Expected DPS Changes with September 22nd Class Tuning

With today's weekly reset, many specs are receiving buffs, and our class writers have estimated how much DPS each spec will get!.

Our Class Writers have given us a rough approximation of expected throughput changes with the weekly reset based on the class tuning notes and each individual Class Guide for more details. These estimates may vary based on the exact spells that Blizzard buffs tomorrow.

September 22nd Class Tuning Notes.

Estimated Class Tuning.

We asked our class writers what impact the upcoming changes will have on their spec, and here are their estimates based on sims and theorycrafting!. Please click the spoiler tags to see additional information and notes from our class writers.

For DPS these are DPS Throughput increases or decreases on both Single Target and AoE.

For Healers, these are HPS Throughput numbers.

For Tanks, these are DPS Throughput numbers.

Estimated ChangesNotes SpecSingleAoE.

Blood DK0% (SL) 8% (DB)-2% (SL) 3% (DB)Hero talent choice on ST becomes a choice, SL still ahead in aoe.

Frost DK4%0%Frost is in a pretty nice spot now, but mythic raiders will still mostly feel the pain of the bench until the community perception shifts.

Unholy DK3-4% 15% (bugfix)1% 7% (bugfix)Blizzard is buffing Blightfall which is heavily bugged in terms of extensions and tick time modifiers causing its damage to do way less damage than intended.

Devourer DH1%3.4%The breakdown is:.

~5.2% ST buff for Annihilator, ~3.4% in AoE.

~1% buff for Void-Scarred in ST, ~0.3% in AoE.

Annihilator is now the de facto option for M+, although it was mostly adopted at high levels due to its AOE damage. The buffs to ST to Star and Consume/Devour make its ST a lot better, pushing it above VS at all levels.

Doesn't change much in raid, although Annihilator is much more viable in raid if you prefer the playstyle, and might now be the preferred option for Turtles.

Havoc DH9%7%Aldrachi already simmed well coming into The Venomous Abyss, however, the fight profiles suited better for Fel-Scarred burst profiles and significant AoE. With the buffs, it will likely pull ahead for some fights, including on 2-target encounters, such as Twin Fangs and Lost Explorers. However, it will not always be the go-to choice for all raid encounters or mythic+.

Vengeance DH5%2.5%This is for Aldrachi Reaver (AR). AR should perform better in most raid fights and priority damage/funnel situations, but will still be significantly behind in AOE and dungeons overall, at around 30% behind.

Feral Druid1%2%These buffs are fairly insignificant, it's a small buff that doesn't really alter the status quo for hero talents in raid, where you should be playing DOTC unless you're getting PI in which case you play WS anyway, or M+, where you can play kind of whatever you want though people will continue to play DOTC.

I can only assume that whoever is in charge of balancing has a cat that's pissing them off this tier (and the last like 7). It's confusing what has happened to Feral's tuning, the spec has consistently wallowed at the bottom of the statistics chart and just as consistently been overlooked for buffs, I don't think at any point has the spec made it past the bottom 3 in the overall statistics. You may say that "clearly Feral is a single target spec, check the Boss damage statistics", and it's clear that Feral Druid doesn't even excel there. We've floated between lower top quartile and the median. If Feral Druid actually excelled in single target while being garbage at other stuff, it might be ok, but instead it's the worst of both worlds. Since these are the last scheduled tuning notes for the season and we've already seen the tuning changes for 12.1.5 (feral not included), any cats out there hoping to have a tune-up should put away their begging bowls, the 5 second rule has passed (or 5 week rule in this case) and we're clearly not being picked up.

If you're an M+ focused feral, then it's a bit of a good news/bad news situation. Good news - congratulations!. Most of the complaints above don't focus on you and you're playing the content we're good at!. Bad news - the buffs don't really do anything either.

Restoration Druid2%4%In raid, about half of the aura buff is compensation for the Photosynthesis fix going into the same hotfix. In Mythic+, you'll get the full 4%.

Augmentation Evoker3%5%It's unclear if Duplicate damage will also be buffed, which would be an additional 1% gain to both. These changes are small buffs to personal damage in a season where Augmentation is back to focusing on buff damage and gearing heavily into Mastery. That said, these buffs are welcome, and should especially help Augmentation players in less-coordinated Raid groups, and as well as in Mythic+.

Devastation Evoker1%4%The Devastation buffs are aimed to increase the AoE damage of the spec while also making the Apex more desirable and uplifting Flameshaper. For Scalecommanders, not a whole lot is changing. The buff to Unbound Flame is not enough to entice us to take the Apex. 1/4 Apex is still the way to go: It is a better fit for the current raid encounters and generally plays more to the strengths of SC.

On the singular Single Target encounter, Sszorak, Flameshaper is now ahead of Scalecommander by a margin large enough for your consideration. For those sticking with Scalecommander, 4/4 Apex does has a place in pure Single Target and would likely be the play instead. All of the other raid encounters feature cleave.

In Mythic+ there is now a case for Flameshaper, but time will tell. Devastation isn't exactly meta due to how spread its damage is. Higher than average overall damage can make any spec desirable so long as it fits with the comp.

Marksmanship Hunter0.5%8%8% AoE, 4% M+ Overall.

These buffs try to improve Marksmanship's very poor standing in Mythic+, but are simply not enough. Despite its primary AoE mechanic being hard-capped at 8 targets, it still does less 8-target AoE DPS than Beast Mastery which is uncapped, has endless DPS mobility, and is simpler to play. Marksmanship needs massive AoE and Priority buffs to even be remotely competitive. Hard-capped specs should not be defeated by uncapped specs within their target cap boundary.

Survival Hunter0%6.2%The hitbox of Wildfire Bomb is still detrimental.