WoW SoD Phase 2: Hunter Nerf, Happy Druid!
Time: 2024-02-25 by mmojugg Game: WOW Classic Season Of Discovery Guide
After the next maintenance on February 27, 2024, Blizzard will implement a significant overhaul to class balance in WoW SoD Phase 2. One of the most pleasing adjustments is the long-awaited nerf to melee hunters, coupled with a substantial increase in damage for retribution paladins. What's even more exciting is that these changes are not merely numerical tweaks but optimizations to mechanics. With this optimization wave, retribution paladins are officially promoted to the T1 class for PVE and T0 class for PVP.
Additionally, positive adjustments have been made for druids, rogues, and shamans. Stay tuned with MMOJUGG to discover the changes that will follow this update!
Druid
- Lifebloom mana cost reduced by 50%.
- Living Seed now heals for 50% of the critical heal that planted the seed (was 30%). This heal now blooms from non-periodic healing received, in addition to any damage taken.
- Nourish mana cost reduced by 27%.
- Moonkin Form now also reduces the mana cost of Moonfire by 50% and increases Moonfire periodic damage by 50%. Sunfire also benefits from this change.
- Moonkins can now cast non-healing Restoration spells without cancelling their shapeshift. This includes: Remove Curse, Remove Poison, Abolish Poison, Innervate, Rebirth, Revive, Mark of the Wild, and Gift of the Wild.
- Fury of Stormrage improved: when this rune makes Healing Touch instant, it now also makes it castable in all shapeshift forms.
Perhaps due to the Druid's significant nerfs, Blizzard has provided a plethora of positive changes in this adjustment. Currently, healer druids exhibit formidable healing prowess, ranking just below priests. Their only weakness lies in sustainability.
Blizzard has now addressed this issue, effectively resolving the sustainability problem. With this change, healer druids are poised to become the top healers in terms of healing output. It must be said that the adjustments made to druids are remarkably favorable.
Not only has the resurrection spell been retained in its transformed state, but the mana cost of Nourish and Sunfire has also been reduced. Additionally, continuous damage has been increased. Consequently, the Sunfire rune has gained significant value
Hunter
- Dual Wield Specialization no longer grants a 30% damage bonus to Raptor Strike for wielding two weapons of the same type.
Since the opening of the Season of Discovery, this marks Blizzard's 10th consecutive nerf to hunters. If the 9th cut merely grazed the fingernails of melee hunters, then this 10th one strikes directly at their major artery.
Raptor Strike serves as the core skill for melee hunters, often constituting over 50% of their damage DPS output. With a 30% reduction in Raptor Strike's damage, it implies a minimum 15% decrease in the overall damage of melee hunters. By this measure, hunters are transitioning from a T0 class to a T1 class.
Paladin
- Crusader Strike now deals Holy damage instead of Physical damage, ignoring armor, and is now affected by Holy damage prevention. Crusader Strike is still considered a melee attack, and not a spell.
- Seal of Martyrdom can no longer trigger Art of War, and will no longer be triggered by Frost Oil or other weapon procs.
Retribution Paladins are ranked third from the bottom of the latest DPS specialization rankings. Looking at it from a class perspective, Paladins are the lowest in terms of DPS output.
While the change seems positive at first glance - allowing Crusader Strike to ignore armor - the second adjustment directly impacts fast weapon Retribution Paladins.
Rogue
- Redirect no longer triggers or is affected by the global cooldown, and its own cooldown has been reduced to 10 seconds.
- Main Gauche now generates 3 combo points on your target and base Energy cost reduced to 15.
- Just a Flesh Wound threat bonus increased such that Rogue tanks will generate approximately 30% more threat.
All the changes made to Rogues have been positive, and from the DPS rankings, Rogues are currently the strongest traditional physical class.
Shaman
- Two-Handed Mastery rune now also provides 10% increased Attack Power and 10% increased chance to hit with spells after hitting a target with a two-handed weapon.
- Shamanistic Rage rune now grants 5% of the Shaman's maximum mana per second, instead of a value scaling from Attack Power, Spell Power, or Healing Power.
- Spirit of the Alpha rune now grants the casting Shaman 20% increased Attack Power if they cast the spell on a target other than themselves.
- Earth Shield mana cost reduced by 67%, and charges increased from 3 to 9. The base amount healed now properly scales with level and is about 50% higher than previously at level 40.
- Power Surge tooltip revised to clarify functionality. This rune periodically grants mana every 5 seconds, equal to 15% of the Shaman's intellect. Some potential timing issues that could have sometimes made it give less mana than intended have been fixed.
- Ancestral Guidance cooldown reduced to 1 minute (was 2 minutes).
In Phase 1, Paladins were stronger than Shaman, but in Phase 2, Blizzard has already made several improvements specifically for Shamans. Now, with the comprehensive buffs, Paladins are left feeling overwhelmed and sidelined.
This information provides the latest update news regarding class-turning changes. It is my hope that this will be helpful to players. MMOJUGG is currently offering gold purchases for the Season of Discovery. You are welcome to place your orders now. If you are playing on the US server, please click on "wow sod gold" to place your order. If you are playing on the EU server, please click on "wow sod gold eu" to place your order. You can also use the discount code "mmojugg" to receive a discount.
Table of Content
WoW SoD Gold
WoW SoD Items
WoW SoD Boosting