damage.
- Moonfire now deals 4% less damage.
- Wrath now deals 4% less damage.
Balance
Just be happy that you’re not a Demonology Warlock.
- Mastery: Total Eclipse now provides a 2.5% increase to the maximum damage bonus from Eclipse per mastery (up from 1.9%).
- Starfall now deals 4% less damage.
- Starfire now deals 4% less damage.
- Starsurge now deals 4% less damage.
- Sunfire now deals 4% less damage.
Feral
All of you Ferals should be happy with a bit of help in keeping up on the DPS charts.
Guardian
More defense for better survival, approved of by Bears everywhere.
- Bear Form now increases armor by 285% (up from 250%) for Guardian Druids.
- Healing Touch no longer cancels Bear Form for Guardian Druids.
- Savage Defense now also reduces physical damage taken by 25%, instead of just adding Dodge.
- July 20: Ursa Major now lasts 15 seconds (down from 25 seconds.)
Talents
- Dream of Cenarius‘ effect can now be stored for up to 40 seconds (up from 20 seconds) for Guardian Druids.
- Force of Nature‘s summoned Treant now deals 100% more damage. Will you take this talent now?
- Guardian of Elune (Guardian) now also passively increases the Druid’s chance to dodge by 10%.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Untamed Stars is now automatically learned at level 75, which will save you a few gold, if you wee planning to buy it.
Also see the Druid changes in Warlords
Hunter
General
- Aspect of the Fox has been removed. Perhaps because it overlapped with other abilities?
Beast Mastery
- July 20: Bestial Wrath now lasts 15 seconds (up from 10 seconds.)
Marksmanship
- Marks will like the fact that Aimed Shot now deals 15% more damage.
Survival
More Mastery, but less exp. shot and less SS damage.
- July 20: Black Arrow, Explosive Shot, and Serpent Sting damage increased by 25%.
- Mastery: Essence of the Viper has increased in effectiveness by 19%.
- Explosive Shot now deals 15% less damage.
- Serpent Sting no longer deals an initial “tick” of damage when the periodic effect is first applied.
Talents
A PvP Nerf (sound of cheers from the other classes,) but PvE will be unchanged.
- A Murder of Crows now deals only 75% of normal damage against player-controlled targets for Beast Mastery Hunters.
- Barrage now deals only 80% of normal damage against player-controlled targets. Additionally, the ability no longer hits invisible or stealthed targets (Rogues and Ferals cheer.)
Glyphs
- Tranquilizing Shot has switched functionality with Glyph of Tranquilizing Shot. Tranquilizing Shot no longer costs Focus but has a 10-second cooldown. Glyph of Tranquilizing Shot causes Tranquilizing Shot to cost 40 Focus (down from 50) instead of a 10-second cooldown.
Gear
- Survival 4-piece set should trigger Shadow Nova on all targets affected by Black Arrow, not just the primary target. At the moment I guess we can assume that Shadow Nova spreads Shadow damage to all affected.
Also see the Hunter changes in Warlords
Mage
Frost and Arcane got some tweaks, but Fire is almost untouched (just a set bonus change.) On the July 20 hotfix Fire Mages got a bit of love.
General Magery
- Amplify Magic has been removed.
- Frostfire Bolt now deals 20% more damage.
Arcane
- Mastery: Mana Adept has reduced in effectiveness by 6%.
- Arcane Missiles now deals 10% more damage
Fire
- July 20: Dragon’s Breath damage increased by 150%.
- July 20: Flamestrike damage increased by 50%.
Frost
- Mastery: Icicles is now 13% more effective. Will that be enough to keep it from being classed as “useless?”
- Brain Freeze now has a 15% increased chance to trigger on each multistrike (down from 25%).
- Fingers of Frost now increases Ice Lance damage by 120% (up from 100%).
- Frostbolt now deals 20% more damage.
Talents
- Flameglow now absorbs up to a maximum of 20% damage from each attack (down from 30%).
- Prismatic Crystal is now also attackable by the Mage’s pets or guardians.
Armor Sets
- Tier-17 2-piece set bonus for Fire Mages has been redesigned. It now reduces the cooldown of Inferno Blast by 2 seconds. Nice.
Also see the Mage changes in Warlords
Monk
General
- Blackout Kick now deals 5% less damage.
- Provoke now has a 30 yard range (down from 40 yards).
- Rising Sun Kick (Windwalker, Mistweaver) now deals 5% less damage.
- Tiger Palm now deals 5% less damage.
- Tiger Strikes no longer triggers from multistrikes, but now provides a 35% increase to Multistrike chance while active (up from 25%.)
Brewmaster
It looks like Brewmasters will be a bit more fragile, except against attacks vs armor.
- Blackout Kick no longer increases the Stagger amount for Brewmaster Monks.
- Stance of the Sturdy Ox now increases armor by 125% (up from 75%) and provides a 20% base Stagger percentage (down from 30%.) Additionally, the Stagger effect no longer works against attacks which ignore armor.
Windwalker
- July 20: Stance of the Fierce Tiger now increases all damage dealt by 10% (up from 5%.)
- Fists of Fury now deals 5% less damage.
- Hurricane Strike now deals 5% less damage.
- Battle Trance now increases Multistrike stat gains from all sources by 15% (up from 5%.)
Talents
- Chi Explosion now deals 5% less damage for Windwalker Monks.
- Serenity now lasts 5 seconds for Brewmaster Monks (down from 10 seconds).
Also see the Monk changes in Warlords
Paladin
Looks like the Paladins got off easy.
Holy
- Devotion Aura now reduces all damage taken, not just magical damage.
- Holy Shock’s mana cost has increased by 50%. Apparently this change was killed.
Protection
- July 20: Avenger’s Shield damage increased by 30%.
- July 20: Bastion of Glory now increases the healing received from Word of Glory by 8% per stack (up from 6%.) Additionally, Mastery: Divine Bulwark now adds 8% to Bastion of Glory (up from 6%.)
- July 20: Tier-18 2-piece set bonus for Protection Paladins now grants an absorb effect equal to 5% of maximum health (up from 1.5%.)
- July 20: Tier-18 4-piece set bonus for Protection Paladins now triggers Grand Crusader.
Retribution
- July 20: Sword of Light now increases damage dealt with two-handed melee weapons by 30% (up from 25%.)
- Mastery: Hand of Light has reduced in effectiveness by 6%.
Also see the Paladin changes in Warlords
Priest
Shadow
- Devouring Plague now deals 12% less damage.
- Shadowform no longer applies its visual effect to the Priest’s mount.
Talents
- Surge of Light (Discipline, Holy) can now also trigger from Power Word: Shield and Clarity of Will.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Shadowy Friends now extends Shadowform‘s visual effect to the Priest’s mount in addition to non-combat pets.
Also see the Priest changes in Warlords
Rogues in 6.2
Generally there’s some good stuff here for Rogues. Mostly buffs all around.
General Notes
- Cloak of Shadows now has a 90-second cooldown (up from 60 seconds.)
- Combat and Sub will like that Eviscerate now deals 10% more damage.
- And Combat will like that Sinister Strike also now deals 10% more damage.
Pickpocketing
Personally, I think that Bliz should have kept some of the old pickpocket stuff, such as the odd junk and unmentionables that could be picked, as well as the occasional useful potion and such. It looks like they will just be extending the current model, which isn’t bad.
- New items have been added to pickpocket from humanoids in Tanaan Jungle. You may want to get bigger bags.
- Added a new weekly quest, Da Even Bigga Score.
- Dingy Iron Coins now have a cap of 20,000 (up from 10,000).
- Secretive Whistle now has a 15 minute cooldown (down from 1 hour).
- Updated tooltip descriptions for pickpocketed items of value to help distinguish them from other items.
Assassination
A pretty nice buff here. Get a nice crit and you could do some nice damage. People are saying that Assassination is now the Rogue PvP spec.
Combat
This will make the Mastery stat that much more valuable. The change to Killing Spree won’t be important in PvE, but in PvP a well timed stun will kill your Spree.
- Mastery: Main Gauche has increased in effectiveness by 10%.
- Killing Spree now only grants immunity to root and snare effects and the effect is now cancelled if the Rogue is affected by other crowd-control effects (eg: Stuns.)
- Patch 6.2 6/30 hotfix: “Killing Spree no longer provides immunity to Crowd Control abilities, regardless of Battle Fatigue.” This overrides a June 29 hotfix. Apparently it still provides immunity to roots and snares (checking my cbt rogue,) so I’m not clear on what this “fix” actually does.
Subtlety
This will decrease that value of your Mastery stat a bit and increase Crit & Multistrike to the extent that you’re actually using Backstab as often as possible. You’ll want to keep that Rupture up on your enemies, too. With the buffs to Backstab, Eviscerate, and Sanguinary Veins I think Sub will be in a pretty good place.
- Mastery: Executioner has decreased in effectiveness by 8%.
- Backstab now deals 20% more damage.
- Sanguinary Vein now causes the Rogue to deal 30% more damage to targets affected by Rupture (up from 25%).
Talents
I don’t know about you, but I still won’t be taking Shuriken Toss, except in very special situations. Ditto Deadly Throw.
- Shuriken Toss now deals 53% more autoattack damage. Additionally, fixed a bug that caused hits made with offhand weapons to deal 15% more damage than intended.
- Deadly Throw now reduces the target’s movement speed by 70% (up from 50%) but no longer interrupts spellcasting when used with 5 combo points.
Also see the Rogue changes in Warlords
Shaman
Enhancement seems to have gotten clean away this time around.
Enhancement did not escape! Bwahahaha
Oops. That 6.2 hot fix buffed some stuff.
- Lava Lash now deals 20% more damage.
- Stormstrike now deals 20% more damage.
- Windstrike (Lev 87 Ascendance version of Stormstrike) now deals 20% more damage.
Elemental
- July 20: Mastery: Molten Earth damage has been increased by 11%.
- July 20: Ascendance now has a 2-minute cooldown (down from 3 minutes) for Elemental Shaman.
- Elemental Overload now increases multistrike damage by 20% (down from 35%,) but now increases Multistrike stat gains from all sources by 10% (up from 5%.)
- Lava Surge now lasts for 10 seconds (up from 6 seconds.)
Enhancement
- July 20: Stormstrike damage has been increased by 30%.
Restoration
- Chain Heal now heals for 25% more.
- Riptide no longer increases Chain Heal‘s effectiveness by 25% on the primary target.
Armor Sets
- Tier 17 4-piece set bonus for Restoration Shaman now reduces the mana cost of Chain Heal by 50% for 8 seconds (down from 75% reduction for 10 seconds).
- PvP 2-piece set bonus for Elemental Shaman is now the PvP 4-piece set bonus and has been replaced. New PvP 2-piece set bonus: Reduces the cooldown of Hex by 15 seconds.
- PvP 4-piece set bonus for Elemental Shaman has been replaced by the old PvP 2-piece set bonus. While Ascendance is active, the Shaman is immune to silence and interrupt effects.
Also see the Shaman changes in Warlords
Warlock
General
- Corruption now deals 12% more damage.
- Dark Soul (all) should now have its cooldown reset at the end of a raid encounter for all Warlock specializations.
- Shadow Bolt now deals 25% less damage.
- The following Warlock pets received a visual upgrade and are now using higher-fidelity models.
- Imp
- Felguard (Demonology)
- Voidlord (Grimoire of Supremacy)
- Wrathguard (Demonology Warlocks with Grimoire of Supremacy)
Affliction
- July 20: Drain Soul damage has been increased by 50%, and now causes all other damage over time spells to instantly deal 50% of their normal damage (up from 40%.)
- July 20: Haunt damage has been increased by 25%, and now increases periodic damage dealt by 35% (up from 30%.)
- Agony now deals 12% more damage.
- Unstable Affliction now deals 12% more damage.
Demonology
If you’re able to pile on enough Mastery you’ll makes up for the ability nerfs, but that’s going to be a lot of Mastery.
- Mastery: Master Demonologist now increases damage dealt by the Warlock and their demon servants by 1.25% per mastery (up from 0.96%), and further increases damage dealt by Touch of Chaos, Chaos Wave, Doom, Immolation Aura, and Soul Fire while in Metamorphosis by 2.5% per mastery (up from 1.92%).
- Chaos Wave now deals 25% less damage.
- Doom now deals 25% less damage.
- Hand of Gul’dan now deals 25% less damage.
- Soul Fire now deals 25% less damage.
- Touch of Chaos now deals 25% less damage.
Destruction
- July 20: Chaos Bolt, Conflagrate, Immolate, Incinerate, and Shadowburn damage increased by 5%.
Armor Sets
- PvP 2-piece set bonus for Destruction Warlocks has been redesigned. Getting stunned, silenced, interrupted, or feared now generates 1 Burning Ember. Can only occur once every 15 seconds.
- PvP 4-piece set bonus for Destruction Warlocks has been redesigned. It now causes Incinerate to deal 50% more damage on targets affected by the Warlock’s Immolate.
Also see the Warlock changes in Warlords
Warrior
Arms
- Mastery: Weapons Master now increases the damage of Mortal Strike, Colossus Smash, and Execute abilities by 5.2% per mastery (up from 4.5%).
- Mortal Strike now deals 6% less damage. Enough Mastery will make up for that.
Protection
- July 20: Bastion of Defense now increases block chance by 15% (up from 10%.)
- Improved Defensive Stance now also decreases damage taken by 5%.
Talents
- Gladiator’s Resolve (Protection): Gladiator Stance now also increases the Warrior’s Mastery by 30% while active.
Armor Sets
- Tier-17 4-piece set bonus for Arms Warrior has been redesigned. It now reduces the cost of Mortal Strike by 5 Rage.
- Tier-18 4-piece set bonus for Arms Warriors now increases the tick rate of Rend by 33% (down from 50%), and fixed a bug where it was granting double the intended increase.
Also see the Warrior changes in Warlords
Possibly Related Posts
- Flying in Draenor – what you’ll need to do to earn it.
- Earning Gold with your Garrison
- Blizzard OKs gold buying, sort of.
- Leveling your Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior