WoW Forever Beta: Holy Strike Rework, Totem Stacking Rules and Heal-Over-Time Crits

The build's largest class change makes Holy Strike an upgrade at every rank and the center of the Paladin's rotation. Its share of weapon damage now rises with each rank instead of every second one:

• Holy: Holy Strike's cooldown is 10 seconds for every Paladin (was 12), so Improved Holy Strike is removed from the tree. Holy Power also adds 15% critical strike chance to Holy Strike.
• Retribution: Vengeance triggers only from non-periodic critical strikes and stacks to 3 (was 5). Two-Handed Weapon Specialization drops to 2/4/6% (was 3/6/9%), Sacred Arbiter raises Holy Strike's damage by 20% (was 10%), and Twist of Light also makes Seals cost 20% less mana.
• Protection: Righteous Fury increases Holy threat by 60% (was 90%), and Retribution Aura now follows the Paladin's spell power as it changes.

Several Shamans in one group can no longer pile up the same kind of buff, and two low ranks of damage spells get stronger:

• Flametongue Totem has no duration and is replaced at once by the next totem you place. Recasting it doesn't stack it, and it doesn't stack with Flametongue Weapon or Windfury Totem.
• Tranquil Air Totem, Windfury Totem and Grace of Air Totem don't stack together, even from different Shamans in the same group.
• Lightning Bolt ranks 3 and 4 deal more damage, so every rank is an upgrade, and Lava Burst ranks 1 and 2 deal about 10% more base damage than the Lightning Bolt rank learned at the same level. Riptide can now crit.

The October 15 build rebuilt the Elemental tree and made these buffs raid-wide, so this build's swap of Elemental Fury and Elemental Alacrity no longer applies. See WoW Forever Beta: Racials Reworked and Group Buffs Go Raid-Wide.

• Arms: Bloodthrill allows Overpower 4/8/12/16/20% of the time (was 2/4/6/8/10%), but only from main-hand attacks, Heroic Strike and Cleave included. Slam's cooldown rises to 18 seconds (was 15), and Improved Slam reduces it by 1.5/3 seconds.
• Protection: Focused Rage moves up to row 5 and Bastion down to row 6, so the Rage discount arrives before Shield Slam. Sunder Armor has corrected threat on every rank.
• Druid: Wrath deals about 50% more base damage. Mangle is renamed Primal Bite because its debuff is gone, and Primal Fury takes back its original name, Blood Frenzy. Thorns follows the caster's spell power.

• Heal-over-time spells can land critical hits: Rejuvenation, Tranquility, Wild Growth, Renew and Riptide, along with the Gnome Priest's Contingency Plan and the Survival Hunter's Lacerating Strikes.
• Wizard Oils return to Classic Era values: Minor Wizard Oil gives 8 spell power, Lesser Wizard Oil 16 and Wizard Oil 24. Brilliant Wizard Oil is unchanged.
• Wands no longer gain damage from the wielder's spell damage.
• Hunter pets: Furious Howl's attack power bonus is 40% lower, Bats can use Sonic Blast, and Tame Beast no longer works on beasts above the Hunter's level.
• Arcane Missiles checks line of sight once, when the channel starts, instead of for every missile.
• The new Cooldown Manager shows chosen cooldowns and buffs wherever you place them. It's off by default (Options, Gameplay Enhancement); Druids, Mages, Priests, Warriors and Warlocks could test it first, and it didn't support spell ranks yet.

• Paladins: plan around Holy Strike every 10 seconds from the first rank, and recheck Retribution builds in the Paladin calculator: Vengeance and Two-Handed Weapon Specialization are worth less, Sacred Arbiter more.
• Shamans in a group: agree who places which air totem, since a second copy of the same buff adds nothing.
• Healers: with heal-over-time crits, critical strike chance is worth more for Druids and Priests than before.