Warlock demons are apparently tired of being decorative.
Blizzard has announced another major class tuning pass for World of Warcraft: Midnight Season 2, and one number immediately stands out.
Imp, Voidwalker, Sayaad and Felhunter damage is being increased by 350%.
The enormous adjustment arrives with the next scheduled weekly maintenance as part of Blizzard's August 25 tuning pass, reaching European servers with the corresponding weekly reset.
And this is not the only Warlock buff.
Affliction gets substantial increases across several DoTs, Demonology receives buffs to Shadow Bolt, Demonbolt and multiple demons, and even Destruction gets 30% more Rain of Fire damage.
Apparently somebody opened the Warlock damage spreadsheet and discovered several demons had been working unpaid internships.
Four Core Warlock Pets Are Getting 350% More Damage
The headline change applies specifically to four standard Warlock demons:
- Imp
- Voidwalker
- Sayaad
- Felhunter
Blizzard says their damage will increase by 350% with the next class tuning pass.
That does not mean every Warlock suddenly deals 350% more damage.
The pets currently contribute a relatively small portion of total throughput for many builds, which is exactly what Blizzard is trying to change.
The developers say they want Warlock demons to make a larger contribution to overall damage. The additional pet damage should also help with threat while playing solo, particularly for players relying on Voidwalker to keep enemies occupied.
So your blueberry may finally become slightly more convincing when insisting that the monster attack him instead.
Demonology Gets Even More Demon Buffs
Demonology naturally benefits from much more than the baseline pet adjustment.
The specialization receives:
- Shadow Bolt: +35% damage
- Demonbolt: +30% damage
- Wild Imp: +20% damage
- Summon Felguard: +20% damage
- Dominion of Argus demons: +20% damage
- Call Dreadstalkers: +30% damage
The Felguard is important because it is not included in the 350% baseline pet increase. Blizzard is tuning Demonology's primary demon separately with a 20% buff.
That distinction matters before anyone looks at the headline and assumes their Felguard is about to start soloing raid bosses.
We previously looked at how Demonology was entering Season 2 with fairly average damage and relatively few major changes.
Blizzard has now seen the opening-week numbers.
Average has apparently requested reinforcements.
Affliction Is Getting a Huge Package of Buffs Too
Affliction may actually receive the broadest collection of direct spell increases.
Blizzard is buffing:
- Unstable Affliction: +15%
- Agony: +20%
- Corruption: +15%
- Wither: +10%
- Blackened Soul: +20%
- Wrath of Nathreza: +35%
- Shadow of Nathreza: +25%
Blizzard says the goal is primarily to improve Affliction and Demonology's single-target performance, while also giving some attention to their multi-target kits.
Many of these Affliction changes specifically do not apply in PvP combat, where separate tuning rules are being used.
Destruction Gets 30% More Rain of Fire Damage
Destruction has a much shorter PvE section in the tuning notes.
But the one change it gets is not exactly subtle.
Rain of Fire damage is increasing by 30%.
That directly improves Destruction's AoE output and should be particularly noticeable in Mythic+ pulls where Rain of Fire can be maintained across several targets.
Destruction is not receiving the giant package aimed at Affliction and Demonology, but 30% is still considerably better than opening the patch notes and finding nothing.
This Is Exactly Why Blizzard Planned Weekly Season 2 Tuning
None of this should be particularly surprising if you have followed Blizzard's plan for the opening weeks.
Before Season 2 launched, we covered Blizzard's aggressive weekly class tuning schedule, which specifically warned players that balance would continue moving after live raid and Mythic+ data arrived.
The August 25 pass is exactly that process in action.
Blizzard now has several days of Venomous Abyss logs, Mythic+ runs and real Season 2 gear combinations to work with.
And Warlocks are clearly one of the classes the developers believe need help.
It also follows a Season 2 launch where Blizzard had already been moving power between baseline abilities and tier bonuses before the raid even opened.
The Season 2 meta was never going to sit still.
Your Demon Is About to Matter More
The 350% number will understandably get most of the attention.
But the real story is broader.
Blizzard is trying to increase the contribution Warlock demons make to actual gameplay while simultaneously lifting two underperforming specializations through direct spell buffs.
For Affliction, that means stronger DoTs.
For Demonology, it means stronger casts and stronger summoned demons.
For Destruction, it means a healthier Rain of Fire.
And for the Imp, Voidwalker, Sayaad and Felhunter?
A 350% reminder that they were supposed to be helping this whole time.
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