World of Warcraft's enormous September 22 class tuning pass is now live, bringing PvE changes to 23 specializations and another substantial round of PvP adjustments.
But Blizzard could not resist making a few last-minute edits before the numbers reached live servers.
The biggest correction affects Blood Death Knights. When Blizzard originally announced the pass, Death Strike was scheduled for a 25% damage increase. That number has now been reduced to 15%, while Vengeance Demon Hunter's Reaver's Glaive buff has also been cut from its originally announced value. Mountain Thane Warriors keep their large buffs, but those increases now explicitly exclude PvP.
That means our original breakdown of the September 22 class tuning pass needs one important update: Blood Death Strike did not ultimately receive the full 25% increase Blizzard first announced.
Blood Death Strike Gets 15%, Not 25%
Blood Death Knight is receiving one of the more complicated tuning packages in the patch.
Blizzard is reducing all Blood ability and minion damage by 6% because San'layn has been performing above the intended target in AoE. At the same time, the developers want to improve Blood's single-target damage, particularly for Deathbringer builds.
Death Strike therefore still gets buffed, but only by 15% instead of the originally announced 25%. Blizzard says the smaller increase should remain positive in single-target situations while keeping cleave priority damage closer to neutral.
Deathbringer receives compensation elsewhere. Exterminate rises by 25%, Reaper's Mark and Wave of Souls gain 20%, while Deathly Blows now increases Death Strike damage by 20% instead of 12%.
So Blood is not exactly leaving the reset empty-handed. Blizzard has simply taken ten percentage points back before anyone could become emotionally attached to them.
Reaver’s Glaive Also Lost Part of Its Buff
Aldrachi Reaver remains one of Blizzard's major targets because the Hero Talent tree has fallen behind its alternatives for both Havoc and Vengeance Demon Hunters.
Reaver's Glaive now receives a 25% damage increase. Earlier tuning information had placed that buff five percentage points higher.
Other Aldrachi Reaver improvements remain intact. Art of the Glaive gets stronger enhanced strikes, Reaver's Mark improves, and Havoc receives additional Soul Fragment generation through Broken Spirit.
The goal remains the same: Blizzard wants Hero Talent selection to become less of an exercise in opening Warcraft Logs and choosing whichever tree happens to be several percentage points ahead.
Warrior Gets the Buffs, but Not in PvP
Fury and Protection Warrior's Mountain Thane changes survived intact numerically.
Lightning Strike and Ground Current both receive 50% damage increases, but Blizzard added an important clarification before the pass went live: those buffs do not apply in PvP combat.
That still gives Mountain Thane a meaningful PvE boost without suddenly introducing a pair of heavily buffed passive damage effects into Arenas and Battlegrounds.
The Rest of the Tuning Pass Is Still Huge
The last-minute reductions should not obscure how large this update actually is.
Frost Death Knight gets 100% more Frostreaper damage and 10% more Obliterate. Fire Mage doubles Meteor's damage-over-time component, while Frost Mage gains 50% more Comet Storm damage. Devastation Evoker gets large AoE improvements, including 50% increases to Azure Strike and Azure Sweep.
Discipline Priest receives perhaps the strangest buff of the lot: Atonement healing is increased by 40% outside raids and Battlegrounds, specifically to help the specialization perform better in dungeons.
Retribution Paladin's Templar tree gets 50% more Hammer of Light damage, Subtlety Rogue's Trickster gets 50% more Unseen Blade damage, and Windwalker Monk gains stronger auto-attacks, Dual Threat and Rising Sun Kick.
Those changes arrive while more than 91% of recorded Midnight Season 2 Mythic+ keys are already being timed, so the next week of dungeon data should be particularly interesting. Buffing a large collection of underperforming specs may improve representation without necessarily making an already forgiving dungeon season much harsher.
Always Read the Final Patch Notes
This is a useful reminder of how Blizzard tuning works in 2026.
An announced change is not necessarily the final change.
Blizzard can revise percentages between the initial tuning post and the weekly reset, sometimes only hours before players actually receive them. In this case, Blood Death Knight and Vengeance Demon Hunter both lost part of their announced buffs, while Warrior's numbers gained new PvP restrictions.
The September 22 pass is still enormous.
It is simply slightly less enormous than it looked a few days ago.
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