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re: Shaman Class Changes WOD

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Shaman (Updated)

Shaman has received a variety of changes, most of which are specialization-specific.

For Elemental and Enhancement, we had a few problems to solve. Enhancement suffers from having their damage split among so many damage sources that none of it feels impressive. We changed the damage of several abilities to try to reorganize their damage into fewer, more impactful abilities, while keeping the net total the same. For a long time Elemental Shaman were one of the specs most impacted by movement, at a time where other casters were increasingly able to cast while moving.

In Warlords of Draenor, we're pulling back on the ability for many casters to deal damage while moving, and that includes Elemental. They will still have some ability to deal damage while moving, through Shocks, Unleash Weapon, and instant Lava Bursts. For Chain Lightning, we wanted to reduce the impact of Haste soft capping, and so changed Shamanism to increase damage instead of reduce cast time. Additionally, we simplified Wind Shear by removing its impact on threat, which no longer matters.

  • Ascendance for the Enhancement specialization now changes the Shaman's auto attacks and Stormstrike to deal Wind-based physical damage that bypasses armor.
  • Earth Elemental deals 90% less Auto Attack damage but generates 1000% more threat.
  • Earthquake damage has been increased by 36%.
  • Echo of the Elements has been redesigned. The Shaman's spells and abilities have a chance to trigger Echo of the Elements, causing their next short-cooldown spell or ability to not trigger a cooldown.
    • Elemental: It may be used on Earth Shock, Flame Shock, Frost Shock, Earthquake, or Lava Burst.
    • Enhancement: It may be used on Earth Shock, Flame Shock, Frost Shock, Fire Nova, Lava Lash, or Stormstrike.
    • Restoration: It may be used on Healing Rain, Purify Spirit, or Riptide.
  • Feral Spirits’ damage has been increased by 100%.
  • Frost Shock’s damage has been reduced by 50%.
  • Lightning Bolt is no longer castable while moving by default. Effects like Spiritwalker’s Grace can still make the spell castable while moving.
  • Primal Earth Elemental's Pulverize ability no longer deals damage.
  • Searing Totem's Searing Bolt damage has been increased by 65%.
  • Shamanism no longer reduces the cast time of Chain Lightning, but instead now increases the damage of Chain Lightning by 100% (up from 70%).
  • Unleash Flame no longer deals direct damage, but now increases the damage of the Shaman’s next Fire spell by 40% (up from 30%).
  • Unleash Frost no longer deals direct damage, but now always snares the target by 70% (rather than only when the target is already snared by a Frost spell).
  • Unleash Wind no longer deals direct damage, but now increases attack speed by 60% (up from 50%).
  • Using Unleashed Fury with Windfury Weapon imbue active now increases Multistrike chance by 5%.
  • Wind Shear no longer affects threat.
  • Windfury Weapon no longer has a 3-second internal cooldown.


Restoration Shaman had the most passive and smart healing of any healer, and so received some reductions in that area, along with buffs elsewhere to keep them competitive. One particular change is to Mana Tide Totem, which we made less effective for other players, but still just as effective for the Shaman. We like that Shaman could help other healers out on mana, but it was just too strong, significantly impacting how those other healers gear themselves.

  • Chain Heal now heals each chain target for 15% less than the previous target.
  • Conductivity is no longer triggered by damaging spells for Restoration Shaman, or by healing spells for non-Restoration Shaman.
  • Multiple Earth Shields can now be applied to the same target.
  • Earthliving Weapon now increases healing done by 5% (instead of increasing healing Spell Power by a flat amount).
  • Healing Stream Totem’s mana cost has been reduced to 10% of base mana (down from 23.5%), and its healing has been reduced by 50%.
  • Mana Tide Totem now increases the Spirit of allies by 50% (down from 200% of the Shaman's Spirit). It remains unchanged (200%) for the Shaman activating the totem, and still ignores temporary Spirit buffs.
  • Tidal Waves now reduces the cast time of Healing Wave by 20% (down from 30%).
  • Unleash Life no longer increases the healing from Healing Rain but its direct healing has been increased by 100%.
  • Glyph of Chaining no longer causes Chain Heal to have a 2-second cooldown.
  • Glyph of Totemic Recall now only increases the mana returned from recalling your totems by 25% (down from 75%).
     

We also made a couple quality of life improvements to Shaman Shield spells.

  • Lightning Shield now persists through death.
  • Water Shield now persists through death.


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