Wrack makes Affliction DoTs tick twice as fast

The class hotfixes that Blizzard announced for Tuesday 10 November are now live for Warlocks and Hunters. Affliction gets the biggest change: Wrack deals less damage on its own, but makes your damage over time spells tick twice as fast while you channel.

Warlock

Blizzard promised last week that Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony would always be worth casting next to Wrack, without changing the total damage of Affliction. Until now, channeling Wrack on its own was the best you could do.

• Wrack: 60 Shadow damage per second at rank 1, down from 86, and the 10% extra damage from your other Shadow DoTs is gone. In return, Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony on the target deal their damage 100% faster while you channel.
• Soul Siphon: now names Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony. Before, every other Affliction effect counted, so a curse no longer adds to the bonus for Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack.
• Firebolt: the Imp deals more damage. The increase is largest at low levels and smaller at higher ones.

Put your three DoTs up first, then channel Wrack: it now pays off on enemies that live long enough. Our Affliction Warlock guide has the new rotation.

Hunter

Two shots now cost a flat 11% of your base mana, at every rank:

• Arcane Shot
• Summon Hawk, the new Beast Mastery talent

Not every change from that announcement is in yet, so more may follow. On the same day, the Enhancement Shaman’s quest mace got Strength instead of Intellect.