Blizzard has confirmed and revised the first pre-raid tuning pass for World of Warcraft: Midnight Season 2, with changes across every class and eight specializations receiving adjustments to all of their specs, according to Icy Veins. The largest broad changes include a 20% damage reduction for Unholy Death Knight and a 20% damage increase for Balance Druid outside PvP.
Here’s the context: Blizzard said this is the first of only a few tuning passes planned for the Season 2 launch period, arriving as Heroic week and the first week of the PvP season begin. A separate Icy Veins report on Blizzard’s roadmap lists follow-up passes for August 25 and September 1, followed by a fifth-week pass on September 22. Blizzard said early progression changes will generally remain conservative before Ula’tek has been defeated on Mythic difficulty, while hotfixes and faster adjustments remain possible if unhealthy trends emerge.
Blizzard edited the tuning notes before the pass went live. The Retribution Paladin Final Verdict increase was adjusted from 30% to 15%, while a Mistweaver Monk entry was corrected to state that Jadefire Teachings increases Ancient Teachings’ transfer rate by 270%, up from 200%. Blizzard also added Fire Mage increases for Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, and Fire Blast that are excluded from PvP combat.
Key class changes
- Unholy Death Knight – All damage is reduced by 20%, partially offset by a 10% Epidemic increase and a 15% Virulent Plague increase.
- Balance Druid – All damage is increased by 20% outside PvP, alongside changes that reduce several Season 1 set-bonus effects.
- Devourer Demon Hunter – All damage dealt is reduced by 4%.
- Shadow Priest – A fix removes a 100% damage amplification from Shadow Word: Madness affecting Shadowy Apparitions. The listed PvE compensation changes, including a 16% overall damage increase and increases to several abilities, do not apply in PvP combat. Shadow also receives a separate 7% all-damage increase in PvP combat.
- Fire Mage – Fireball and Frostfire Bolt damage increase by 15%, while Fire Blast damage increases by 25%; none of these increases affect PvP combat.
- All tank specializations – Self-healing is reduced by 25% in PvP combat, with Evoker excluded from that PvP pass.
What Blizzard’s notes say about Shadow Priest
Blizzard described the Shadow Priest bug fix as a potentially large damage loss and said the accompanying tuning changes are intended to keep the specialization appropriately powerful. The class list includes a 16% all-damage increase outside PvP, 30% increases to Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Idol of N’Zoth, Shadow Word: Madness, and Void Torrent outside PvP, plus the separate 7% PvP damage increase.
The pass also includes further changes across the roster, including damage increases for Augmentation Evoker, Beast Mastery Hunter, Arcane Mage, Enhancement Shaman, Arms Warrior, and Fury Warrior, as well as adjustments to healing, set bonuses, talents, and bug fixes.
What to watch next
The next planned tuning pass is scheduled for August 25, after Blizzard reviews the first full week of live Season 2 data. Blizzard said it will continue evaluating performance in the Venomous Abyss, Mythic Keystone dungeons, PvP, Delves, and other endgame activities as players gain gear and acquire Season 2 class sets.
Players following the broader patch cycle around Midnight’s Curse of Ula’tek content update can expect additional scheduled check-ins and, if needed, hotfixes outside the announced tuning dates.
