Patch 9.0.5 brought a lot of changes. We’ve had class updates in terms of buffs as well as certain reworks and aspects of classes, a variety of different covenant changes which can have a ripple effect. There’s also legendary changes that might offer certain classes and specs an opportunity to finally do some great single target damage, AOE damage or better healing. We even had slight nerfs or rather bug fixes by Blizzard in order to correct some of the damage output of certain few specs.
Prior to patch 9.0.5, we already had quite a bit of data showing us exactly who is playing what, which specs are looking really popular and which ones players are gravitating to. And while patch 9.0.5 isn’t a massive wave, but rather a ripple in the meta shift, it does set us up for future patches and tier seasons. We’ll probably see a lot of people re-rolling classes in the future. For now, let’s cover the four specs which have gotten more popular with the patch 9.0.5. Whether they are influenced by changes or not.
1:34 SHAMAN ELEMENTAL
This spec got quite a bit of changes with this patch. Getting a lot of their AOE components buffed in to be really good baseline. With Elemental having the only thing that’s nerfed for them is the Lava Burst damage. However lava burst already hits quite hard and I think it’s simply Blizzard trying to set up for future scaling as gear is going to only improve for Shamans. Just how popular the Necrolord version of the Shaman is I think that’s what they really wanted to mitigate.
Elemental Shamans are insanely good right now for AOE and have grown in quite a bit of popularity for mythic pluses while not quite exactly there to replace the Balanced Druids and the Fiery Mages. They definitely are making some waves and it’s actually quite good to see as it is a very smooth play style. Offers quite a bit of single target, quite a bit of AOE, quite a bit of burst and quite a lot of sustained cleave with the chain lightning mechanic. Elemental Shamans brought a variety of different things to the table, all those totems that bring a variety of different ways to deal with mechanics and help out your team with stone slows as well as ways to get out of CC. Also Elemental Shamans were always a very durable ranged DPS, where the healer did not have to worry about you and in mythic pluses where the healer does not have to heal you, they can do more damage themselves. Elemental Shamans never really had the damage up until now. So it looks like more and more players are starting to pick them from mythic pluses and they are doing quite well.
3:02 DEMON HUNTER
For the melee DPS and mythic pluses, the most significant change is going be a nerf to Windwalkers. As Blizzard is trying to fix some bugs with them, but let’s be honest the only bug that Windwalkers had is the fact that they did more damage than everybody else. Honestly speaking, they were the only class and spec that was really competitive without the Rogues in mythic pluses. And now that Windwalkers have been nerfed, it’s probably going to allow Outlaw Rogues to continue reign of dominance inside of the dungeons. However with the nerfs to Monks, it does allow one melee to see a little bit more play and that is going to be the Demon Hunter.
Having Demon Hunters are not going to be replacing any of the melee DPS outright in every mythic plus scenario. However with the Windwalk Monks getting slight nerf, it does allow more melee breathing room in mythic pluses. And that is the one spec that we’ve been seeing a lot more. When it comes to the data that we have in mythic plus red io, it’s a slight increase but still an increase regardless. I think what allows Demon Hunters to shine, is the fact that they now have a better single target that works really well in cleave. So Demon Hunters kind of lack the single target damage and now they have legendaries that directly support single target output. They’ve always had really good AOE damage so for mythic pluses they were basically a perfect class to play. If you didn’t break a habit, Demon Hunter and the magic debuff they bring is amazing for your Fire Mages, Boomkins and Warlocks. And the amount of self-sustainability they have combined with darkness, dispel playability, they have quite a bit of utility they used to bring in previous expansions (minus all the corruption). So while Demon Hunter are not making a splash, they are also making a ripple themselves and they are becoming more played at least in mythic pluses. If for whatever reason which Demon Hunter gets nerfed, I think we’ll definitely see more Havocs out there in mythic plus.
4:45 HOLY PALADIN
We already knew Holy Paladins were pretty good for mythic pluses, especially since their healing has an AOE cap. So they are already pretty food for five-man content. There’s nothing exactly in patch 9.0.5 that was there to make them stronger in terms of how well they play. They didn’t really get too crazy adjustments when it comes to covenants so for the most part you are still seeing a lot of Kyrian and Venthyr. In patch 9.0.5, Blizzard didn’t really do anything with Restoration Shaman either. Which so far is the most popular healer in a variety of different keys especially going for some of the higher end keys. It is not like there was any kind of meta shift that allowed Holy Paladins to rise but it just looks like more people are playing them.
I think what’s happening is a lot more Venthyr Holy Paladins are starting to show up when it comes to your mythic plus keys. As the Venthyr play style, especially during your Ashen Hollow, basically gives you an opportunity to play like a fourth DPS of the group. In terms of the amount of damage that the Venthyr Shaman provides particularly, damage in mythic pluses is going to be one of those things that makes the key go by faster. And while a healer is usually there to heal, if a healer is able to do more damage then the enemies that you’re fighting don’t live as long. If the enemies that you are fighting don’t live as long, they do not get to use as many damage and abilities. If they don’t get to use the main damage and abilities, you have to heal for less. So while Restoration is able to mend any wounds no matter how grievous they are, the Holy Paladin chooses to fight fire with fire while still bringing in quite a massive amount of immunities to the group as well as great defensive cooldowns that pair pretty well with Demon Hunter tanks since those are the ones that are played the most.
There is probably some major meta shift in tanks as it turns out Demon Hunters apparently take even less magic damage than everybody else (thanks to a bug). Demon Hunters are already pretty resilient to magic damage. However, apparently someone in the game has been allowing them to take even less magic damage when people were able to compare some of the numbers and it’s just that math that didn’t add up. You also get some changes to Pelagos from the Kyrian soulbind which is the one the most Demon Hunters end up running. It also has the magic “DR thing” and they are fixing that as well but if they end up fixing the Vengeance Demon Hunters on top of it in the upcoming week, we’ll see meta shifts in the tanks. Before we talk about any kind of meta shifts, because they did not happen yet, we should talk about Protection Warriors.
7:06 PROTECTION WARRIOR
These guys got a brand new or a rework to a legendary that is now super good. Apparently Protection Warriors is one class that does the most amount of damage mythic plus dungeons. Prot Warriors are generally not the most popular tank in the game because they just take so much more damage than everybody else. Everybody has some sort of a healing capability and can deal with magic. And Prot Warriors basically had to utilize too much of the resources to just stay in alive and they couldn’t really do much.
Now they can actually have quite a bit of defensiveness, especially great physical damage which they used to basically ignore with a variety of different dungeons back in Battle for Azeroth. Where quite a lot of the damage in quite a few dungeons was all physical. And Prot Warriors were super good for it plus combined with amazing damage they could just output crazy damage to bosses and mostly to adds. And it looks like that damage might have actually returned with a redesign to a reprisal legendary where when you charge or intervene to an ally, you gain shield block as well as a charge of revenge where you can kind of revenge at the enemies. Allowing you to hold Aggro far better but also allowing you quite a bit of AOE damage which is quite good.
It is a recent buff to Prot Warriors so we are not going to see them skyrocketing out of the woodworks but it has definitely allowed more people to want to log on Prot Warrior work up the Necrolord covenant. And as more people give it a go, and if we get Demon Hunter changes in the future in particular, we will probably see more tanks on the table. Prot Warrior definitely being one of them.
These are the specs we have been seeing recently. Popping up a lot more when it comes to mythic pluses. Either being more played or improving a lot more when it comes to the keys they can push. Patch 9.0.5 brought a lot of changes to the game, some of them are obvious ones like basic class changes and others are going to be legendary changes, covenant changes and conduit changes that might make small adjustments but it will definitely have a ripple effect in the future.