It's been awhile since we covered what will be coming in the next installment of World of Warcraft, so here is a roundup of some of the latest blog posts from Blizzard on the Shadowlands class changes.
All twelve classes will be having some abilities, spells, and talents changed to balance out the play experience for everyone at launch and to reflect the new chapter of the story.
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Now Playing: World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands - Cinematic Announcement Trailer
Below is the summary for each class and the specializations, outline all the changes that will be made once Shadowlands drops.
Sacrificial Pact is a new ability that enables Death Knights to perform a forbidden ritual, sacrificing one of the Raise Dead minions in return for an AOE attack where the minion explodes, causing damage to enemies in range. Chains of Ice has been restored, with the chains once again binding enemies for a set period of time.
Blood
New abilities Blood Tap, Rune Tap, and Relish in Blood will be added.Frost
Ability to choose between two 1-handed weapons or one 2-handed weapon.Frostwyrm Fury will be removed from the talent tree, instead being added as a base ability for the sub-class.Hypothermic Presence added as an ability.Unholy
Summon Gargoyle will be removed from talents, instead being added as a base ability for the sub-class.Army of the Damned will include a new minion, Magus of the Dead.Death Coil and Epidemic will reduce the Army of the Dead cooldown.Apocalypse will summon Magus of the Dead to fight alongside the Death Knight.Master: Dreadblade will benefit both the shadow damage of the Death Knight and minion.
Havoc
New passive Unending Hatred, expanding the maximum capacity of Fury.The talent Dark Slash will become Essence Break, dealing chaos damage and increasing the damage done by Chaos Strike and Blade Dance for a short time.Vengeance
Demonic will be added as a talent option.Fel Devastation will now be a part of the Vengeance specialization baseline abilities.Metamorphosis form will be activated following a Fel Devastation.Multiple talents have been combined.Bulk Extraction will be added to the talent tree, ripping a soul fragment from up to five enemies at once and consuming them.Ruinous Bulwark will be added to the talent tree, increasing the healing properties of Fel Devastation, converting all overhealing into an absorption shield.
Balance
Starfall will be reverted back to the previous design, with the Druid no longer having to telegraph the area first.Solar and Lunar Empowerments will be strengthened and updated into Eclipses.Wrath and Starfire will grant alternatinging Lunar and Solar Eclipses for longer, with Celestial Alignment allowing both to appear.Starsurge will extend the current Eclipse.Starfall will extend your current Moonfire and Sunfire effects.Feral
The Bloodtalons talent is being reimagined, when Shred, Rake, and Ferocious Bite is used in quick succession, the damage of their next Rip will be increased.Guardian
Berserk will be added, reducing the cooldowns of Mangle, Thrash, Growl, and Frenzied Regeneration and halving the cost of Ironfur.Renewal will be brought back as a talent option.Restoration
Swiftmend will be reverted to the heal-over-time effect on target, but with a reduced cooldown and cost.Nature's Swiftness will allow a Regrowth, Rebirth, or Entangling Roots to be cast instantly.Nourish will be added as a talent option, allowing an ally to be healed for a significant amount.Nourish will also triple the boon from Mastery: Harmony.
Beast Mastery
Bloodshed will be added as a new talent, with beasts tearing into enemies and causing bleeding damage.The Scent of Blood talent is being reimagined, with the passive activating when Bestial Wrath is used.Spitting Cobra is being renamed to Venomous Bite, which will now summon a cobra to fight by the Hunter's side following the Bestial Wrath ability ending.Marksman
Dead Eye will be added as a new talent, allowing Hunters to store two changes of Kill Shot, along with recharging Aimed Shot faster whenever Kill Shot is used.Binding Shackles will be added as a new passive talent, causing enemies that are rooted to deal less damage for a short time.Volley will be added as a new talent that enables the Hunter to rain down arrows in a small area for a short period of time. Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire abilities will ricochet and hit up to five additional targets for half the damage during the Volley.Survival
Hydra's Bite, Bitchery, Steel Trap, Tip of the Spear, and Flanking Strike will all have an increase in damage.The Focus cost of Chakrams will be reduced.
A new talent called Focus Magic will grant an ally a bonus to their spell critical hit chance. When the ally gets a crit with a spell, Arcane Mages will receive the same boon for a short period of time.
Arcane
Clearcasting will have an additional stack.Mastery: Savant will extend the damage increasing properties of Arcane Blast and Barrage to all spells.Touch of the Magi has been moved from the talent tree, instead it will be added as a baseline Arcane ability.Enlightened will be added as a new talent, empowering all Arcane damage done while the caster has mana above a certain threshold, switching to mana regeneration when the caster's mana drops below this point.Fire
Mastery: Ignite will be redesigned for more control over Ignite.Fireblast will serve as a catalyst, spreading to up to eight enemies when cast on an Ignited enemy.Blast Wave will do more damage, with an increased slow duration added on.Kindling cooldown reduction will be increased.Pyroclasm damage bonus will also be increased.Frost
Flurry's Winter Chill debuff will have a much longer debuff, causing the next two spells to treat the target as frozen and increasing the critical hit chance for the mage and allies.
Brewmaster
Ability to choose between two 1-handed weapons or one 2-handed weapons.The passive ability Shuffle will be returning.Celestial Brew will be added as a new ability, which will absorb damage based on the imbiber's attack power.Brewmaster Monks will be able to use Nuzao, the Black Ox.Touch of Death will instantly kill any creature with less health than the Monk.Celestial Flames will be added as a new talent, increasing the Breath of Fire's damage reduction and spreading the periodic damage effect to all targets hit with Spinning Crane Kick.Exploding Keg will be returning as a talent tree option, immolating enemies on impact and blinding them for a brief period of time.Mistweaver
All Mistweaver Monks will be able to use Invoke Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent.Touch of Death will instantly kill enemies with less health than the Monk, spawning Healing Spheres for allies.The Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane talent will be redesigned, strengthening the Monk's physical damage and healing allies for a part of the damage inflicted on enemies.Chi-Ji also makes Monks immune to movement-impairing abilities.Windwalker
Ability to choose between two 1-handed weapons or one 2-handed weapons.All Windwalker Monks will be able to use Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger.Touch of Death will instantly kill enemies with less health than the Monk, spawning Chi Spheres that the Monk can consume to perform devastating blows.Dance of Chi-Ji will be added as a passive talent, adding a moderate chance to make the next Spinning Crane Kick free to use and deal a significant amount of extra damage to all its strikes.
Paladins will have access to more talents, allowing them to manipulate and spend Holy Power. Divine Purpose Talent will be available for all Paladins to select in the talent tree. Holy Avenger and Seraphim talents will focus on the creation and spending of Holy Power for Paladins.
Holy
Glimmer of Light will be moved to the Level 50 talent tree options.Holy Paladin's Aura talent will be replaced by Aura Master, giving Paladins the ability to give any Aura a special empowerment.Protection
Protection Paladins will exude Shining Light, a new passive that will make the next cast of Word of Glory free whenever Judgment critically strikes a target.Retribution
Wake of Ashes will be removed from the talent tree, instead becoming a standard ability for the Retribution specialization.Empyrean Power will be added as a talent, adding a moderate chance for Divine Storm to cost no Holy Power and deal more damage.
Discipline
Light's Caress will be added as a new talent, allowing Priests to heal their allies with Power Word: Barrier, and healing them again if they're still under the barrier when it expires.Shadow Covenant has been reimagined, with up to five allies in a small area being healed and the damage of the Priest being increased for a short amount of time. During this period the Priest cannot use Holy spells.Holy
Circle of Healing will become a baseline spell for Holy Priests.Prayer Circle will be added as a talent option, empowering Circle of Healing and reducing the cast of Prayer of Healing when cast.Shadow
Death and Madness will be added as a new talent, granting the Priest a substantial amount of Insanity after a target is killed with Shadow Word.Surrender to Madness will return. Shadow Priests will gain a large spike of Insanity and cast Void Eruption on a target on use. Over a period of time, Insanity-generating abilities will grant 100% more Insanity and grant the Priest the ability to cast spells while moving. If the Priest fails to slay the target enemy during the buffs, they will die.
Assassination
The Shiv ability will be returning, providing a moment of increased Nature damage on the victim, mirroring the gameplay of Toxic Blade.Ambush will be returning as an option for initial attacks from Stealth.The Blindside talent will be changed to allow the Rogue Assassin to access Ambush while not in Stealth.Shiv can be upgraded to Toxic Blade, reducing the cooldown to provide more frequent assaults of increased Nature damage.Outlaw
Roll the Bones cooldown time will be reduced by frantic combat through Restless Blades by spending Combo Points.Kidney Shot will be returning, with Between the Eyes making enemies more susceptible to Rogue's critical strikes instead of stunning them.Evasion will return as a defensive ability.Riposte will become an upgraded talent option.Retractable Hoof will increase the speed of the Rogue's Grappling Hook, getting them where they need to be faster than ever.Subtlety
Find Weakness will be removed as a talent, becoming a basic ability as part of the Subtlety subclass instead.Targets struck by Eviscerate will take more Shadow Damage when attacked from Stealth.Shadow Vault will be added as an ability that creates an area-of-effect finisher, assaulting targets with their Find Weakness for additional Shadow Damage.
Elemental
The Maelstrom resource and accompanying bar will be removed, returning Elemental Shamans to the former cooldown management play-style.Echoing Shock will be added as a new talent, blasting targets for significant damage, and making it so the Shaman's next healing or damage-dealing spell casts a second time shortly afterward without costing additional resources.Enhancement
The Maelstrom resource and accompanying bar will be removed, returning Enhancement Shamans to a specialization based on managing a number of cooldown abilities with high points built around repeat casts of StormstrikeMaelstrom Weapons will return, giving each attack a chance to grant a stack of a buff that can be used to make your next healing or damage-dealing spell instant.It will once again be possible to apply Flametongue Weapon and Windfury Weapon to a Enhancement Shaman's weaponHailstorm will be redesigned so that it resets the cooldown of Flame Shock and Frost Shock when a Shaman uses Stormstrike.Searing Assault will transform into a powerful fire attack, striking the enemy for significant Fire damage and causing Searing Totem to cast incredibly fast, triggering Flame Shock to rapidly dish out its damage-over-time burn effects to melt enemies.Overcharge will generate five stacks of Maelstrom Weapon instantly and another stack every second for a short duration.Stormkeeper will make your next two Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning spells instantly cast and deal bonus damage. It will also benefit from Maelstrom Weapon, lowering Stormkeeper's cast time.Elemental Blast will become a talent option, giving the melee-focused subclass access to a powerful spell to attack enemies from a safe distance.Restoration
Earth Shield will be available to all Restoration Shaman as a base ability for the specialization, removing it from the talent tree.Surge of the Earth will be added as a new talent, expending a few charges of Earth Shield to significantly heal the current Earth Shield target and several nearby allies.
Tongue Tied will be added as a new talent, empowering spells attacking enemies afflicted with Curse of Tongues, preventing them from receiving healing effects.
Affliction
The Unstable Affliction will be upgraded to sacrifice its stacking effect in order to torture its victim longer, without consuming a Soul Shard.Malefic Rapture will be added as a new ability, allowing Affliction Warlocks to exacerbate the malaise they sow and deal damage to all enemies affected by their periodic spells.Sow the Seeds will be added as a new talent, allowing the Affliction Warlock to embed two additional seeds into nearby enemies. When combined with the Malefic Rupture ability enemies will explode.Demonology
Dark Pact will scale with Spell Power to absorb more damage than before.The Dark Fury talent will have a new effect, it will empower Shadowfury by increasing the area-of-effect of the spell as it crashes down on the battlefield.Destruction
Fire and Brimstone will generate two Soul Shard Fragments for each additional enemy struck by the Destruction Warlock's empowered Incinerate.
Double Time and War Machine will be able to be picked as a talent for all Warrior subclasses.
Arms
Piercing Howl will be added to the Arms Warriors abilities, dazing enemies and causing a slow effect for a short period of time.The Cleave talent will be redesigned, with Cleave hitting all enemies in front of the Warrior after hitting three targets with Whirlwind, inflicting Mastery: Deep Wounds--a scaling bleeding effect.The Deadly Calm talent will be redesigned, with the Rage cost for the next four abilities being removed and a passive effect that increases the Warrior's maximum Rage by a large margin being added.Dreadnaught will be adding on the Seismic Wave Azerite Trait, empowering Overpower to deal damage to enemies in a line. When Overpower hits two targets with Sweeping Strikes, Dreadnaught causes two devastating seismic waves.Fury
Fervor of Battle will be added as a new talent, where the Warrior loses themselves to their bloodthirst during Whirlwind and also Slams their primary target, gaining additional Rage.Onslaught will be added as an ability, allowing Enraged Warriors to brutally attack an enemy for a large amount of damage and generate Rage.The Frothing Berserker ability will be reimagined, when the Warrior reaches 100 Rage, they gain Haste and movement speed over a few seconds.Wrecking Ball will be returning as a talent, providing the Warrior a chance for their next Whirlwind to deal a high amount of damage.The Fresh Meat ability will cause Bloodthirst to always Enrage the Warrior the first time they strike a target with Bloodthirst.ProtectionBest Served Cold will increase the damage of revenge, with the damage bonus increasing after a successful dodge or parry.Menace will also be redesigned, empowering Imitating Shout to cause all enemies to cower in fear for a substantial amount of time, knocking back any that are not targeted.Indomitable will be changed to passively increase the Warrior's maximum health by a moderate amount, spending Rage while the ability is active will heal the Warrior.Never Surrender will increase Ignore Pain by a different amount depending on the Warrior's missing health.All of these updates and changes are subject to change before the release, with the Alpha release launching soon to test these changes. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is scheduled to release this year on PC, with no official date announced as of yet.