World of Warcraft Update is Making Changes to Multiple Classes

Ahead of World of Warcraft: Midnight Season 1, Blizzard confirmed that some class and specialization tuning would take place alongside the new season. While most World of Warcraft classes will receive some buffs to their damage, a few changes were made that saw some of the game’s dominant specializations taken down a peg.

With each World of Warcraft major content update, Blizzard has historically taken the time to adjust the damage, healing, and defenses of some classes and specializations. However, this can be a daunting task, as additional classes like Dragonflight‘s Evoker can shake up the balance just by their presence alone. Although no new classes were introduced in World of Warcraft‘s Midnight expansion, the Devourer Demon Hunter specialization was picked as the Demon Hunter’s third spec. The Devourer is a ranged spell-casting DPS that can use a mix of Void magic and fast weapon strikes to overwhelm its foes.

World of Warcraft Kicks Off Midnight Season 1 With Class Buffs and Nerfs

With Midnight set to kick off its opening season of raids, Mythic+ dungeons, and Delves, World of Warcraft announced that a major tuning pass will arrive alongside it. The biggest nerfs that will arrive on Tuesday, March 17, are going to affect the Guardian Druid and Unholy Death Knight specializations the most. Unholy Death Knights will take a 20% blanket damage nerf across their entire kit. Though Epidemic and Virulent Plague will be buffed by 10% and 15%, respectively, the incoming adjustments are still a net loss for the plague-focused Death Knight specialization. By comparison, Blood Death Knights who took the Deathbringer Hero Talent tree are in luck. Deathbringer will receive 20% buffs to Reaper’s Mark, Wave of Souls, and Exterminate. Guardian Druids will also feel the sting, as Moonfire’s damage will be cut down by 10%, and all its ability damage, sans Moonfire, will be nerfed by 20% across the board. Guardian Druids who use the Druid of the Claw Hero Talent tree will also see further nerfs due to several talents being reduced in potency. Restoration Druids will see a 6% nerf across their entire healing kit, as well.

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One of World of Warcraft’s most popular DPS specializations, the Retribution Paladin, saw some single-target buffs for most of its kit. The light-wielding Paladin saw a 30% increase to Final Verdict, along with a 25% buff to its overall melee damage and talents like Crusading Strikes and Templar Strikes. However, this came at the cost of a 12% nerf to Divine Storm, its main area-of-effect (AOE) Holy Power spender. Further adjustments were made to both of the Retribution Paladin’s Hero Talents to compensate for the Divine Storm nerf, as the Herald of the Sun’s Dawnlight and the Templar’s Hammer of Light received damage boosts. No changes were announced for the Paladin’s Holy or Protection specializations. Similarly, the Subtlety Rogue saw nerfs to Black Powder, while some single-target abilities like Shadowstrike and Eviscerate were buffed to compensate.

World of Warcraft’s Apex Talents Will Also Be Adjusted

Alongside the Retribution Paladin’s Light Within and the Guardian Druid’s Wild Guardian talents, some of World of Warcraft‘s new Apex Talents will receive some targeted tuning come March 17. The Preservation Evoker will receive some adjustments to Merithra’s Blessing that affect both Dream Breath and Reversion. The Survival Hunter’s Raptor Swipe apex talent will deal extra single-target damage, and the Protection Warrior’s Phalanx will be rebalanced. Wave of Force will deal 10% more damage at rank 1, while its 5% defense buff will be moved to rank 4. Protection and Fury Warriors will benefit from a 10% damage buff, while Arms Warriors will be 15% more powerful once March 17 arrives. However, Piercing Howl’s cooldown will be tripled to line up with similar effects.

The Shaman class will be buffed across all three of its specializations, and other Hero Talents like the Warlock’s Hellcaller and Soul Harvester will see some of their power redistributed across different perks. Given that World of Warcraft: Midnight is also testing its 12.0.5 update on the public test realm (PTR) as of this writing, further class balance adjustments will arrive over the coming weeks.

World of Warcraft: Midnight Season 1 Class Tuning Update Notes (March 17, 2026)

The first few days of Midnight max-level play have given us data and feedback needed to make our first tuning pass, with the goal of reducing outliers. We will continue to keep a close eye on class balance as both Heroic week and week 1 of the PvP season start, and players continue to gain gear and begin using tier sets.

Classes

Death Knight

• Blood
  • Deathbringer: Reaper’s Mark damage increased by 20%.
  • Deathbringer: Exterminate damage increased by 20%.
  • Deathbringer: Wave of Souls damage increased by 20%.
  • Deathbringer: Deathly Blows now increases the damage of Death Strike by 12% (was 5%).
  • Deathbringer: Bind in Darkness now increases the damage of Blood Boil by 30% (was 10%).
• Unholy
  • All damage reduced by 20%.
  • Epidemic damage increased by 10%.
  • Virulent Plague damage increased by 15%.

Demon Hunter

• Devourer
  • All damage dealt reduced by 4%.
• Havoc
  • All damage increased by 6%.
  • Immolation Aura damage increased by 10%.
  • Burning Wound bonus to Immolation Aura damage reduced to 35% (was 40%).
  • Ragefire damage increased to 35% of Immolation Aura critical damage (was 30%).
  • Essence Break damage increased by 10%.
  • Glaive Tempest damage increased by 10%.
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Reaver’s Glaive damage increased by 8%.
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Fury of the Aldrachi damage increased by 8%.
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Thrill of the Fight bonus Haste increased to 8% (was 6%).
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Reaver’s Mark damage bonus increased to 6% (was 5%).
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Wounded Quarry effect increased to 25% of Physical damage (was 20%).
• Vengeance
  • All damage increased by 10%.
  • Immolation Aura damage increased by 10%.
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Wounded Quarry effect increased to 20% of Physical damage (was 15%).
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Reaver’s Glaive damage increased by 8%.
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Fury of the Aldrachi damage increased by 8%.
  • Aldrachi Reaver: Thrill of the Fight bonus Haste increased to 8% (was 6%).

Druid

• Balance
  • All damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
  • Starsurge damage increased by 8%. Not applied to PvP
  • Starfall damage decreased by 14%. Not applied to PvP
  • Wrath damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP
  • Elune’s Chosen: Lunar Calling increases Starfall’s damage to your primary target by 120% (up from 100%). Not applied to PvP
  • Season 1set 2-piece: Increases Shooting Stars damage by 40% (was 50%).
  • Season 1 set 2-piece: Shooting Stars outside Eclipse generates 2 Astral Power (was 3).
  • Season 1 set 4-piece: Chance for Starsurge or Starfall to generate an exploding Shooting Star reduced to 30% (was 40%).
  • Season 1 set Armor 4-piece: Fixed a bug causing the exploding Shooting Star to increment Orbit Breaker’s count by 1 for every target hit. It now always counts as one Shooting Star, as intended.
• Feral
  • All damage dealt increased by 6%. Not applied to PvP.
  • Rake Bleed damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP.
  • Rip damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP.
  • Swipe damage increased by 10%.
  • Rampant Ferocity damage increased by 10%.
  • Unseen Swipe damage increased by 15%.
  • Frantic Frenzy damage reduced by 10%.
  • Fixed a bug causing Frantic Frenzy to hit 6 times, instead of 5.
• Guardian
  • Moonless Night now causes your direct-damage melee abilities to deal 20% additional damage (was 40%).
  • Wild Guardian Rank 4 now causes echoes to deal 300% increased damage (was 150%).
  • Ability damage (excluding Moonfire) reduced by 20%.
  • Moonfire damage reduced by 10%.
  • Druid of the Claw: Damage dealt by Ravage to its main target reduced by 27%.
  • Druid of the Claw: Damage dealt by Dreadful Wound reduced by 23%.
  • Druid of the Claw: Killing Blow now increases Maul, Raze and Ravage damage by up to 70%, based on rage consumed (was 100%).
  • Druid of the Claw: Strike for the Heart now increases Mangle damage by 10% (was 20%). Bestial Strength now increases Maul, Raze, and Ravage damage by 10% (was 20%).
• Restoration
  • All healing reduced by 6%.

Evoker

• Devastation
  • Scalecommander: Mass Disintegrate damage bonus for each missing target reduced to 10% (was 15%).
• Augmentation
  • Scalecommander: Mass Eruption damage bonus for each missing target reduced to 10% (was 15%).
  • Molten Embers damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 25%).
  • Duplicate Rank 4 stat bonus reduced to 75% (was 100%).
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Motes of Possibility to apply their buff to a target other than the ally who came in contact with the Mote.
• Preservation
  • Rewind healing increased by 200% outside of raid (was 100%).
  • Rewind healing is no longer increased by 67% in PvP combat.
  • Merithra’s Blessing increases the direct healing of Dream Breath by 250% (was 125%).
  • Dream Breath’s direct healing increased by 20%.
  • Merithra’s Blessing reverses 1% damage (was 2%) on targets with Reversion.
  • Reversion healing increased by 25%.

Hunter

• Survival
  • Auto attack damage increased by 35%.
  • Wildfire Bomb primary target damage bonus increased to 80% (was 60%).
  • Raptor Strike damage increased by 10%.
  • Raptor Swipe now deals 35/70% increased damage to its primary target (was 25/50%).
  • Sentinel: Fixed an issue causing Sanctified Armaments to be modified by damage taken and damage dealt increases.
• Beast Mastery
  • Barbed Shot damage dealt increased by 35%. Does not affect PvP combat.
  • Cobra Shot damage increased by 100%. Does not affect PvP combat.
  • Dark Ranger: Black Arrow initial damage increased by 50%. Does not affect PvP combat.
• Marksmanship
  • Sentinel: Fixed an issue causing Sanctified Armaments to be modified by damage taken and damage dealt increases.

Mage

• Arcane
  • Arcane Blast damage increased by 25%.
  • Arcane Barrage damage increased by 15%. Does not affect PvP.
  • Arcing Cleave additional targets receive 40% of Arcane Barrage’s damage (was 60%).
  • Spellslinger: Splintering Orbs damage bonus reduced to 10% (was 25%).
  • Spellslinger: Controlled Instincts Cleave percentage reduced to 40% (was 60%).
• Fire
  • Ignition now increases Flamestrike’s Ignite damage by 15% (was 50%).
  • Season 1 set 2-piece: Now increases Pyroblast and Flamestrike damage by 6% (was 8%).
  • Season 1 set 4-piece: Fire Blast cooldown reduction reduced to 0.3 seconds (was 0.5 seconds).
  • Fireball damage increased by 15%.
  • Frostfire Bolt damage increased by 15%.
  • Fire Blast damage increased by 25%.

Monk

• Brewmaster
  • Master of Harmony: Meditative Focus now increases damage dealt by Tiger Palm by an additional 50% (was 100%).
  • Master of Harmony: Aspect of Harmony stores vitality based on 12% of damage done, and 6% of effective healing (was 25% and 12%).
• Mistweaver
  • Sheilun’s Gift healing increased by 60%.
  • Sheilun’s Gift clouds now increase its healing by 10% per stack (was 33%).
  • Jadefire Teachings now increases the transfer rate of Ancient Teachings by 260% (was 200%).
  • Way of the Crane now transfers 340% of damage onto 1 ally (was 125% onto 3 allies).
  • Jadefire Stomp damage now transfers into Ancient Teachings at 20% effectiveness.
    • Developers’ notes: Jadefire Stomp’s tooltip will be updated to reflect this in a later patch.
  • Invigorating Mists healing increased by 30%.

Paladin

• Retribution
  • Final Verdict damage increased by 30%.
  • Light Within main target damage increased by 25%.
  • Templar Slash and Templar Strike damage increased by 25%.
  • Melee damage increased by 25%.
  • Crusading Strikes damage increased by 25%.
  • Crusading Strikes now reduces auto-attack speed by 20% (improved from 35%).
  • Highlord’s Judgment damage increased by 25%.
  • Divine Storm damage reduced by 12%.
  • Herald of the Sun: Dawnlight damage increased by 25%.
  • Herald of the Sun: Dawnlight now cleaves 4% of the damage it deals to nearby enemies (was 5%).
  • Templar: Empyrean Hammer damage increased by 30%.
  • Templar: Wrathful Descent now deals 35% of Empyrean Hammer damage (down from 50%).
  • Templar: Hammer of Light damage increased by 10%.

Priest

• Discipline
  • Penance damage and healing increased by 20%.
• Shadow
  • All damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP combat.
  • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 40%. Not applied to PvP combat.
  • Mind Blast damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
  • Mind Flay damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
  • Idol of N’Zoth damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
  • Shadow Word: Madness damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
  • Psychic Link now causes direct damage spells to inflict 20% of their damage to all other targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 60%).

Rogue

• Subtlety
  • Backstab/Gloomblade damage increased by 20%.
  • Shadowstrike damage increased by 15%.
  • Eviscerate damage increased by 8%.
  • Melee auto-attack damage increased by 15%.
  • Black Powder damage reduced by 12%.
  • Potent Powder bonus Black Powder damage reduced to 20% of Mastery (was 30%).
  • Trickster: Unseen Blade damage increased by 20%.
  • Trickster: Nimble Flurry effect reduced to 50% of listed attack damage (was 65%).
  • Trickster: Clever Combatant crit bonus for Shuriken Storm reduced to 10% (was 15%).

Shaman

• Elemental
  • Chain Lightning damage increased by 10%.
  • Earthquake damage increased by 10%.
• Enhancement
  • All damage increased by 8%.
  • Lightning Bolt damage increased by 10%.
  • Chain Lightning damage increased by 10%.
  • Primordial Storm damage increased by 10%.
• Restoration
  • Healing Rain healing increased by 45%.
  • Chain Heal healing increased by 20%.

Warlock

• Destruction
  • Hellcaller: Xalan’s Cruelty now increases Shadow damage dealt by 5% (was 8%).
  • Hellcaller: Xalan’s Ferocity now increases Fire damage dealt by 5% (was 8%).
  • Hellcaller: Blackened Soul damage reduced by 50%.
  • Hellcaller: Through the Felvine now increases Rain of Fire damage by 6% (was 8%).
  • Hellcaller: Through the Felvine now increases Chaos Bolt damage by 35% (was 10%). This change does not affect PvP.
• Demonology
  • Dominion of Argus Antoran Inquisitor damage reduced by 5%, Antoran Jailer damage reduced by 45%, Lady Sacrolash damage increased by 35%, and Grand Warlock Alythess damage increased by 35%.
    • Developers’ notes: The intention with these adjustments is to ensure that all demons summoned by Dominion of Argus are competitive with one another, avoiding random chance having a large effect on damage output.
  • Soul Harvester: Demonic Soul damage reduced by 55%.
  • Soul Harvester: Manifested Demonic Soul damage reduced by 50%.
  • Soul Harvester: Soul Anathema damage reduced by 35%.
  • Soul Harvester: Wicked Reaping damage increased by 50%.
  • Soul Harvester: Demoniac’s Fervor now increases damage dealt by Demonic Soul by 200% to the main target of Hand of Gul’dan.

Warrior

• Piercing Howl’s cooldown increased to 90 seconds (was 30 seconds), and ally speed buff radius reduced to 6 yards (12 with Battlefield Commander).
  • Developers’ notes: Piercing Howl has been available more frequently than intended and does not align with other similar effects, so we’re making changes to bring this ability in line while keeping it distinct among similar effects.
• Arms
  • Master of Warfare’s final rank Heroic Strike now increases the damage you deal to enemies affected by your next Colossus Smash by an additional 3%. Stacks up to 5 times.
  • All damage dealt increased by 15%.
• Fury
  • All damage dealt increased by 10%.
  • Slayer: chance for Reap the Storm to trigger changed to 20% (was 30%).
• Protection
  • Phalanx rank 1: Thunder Clap now causes your next Shield Slam to deal 10% additional damage and unleash a wave of force, dealing Physical damage to all enemies in front of you.
  • Phalanx rank 4: In addition to existing effects, enemies damaged by Phalanx’s wave of force deal 5% reduced damage to you for 8 seconds.
  • All damage dealt increased by 10%.
  • Developers’ notes: These changes are aimed at redistributing the power of Protection Warrior’s Apex talents to better align with our design goals for Apex talents.

PVP

• All tank role specializations’ self-healing reduced by 25% in PvP combat.

Death Knight

• Frost
  • All damage increased by 10% in PvP combat.
  • Deathbringer: Reaper’s Mark damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat.

Demon Hunter

• Devourer
  • All damage increased by 9% in PvP.

Druid

• Restoration
  • Healing increased by 11% in PvP combat.
  • All damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Fixed an issue where Convoke the Spirits was casting the Balance version of Starsurge and dealing too much damage.
• Balance
  • Dying Stars now causes enemies to suffer 25% additional damage from Moonfire and Sunfire when dispelled (was 15%).

Hunter

• Marksmanship
  • Consecutive Concussion now slows movement speed by an additional 10% (was 20%).
• Survival
  • All damage dealt in PvP reduced by 8%.

Mage

• Frost
  • Ray of Frost damage decreased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • Frostbolt damage increased by 100% in PvP combat.
  • Frostfire Bolt damage increased by 100% in PvP combat.
  • Brain Freeze now increases the damage of Flurry by 25% in PvP combat (was 50%).
  • Flurry damage increased by 75% in PvP combat.
  • Frostfire: Frostfire Empowerment now increases the damage of Frostfire Bolt by 10% (was 36%) in PvP combat.

Monk

• Rushing Wind Kick no longer deals 20% increased damage in PvP combat.
• Jadefire Stomp damage reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
• Mistweaver
  • All healing reduced by 8% in PvP combat.
  • Sheilun’s Gift healing decreased by 20% in PvP combat.

Paladin

• Holy
  • A Just Reward healing decreased by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Divine Vision (PvP Talent) now reduces the cooldown of Aura Mastery by 30 seconds (was 60 seconds).
• Retribution
  • All ability damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.

Priest

• Psychic Shroud now lasts 6 seconds (was 15 seconds).
• Discipline
  • All damage done reduced by 8% in PvP combat.
  • Power Word: Radiance healing increased by 40% in PvP combat.

Rogue

• Assassination
  • Implacable Strikes damage decreased by 35% in PvP.
  • All ability damage increased by 4% in PvP combat.
• Outlaw
  • All ability damage increased by 12% in PvP combat.
• Subtlety
  • All ability damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.

Shaman

• Elemental
  • Tempest damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • Earth Shock damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Damage from dispelling Flame Shock increased by 600%. This effect can no longer critically strike.
• Enhancement
  • Damage from dispelling Flame Shock increased by 600%. This effect can no longer critically strike.
• Restoration
  • All healing done increased by 8% in PvP combat.
  • Healing Tide Totem healing increased by 75% in PvP combat.

Warlock

• Affliction
  • All damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Shadow Bolt damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • Drain Soul damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • Dark Harvest damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
  • Damage from dispelling Unstable Affliction increased by 25%.

Warrior

• The duration of Intimidating Shout has been reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
  • Developer’s Note: The duration of Intimidating Shout when talented into Resonant Voice surpassed our targets for PvP crowd control duration.
• Bladestorm damage no longer decreased by 23% in PvP combat.
• Slayer: Unhinged now casts Mortal Strike / Bloodthirst at 40% effectiveness (was 60%) in PvP combat.

Systems

Released

November 23, 2004

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)

Engine

Unreal Engine

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