WoW 12.1 Class Tier List — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:03] We have went through all of the changes, played, all the classes, all the specs. So, today we're going to sort them into the winners and the losers. And even if specs, well, the good news is watching this video will basically get you up to

[00:17] date with everything that's changed across the whole game. So, let's begin. And uh I'm going to begin with a very popular class that's having a good time. Paladins, you're up. And I'm going to begin with the red paladin. Right now,

[00:32] they are immensely popular, and it makes sense why. Easy rotation, big sword, and Now, there's not a lot of change, but Blizzard targeted the worst issues. The Skyfury interaction with Crusading Strikes is being removed, which

[00:47] basically means no more reliance on a shaman. That's quite nice. Now, in return, Skyfury will now buff attack speed. They've also made it so your Art of War proc can stack twice, meaning you don't have to rush to react to the proc

[00:59] as soon as it happens, and execution sentences AoE is now physically bigger. That's good, but there is some mixed news. Blizzard have tried to pull damage out of everyone's cooldown windows and put them into what's called their

[01:12] steadystate damage. That effectively means that wings has been nerfed, but everything else has been buffed to make up for it. Ultimately, I think that's a bit of a winner for the game overall because it's pretty shitty when all of

[01:25] your damage is just within your cooldown window. Prop though has been a different story. The spec is so bad that our longtime paladin main for our raid team have to love this thing to stick with it. But the good news is whoever's in

[01:39] charge well finally took it personally. Their major weakness, you see, was their cooldowns. And so, Ardent Defender just got a new talent to juice it up a ton. And if passive damage was your problem, well, you can now give Blessed Hammer

[01:53] flat damage reduction instead. Then there's Sentinel, which is basically an upgrade instead of a trade-off. And Word of Glory changes mean that you can basically spend the free ones at full health for a decent shield, which is

[02:05] quite nice. But it's not just the mechanical changes, because almost all of their damage and passive healing has got tuned up like crazy. And then paladins, it may look familiar because it's a little bit like Seal of the

[02:19] Crusader. And depending on tuning, basically overall prot looks fixed up and stronger than ever. Certainly stronger than it's been in the recent past. And that basically means that prot is humongously in the winner category.

[02:35] What about Holi? Well, Holi, a bit like with Prot, was just embarrassingly weak last season. And the thing with Holi is there's nothing notably wrong with the particularly right about how much healing comes out of it. Their numbers

[02:48] are pretty much just wrong. And so Blizzard have tried to fix that mostly by doing a ton of buffs across the board rather than gameplay changes. [music] Now there's a new tier set and it makes Holy Light more expensive, but it turns

[03:00] it into this sort of one two one two rhythm with flash of light which gives a little bit of pace to the spec. So overall, no huge mechanical changes, one or two nice little things, decent buffs, which does mean that thankfully all

[03:15] three paladin specs can be considered winners. They've been all over the place with talents that sacrifice too [music] much

[03:28] was a real problem for their gameplay last season, so that's what Blizzard reshuffles that help that out a little. Then there's specific buffs to help out single target and priority damage, but

[03:40] overall nothing major. So what that means is it's better. It is a winner, could do with a whole lot more. Next though, their ranged counterpart, the balance druid, which didn't struggle in the same way, but certainly did

[03:53] struggle. Balance fell by the wayside last season in terms of their damage, you're dead, which is a problem because it had almost no defensives. And add to those issues, playing around control of the dream is ironically a bit of a

[04:06] nightmare. Now, I'm sad to say that none of that has really been fixed here, but Blizzard has done something. They decided they should have less astral power and they should spend more time spamming wrath. And on top of that,

[04:19] their tier set adds a weird timing on bonus damage, which might be fun to play around. Yes. But most people, I think, prefer a bit more of a simple spec. So, then there's Starfall, which now has an instant damage tick whenever it's cast

[04:34] quite nice for a couple of different reasons through the spec. And so overall, this is a bit of a loser. There's one or two nice things like the instant damage tick that I just mentioned, but overall there there's

[04:47] just not enough change here. They absolutely do need more. And really, they're a loser mostly because the extra builder spam. you know, it's a builder spender spec, so just you flinging out a bunch of wraths. That really sucks for

[05:01] movement when you're, you know, actually playing the game as opposed to being a target dummy. So, unfortunately, balance druids, you guys are losers. Not massively. It's not like your situations got so much worse with this patch, but

[05:14] it wasn't in a great spot, and it certainly hasn't got much better. Guardian then? Well, Guardian is a different story altogether. powerful and popular in last season of Mythic Plus. And hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix

[05:28] And hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. No, not quite. The Apex talent for this spec is getting a total redesign into a thrash and mangle reset proc. And Lunar Beam's cooldown reduction is now fixed instead of being based on just

[05:41] spamming the hell out of Moonfire. In terms of second to second gameplay feel, I think that may actually feel a bit better, but the loss of lunar beam up time is certainly going to hit their raw strength. That being said, if you're

[05:53] stay there forever. And really, the best you can hope with changes is that they don't completely like gut your power, which it doesn't seem that they have. So, overall, this one does feel like a minor winner, but do keep in mind that

[06:07] whenever I say winner, I'm talking about how fun this thing is to play, not just their raw mythic plus performance potential. Okay, the next druid is the rest druid, and it's a bit of a story. So, abundance has ruined their gameplay

[06:21] and uh I'm sure you'll be happy to know that Blizzard has well codified that to work in Mythic Plus as well as Raid. But in the same breath, Blizzard also capped it such that now it works as a simple onoff switch where if rejuvenation is on

[06:37] five targets, regrowth is buffed. Sadly though, Ray Jove has lost some duration, so it's not quite as easy to maintain and the hot extensions with swift mend are uh are dead. Really? H I don't think that feels good. But to add to that, for

[06:53] some reason, Innervate has been reworked where it now restores 25% of your mana instead of giving you free spells, which is, I suppose, a bit more simple. And perhaps thought the resto was too complicated, and so they've decided to

[07:07] make it more approachable. And a great example of that is the new overgrowth. What it does is it adds basically every hot in the book to a nature's swiftness word salad. What it basically means though is you use it and basically

[07:21] within one global cool down boom all your hearts are on target and you're good to go. That's kind of cool. And ultimately, I really want to call this a major winner because a lot of the changes are quite elegant, but they come

[07:34] at just too high a cost, which means it is a winner, but it's a minor winner. It's Hunter's next, and I'm almost shocked to say that marksmanship has not

[07:46] got another complete rework because those just kept on happening for a while. That's the good news, but the bad news is that they didn't undo your last rework. Generally, MM gets a rework and then gets another rework to undo the

[07:59] past rework. But of course, that rework will then necessitate a future rework. Such has it been since the days of Legion. As an example, for a good while, we got used to explosive shot, but then explosive shot was uh turned into an

[08:12] imaginary friend that we couldn't use. But then in patch 1205, MM got explosive shot back, but in return, they lost streamline. Blizzard didn't like fast [music] aim shot casts. And that means that now in patch 12.1 there is another

[08:26] change. They are changing how explosive shot looks and feels. It's now a pulsing shot looks and feels. It's now a pulsing dot basically like its preleion version. Not a bad change in isolation, but it does feel random and mostly pointless.

[08:41] And unfortunately, you lose quite a lot as well. Double tap is gone. Headshot is gone. Arcane shot doesn't cleave with hydra anymore. But well, they do as they take away sometimes giveth and in exchange rapid fire gets buffed by your

[08:56] apex talent [music] and it can grant you a lock and load which ultimately means marksmanship isn't bad, but it is just in a really weird place as it always has

[09:08] been. Blizzard very obviously does not have a cohesive vision for what this thing even is, and so it almost feels like they're changing things at random to just see what sticks. It really is a fun spec to log into in patch day. You

[09:21] just get to see, oh, what spells have I lost? What have I gained? How do I work? good news is if all that means you just don't use your abilities because you're confused, well, hey, autoshot damage did get a massive buff. So, uh, at least

[09:35] your passive damage is going to be large enough to actually register in a damage meter now. And so what we've got is an MM hunter that is confused, has no identity, has been downgraded, that is slower than it was in 120, meaning that

[09:50] marksmanship hunter is what I'm going to call our first major loser. And then there's beast mastery. Well, beast mastery doesn't see much change here somehow, though there is change. Beast cleave got buffed and has 100%

[10:05] passive cleave is stronger, but that's at the cost of the barbed shot spread and how much kill command cleaves. Though, like your marksmanship cousins, you do get to benefit from the autoshot damage buff, which is nice enough, but

[10:18] it does matter a lot less because your pet does so much of your damage. Ultimately where it kind of comes out to, I think, is beast mastery as [music] a winner technically, but that's basically because it's effortless to

[10:31] play and you really have no sacrifice. Most of the time whenever you're playing a range spec in World of Warcraft, it means [music] standing still and uh hassle in a raid. And that means that for the longest time, BM strength was

[10:45] that it felt like a melee that could play at ranged with no real penalty for movement. That is still very much the case. So, for those of you who love that, it is there and you'll be okay. Survival, then half of your spec is

[10:58] still fiended up like some sort of night elf at one with nature. The other side pulls out a boomstick and shotguns things. It's another spec like with MM that's just confused as to what it's trying to be. Well, let's get to the

[11:12] changes. Flame fang pitch [music] has been removed from the game and has been replaced by more wildfire bomb boosting talents. Then there's their new tier actually notice because it really leans into Mongoose Fury, which could be quite

[11:25] fun. And also, Sentinel's bias towards jewel wielding has been changed up, which means that weapons should be a choice again. Ultimately though, this patch brings it slightly improved and fun to press buttons, but it still has

[11:37] the weird clash between the moon owl and the shotgun. I guess as a point of principle that they still haven't worked out what a BM hunter even is. I'm actually going to call it a major loser cuz they need to get this spec's

[11:51] identity worked out. It's time for Brew Master Monk. And what a trip it has had. It started off busted powerful last season, but then Guardian Druid got some buffs and usurped the [music] throne of tanks. Though of

[12:06] extreme strength, not Brew Master being weak. And thankfully this is a case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But for real this time, unlike the last time I mentioned that. So Celestial Brew has

[12:19] been given a longer cool down, but a much stronger absorb. And that's it. There's no major change here, which in this case is actually a really good thing, meaning that this spec is thankfully a winner. Of course,

[12:32] shooting may stop it from being as dominant as it was in the recent past, but its gameplay is absolutely [music] great, and it's lost none of that in patch 12.1. As for Mistw Weaver, though, well, it is

[12:46] the opposite. It's [music] extremely dominant, pumping heals and damage effortlessly. So, Blizzard fixed problems with it. And [music] in doing so, oh, they've made it a lot worse. It's not great, guys. Let's

[13:00] get into them. spitting crane kick is no longer the sort of do everything for their mastery has been buffed significantly which at least does mean it could be a stat you don't hate getting [music] which is ultimately a

[13:14] nerf so it does get a minus finally for monks we've got windalker and windalker mean playing it does not feel bad I think it feels quite good actually it's just that everyone else has got improved defensives while it just seems to by

[13:28] comparison fall over really easily. Unfortunately, that is not what Blizzard have changed here. Like with most specs, what we see is the same story of steadystate damage buffs and cooldown window nerfs. Add to those the tuning

[13:42] changes and the tier set, and I would say they are a minor winner. Basically, it's a fun spec with a lot of potential in Mythic Plus, but they really do need a bit of extra tankiness in their kit, and Blizzard hasn't addressed that.

[13:58] Rogues, you guys have been completely dumpstered as a class for years now. Does 121 change that fate? Probably not. But you know what? It's not for a lack of trying. Blizzard have tried. I'll start with assassination rogue. It is

[14:13] now smoother to play thanks to the Apex talent change where instead of having to drop in venom stacks at exactly the right moment, you can now just refresh it late. Much less interesting, but also, I think, more sensible for

[14:25] day-to-day gameplay. Also, you can silence multiple targets with groat, which is pretty damn nice. And damage has been moved out of your burst, which is good. But in return for that, venomous wounds does now give you less

[14:38] [music] energy at huge target counts. Overall, I'd say it's a winner. It's a minor winner, but I will say that the Apex talent change, it it does make it more simple. I think lots of people may prefer it, but I think for some that

[14:53] change will have been at the cost of fun and skill expression. Outlaw then, well, Outlaw's killing spree nightmare may finally be over where now it scales with adrenaline rush, has been massively buffed, and well, some very weird

[15:07] interactions have been ironed out. It's always been one of those funky abilities. Moving on though, we've got Between the Eyes, which now crits less, should feel nice and smooth to play.

[15:20] big dispatch procs for an injection of kind of reactive gameplay. A little bit of spice. Overall, I'm going to call this one actually a major winner. It really does feel quite good to play, but

[15:33] little caveat there is, man, it should not have taken this long. Subtlety guys have actually got a little bit of your gameplay back. Now, last season it was strong, but it was fairly undercooked. Shadow techniques generated

[15:47] so many combo points that you basically just pressed two or three buttons for most of the fight. So, to change that up, combo point generation has been nerfed. But I'd say far more importantly, Gormos has [music] been

[15:59] moved to the middle of the talent tree and it's been redesigned where now it starts a damage window that cleaves big single target out to three targets. It's pretty sweet and a nice addition to their otherwise at times rather

[16:13] miserable damage profile. So, it's not a huge winner, but on account of that nice huge winner, but on account of that nice change, it is a winner. It's time for shamans, and I'll start with Elemental. Elemental is a quiet

[16:26] workhorse. It's not massively exciting, but it does get the job done, especially with their obscene burst windows. Naturally, Blizzard have decided to pull windows, mostly so that whenever you're not bursting, you don't feel completely

[16:40] limp. And that really needed to happen because doing the DPS of a tank when you were outside of your cooldowns was, yeah, pretty embarrassing, pretty bad. it's not the end of the good changes. There have been some buffs to Farcere

[16:53] which clean up a few other issues of the spec, but there is a new lava burst buff to track that for some people may end up just being a bit of a nuisance because it is already [music] quite an involved and crowded spec. What I'll overall say

[17:07] is it's a minor winner, but a lot of that is going to hinge on Blizzard getting their numbers right. So fingers crossed on that one. Next up then we've got Enhancement Shaman, which is in a similar state. Power has been pulled out

[17:20] of Doom Winds and injected everywhere else in the spec. Oddly though, the tier set roots them through fire nova, but the payoff lands on crash lightning, and priority damage, not AoE. That's a little funky, and it's also the majority

[17:35] of the change. There's not much else to be said except that Sky Fury is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for them right now. So, basically, it is a winner, a very minor winner, and thankfully, it is still a fun spec to play. But how you'll

[17:49] feel about all that may indeed depend on the tuning. Right, Resto Shaman. Then Weaver for the top healer spot. And that's because it is insanely strong. It's versatile. It's easy enough to play. And that's not to mention, say,

[18:03] Sky Fury, massively buffing Arms and Rhett in parties, or being the only healer with interrupts or say the likes of Spirit Link or maybe the poison cleansing totem. They really do have a lot and having a poison totem in a

[18:16] stuff's all great and unlike with mistw weavers, Blizzard aren't coming in to strengths thankfully are still your strengths. Now, healing rain has got a little bit of a nerf, but you can now move it after only 12 seconds, and the

[18:31] tier set actually lets you create bonus puddles, which is kind of neat. And that major winner, which may sound like a surprise because not a lot has changed. other specs in this video, it's a major winner because it's unbelievably good

[18:47] and Blizzard didn't like come in and break it. So, thumbs up. Death Knights, then I'll start with blood DK. And blood DKs are kind of hard to get right because as a self-healer, it's unkillable up to a point, but once

[19:02] they go past that point, they just melt instantly. Of course, it doesn't help damage taken instead of reducing it. Blizzard's apology to all that does actually look quite good, I'm pleased to say. A ton of passive defense has been

[19:15] added. Damage and healing buffs have actually catapulted them to, at least on the PTR for this patch, pretty much being the top. Obviously, tuning may shift throughout the season, but they have a beefier baseline that combines

[19:28] with the bug fix to make the already solid DK a major winner. Frost is a little different. It's a loser because it's basically still just Unhol's little really do mean it. Like what Blizzard have done is they've buffed them across

[19:42] the board with this patch, which really is quite nice. But unless some complete spreadsheet magic happens, you'll probably feel bad for playing Frost instead of Holy, even though Frost is pretty fun. So, it's less a loser on its

[19:56] own merits and more a loser because Unholy is obviously the favorite child. So, let's get into their things. Army of the Dead was summoning too many dudes. So now the dudes have been capped at eight. That's all the dudes you get, but

[20:09] the dudes have actually got a few new tricks. Whenever you summon a ghoul with army up, now you'll instead send orders to your existing ones to do a bunch of damage. And you've even got a whole new dude, which is this guy, the lord of the

[20:23] dead. The way it works [music] is that summoning three mages with putrify will basically turn them into a lich, which just looks really cool. There's other nice changes like soul reaper not eating your putrified charges anymore. I think

[20:36] some people just found that to be confusing. Of course, we're also seeing the general changes here where cooldown damage has been pulled [music] down and while that's generally healthy, I think it feels particularly good for Unholy.

[20:50] And so that means Unholy is a winner. It's not a major winner, but it would be hard to win more than Unholy has been winning. They've been doing pretty well and thankfully that continues. Time for Demon Hunters, where I think

[21:04] the real story is that Havoc will feel a little bit like the less preferred child as compared to [music] Devourer. And that's because there's only three spec. One of them is smoother fury intake from demon blades instead of

[21:18] relying on other abilities. Two is a new talent that gives you bonus damage above 50% health. So, healers, priority on the Havoc DHS, I guess. Three though is where it sadly all goes wrong because their tier set locks them into essence

[21:33] break which consolidates a ton of damage into a tiny tiny tiny little damage covered so far that's really odd, right? Like it's the opposite of what they've been doing which has been pulling damage out of damage windows. So that's a

[21:48] little weird and unfortunately if it wasn't for that I would call this one a winner. But having choice in your talent build being removed in a way that Blizzard are trying to [music] get away from. Yeah, that does make them feel

[22:01] like a bit of a loser. But that might be okay if you're a demon hunter. And that's because Devour is the hot new spec getting all the attention. Although not all of that attention has been positive. So their two target cleave has

[22:15] been pulled down a bit. Collapsing star ramp is a bit less aggressive. and their mastery has got a pretty huge nerf. That could all sting, but in return, they can now use intellect daggers, and they just got buffed pretty substantially outside

[22:28] of meta. Plus, their tier set's pretty neat. It gives them an instant consume proc, which does kind of spice things up a little, and it does feed more into void meta. So, basically, even with those nerfs, it looks strong. It's not a

[22:42] major winner, but there has been enough to call it a minor winner. Okay, the third DH [music] spec, Vengeance, and it gets a really odd change. So, get this. Sigil of Change is now baseline and on a 60-second cool down, which is actually

[22:54] fairly awesome for their crowd control, but it does have some odd implications on the talent tree. You see, now Sigil of Silence is in the middle of their tree and it replaces Misery. So, basically, Blizzard is playing musical

[23:07] chairs with some of their crowd control and how good that's going to feel will you're up against. The final thing to touch on for them is their tier set, which gives them some much needed gameplay through some Sigil of Flame

[23:20] extensions. So, overall, it's a winner, but it is a minor winner. Fiction Warlock's in a bit of a funny place. They got their promising rework, didn't translate into the sort of success that a lot of those warlocks

[23:34] wanted. Multi-daughters of course always end up struggling to balance themselves between single target and AoE in terms of design and that split showed up full force last season. So Blizzard are trying to take it on and solve the

[23:47] problem. What that's meant is that haunt and single target stuff generally got and single target stuff generally got buffed but at a price. Patient zero, a lovely source of priority damage and AoE got pulled out entirely. It's now gone.

[24:01] However, the tier set does sort of make up for that. But even the tier set is a little bit strange. However, on the plus side, shard instability does give you a free seed cast. Overall then, it's a bit of a weird switcheroo, but their single

[24:14] target and priority damage should be better now, meaning they are a minor winner. Demonology then, and for the demonology warlocks, I've got good news. You haven't been destroyed. You probably

[24:26] feared it. Now, Diabolist has been nerfed, but you otherwise have got buffs to [music] your single target. Now, obviously, tuning often determines which Warhawk spec is going to end up king, but thus far it does look like demo is a

[24:39] winner purely because it well isn't a loser. Which brings me on to Destro. You do get some minor buffs and some crit RNG has been removed, but it does not make up for the fact that you're you're just there in the bottom rung. At least

[24:54] that's what it's looking like in terms of throughput. Now, obviously, random numbers and season [music] 2 content may make them a winner, but from class changes alone, it is basically a loser waiting to be saved.

[25:10] Okay, warrior time. So, pro has only really got two changes to talk about. Ravager is now a harderhitting bleed booster instead of being an AoE damage window, which definitely does feel better. The second thing then is revenge

[25:23] as well, which should help on casters and single target fights. And really, that's about it. They're not looking super special coming into season 2, but if you like prot warrior, well, you'll still like it. And it has got a few nice

[25:36] little changes, though I am going to call them little. And I am still going to call this one a loser. And that's mostly because season 2 is fairly heavy on poison and rot damage, [music] which is of course one of the weaknesses

[25:50] of prot. and uh a weakness they're just going to have to suffer. There's not really any change in that front. Let's hop on to the DPS specs then. So, Fury's not change much in this patch, but at least their rotation is getting improved

[26:03] a bit. If you are using whirlwind as filler, well, the good news is it now gives rage even in single target. And raging blows reset isn't guaranteed anymore. So, basically, you have to react to procs instead of just mashing

[26:16] the same keys you always do. That'll spice things up a bit. should feel a bit better. Plus, [music] Rampage's AoE talent no longer nerfs its single target damage. That's really it. It's not a huge amount of change. It is a winner, a

[26:29] minor one, but still a winner. Arms is a tough one to pin down. It had basically needed Skyfury from a shaman to just excel in [music] AoE, which was cool when you had it, but obviously there's been changes in that front. However, you

[26:41] probably still are going to be strong in AoE. just that now it's because Colossus Smash grants sweeping strikes for free and Dreadnot's AoE has been buffed. So Rend change and it's a little bit of a weird one. Other specs talent [music]

[26:56] into the bleed, right? Like they'll lean into that in their talents rather than kind of odd. Arm still wants to press that button and in AoE cleave applies it anyway. Then there's the ravager change

[27:08] from prot which actually does apply here as well for a little bit of bleed flavor. Whether you like the bleed angle of this spec or not, I'd say that of this spec or not, I'd say that overall tentatively it's a winner.

[27:21] Mages are a weird one because before I even get into the specs, mages as a whole just had their defensive utility just hamstrung and in many cases eliminated going into the Midnight expansion, which I suppose did feel

[27:34] design goals and because they were the undisputed kings of that stuff for a undisputed kings of that stuff for a long time. The good news, thankfully, is obliter giving you a little bit of that power back in the form of upgraded

[27:47] barriers, including double charges, more healing, and unique effects per spec. That is really nice, and it was much needed for all of them. So, that's good stuff magewide. Now, let's get into the specs. I'll start with arcane because

[28:01] it's one of those specs that has a core flavor that's really cool, but the Blizzard just can't quite seem to nail down. Last season was a dark time for the spec, but the winds do seem to be changing. Blizzard has taken notice and

[28:13] they're messing around with rotation again. Orb spam is cool, but they do like it when you actually press the arcane missiles button. So, naturally, orb is being detached from clear casting and missiles is getting a pretty damn

[28:25] solid buff. But that's almost entirely through the new tier set replicating popular old talents that are no longer there. which is kind of funny because they're basically smuggling the war within's version of Arcane back into the

[28:37] that's not all they're getting because there's now a new ability called Prismatic Bolt. It's basically a reworked Apex talent and its effects are actually pretty damn cool. Basically can be triggered and does really big damage

[28:50] neat new button to play with. That's still not the end of the change because Arcane Pulse is now becoming AoE on demand as well. It's down to a two-c cast with a cooldown and detached from its charge system. [music] Now, overall,

[29:05] the way to see these changes is that like yes, you do lose some burst because of the apex talent change, which could be a little bit of a a little bit of a want higher steadystate [music] damage for everyone. That's certainly not the

[29:18] worst thing. It's happening here. So, ultimately, this one does come out to be a winner. And that's especially the case if the dominant output that they've got on PTR continues through season [music] 2. Next up are the frost mages who have

[29:32] been enjoying their time in the sun. But uh now they're just getting melted [music] down a little bit and it's all because of one thing to target cleave. It was their undisputed specialtity. And I say was because it has now been

[29:45] nerfed pretty damn hard. And because of that, well, it's a loser. Finally, for the mages, we've got fire, which hasn't been doing too hot these days. But the move away from cooldown based damage should actually help their core issue,

[29:57] which is that their damage completely relies on their combustion window. So, probably a good change. Though, sadly, flat buffs to their spells and a nerf to their apex talent does not quite accomplish Blizzard's goal where really

[30:10] they just feel weaker [music] now. Also, their tier set is locking them into a rather divisive talent, pyrolasm. Now, it does come with a cast speed buff, but hard casting pyrolasts is not really gameplay that fits that well with a lot

[30:25] of modern woow. That does unfortunately mean that they are a loser. Okay, priest time. And I've got to start with my old main, the disc priest. It shadowman, which is a massive winner. I mean, seriously, it's a big upgrade to

[30:40] flash heal, and it grants even longer atonements. That stuff's just lovely. is now guaranteed by Mind Blast, which does mean less RNG in your [music] kit. It was nerfed a little to compensate, but I think that should be fine because

[30:54] void shield being too OP was actually a big complaint last season. Though, of course, while that needed to be taken down, other things probably should have been buffed up a little bit. And while some were, they were not really buffed

[31:06] enough, which does mean that on paper, this should be a proper winner. And I am going to call it that. but it's not looking stellar, and that's purely just on account of the numbers. Obviously, with a small hot [music] fix, Blizzard

[31:20] could completely change that, though. I'll move on to Holy, though, and thankfully, Holy is a less complicated story. It's a simple spec with troubles that often also end up being simple. Divine Hymn is a bit of a dangerous

[31:32] spell to cast cuz you're just kind of locked into it. So Blizzard have now locked into it. So Blizzard have now added a self-cast guardian spirit to it, which is a weird solution to the problem of chneled heals, but a solution

[31:44] nonetheless. Moving on, and much like Disc's RNG removal, Serenity now turns Flash Heal into Benediction guaranteed, which is an improvement, but Holi does seem doomed to just be the basic easy mode healer that's not allowed to be

[32:00] super strong or super varied. I think for many that's fine. I think for many others it probably means we've got to call it a loser. Then there is Shadow. [music] Shadow constantly lives under the shadow of Psychic Link, but that may

[32:17] finally be changing. The first step from Blizzard is adding a new form of AoE, exploding ghosts. I don't know how a ghost explodes, but it's pretty cool. Blizzard probably needs to [music] go a little further on that front. Though,

[32:31] there is other good news though, and that is that Void Form's extension now grants haste, though with a cap. So, it should feel nice and speedy, though, without getting so fast that it begins to make WoW's hotkey combat feel a bit

[32:43] well, like getting charges of void volley instead of just being forced to nail it on coold down perfectly. The only questionable thing really is their tier set. More tentacle slams is what you get, and it is good. But it also

[32:56] revives the instant vampiric touch talent of old, which for many won't be great, but it's hardly a terrible [music] offensive change. I mean, at the very least, it's an instant cast, which is quite nice for your movement. So,

[33:09] psychic link tuning aside, I actually think this one gets to be a major winner. Evoker time. And I'll start with OGoker. It's been a winner because it hasn't been totally deleted in this patch,

[33:22] it does make sense when you look at its performance through season 1 of this expansion. What it's basically lost is some cooldown reduction on Breath of Aons and the double knockup from their Apex talent. But otherwise, it has not

[33:36] it's had a few losses, it's absolutely not a loser. Overall, it's a spec that just plays really well and Blizzard have not gutted its strength. So, happily enough, it's a winner. Then though there is preservation and preservation is a

[33:50] bit of an odd one because you almost always see it in the race to world first comps. That's because of its obscenely high skill ceiling and its utility. But then it fades into obscurity for specs that are just stronger, more simple, and

[34:05] average person's hands. And that's very much not changing this time round. The is moving away from burst healing and towards being a hot. And what that all means is I'm going to call it a loser, but with a little bit of a caveat. It's

[34:20] strength and all the amazing skill expression that's possible, it does have healers sometimes for the same performance, which in day-to-day gameplay does kind of leave them feeling weaker compared to the other healers.

[34:36] Unless of course you're an absolute god, in which case you can do wonders with it. Then there's devastation. Devastation actually gets a new apex [music] ability called Unbound Flame. Used after Dragon Rage, it grants

[34:49] essence Burst, which smooths out your non-cooldown damage. They've also got a write home about. And what that means is that even though those changes certainly don't make it worse, they are nice little buffs and additions. Well, it

[35:04] still is a loser. And that's mostly because Dragon Rage is all that it has to live for. and Dragon Rage is a bit weaker now. Congratulations, you made it to the end. Lots of specs and a hell of a lot of change boil down into that

[35:18] simple answer. Did you win? Did you lose? And I would love to know, are you rolling? To be honest, I think I am. And it's either moving from Havoc to Devastation or from Demon Hunter back to Paladin because sometimes I just want to

[35:33] turn my brain off. And if you'd like to do similar and chill out to a fairly interesting MMO story, well, it turns out the crew at Jagex overtly want to out the crew at Jagex overtly want to take World of Warcraft's throne.