WoW TWW 11.1 Development Notes - Death Knight Changes

With 11.0.7 now live, Blizzard is steadily working on the next major patch for World of Warcraft The War Within. Given that 11.1 will mark the start of Season 2, we can expect some massive overhauls to gear, class philosophy and overall PvE and PvP balancing.

Having said that, we will go over the Death Knight changes in the recent The War Within 11.1 PTR Development Notes. Keep in mind that these changes are subject to change as more players provide feedback to the dev team.

Death Knight PvE Changes

Developers’ notes: Currently Frost and Unholy Death Knights are incredibly survivable often boasting lower death rates then tanks and far above any other specs in the game. From a fantasy perspective it makes sense for Death Knights to be incredibly durable and their kit lends itself well to it, but it currently leans too far in the unkillable direction. We fully expect Frost and Unholy Death Knight to continue being one of the more survivable specs but this should bring them closer to a more sane level.

Frost

• Veteran of the Third War now increases Stamina by 12% (was 20%), and 6% in PvP combat (was 10%).
• Null Magic now reduces the magical damage you take by 5% (was 8%), and 3% in PvP combat (was 4%).
• Permafrost now generates an absorb shield at 30% of your auto attack damage (was 40%).

Unholy

• Veteran of the Third War now increases Stamina by 12% (was 20%), and 6% in PvP combat (was 10%).
• Null Magic now reduces the magical damage you take by 5% (was 8%), and 3% in PvP combat (was 4%).
• Permafrost now generates an absorb shield at 30% of your auto attack damage (was 40%).
• Apocalypse and Raise Dead now summon ghouls instantly.
• Apocalypse and Raise Dead visuals have been updated.

Death Knight PvP Changes

Blood

• Walking Dead (PvP Talent) has been removed.

Frost

• New PvP Talent: Death’s Cold Embrace – Pillar of Frost grants you Remorseless Winter and increases its damage by 1000% and its radius by 150%, but your movement speed is heavily reduced for its duration. Pillar of Frost’s cooldown increased by 15 seconds.
• Veteran of the Third War now increases Stamina by 6% in PvP combat (was 10%).
• Null Magic now reduces the magical damage you take by 3% in PvP combat (was 4%).
• Dead of Winter (PvP Talent) has been removed.

Unholy

• Veteran of the Third War now increases Stamina by 6% in PvP combat (was 10%).
• Null Magic now reduces the magical damage you take by 3% in PvP combat (was 4%).
• Necrotic Wounds no longer has a healing component.

And that covers all of the changes posted so far for World of Warcraft The War Within 11.1. Once Blizzard releases the PTR patch for players to test, we might see even more updates to the class balancing. You can check out the official development notes, here.