WoW Patch 9.1: How Your Class Changes in ‘Chains of Domination’

Patch 9.1 of World of Warcraft brings many changes to the classes. We have listed all the major innovations for you.

The first major content update of World of Warcraft is on the horizon. On June 30, the Patch 9.1 “Chains of Domination” will be released, bringing plenty of new content and improvements. Also part of this are the class changes, which are quite generous again. To help you be perfectly prepared for the changes, we have listed all the adjustments for you.

The important changes from WoW Patch 9.1 at a glance

Below we summarize the adjustments of the classes. You will find the specific changes with all details further down the article.

Death Knight: Blood Death Knights will become stronger, but the Anti-Magic Zone of all Death Knights will be weakened.
Demon Hunter: Vengeance Demon Hunters will be significantly buffed and receive a hefty bonus of 15% on many damage abilities.
Druid: The Balance Druid receives some adjustments, but overall these don’t change much.
Hunter: Survival Hunters will be massively strengthened and receive hefty bonuses of 15% on many abilities.
Mage: Fire Mages have to accept nerfs that mainly limit their AoE abilities. Additionally, a legendary power is fixed.
Monk: Mistweaver Monks can now better support the group through damage. The Venthyr ability of the monks has received several bug fixes.
Paladin: Especially Holy Paladins will be more effective in healing, but their ability to deal damage will be drastically nerfed.
Priest: Shadow Priests will be slightly altered so that they deal more damage through their permanent DOTs and less through Devouring Plague.
Rogue: The Rogue primarily received bug fixes, but Subtlety Rogues also get some solid buffs.
Shaman: There were only a few adjustments for the Shaman, mainly bug fixes.
Warlock: Affliction Warlocks receive strong buffs, and the Destruction Warlock will also be improved.
Warrior: Arms Warriors will be slightly stronger in PvE situations.

What changes for the Death Knight in Patch 9.1

• The Anti-Magic Zone lasts only 8 seconds (previously 10 seconds) and disappears once it absorbs 150% of the caster’s health points.
• A bug has been fixed that prematurely removed the damage-reducing effect of the Anti-Magic Zone when two Death Knights used the ability.

• Blood
  • The damage of all spells and abilities has been increased by 6%.

• Frost
  • Chains of Ice will now be prominently highlighted in the ability bar when the Death Knight has 20 stacks of the talent Cold Heart.

• Unholy
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Ghouls to be affected by certain buff spells twice.
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented the Army of the Dead from being triggered when the explosion from the Festering Wound dealt the killing blow.

What changes for the Demon Hunter in Patch 9.1

• The talent Soul Rending now permanently increases life leech by 10% (previously 5%) and by an additional 20% during Metamorphosis (previously 25%).
• A bug has been fixed that prevented The Hunt (Night Fae ability) from hitting targets in Stealth that were on the way to the targeted target.
• A bug has been fixed that prevented the imprisoning ability from being cast on targets that are immune to polymorph.

• Vengeance
  • Demon Bite deals 15% more damage.
  • Demon Blades (talent) deals 15% more damage.
  • Chaos Strike deals 15% more damage.
  • Eye Beam deals 15% more damage.
  • Unleashed Chaos (talent) now increases the damage of the next Chaos Strike by 500% (previously 600%).
  • Netherwalk (talent) now has a duration of 6 seconds (previously 5 seconds).
  • Survival Instincts (talent) triggers a reduced duration of 50% and also triggers a 50% reduced cooldown of the ability when the Demon Hunter falls below 35% health.
  • Unnatural Malice now increases the damage of the DOT effect from The Hunt (Night Fae ability) and no longer the initial damage.
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented the second hit of Unrelenting Assault from triggering Demon’s Bite.

What changes for the Druid in Patch 9.1

• Sharpened Instincts now has a 50% greater cooldown at all ranks.
• A bug has been fixed that prevented Adaptive Swarm (Necrolord ability) from spreading when the Druid died while the ability was active.
• A bug has been fixed that allowed Adaptive Swarm (Necrolord ability) to alter the initial healing of Regrowth.
• A bug has been fixed that allowed Starfall and Army of the Spirits (Night Fae ability) to hit targets controlled by Repentance.

• Balance
  • New Moon (talent) now has a recharge time of 20 seconds (previously 25 seconds).
  • The damage of New Moon and Half Moon has been increased by 23%.
  • Equinox (talent) now increases the frequency of Starfall by 250% (previously 300%).
  • Stellar Shift (talent) has been reworked: Starfall now deals 50% more damage and allows the Druid to move while casting, but has a 12 seconds cooldown.
  • The free Starfall from Oneth’s Clear Vision (Legendary) ignores the cooldown created by Stellar Shift.
  • Balance of Forces (Legendary) now provides a 24% additional critical strike chance (previously 40%) and decreases by 3% per second (previously 8% per second).

• Feral
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Skull Bash to interrupt targets who were protected by Intervene.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Elite Predator (Legendary) to restore the wrong amount of energy when Shred was used while Soul of the Forest (talent) was selected.

• Guardian
  • The damage reduction from Bear Adept is now only active while in Bear Form.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Ironfur of Guardian Druids to sometimes not last the full duration.
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Frenzy Band (Legendary) to benefit from damage enhancements twice.

• Restoration
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Balance Affinity (talent) from increasing the range of Rejuvenation (talent).
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Regrowth to not consume Lifebloom when Rejuvenation was active on another player.

What changes for the Hunter in Patch 9.1

• Death Chakram (Necrolord ability) can now correctly bounce between multiple targets that are not directly in front of the Hunter.

• Survival
  • Raptor Strike deals 15% more damage.
  • Kill Command deals 15% more damage.
  • Mongoose Bite (talent) deals 15% more damage.
  • Flanking Strike (talent) deals 15% more damage.
  • Flame Surge Bomb no longer hits targets that are far above in the air.

• Companion
  • Classic Pterrordax and Pythons from Mists of Pandaria are now larger.
  • Trample (Mammoth family) is now an instant cast (previously 6 seconds channeling).
  • Updraft (Pterrordax family): A new ability that reduces the fall speed of the companion and Hunter for 30 seconds.

What changes for the Mage in Patch 9.1

• A bug has been fixed that prevented Power Shift (Night Fae ability) from reducing the cooldown of Time Warp and Spell Steal while Kleptomania (talent) was selected.

• Fire
  • Flamestrike deals 10% less damage.
  • Flame Patch (talent) deals 10% less damage.
  • Ignition (talent) now reduces the cooldown of Conflagrate by 1 second (previously 1.5 seconds).
  • Hellfire Cascade is now 20% less effective.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Phoenix Flames to not deal damage if the Mage was not in line of sight of the target when the spell arrived.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Threefold Protection (Legendary) to reduce the effect of Fiery Protection when triggered by Fiery Soul (talent).
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Ignite to skip targets that should not be hit by spells, such as Rogues under the influence of Cloak of Shadows.

• Frost
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Threefold Protection (Legendary) to not activate all 3 barriers when the cooldown of Ice Barrier was reset by Frost Nova.

What changes for the Monk in Patch 9.1

• The cooldown of Fallen Order (Venthyr ability) will now reset when a boss encounter ends.
• The cooldown of Fortifying Brew resets when a boss encounter ends for Windwalker and Mistweaver Monks.
• A bug has been fixed that prevented healing and damage from Bone Dust Brew (Necrolord ability) from being critical hits.

• Brewmaster
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Weapons of Order (Kyrian ability) from stacking with multiple Brewmaster Monks.

• Mistweaver
  • Tiger Palm deals 10% more damage.
  • Blackout Kick deals 10% more damage.
  • Rising Sun Kick deals 10% more damage.
  • Whirling Dragon Punch deals 20% more damage.
  • The mana cost of Enveloping Mist has been reduced to 5.6% of base mana (previously 6%).
  • Revival now triggers Essence Font on each target hit.
  • The healing from Revival has been reduced by 10%.
  • The channeling of Soothing Mist is no longer interrupted by Mana Tea or Zen Focus Tea.
  • Profound Mist now correctly affects the Essence Font of Chi-Ji.
  • Damage mitigation now correctly increases the healing of damage transfer when the ability is cast on an ally.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Monks from Fallen Order (Venthyr ability) to not be able to cast Enveloping Mist.

• Windwalker
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Bone Marrow Hop from increasing the damage of Bone Dust Brew (Necrolord ability) through Storm, Earth, and Fire and Xuen, the White Tiger.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused a queued damage transfer to interrupt Whirling Dragon Punch.
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Jaws of the Sky (Legendary) from increasing the damage of the Storm, Earth, and Fire clones.

What changes for the Paladin in Patch 9.1

• Blessing of Winter from Blessing of Seasons (Night Fae ability) can now affect multiple targets simultaneously.
• A bug has been fixed that caused the Paladin’s Auras to fade when the Paladin changed their specialization.
• A bug has been fixed that prevented Aura of Retribution from triggering when a Holy Priest’s Spirit of Redemption was triggered. Aura of Retribution now correctly triggers when a Holy Priest triggers the Spirit of Redemption without wearing X’anshy, Return of Archbishop Benedictus (Legendary).

• Holy
  • The healing from Holy Light has been increased by 20%.
  • Light Infusion consumed by Holy Light now ensures that Holy Light generates 1 Holy Power (was previously 30% additional healing).
  • The damage of all abilities has been reduced by 8%.
  • The damage of Ashen Hallow (Venthyr ability) has been additionally reduced by 10%.
  • The damage of Hammer of Wrath has been additionally reduced by 10%.
  • The damage of Judgment has been additionally reduced by 10%.
  • Crusader Strike now costs 11% of base mana (previously 9%).
  • Power of the Crusader (talent) now reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 seconds (previously 1.5 seconds).
  • Inflorescence of the Sunwell (Legendary) now gives Holy Light a 30% chance to generate 2 Holy Power when it consumes Light Infusion.
  • A bug has been fixed that increased the damage of Holy Insight for Holy Paladins.

• Protection
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented the cooldown reduction of Protector of the Righteous (talent) from interacting with Divine Purpose (talent) and Radiant Light when the glyph ‘Queen’ was used.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Word of Glory to consume Radiant Light and Divine Purpose (talent).

What changes for the Priest in Patch 9.1

• Clear Mind is now 25% less effective.

• Discipline
  • Spirit Shell (talent) now has a cooldown of 90 seconds (previously 60 seconds).
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Stand Firm from increasing the absorption of Spirit Shell.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused the damage increase from Schism (talent) to not affect the first damage tick of a queued Atonement.
  • A bug has been fixed that prematurely removed the damage reduction of Power Word: Barrier when two Discipline Priests used Power Word: Barrier simultaneously.

• Holy
  • Symbol of Hope has been reworked. The ability now reduces the cooldown of one major defensive ability of all group and raid members by 60 seconds and restores 18% of the missing mana of all characters. Both effects occur over a duration of 5 seconds of channeling.

• Shadow
  • The damage of Shadow Word: Pain has been increased by 25%.
  • The damage of Vampiric Touch has been increased by 25%.
  • The damage of Devouring Plague has been reduced by 18%.
  • The Shadowflame Rift Shadowflameprism (Legendary) deals 16% less damage.
  • The damage increase from Talbadar’s stratagem (Legendary) on Mind Blast has been reduced by 8%.
  • Dissonant Echoes now increases the damage of Shadow Bolt by 20% (previously 35%).
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Death and Madness (talent) from generating Insanity and completing the cooldown of Shadow Word: Death when the target died at the moment Shadow Word: Death was cast.

What changes for the Rogue in Patch 9.1

• Feign Death now lasts for 6 seconds (previously 5 seconds).
• Jagged Blade (Necrolord ability) now correctly benefits from critical strike rating.
• The shield from Cloak of Shadows is now 50% larger and lasts 4 seconds and no longer depletes over time when the Rogue is out of stealth.
• Poisonous Blade now removes rage effects regardless of which poison is used. If Poisonous Blade is used while Seductive Poison is active, it reduces the target’s spell and attack speed by 25% for 5 seconds.

• Assassination
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Doomblade (Legendary) to benefit from damage-increasing auras twice.

• Outlaw
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Rogues to benefit from Profound Insight (Legendary) even though the effect was removed.
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Poisonous Blade from benefiting from Battle Power and Broadside.

• Subtlety
  • Shuriken Storm (Rank 2) now increases the critical strike chance of Shuriken Storm by 15%.
  • The damage of Black Powder has been increased by 33% per combo point.
  • Black Powder (Rank 2) now causes targets with Find Weakness to take 40% additional damage as shadow damage (previously 50%).
  • Shadow Techniques are now triggered more often.
  • The damage of Assassinate has been increased by 20%.
  • The damage of Dark Blade (talent) has been increased by 20%.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Jagged Bone Spike (Necrolord ability) to not benefit from Shadow Blades.

What changes for the Shaman in Patch 9.1

• The global cooldown of Vesper Totem (Kyrian ability) is now 1 second (previously 1.5 seconds) and is now consistent with all other totems.
• Vesper Totem (Kyrian ability) now receives 10% of the caster’s health as additional health.
• A bug has been fixed that prevented Shadow Rift (Venthyr ability) from being used while the Shaman had the effect of Favor of the Spiritwalker.

• Enhancement
  • Flame Tongue Weapon can now trigger from all damage (previously only off-hand attacks).
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Windfury Totem (Rank 2) to not affect party members.

• Restoration
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Totem of Mana Tide to be cast while the Shaman was silenced.

What changes for the Warlock in Patch 9.1

• The mana cost of Shadow Bolt has been reduced to 1.5% of base mana (previously 2%).
• The additional shield from Dark Pact (talent) has been increased by 316%.

• Affliction
  • Corruption deals 15% more damage.
  • Seed of Corruption deals 25% more damage.
  • The damage of Malefic Rapture has been reduced by 18%.
  • Dark Caller is no longer a talent, but learned at level 58.
  • Soul Siphon is no longer learned at level 58, but is now a talent.
  • Soul Siphon now lasts 16 seconds (previously 12 seconds).
  • Haunting (talent) and Soul Siphon (talent) now increase the damage of companions and guardians.
  • Sacrolash’s Dark Touch (Legendary) has been reworked. The damage of Corruption is now increased by 25% (previously 15%) and every time Corruption deals damage, the duration of all active curses on the target is increased by 2 seconds.
  • New conduit: Withering Bolt – Shadow Bolt deals 10% (or Soulsteal 5%) more damage from the warlock’s proactive damage-over-time effect on the target.
  • Concentrated Malice is now 53% less effective.
  • Death Breath (conduit) has been removed.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Warlocks with Inevitable Doom (talent) channeling Blood Siphon against multiple enemies to lose the bonus when some of the targets died.

• Demonology
  • Out of the Shadows (talent) now also increases the Shadowflame damage of your companions.

• Destruction
  • Chaos Bolt deals 10% more damage.
  • The mana cost of Incinerate has been reduced to 1.5% of base mana (previously 2%).
  • Extinction (talent) now also increases the damage of your companions and guardians.
  • The damage of Shadowburn (talent) has been increased by 23% and one charge is restored when the target dies within 5 seconds.
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Corruption from also hitting targets of Devastation.
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed Devastation to be used without interrupting channeled spells like Blood Siphon.

What changes for the Warrior in Patch 9.1

• A bug has been fixed that prevented Aftershocks (Night Fae ability) from hitting targets in Stealth.
• A bug has been fixed that caused some area-of-effect spells from other classes to mistakenly consume Spell Reflection.

• Arms
  • Fatal Strike deals 10% more damage in non-PvP situations.
  • Deep Wounds deals 10% more damage in non-PvP situations.
  • The damage of Overwhelm has been increased by 10%.
  • The damage of Execute has been increased by 10%. This does not apply to Condemn (Venthyr ability).

• Protection
  • The damage of Execute has been increased by 10%. This does not apply to Condemn (Venthyr ability).

When will the patch come? The big content update “Chains of Domination” will be released on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. From then on, all changes will be live, and there will be plenty of new content to experience.

What do you think of the changes to your class? Are you happy with the buffs and nerfs? Or is (of course) once again exactly your class getting the short end while all the other classes just benefit?