Skip to content
Wowcalc

WoW ForeverClass Changes

WoW Forever Paladin and Druid Trees Rebuilt: Oath of Light, Shieldsworn and Bloom

Blizzard rebuilt the Paladin and Druid talent trees in a server update at the end of October and documented every change in its November 2 notes. Paladins lose Salvation and gain Oath of Light, Shieldsworn and Unsealed Wrath; Druids get Bloom, two Feral capstones in place of Berserk and much harder-hitting Cat Form attacks. Wowcalc's talent calculator already uses the new trees.

Announced:
Published:
min read
5 min read
Holy Paladin card with WoW Forever game art
Wowcalc card with World of Warcraft: Forever game art © Blizzard Entertainment.

Paladins: Righteous Fury at level 10, Salvation removed

Paladin tanks now train Righteous Fury at level 10, the level at which other tanks get their tanking stance, instead of 16. It raises all threat you generate by 33% and threat from Holy damage by a further 90%.

Salvation, Mass Salvation, Revoke and Blessing of Light are removed. Without Salvation, no Paladin can lower other players' threat, which is why Blizzard raised every tank's threat in the same update. Judgement of Fury now lasts 3 seconds (was 4).

Holy: Oath of Light and Boundless Light

  • Oath of Light (row 4) swears an oath to protect one ally for 5 minutes, increasing the healing of your Holy Light, Flash of Light and Holy Shock on them by an amount that grows with your level. It costs 8% of base mana and has no cooldown, and only one oath can be active.
  • Boundless Light (row 5, 2 points) adds 15/30% critical strike chance to Holy Shock on allies who are not under your oath.
  • Holy Power now raises the critical healing bonus of your Holy spells by 10–50% instead of adding critical strike chance.
  • Divine Precision moves to row 4 as a 2-point talent worth 4/8% hit with Holy spells (was 6/12/18%) and now also shortens Silence effects on you by 10/20%. Voice of Truth is removed.
  • Light's Vigil now works only on allies; its offensive use is gone.
  • Spiritual Focus and Improved Seals spread over 5 points and Reverence over 2, with the same maximum. Holy Conduit moves in from Retribution, and Divine Favor, Illumination and Purifying Power move up a row.

Protection: Shieldsworn turns Holy Strike into a shield strike

  • Shieldsworn, the new 31-point talent, takes 4 seconds off the cooldown of Holy Strike and makes it strike with your shield: it triggers your talents that activate on a block without spending their charges or starting their cooldowns, and lets you block spells for 6 seconds.
  • Holy Shield moves up to row 5 and Templar's Bulwark to row 3. Templar's Bulwark is now a Magic effect that can be dispelled.
  • Stoicism is new on row 5: Stun and Charm effects on you last 10/20% less.
  • Sacred Duty moves to row 2 and no longer adds Stamina. It still shortens the cooldowns of Divine Shield, Divine Protection and Templar's Bulwark by 30/60 seconds, and now also shortens Forbearance by 5/10 seconds.
  • Iron Creed drops to 3 points: 10/20/30% more Holy Strike threat and 2/4/6% damage reduction for 6 seconds. Improved Righteous Fury reaches 9% damage reduction (was 6%), and Swift Judgement now unleashes your active Seal without sharing a cooldown with Judgement.
  • Shield Specialization becomes 2 points for 15/30% more block value and a 50/100% chance to restore 4% of your maximum Mana when you block. Improved Seal of Fury and One-Handed Weapon Specialization are removed, and Divine Intellect moves in from Holy.

Retribution: Unsealed Wrath and a stronger Conviction

  • Unsealed Wrath replaces Twist of Light as the 31-point talent and requires Repentance. Your melee attacks store a copy of your active Seal for 15 seconds, up to 3 times; landing an attack with a different Seal consumes them, giving each stored Seal its normal chance to activate.
  • Conviction moves to row 2 and now gives 2/4/6% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks (was 1–5% with melee attacks).
  • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization moves to row 4, increases Holy as well as Physical damage by 2/4/6%, and lowers your threat by 7/14/20% while you wield a two-handed weapon.
  • Champion of the Light now gives spell damage equal to 12–60% of your Intellect and cuts the cast time of Hammer of Wrath by up to 1 second.
  • Vengeance now requires Seal of Command and stacks up to 5 times. Turn Evil is new on row 5: it speeds up Turn Undead, shortens its cooldown and lets it affect Demons.
  • Vindication no longer raises Attack Power, Instrument of Law and Twist of Light are removed, and Sanctified Judgement moves to row 2.

Two tooltips in the current game client don't match the notes yet: Vengeance still says it stacks up to 3 times, and Two-Handed Weapon Specialization still mentions only Physical damage.

Druids: harder-hitting Cat Form and two Feral capstones

Feral Druids get one of the largest damage increases in the update. Shred now deals 200% weapon damage (was 155%), Claw 140% (was 110%) and Ravage 435% (was 350%), while Rip, Rake, Ferocious Bite and Pounce gain about 25%. Bear Form and Dire Bear Form add 115% threat (was 50%). Ferocious Bite gets a new rank 1 at level 24, and Druids learn Poised at level 32: out of combat at full Energy, your next Energy ability costs 10 less.

The current game client still shows Rend and Tear at up to 10%; the 15% comes from Blizzard's notes.

Balance and Restoration: Bloom replaces Gift of the Earthmother

  • Bloom (row 3): when your Rejuvenation or Regrowth runs its full duration, the target is instantly healed for 100% of your Spirit, or 50% if the effect is dispelled. It replaces Gift of the Earthmother.
  • Wild Growth now has a 3-second base cast, and Naturalist cuts it by up to 0.5 seconds while raising all your damage by up to 10% (was 5%).
  • Swiftmend can only consume your own Rejuvenation or Regrowth.
  • Reflection and Subtlety swap rows.
  • In Balance, Genesis raises periodic damage and healing by up to 10% (was 5%), and Starfire deals about 40% more base damage.

What Paladins and Druids should do

  • Rebuild your talents in the Paladin and Druid calculators, which already use the new trees. Builds made before the end of October no longer fit.
  • Holy Paladins: keep Oath of Light on your main tank and spend Holy Shock on everyone else, where Boundless Light makes it more likely to crit.
  • Protection Paladins can tank dungeons with Righteous Fury from level 10.
  • Feral Druids: rows 4 and 7 each offer a Bear and a Cat choice: Lacerate and Primal Bite for Bear, Predatory Discipline and Shifting Power for Cat.
  • Restoration Druids: let Rejuvenation and Regrowth run their full duration when you can, because Bloom only heals in full when they expire on their own.
  • Other classes' changes are in our launch tuning overview.

Read the full patch notes

On Wowcalc

Sources

Official announcements this article summarizes, in its own words.

More WoW Forever news