Blizzard has announced the next round of class tuning for The War Within Season 3, going live with the weekly reset on Tuesday, September 9 (Wednesday for EU). These adjustments are aimed at smoothing performance across group content while addressing PvP outliers. Notably, Beast Mastery Hunters see a big rework to the Dark Ranger tree, with one buff scaled back but another massively increased.

Highlights of the Changes

  • Beast Mastery Hunters: After community testing revealed stronger-than-expected gains, The Bell Tolls has been toned down to 8% (instead of 10%), while Phantom Pain has been dramatically boosted to 80% replication (up from 30%). This is expected to increase cleave power while balancing single-target output.
  • Blood Death Knights and Balance Druids receive damage increases to help keep them competitive.
  • Evokers get meaningful buffs to Deep Breath and Augmentation’s Bombardments.
  • Holy Priests see improved throughput on core spells, while Discipline has Atonement tuning adjusted for raid and non-raid content.
  • PvP adjustments include nerfs to Arcane Mage burst, Survival Hunter damage, and Retribution Paladin’s Hammer of Light, alongside buffs to classes like Elemental Shaman, Arms Warrior, and Feral Druid.

Full Class Tuning Notes

Death Knight

Blood

  • All damage increased by 6%
  • Boneshield Armor increased by 10%

Druid

Balance

  • All damage increased by 5%
  • Ornaments of the Mother Eagle 2-piece: Starfire damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 20%)
  • Elune’s Chosen: Boundless Moonlight Fury of Elune flash damage reduced by 10%
  • Elune’s Chosen: Minor Moon damage reduced by 10%

Evoker

Augmentation

  • Scalecommander: Bombardments damage increased by 25%

Devastation

  • Deep Breath damage increased by 20% (not in PvP)
  • Command Squadron 2-piece: Disintegrate damage increased by 10%

Preservation

  • Deep Breath damage increased by 20% (not in PvP)

Hunter

Beast Mastery

  • All damage increased by 4% (not in PvP)
  • Deathblow: Kill Command chance to grant Deathblow increased to 20% (was 10%)
  • Dark Ranger: The Bell Tolls increased to 8% (was 6%)
  • Dark Ranger: Phantom Pain increased to 80% (was 30%)
  • Dark Ranger: Bleak Powder damage increased by 25% (not in PvP)

Monk

Mistweaver

  • Fixed an issue where Ancient Teachings healing was not increased by Coalescence

Priest

Holy

  • Heal healing increased by 12% (not in PvP)
  • Halo healing increased by 40%
  • Archon: Empowered Surges Flash Heal bonus increased to 45% (was 30%)

Discipline

  • Atonement heals for 33% of damage done (was 28%)
  • Atonement healing bonus outside raid reduced to 100% (was 125%)

PvP Adjustments

General

  • Stamina from PvP trinket set bonus increased by 5%

Death Knight

  • Frost: Shattering Blade damage reduced by 50% in PvP
  • Frost: Frost Fever damage increased by 15% in PvP

Druid

  • Feral: All damage increased by 4% in PvP
  • Balance: Keeper of the Grove Dream Burst damage reduced by 50% in PvP
  • Balance: Elune’s Chosen Lunar Calling Starfire bonus reduced to 80% (was 128%) in PvP

Evoker

  • Preservation: Chrono Flame maximum damage from 4-piece set reduced to 325% spell power in PvP (was 450%)

Hunter

  • Survival: Flanking Strike damage reduced by 20% in PvP
  • Beast Mastery: The Bell Tolls increased to 8% (was 6%) in PvP
  • Beast Mastery: Phantom Pain increased to 80% (was 30%) in PvP

Mage

  • Arcane: Arcane Harmony now increases Barrage by 2% per stack (was 5%) in PvP
  • Arcane: Intuition Barrage bonus reduced to 20% (was 50%) in PvP
  • Arcane: Improved Touch of the Magi Nether Flux bonus reduced to 10% (was 25%) in PvP
  • Arcane: All damage increased by 6% in PvP
  • Arcane: Sunfury Glorious Incandescence Barrage bonus reduced to 10% (was 20%) in PvP
  • Arcane: Sunfury Meteorites Phoenix damage reduced by 38% in PvP
  • Arcane: Sunfury Greater Pyroblast Phoenix damage reduced by 33% in PvP
  • Arcane: Sunfury Arcane Surge Phoenix damage reduced by 33% in PvP

Monk

  • Mistweaver: Rushing Wind Kick damage reduced by 50% in PvP

Paladin

  • Retribution: Hammer of Light damage reduced by 15% in PvP

Priest

  • Discipline: Power Word: Shield absorption increased by 20% in PvP

Rogue

  • Subtlety: Shadow Blades now grants 5% extra Shadow damage in PvP (was 10%)
  • Subtlety: All damage increased by 6% in PvP

Shaman

  • Elemental: Earth Shock damage increased by 15% in PvP
  • Elemental: Stormbringer Tempest damage increased by 10% in PvP

Warrior

  • Arms: All damage increased by 4% in PvP

Final Thoughts

These changes are aimed at narrowing the gap across both group PvE and PvP content as Season 3 ramps up. The standout adjustments come for Beast Mastery Hunters, where Blizzard has traded off single-target strength for more cleave potential. Meanwhile, several specs like Blood Death Knight, Balance Druid, and Holy Priest are receiving buffs to bring them closer to tuning goals.

PvP players will see a major shake-up as Arcane Mage burst is trimmed down and struggling specs like Feral Druid, Elemental Shaman, and Arms Warrior get boosts.

Expect these changes to go live with weekly maintenance on Tuesday, September 9.

For more updates on Season 3 tuning and expansion news, visit howtoWorldofWarcraft.com

Source: Blizzard

FAQ

When do these tuning changes go live?

Tuesday, September 9, during weekly maintenance.

Which class received the biggest changes?

Beast Mastery Hunters, with adjustments to Dark Ranger’s The Bell Tolls and Phantom Pain.

Are these changes for PvE or PvP?

Both. PvE damage tuning and PvP-specific adjustments are included.

Why was Phantom Pain buffed so much?

Community testing revealed lower-than-expected cleave power. Blizzard boosted Phantom Pain replication to 80% to increase AoE potential.

What about The Bell Tolls?

Its bonus was reduced to 8% after being briefly raised to 10% to balance BM Hunter output.