HUGE NERFS & BUFFS - 11.0.5 Class Tuning Guide
Patch 11.0.5 has brought a series of class adjustments aimed at rebalancing World of Warcraft's PvE and PvP environments. This guide provides an overview of the changes, focusing on significant buffs and nerfs that affect various classes. The adjustments are designed to address overperformance and underperformance issues, thereby ensuring a more balanced gameplay experience.
Class Changes
Death Knight
Blood Specialization:
Buffs: Abilities such as Heart Strike, Blood Plague, Death Strike, and Blood Boil see damage increases between 10% and 20%. These changes aim to enhance the Blood Death Knight's threat management and damage output.
Talent Adjustments: The San'layn talent receives a buff, increasing the effectiveness of the Gift of the San'layn window, which could shift player preference from Deathbringer to San'layn.
Blood
Blood Boil damage increased by 15%.
Heart Strike damage increased by 20%.
Blood Plague damage increased by 10%.
Death Strike damage increased by 20%.
San’layn
Developers’ notes: We are looking to increase the effectiveness of the Gift of San’layn window due to the reduced uptime after the patch 11.0.5 changes.
Vampiric Strike proc chance increased to 35% (was 25%).
Essence of the Blood Queen duration increased to 25 seconds (was 20 seconds).
Gift of the San’layn increases the effectiveness of Essence of the Blood Queen by 200% (was 150%).
Druid
Balance Specialization:
Buffs: Abilities including Starfall, Starsurge, Starfire, and Wrath receive damage increases, with Shooting Stars and Crashing Stars seeing a 20% boost.
Nerfs: New Moon and Half Moon have their damage reduced by 5%, and Sunseeker mushrooms grow less often.
Objective: These changes strive to balance single-target and AoE damage, making Balance Druids more competitive in raid and Mythic Plus environments.
Restoration Specialization:
Buffs: Enhanced healing capabilities through increased duration and damage-to-healing transfer rates for several abilities, promoting a hybrid playstyle of healing while dealing damage.
Balance
Developers’ notes: The goals of these changes are to increase single target damage and to even out the power of talents in Balance’s spec tree to provide as much build flexibility to players as possible. We want Power of Goldrinn to be an effective single target pick, and we’d like talents like Touch the Cosmos and Hail of Stars to be more competitive with other options.
Celestial Alignment and Incarnation: Chosen of Elune once again reset at the end of raid encounters.
Starfall damage increased by 6%.
Starsurge damage increased by 8%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
Starfire damage increased by 5%.
Wrath damage increased by 10%.
Shooting Stars and Crashing Stars damage increased by 20%.
Sunseeker Mushrooms grow 12% less often.
Touch the Cosmos chance to proc increased to 15% for Wrath and 22% for Starfire.
Power of Goldrinn’s damage increased by 25%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
Rattle the Stars increases Starfall and Starsurge damage by 8% (down from 10%).
New Moon and Half Moon damage reduced by 5%.
Restoration
Call of the Elder Druid’s duration increased to 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
Dream of Cenarius now causes Wrath and Shred to transfer 100% (was 50%) of their damage done into healing and Starfire and Swipe to transfer 50% of their damage done into healing (was 33%).
Developers’ notes: We’re looking to increase the playability of Dream of Cenarius, as the window for Heart of the Wild is a bit too short to be meaningful and the upside of this talent has not yet been worth it.
Hunter
Beast Mastery Specialization:
Buffs & Nerfs: Single-target abilities face reductions, while AoE skills such as Stomp and Multi-Shot are significantly buffed. These changes aim to balance AoE and single-target performance.
Quality of Life: Adjustments to Explosive Venom and Serpent Sting application enhance ease of use in AoE scenarios.
Marksmanship Specialization:
Adjustments: Dark Ranger abilities receive nerfs to single-target damage, while AoE performance remains stable through compensatory buffs.
Beast Mastery
Developers’ notes: There were some niche situations where players might want to gain Trick Shots or Beast Cleave for more damage from Bleak Powder in single target. Bleak Powder is meant to complement AOE situations, not incentivize the usage of AOE in single target situations.
Dark Ranger: Bleak Powder no longer damages its primary target.
Pack Leader: Frenzied Tear proc chance reduced to 10% (was 20%).
Pack Leader: Vicious Hunt damage reduced by 10%.
Developers’ notes: Beast Mastery is overperforming in single target, and we’d like to reduce its single target while improving its lackluster AOE.
Barbed Shot damage reduced by 25%.
Stomp damage increased by 50%.
Multi-Shot damage increased by 100%.
Explosive Venom now procs at 3 stacks (was 5) and will appropriately apply Serpent Sting to enemies regardless of their distance to the caster.
Marksmanship
Developers’ notes: Dark Ranger is overperforming in single target and we’re looking to reduce it while compensating with some AOE buffs to keep the AOE performance roughly the same.
Dark Ranger: Black Arrow damage reduced by 10%.
Dark Ranger: Bleak Powder damage increased by 25%.
Dark Ranger: Shadow Surge damage increased by 25%.
Developers’ notes: Symphonic Arsenal lost more bite than intended from the removal of Eagletalon’s True Focus.
Sentinel: Symphonic Arsenal damage increased by 15%.
Monk
Mistweaver Specialization:
Buffs: Overall healing increased by 6%, with boosts to Spinning Crane Kick's healing transfer and Rushing Wind Kick damage.
Objective: These changes aim to enhance the effectiveness of Mistweaver Monks by increasing their healing throughput and utility.
Mistweaver
All healing increased by 6%.
Awakened Jadefire now causes Spinning Crane Kick to transfer 110% of damage done (was 90%).
Jadefire Teachings now increases Ancient Teachings by an additional 160% (was 140%).
Rushing Wind Kick’s damage increased by 150% and Rushing Winds now increases Renewing Mist healing by 100% for its duration (was 50%).
Yu’lon’s Whisper healing increased by 400%.
Jade Bond now increases Mastery: Gust of Mist’s healing by 20% (was 60%).
Developers’ notes: We’re excited that the Chi-Ji Mastery build exists and is powerful in the right conditions, but numerically, its output has been above where we’re comfortable. We’re decreasing the effectiveness of this build without breaking the cooldown reduction gameplay to keep the feel the same and compensating baseline to shrink the difference between this high-end output and regular play.
Paladin
Holy Specialization:
Mana Adjustments: Beacon of Virtue and Holy Shock see increased mana costs, encouraging more mindful mana management.
Developers’ notes: Holy Paladins’ mana has been plentiful enough to use Beacon of Virtue more often than we would like throughout a raid encounter. We would like the use of Beacon of Virtue to influence mana decisions more heavily.
Beacon of Virtue now costs 5% base mana (was 4%).
Holy Shock now costs 2.8% base mana (was 2.6%).
Priest
Discipline Specialization:
Buffs: Direct healing abilities receive boosts to aid in scenarios without enemies. Atonement duration is also increased, improving raid performance.
Shadow Specialization:
Buff: Psychic Link damage transfer increased, enhancing AoE capabilities without affecting single-target performance.
Discipline
Developers’ notes: We’re increasing Discipline’s direct healing throughput to help in situations where no enemy target is present to trigger Atonement. We would also like to nudge Discipline’s performance up in raid, particularly for Oracle.
Power Word: Radiance healing increased by 20%.
Flash Heal healing increased by 15%.
Premonition of Piety increases healing done by 20% (was 15%).
Preemptive Care increases Atonement duration by 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
Shadow
Psychic Link now causes direct damage to inflict 30% of damage dealt to targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 25%).
Rogue
Assassination Specialization:
Nerfs: Master Assassin's critical strike chance is slightly reduced, balancing out its burst potential.
Assassination
Master Assassin - Critical Strike Chance granted during effect reduced to 20% (was 25%).
Shaman
Elemental and Enhancement Specializations:
Nerfs: Both specs face reductions in several key abilities to moderate recent overperformance following reworks.
Elemental
Developers’ notes: With all of the changes to Elemental and Enhancement Shaman in patch 11.0.5, some changes were performing beyond our tuning goals. We’re adjusting several talents and abilities to reduce their overall power.
Farseer: Ancestor Chain Lightning damage increased by 40%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Farseer: Ancestor Lava Burst damage increased by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Farseer: Ancestor Elemental Blast damage increased by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Stormbringer: Arc Discharge now grants 1 instant cast Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt (was 2).
Stormbringer: Voltaic Surge now increases Earthquake and Chain Lightning damage by 5% (was 15%).
Echo Chamber now increases the damage of Elemental Overloads by 20% (was 40%).
Ascendance now increases the damage of Elemental Overloads by 100% while active (was 150%).
Preeminence now increases haste by 20% while Ascendance is active (was 25%).
Icefury now increases Frost Shock damage by 200% (was 150%).
Enhancement
Developers’ notes: With all of the changes to Elemental and Enhancement Shaman in patch 11.0.5, some changes were performing beyond our tuning goals. We’re adjusting several talents and abilities to reduce their overall power.
Lightning Bolt damage reduced by 10%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Chain Lightning damage reduced by 10%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Stormbringer: Tempest damage reduced by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Restoration
Farseer: Ancestor Chain Lightning damage increased by 40%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Farseer: Ancestor Lava Burst damage increased by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
Warlock
General Adjustments:
Buffs: All Warlock specs receive significant damage boosts, especially for Affliction and Demonology, aiming to increase competitiveness across PvE and PvP scenarios.
Developers’ notes: We are increasing the throughput of all Warlock specializations to make each more competitive with other classes in both single-target and multi-target situations. In particular, for Demonology this means reverting the reduction in Demonic Core generation to help with their overall mobility. We will continue to monitor the performance of each specialization and make further adjustments where needed.
Affliction
Hellcaller: Wither damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Agony damage increased by 15%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Corruption damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Unstable Affliction damage increased by 20%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Demonology
Dreadstalkers now have a 100% chance to generate a Demonic Core (was 50%).
Grimoire: Felguard damage is now increased by 125% (was 60%).
Hand of Gul’dan damage increased by 25%.
Call Dreadstalkers damage increased by 20%.
Destruction
Hellcaller: Wither damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Chaos Bolt damage increased by 10%.
Immolate damage increased by 25%.
Incinerate damage increased by 20%.
Conflagrate damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Rain of Fire damage increased by 20%.
Warrior
General Adjustments:
Buffs: Key abilities such as Execute and Mortal Strike receive damage increases, enhancing the overall damage output of Warriors in PvE.
All
Execute damage increased by 10%.
Arms
Colossus: Demolish single-target damage increased by 15%.
Slayer: Reap the Storm damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Slayer: Slayer’s Strike damage increased by 15%.
Mortal Strike damage increased by 15%.
Overpower damage increased by 15%.
Dreadnaught damage increased by 15%.
Cleave damage increased by 20%.
Fury
Slayer: Reap the Storm damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Slayer: Slayer’s Strike damage increased by 15%.
Mountain Thane: Lightning Strike damage increased by 30%.
Bloodthirst damage increased by 20%.
Bloodbath damage increased by 20%.
Rampage damage increased by 10%.
Protection
Colossus: Demolish single-target damage increased by 15%.
