WoW Midnight patch buffs Druids, Mages and nerfs Rogues

Blizzard will introduce class tuning for World of Warcraft: Midnight with weekly maintenance and the reset for patch 12.1.5 on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The changes include PvE buffs for several specializations and an 8% reduction to all PvE ability damage for Subtlety Rogues.

Feral Druids will deal 5% more damage in PvE. Restoration Druids will receive dungeon-focused healing increases. Verdancy healing will rise by 60%, Regrowth healing by 10%, and the bonus from Improved Swiftmend will increase from 30% to 40%.

Fire Mages will gain 5% to all PvE damage. Marksmanship Hunters will receive 10% increases to Explosive Shot and Volley. The damage bonus from Trick Shots for Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire will increase from 75% to 85%.

Affliction Warlocks will deal 20% more PvE damage with Unstable Affliction. The increase will not apply in PvP. Destruction Warlocks will gain 20% more damage from Rain of Fire.

Subtlety Rogues will receive the only listed PvE damage reduction. Their ability damage will fall by 8%, and the damage increase from Trickster: Fazed will decrease from 7% to 5%.

Blizzard attributed the changes to the compensation buff Subtlety received with patch 12.1.5. “The buff Subtlety received as compensation alongside changes in the 12.1.5 patch overshot expectations,” Blizzard wrote in the patch notes. “So we’re rolling back a significant portion of that buff.”

The update will include separate PvP changes. Devourer Demon Hunters, Preservation Evokers, Marksmanship Hunters, Frost Mages, Mistweaver Monks, Holy Paladins, Holy Priests, Assassination Rogues and Restoration Shamans will receive buffs. Unholy Death Knights and Fire Mages will receive PvP nerfs.

Two hotfixes have already addressed smaller issues. Enhancement Shaman’s Surging Elements should now appear correctly in the Cooldown Manager. Certain Warlock summons should no longer target enemies outside combat.

The class tuning follows the release of patch 12.1.5 and precedes the planned 12.2 update, titled Eclipse. Players can review the changes before weekly maintenance begins on Oct. 27.