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Big talent changes for Paladins and Druids just before the WoW: Forever launch

· by Davina Asaria

Five days before launch, the WoW: Forever servers received a round of hotfixes that shake up several talent trees. Paladins and Druids get the biggest changes: new talents, talents in new positions, and new numbers. Other classes get smaller tuning.

Important: these changes were found in the game data after the hotfixes went live. Blizzard has not confirmed them in official development notes yet, so details can still change before or after launch.

Druid

Many Druid talents have moved to a different spot in the tree, so if you planned your build in a talent calculator, check it again.

Balance
- Genesis now increases periodic damage and healing by up to 10% (was 5%).

Feral
- New talent: Lacerate.
- Berserk has been removed.
- Leader of the Pack now boosts all critical strike chance, not only melee and ranged.
- Primal Bite hits harder and has moved in the tree.
- Shifting Power cooldown cut in half, to 8 seconds (was 16).

Restoration
- New talent: Bloom.
- Naturalist now also shortens the cast of Wild Growth, and its bonus goes up to 10% (was 5%).
- Wild Growth now has a 3 second cast time.
- Swiftmend now needs your own Rejuvenation or Regrowth on the target (any one used to work).

Paladin

The Paladin tree got the biggest rework of all. For our Forsaken Paladins this is the moment to look at your build again.

Holy
- New talents: Boundless Light and Oath of Light.
- Holy Power now raises the healing bonus of your critical heals by up to 50%, instead of your chance to crit.
- Divine Precision drops to 2 ranks and gives 8% hit with Holy spells (was 18%), but now also shortens Silence effects on you by 20%.
- Improved Seals now has 5 ranks, up to 15% (was 3 ranks, 9%).
- Spiritual Focus now has 5 ranks, up to a 70% chance.
- Reverence drops to 2 ranks, with the same 30% mana regeneration at max rank.
- Light's Vigil no longer triggers on enemies.

Protection
- Righteous Fury is now learned at level 10 (was 16). Good news for tanks in early dungeons.
- New talents: Shieldsworn and Stoicism. Swift Judgement has a new effect.
- Holy Shield costs less mana (100, was 150) but deals 32% less damage.
- Improved Righteous Fury now reduces damage taken by up to 9% (was 6%).
- Iron Creed now has 3 ranks: 30% more threat at max rank (was 15%), but only 6% damage reduction (was 10%).
- Sacred Duty no longer gives Stamina. Instead it shortens Forbearance by 10 seconds at max rank.
- Shield Specialization drops to 2 ranks with the same max rank values.
- Templar's Bulwark can now be dispelled as a magic effect.

Retribution
- New ability: Turn Evil.
- Champion of the Light now has 5 ranks and also cuts the cast time of Hammer of Wrath by 1 second.
- Conviction drops to 3 ranks and now boosts all spells by 6% at max rank (was 5%).
- Two-Handed Weapon Specialization now only boosts physical damage, and lowers your threat by 20% at max rank.
- Vindication no longer increases your attack power.
- Unsealed Wrath has a new effect.

Mage

Arcane
- Arcane Blast: the stacking buff is smaller (12% instead of 15%), but lasts longer (18 seconds instead of 15) and the extra mana cost per stack drops to 100% (was 175%).
- Arcane Resilience now has 3 ranks. Rank 3 gives armor equal to 75% of your Intellect. It moved to row 1, Missile Barrage moved to row 2.
- Arcane Focus has been removed.

Fire
- Improved Fireball is now called Accelerant and also speeds up Arcane Wrath.
- Critical Mass now has 3 ranks, up to 6% crit (was 5 ranks, 10%).
- Incineration now has 5 ranks, up to 10% crit for Fire Blast, Ice Lance, Arcane Blast and Scorch (was 3 ranks, 6%).
- Improved Fire Blast moved to row 3.

Frost
- Ice Lance now deals 300% bonus damage to frozen targets (was 200%), but gets an 8 second cooldown.
- Ice Barrier now increases Frost damage by 15% (was 3%), plus 5% more while the shield holds.
- Winter's Chill boosts your next Cone of Cold by 20% (was 5%).
- Arctic Reach now also increases the range of Ice Lance.
- Elemental Precision is now called Precision and increases the hit chance of all spells.

Hunter, Priest, Warlock and Warrior

  • Hunter: in the Beast Mastery tree, Pathfinding moved to row 3.
  • Priest: Shadow Word: Death now deals 30% backlash damage to you (was 10%). Holy gets a new talent, Holy Binding.
  • Warlock: Improved Drains now increases the mana drained by Drain Mana.
  • Warrior: Revenge now scales with 25% of your attack power at all ranks. Good for our tanks.

What this means for Legends of Azeroth

If you already planned your talents for launch night, open your talent calculator again, especially as a Paladin or Druid. Protection Paladins get Righteous Fury at level 10, which makes early tanking a lot easier. Restoration Druids lose their instant Wild Growth, so expect a slower healing style. And Frost Mages: Ice Lance is now a big hit on a cooldown, not a spam button.

Remember that Blizzard can still change these numbers. We will post an update when the official notes are out.

Source: hotfixes on the live WoW: Forever servers, found in the game data on October 30 and 31. Not yet confirmed by Blizzard.