Last night Blizzard posted the tier set bonuses for all 38 specs which will be testable on the Valdrakken realm with the next beta build! They also announced that the raid testing for Normal and LFR difficulty has been postponed and they posted updates for Druids and Shamans.
We’re excited to share the bonuses you’ll discover on Class Sets in Dragonflight. To add to the excitement, these bonuses will be playable in the next beta build!
Dragonflight Class Set Armor Design
We set a few goals for this round of Class Sets. First and foremost, these Class Set bonuses are not as complex as the effects on 9.2 Class Sets. The new talent trees have resulted in a lot of changes to classes in Dragonflight, and we want you all to be able to play those classes without Class Sets that significantly change your rotations or resource economies. This is not to say that we won’t make more complex or rotationally impactful Class Sets in the future. But you’ll find that these bonuses generally take a light touch on features like resource generation and cooldown manipulation.
Another goal that came from wanting you all to have a chance to get familiar with Dragonflight’s new classes is that we want these Class Sets to have minimal impact on your talent choices. We want you to be able to play the way you choose in whatever content you prefer. As a result, they generally modify core class abilities or talents that are learned near the top of the tree. They may have synergies with talents further down the tree, but they shouldn’t make you feel like specific builds or capstone talents are “required.”
Acquiring Set Armor in Dragonflight
When Sets returned as a major endgame feature in 9.2, we debuted the Creation Catalyst as a tool for players to access and complete their sets, with the following goals:
Players of all types should have access to powerful bonuses and fun appearances even if raiding is not their preferred method of engagement.
New and returning players “catching up” should not have a monumental task to become ready to fight alongside friends.
WoW can confidently carry the system forward as an evergreen feature for players to learn and understand intuitively.
We think those goals were met. And while there’s room for improvement (both in understanding the means by which charges accrue, as well tuning prohibitive currency costs for alts), we’re happy to say that the Catalyst (which will be known as the Inspiration Catalyst in Dragonflight, and just the ‘Catalyst’ moving forward) will return to the Isles as a companion system to Class Sets for the foreseeable future.
We’ll have more details to share on everything Catalyst-related in a future update, but for now it’s worth mentioning that we’re planning on keeping the unlock cadence the same to start – that is to say, the 6th week after the Mythic Raid becomes available in Dragonflight Season 1.
Playing with These Bonuses and Providing Feedback
To try these set bonuses in the Beta, log into an endgame realm and look for Setzertauren near the current PvP and professions vendors in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Please share bugs you find via the in-game bug reporting tool and your feedback about the bonuses in this thread.
Set Bonuses
Death Knight
- Blood
- (2) Set Bonus: When a Bone Shield charge is consumed you have a 20% chance to generate one rune.
- (4) Set Bonus: After 10 Bone Shield charges are consumed gain 10% damage and Haste for 10 seconds.
- Frost
- (2) Set Bonus: Obliterate and Frostscythe critical strike damage is increased by 15%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Obliterate and Frostscythe have a 15% chance not to consume Killing Machine.
- Unholy
- (2) Set Bonus: Bursting a festering wound grants your ghoul Vile Infusion, increasing their damage and attack speed by 10% for 5 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: Your primary ghoul’s attacks have a 15% chance to increase your damage and Haste by 10% for 8 seconds. This chance is increased during Vile Infusion.
Demon Hunter
- Havoc
- (2) Set Bonus: Chaos Strike and Blade Dance chance to critically strike is increased by 5% and their critical strike damage is increased by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Chaos Strike and Blade Dance have a 20% chance to increase damage you deal by 8% for 6 seconds. Your critical strikes increase this chance.
- Vengeance
- (2) Set Bonus: Shear / Fracture deals 20% more damage, generates 20% more Fury, and have a 15% chance to generate an additional Soul Fragment.
- (4) Set Bonus: Spirit Bomb and Soul Cleave have a 12% chance to deal 50% more damage and cause targets they hit to deal 15% less damage to you for 8 seconds.
Druid
- Balance
- (2) Set Bonus: Starsurge and Starfall increase the damage of your next Wrath or Starfire by 50%, stacking up to 3 times.
- (4) Set Bonus: When you enter Eclipse, your next Starsurge or Starfall costs no Astral Power and deals 50% increased damage.
- Feral
- (2) Set Bonus: Rip & Ferocious Bite damage increased by 5%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Finishing moves grant 1% crit for each combo point spent for 5 seconds.
- Guardian
- (2) Set Bonus: Gore has a 5% increased chance to trigger. Gore also increases Mangle’s damage by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Mangle and Thrash deal 5% increased damage. Mangle heals you for 100% of the damage it deals.
- Restoration
- (2) Set Bonus: Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Wild Growth, Efflorescence, and Tranquility chance to critically heal is increased by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Efflorescence critical heals increase the healing of your next Wild Growth by 10%, stacking up to 5 times. Lifebloom critical heals reduce the cooldown of Nature’s Swiftness by 2 seconds.
Evoker
- Devastation
- (2) Set Bonus: Increases Empower spells’ chance to critically strike by 5% and Empower spells increase your chance to critically strike by 5% for 6 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: Empower spells have a 25% chance to grant you 6 seconds of Fury of the Aspects without causing Sated.
- Preservation
- (2) Set Bonus: Empower spells increase Reversion’s chance to critically heal by 5% for 6 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: Reversion healing has a chance to cause your next Living Flame to cast instantly and deal 20% increased damage or healing. Stacks up to 2 times.
Hunter
- Beast Mastery
- (2) Set Bonus: Kill Command damage increased by 10% and it has a 10% chance to reset the cooldown on Barbed Shot.
- (4) Set Bonus: Barbed Shot has a 50% chance to make your next Cobra Shot or Multi-Shot consume no focus.
- Marksmanship
- (2) Set Bonus: Arcane Shot & Multi Shot critical hits cause your next Aimed Shot to cast 50% faster and cause the target to bleed for 20% of damage dealt over 6 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: Ranged auto-attacks have a 10% chance to give your next Arcane Shot or Multi Shot 100% chance to critically hit.
- Survival
- (2) Set Bonus: Raptor Strike / Mongoose Strike, Carve, and Butchery damage increased by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery have a 10% chance to make your next Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite, Carve, or Butchery cost no Focus.
Mage
- Arcane
- (2) Set Bonus: For each Arcane Charge, Arcane Blast critical strike chance is increased by 5% and Arcane Explosion critical strike chance is increased by 3%.
- (4) Set Bonus: When Arcane Blast or Arcane Explosion critically strikes at least one target, the critical strike chance of your next Arcane Barrage is increased by 10%, up to 4 stacks.
- Fire
- (2) Set Bonus: Pyroblasts and Flamestrikes cast with Hot Streak deal 10% increased damage.
- (4) Set Bonus: Fire Blast, Phoenix Flames, and Fireball deal 10% increased damage and their chance to critically strike is increased by 10%.
- Frost
- (2) Set Bonus: Ice Lance and Frozen Orb damage increased by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Consuming Fingers of Frost increases Blizzard damage by 25% and Frostbolt damage by 50% for 6 seconds.
Monk
- Brewmaster
- (2) Set Bonus: Hitting an enemy with Tiger Palm or Spinning Crane Kick grants Brewmaster’s Rhythm, increasing damage dealt and reducing damage taken by 1% for 10 seconds, stacking up to 4 times.
- (4) Set Bonus: For each stack of Brewmaster’s Rhythm, Purifying Brew clears 3% more of your damage delayed with stagger.
- Mistweaver
- (2) Set Bonus: Healing from your Enveloping Mist, Essence Font, and Vivify is increased by 15% on targets with your Renewing Mist.
- (4) Set Bonus: Essence Font and Vivify healing are increased by 10% and your Renewing Mists on targets healed by Essence Font are extended by 1 seconds for each heal.
- Windwalker
- (2) Set Bonus: Fists of Fury increases the damage dealt by your next 2 Rising Sun Kicks or Spinning Crane Kicks by 30%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Fists of Fury now enhances your next 3 Rising Sun Kicks or Spinning Crane Kicks and enhanced kicks increase your Versatility during your next Fists of Fury by 5%, stacking up to 3 times.
Paladin
- Holy
- (2) Set Bonus: Holy Shock increases the critical hit chance of your next heal within 10 seconds by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: When your direct healing spells critically strike, your next Holy Shock deals 30% increased damage or healing.
- Protection
- (2) Set Bonus: Avenger’s Shield grants you Versatility of Light, increasing the Versatility of you and your closest ally by 4% for 4 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: Casting Hammer of the Righteous / Blessed Hammer increases your Parry by X% for Y seconds and extends the duration of Versatility of Light by 1.0 seconds.
- Retribution
- (2) Set Bonus: Blade of Justice and Judgment grant Crusader’s Strength, increasing the damage of your next Crusader’s Strike or Consecreate by 100%, stacking up to 2.
- (4) Set Bonus: When you consume Crusader’s Strength, the damage of your next Blade of Justice is increased by 50% for each stack of Crusader’s Strength consumed.
Priest
- Discipline
- (2) Set Bonus: Casting Power Word: Shield increases the effectiveness of your next direct damage or healing spell by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Penance increases the strength of your next Power Word: Shield by 100% of its damage or 30% of its healing.
- Holy
- (2) Set Bonus: Casting Prayer of Mending reduces the cast time of your next Heal or Prayer of Healing by 1.0 seconds and increases their Holy Word cooldown reduction effect by 2.0 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: When Holy Word: Serenity or Holy Word: Sanctify finish their cooldown, you gain 15% critical strike chance for 8 seconds.
- Shadow
- (2) Set Bonus: Mind Blast increases the damage of your next Devouring Plague or Mind Sear by 20%, stacking up to 3 times.
- (4) Set Bonus: Devouring Plague and Mind Sear increase your haste by 5% for 8 seconds.
Rogue
- Assassination
- (2) Set Bonus: Envenom also increases your weapon poisons’ damage by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: When your weapon poisons deal direct damage, you have a 50% chance to gain Septic Wounds, increasing your Bleed damage by 2% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
- Outlaw
- (2) Set Bonus: Dispatch increases the damage of your next Sinister Strike or Ambush by 20% per combo point spent.
- (4) Set Bonus: Half-cost uses of Pistol Shot granted by Sinister Strike increase the damage of your next Dispatch by 50%.
- Subtlety
- (2) Set Bonus: Eviscerate and Black Powder increase the damage and critical strike chance of your next Backstab, Shadowstrike, or Shuriken Storm by 2% per combo point spent.
- (4) Set Bonus: Backstab, Shadowstrike, and Shuriken Storm critical strikes increase the damage of Eviscerate and Rupture by 15% and the damage of Black Powder by 8% for 6 seconds.
Shaman
- Elemental
- (2) Set Bonus: Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst increase the damage of your next Earth Shock or Earthquake by 2-3%, stacking 10 times.
- (4) Set Bonus: Casting Earth Shock or Elemental Blast or Earthquake increases your Mastery by 10% for 10 seconds.
- Enhancement
- (2) Set Bonus: Stormstrike increases the damage of your next Lava Lash by 10% and causes it to generate 1 additional stack of Maelstrom Weapon.
- (4) Set Bonus: Consuming Maelstrom Weapon stacks reduces the cooldown of Stormstrike, Lava Lash, Crash Lightning, Flame Shock, or Frost Shock by 0.5 seconds per stack, chosen randomly.
- Restoration
- (2) Set Bonus: While Healing Stream Totem/Cloudburst Totem is active, your chance to critically strike is increased by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: When Healing Stream Totem/Cloudburst Totem expires or dies, you gain 10% Haste for 10 seconds.
Warlock
- Affliction
- (2) Set Bonus: When Agony grants you a Soul Shard, you have a chance to gain Cruel Inspiration, increasing your haste by 12% for 6 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: Cruel Inspiration also grants 2 charges of Cruel Epiphany, up to 5 charges. Each charge of Cruel Epiphany increases the damage of your next Malefic Rapture or Seed of Corruption by 40%.
- Demonology
- (2) Set Bonus: Demon Bolt and Felstorm damage increased by 20%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Demon Bolt has a chance to make your next Hand of Gul’dan instant and deal 50% increased damage.
- Destruction
- (2) Set Bonus: Consuming Soul Shards has a chance to grant you Chaos Maelstrom, increasing your critical strike chance by 10% for 10 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: During Chaos Maelstrom, your Chaos Bolt, Conflagrate, and Incinerate critical strikes explode on the target, dealing 2-10% of damage dealt to enemies within 8 yds. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
Warrior
- Arms
- (2) Set Bonus: Mortal Strike and Cleave damage and chance to critically strike increased by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Mortal Strike, Cleave, & Execute critical strikes increase your damage and critical strike chance by 5% for 6 seconds.
- Fury
- (2) Set Bonus: Execute’s chance to critically strike increased by 10%.
- (4) Set Bonus: Sudden Death’s chance to reset the cooldown of Execute and make it usable on any target, regardless of health, is greatly increased.
- Protection
- (2) Set Bonus: Revenge grants you Vanguard’s Determination, increasing your damage done and reducing damage you take by 4% for 5 seconds.
- (4) Set Bonus: During Vanguard’s Determination, gain Ignore Pain equal to 10% of damage you deal.
Vault of the Incarnates Raid Testing Schedule
Greetings raiders,
The team has been working diligently on the full Vault of the Incarnates raid experience, but unfortunately it won’t be ready in time for the currently scheduled Normal and Raid Finder weekend play tests. We’ll be postponing Normal and Raid Finder tests at this time. Please keep an eye out on this thread for further updates and when they have been rescheduled.
We hope that you’re enjoying the Vault of the Incarnates raid experience so far and we look forward to seeing you on the Beta for the second raid test at 22:00 CEST!
Feedback: Druids
Greetings, Balance Druids.
After reviewing the performance of Balance Druids during yesterday’s raid testing, we developed a number of changes we’re implementing for today’s raid testing. If you encounter issues with your Talent Tree, please relog. Here are the changes:
- Lunar Shrapnel has been redesigned:
- Starfall’s stars have a chance to deal an additional 25% damage to nearby enemies when they damage an enemy afflicted by Moonfire. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
- Sundered Firmament’s Astral Power generation now correctly grants 25% of Fury of Elune’s Astral Power generation.
- Stellar Flare no longer generates Astral Power when granted by Stellar Inspiration.
- The chance for Shooting Stars to occur has been reduced.
- Wild Mushrooms no longer have nameplates and are now untargetable.
- Furor has been redesigned:
- Protector of the Pack [Feral/Balance/Guardian] – Store 10% of your damage, up to a specific amount. Your next Regrowth consumes all stored damage to increase its healing.
- Protector of the Pack [Restoration] – Store 10% of your effective healing, up to a specific amount. Your next Regrowth consumes all stored healing to increase its healing.
- Note: The tooltip of Protector of the Pack will appear broken in-game. We hope to have this fixed soon.
Our main goal with these changes is to rein in the amount of Astral Power that Balance Druids are generating passively, as well as how much Astral Power is being credited to passives such as Primordial Arcanic Pulsar.
Thank you for your continued feedback and suggestions! We’ll continue to watch class performance across the board and adjust whenever the need arises.
Feedback: Shamans
Hi Enhancement Shaman,
A change is coming next week to how Windfury Totem works. These changes have no impact on the Windfury Weapon imbue, nothing is changing with how that works.
For some quick context, in Shadowlands, Windfury Totem can only activate from main-hand auto-attacks, and causes a main-hand auto-attack swing when it activates.
The next build you receive should have Windfury Totem changed to work this way:
- Main-hand auto attack interaction is unchanged, except for the miss note below.
- Off-hand attacks can proc an off-hand Windfury attack. This is an actual real “auto attack”, which means things like Flametongue Weapon, or whatever other effects may activate from off-hand attacks, can now potentially happen from this bonus attack.
- Windfury Totem extra attacks can no longer miss. This has very little impact on 2h users, as an Arms Warrior or Retribution Paladin almost never see a miss in their combat log, however dual-wield users have a high miss chance. In Shadowlands, this miss chance both applies to the chance to get the Windfury Totem’s extra attack, and the extra attack itself can then miss. Targets can still dodge or parry these attacks, they are just no longer able to miss.
- Bonus bug fix: Enhancement Shaman who are under the effects of Ascendance can now benefit from Windfury Totem if they are auto-attacking from outside of melee range range with Windlash.
We will be monitoring any unintended side effects from this change, but this should help make Windfury Totem more valuable to more specs within the game.