World of Warcraft Dragonflight nerfs incoming ahead of Amirdrassil raid launch: Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Evoker, and more

Some World of Warcraft classes are simply too strong right now. Ahead of the Amirdrassil launch, a few nerfs are being handed out. This change is courtesy of a Blue Post on the Blizzard forums, meaning it’s from the developers and community managers. Some players may be disappointed, but the developers have done serious testing ahead of making any changes or announcements.

Quite a few of World of Warcraft's class specs are going to be seeing adjustments, from Evokers, Demon Hunters, and more. The developers informed the community ahead of time, however, so they can get ready before raid times begin.

In addition to class nerfs, a few of the Tier Set bonuses from the Amirdrassil raid are going to be seeing some notable adjustments. We’ll go over below everything that’s changing so you won’t be caught unaware when the next World of Warcraft competitive season opens up.

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World of Warcraft’s most powerful classes to be nerfed ahead of Amirdrassil

It’s no big secret that Augmentation Evoker was the most powerful class in World of Warcraft Dragonflight. The class brings so much utility, and its ability to buff other classes and increase their damage hasn't escaped the developers’ notice.

Hopefully, the below nerfs don’t make classes feel too weak, but World of Warcraft players will simply have to wait and see what happens as they journey into Amirdrassil themselves.

However, it’s not all nerfs! Both Destruction and Demonlogy Warlocks are seeing some pretty significant buffs coming in. The only real nerf they saw ahead of Amirdrassil in World of Warcraft was their Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible set was nerfed slightly.

This change was made to make it more aligned with the other set bonuses in that raid. Retribution Paladins also saw a minor boost to their overall damage. Hopefully, it will bring the popular DPS build in line with other World of Warcraft builds. These changes will go live with the Season 3 start on November 14.

Death Knight

• Unholy:
• Death Coil damage increased by 10%.
• Scourge Strike/Clawing Shadows damage increased by 10%.
• Ghoul damage increased by 8%.
• Virulent Plague damage increased by 20%.
• Apocalypse ghoul damage increased by 5%.

Demon Hunter

• Vengeance:
• Amirdrassil Tier Set: Bonus Sigil of Flame damage granted reduced by 20%.
• Illuminated Sigils now increases Parry chance against affected targets by 15% (was 20%)

Druid

• Guardian:
• Mangle now grants 12 Rage (was 10).
• Cat Form energy regeneration increased by 50% (was 35%).
• Balance:
• Cat Form energy regeneration increased by 50% (was 35%).
• Restoration:
• Rip damage increased by 140%. Does not apply in PvP Combat.
• Rake damage increased by 60%.
• Shred damage increased by 140%.
• Ferocious Bite damage increased by 200%. Does not apply in PvP Combat.
• Cat Form energy regeneration increased by 50% (was 35%).

Evoker

• Augmentation:
• Developers’ notes: The amount of utility that Augmentation Evoker brings on top of its high damage has proven to be too powerful despite recent changes. Therefore, we are further reducing their damage contributions to the group in order to balance them against other specializations.
• Ebon Might grants 6.5% of the Evoker’s primary stat (was 8%).
• Close as Clutchmates increases the effectiveness of Ebon Might and Breath of Eons by 10% (was 20%).
• The amount of Versatility granted by Shifting Sands has been reduced by 15%.

Mage

• Frost:
• Amirdrassil Tier Set – 2-piece: Increases Glacial Spike damage by 16% (was 10%).
• Amirdrassil Tier Set – 2-piece: The damage from the explosion now deals 15% of the damage dealt by Glacial Spike (was 20%).

Monk

• Brewmaster:
• Amirdrassil Tier Set 2-piece: Breath of Fire’s bonus damage increased to 40% (was 20%).
• Amirdrassil Tier Set 4-piece: Bonus damage to targets afflicted by Breath of Fire increased to 15% (was 10%).
• Windwalker:
• Amirdrassil Tier Set: Blackout Reinforcement granted by melee abilities now occurs 66% more often and increases Blackout Kick damage by 200% (was 150%).

Paladin

• Retribution:
• All ability damage increased by 3%.

Priest

• Discipline:
• Developers’ notes: Discipline healing throughput (particularly in raids) is slightly higher than we would like, given their damage and utility contributions to the group. To balance them, we’re reducing some talents that are giving a lot of power for only 1 talent point. The goal is to improve talent balance while also bringing them in line with other healers.
• Divine Aegis absorption reduced to 5% of healing done (was 10%).
• Inescapable Torment damage reduced by approximately 19%.

Rogue

• Assassination:
• Amirdrassil Tier Set: 4-piece set bonus tooltip should now accurately reflect its actual output.
• Amirdrassil Tier Set: 4-piece set single target damage increased by 4%.

Warlock

• Destruction:
• Amirdrassil Tier Set: Flame Rift damage increased 50%.
• Unstable Tear damage increased 5%.
• Shadowy Tear damage increased 5%.
• Chaos Tear damage increased 30%.
• Demonology:
• Amirdrassil Tier Set: Doom Brand single-target damage increased 50%.
• Amirdrassil Tier Set: Doomfiend single-target damage increased 40%.
• Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible 2-piece Set Bonus now reduces the cooldown of Grimoire: Felguard by 0.5 second (was 1 second).
• Developers’ notes: We’re reducing the power of Demonology’s previous set bonus to bring it in line with other set bonuses from Aberrus. Additionally, we’re increasing the throughput of both Destruction and Demonology’s set bonuses from Amirdrassil while also increasing the power of Dimensional Rift baseline.

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As of writing this article, these are the only World of Warcraft changes coming to players when Amirdrassil launches on November 14. If there are further changes, whether positive or negative, we’ll make sure players are up to date so they’re ready to raid.