PvP Class Changes in Patch 12.0.5 from May 27, 2026

Unholy

• San'layn: Vampiric Strike damage increased by 30% in PvP.

Feral

• Feral Druid: Rip damage increased by 20% in PvP.

Balance

• Elune's Chosen: Lunar Calling now increases Starfire damage by an additional 20% in PvP.

Preservation

Developers' Notes

Preservation outpaces other healers in part due to its ability to resist crowd-control effects, as well as its high healing throughput. We are reducing some of its output, along with the duration of Nullifying Shroud, to bring it in line with the others.

• All healing reduced by 5% in PvP.
• Nullifying Shroud duration reduced to 3 sec (was: 4 sec).
• Emerald Communion instant healing reduced by 17% in PvP.

Survival

Developers' Notes

Survival has bursty damage thanks to Flanking Strike, but otherwise suffers from a lack of throughput. We want to reduce the power of Flanking Strike's burst and redistribute that power into other sources to compensate.

• Flanking Strike damage reduced by 25% in PvP.
• All damage dealt increased by 6% in PvP.

Fire

Developers' Notes

We want to increase the sustained damage of Fire by adjusting Fireball so that it encourages its use, making the choice of Meteor in PvP less rewarding than we would like.

• Fireball and Frostfire Bolt damage increased by 35% in PvP.
• Meteor instant damage increased by 30% in PvP.

Holy

Developers' Notes

The mana cost of Holy Light in PvP turned out to be more restrictive than intended, so we are making changes to Divine Favor so that its use over the long term is not so burdensome.

• Divine Favor now reduces the mana cost of Holy Light by 30% (was: 10%) in PvP.
• Fixed an issue where Denounce did not increase its damage with level gains or with damage-boosting effects such as Avenging Wrath. This will increase its damage by roughly 90% at base.

Protection

Developers' Notes

The damage output of the Protection Paladin was unhealthily inflated for a specialization with such a kit of support abilities.

• All damage dealt reduced by 10% in PvP.

Retribution

Developers' Notes

We are adjusting the effectiveness of Divine Toll to shorten the duration of Retribution's peak-damage window.

• Templar: Divine Toll effectiveness reduced to 75% (was: 150%) in PvP.

Holy

Developers' Notes

This week we are lowering the mana cost of several key Holy Priest spells (look for the details in the PvE changes section), which should make healing in prolonged fights easier. In addition, we feel that Archon is weaker than Oracle, so we plan to buff Halo to improve its effectiveness.

• Archon: Halo damage and healing increased by 25% in PvP.

Shadow

Developers' Notes

We feel that Voidweaver is in a decent position in PvP. Compared to it, Archon does not apply enough pressure on the opponent, so we plan to buff some of its spells to improve its effectiveness.

• Archon: Halo damage and healing increased by 25% in PvP.
• Archon: Mind Spike: Insanity damage increased by 25% in PvP.

Enhancement

Developers' Notes

Due to a bug with Maelstrom Weapon, which we are currently fixing, it was difficult to respond to Enhancement's burst damage during the duration of its powerful cooldowns. In addition, we are reducing the Haste bonus from Shamanism to ease the pressure from the cooldowns of the Shamans' combat specializations.

• Bloodlust and Heroism from Shamanism now increase Haste by 15% (was: 20%) in PvP.
• Fixed an issue where abilities consuming Maelstrom Weapon stacks from Call of Thorim during Doom Winds dealt more damage than they should.

Elemental

Developers' Notes

Elemental often relies on Stormkeeper for damage thanks to its high instant power. These changes are intended to strengthen overall pressure on the opponent while reducing the dependence on cooldown timings when using core abilities.

• Bloodlust and Heroism from Shamanism now increase Haste by 15% (was: 20%).
• Stormkeeper now increases Lava Burst Overload damage by 10% in PvP (was: 25%).
• Lava Burst damage increased by 15% in PvP.
• Lightning Bolt damage increased by 15% in PvP.

Affliction

Developers' Notes

Hellcaller falls behind Soul Harvester, and we would like to close that gap.

• Hellcaller: Shadow Embrace damage increased by 35% in PvP.
• Hellcaller: Wither damage increased by 15% in PvP.
• Hellcaller: Mark of Xavius now lets Shadow Embrace deal 4% more damage per stack of Wither in PvP (was: 2%).

Demonology

Developers' Notes

As for Demonology and Destruction, we are reverting some of the previously introduced reductions to Immolate and Doom because they proved too severe. In addition, we are increasing the damage of core spells such as Shadow Bolt and Hand of Gul'dan to reward Warlocks more generously for landing them successfully.

• Hand of Gul'dan damage increased by 30% in PvP.
• Demonologist: Doom damage increased by 100% in PvP.

Destruction

• Incinerate damage increased by 30% in PvP.
• Immolate damage increased by 60% in PvP.
• Demonologist: Doom damage increased by 100% in PvP.

Developers' Notes

The duration of Berserker Rage was too disruptive. Reducing it should open up more options when choosing how to counter this effect.

• Berserker Rage duration reduced to 5 sec (was: 10 sec).

Arms

Developers' Notes

The overall damage of Arms turned out to be slightly higher than we would like, so we are reducing it a little to bring its numbers into a more reasonable range.

• All damage dealt reduced by 3% in PvP.