WoW Shamans and Druids get solid buffs in class tweaks for Season of Discovery

In the latest round of class tuning changes for World of Warcraft: Season of Discovery, both Druids and Shamans get some nice alterations to their existing toolkits.

The release of Season of Discovery saw the existing class system in Vanilla WoW change enormously. Players were given access to new powers and abilities via the Rune Engraving system, which has led to some pretty crazy damage and healing output across the board.

The major issue with that from a development perspective is that balancing between the classes, and the game world more generally, is a much more difficult proposition. Specifically, many in the community feel Hunters and Paladins are in a position of significant strength over their immediate peers.

Changes to the former are arriving now to make pets less disproportionately effective. Paladins remain untouched in the latest round of updates marked for December 12.

Complete list of class tuning changes for December 12 in Season of Discovery

Shamans are getting some solid changes to their current rotation, including increased damage and reduced mana cost for Lava Lash. Additionally, the oft-maligned caster Druid is getting some minor positive changes. The full list of class tweaks is as follows:

• Druid
  • Starsurge rune ability damage increased 182%.
  • Starsurge cooldown reduced to 6 seconds (was 10 seconds).
  • Starsurge mana cost reduced to 1% of base mana (was 3% of base mana).
• Hunter
  • Flanking Strike now gains the benefit of weapon enhancements like sharpening stones, is now on global cooldown, and is now properly treated as a melee attack, letting it benefit from attack power and combat modifiers to dodge, parry, block, crit, hit, etc.
  • Flanking Strike is now prevented by Pacify.
  • Flanking Strike now requires a weapon equipped.
  • Flanking Strike pet damage is now properly treated as a melee attack, with same benefits as listed above for the hunter’s damage.
  • Hunter pet attack values have been updated to better scale with Hunter attack power.
  • Scorpid poison now distributes the additional damage it gains from attack power evenly over each stack of Scorpid Poison on the target.
  • Pets now receive a smaller portion of a hunter’s armor and stamina.
  • Aspect of the Lion has been redesigned and will now function as an Aura.
• Priest
  • Priest Homunculi damage increased by 100%.
  • Void Plague damage increased by 200%.
  • Twisted Faith now increases damage done by Mind Blast and Mind Flay by 50% (was 20%) on targets afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.
• Rogue
  • Saber Slash, Shiv, and Main Gauche will now properly consume Remorseless Attacks.
  • Saber Slash’s tooltip fixed; damage not reduced.
  • Saber Slash damage is now properly considered a Bleed and benefits from the Mangle debuff. Note: Bleed-immune creatures will no longer be affected by it.
• Shaman
  • Lava Lash damage increased to 150% weapon damage (was 100% weapon damage).
  • Lava Lash mana cost reduced to 1% of base mana (was 4%).
  • Overload now has a 50% chance to trigger (was 33%).
  • Dual Wield Specialization now grants 10% increased chance to hit while dual-wielding.

Blackfathom Deeps changes in Season of Discovery

The flagship endgame activity is the altered 10-man raid adaptation of Blackfathom Deeps. Players have already conquered its halls, but the development team is continuing to make minor adjustments to its functionality. The list of changes in this latest round is as follows:

• Elemental Resistances lowered in Blackfathom Deeps to levels more appropriate for a level 25 Raid.
  • Gelihast Shadow Resist lowered to 25 (was 75).
  • Lorgus Jett Nature Resist lowered to 25 (was 75).
  • Twilight Lord Kelris Shadow and Arcane Resist lowered to 25 (was 75).
    • Phantasmal Priestess all Resist lowered to 0 (was 75), so it’s no longer bad news if double casters are sent down to the dream in Phase 1.
  • Invading Nightmare Shadow and Fire Resist lowered to 25 (was 75).
  • Void Elementals Shadow Resist lowered lowered to 25 (was 75).
  • Corrosive Droplets Nature Resist lowered to 25 (was 75), and Frost Resist lowered to 0 (was 25).

That’s the complete breakdown of the latest round of changes coming this week in Season of Discovery.