Paladins get a taunt with Seal of Fury

Paladins in World of Warcraft: Forever get a taunt. Seal of Fury lets Judgement pull an enemy back, Blizzard shows in a new video. The second part of its Class Highlights series also covers Hunters and Mages.

The video lasts 7 minutes and appeared on 3 October at 19.00 Belgian time on the World of Warcraft channel. The first part, about the Warrior, the Shaman and the Rogue, came out on 30 September. The third part covers the Priest, the Warlock and the Druid.

Class Highlights, Part 2: Hunter, Mage, Paladin Play the video. World of Warcraft on YouTube, 7 minutes.

Part of the Hunter changes was already in the first class deep dive, on the Hunter and the Druid. The numbers below come from the tooltips on Wowhead.

Hunter

Every Hunter spec gets a faster Aimed Shot. It now has a 2 second cast instead of 3 and no longer interrupts the Auto Shot timer. That gives a steadier damage output, says Blizzard.

Marksmanship pairs it with Sniper Shot, a 4 second cast with a range of 45 yards that hits even harder. The new talent Careful Aim turns 100% of Intellect into Attack Power. Lone Wolf raises damage by 20% while no pet is out. Both sit early in the tree, so hybrid builds can reach them too.

Beast Mastery gets the Fox as a new pet family. The gear of the Hunter now also raises the stats of every pet.

Survival unlocks Strider Kick at 21 points, an instant kick for 100% weapon damage. Expose Prey can activate Mongoose Bite without a dodge: a 10% chance per attack on a target with Hunter’s Mark. Traps can now be placed in combat. Survival stays a ranged spec, but gets answers when enemies close the gap.

Mage

Frost gets Ice Lance, an instant follow-up when Fingers of Frost triggers. Frozen targets take 300% more damage from it.

Frostfire Bolt now counts as both Fire and Frost damage, so talents from both trees strengthen the same spell. Hybrid builds can combine Ignite and Ice Shards for more critical strikes and more damage, says Blizzard. These are the talents it names:

Tree	Talents
Fire	Improved Fireball, Ignite, Flame Throwing, Impact, Burning Soul, Improved Scorch, Hot Streak, Critical Mass, Fire Power, Combustion
Frost	Ice Shards, Permafrost, Frostbite, Piercing Ice, Frost Channeling, Fingers of Frost, Winter’s Chill

Arcane Power still raises spell damage in exchange for a higher Mana cost. Each cast of Arcane Blast raises the damage of all other spells by 10% and the cost of Arcane Blast by 175%, up to 4 times. The effect ends after 8 seconds or with the next other damage spell.

Fights become a wager of Mana on ever more expensive Arcane spells, with cheap Fire and Frost spells woven in between, says Blizzard.

Fire gets a reworked Hot Streak. Every non-periodic critical strike with Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Fire Blast or Scorch makes the next Pyroblast cast 25% faster, stacking up to 3 times. Instead of waiting for one instant cast, every Fire spell now builds towards the finisher.

Paladin

Protection Paladins could tank well, but Mana made it hard to hold threat in long fights. They also lacked a taunt. Seal of Fury, learned at level 10, adds Holy damage to every melee attack. With a shield equipped, each hit also grants an absorb shield of 50% of that Holy damage.

Judgement under Seal of Fury deals Holy damage and taunts the target for 4 seconds. That should let Paladins step into the role of main tank, says Blizzard.

Every Paladin now learns Consecration at level 20. The first 4 enemies who enter it take extra damage. Protection can take Swift Judgement, which ends the cooldown of Judgement at once and makes the next one free. Templar’s Bulwark grants a shield equal to 100% of maximum health for 8 seconds, with a cooldown of 5 minutes.

Holy gets Light’s Vigil, which changes the next Holy Shock on its target. On an ally, Holy Shock heals the whole party and its cooldown resets at once. Blessings, Greater Blessings included, now last an hour. In Classic a Blessing lasted 5 minutes and a Greater Blessing 15.

Retribution gets seal twisting as a talent. With Twist of Light, replacing Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Fury, Seal of Command or Seal of Justice with another Seal leaves an echo of the old one on the next melee swing. Holy Strike strikes at once and adds Holy damage.

Every talent of the three classes is in the talent calculator, for the Hunter, the Mage and the Paladin. All of this applies to the beta. Whether the values stay the same for the launch on 4 November, Blizzard does not say.