Blizzard has another large World of Warcraft tuning pass ready for September 22, and this one has apparently arrived carrying a calculator with several very large buttons. Twenty-three specializations are receiving PvE adjustments, with Blizzard targeting low performers across raids and Mythic+ while also trying to reduce some of the increasingly obvious gaps between Hero Talent trees. Several buffs are enormous on paper, including a 100% increase to Frost Death Knight’s Frostreaper, 50% more Hammer of Light damage for Retribution Templar and 50% buffs to two Mountain Thane Warrior effects.
Blizzard explained in its official September 22 class tuning notes that this pass is primarily aimed at specs sitting toward the bottom of raid, Mythic+ and PvP performance. The other major target is Hero Talent disparity. Blizzard increasingly wants the choice between two Hero trees to resemble an actual choice rather than a small personality test immediately followed by everyone selecting whichever option Warcraft Logs prefers.
Frost Death Knight Gets One of the Biggest Numbers
Frost Death Knight has been struggling particularly in single-target and two-target cleave situations, so Blizzard is increasing Frostreaper damage by 100% and Obliterate by 10%. Unholy is also getting substantial help aimed at raid performance, including Blightfall dealing 200% of remaining plague damage instead of 100%, while several San’layn effects are being strengthened.
Blood is more complicated. Overall ability and minion damage drops by 6% because San’layn AoE has been running hotter than Blizzard wants, but Death Strike gains 25% damage and several Deathbringer abilities receive targeted buffs. It is less a straight nerf than an attempt to move damage away from excessive AoE and back toward single-target performance.
Hero Talent Gaps Are Being Attacked Directly
Retribution Paladin’s Templar tree is one of the clearest examples. Blizzard says it has been underperforming against Herald of the Sun, so Hammer of Light gets a massive 50% damage increase while Empyrean Hammer rises by 12%.
Demon Hunters get similar treatment. Aldrachi Reaver has fallen significantly behind the alternatives for both Havoc and Vengeance, resulting in buffs to Reaver’s Glaive, Art of the Glaive and Reaver’s Mark. Subtlety Rogue’s Trickster tree receives 50% more Unseen Blade damage and 30% more Coup de Grace damage.
Warriors are in a healthier overall position, but Blizzard still wants Mountain Thane closer to its alternatives. Both Fury and Protection get 50% more Lightning Strike and Ground Current damage. That comes only days after Blizzard abandoned Protection Warrior’s much larger Execute experiment, so Protection is once again moving through tuning rather than surgery.
Discipline Priest Gets a 40% Dungeon-Specific Healing Buff
One of the most interesting changes is not technically a normal aura buff. Discipline Priest’s Atonement healing will increase by 40% outside raids and Battlegrounds, specifically addressing the spec’s difficulty translating its raid healing model into dungeons. Penance also becomes 20% cheaper.
Mistweaver Monk gets 5% more overall healing plus 15% buffs to Vivify and Sheilun’s Gift, while Restoration Druid receives 4% more healing. These arrive in the same week as Blizzard’s final major Season 2 trinket pass, where several healer trinkets are being increased by as much as 75%.
Mages and Evokers Get Big Mythic+ Help
Fire and Frost Mage changes are aimed primarily at Mythic+. Fire’s Meteor damage-over-time effect doubles, while Frost gets 50% more Comet Storm and Glacial Assault comet damage. Devastation Evoker receives widespread AoE buffs, including 50% increases to Azure Strike and Azure Sweep, while Augmentation’s Blistering Scales damage doubles alongside large increases to Fire Breath and Upheaval.
Marksmanship Hunter gets stronger Trick Shots and Volley, Survival receives more Wildfire Bomb AoE, and Windwalker Monk gains 25% auto-attack damage plus buffs to Dual Threat and Rising Sun Kick. That last one is notable because Windwalker had already climbed sharply through the Mythic+ rankings.
September 22 Is Becoming a Very Busy Reset
The class pass lands alongside the previously announced trinket tuning, meaning some characters could see both their specialization and important pieces of equipment change during the same reset. Blizzard is also making a substantial separate PvP pass covering everything from Windwalker Hero Talents to Fire Mage burst, Survival Hunter damage and Affliction Warlock DoTs.
Not every percentage here will translate directly into an equally enormous overall DPS increase. Doubling one relatively small ability is not the same thing as doubling a specialization.
Still, this is not maintenance tuning.
When Blizzard starts writing 50%, 60% and 100% repeatedly in the same set of notes, Monday’s damage meter and Tuesday’s damage meter may have rather different opinions about who belongs near the top.
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