Even before the start of the 2nd season in World of Warcraft, the developers are making some changes. A few classes are too powerful.
The first week of Patch 12.1 Curse of Ula’tek is slowly coming to an end. Many are eager for the new season of World of Warcraft and are just waiting to dive into the new raid or back into Mythic+. That will happen again next Wednesday.
But before that happens, Blizzard is pulling a few more changes out of the hat. Because some classes are way too strong, while others need a little help.
What changes on Wednesday? Below we have summarized the most important changes briefly, so you know which classes and specializations will be adjusted. Basically, the developers intend to mitigate the effects of the new tier sets a bit. In many cases, the tier sets will be weakened, but the regular damage (or healing) of a class will be improved. You can find the full details on the second page of the article.
All class changes from August 19, 2026
Death Knights receive two changes. Blood Death Knights suffer significant nerfs to their San’layn legendary talents and must accept 4% less strength and a weaker Dancing Rune Weapon. Frost Death Knights deal 9% more ability damage, but their tier set is being weakened.
Demon Hunters will be nerfed in theirVengeance specialization. This has proven to be too strong in battles against solo enemies, so the most important abilities will lose potency. However, general ability damage will be strengthened. The new tier set will be drastically weakened, now generating only 2 Soul Fragments (instead of 8).
Druids are too weak in their Restoration specialization. Their healing will be increased by 4%, but their damage dealt will also see a significant rise of 20%, allowing them to contribute more to group damage in dungeons when no healing is needed.
Hunters in the Beast Mastery specialization will receive an improved tier set from the new content. The buffing effect of the tier set will be increased by 30% to 50%, making the impact more noticeable.
For the Mage with Arcane focus, the tier set was too strong. Here, massive nerfs to the tier set will occur, losing 75% of its strength – an improvement to Arcane Missiles goes from 20% down to 5%. To compensate, however, the overall strength of the Arcane Mage will be increased by 3%.
The Monk was too weak as a Mistweaver healer. All healing is increased by a solid 8%, and the bonus of the new tier set is triggered more often.
Priests, on the other hand, were far too strong in their Discipline specialization, outpacing all other healers with their damage dealt. They will be nerfed by a hefty 30%. However, to ensure their healing output doesn’t collapse, the damage converted to healing through Atonement will be increased from 32% to 46%. Holy Priests receive improvements to their Oracle legendary talents to make them similarly efficient as those of the Archon.
Rogues receive a direct buff in the Assassination specialization. All damage increases by 4%. Subtlety Rogues, on the other hand, experience a weakening of their tier set bonus but gain a damage buff of 6% to compensate for it.
Shamans receive only one change. Enhancement Shamans deal 5% more damage with all abilities.
Warlocks can look forward to a small change if they are specialized in Demonology. Their tier set will be improved to have a bit more effect.
Warriors can expect minimal adjustments if they are specialized in Fury. Their tier set will be slightly weakened, but all damage will be increased by 6%, making the overall impact quite minor.
Why does Blizzard change so much? From the first week after a patch’s release, developers can gain a plethora of data – significantly more than from the PTR, where only a fraction of players actually play. Especially at the start of a season, balance is incredibly important, as it also affects how well the entire progression during the season runs and how the “World First” race unfolds, which starts in a few days. It has already been announced that further adjustments will be made in the coming days.
Is your class affected by the changes? How do you feel about these last-minute adjustments, and will they perhaps even affect which class you choose to play in the new content? Let us know in the comments. And make sure to also stock up on the overpowered fish if you want to explore the Vault of Atal’Utek…
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