WoW Dragonflight Class Tuning: January 23 Patch Notes

World of Warcraft's newest 10.2.5 update, called Seeds of Renewal, was released a couple of days ago, and players were expecting a ton of class balancing changes in the patch notes. While the initial patch did add a wealth of new content to the game, including world-wide Dragonriding, a new Gilneas story campaign, and a full list of epilogues for the Dragon Isles, there were no balance changes to be found.

After a full week of no updates, Blizzard finally released a Blue Post, revealing all the changes coming to the game on January 23rd. This patch will finally bring all the class changes players have been asking for, with a ton of buffs across the board. Here is the full list of patch notes for the January 23rd update for World of Warcraft Dragonflight.

WoW Dragonflight Class Tuning: January 23 Full Patch Notes

The January 23rd update for World of Warcraft Dragonflight is set to bring a wide array of balancing adjustments to nearly all classes in the game. Most of the changes are buffs to underperforming specs, such as Shadow Priest, Feral Druid, and Holy Priest. These classes were near the bottom in terms of effectiveness in most of the different types of content in the game. This patch aims to bring them to the level of the rest of the cast with mostly numeric buffs across the board. Here is the full list of changes coming to World of Warcraft Dragonflight on January 23rd:

We continue to closely monitor data on class performance as well as player feedback. We’ve developed the following adjustments to classes that are over- and under-performing in group content and PvP. These changes will go into effect with scheduled weekly maintenance in each region.

Death Knight Changes

Blood Death Knight

Bone Shield

• Now grants armor based on 80% of Strength (was 70%).

Unholy Death Knight

• All damage dealt by you and your pet’s abilities increased by 4%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Frost Death Knight

• All damage dealt increased by 4%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Druid Changes

Feral Druid

Rip

• Damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Rake

• Periodic damage increased by 5%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Primal Wrath

• Damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Feral Frenzy

• Damage increased by 5%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Lunar Inspiration

• Damage increased by 10%.

Rampant Ferocity

• Damage increased by 25%.

Restoration Druid

Swiftmend

• Now costs 1.4% base mana (was 1.6%).

Grove Guardians

• Now costs 1% base mana (was 1.2%).

Wild Growth

• Now costs 3.8% base mana (was 4%).

Regrowth

• Now costs 2.8% base mana (was 3.2%).

Efflorescence

• Now costs 3% base mana (was 3.2%).

Hunter Changes

Survival Hunter

• All damage dealt by Hunter and Hunter’s pet’s abilities is increased by 4%.

Paladin Changes

Holy Paladin

Shield of the Righteous

• Damage increased by 30%.

Consecration

• Damage increased by 30%.

Retribution Paladin

Wake of Ashes

• Damage increased by 20%.

Truth’s Wake

• Damage increased by 28%.

Seething Flames

• Damage increased by 28%.

Blade of Justice

• Damage increased by 20%.

Final Verdict

• Damage increased by 10%.

Priest Changes

Holy Priest

Holy Word: Sanctify

• Healing increased by 25%.

Heal

• Healing increased by 25%.

Flash Heal

• Healing increased by 15%.

Holy Word: Chastise

• Damage increased by 30%.

Smite

• Damage increased by 30%.

Shadow Word: Pain

• Damage increased by 15%.

Shadow Priest

Mind Blast

• Damage increased by 10%.

Devouring Plague

• Damage increased by 10%.

Shadowy Apparition

• Damage increased by 20%.

Psychic Link

• Now causes direct damage spells to inflict 30% of their damage on all other targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch (was 25%).

Shaman Changes

Restoration Shaman

• All healing increased by 5%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Lava Burst

• Damage increased by 20%.

Flame Shock

• Damage increased by 20%.

Lightning Bolt 

• Damage increased by 20%.

Warrior Changes

Arms Warrior

• Amirdrassil 4 set bonus - Bonus damage for the triggered Thunder Clap increased to 200% (was 100%). Not applied to PvP Combat.

Cleave

• Damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Dreadnaught

• Damage increased by 30%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Deep Wounds

• Damage increased by 15%. Not applied to PvP Combat.

Protection Warrior

Vanguard

• Now grants a 40% increase to Stamina (was 35%).

Ignore Pain

• Absorption increased by 5%

Player vs. Player Changes

Here is the full list of PvP changes coming to World of Warcraft Dragonflight on January 23rd:

General

• Cloth specialization classes now gain an additional 35% armor in Arenas and Battlegrounds.
• Plate specialization classes now have their armor reduced by 30% in Arenas and Battlegrounds.
• The Gladiator’s Distinction 2-piece set bonus now increases Stamina by 15% for Damage Dealer and Tank roles (was 5%).
• The Gladiator’s Distinction 2-piece set bonus now increases Stamina by 20% for Healer roles (was 15%).
• All fear and root effects in PvP may now take 100% more damage before canceling in PvP combat.

Death Knight PvP Changes

Unholy Death Knight

Festering Wound

• Damage is now increased by 180% in PvP Combat (was 195%).

Death Coil

• Damage is now increased by 60% in PvP Combat (was 70%).

Necrotic Wound

• Now absorbs 3% of healing received (down from 4%) and heals for up to 3% of the Death Knight’s maximum health (down from 4%).

Druid PvP Changes

• Moonkin Form now increases armor by 100% in PvP (was 125%).
• Deep Roots increases the amount of damage required to cancel Entangling Roots or Mass Entangle by 75% (was 250%).

Feral Druid

Frenzied Regeneration

• No longer decreased by 20% in PvP for Feral Druids.

Restoration Druid

• Mana regeneration now reduced by 50% in PvP Combat (was 45%).
• Healing reduced by 5% in PvP Combat.

Mage PvP Changes

• Rigid Ice increases the amount of damage required to cancel Frost Nova by 20% in PvP combat (was 80%).

Frost Mage

• Amirdrassil 4-piece set effectiveness is no longer reduced in PvP.

Monk PvP Changes

Windwalker Monk

• Amirdrassil 2-piece set effectiveness is now reduced by 80% in PvP Combat (was 60%).

Priest PvP Changes

Discipline Priest

• Amirdrassil 2-piece set effectiveness is no longer reduced in PvP.

Rogue PvP Changes

Subtlety Rogue

Eviscerate

• Damage reduced by 10% in PvP Combat.

Shaman PvP Changes

Restoration Shaman

• Armor reduced by 12.5% in PvP.

Warlock PvP Changes

• Nightmare increases the amount of damage required to cancel Fear by 30% in PvP combat (was 60%).
  

Warrior PvP Changes

Fury Warrior

Anger Management

• Now reduces Recklessness and Ravager’s cooldown by 1 second per 15 rage spent (was 20 rage).

That covers the full list of changes coming to World of Warcraft Dragonflight on January 23rd. The entire patch is mostly buffs across the board for most of the underperforming specs in the game. Multiple classes are receiving changes to their effectiveness in both the PvP and PvE game modes and we hope to see them become viable within the meta. For more World of Warcraft news and guides, make sure to check out the rest of our website!