Hero Talent: All World of Warcraft The War Within Hero Talents revealed so far (May 2024)

Going above and beyond the talent trees added in Dragonflight, World of Warcraft: The War Within Hero Talents will give each spec a new series of abilities to unlock, starting at Level 71. Players must choose a spec out of the three their class has. For example, Warriors have Slayer, Colossus, and Mountain Thane. Depending on the kind of build, you’ll want specific talent builds.

Thus far, Blizzard has disclosed eight out of the 39 possible unique Hero Talent specs. Note that they may undergo balance passes before winding up in World of Warcraft: The War Within, so the numbers aren't set in stone.

That said, they should conceptually stay the same at release, letting you plan ahead for your build should any of the talents pique your interest.

Check out our detailed guide on Hero Talents coming with World of Warcraft: The War Within if you want to learn more about the system.

All known Hero Talents in World of Warcraft: The War Within so far

1) San’layn (Blood and Unholy Death Knights)

According to the World of Warcraft The War Within developers, San’layn are for Blood and Unholy specced players. The Hero Talents are focused on Death Knights who mastered the vampiric arts. These players will receive exciting powers that will help sustain them in dire situations.

Their primary ability, known as a Keystone, is Vampiric Strike. It gives Death Coil and Death Strike a 10% chance to transform the next Heart Strike and Scourge Strike into Vampiric Strike. This new ability heals for 3% of your maximum health and grants a buff — Essence of the Blood Queen. This adds 1.5% to your haste, up to 7.5%, for 20 seconds.

Row one talents

Newly Turned or Vampiric Speed in World of Warcraft
Newly Turned: Raise Ally revives players at full health and grants you an absorption shield equal to 20% of your maximum health.
Vampiric Speed: Death’s Advance and Wraith Walk movement speed bonuses increase by 10%. Activating either increases four nearby allies' movement speed by 20% for five seconds.
Blood-Soaked Ground: While you are within your Death and Decay, your physical damage taken is reduced by 5%, and your chance to gain Vampiric Strike is increased by 5%.
Vampiric Aura or Bloody Fortitude:
Vampiric Aura: Your Leech is increased by 3%. While Lichborne is active, the Leech amount is increased by 100% and affects four nearby allies.
Bloody Fortitude: Icebound Fortitude reduces all damage you take up to an additional 30% based on your missing health. Killing enemies that grant honor or experience reduces the cooldown of Icebound Fortitude by three seconds.

Row two talents

Infliction of Sorrow: When Vampiric Strike damages an enemy affected by Blood Plague or Virulent Plague, it consumes the disease, dealing 200% of the remaining damage. While Gift of the San’layn is active, Vampiric Strike no longer consumes your disease and instead extends the duration of your disease by three seconds and deals 20% of the remaining damage to the enemy.
Frenzied Bloodthirst: Essence of the Blood Queen stacks two additional times and increases the damage of your Death Coil and Death Strike by 5% per stack.
The Blood is Life: Vampiric Strike has a chance to summon a Blood Beast to attack your enemy for 10s. Each time the Blood Beast attacks, it stores a portion of the damage dealt, and when the Blood Beast dies, it explodes, dealing 50% of the damage accumulated to nearby enemies and healing the Death Knight for the same amount.

Row three talents

Visceral Regeneration: Your Heart Strike and Scourge Strike have a 3% per stack of Essence of the Blood Queen to refund a Rune. Vampiric Strike doubles the chance to refund a Rune.
Incite Terror: Heart Strike and Scourge Strike extend the duration of Essence of the Blood Queen by 0.5s. Vampiric Strike increases the extension by 100%.
Sanguine Scent or Pact of the San’layn
Sanguine Scent: Your Death Coil and Death Strike have a 15% chance to trigger Vampiric Strike when damaging enemies below 32% health, and it is guaranteed to critically strike.
Pact of the San’layn: You store 50% of all Shadow Damage dealt into your BLood Beast to explode for additional damage when it expires.

Capstone talent

Gift of the Sanlayn: Passive: While Vampiric Blood or Dark Transformation is active, you gain Gift of the San’layn in World of Warcraft. This increases the effectiveness of your Essence of the Blood Queen by 100% and replaces your Heart Strike and Scourge Strike with Vampiric Strike for the duration.

2) Lightwarden (Holy/Protection Paladins)

The World of Warcraft The War Within developers also teased what players can expect from Lightsmith. This Hero Talent tree is designed for Holy and Protection Paladins and will let them use constructs of pure light to aid their allies. It features a wealth of very interesting talents.

The Keystone ability is Holy Armaments, which is an active ability in World of Warcraft The War Within. This Hero Talent creates a shield or weapon (Holy Bulwark, Sacred Weapon) at the location you designate. It also alternates between the two, lasts for 20 seconds after being cast, and has a maximum of two charges.

The Holy Bulwark grants an absorb shield for 15% of your maximum health and an additional 5% every two seconds, which stacks up to a cap of 30%. Sacred Weapon allows your spells and abilities to deal additional Holy damage or healing.

Row one talents

Rite of Sanctification or Rite of Adjuration in World of Warcraft
Rite of Sanctification: Imbue your weapon with the power of the Light, increasing your armor by 5% and your primary stat by 1%. Lasts for 1 hour. Weapon imbue.
Rite of Adjuration: Imbue your weapon with the power of the Light, increasing your Stamina by 3% and causing your Holy Power spenders to sometimes unleash a burst of healing around a target. Weapon imbue.
Solidarity: If an ally picks up an Armament, you also gain its benefits. If you pick up an Armament, a nearby ally also gains its benefits.
Divine Guidance or Blessed Assurance in World of Warcraft
Divine Guidance: For each Holy Power ability cast, your next Consecration does additional Holy damage or healing split across all enemies, up to a fixed total.
Blessed Assurance: Casting a Holy Power spender increases the damage and healing of your next Crusader Strike by 100%.

Row two talents

Laying Down Arms: When an Armament fades from you, the cooldown of Lay on Hands is reduced by 15 seconds, and you gain Shining Light or Infusion of Light.
Divine Inspiration or Forewarning in World of Warcraft
Divine Inspiration: Your spells and abilities have a chance to manifest a Holy Armament nearby.
Forewarning: The cooldown of Holy Armaments is reduced by 20%.
Fear No Evil or Excoriation
Fear No Evil: While wielding an Armament, the duration of Fear effects is reduced by 50% in World of Warcraft.
Excoriation: Enemies within five yards of Hammer of Justice’s target are slowed by 15%.

Row three talents

Shared Resolve: The effect of your active Aura is increased by 33% on targets with your Armaments.
Valiance: Consuming Shining Light or Infusion of Light extends the duration of any active Armaments by three seconds or reduces the cooldown by three seconds if none exist.
Hammer and Anvil: Judgment critical strikes cause a shockwave around the target, dealing additional Holy damage or healing at the target's location.

Capstone talent

Blessing of the Forge: Avenging Wrath summons an additional Sacred Weapon, and during Avenging Wrath, your Sacred Weapon casts spells on your target and echoes the effects of your Holy Power abilities.

3) Mountain Thane (Fury/Protection Warriors)

Mountain Thane promises to be one of the more interesting builds going into World of Warcraft The War Within. This Hero Talent spec focuses on players who want to go Fury or Protection. Whether you want to do incredible DPS or focus on the protection of others, it should be a solid path.

The Hero Talent spec’s Keystone is Lightning Strikes. Damaging enemies with Thunder Clap, Revenge, Raging Blow, or Execute has a 10% chance to strike with a lightning bolt, which deals nature damage. If you’re using the Avatar ability, it also increases the chance of Lightning Strikes by 50%.

Row one talents

Call of Thunder: The Stormstrike damage or Nature damage your abilities deal is increased by 5%. Stormstrike damage ignores Armor. Thunder Clap damage increased by 50%. For Fury only, Thunder Clap generates 5 Rage and Improved Whirlwind, and Meat Cleaver now improves Thunder Clap as well as Whirlwind.
Ground Current: Lightning Strikes also deal low amounts of Nature damage to enemies near their target. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
Strength of the Mountain: Shield Slam damage increased by 20%. Bloodthirst and Rampage damage increased by 10%.

Row two talents

Thunder Blast: Shield Slam and Bloodthirst have a 20% chance to grant you Thunder Blast, stacking up to two charges. Thunder Blast causes your next Thunder Clap to become a Thunder Blast that deals Stormstrike damage.
Storm Shield or Storm Bolts
Storm Shield: Intervening a target grants them a shield for 5 seconds that absorbs magic damage equal to three times your Armor.
Storm Bolts: Storm Bolt also hits 1 additional nearby target, stunning them for two seconds.
Flashing Skies or Valarjar Training
Flashing Skies: Chance for Lightning Strikes to critically strike is increased by 5%, and their critical strike damage is increased by 10%.
Valarjar Training: Lightning Strikes reduce the cooldown of Ravager by 0.5 seconds.

Row three talents

Steadfast as the Peaks or Keep Your Feet on the Ground in World of Warcraft
Steadfast as the Peaks: Victory Rush increases your maximum health by 10% for five seconds.
Keep Your Feet on the Ground: Thunder Blast reduces the damage you take by 4% for five seconds.
Gathering Clouds or Thorim’s Might in World of Warcraft
Gathering Clouds: Your attacks trigger Lightning Strikes 15% more often.
Thorim’s Might: Lightning Strikes generate three Rage. Revenge, Raging Blow, and Execute damage increased by 15% in World of Warcraft.
Burst of Power: Lightning Strikes have a 20% chance to make your next two Shield Slams or Bloodthirsts have no cooldown.

Capstone talent

Avatar of the Storm: Casting Avatar grants you two charges of Thunder Blast and resets the cooldown of Thunder Clap. While Avatar is inactive, Lightning Strikes have a 10% chance to grant you Avatar for four seconds.

4) Chronowarden (Augmentation/Preservation Evoker)

Chronowarden is another Hero Talent build revealed by the World of Warcraft The War Within developers. Originally denied as a potential build at all, this one is focused on Augmentation Evokers and Preservation Evokers. This specialization is based on manipulating time and looking into the future.

That means it’s all about the Bronze Dragonflight. While Chronowardens are unstable, they have vast knowledge and tools at their disposal. Their Keystone ability, ChronoFlame, reflects this. It makes Living Flame become enhanced with Bronze magic, repeating 15% of the damage or healing you deal to the target in the last five seconds as Arcane. This is up to a fixed amount, of course.

Row one talents

Warp: Hover now warps you through time and space, and its cooldown is reduced by five seconds. Hover continues to allow Evoker spells to be cast while moving in World of Warcraft.
Temporal Burst: Tip the Scales overloads you with temporal energy, increasing your Haste, movement speed, and cooldown recovery rate by 2%, ramping up to 40% over 20 seconds.
Reverberations: Spiritbloom heals for an additional 30% over eight seconds. Upheaval deals 30% additional damage over eight seconds.

Row two talents

Interdimensional Phase or Motes of Acceleration in World of Warcraft
Interdimensional Phase: Warp reduces damage taken by 30%, starting high and reducing over two seconds.
Motes of Acceleration: Warp leaves a trail of Motes of Acceleration. Allies who come in contact with a mote gain 20% increased movement speed for 30 seconds.
Threads of Fate: Casting an Essence ability during Temporal Burst causes a nearby ally to gain a Thread of Fate for 15 seconds, granting them a chance to echo their damage or healing spells, dealing 15% of the amount again.
Primacy: For each damage over time effect from Upheaveal or Spiritbloom, gain 3% Haste, up to 9% in World of Warcraft.

Row three talents

Careful Contemplation or Time Convergence in World of Warcraft
Careful Contemplation: Your Intellect and Stamina are increased by 10%, but your cooldowns are increased by 10%.
Time Convergence: Abilities with a 45-second or longer cooldown grant 10% Intellect for 15 seconds. Defensive abilities grant 10% Stamina for 15 seconds. Essence spells extend the duration by a second.
Master of Destiny or Golden Opportunity
Master of Destiny: Empower spells amplify all your active Threads of Fate, increasing their power by 100% for eight seconds, stacking up to two times.
Golden Opportunity: Echo and Prescience have a 25% chance to not incur a cooldown. Echo has a 25% chance to not cost Essence.
Instability Matrix: Each time you cast an empower spell, unstable time magic reduces its cooldown by up to 15 seconds. Echo has a 25% chance to not cost Essence.

Capstone talent

Afterimage: Empower spells send up to three Chrono Flames to your targets. Chrono Flames have a small chance to grant you Essence Burst.

5) Druid: Keeper of the Grove (Balance and Restoration specs)

Fans of the Balance and Restoration Druid builds have something to look forward to in the World of Warcraft War Within Hero Talents. The core ability for this build is a passive, Dream Surge. It lets the players who use specific abilities trigger extra damage or extra heals, depending on what they’re doing.

This makes Force of Nature grant three charges of Dream Burst. Your next Wrath or Starfire will explode on the target, dealing Nature damage to nearby enemies, but damage is reduced on target numbers greater than five.

On the other hand, you gain extra healing from your Grove Guardians. They cause your next targeted heal to create two Dream Petals near the target, healing up to three nearby allies. This stacks up to three times.

Row one talents

Treants of the Moon: Your treants cast Moonfire on nearby targets about once every 6s.
Expansiveness: Your maximum mana is increased by 5% and your maximum Astral Power is increased by 20.
Protective Growth: Your Regrowth protects you, reducing the damage you take by 8% while your Regrowth is on you.

Row two talents

Power of Nature or Durability of Nature
Power of Nature: Your Force of Nature treants no longer taunt and deal 20% increased damage. Your Grove Guardians increase the healing of your Rejuvenation, Efflorescence, and Lifebloom by 5% while active.
Durability of Nature: Your Force of Nature treants have 50% increased health. Your Grove Guardians’ Nourish and Swiftmend spells also apply a minor Cenarion Ward that heals the target over 8s the next time they take damage.
Cenarius’ Might: Casting Starsurge or Starfall increases the damage of your next Starsurge or Starfall by 10%, stacking up to 2 times. Casting another spell cancels this effect. Casting Regrowth, Wild Growth, or Swiftmend increases the healing of your next Regrowth, Wild Growth, or Swiftmend by 10%, stacking up to 2 times. Casting another spell cancels this effect.
Grove’s Inspiration or Persistent Enchantments
Grove’s Inspiration: Wrath and Starfire damage increased by 12%. Regrowth, Wild Growth, and Swiftmend healing increased by 6%.
Persistent Enchantments: Orbital Strike applies Stellar Flare for 20 seconds and Primordial Arcanic Pulsar grants Celestial Alignments for two additional seconds. Reforestation grants Tree of Life for two additional seconds.

Row three talents

Bounteous Bloom or Early Spring
Bounteous Bloom: Your Force of Nature treants generate 3 Astral Power every two seconds. Your Grove Guardians’ healing is increased by 20%.
Early Spring: Force of Nature cooldown reduced by 10 seconds. Grove Guardians cooldown reduced by three seconds.
Power of the Dream or Control of the Dream
Power of the Dream: Force of Nature grants an additional stack of Dream Burst. Healing spells cast with Dream Surge generate an additional Dream Petal. Cenarius’ Might increases your spell damage or healing by an additional 5%.
Control of the Dream: Time elapsed while your major abilities are available to be used is subtracted from that ability’s cooldown after the next time you use it, up to 5s. Affects Nature’s Swiftness, Incarnation: Tree of Life, Force of Nature, Celestial Alignment and Convoke the Spirits.
Booming Infusion: Every five Regrowths you cast make your next Wrath, Starfire, or Entangling Roots instant and increase the damage it deals by 100%. Every five Starsurges or Starfalls you cast makes your next Regrowth or Entangling Roots instant.

Capstone Ability

Harmony of the Grove: Each of your Force of Nature treants increases the damage your spells deal by 3% while active. Each of your Grove Guardians increases your healing done by 3% while active.

6) Hunter: Dark Ranger (Beast Mastery and Marksmanship specs)

Dark Ranger is certainly a familiar concept to World of Warcraft players. Thanks to World of Warcraft War Within’s Hero Talents, players can try and channel the power of Sylvanas Windrunner, Nathanos Blightcaller, or Velonara. Their keystone ability is the powerful Black Arrow. An active ability, it has a 30-second-long cooldown.

You fire the Black Arrow into a target, making them take Shadow damage every two seconds for 16 seconds. Each time it deals damage, you have a chance to reset the cooldown of Aimed Shot or Barbed Shot. Depending on that percentage, it could be a huge way to melt enemies in the World of Warcraft War Within expansion.

Row one talents

Ranger’s Finesse: Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire deal 15% increased damage. Barbed Shot and Kill Command deal 15% increased damage.
Dark Hounds: Each time Black Arrow deals damage, you have a chance to manifest an undead hound to charge your target and deal Shadow damage.
Death Shade: When you apply Black Arrow to a target, you gain the Deathblow or Hunter’s Prey effect.

Row two talents

Dark Empowerment or Grave Reaper
Dark Empowerment: When Black Arrow resets the cooldown of an ability, gain 15 focus.
Grave Reaper: When a target affected by Black Arrow dies, the cooldown of Black Arrow is reduced by 12 seconds.
Embrace the Shadows or Smoke Screen
Embrace the Shadows: You heal for 15% of all Shadow damage dealt by you or your pets.
Smoke Screen: Exhilaration grants you three seconds of Survival of the Fittest. Survival of the Fittest activates Exhilaration at 50% effectiveness.
Dark Chains: Disengage will chain the closest target to the ground, causing them to move 40% slower until they move eight yards away.

Row three talents

Intense Darkness: When Trueshot or Call of the Wild is active, Black Arrow deals damage 50% faster.
Shadow Surge: When Multi-Shot hits a target affected by Black Arrow, a burst of Shadow energy erupts, dealing moderate Shadow damage to all enemies near the target. This can only occur once every six seconds.
Darkness Calls or Shadow Assassin
Darkness Calls: All Shadow damage you and your pets deal is increased by 10%.
Shadow Assassin: Kill Shot has a 15% chance to generate a charge of Aimed Shot or Barbed Shot when used on a target affected by Black Arrow.

Capstone ability

Withering Fire: When Black Arrow resets the cooldown of Aimed Shot or Barbed Shot, a barrage of dark arrows strikes your target for Shadow damage and increases the damage you and your pets deal by 10% for six seconds.

7) Mage: Frostfire (Frost and Fire specs)

Frostfire is sort of back in World of Warcraft War Within’s Hero Talents. The spell itself, Frostfire Bolt, is back if you want to take it. We’ll be covering that below. No matter if you run Fire or Frost builds though, I think this is going to be a powerful and very fun build.

Your primary ability in the Frostfire Hero Talents tree is Frostfire Mastery. It makes your damaging Fire and Frost spells generate their respective Mastery, one stack each time. Fire Mastery increases your Haste by 1% and Frost Mastery increases your Mastery by 1% for 12 seconds. This stacks up to eight times each, and adding stacks does not refresh the duration.

Row one talents

Imbued Warding or Meltdown
Imbued Warding: Blazing Barrier (Fire) also casts an Ice Barrier (Frost) at 25% effectiveness, and vice versa. This also affects your Mass Barrier.
Meltdown: You melt slightly out of your Ice Block and Ice Cold, allowing you to move slowly during Ice Block and increasing your movement speed over time. Ice Block and Ice Cold trigger a Blast Wave when they end.
Frostfire Bolt: Two-second-long cast and replaces Frostbolt (Frost) and Fireball (Fire). Launches a bolt of Frostfire at the enemy, dealing frostfire damage, slowing movement speed by 50%, and causing additional frostfire damage over eight seconds. Frostfire Bolt generates a stack of both Fire Mastery and Frost Mastery.
Elemental Affinity or Flame & Frost
Elemental Affinity: The cooldown of Frost spells (Fire) is reduced by 10%, and the cooldown of Fire spells (Frost) is reduced by 30%.
Flame & Frost: Cauterize (Fire) resets the cooldown of your Frost spells with a base cooldown of less than 4 minutes when it activates. Cold Snap (Frost) additionally resets the cooldown of your Fire spells.

Row two talents

Isothermic Core: Comet Storm now also calls down a Meteor at 100% effectiveness onto your target’s location. Meteor now also calls down a Comet Storm at 150% effectiveness onto your target’s location.
Severe Temperatures or Thermal Conditioning
Severe Temperatures: Casting Frost or Fire spells increases the damage of your next Frostfire Bolt by 6%, stacking up to five times.
Thermal Conditioning: Frostfire Bolt’s cast time is reduced by 10%.
Frostfire Infusion: Your Frost and Fire spells have a chance to trigger an additional bolt of Frostfire, dealing Frostfire damage. This effect generates Frostfire Mastery when activated.

Row three talents

Excess Frost: Fire: Reaching maximum stacks of Frost Mastery causes your next Phoenix Flames to also cast Ice Nova at 200% effectiveness. When you consume Excess Frost, the cooldown of Meteor is reduced by 5 seconds. Frost: Reaching maximum stacks of Frost Mastery causes your next Flurry to also cast Ice Nova at 200% effectiveness. When you consume Excess Frost, the cooldown of Comet Storm is reduced by 5 seconds.
Frostfire Empowerment: Your Frost and Fire spells have a chance to activate Frostfire Empowerment, causing your next Frostfire Bolt to always critically strike, explode for 80% of its damage to nearby enemies, and to be instant cast.
Excess Fire: Fire: Reaching maximum stacks of Fire Mastery causes your next Fire Blast to apply Living Bomb at 150% effectiveness. When this Living Bomb explodes, reduce the cooldown of Phoenix Flames by 10 seconds. Frost: Reaching maximum stacks of Fire Mastery causes your next Ice Lance to apply Living Bomb at 150% effectiveness. When this Living Bomb explodes, gain Brain Freeze.

Capstone ability

Flash Freezeburn: Frostfire Empowerment grants you the maximum benefit of Frostfire Mastery and refreshes its duration. Activating Combustion or Icy Veins grants you Frostfire Empowerment.

8) Priest: Oracle (Discipline and Holy specs)

The Oracle Hero Talents for World of Warcraft War Within offer something for both styles of healers: Discipline and Holy. This is a build I was really interested in seeing. I wanted to see if it could blend the two styles with some really cool abilities. Despite the number of select talents (four), I’m pretty happy with how this Hero Talent list came out.

Their primary ability as Oracles in World of Warcraft War Within is Premonition. It has a one-minute-long cooldown and replaces Power Infusion, which I’m not sure how I feel about. It lets you divine the future and gain access to a spell that gives you an advantage against your current fate.

Solace: Increases your target’s healing received by 25% for 10 seconds.
Insight: Increases your target’s magic damage dealt by 10% for 10 seconds.
Glory: Increases your target’s physical damage dealt by 10% for 10 seconds.

Row one talents

Preventative Measures: Increases the damage absorbed by Power Word: Shield by 10% and the healing done by Prayer of Mending by 10%.
Preemptive Care: Increases the duration of Atonement by one second and increases the duration of Renew by three seconds.
Waste No Time or Miraculous Recovery
Waste No Time: Premonition causes your next Power Word: Radiance, heal, or Prayer of Mending to be instant cast and cost 15% less mana.
Miraculous Recovery: Reduces the cooldown of Power Word: Life by three seconds and allows it to be usable on targets at 50% health.

Row two talents

Assured Safety: Power Word: Shield applies one stack of Prayer of Mending to your target, and Prayer of Mending casts apply a Power Word: Shield to your target at 20% effectiveness.
Prompt Deliverance or Divine Feathers
Prompt Deliverance: Reduces the cooldown of Purify by 2 seconds.
Divine Feathers: When an ally walks through your Angelic Feather, you are also granted 100% of its effect.
Foreseen Circumstances: Pain Suppression reduce damage taken by an additional 10%. Guardian Spirit lasts an additional two seconds.

Row three talents

Grand Reveal: When your Power Word: Shield is fully absorbed, or your Prayer of Mending heals, gain a stack of Grand Reveal. At 150 stacks, gain an additional charge of Premonition.
Perfect Vision or Versatile Divinations
Perfect Vision: Reduces the cooldown of Premonition by 10 seconds.
Versatile Divinations: Premonition can now trigger the Brilliance and Urgency effects. Brilliance: Restores 5% of your target’s maximum mana. Urgency: Increases your target’s Haste by 12% for 10 seconds.
Divine Providence or Fatebender
Divine Providence: Increases the duration of your Premonition effects by two seconds.
Fatebender: Premonition’s effect is increased by 30% if the divined spell is different than the previous Premonition.

Capstone ability

Clairvoyance: Premonition has a low chance to grant you Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance grants your target and two nearby allies all the effects of Premonition at 100% effectiveness.

9) Deathbringer (Frost/Blood)

Deathbringers are the Frost/Blood players in the upcoming Hero Talent system. According to Blizzard, they are inspired by Deathbringer Saurfang from the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and are the emissaries of death.

They aim to rend both the body and soul of their targets into pieces, with incredible power and no mercy. One of the big goals is to stack a debuff as high as possible, which is known as Reaper’s Mark.

This is the primary ability of the talent tree, and takes 2 Runes to activate, and has a 1 minute cooldown. Players use it to deal Shadowfrost damage and apply a stack of Reaper’s Mark.

Each time you deal Shadow or Frost Damage, you add a stack of this debuff. After 12 seconds, or you reach 40 stacks, it will explode, and deal more damage for each stack you have.

It travels to an unmarked enemy nearby, if the target dies or explodes below 35% health, when there are no enemies to travel to. The explosion cannot occur again on a target for another 3 minutes. It should be really interesting to see how players set up rotations to hit that 40 stacks as fast as possible.

Row One Talents

Wave of Souls: Reaper’s Mark unleashes a dark wave towards your target and back, dealing Shadowfrost damage both ways to all enemies caught in its path. Critical Strikes of this ability cause enemies to take 5% increased Shadowfrost damage for 15s, stacking up to 2 times, and the wave back is always a critical strike.
Blood Fever: Blood: Your Blood Plague has a chance to deal 30% increased damage as Shadowfrost. Frost: Your Frost Fever has a chance to deal 30% increased damage as Shadowfrost.
Bind in Darkness: Shadowfrost damage applies double stacks to Reaper’s Mark and quadruple stacks when it is a critical strike. Frost: Rime empowered Howling Blast deals Shadowfrost damage. Blood: Blood Boil deals Shadowfrost damage.

Row Two Talents

Shuddering Soul: Reaper’s Mark explosion causes a piece of the target’s soul to tear out and spiral outwards, dealing 10% of the explosion’s damage to enemies it passes through. Enemies hit by this effect deal 5% reduced physical damage to you for 10s.
Grim Reaper: Reaper’s Mark explosion deals up to 30% increased damage based on your target’s missing health and applies Soul Reaper to targets below 35% health.
Death’s Bargain or Rune Carved Plates
Death’s Bargain: When you suffer a damaging effect equal to 25% of your maximum health, you instantly cast Death Pact at 50% effectiveness. May only occur every 2 minutes. When a Reaper’s Mark explodes, the cooldowns of this effect and Death Pact are reduced by 5s.
Rune Carved Plates: Each Rune spent reduces the magic damage you take by 2% and each Rune generated reduces the physical damage you take by 2% for 5s, up to 5 times.

Row Three Talents

Swift End or Painful Death
Swift End: Reaper’s Mark cost is reduced by 1 Rune and its cooldown is reduced by 50%.
Painful Death: Reaper’s Mark now explodes at 50 stacks and the first scythe of Exterminate has a 100% increased chance to apply Reaper’s Mark.
Dark Talons or Wither Away
Dark Talons: When Icy Talons is active, your abilities that spend Runic Power deal Shadowfrost damage. Blood: Marrowrend and Heart Strike have a 20% chance to increase the maximum stacks of an active Icy Talons by 1, up to 2 times. Frost: Consuming Killing Machine or Rime have a 20% chance to increase the maximum stacks of an active Icy Talons by 1, up to 2 times.
Wither Away: Blood: Blood Plague deals its damage in half the duration and the second scythe of Exterminate applies Blood Plague. Frost: Frost Fever deals its damage in half the duration and the second scythe of Exterminate applies Frost Fever.
Death’s Messenger or Expelling Shield
Death’s Messenger: Reduces the cooldowns of Lichborne and Raise Dead by 30 seconds.
Expelling Shield: When an enemy deals direct damage to your Anti-Magic Shell, their cast speed is reduced by 10% for 6s.

Capstone Ability

Exterminate: After Reaper’s mark explodes, your next Marrowrend (Blood) or Obliterate (Frost) costs no Rune and summons 2 scythes to strike your enemies. The first scythe strikes your target for physical damage and has a 15% chance to apply Reaper’s Mark, the second scythe strikes all enemies around your target for Shadowfrost damage.

10) Pack Leader (Survival/Beast Mastery)

Inspired by noted Horde hero Rexxar, the Pack Leader combines the essence of the Survival and Beast Mastery tree into one violent combination.

Blizzard describes it as an adaptive ranger who favors using explosives, animal venom, and coordinated attacks with their ally. While personally, I don’t play Hunter very much, I like what’s going on here.

The primary ability for this Hero Talent build in World of Warcraft The War Within is Vicious Hunt. This is a very simple ability that makes Kill Command has you prepare an attack alongside your pet, dealing additional physical damage with the next Kill Command you use.

The way Hunters team up with their pets using this Hero Talent build is really fascinating, and it might be the one I go with once The War Within goes live later this year. Here’s what they have in terms of talents.

Row One Talents

Pack Coordination: Attacking with Vicious Hunt instructs your pet to strike with their basic attack alongside your next Barbed Shot (Beast Mastery) , Raptor STrike, or Mongoose Bite (Survival).
Howl of the Pack: Your pet’s Basic Attack critical strikes increase your critical strike damage by 5% for 6 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.
Wild Attacks: Every third pet Basic Attack is a guaranteed critical strike, with damage further increased by critical strike chance.

Row Two Talents

Den Recovery: Aspect of the Turtle, Survival of the Fittest, and Mend Pet heal the target for 20% of maximum health over 4 seconds. Duration increased by 1 second when healing a target under 50% maximum health.
Tireless Hunt or Cornered Prey
Tireless Hunt: Aspect of the Cheetah now increases movement speed by 15% for another 8 seconds.
Cornered Prey: Disengage increases the range of all your attacks by 5 yards for 5 seconds.
Frenzied Tear: Your pet’s Basic Attack has a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of Kill Command and cause Kill Command to strike a second time for 30% of normal damage.

Row Three Talents

Covering Fire or Scattered Prey
Covering Fire: Beast Mastery: Kill Command increases the duration of Beast Cleave by 1 second. Survival: Wildfire Bomb reduces the cooldown of Carve or Butchery by 2 seconds.
Scattered Prey: Beast Mastery: Multi-Shot increases the damage of your next Multi-Shot by 25%. Survival: Carve or Butchery increases the damage of your next Carve or Butchery by 25%.
Cull the Herd: Kill Shot deals an additional 30% damage over 5 seconds and increases the bleed damage you and your pet deal to the target by 25%.
Furious Assault or Beast of Opportunity
Furious Assault: Beast Mastery: Consuming Frenzied Tear has a 50% chance to reset the cooldown of Barbed Shot and deal 30% additional damage. Survival: Consuming Frenzied Tear has a 50% chance to make your next Raptor Strike or Mongoose Bite free and deal 30% additional damage.

Capstone Ability

Pack Assault: Vicious Hunt and Pack Coordination now stack and apply twice and are always active during Call of the Wild (Beast Mastery) or Coordinated Assault (Survival).

11) Sunfury (Fire/Arcane)

Ahh, Mage talents - my very first level 60 in World of Warcraft. Sunfury is a class built around a particular spellcasting Hero/Villain in the lore: Kael’thas Sunstrider. Fans will remember him from the Burning Crusade expansion, where he was a major boss battle - or perhaps the rematch later on in the game.

According to Blizzard, Sunfury Mages are “aided in battle by a mighty Spellfire phoenix, further enhancing their most devastating incantations.” If you’ve ever wanted to really feel like the mighty Kael’thas Sunstrider, this is for you. While I haven’t gone hands-on with it yet, the descriptions and abilities have me very excited. Its primary ability is Spellfire Spheres. For each sphere you have in play, your spell damage goes up by 2%, and you can stack up to 3.

Every 6 times you consume Hot Streak, you’ll conjure one of these spheres. If you’re out of combat, you slowly conjure Spellfire Spheres over time as well, so it’s not going to be as frustrating to build those as it sounds. The Spellfire Phoenix can also consume them to cast powerful spells, so it’s worth building up your hovering, magical spheres.

The most important ability, for my money, is Invocation: Arcane Phoenix. Being able to summon a powerful ally that can do insane things while active is nothing to sneeze at. Then you add the final ability, Memory of Al’ar, which benefits having that Phoenix as well. It’s such an amazing kit, I think.

Row One Talents

Mana Addiction: Consuming Hot Streak grants you 2% Haste for 10s. Stacks up to 10 times. Multiple instances may overlap.
Invocation: Arcane Phoenix: When you cast Combustion, summon an Arcane Phoenix to aid you in battle. It casts random Arcane and Fire spells and will consume each of your Spellfire Spheres to cast an exceptional spell.
Burden of Power: Conjuring a Spellfire Sphere increases the damage of your next Pyroblast by 30% or your next Flamestrike by 60%.

Row Two Talents

Merely a Setback: Your Flame Barrier now grants 5% avoidance while active and 5% leech for 5s when it breaks or expires.
Lessons in Debilitation or Gravity Lapse
Lessons in Debilitation: Your Arcane Phoenix now has a chance to cast Gravity Lapse or Supernova as exceptional spells and will periodically Spellsteal buffs from nearby enemies.
Gravity Lapse (Arcane, Frost, and Fire): The snap of your fingers warps the gravity around your target and two other nearby enemies, suspending them in the air for 3s. Upon landing, nearby enemies take Arcane damage.
Glorious Incandescence: Consuming Burden of Power causes your next Phoenix Flames to call down a storm of 8 Meteorites on its target. Each Meteorite’s impact reduces the cooldown of Fire Blast by 0.5s.

Row Three Talents

Overflowing Power or Sunfury Execution:
Overflowing Power: When you cast Combustion its duration is extended by 0.5s for each Spellfire Sphere you have, up to 2.5s.
Sunfury Execution: Searing Touch damage bonus threshold increased to 35%. Searching Touch deals 175% increased damage and is a guaranteed Critical Strike when the target is below 30% health.
Codex of the Sunstriders: Summoning your Arcane Phoenix grants you a Spellfire Sphere. Your Arcane Phoenix can now cast Greater Pyroblast and Arcane Surge when casting an exceptional spell.
Rondurmancy or Ignite the Future:
Rondurmancy: Spellfire Spheres can now stack up to 5 times.
Ignite the Future: Generating a Spellfire Sphere while your Phoenix is active causes it to cast an exceptional spell.

Capstone Ability

Memory of Al’ar: While your Arcane Phoenix is active, you gain twice as many stacks of Mana Addiction. When your Arcane Phoenix expires, it empowers you, granting Hyperthermia for 3s, plus an additional 0.5s for each exceptional spell it had cast. Hyperthermia: Pyrobalst and Flamestrike have no cast time and are guaranteed to critically strike.

12) Archon (Holy/Shadow)

At this time, I’m honestly not sure which Priest the Archon is supposed to be based on. The overall build is connected to someone who is a master of both shadow magic and holy magic at the highest level. Blizzard had this to say about the class when they revealed it would be in Public Alpha 3:

“Archons are highly devout and deeply connected to the Light and Shadow. Archons can be blessed from higher beings to enter into an ascended state, becoming an ultimate version of themselves.”

The class appears to be built around the Halo spell, as that’s what influences the primary talent, Power Surge. When you cast Halo, it also causes you to create a Halo around you at 100% effectiveness every 5s for 10s. The radius also grows by 10 yards. While I don’t think this is the most interesting set of powers, it does seem like it could be a solid pick, especially for Holy Priests.

Row One Talents

Perfected Form: Holy: Your healing done is increased by 10% while Apotheosis is active and for 20s after you cast Holy Word: Salvation. Shadow: Your damage dealt is increased by 10% while Dark Ascension is active and by 15% while Voidform is active.
Resonant Energy: Holy: Allies healed by your Halo receive 10% increased healing from you for 5. Shadow: Enemies damaged by your Halo take 10% increased damage from you for 5s.
Manifested Power: Creating a Halo grants Surge of Light (Holy) or Insanity (Shadow).

Row Two Talents

Shock Pulse or Incessant Screams:
Shock Pulse: Halo damage reduces enemy movement speed by 25% for 5s, stacking up to 2 times.
Incessant Screams: Psychic Scream creates an image of you at your location. After 4s, the image will let you a psychic scream.
Word of Supremacy or Heightened Alteration:
Word of Supremacy: Power Word: Fortitude grants you an additional 5% stamina.
Heightened Alteration: Holy: Increases the duration of Spirit of Redemption by 5s. Shadow: Increases the duration of Dispersion by 2s.
Empowered Surges: Holy: Increases the healing done by Flash Heals affected by Surge of Light by 30%. Shadow: Increases the damage done by Mind Flay: Insanity and Mind Spike Insanity by 25%.
Energy Compression or Sustained Potency:
Energy Compression: Halo damage and healing is increased by 30%.
Sustained Potency: Holy: Creating a Halo extends the duration of Apotheosis by 1s. If Apotheosis is not active up to 6s is stored and applied the next time you gain Apotheosis. Shadow: Creating a Halo extends the duration of Dark Ascension or Voidform by 1. If Dark Ascension or Voidform are not active up to 6s is stored and applied the next time you gain Dark Ascension or Voidform.
Energy Cycle: Holy: Consuming Surge of Light reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Sanctify by 4s. Shadow: Consuming Surge of Insanity has a 100% chance to conjure Shadowy Apparitions.

Capstone Ability

Divine Halo: Halo now centers around you and returns to you after it reaches its maximum distance, healing allies, and damaging enemies each time it passes through them.

13) Fatebound Rogue (Assassination/Outlaw)

Fatebound Rogue is a sort of interesting design. An Assassination/Outlaw Hero, Blizzard has not yet said what this is based on, that we’ve seen. However, we do know what the gameplay design is. However, in the WoW War Within patch notes, it was described as:

“The Fatebound eagerly act as the Hand of Fate, sowing chaos into well-laid plans. Guided by the whims of a flipped Fatebound Coin, they deliver the ending their enemies are destined for; the ending they deserve.”

The Hero Talents are built around a coin that they flip when they use a damaging move that consumes 5 or more combo points - Hand of Fate the passive is called. If it lands on Heads, the damage of your attacks goes up by 5% until you flip Tails.

If it lands on Tails, you deal Cosmic damage to the targets who were hit. Each effect is also increased by 20% each time the Fatebound Coin flip matches the previous flip. The potential to do insane damage is there. There are ways to increase your odds of a flip matching over and over. Though these could change in the future, there’s at least one talent that guarantees a match, but in certain conditions.

In general, I like that this is more of a primarily passive tree because let’s be honest: Rogues have so much to keep track of and so many buttons. I like that this doesn’t add a ton of abilities. I am worried that it’s going to be too RNG focused, and just be another RNG thing that Rogues have that players hate. We’ll just have to see!

Row One Talents

Chosen’s Revelry or Tempted Fate:
Chosen’s Revelry: Leech increased by 0.5% for each time your Fatebound Coin has flipped the same face in a row.
Tempted Fate: You have a chance equal to your critical strike chance to absorb 10% of any damage taken, up to a maximum chance of 40%.
Mean Streak: Fatebound Coins flipped by Envenom multiple times in a row are 33% more likely to match the same outcome as the last flip.
Inexorable March or Death’s Arrival:
Inexorable March: You cannot be slowed below 70% of normal movement speed while your Fatebound Coin flips have an active streak of at least 2 flips matching the same face.
Death’s Arrival: Shadowstep may be used a second time within 3s with no cooldown.

Row Two Talents

Deal Fate: Mutilate and Fan of Knives generate an additional combo point when they trigger Seal Fate.
Edge Case: Activating Deathmark causes your next Fatebound Coin flip to land on its edge, counting as both Heads and Tails.
Threads of Fate: Envenom critical strikes duplicate 20% of their damage to 2 additional nearby enemies. If there are no additional nearby targets, duplicate 20% to the primary target instead.

Row Three Talents

Delivered Doom: Damage dealt when your Fatebound Coin flips tails is increased by 35% when flipped by Envenom or Rupture.
Inevitability or Destiny Defined:
Inevitability: Cold Blood now benefits the next 2 abilities but only applies to Envenom Fatebound Coins flipped by these abilities are guaranteed to match the same face as the last flip.
Destiny Defined: Weapon poisons have a 5% increased application chance and your Fatebound Coins flipped have an additional 5% chance to match the same face as the last flip.
Double Jeopardy: Your first Fatebound Coin flip after breaking Stealth flips two coins that are guaranteed to match the same face.

Capstone Ability

Fateful Ending: When your Fatebound Coin flips the same face for the seventh time in a row, the lucky coin grants 1% increase to all primary, secondary, and tertiary stats until you leave combat for 10s.

14) Rider of the Apocalypse (Frost/Unholy Death Knights)

When it comes down to the concept and theming of a Hero Talent build in WoW The War Within, Rider of the Apocalypse nails it better than any I’ve seen so far. This particular build is for Frost/Unholy Death Knights and is clearly themed after the Four Horsemen who served under Kel’thuzad and the Lich King. It features the current horsemen - Migraine, Whitemane, Trollbane, and Nazgrim.

The primary ability of this class is very much RNG-based, which is where players are likely going to find the greatest amount of frustration. It’s not currently known how frequently these riders will show up or anything. It comes from the primary passive ability, Rider’s Champion. When you spend Runes, you have a chance to summon one of the below horsemen for 10 seconds:

Mograine: Casts Death and Decay at his location that follows his position.
Whitemane: Casts Undeath on your target, dealing Shadowfrost damage per stack every 3s for 24s. Each time Undeath deals damage, it gains a stack. Cannot be Refreshed.
Trollbane: Casts Chains of Ice on your target, slowing their movement speed by 70% and increasing the damage they take from you by 5% for 8s.
Nazgrim: While Nazgrim is active, you gain Apocalyptic Conquest, increasing your strength by 5%.

I think this class has some incredible features (ride your Deathcharger in combat? Does that mean we get mounted combat?), but I also have some worries. Depending on how this all gets balanced, it’s either going to be incredibly lackluster, or a complete game-changer. I can’t wait to see which it is.

Row One Talents

On a Paler Horse or Death Charge:
On a Paler Horse: While outdoors, you are able to mount your Acherus Deathcharger in combat.
Death Charge: Call upon your Death Charger to break free of movement impairment effects. For 10s, while upon your Death Charger, your movement speed is increased by 100%, you cannot be slowed, and you are immune to forced movement effects and knockbacks.
Mograine’s Might: Your damage is increased by 5% and you gain the benefits of your Death and Decay while inside Mograine’s Death and Decay.
Horseman’s Aid or Pact of the Apocalypse:
Horseman’s Aid: While at your aid, the Horsemen will occasionally cast Anti-Magic Shell on you and themselves at 80% effectiveness. You may only benefit from this effect every 45s.
Pact of the Apocalypse: When you take damage, 5% of the damage is redirected to each active Horseman.

Row Two Talents

Whitemane’s Famine: When Obliterate (Frost) / Scourge Strike (Unholy) damages an enemy affected by Undeath, it gains a stack and infects another nearby enemy.
Nazgrim’s Conquest: If an enemy dies while Nazgrim is active, the strength of the Apocalyptic Conquest is increased by 3%. Additionally, each Rune you spend increases its value by 1%.
Trollbane’s Icy Fury: When you Obliterate or Scourge STrike a target affected by Trollbane’s Chains of Ice, it shatters, dealing Shadowfrost damage to nearby enemies and slows them by 40% for 4s.

Row Three Talents

Hungering Thirst: The damage of your diseases, Frost STrike, and Death Coil are increased by 15%.
Fury of the Horsemen or A Feast of Souls:
Fury of the Horsemen: Every 50 Runic Power you spend extends the duration of the Horsemen’s aid in combat by 1s, up to 5s.
A Feast of Souls: While you have 2 or more Horsemen aiding you, your Runic Power spending abilities deal 20% increased damage and have 10% chance to refund a Rune.
Mawsworn Menace: The cooldown of your Horn of Winter and Unholy Blight is reduced by 15s and Death and Decay by 10s.

Capstone Ability:

Apocalypse Now: Army of the Dead and Frostwyrm’s Fury call upon all 4 Horsemen to aid you for 20s.

15) Voidweaver (Shadow/Discipline Priests)

Are you ready for some Cosmic Horror? That’s kind of the vibe I’m getting here. Frankly, Horror and Insanity are themes for Shadow Priests and have been for a while now. This new set of Hero Talents, offered to Shadow and Discipline Priests, in a way reminds me of some of the Sarkareth stuff from Aberrus.

It’s also likely very linked to Xal’Atath, but we’ll just have to wait and see how that pans out. However, while I’m very excited to see new stuff for Priests, there are some issues. Though Blizzard is working on it, the fact that Void Torrent is required felt weird, and there is also the rotation/timing of using some of these powers.

It’s an interesting list of powers, but I’m not sure how much lore flavor it’s going to have. If it’s powerful and good, that may be enough for some people. If these are supposed to be “Hero Talents”, they need to feel heroic and feel directly linked to some other heroic/villainous figure from the game’s past.

The primary ability is Entropic Rift. It makes Shadow Crash create an Entropic Rift that follows an enemy for 8s. Enemies caught in the path take Shadow damage (80% of Spell power) every 1s while within the reach of the spell.

Row One Talents

No Escape or Dark Energy:
No Escape: Entropic Rift slows enemies by up to 80%, increased the closer they are to its center.
Dark Energy: Void Torrent can be used while moving. While Entropic Void is active, you move 20% faster.
Void Blast: Entropic Rift upgrades Mind Blast into VOid Blast while it is active. Void Blast sends a blast of cosmic void energy at the enemy, causing (228% of Spell power) Shadow damage. For Shadow players, it generates 6 Insanity.
Inner Quietus: Shadow crash deals 400% additional damage to its primary target.

Row Two Talents

Devour Matter: Shadow Word: Death consumes absorb shields from your target, dealing up to 300% extra damage to them and granting you 5 Insanity if a shield was present.
Void Empowerment: Summoning an Entropic Rift grants you 1 charge of Mind Devourer.
Depth of Shadows or Voidwrath:
Depth of Shadows: Shadow Word: Death has a high chance to summon a Shadowfiend for 5s when damaging targets below 20% health.
Voidwrath: Transform your Shadowfiend into a Voidwraith that casts Void Flay, dealing up to 50% additional damage, dealing more damage to higher health enemies.

Row Three Talents

Voidheart: While Entropic Rift is active, your Shadow damage is increased by 10%.
Void Infusion: Void Blast generates 100% additional Insanity.
Void Leech or Embrace the Shadow:
Void Leech: Every 2s siphon an amount equal to 3% of your health from a nearby ally if they are higher health than you.
Embrace the Shadow: You absorb 3% of all magical damage taken. Absorbing Shadow damage heals you for 100% of the amount absorbed.

Capstone Ability

Collapsing Void: Each time you cast Devouring Plague, Entropic Rift is empowered, increasing its damage and size by 20%. After Entropic Rift ends, it collapses and pulls enemies within 15 yards, dealing (550% of Spell power) Shadow damage split amongst them.

16) Fel-Scarred (Havoc & Vengeance)

Fel-Scarred is one of the two Hero Talent loadouts for Demon Hunters. Since they have two trees - Havoc & Vengeance - both trees focus on these trees! It would be weird to do it any other way. While Aldrachi Reaver is more about melee damage, this one is built around the power of Metamorphosis, and enhancing various Fel-powers that the Demon Hunter uses.

This particular build is really interesting to me - I feel like it could be an amazing tank tree, as well as a dps choice. It feels better than Aldrachi Reaver in almost every way. It also is closer linked to the Demon Hunter class/lore. Blizzard described it as:

“Fel-Scarred Demon Hunters embrace the monster within! Blasts of devastating Fel fire are unleashed while in demon form, and activating Metamorphosis greatly empowers additional Fel-themed abilities. The Fel-Scarred endure a pain that bubbles just beneath the surface, granting increased maximum Fury and a portion of their demon form bonuses at all times.”

Their primary ability is Demonsurge, which makes Metamorphosis now also increase current/maximum health by 5%, and Armor by 20%. When Demon Form is active, the first cast of each empowered ability induces a Demonsurge, which makes you explode with Fel energy, dealing Fire damage (100% of Attack power) to nearby enemies. That sounds incredible, honestly.

Row One Talents

Wave of Debilitation or Pursuit of Angriness:
Wave of Debilitation: Chaos Nova slows enemies by 60% and reduces attack and cast speed by 15% for 5s after its stun fades.
Pursuit of Angriness: Movement speed increased by 1% per 10 Fury.
Focused Hatred: Demonsurge deals 35% increased damage when it strikes a single target.
Set Fire to the Pain or Improved Soul Rending:
Set Fire to the Pain: 5% of all non-Fire damage taken is instead taken as Fire damage over 6s. Fire damage taken reduced by 10%.
Improved Soul Rending: Leech granted by Soul Rending increased by 2% and an additional 2% while Metamorphosis is active.

Row Two Talents

Burning Blades: Your blades burn with Fel energy, causing your Chaos Strike, Throw Glaive, and auto-attacks to deal an additional 10% damage as Fire over 6s.
Violent Transformation: When you activate Metamorphosis, the cooldowns of your Sigil of Flame and Immolation Aura are immediately reset.
Enduring Torment: The effects of your demon form persist outside of it in a weakened state, increasing Chaos Strike and Blade Dance damage by 5% and Haste by 3%.

Row Three Talents

Untethered Fury: Maximum Fury increased by 50.
Student of Suffering or Flamebound:
Student of Suffering: Sigil of Flame applies Student of Suffering to you, increasing Mastery and granting 5 Fury every 2s for 8s.
Flamebound: Immolation Aura has a 2-yard increased radius and 30% increased critical strike damage bonus.
Monster Rising: Agility increased by 5% while not in Demon Form.

Capstone Ability

Demonic Intensity: Activating Metamorphosis greatly empowers Eye Beam, Immolation Aura, and Sigil of Flame. Demonsurge damage is increased by 10% for each time it was previously triggered while your demon form is active.

17) Sentinel (Marksmanship and Survival Hunters)

Sentinel is another one of the Hunter Hero Talent loadouts, this time for Marksmanship and Survival players. While it doesn’t appear to be designed after a particular Night Elf, it does seem to feel like it’s designed after their Sentinel Army. I could definitely see that being the case. However, I am pretty interested in what’s on offer.

Part of me feels like it’s more Survival-oriented than Marksmanship, but Marksman Hunters do have a lot to love about the build either way. It just means they don’t have a bunch more buttons to press, as their best traits are Passive buffs to their overall damage.

This particular Hero Talent tree is set up around the passive ability Sentinel - which, while not feeling very original, being the same name as the build, it’s a great skill. It makes your attacks have a chance to apply Sentinel on the target, which can stack up to 10 times. After you get to at least 3 stacks, there’s a chance it will trigger an implosion. This makes a stack of the debuff be consumed every second to deal Arcane damage (39.15% of Attack power).

It sounds like this will probably happen frequently, and it’s reported that the debuff lasts for a very long time, so it’s not like you’re going to need to worry about it falling off too early. This is an interesting tree for Hunters, and it leads me to feel more conflicted than ever - I don’t know which Hero Talent tree I like the most for this class.

Row One Talents

Don’t Look Back: Each time Sentinel deals damage to an enemy, you gain an absorb shield equal to 1% of your maximum health, up to 10%.
Extrapolated Shots: When you apply Sentinel to a target not affected by Sentinel, you apply 1 additional stack.
Sentinel Precision: Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite, and Wildfire Bomb deal 10% increased damage.

Row Two Talents

Release and Reload: When you apply Sentinel on a target, you have a 15% chance to apply a second stack.
Catch Out or Sideline:
Catch Out: When a target affected by Sentinel deals damage to you, they are rooted for 3s. May only occur every 1m per target.
Sideline: When Sentinel starts dealing damage, the target is snared by 40% for 3s.
Invigorating Pulse: Each time Sentinel deals damage to an enemy, it has an up to 15% chance to generate 5 Focus.

Row Three Talents

Sentinel Watch or Eyes Closed:
Sentinel Watch: Whenever a sentinel deals damage, the cooldown of Coordinated Assault is reduced by 1s, up to 15s.
Eyes Closed: For 8s after activating Coordinated Assault, all abilities are guaranteed to apply Sentinel.
Symphonic Arsenal: Multi-Shot, Carve, and Butchery cause any target affected by Sentinel to explode, dealing Arcane damage up to 6 targets within 8 yards.
Overwatch or Crescent Steel:
Overwatch: All Sentinel debuffs implode when a target affected by more than 3 stacks of your Sentinel falls below 20% health.
Crescent Steel: Targets you damage below 20% health gain a stack of Sentinel every 3s.

Capstone Ability

Lunar Storm: Every 15 seconds, your next Wildfire Bomb summons a celestial owl that conjures a 10-yard radius Lunar STorm at the target’s location for 8s. An enemy affected by Sentinel within your Lunar STorm gets struck for (75% of Attack power) Arcane damage every 0.4s. Any target struck by this effect takes 10% increased damage from you and your pet for 8s. (15s cooldown)

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