Patch Notes
WoW Forever Nov 2 Notes: Warlock, Rogue, Hunter & Shaman PvP Changes
Published · Updated
The Tirisfalen · WoW Forever
Three things to know
- Warlock pressure rises while pet durability drops
- Rogue, Hunter and Shaman kits receive major tuning
- Build 70753 is a separate China client observation
Blizzard’s November 2 development notes are the final broad class-tuning record before WoW Forever’s November 4 opening. Posted by Kaivax at 03:20 UTC on November 3, the update raises damage across many classes, revises several talent trees and repeats the racial changes first published on October 26–27.
Blizzard expects a large tuning pass once enough players are past level 30 and active across a wide range of content.
The official notes, client observations and the PvP reading below are deliberately separated. Blizzard did not attach build 1.60.1.70753 to the forum post, and a client package does not prove that every written value is active in every region.
Key PvP Changes
Warlock
Wrack gains major level-60 base damage, while pet Stamina scaling drops sharply.
Rogue
Poised, a second Sap target and new opener routes reshape the first exchange.
Hunter
Aimed Shot and Sniper Shot gain damage, but every trap now shares one cooldown.
Shaman
Lightning pressure rises as mobility and Restoration timing change.
Evidence Legend
Warlock Warlock: More Affliction Pressure, Less Pet Durability
Official Blizzard notes. Pets now gain 2 Health per point of their master’s Stamina, down from 7.5. Bane of Agony Bane of Agony now updates its damage dynamically. Improved Drains increases the Mana drained by Drain Mana but no longer increases Wrack damage. Wrack’s spell coefficient was doubled and its level-60 base damage per second increased from 36 to 86.
Amplify Curse now correctly affects Curse of Exhaustion and Bane of Agony. Drain Soul’s chance to grant a Soul Shard when it deals damage—rather than on a kill—was reduced significantly.
In Destruction, Shadow and Flame now grants 4/8/12/16/20% additional Fire or Shadow damage, up from 2/4/6/8/10%. That bonus only applies to builds that actually select the talent; it is not a universal Warlock increase. Spellstones were also corrected to increase Shadow damage only.
For builds, pet roles and matchups, use the Warlock SM/Ruin PvP guide.
Rogue Rogue: Poised, Double Sap and New Openers
Official Blizzard notes. Poised is learned at level 18: “While out of combat at maximum Energy, you gain Poised: your next Energy ability costs 10 less.” The new Composure talent can increase that reduction by a further 5/10 Energy.
Shank costs 5 Energy, has a 10-second cooldown, cannot miss and strikes with the off-hand weapon for 50% weapon damage. Rank 1 generates 15 Energy; rank 2, learned at level 44, generates 25. The Attack Power coefficient of Deadly Poison doubled to 0.009 from 0.0045, while Instant Poison doubled to 0.01 from 0.005. Mutilate now deals 90% weapon damage plus an increased flat amount, up from 75% weapon damage.
Ghostly Strike Ghostly Strike now lets the Rogue cast the next Ambush or Garrote within 7 seconds without Stealth. Quick Getaway increases the maximum number of Sapped targets by one and grants 15/30% movement speed for 3 seconds after a Sap.
Death Mark costs 25 Energy, has a 20-yard range and a 10-second cooldown. The finishing move stores a portion of attack damage per Combo Point for 6 seconds, with Garrote and Rupture stored at twice the rate, then deals the stored damage up to a cap increased by Attack Power and critical-strike chance. It is explicitly a Curse, so curse-removal tools can dispel it before the stored damage resolves.
The tree cleanup is equally important: Murder, Cutthroat, Quietus and Improved Distract were removed. Shank, a low-cost off-hand strike that cannot miss and returns Energy, anchors several new talents across the rebuilt paths.
See the Rogue Mutilate/Hemorrhage PvP guide; its talent choices should be checked against this late rewrite.
Hunter Hunter: Stronger Shots, One Trap Clock
Official Blizzard notes. Hunter’s Mark can no longer be stacked on one target by applying different ranks, and rank 4 was fixed so it no longer grants less Ranged Attack Power than rank 3. Pathfinding moved from row 2 to row 3 of Beast Mastery.
Aimed Shot Aimed Shot’s bonus damage increased by about 110% across all ranks. Sniper Shot Sniper Shot’s bonus damage increased by 100%. Arcane Shot gained about 30% base damage and a coefficient increase from 0.10 to 0.15, while Serpent Sting gained both base damage and scaling. All trap types now share a single 30-second cooldown instead of separate Fire and Frost clocks.
Aspect of the Hawk’s Ranged Attack Power values are now 20/35/50/70/90/110 across ranks 1–6. Trueshot Aura now grants 20/35/50/75/100 Ranged Attack Power across its ranks. Barrage rises to 5/10/15% bonus damage from 3/7/10%, and Lightning Reflexes rises to 3/6/9/12/15% Agility from 2/4/6/8/10%.
Lacerating Strikes now always overwrites an existing effect from the same Hunter, even if the new effect is weaker.
The current playbook remains in the Hunter Marksmanship/Beast Mastery PvP guide.
Shaman Shaman: Lightning Rises, Utility Moves
Official Blizzard notes. Lightning Bolt’s higher ranks gained large base-damage increases, with the maximum rank up 80%. Chain Lightning now has a 2.5-second cast, higher primary-target damage and a higher Mana cost. Lightning Overload rises from 3/7/10% to 10/20/30%, and Shock base damage returns to Classic Era values.
Lava Burst was removed and replaced by Call of Thunder, which increases the critical-strike chance of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 5%. Elemental Mastery was renamed Lightning Mastery. Totemic Projection was renamed Totemic Call; it now brings the Shaman’s totems to the Shaman and has a 30-second cooldown.
For Enhancement, Improved Ghost Wolf moved from row 2 to row 4 and Maelstrom Weapon’s trigger chance doubled. Stormstrike now deals 150% normalized weapon damage, up from 100%, with a 6-second cooldown instead of 8. Mental Dexterity now converts 50/100/150% of Intellect into Attack Power, up from 33/67/100%, and Flurry grants 6/12/18/24/30% attack speed, up from 5/10/15/20/25%.
For Restoration, Riptide Riptide now has a 12-second cooldown, up from 6 seconds, is down roughly 40% in Mana cost, and has no direct heal—only its heal-over-time component remains.
See the Shaman Elemental/Enhancement PvP guide.
Priest Matchup Note: Shadow Word: Death Backlash
Official Blizzard notes. Shadow Word: Death Shadow Word: Death now deals 30% of the Priest’s maximum Health back to the Priest if the target survives, up from 10%. It causes no backlash when the spell misses.
General PvP and Racials
Official Blizzard notes. Proc-based roots—including Frostbite, Entrapment, Improved Wing Clip, Counterattack and Improved Hamstring—now correctly receive diminishing returns. In Darkspear Islands, dropping the flag no longer applies Recently Dropped Flag to the player who dropped it.
The racial changes were first posted on October 26 and supplemented on October 27, then repeated in the November 2 notes:
- Orc: Savage was removed and Command returned, increasing Hunter and Warlock pet damage by 5%. Blood Fury’s cooldown is 2 minutes.
- Undead: Touch of the Grave Touch of the Grave has a 15-second internal cooldown. Blizzard also fixed it activating less often than intended.
- Dwarf: Earth Fury was removed and Artisan’s Precision added, granting 1% hit chance with spells and attacks.
- Human: Ruthless grants 1% critical chance and Human Spirit grants 10% Spirit.
- Tauren: Plainsrunning now grants 2% movement speed per stack, up from 1%, for a 60% maximum instead of 30%; it no longer increases mounted speed. Endurance now provides only 5% increased Health, without the previous hit or critical-damage modifiers.
- Troll: Berserking lasts 15 seconds, up from 10.
- Skyborne: Wind-Blessed Haste is 2%, down from 3%. Read Leyline grants 50% increased Health and Mana regeneration for 15 seconds, cannot overlap Innervate and is replaced by that stronger effect. Using it at a Ley Line grants Attuned for 1 hour, raising the regeneration bonus to 100%. Skysight grants 15% movement speed for 15 seconds; using it at an elemental convergence grants Charged for 1 hour and raises the bonus to 30%. Attuned and Charged persist through death and are removed upon entering a raid.
These changes alter matchup tools and gearing margins, but they do not establish one universally best PvP race without live data.
Client Build Caution
Client observation / datamining. BlizzTrack lists client version 1.60.1.70753 for the China region in its November 2 snapshot, while other listed regions remained on 70707 at that snapshot. Blizzard’s forum post does not identify 70753, and the written notes do not prove that every value was present, enabled or identical in every observed client.
Some announced values may therefore be absent from, ahead of or different in the client data available to observers. Official notes remain the authority for Blizzard’s announcement; client records are supporting evidence only.