WoW Forever class changes: warrior, shaman and rogue

On 30 September Blizzard put out the first of three short videos on how WoW Forever changes its classes^[1]. Part one spends six minutes on warriors, shamans and rogues, and hunters, paladins and mages come next. We looked up every talent and spell it mentions in the Forever game files. The tooltips often say more than the video, and they also tell you at what level you can try each change in the beta.

Warrior: rage, Vanguard and cooldowns that stand alone

Most of the warrior section is about protection, and it starts with rage. In Classic, the rage you got from hitting something depended on how hard you hit. In Forever, rage from your attacks comes in steadily and follows your weapon speed. Rage from being hit now counts the damage the enemy tried to deal before your armour reduced it, so better defensive gear no longer costs a tank rage^[1].

Thunder Clap can now be cast in Defensive Stance as well as Battle Stance. The tooltip also slows attack speed by 20% instead of 10%, and its cooldown went from 4 to 6 seconds. Vanguard, a new one-point talent in the fourth protection row, lets you Charge in Defensive Stance. For damage, Improved Revenge no longer has a chance to stun; it now adds up to 60% to Revenge's damage. The video skips Bastion, a new fifth-row talent that adds up to 10% to all your damage while you have a shield equipped.

In Classic, Shield Wall, Retaliation and Recklessness were linked, so using one put the others on cooldown as well^[2]. In Forever they are separate^[1]. The tooltips show more than the video does: Shield Wall and Retaliation dropped from 30 minutes to 15, and Shield Wall now reduces damage by 60% for 12 seconds where it used to give 75% for 10. Improved Shield Wall now cuts its cooldown by 11 minutes at two points, which leaves a protection warrior with a four-minute Shield Wall. Recklessness keeps its 30 minutes.

Arms gets Weaponmaster, one talent in place of the old weapon specialisations. At five points it gives 5% critical strike with axes and polearms, ignores 15% of armour with maces and staves, and gives a 5% chance of an extra attack with swords. Picking up an axe after levelling with a sword no longer means a trip to the trainer to respec. Spearing Strike is a weak attack (40% weapon damage) that adds 80% weapon damage against giants, dragonkin and mounted targets, and pulls riders off their mounts. Fury gets Raging Blows, which makes Whirlwind strike with the off-hand weapon too and takes 2 rage off the cost of Cleave.

Shaman: the totem bar, Riptide and Lava Burst

Three new spells let a shaman put down a full set of totems at once: Call of the Elements at level 20, Call of the Ancestors at 30 and Call of the Spirits at 40. Each places up to four totems in one 3-second cast. You choose which totems belong to each call on the totem bar, so you can keep one set for dungeons and another for raids. Totemic Projection, learned at level 22, moves every active totem to a spot up to 30 yards away, once a minute.

Totems also last longer. Windfury, Strength of Earth, Grace of Air and eight others went from 2 minutes to 5, and Healing Stream and Mana Spring from 1 minute to 5. Fire Nova is now a spell instead of a totem: it deals fire damage to enemies within 10 yards of your fire totem, with a 10-second cooldown.

Restoration's last talent is Riptide, an instant heal with a heal over time on top. Chain Heal cast straight at a target that has Riptide is 25% more effective. Elemental's last talent is Lava Burst, which deals 20% more damage when your Flame Shock is on the target. Lightning Overload, in the fifth row, gives Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning up to a 10% chance to fire a second time at half damage, at no cost.

Rogue: steady energy, Mutilate and Hack and Slash

Blizzard calls energy the change every rogue will notice. Classic rogues got their energy back in ticks of 20; in Forever it refills continuously^[3][1].

Assassination's Mutilate hits with both daggers for two combo points and does 20% more damage to poisoned targets. Striking twice gives it a better chance to crit and set off Seal Fate^[1]. Venom, the last talent in the tree, is a finisher that raises your poison damage by 30% and the chance to apply poisons by 10%. Combat's Hack and Slash works like the warrior's Weaponmaster: at five points, axes and swords get a 5% chance of an extra attack, daggers and fist weapons get 5% critical strike, and maces ignore 15% of armour. Subtlety keeps its opener and gets Cutthroat, which gives Backstab up to a 15% chance (at five points) to make your next Ambush usable outside of Stealth.

What the video left out

Enhancement shamans are not in the video at all, though their tree has six new talents, more than any other tree it covers. Maelstrom Weapon lets melee hits make your next Lightning Bolt cheaper and faster, stacking up to five times. Rage of the Farseer adds 30% melee and casting speed for 25 seconds, and Mental Dexterity turns your Intellect into attack power. Restoration also has Water Shield, which gives back mana when you are hit, and warriors get Boundless Rage for 30 more maximum rage. Each class page lists every talent and spell that changed from Classic.

What you can try at the beta's level 30 cap

The beta's cap goes up to level 30 with tonight's maintenance. Talent rows open five levels apart, starting with the first row at level 10, which puts the video's talents and spells at these levels:

Riptide, Lava Burst and Venom stay out of reach until the beta lets characters reach 40. The rest you can plan now in the talent calculator. Blizzard has not said when parts two and three come out.