Patch 7.2.5 Public Test Realm Patch Notes. New Features. Timewalking: The Black Temple. The time has come to join a raid of 10-30 adventurers and venture back in time to The Black Temple in Outland. You’ll be scaled to player level 70 and item level 141 on your way into this memorable highlight of the Burning Crusade expansion. Jun 11, 2017  Mythic Keystone enemy health and damage now increase by 10% per level (was 8% per level). That doesn't look like a big change, but when after I realized that mythic keystone difficulty scales exponentially, I decided to math it out. Turns out that it's way more impactful than I thought, when you look at higher keys. Jun 10, 2017  Assassination Damage of all abilities increased by 10%. Agonizing Poison has been removed. New talent added, replacing Agonizing Poison: Toxic Blade Costs 20 Energy, generates 1 Combo Point, 25 second cooldown. Stab your enemy with a toxic blade, dealing Nature damage. Your Nature damage abilities against the target are increased by 35% for 9 seconds. Backstab is a basic Rogue spell in Hearthstone. The flavor text reads: 'It's funny how often yelling 'Look over there!' Gets your opponent to turn around.' Patches and hotfixes. Patch 7.2.5 (2017-06-13): Backstab base damage increased by 35%. Backstab damage bonus from being behind the target reduced to 20% (was 30%). Is Shadowstrike/Backstab dmg really that much better then before because of the new trait? - How is energy regen? Energetic Stabbing is almost manditory now but I feel we are getting a lot of energy regen in 7.2.5. Apr 23, 2017  I think if your goal is to increase our single target damage, without wildly increasing our multidot damage, then buffing skills that deal 2-5% of your overall damage is the only option. You just have to buff them a lot. Buffing our dots will increase our single target damage, sure, but it will also wildly increase our scaling on multidot.

1. Backstab Dmg Increase 7.2.5 Torrent
2. Backstab Dmg Increase 7.2.5 List
3. Backstab Dmg Increase 7.2.5 System

It’s been one day since we were treated to an overview of the developers’ notes for Patch 7.2.5, but one day is apparently all it takes to go from big-picture notes to full-on patch notes. Arriving via the battle.net Blizzard App, the 7.2.5 PTR notes detail a lot of the class changes that were teased yesterday. The list of changes is longest for Destruction Warlocks and Rogues (excluding Assassination), but there are notes for just about every class here.

Other than that, there’s not a whole lot t- oh wait, just kidding! Black Temple Timewalking is going to be queueable as soon as the PTR is up and running. Perhaps most interesting to note here is that the raid’s lower limit for player count is 10. It’s hard to say if this is to make the barrier of entry lower, or if it’s because the raid will be intended for pre-existing raid teams. Either way, we’ll surely find out soon!

Until then, here are the full notes to hold you over:

New Features

Timewalking: The Black Temple

• To queue for Black Temple Timewalking on the PTR, Speak to Vormu in Shattrath.

All New Story Scenario

Backstab Dmg Increase 7.2.5 Torrent

New Events

• The Trial of Style

Changes

Classes

Multiple Classes

• Demon Spikes, Shield of the Righteous, Ironskin Brew, and Shield Block can only be extended to a maximum of three times their base duration.
• Smart heals such as Wild Growth and Holy Word: Sanctify now favor player targets over non-player targets, regardless of their health.

Death Knight

• Death Coil damage increased by 29%.
• Heart Strike damage increased by 10%.

Demon Hunter

• Prepared now generates 100 Fury over 10 seconds (was 40 Fury over 5 seconds).

• Havoc

  • Demon Blades’s proc chance increased to 100% (was 60%).
  • Demon Blades’s Fury generation is now 6-12 (was 12-20).
  • Demon Blades now does 50% weapon damage (was 85% weapon damage).
  • Fel Barrage no longer uses charges, and now has a 1 minute cooldown (was a 30-second recharge time). Your damaging abilities now have a chance to reduce the cooldown by 5 seconds.
  • Fel Barrage damage increased by 100%, and now deals damage over 2 seconds (was 1 second).

• Vengeance

  • Last Resort will not absorb a killing blow of more than 200% of the player’s maximum health.
  • When Demon Spikes is activated and a Demon Spikes buff is already present, the values of the two buffs are now correctly averaged.

Druid

• Balance

  • Stellar Drift now increases Starfall’s damage by 50% (was 60%).

• Guardian

  • Maul damage increased by 400%.
  • Maul is now on the global cooldown, and has no self-cooldown (was 3 seconds).
  • Mark of Ursol removed.

Hunter

• Beast Mastery

  • Wild Call (Passive) – Your auto shot critical strikes now have a 40% chance to reduce the remaining cooldown of Dire Beast/Dire Frenzy by 3 seconds.
  • One with the Pack grants Wild Call 60% increased chance to reduce the cooldown of Dire Beast.

Mage

Backstab Dmg Increase 7.2.5 List

• Frost

  • Thermal Void redesigned: Increases Icy Veins’ duration by 10 seconds. Your Ice Lances against frozen targets extend your Icy Veins by an additional 1 second.

Monk

• Brewmaster

  • Brewmaster passive armor bonus increased to 25% (was 15%).
  • Blackout Strike now has a 14 second cooldown (was 3 seconds, modified by Haste).
  • Tiger Palm also now reduces the cooldown of Blackout Strike by 5 seconds.
  • Fortifying Brew increases Stagger by 10% (was 20%)
  • Special Delivery proc chance increased to 100% (was 30%).
  • Staggered damage cannot exceed 1000% of your maximum health.
  • Mastery: Elusive Brawler is now also triggered by hitting with Blackout Strike and Breath of Fire.

  • Chi Burst has been replaced by a new talent, Spitfire, for Brewmasters:

    • Spitfire: Passive. Tiger Palm has a 30% chance to reset the cooldown of Breath of Fire.

• Mistweaver

  • Essence Font now has a 12 second cooldown and a duration of 8 seconds (was 6 seconds).
  • Essence Font cost reduced by 10%, and direct healing increased 23%.

• Windwalker

  • Rushing Jade Wind now applies Mark of the Crane to up to 2 (was 4) nearby targets.
  • Spinning Crane Kick’s Mark of the Crane’s damage bonus per target reduced to 40% (was 50%) per target.
  • Fists of Fury’s range increased to 8 yards (was 5) and damage reduced by 20%.

Paladin

• Repentance and Blinding Light no longer deal damage.

• Protection

  • Ardent Defender will not absorb a killing blow of more than 200% of the player’s maximum health.

• Retribution

  • Blessing of the Ashbringer now grants 4% strength (was 2000 strength).

Priest

• Power Word: Barrier mana cost reduced by 37% and radius increased by 23%.

Rogue

• Assassination

  • Exsanguinate now causes your Bleed effects to bleed out 125% (was 100%) faster.

• Outlaw

  • Developers’ notes: Our overall goals here include smoothing out Energy regeneration and reducing the frequency of both resource drought and Energy capping.
  • Adrenaline Rush Energy regeneration increase reduced to 50% (was 100%). Duration increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Combat Potency proc rate increased to 30% (was 20%), and Energy per proc reduced to 10 (was 15).

  • Fortune Strikes redesigned. Now increases Combat Potency’s proc rate by 2% per point (was +1 Energy per Combat Potency proc per point).

    • Developers’ notes: The net result of the two Combat Potency and Fortune Strikes changes is that Combat Potency should generate half as much Energy, twice as often.
  • Restless Blades has returned. Finishing moves reduce the remaining cooldown on Adrenaline Rush, Between the Eyes, Sprint, Grappling Hook, Cannonball Barrage, Killing Spree, Marked for Death, Death from Above, Vanish by 0.5 seconds per combo point spent.

  • Roll the Bones

    • Developers’ notes: The distribution of the number of buffs you get from Roll the Bones has changed. On average, you will get fewer buffs. Our goal is to significantly reduce the desire to frequently recast Roll the Bones when you get 1 buff.
    • Broadsides now also increases the damage of your combo-point generating abilities by 20%.
    • Buried Treasure increases Energy regeneration by 30% (was 25%).
    • Shark Infested Waters now increases Critical strike chance by 20% (was 25%).
    • True Bearing causes Finishing moves to reduce the cooldown of many abilities by 1.0 seconds (was 2.0 seconds) per combo point.
  • Slice and Dice’s Attack speed increase reduced to 80%.
  • Slice and Dice increases Energy regeneration by 20% (was 15%).

• Subtlety

  • Developers’ notes:Our overall goals are to remove uncontrolled player teleport from the baseline DPS rotation, to reduce the frequency of teleporting in PvP, to allow players to choose between more frequent or more impactful Shadow Dances, which equates to more frequent CC/utility or damage in PvP, to keep the PvE rotation engaging, and to make Symbols of Death more engaging.
  • Shadowstrike now hits at melee range (was a 15 yard range).
  • Shadowstrike, when used out of combat, now deals 30% increased damage and teleports you up to 25 yards behind your target.
  • Backstab base damage increased by 35%.
  • Backstab damage bonus from being behind the target reduced to 20% (was 30%).
  • The Quiet Knife (Artifact trait) now increases damage dealt by Backstab by 5% (was 3%) per point.
  • Shadow Dance is no longer on the global cooldown.
  • Shadow Dance’s base duration increased to 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
  • Subterfuge’s duration increase to Shadow Dance reduced to 1 second (was 2 seconds).
  • Deepening Shadows now causes your finishing moves to reduce the remaining cooldown on Shadow Dance by 1.5 seconds (was 3 seconds) per combo point spent.
  • Enveloping Shadows redesigned. Deepening Shadows reduces the remaining cooldown of Shadow Dance by an additional 1.5 second per combo point spent. Shadow Dance gains 1 additional charge.
  • Deep Shadows now causes all damage you deal to be increased by 35%.
  • Premeditation moved to level 100 row.

  • Marked for Death’s cooldown reduced to 40 seconds (was 60 seconds) for Subtlety.

    • Developers’ notes: This is to balance it against Premeditation, which is now on the same row. It’s a buff in a raid setting, where the talent was very weak.

  • Symbols of Death redesigned. Costs 25 Energy and has a 30 second cooldown. Free mac pro cleaner. Invoke ancient symbols of power, empowering the next cast of several of your abilities:

    • Shadowstrike: Generates 2 additional combo points.
    • Eviscerate: Critical strike chance increased by 35%.

  • Focus Shurikens is a new passive talent available at level 70:

    • Each enemy you hit with Shuriken Storm increases the damage of your next Eviscerate by 25%, stacking up to 5 times.

      • Developers’ notes: This aims to remove maintaining Nightblade on every target from your AOE rotation on 4+ targets. Instead, Subtlety will deal increased damage during AOE by focusing it into one target.

Shaman

• Earth Elemental has 600% of the Shaman’s armor (was 400%) and 150% HP (was 100%).

Warlock

• All Specs

  • Soul Conduit now causes every Soul Shard you spend to have a 12% (was 20%) chance to be refunded. (exception: Demonology remains at 20%)

• Destruction

  • Developers’ Notes: Soul Shards are now divided into 10 Soul Shard Fragments for Destruction Warlocks, in order to provide more reliable, granular Soul Shard generation, prevent random overcapping of resources, rein in Soul Shard generation slightly, and reduce the number of Chaos Bolts being cast.
  • Fire and Brimstone now causes Incinerate to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment per target.
  • Conflagrate now generates 6 Soul Shard Fragments (was 1 full Soul Shard/10 Soul Shard Fragments).
  • Conflagrate now generates double resources from hitting a second Havoc target.
  • Incinerate now generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment.
  • Incinerate now generates 2 Soul Shard Fragments on a critical strike.
  • Immolate’s periodic damage has a 50% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment (was: periodic damage has a 15% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard).
  • Immolate’s periodic damage critical strikes have a 100% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment (was: periodic damage critical strikes have a 30% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard).
  • Shadowburn now generates 6 Soul Shard Fragments and an additional 6 if the target dies within 5 seconds.
  • Soulsnatcher (Artifact trait) now causes Chaos Bolt to have a 3% (was 5%) chance per rank to refund 1 Soul Shard.
  • Dimensional Rift (Artifact trait) now generates 3 Soul Shard Fragments
  • Chaos Bolt cast from the Chaos Bolt rift now deals 60% increased damage.
  • Chaos Bolt’s damage increased by 40%, and projectile speed increased by 25%.
  • Reverse Entropy redesigned slightly: Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire restore 35% of your maximum mana and deal 5% increased damage.
  • Havoc’s duration increased to 10 seconds (was 8 seconds), and cooldown increased to 45 seconds (was 20 seconds).
  • Wreak Havoc no longer removes the cooldown of Havoc.
  • Channel Demonfire damage increased by 56%, and cooldown increased to 25 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Cataclysm cooldown reduced to 30 seconds (was 45 seconds), cast time reduced to 2.5 seconds (was 3 seconds), and damage reduced by 25%.

Warrior

• Arms

  • The effect of Mastery has reduced by 20%.

Dungeons

• Added Group Finder activities for Mythic Trial of Valor and Nighthold.
• Mythic Trial of Valor and Nighthold can now be entered by cross-server groups.

Legendary Items

Demon Hunter

• Havoc

  • Anger of the Half-Giants generates an additional 1 to 3 Fury when Demon Blades is talented (was 1 to 6 Fury).

Backstab Dmg Increase 7.2.5 System

Warlock

• Destruction

  • Feretory of Souls

    • Casting a damaging Fire spell has a 6% (was 10%) chance to generate a Soul Shard.

  • Odr, Shawl of the Ymirjar

    • Enemies marked by your Havoc take 15% (was 8%) increased damage from your single target spells.

UI

• Arsenal: Armaments of the Silver Hand now includes the Silver variant of the 1H mace. This will be added retroactively to characters who have purchased the armament.
• Pandaria Challenge Dungeon sets have been added to Appearances.
• The Appearance Collection now includes Holiday cosmetic items, which can be transmogged during the holiday.

Below is our guide for prioritizing your Subtlety Rogue abilities optimally. This should help give you a basic understanding of what to do and what's most important to focus on. Keep in mind that simply following this (or any other) rotation guide will not guarantee you to be amazing at DPS. How aggressively you execute the rotation, how fast and intelligently you react in encounters, your FPS, latency, etc. play a large part in the end-result of your performance. We encourage you to really focus on those things and perfect this rotation if you're very performance-focused.

DPS Priority: Execute the following priority for optimal DPS.

1. Symbols Of Death to maintain the buff.
2. Nightblade maintained with >= 5 Combo Point refreshes.
3. Shadow Dance with 2 or more charges.
4. Eviscerate to dump excess Combo Points.
5. Shadowstrike when available to build Combo Points.
6. Backstab to build Combo Points.

Shadow Dance is a key ability to the Subtlety rotation and should be used whenever it hits 2 or more charges. Try not to burn through all charges until you need to perform burst damage. Watch for additional charges of Shadow Dance when you use a finishing move thanks to Deepening Shadows.

1. See single target priority.
2. Swap Backstab and Shadowstrike with Shuriken Storm to build Combo Points with 2+ targets.
3. Use Secret Technique on cooldown (if selected).

Your AoE DPS priority is similar to the single target rotation with the notable exception of using Shuriken Storm to generate Combo Points instead of Backstab.

These are effective cooldowns to try and incorporate in each encounter.

• Shadow Blades Use on cooldown for burst damage.
• Vanish Use to cast more Shadowstrike.
• Marked For Death Use as often as possible for additional Combo Points (if selected).
• Shuriken Tornado Use on cooldown for additional burst AoE damage (if selected).