[2019] Rise of Azshara Content Update Notes

New Zone: Nazjatar

During a high-stakes chase across the seas, the Alliance and the Horde are waylaid by an ancient enemy who’s been lurking beneath the depths: Queen Azshara and her fearsome naga army. The naval forces of both factions are destroyed in the ambush, and the survivors find themselves stranded in the ancient naga domain of Nazjatar.

Soon after they arrive in Nazjatar, Alliance heroes will come upon a new faction of deep-sea warriors, the Waveblade Ankoan, while Horde heroes will meet the Unshackled, a group of races who have escaped the naga’s clutches. Both sides offer champions who offer their services as combat allies and grow in power over time as players prepare for their epic confrontation with Queen Azshara.

Adventurers who are level 120 and have unlocked Battle for Azeroth World Quests, completing the quest “Uniting Kul Tiras” or “Uniting Zandalar," will receive a summon from either Genn Greymane or Nathanos Blightcaller, kicking off the events that bring them to Nazjatar.

Benthic Gear

Increase your power with Benthic gear, new upgradable armor that can now be collected in Nazjatar. As you explore Nazjatar, you’ll collect Prismatic Manapearls—a soulbound currency that can be spent on Benthic tokens and upgrades. These bind-to-account tokens can be used to gain a piece of upgradable Benthic gear specific to your armor type (cloth, leather, mail, plate), starting at item level 385. With enough time and effort, players can dedicate their hard-earned Manapearls to upgrade pieces to ilvl 425, just shy of Heroic-level raid gear (ilvl 430). Harnessing the power of the sea, each piece of Benthic gear boasts a thematic bonus that activates in Nazjatar and the upcoming Azshara’s Eternal Palace raid. These bonuses might provide effects that boost your damage, slow down your foes, or even increase your mount speed while adventuring through this perilous region. Put together pieces to create a powerful set for combat, collect a set optimized for exploration, or mix and match to have the best from both worlds.

Prismatic Manapearls

Defeating powerful enemies, completing quests, and plundering the treasures of Azshara’s minions may yield Prismatic Manapearls, concentrations of magical energy highly prized by Nazjatar’s denizens. Spend this new currency on many different items within Nazjatar including Benthic tokens and upgrades for Benthic gear, pets, and a mount. Earn Prismatic Manapearls by completing a variety of activities such as World Quests and daily quests, looting treasure chests, and slaying rare enemies.

New Zone: Mechagon Island

Legends speak of a place off the craggy coast of Kul Tiras whose denizens have replaced blood and bones with bolts and brass: Mechagon, home of a society of mechanically augmented gnomes and their iron-fisted ruler King Mechagon. Heroes who arrive upon Mechagon’s shores will soon meet Prince Erazmin and the Rustbolt Resistance, and after completing a series of new faction-based quests, they’ll join their fight to overthrow Erazmin’s tyrannical father and put an end to his mad designs.

Players can rise in power and earn the trust of their new allies by participating in new daily quests and other activities unique to Mechagon. These include collaborative Construction Projects that allow players to contribute resources to create a variety of powerful constructs, including experimental weapons, flame turrets, a drill rig that can uncover a cave full of treasures, and more.

After establishing a hub in Nazjatar and empowering their Heart of Azeroth, players will make their way to Mechagon by starting the quest “The Legend of Mechagon,” which can be accepted by Alliance players in Boralus and Horde players in Dazar’alor near each city’s respective Flight Masters.

Junkyard Tinkering

As they traverse the zone, players will have access to Pascal-K1N6, a giant iron robot who will help players craft equipment, mounts, toys, consumables, and more in exchange for Spare Parts and Energy Cells found across Mechagon. Recipes to craft more items can be found around the island.

Pocket-Sized Computation Device

The Pocket-Sized Computation Device is a trinket that players can customize via three Punchcard Sockets, into which players can insert one Red, Yellow, and Blue Punch Card. Punch Cards can be collected by questing, exploring the Mechagon zone, and advancing through the new Mythic-only dungeon Operation: Mechagon. Players will receive their Pocket-Sized Computation Device after completing the “Upgraded” quest, available shortly after landing in Mechagon.

New Raid: Azshara’s Eternal Palace

Battle against Nazjatar’s worthiest champions, face down unfathomable monstrosities from the deep, and confront the legendary Queen Azshara herself in this sprawling 8-boss raid.

Learn more about the bosses guarding Azshara’s Eternal Palace here.

Azshara’s Eternal Palace Normal and Heroic difficulties will open on July 9, two weeks after Rise of Azshara goes live on June 25. Raid Finder Wing One and Mythic will open the following week on July 16.

New Dungeon: Operation: Mechagon

Level 120 players will unite with Prince Erazmin and the Rustbolt Resistance to help overthrow his deranged father and destroy his Mechoriginator doomsday device in this new 8-boss “mega-dungeon.” This Mythic-only instance will be open to players after they complete new faction-based quests for the Rustbolt Resistance. Great rewards await you in Mechagon, but bear in mind that gnome-crafted loot might have some surprising properties. . .

Operation: Mechagon will open to players at the start of Season 3, July 9, after accepting the quest “Operation: Mechagon – The Mechoriginator.”

Heart of Azeroth System Update: Essences

Infuse the might of the Titans into your Heart of Azeroth with Essences. These powerful active and passive abilities allow you to customize your playstyle in a whole new way. Each Essence possesses a Major Power (usually a new active ability) and a Minor Power (which is always passive). The Heart of Azeroth has slots for one Major and two Minor Essences. Place an Essence in the Major slot to activate both its Major and Minor Powers, and place up to two in the Minor slots to activate their Minor Powers. Adapt to conquer any situation by applying or swapping them out within rest areas, cities, or when using items such as the Tome of Quiet Mind.

Grow in power each time you unlock one of four ranks for your Essence. At Rank 1, an Essence’s Major and Minor effects are available, while Rank 2 and Rank 3 enhance those Major and Minor effects. Rank 4 adds a flashier cosmetic effect to an Essence’s Major Power, providing a distinctive appearance that will make its wielder stand out from the crowd. Earn Essences by completing specific activities, including PvP, raiding, or engaging in World Quests. Some Essences are specific to a role (damage dealer, tank, or healer), and some are usable by any role. After acquiring an Essence, you’ll be able to hover your mouse over the Essence in the user interface to see information about the next rank and how to acquire it.

Players will need to complete a new quest line to unlock the Heart Forge before infusing Essences into the Heart of Azeroth. This will unlock the Major slot, and will reward them with their first Essence. The two Minor slots will unlock at Heart of Azeroth levels 55 and 65 respectively. Players with a Heart of Azeroth below level 35 will have it raised to level 35 upon unlocking the Heart Forge.

Level 120 players who have established their new hub in Nazjatar will be invited to join Magni at the Chamber of Heart in Silithus to start the new quest line to unlock the Heart Forge, beginning with the quest “Essential Empowerment.”

Mount Equipment

Have you ever wished that your favorite mount could carry you across the water without sinking? Give most of your mounts more speed, daze prevention, a parachute, or water walking with mount equipment! Upon reaching level 100 on one character, a new mount equipment slot will become available in the Mounts interface on all characters. Mount equipment can be crafted by Enchanters, Tailors, and Leatherworkers and can be listed in the Auction House or purchased directly from the artisans themselves. Players that already have Water Strider mounts should check their mailbox for one free piece of water-walking mount equipment.

Note that mounts do not benefit from mount equipment in battlegrounds or Arenas and that some do not benefit from mount equipment at all such as the Sky Golem.

New Quests

A host of new stories and adventures are now available across Azeroth.

Magni Bronzebeard

Mysterious magics have awakened across Azeroth. Among them are the essences of the five dragonflights, which Magni Bronzebeard suspects can unlock the full potential of the Heart of Azeroth. Level 120 players should heed Magni’s call to continue the story and earn their first Essence, which grants a new, powerful ability tailored to their character’s role (damage dealer, healer, or tank) or all roles.

War Campaign: Stay of Execution

Upon learning of Sylvanas’s plans to execute Baine Bloodhoof for treason, the Alliance and the Horde send strike teams to infiltrate the Kor’kron Barracks and rescue the noble tauren chieftain—meeting up with an old orcish ally along the way.

The latest episode of the War Campaign is available to level 120 players who have completed the previous chapters and finished the quest “Clearing out the Cache.” Speak to Lady Jaina Proudmoore or Lor’themar in Nazjatar to begin this perilous mission.

New Heritage Armor: Gnomes and Tauren

Delve deeper into the lore of the gnomes and the tauren and unlock Heritage Armor that reflects their legacies. Level 120 tauren or gnome players who are Exalted with their faction (Gnomeregan or Thunder Bluff respectively) will be able to embark on a quest line that explores their race’s history. Once completed, players will gain a new Heritage Armor transmogrification set usable by all their characters of the same race.

Eligible gnomes and tauren can begin the quest by speaking with their race’s ambassador in their faction’s Embassy in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. Those seeking the tauren Heritage Armor will additionally to be tasked with freeing Baine in the War Campaign quest “Stay of Execution” (on any character on their account) before beginning their quest line.

New Epic Battleground: Ashran

Once home to a mighty ogre empire, the ruins of Ashran hold ancient artifacts infused with great power that could turn the tide of war. Return to Draenor and fight on familiar turf in a brand-new 40v40 Epic Battleground: Ashran.

Starting at level 100, players can clash with the enemy faction on the main road of Ashran, carving a warpath into the enemy’s stronghold. After either slaying 700 enemy reinforcements or successfully invading the stronghold, players will come together to bring down the enemy faction leader—the Alliance’s Grand Marshal Tremblade or the Horde’s High Warlord Volrath. Collect Ancient Artifacts, Artifact Fragments, Class Spellbooks, and other items to improve your chances of victory. Gathering Artifact Fragments from fallen foes will allow you to summon elite allies, Fangraal and Kronus, to lead your faction’s charge into battle.

Players will find and be able to queue for Ashran in the Epic Battleground section of the Group Finder (default hotkey: i).

New Island Expeditions

Set sail and discover two new Islands: Crestfall and Snowblossom Village. New loot including armor, weapons, and pets awaits players, but beware: you’re not alone. Faction rivals will want to hoard the spoils for themselves. Take them down!

New Missions and Mechanics

New Missions and Troops

As you take the fight to the seas, your loyal followers will be with you every step of the way. You can now enlist Boat Captains and other skilled seafarers to fight your battles.

Event and Holiday Missions

Send out your followers to embark on new holiday- and event-themed missions. Spoils will include special currencies to spend during holidays and events, including Brewfest and Timewalking, along with rewards that are only available during those periods.

Flying in Kul Tiras and Zandalar

The once-forbidden skies of Kul Tiras and Zandalar will soon be open to heroes eager to take flight. The achievement Battle for Azeroth Pathfinder, Part Two will allow daring adventurers to take to the skies in Battle for Azeroth’s zones, including in the new ones, Mechagon and Nazjatar. Hardy adventurers will need to earn Revered reputation with the Rustbolt Resistance and with their new Nazjatar allies (The Waveblade Ankoan or The Unshackled), explore Mechagon and Nazjatar, and complete the first part of the meta-achievement, Battle for Azeroth Pathfinder, Part One.

Adventurers who complete these requirements and unlock flying will also be rewarded with a mechanical parrot mount: Wonderwing 2.0.

Mounts

Ride through Nazjatar and Mechagon in style as you collect several new aquatic- and mechanical-inspired mounts. Six of them are listed below, but there are even more waiting to be discovered!

Azshari Bloatray

Raised in captivity, these yellow aquatic creatures’ gas organs are harvested by the naga to allow them to breathe air more easily. Players will rescue one to use as their personal mount after earning the achievement Glory of the Palace Raider.

Crimson Tidestallion

These blood-red, spirited creatures gracefully flit through the water, carrying heroes swiftly through the sea. Crimson Tidestallions can be purchased from Murloc Trader Mrrl in Nazjatar in exchange for several eclectic items after completing the quest “A Safer Place.”

Royal Snapdragon

Fierce and loyal companions, blue Royal Snapdragons are snatched from the wild at a young age and raised to serve naga hunters. Claim your own by vanquishing high-ranking naga in Nazjatar.

X-995 Mechanocat

Crafted through Junkyard Tinkering, these robotic cats can be painted a variety of colors, which players can collect during their adventures in Mechagon.

Scrapforged Mechaspider

Planet-conscious players who complete the quests given by Recycler Kerchunk in Rustbolt will be rewarded with this mount.

Mechacycle Model W

This mechanical marvel is the pinnacle of supercharged street performance in mechagnome travel. Boasting the best in aerodynamic performance, this gorgeous wheel will be gifted to players who complete the achievement Mecha-Done.

Pet Battles

A new challenge awaits your army of fierce little companions in Rise of Azshara.

Pet Battle Dungeon: Stratholme

It’s time to marshal your menagerie and put your best battle pets forward within the halls of Stratholme, a new Pet Battle Dungeon with Normal and Challenge difficulties. Those who prove themselves to be the very best will earn an Ultimate Battle-Training Stone after defeating the dungeon on Normal difficulty. Completing it on Challenge difficulty will grant the achievement Pet Battle Challenge: Stratholme along with the Minimancer pet. To get started on your journey, you’ll need to have earned the achievement All Growns Up! (have one level-25 pet) for Normal difficulty or Pro Pet Group (have 15 level-25 pets) for Challenge difficulty. Seek out Tizzy Gearjolt in Boralus or Radek Fuselock in Dazar’alor to get started.

Transmogrification Updates

Players can now make all armor slots hidden, except Legs. Let’s keep it classy.

Additionally, several items are now eligible for transmogrification, including Cookie’s Tenderizer, Direbrew’s Shanker, and Nat’s Hat.

Brewfest Update

Get ready to crack open a cold one with friends new and old during our revamped Brewfest! Sample brews across Azeroth and beyond with representatives of every playable race, including your newest Kul Tiran and Zandalari allies. Brawl with alementals, Dark Iron dwarves, and cheeky hozen to keep the peace during the booziest time of year. Prove just how gutsy you are by entering the Brewfest Chowdown sausage-eating contest or playing other mini-games to win spectacular prizes, including a Bottomless Brewfest Stein, Garland of Grain, Tabard of Brew, Brewfest Chowdown Trophy, or the Brewfest Reveler’s Hearthstone.

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Brawler's Guild

• The Strange Thing encounter is now easier to defeat.

Classes

• Death Knight
  • Frost
    • Runic Empowerment has a 2% chance to proc per Runic Power spent (was 1.5%).
    • Icecap now reduces Pillar of Frost cooldown by 2 seconds (was 1 second).
    • Frost Fever’s chance to generate Runic Power increased to 30%.
      • Chance now diminishes on targets beyond the first.
    • Frost Strike damage increased by 15%.
    • Breath of Sindragosa damage reduced by 10%.
    • Breath of Sindragosa now generates 2 Runes when cast, and another 2 when the effect expires.
    • Breath of Sindragosa costs 16 Runic Power per second (up from 15).
      • Developers’ notes: Frost was starved of resources too often, especially when using Breath of Sindragosa. This increases Frosts’ Rune income baseline and includes a further change that returns many extra Runes while using Breath of Sindragosa. Breath builds will now be able to fill more global cooldowns with casts of Obliterate to make up for the lost Frost Strikes. The cost of Breath itself is increased to keep its overall duration roughly unchanged.
  • Unholy
    • Festering Strike, Scourge Strike, Festering Wound, Death Coil, and Clawing Shadows damage increased by 15%.
    • Army of the Dead’s Ghoul damage increased by 6%.
      • Developers’ notes: Previously, a bug allowed Army of the Dead Ghouls’ Energy to benefit doubly from Haste. To compensate for the effects of the bug fix, we’ve increased their damage to keep it consistent.
• Demon Hunter
  • Havoc
    • Mastery: Demonic Presence damage bonus increased by 20%.
    • Chaos Strike and Trial of Ruin damage reduced by 4%.
      • Developer’s notes: Previously Mastery was relatively weak when compared to other secondary stats. By increasing Mastery’s effect for Havoc, it should now be a more desirable stat on gear. To balance this upcoming power increase, we’ve slightly reduced the damage output of Chaos Strike and Trial of Ruin.
  • Vengeance
    • Demonic Wards damage reduction increased to 15% (was 10%).
    • Demonic Wards armor bonus increased to 100% (was 80%).
    • Demon Spikes armor reduced to 60% of Agility (was 85%).
    • Soul Cleave damage increased by 40%.
      • Developers’ notes: More so than other tanks, Vengeance Demon Hunters are currently dealing with the problem of low mitigation when their active mitigation is down. These changes provide a substantial increase to physical mitigation when Demon Spikes is down, and a neutral-to-very-slight increase when Demon Spikes is active. The changes also provide some overall passive reduction to magic damage. Overall, the amount of sustained damage Vengeance takes will be lower, and the periods of vulnerability outside of Demon Spikes should be less dramatic.
    • Metamorphosis
      • Increases armor by 200% (was 100%).
      • Health bonus is now 50% (was 30%).
      • Shear now generates 20 additional Pain and 1 additional Lesser Soul Fragment (was: generates 7 Pain per second).
        • Developers’ notes: This significantly increases the health bonus, damage mitigation, and self-healing potential of Metamorphosis, as well as the health buffer, making it a more reliable major cooldown against all types of damage.
• Druid
  • Soothe, Remove Corruption, Moonfire, and Rebirth are no longer castable in Cat or Bear form by default.
  • Feral Druids now have a passive ability learned at level 22 that allows Remove Corruption and Soothe to be cast in Cat Form.
  • Guardian Druids now have a passive ability learned at level 10 that allows Soothe, Remove Corruption, Moonfire, and Rebirth to be cast in Bear Form.
    • Developers’ notes: Guardian Druid is limited in its practical ability to use some utility abilities while tanking, and we’re loosening that restriction by allowing Remove Corruption in Bear Form. We’re also cleaning up Druid shapeshifting rules slightly: the use of magical-themed spells in beast forms is allowed by passive upgrades given to Guardian and Feral specializations specifically. This represents their special mastery of their “home” form that allows for limited spellcasting, and from a gameplay perspective, this allows Feral and Guardian Druids to use spells in-form when there is a strong practical need. At the same time, in situations where there is no fantasy justification or gameplay need, it makes sense for spellcasting to be more restricted. For example, non–Guardian Druids can no longer cast Moonfire in Bear Form.
  • Guardian
    • Ironfur now has a maximum of 8 stacks.
    • Ironfur and Maul now cost 40 Rage (was 45).
    • Mangle now generates 10 Rage (was 8).
      • Developers’ notes: Ironfur is intended to be maintainable with high uptime (up to 100%) and have some overlaps on top of that. Currently, depending on talent configuration, Druids may only be able to barely maintain full uptime on Ironfur. Making Ironfur much more available should allow better control over timing and overlaps, as well as improving Guardian mitigation overall.
    • Shifting to Bear Form now gives 25 Rage (was 20).
      • Developers’ notes: It should now be much easier to get the first Ironfur activated promptly after engaging an enemy, due to the increased starting Rage and lower cost.
    • Mangle and Thrash direct damage increased by 15%.
    • Frenzied Regeneration (Rank 3) is learned at level 85.
    • Frenzied Regeneration’s healing has been increased by 33%.
  • Restoration
    • Casting Overgrowth while Soul of the Forest is active will now increase the healing of Overgrowth’s Rejuvenation, instead of its Regrowth heal over time effect.
• Hunter
  • Horridon is now tamable by Hunters of any specialization.
  • Beast Mastery
    • Barbed Shot damage is now affected by Bestial Wrath.
    • Barbed Shot damage reduced by 10%.
    • Oondasta is now tamable by Beast Mastery Hunters.
      • Developers’ notes: We are fixing a bug that caused Bestial Wrath to not affect Barbed Shot damage, and lowering the base damage of Barbed Shot to keep overall damage roughly unchanged.
  • Survival
    • Mastery: Spirit Bond damage bonus increased by 20%.
      • Developers’ notes: Previously Mastery was relatively weak when compared to other secondary stats. By increasing the power of Mastery’s effect for Survival, it should now be a more desirable stat on gear.
• Mage
  • Frost
    • Mastery: Icicles damage bonus increased by 15%.
    • Glacial Spike base damage reduced by 7%.
      • Developers’ notes: Previously Mastery was relatively weak when compared to other secondary stats. By increasing Mastery’s effect for Frost, it should now be a more desirable stat on gear. To balance this upcoming power increase, we’ve slightly reduced the damage output of Glacial Spike.
• Priest
  • Shadow
    • Auspicious Spirits now increases Shadowy Apparition damage by 50%.
    • Shadow Word: Pain damage reduced by 9%.
    • Vampiric Touch damage reduced by 9%.
      • We believe damage-over-time specializations that maintain a variety of DoT spells should in general output more damage in encounters with multiple targets than single-target oriented specializations. In addition to measuring class specializations against others, we must also balance them across the entire spectrum of content. Due to the types of encounters in Tides of Vengeance, Shadow Priests were especially strong in some contexts and correspondingly weak in very few situations when compared to similar DoT specializations. As such, we’re slightly pulling back on the abilities that proc Shadowy Apparition, which is the prominent contributor of making Shadow Priests significantly stronger than similar counterparts.
• Rogue
  • Outlaw
    • Keep Your Wits About You (Azerite Trait) now stacks once per instance of Blade Flurry dealing damage (was once for every target Blade Flurry hits). Each stack now provides 5% Sinister Strike chance (was 2%).
    • Developers’ notes: In very large packs of enemies, especially in dungeons, Keep Your Wits About You provides much more damage than one copy of one Azerite Trait was intended to provide. With this change, you’ll still feel this trait accelerate as you build stacks, but the size of the group that you’re fighting won’t affect how much damage the trait is giving you. This will be a damage increase against two targets, and a damage reduction against 3 or more targets.
• Shaman
  • Enhancement
    • The Molten Weapon buff from the Elemental Spirits talent now only modifies the Fire damage of your class abilities, instead of modifying all Fire damage dealt.
      • Developers’ notes: With the addition of the new Azerite Essences in the Rise of Azshara content update, many of which deal Fire damage, we did not want to make this talent feel mandatory. Prior to this change, the Molten Weapon buff from the fiery Spirit Wolf would have increased the damage dealt by several Azerite Essences. The buff effects from Elemental Spirits talent are intended to increase your class abilities, and still will after this change.
• Warrior
  • Arms
    • Execute, Mortal Strike, Rend, and Slam damage increased by 6%.
    • Mastery: Deep Wounds damage bonus increased by 12%.
      • Developers’ notes: Previously Mastery was relatively weak when compared to other secondary stats. By increasing the power of Mastery’s effect for Arms, it should now be a more desirable stat on gear.
  • Protection
    • Unstoppable Force Thunderclap damage reduced to 30% (was 100%).
      • Developers’ notes: Protection Warrior burst DPS with Avatar is extremely high for a tank. This talent was adding more damage than necessary, given that it also decreases Thunder Clap’s cooldown and synergizes well with certain Azerite traits.

Dungeons and Raids

Artifact Power

Several Mythic Keystone dungeons now award different amounts of Artifact Power based on their length.

• Siege of Boralus, Temple of Sethraliss, The Motherlode!!, Tol Dagor, and Waycrest Manor AP rewards have increased by 30%.
• King’s Rest and Shrine of the Storm AP rewards have increased by 60%.

Completing Mythic Keystone dungeons at +11 difficulty now reward players with increased AP, with +12 and above increasing that amount by an additional 20 AP per level (was 10).

• Atal’Dazar, Freehold, and Underrot completed at +11 difficulty or greater now award 420 AP (was 290 AP).
• Siege of Boralus, Temple of Sethraliss, The Motherlode!!, Tol Dagor, and Waycrest Manor completed at +11 difficulty or higher now award 540 AP (was 290 AP).
• King’s Rest and Shrine of the Storm completed at +11 difficulty or higher now award 660 AP (was 290 AP).

Mythic Keystone Dungeon Updates

• Freehold
  • Reduced dungeon completion timer to 33 minutes (was 36 minutes).
• King’s Rest
  • Enemy Forces requirements increased by 10%.
  • Increased the Enemy Forces contribution of Animated Guardian.
• Shrine of the Storm
  • Enemy Forces requirements increased by 5%.
  • Increased the Enemy Forces contribution granted by eliminating several non-boss enemies (Deepsea Ritualist, Windspeaker Heldis, Runecarver Skorn, Guardian Elemental, Living Current, Abyssal Eel).
• Tol Dagor
  • Enemy Forces requirements increased by 15%.
  • Heavy Cannons now start with 100 Energy and Canon Blast costs 20 energy.
• Waycrest Manor
  • Enemy Forces requirements increased by 5%.
  • Increased the Enemy Forces contribution of Matron Alma.

Hellfire Citadel

• Hellfire Assault
  • The damage that Hellfire Reinforcements and Felfire-Imbued Siege Vehicles inflict to the Hellfire Cannons has been massively reduced for characters with a level of 104 or greater on all raid difficulties.
  • The number of Felfire Munitions required to defeat the encounter has been reduced to 5 for characters with a level of 104 or greater on all raid difficulties.

Island Expeditions Updates

• Some powerful consumable items such as the Demolisher and Siege Engine have returned to PvP Island Expeditions. These items can now be collected, repaired, and fought over throughout the island.
• The rotating Seafarer’s Dubloon vendors who previously sold these consumables now have new items to offer.

Items and Rewards

• Artifact Power
  • Azerite values have been adjusted to allow players to get more of their total Artifact Power from the below sources.
    • Dungeons
      • Mythic Keystone Dungeon Weekly Cache now rewards 3800 AP (was 1900).
    • Island Expeditions
      • Heroic Island End-of-match now rewards 300 AP (was 225 AP).
      • Mythic and PvP Island End-of-match now rewards 450 AP (was 350 AP).
      • Island Weekly Quest now rewards 3500 AP (was 2500 AP).
    • Player versus Player
      • First Win of the Day Bonus now rewards 100% more AP.
      • 2v2 Arena now rewards 240 AP (was 120 AP).
      • 3v3 Arena now rewards 300 AP (was 150 AP).
      • Unrated Battlegrounds now rewards 300 AP (was 150 AP).
      • Epic Battlegrounds now rewards 600 AP (was 300 AP).
      • Rated Battlegrounds now rewards 1050 AP (was 525 AP).
      • Against Overwhelming Odds now rewards 2000 AP (was 1000 AP).
• Gear Scaling
  • Most item effects that deal damage or healing now scale based off of a character’s secondary stat (was primary stat).
    • Developers’ note: We made some under-the-hood changes to how item effects that deal damage, healing, and shielding scale with item level. The net effect of these changes is that almost all items like this in Battle for Azeroth are now moderately stronger. The difference is greater the higher the item level of the item. This includes items from Battle for Azeroth dungeons, raids, and PvP rewards.
• Heart of Azeroth
  • The Personal Absorb-O-Tron Azerite Trait will now absorb 50% of damage taken over 20 seconds (was 100%). The total amount of damage absorbed by this trait remains unchanged.
  • Paladin
    • Holy
      • Glimmer of Light healing reduced by 15%.
        • Developers’ note: This build has gotten far enough ahead of other Holy Paladin options, as well as other healers in some cases, that we’re paring it back while leaving the gameplay generally unchanged.

• Players in Nazjatar can now ride underwater mounts on land with Budding Deepcoral.
• A Tiny Clockwork Key allows Pepe to sometimes dress up as mechanical bird.
• Some heirlooms have been renamed to be more faction-specific.
  • Bolstering War Horn has been renamed to Dwarven War Horn (Alliance) and Orcish War Horn (Horde).
  • Bolstering War Horn has been renamed to Dwarven War Horn (Alliance) and Orcish War Horn (Horde).
  • Cloak of Hardened Steel has been renamed to Banded Gilnean Cloak (Alliance) and Stone Guard’s Bladed Cloak (Horde).
  • Dusk Powder has been renamed to Kaldorei Powder of Twilight (Alliance) and Deathstalker’s Gloaming Powder (Horde).
  • Enchanted Scroll has been renamed to Tidesage’s Warscroll (Alliance) and Loa-Touched Warscroll (Horde).

Leveling

• Players who manually group with a player that has turned off experience gains will now receive 95% less experience.
  • Developers' note: This change does not impact players who find themselves automatically grouped by matchmaking for activities like Group Finder dungeons or Island Expeditions.

Player versus Player

• Arena
  • Tiger's Peak has finished repairs and is once again available as an Arena map.
  • Team colors have been changed from gold and green to gold and purple.
• Battlegrounds
  • Alterac Valley
    • UI now tracks progress for summoning Lokholar the Ice Lord and Ivus the Forest Lord.
    • Two seasonal quests have been added to Alterac Valley. These quests, similar to the ones offered in Wintergrasp, will reset and are repeatable each season.
  • Seething Shore
    • When the battleground begins, the same three nodes will always be in the first wave (Ridge, Ruins, and Tar Pits).
    • Players who use the jetpack’s Thrust ability while airborne now travel further.
• Enlistment Bonus
  • Now rewards 50% more Azerite Power for participating in Random Battlegrounds and Epic Battlegrounds.
    • Developers’ note: Battleground queue times become exceedingly long when one faction has more people queuing than the other. When queue times exceed a certain threshold, Mercenary Mode becomes available for the faction with long queue times and the Enlistment Bonus becomes available for the less represented faction. Now, the Enlistment Bonus will increase the amount of Azerite Power from Random Battlegrounds and Random Epic Battlegrounds by 50%.
• Items
  • Void Stone’s absorption ability has been reduced by 30% for healers and 60% for non-healers in PvP.
  • Diamond-Laced Refracting Prism personal absorption shield has been reduced by 30% for tank specializations and 60% for non-tank specializations in PvP.
  • Abyssal Speaker’s Gauntlets absorption shield is now reduced by 80% in PvP (was 66%).
  • Trident of the Deep Ocean absorption shield is now reduced by 75% in PvP (was 50%).
  • Mindthief’s Eldritch Clasp healing and self-damage effect is now reduced by 50% in PvP.
    • Developers’ note: Several Crucible of Storms raid items had a significant impact on the PvP meta in Season 2. We believe that raid items in PvP can be a meaningful source of gameplay variety that contribute to each season feeling a bit different than ones before it. Due to the nature of our PvP scaling system, which helps make PvP more accessible for more players, means the effects of these items will remain relevant longer than we’d like. Therefore, we’re reducing the effectiveness of these items in the new patch so players can feel good about transitioning to new items they acquire in Season 3.
  • Horde and Alliance Glider Kits now have a prideful new look.
  • All racial abilities that share a cooldown with Honorable Medallion now only display corresponding information when the talent is selected.
• Death Knight
  • Frost
    • Chill Streak no longer deals damage based on the target’s (or caster’s) maximum health.
    • Chill Streak now deals an additional percent of Attack Power per bounce to applicable targets (up to 9%).
    • Chill Streak no longer adheres to the maximum health percentage PvP talent restrictions.
    • Chill Streak can now critical strike, scale with your increased damage modifications (e.g. Mastery), and benefit from damage taken debuffs applied on the target.
      • Developers’ note: We’re changing Chill Streak from damage based on the target’s maximum health to one based on the Death Knight’s attack power. This has the effect of dealing damage more equally against targets of any health range.
  • Druid
    • Restoration
      • Casting Overgrowth while Soul of the Forest is active will now increase the healing of Overgrowth’s Rejuvenation, instead of its Regrowth heal over time effect.
        • Developers’ notes: Overgrowth applies both Rejuvenation and Regrowth’s heal over time effect, but Soul of the Forest will only effect one of them. We’re adjust the interaction of these two spells to more accurately match players expectations of their synergy.
  • Monk
    • Brewmaster
      • Hot Trub now splits its damage among all enemies hit.
  • Paladin
    • Protection
      • Unbound Freedom now grants its caster Blessing of Freedom when cast on a different target.
      • Unbound Freedom now prevents Blessing of Freedom from being dispelled when cast on the same target.
        • Developers’ note: Unbound Freedom is an underperforming talent that leans into a Paladin’s core strength of enabling their allies. By applying the benefit of Blessing of Freedom to the casting Paladin as well as their teammate, the spell becomes a powerful tool against enemy teams that rely on movement-impairing effects and control.
    • Retribution
      • Unbound Freedom now grants the Paladin Blessing of Freedom when it is cast on another target.
      • Unbound Freedom now prevents Blessing of Freedom from being dispelled when cast on the same target.
        • Developers’ note: Unbound Freedom is an underperforming talent that leans into a Paladin’s core strength of enabling their allies. By applying the benefit of Blessing of Freedom to the casting Paladin as well as their teammate, the spell becomes a powerful tool against enemy teams that rely on movement-impairing effects and control.
  • Priest
    • Discipline
      • Mana regeneration is now reduced by 40% in PvP (was 45%).
      • Dome of Light reduces the cooldown of Power Word: Barrier by 90 seconds (was 60 seconds).
      • Dome of Light reduces damage taken by an additional 25% (was 45%).
      • Premonition now heals up to four friendly targets with your Atonement active (was all nearby friendly targets).
      • Premonition’s heal radius increased to 40 yards (was 30 yards).
      • Premonition now heals for 55% spell power (was 75% spell power).
      • Premonition now damages you for 35% spell power (was 46% spell power).
      • Premonition increases the duration of your Atonements on targets healed by 3 seconds.
      • Trinity now increases the healing transfer of atonement by 20% (was 12%).
      • Ultimate Radiance increases the healing of Power Word: Radiance by 250% (was 200%).
        • Developers' notes: In Season 2, we increased the importance of healer mana management in Arenas and Battlegrounds by reducing mana regeneration in PvP instances. Due to Discipline’s healing style, the spec tends to run out of mana much faster in Arena compared to other specs. So, we’re buffing their mana regeneration in PvP and adjusting some of their PvP talents to increase their throughput. In addition, we’re adjusting Dome of Light to allow it to be used more frequently but with less damage reduction to give them an additional tool to recover after crowd control.
  • Shaman
    • Elemental
      • Lightning Lasso now deals 140% spell power per tick (was 8% of the target’s maximum health).
      • Lightning Lasso now deals damage to permanently stun immune mobs.
  • Warlock
    • Affliction
      • Endless Affliction no longer increases the duration of Unstable Affliction.
      • Endless Affliction now leaves a 10 second debuff on the target after the final Unstable Affliction runs its full duration.
      • Dispelling Endless Affliction will silence, damage, and increase damage taken by 10% to the target while active.
      • Casting Unstable Affliction on a target that has Endless Affliction active will remove it.
      • A new aura icon will indicate to healers that a target has Endless Affliction or Unstable Affliction active.
        • Developers’ note: Our intention with the Endless Affliction talent is to allow the Warlock to opt into longer dispel protection for their team’s damage over time spells and other debuffs. The previous version of this came at a cost of slowing down the rate at which they deal damage. We’ve broken the additional dispel protection off into its own debuff so that this talent doesn’t change the warlocks damage profile.
    • UI
      • The end-of-match scoreboard for Arenas and Battlegrounds now has a new look and provides more information about player rewards.

Professions

Many new items can be crafted by harvesting the corpses of the most dangerous fallen foes in Mechagon and Nazjatar.

• All Battle for Azeroth professions (except Archaelogy) now have a maximum skill of 175 (was 150).
• Players can now gain the first 25 skill points in each profession by disenchanting, milling, or prospecting items from the respective expansion.
  • Alchemy
    • An upgraded Alchemy Stone can now be crafted along with new Battle Potions, Flasks, and Cauldrons.
  • Blacksmithing
    • Forge new armor to protect you from the hazards you’ll encounter in Mechagon and Nazjatar.
    • Work together with an Engineer to craft a new hovercraft-style mount: the Xiwyllag ATV.
  • Cooking
    • New recipes, including a feast, are now available for the most skilled culinary experts.
  • Enchanting
    • Added new recipes for enchanting weapons and rings.
  • Engineering
    • With the opening of Mechagon, Engineers now have many new gadgets they can create.
      • Keep your eyes safe with the best Engineering goggles available to craft.
      • New Wormhole Generators can teleport players to random locations in Kul Tiras and Zandalar.
      • The new Blingtron 7000 is now available to build and offers players the Blingtron 7000 Gift Package, filled with an assortment of items.
      • Engineers can work together with Blacksmiths to create a new hovercraft-style mount: the Xiwyllag ATV.
  • Fishing
    • New species of fish can be caught from pools scattered across Mechagon and Nazjatar.
  • Inscription
    • Players can now make new item-level 400 Highborne Compendium trinkets, Contracts, and Vantus Runes to use in Azshara’s Eternal Palace.
  • Jewelcrafting
    • The precious ore in the newly discovered areas can be cut into the most powerful gems.
    • Higher level rings can now be crafted.
  • Leatherworking
    • Leatherworkers will now be able to turn the hides of the new beasts they encounter into a variety of armor pieces.
  • Tailoring
    • Stitch together new garments using cloth found in Nazjatar.

Quests and World Quests

• Horde players can continue raising their direhorn with new Direhorn Training quests.

User Interface

• Accessibility
  • Several slash commands have been added to provide more options for players with vision impairments.
    • Voice Commands
      • Enter voice channel for your guild: /voice guild.
      • Enter voice channel for the officer channel for your guild: /voice officer.
      • Enter general channel for a given community: /voice (community name).
      • Enter a particular channel for a given community: /voice (community. name:channel)
      • Leave the current voice channel: /voice leave.
    • Community Commands
      • Open the Add Community dialog with the invitation link edit box selected. Paste in the link and hit return: /community join.
      • Open the create wow character community dialog with the Name edit box selected. Type in a name, then hit tab, then enter a short name, and hit enter to finalize the creation: /community create wow.
      • Open the create battle.net club dialog with the Name edit box selected. Type in a name, then optionally hit tab and enter a short name, and hit enter to finalize the creation: /community create battlenet.

• The Pet Journal will now indicate if you are unable to summon a pet.
• Mount Equipment can be found and listed under Miscellaneous and below Mount.
• A new option to lower game sound when voice chat is detected can be found under System > Voice Chat.
• The map now indicates where players need to go to travel for transcontinental quests.
• The friends list will now sort favorited RealID and BattleTag friends at the top.
• Role count for damage dealers, tanks, and healers will now display in raid frames.
• Dungeon entrance indicators on the map can now be toggled on and off.
• Guild messages will now state the difficulty of the boss defeated.
• Players who are Bounty Hunted will now display a distinctive icon on their nameplates.
• Passive talents will now appear in the Spellbook.
• Added dynamic scaling support for loading screens in ultra-wide resolutions.

World

• New Audio Altitude System
  • As you take to the skies in Rise of Azshara, the ambient sound across all of Azeroth will now adjust to reflect the height at which you soar.

Companion App

• Added new Rise of Azshara zones: Nazjatar and Mechagon.
• Added support for new missions.
• Updated and improved the Guild Roster function.
• Made Community invite links able to be copied.
• Added a new accessibility option – Community chat text size can now be changed.
• Increased the usability of the Community and Calendar features.
• Improved stability.

Bug Fixes

• Achievements
  • The guild achievements Classy Draenei and Classy Dwarves are again earnable by level 120 Shamans.
  • Players can again earn the Darkmoon Race Enthusiast achievement after earning Darkmoon Racer Novice.
  • The guild achievements A Team Effort, Stick Together Team, and Now That’s Teamwork are again achievable on all Rated Battleground maps.
  • Wrecking Ball and Damage Control should now always be awarded to eligible players in Wintergrasp.
• Allied Races
  • Blood Elves
    • Blood elf female characters’ eyes now glow as intended.
  • Dark Iron Dwarves
    • Dark Iron dwarf male Warriors no longer use the Nightborne voice line when using Charge.
  • Kul Tirans
    • Kul Tiran female characters now make sounds while blacksmithing and mining.
    • The Toy Train Set now plays the correct sounds when used by Kul Tiran or Zandalari troll characters.
    • Mounts summoned by Kul Tirans now scale correctly.
    • Kul Tiran male Arms Warriors now have an Execute animation.
    • Kul Tiran female characters now always play weapon sound effects during Mortal Strike.
  • Zandalari Trolls
    • The Zandalari troll Pterrordax Swoop racial no longer causes the pterrodax to orient off-center when cast while strafing.
    • The Toy Train Set now plays the correct sounds when used by Kul Tiran or Zandalari troll characters.
    • Spell visuals for Zandalari troll male and female characters now appear at the appropriate size when cast.
    • Zandalari troll Druids now play their Flight Form summon sound if they have Artisan or Master Riding unlocked.
    • The Zandalari troll and Kul Tiran Druid variants of Incarnation: Tree of Life now scale properly.
    • Zandalari troll Druids now display banners correctly in all shapeshifted forms.
  • Brawler’s Guild
    • Grandpa Grumplefloot’s Bad Luckydos ability now consistently triggers when it strikes the player.
    • Stitches’ Aura of Rot now applies to pets and guardians.
    • Hunter pets now properly enter and leave Brawler’s Guild boss encounters when using the Move To command.
• Classes
  • Dismissed pets are no longer resummoned after dismounting.
  • Hunter
    • Beast Mastery
      • Hunters can no longer summon Warp Stalkers when casting Dire Beast.
      • Hunters’ Barbed Shot will again benefit from Bestial Wrath.
      • Hunters’ Hi-Explosive Trap can no longer be seen by enemy players.
  • Rogue
    • Rogues can no longer sometimes re-enter stealth earlier than intended after killing another player.
  • Mage
    • Arcane
      • Arcane Orb now puts enemy players it strikes into combat.
    • Frost
      • Frozen Orb should no longer sink into terrain on certain platforms.
  • Monk
    • Monks no longer enter combat if they cast Transcendence next to an enemy.
  • Paladin
    • Divine Steed no longer cancels when it interferes with collision.
  • Shaman
    • Elemental
      • Master of the Elements now consistently applies its damage increase buff.

• Dungeons and Raids
  • Battle of Dazar’alor
    • Lady Jaina Proudmoore
      • The Zandalari Ballista can no longer be fired while frozen by Frozen Siege.
  • Siege of Boralus
    • Players can no longer fall off the platform edge by Dread Captain Lockwood’s ship.
  • Shrine of the Storm
    • Brother Ironhull’s Hindering Cleave no longer deals damage to players outside of the ability visual.
  • Temple of Sethraliss
    • The orb used to open the path to Avatar of Sethraliss will no longer vanish if thrown or stolen.
    • Players will again be able to progress through the dungeon if they leave and reenter the instance.
  • Underrot
    • Sporecaller Zancha no longer has issues chasing players with threat.
  • Waycrest Manor
    • Gorestained Piglet should now always grant Enemy Forces contribution.
    • Infest no longer breaks players out of stealth.
• Guild Bank
  • Guild banks will again display deposited items and allow players to withdraw them.
• Items
  • Azerite Powers should now correctly function if the player equipped and unequipped the armor piece multiple times.
  • Doomsayer's Robes now alters the appearance of Kul Tirans and Zandalari trolls.
  • The Flight Master's Whistle should now work in the Tradewinds Market.
  • Heart of Azeroth
    • Arcanic Pulsar now always grants Astral Power from Celestial Alignment.
    • Reawakening’s Well Fed buff should now always apply to the target.
  • Ironspine Protocol now allows only the summoning Hunter to ride Hati, and Hati now has a smoother gait when ridden.
  • Mesmerizing Fruit Hat now fits on characters’ heads properly.
  • Relinquished Azerite Tokens should now always grant items.
• Island Expeditions
  • Undead enemies in Havenswood are now properly categorized as such.
• Player versus Player
  • Arena
    • Fixed a bug that could cause players who were actively participating in PvP combat to unintentionally drop combat.
    • Resolved an issue that could cause players to be feared through solid objects on The Tiger’s Peak arena
  • Battlegrounds
    • Characters with experience turned off can no longer participate in Battlegrounds with characters that have experience turned on.
      • Arathi Basin
        • Players can no longer stand on top of unintended locations in Arathi Basin.
      • Seething Shore
        • Players no longer receive the Uncharted Territory debuff after launching off the airship.
      • Temple of Kotmogu
        • Healing power-ups will again spawn every 2 minutes as intended.
      • Wintergrasp
        • Wintergrasp Battleground statistics now consistently appear in the Achievement Statistics menu.
        • The Tour of Duty achievement should now always be awarded to players who complete “Victory in Wintergrasp” while in Battle for Azeroth zones.
        • Players can now build new catapults, demolishers, and siege engines in the Vehicle Workshop right after completing construction on another one.
• Professions
  • Herbalism
    • Players can gather Siren’s Sting in several locations that were previously blocked off.
  • Fishing
    • Players are again able to fish out of the lava pools in Antoran Wastes and Frostfire Ridge.
    • Fishing will again offer multiple rarities of items in Krokuun and Mac'Aree.

• Quests
  • The Alliance Airship now always appears while the player progresses through “Isolated Victory”.
  • Players now leave combat after completing “A Stitch in Time”.
  • Scrollsage Goji and Trader Kro no longer disappear when the “Naga Attack!” World Quest is active.
  • Players can now interact with Hexlord Raal during the War Campaign quest "Ride of the Zandalari".
  • General Marstone now deals less damage during "Sowing Discord”.
  • “Wild Mine Cart Ride” again completes when the cart ride ends.
  • Players can again share quests with party members anywhere in World of Warcraft.
  • Margrave Dhakar can again be slain during "The Flesh Giant Champion".
  • Players can now complete "Earthcaller's Abode" while Stormsong Incursion is active.
  • Players are no longer sent to the Barrens or Sentinel Hill graveyard if affected by Choking Fog while traveling in Stormsong Valley.
  • Players can again turn in and receive credit for "The Missing Blade".

• UI
  • Transmogrification sets are again sorted by newest.
  • Guild vendor prices are again consistent.

• Vendors
  • Allied Race characters again can make purchases at the Scarlet Quartermaster.

• Voice Chat
  • Players can rejoin voice chat channels after exiting the client while in a party or group.

To view all content update notes, click here.

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