Big new World of Warcraft Midnight class tuning patch is bad news for Warriors and Mages, but makes healers more deadly

Blizzard has a big round of class tuning set for its next World of Warcraft patch, targeting “overperforming outliers” while also buffing up a few struggling specs “to ensure all feel viable in all forms of content.” The new WoW Midnight update will arrive with weekly maintenance on Tuesday February 17, so you’ve got a few days to prepare for the meta shift and make sure you know what’s coming. All healers are getting a damage buff across the board as they’ve been hitting less hard than intended, but Frost Mages and Arms Warriors are likely to be among those counting their wounds.

This latest World of Warcraft update is a pretty significant round of adjustments, with a long list of buffs and nerfs across the MMORPG’s roster, but Blizzard is mostly keeping the numbers relatively gentle (with a few exceptions). Lots of classes see a small damage increase or decrease across their entire skillset, in some cases compensated by individual skills being pushed back in the other direction. You’ll also spot quite a few changes to the way damage scales with your level, so keep that in mind when reading the patch notes.

Arms Warriors are going to be particularly sad here, as they’ve been hit with some pretty heavy damage nerfs, particularly targeting bonus effects like Overpowering Finish and Mass Execution. A big reduction in the benefits of the Demolish and Cut to the Bone hero talents for Colossus will also hurt Arms and Protection specs, while Fury Warriors lose some of Reap the Storm’s chance to trigger. In PvP specifically, Arms Warriors see a 15% damage boost across the board, but a 60% reduction for Slam specifically, bringing an end to its dominance.

Frost Mage is also under the microscope. Blizzard is shifting damage out of the baseline skills and into hero talents, so you’ll need to invest in Frostfire or Spellslinger to compensate for the losses to Shatter, Blizzard, Frostbolt, and Frozen Orb. Winter’s End gets a particularly vicious 75% damage reduction, determined to be “providing too much benefit to specific builds and playstyles.” The area-of-effect damage provided by Frostfire has also been lowered. Arcane Mage suffers damage reductions as well, while a heavy nerf to Arcane Phoenix in PvP lands on Fire Mages.

Unholy Death Knight has been doing “more damage than intended,” specifically with the damage over time from diseases, so they’ll be facing reductions to Virulent Plague, Dread Plague, Pestilence, Epidemic, and Graveyard. To compensate somewhat, both Putrefy and Necromancer’s Cunning are able to trigger Rune of the Apocalypse, and friendly summon Magus of the Dead gets 20% more dangerous.

Holy Paladin is one of the classes that’s facing clashing buffs and nerfs, meaning some math and testing will be on the cards to figure out exactly how hard they’ve been hit. An overarching boost to damage scaling per level is counteracted by nerfs to several skills. Blizzard expects this will lead to “a net neutral change for Judgment and Consecration, a slight buff for Shield of the Righteous and Crusader Strike, and a larger buff for Holy Shock and Hammer of Wrath.” The bonus Light of Dawn from Empyrean Legacy has been heavily punished, however, down to 30% effectiveness from 125%.

Preservation Evoker gets a 6% increase to all healing, and notable reductions to the mana cost of Emerald Blossom, Reversion, and Fire Breath. The Devastation spec, meanwhile, faces a general 4% damage drop across the board, but Blizzard has fixed a bug that was causing Disintegrate damage “to be much lower than intended.” It’ll now hit a whopping 76% harder than before.

Shadow Priest’s Voidform gets a welcome damage buff to make it more useful. Devourer Demon Hunter faces a 4% nerf across the board, while Havoc benefits from a class-wide 5% buff. Resto Druids see some significant buffs to Sunfire, Moonfire, Starsurge, and Wrath, while balance and Feral Specs are boosted ever so slightly with 3% damage increases to all abilities and Feral auto-attacks. I’m not convinced how much that moves the needle, but small tweaks over time are preferable to wild swings back and forth.

Shaman buffs to Brimming with Life, Elemental Warding, and the instant healing effect from Nature’s Guardian will make the class much more durable across the board. For Stormbringer Elemental Shamans, Tempest has been reworked, now dealing 40% more damage to the primary target but 20% less to others nearby. In an attempt to curb one-shot trickery in PvP, the skill suffers a 35% damage nerf against players. Elsewhere, the Ancestor summoned by Farseer Resto Shamans has had its damage significantly cut.

Conversely to the Frost Mage changes, Destruction Warlock sees more of its power poured into the core class with buffs to Rain of Fire, Immolate, Conflagrate, and Incinerate, while its hero talents for both Diabolist’s Ruination and Hellcaller’s Blackened Soul see dramatic damage reductions. For Demonology Warlocks, the demons that are summoned by Dominion of Argus will now hit 45% less hard, with additional nerfs to Demonic Soul and Soul Anathema on the Soul Harvester tree.

Assassination Rogues benefit from damage buffs to Rupture, Fan of Knives, and Caustic Spatter, while Trickster Subtlety Rogues see small nerfs. Monks are another class hit by balancing in both directions, so you’ll want to study the specifics closely, although a significant reduction for the increased healing effect from Mistline in PvP is welcome. Rounding things out for now, Hunters see damage nerfs across the board, but with Rapid Fire’s cooldown reduced to compensate.

This World of Warcraft Midnight class tuning patch is set to arrive on Tuesday February 17 alongside the regular weekly maintenance. While it’s always tough to tell exactly how the meta will land when so many classes have been affected by an update, I’m pleased to see Blizzard trying to find the sweet spot now, so that balance is in the best place possible when Midnight launches in full on Monday March 2.