Blizzard hands Priest and Warrior big buffs in a new World of Warcraft Midnight class tuning patch

With the first rounds of World of Warcraft Midnight Mythic raiding and Mythic+ dungeons behind us, Blizzard is deploying a fresh balance pass to tackle specs that are missing the mark. After recently facing heavy nerfs, Shadow Priest is back in action with some pretty significant numbers changes, while Arms Warriors get a beefy single-target buff. The new WoW class tuning patch also targets PvP outliers on both ends of the balance spectrum.

“The first couple of days of Mythic raiding and Mythic+ dungeons revealed a few specs performing lower than intended, so we’re nudging them up to help their performance,” World of Warcraft community manager Randy ‘Kaivax’ Jordan writes. The changes here are less far-reaching than what we’ve seen in previous weeks, suggesting that Blizzard is happier with the overall balance of the MMORPG for the time being. However, the affected classes will certainly feel the difference.

Shadow Priests see the most significant adjustments. Shadow Word: Death gets a giant 80% damage buff, with Blizzard noting that it’s been lacking “even in execute range.” The class is also getting an increase to its multi-target output. Shadow Apparition and Void Apparition are both boosted by 25%, Psychic Link’s damage spread has gone up from 20% to 25%, Void Spike from Things from Beyond deals 25% additional damage to secondary targets, and Mind Sear from Void Lashers gets a 25% increase as well.

Arms Warriors, who have gradually been recovering from heavy nerfs coming into the Midnight launch, get some help on the single-target side, with a 20% increase to Execute damage and a 10% buff for Overpower. For Arcane Mages, Sunfury is likewise gaining some extra single-target output. Burden of Power’s damage increase has gone up from its previous 5% to 25% on Arcane Blast and 15% on Arcane Pulse.

Frost Death Knights, BM Hunters, and Survival Hunters all get class-wide 4% increases to all damage dealt. Notably, while this change doesn’t affect PvP for the first two classes, it does for the last one. Feral Druids get an overarching 3% damage buff, but Frantic Frenzy has been lowered by 8% – Blizzard says the intention “is to improve Feral damage in raids, without increasing their damage in Mythic+, which is already competitive.”

That’s all for the PvE side, but for those of you digging into the new PvP season, Jordan says Blizzard has spotted “some similar underperforming specs and a few clearly overperforming specs.” The power of Marksmanship Hunter’s Aimed Shot is lowered, with other damage sources increased, to “keep it feeling powerful while reducing the peaks of its burst.” Restoration Druid has been “struggling to keep up in healing throughput as well as defensively,” so it’s getting big buffs to both aspects.

For Mages, Arcanosphere gets a whopping 250% damage buff alongside the PvE changes, which carry over. Fire Mages have been reduced in power slightly, because their burst during Combustion “has gotten a bit too strong.” Mistweaver Monks “have continued to be a step above other healers this season,” so Blizzard is nerfing their sustained healing and the frequency of their cooldowns.

Jordan notes, “We feel that Windwalker Monks’ burst windows are too difficult to react to, so we’re reducing the damage of Zenith Stomp and Rushing Wind Kick while adding some damage to Fists of Fury, which has felt less impactful this season.” Touch of Karma will now absorb 20% more damage, because it was proving slightly ineffective as a survival tool.

Paladins’ Vengeful Wrath and Blessing of Spellwarding have both been nerfed; the former to reduce burst against low-health targets, the latter because “it was introduced with few counters and works against most specializations, which can feel oppressive to play against.” Holy Paladins are “in a good spot,” but do get some more Eternal Flame healing. Protection is hit hard, with a 10% reduction to all damage in PvP, but Retribution gets “more punch” with PvP buffs to Templar’s Verdict, Final Verdict, and Dawnlight.

Subtlety Rogue “continues to be a strong asset to a team,” but is having some of its burst potential lowered. Shaman gets a 35% Electrocute buff and a 450% Lightning Lasso damage increase – “We’d like it to feel worth fully channeling and trying to interrupt,” Jordan explains. Elemental and Restoration Shaman both get a Farseer-related healing boost, while Enhancement Shaman “is in a good place,” but loses a little burst damage with a Tempest nerf.

Last but not least are Arms and Fury Warriors. The former gets a buff to Battle Stance “to help with mobility against slow and root effects,” and one for Ignore Pain “so that it feels more worthwhile to use while trying to survive.” The latter gets a 20% increase to Execute damage in PvP, but the Bloodthirst damage amplification from Mountain Thane’s Burst of Power has been reigned in, dropping from 35% to just 15%.

This round of World of Warcraft Midnight class balance tuning will go live with the weekly update on Tuesday March 31. That gives you a couple of days to prepare for the changes and figure out if you need to adjust your build or playstyle accordingly.