WRITTEN ARTICLE · CLASS TUNING AND LEVELING
WoW Forever November 10 tuning: Shaman gear and tougher pets
Blizzard plans changes for Enhancement Shaman stats, Hunter pets and Affliction Warlocks. What to keep while leveling before the November 10 hotfixes.
Three changes to watch on Tuesday
Blizzard is targeting November 10 for WoW Forever class hotfixes covering pet durability, Affliction spell use and Enhancement gearing. The announcement sets out the intended direction but does not give final numerical changes.
| Class | Blizzard’s stated plan |
|---|---|
| Hunter and Warlock | Bring Hunter pets and Voidwalker tanking durability closer to Classic Era. |
| Affliction Warlock | Make damage-over-time spells worthwhile alongside Wrack without changing total damage output. |
| Enhancement Shaman | Make Strength the strongest stat, with Strength or Attack Power on preferred gear. |
In this article
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Enhancement Shamans should keep physical gear
Blizzard explicitly advises leveling Enhancement players to start collecting Strength and Attack Power equipment. Its intended item mix can still include some Intellect or Spell Power, but caster gear should not be the preferred choice.
Our advice is to keep useful quest rewards you might otherwise sell. Compare an item with what you already own and leave yourself a replacement option. That is a smaller commitment than buying an expensive new set before the actual changes are available.
Do not throw away the equipment you currently use just because a different stat is about to become more important. Keep your working set until you can compare the updated tooltips and try the replacement in ordinary questing. A statement about stat direction is not a complete best-in-slot list.
Pet durability matters between every pull
The pet changes concern tanking effectiveness. Blizzard has not promised that pets will hold every enemy or make difficult quests safe to solo.
When the patch arrives, try the same sort of enemies you were fighting before it. Watch how much health your pet loses, how often you need to heal it and whether you can finish a normal pull comfortably. That is a more useful first check than immediately adding another enemy.
Wait for the details before rebuilding your rotation
The Affliction plan responds to reports that repeatedly channeling Wrack beats using it with spells such as Corruption. Blizzard wants those spells to have a place together.
For now, keep the spells accessible on your bars. Once the changes are live, compare a full pull rather than one damage number. Include the time spent recovering afterwards. We would not recommend paying for a respec solely on the basis of this preview.
Check the live notes before changing your plans
This is a November 8 preparation article for a planned November 10 update. Revisit the linked Blizzard announcement and the live hotfix notes before making purchases. Our recommendations here are about keeping options open, not predicting a new class ranking.
Related reading and guides
Sources and review notes
Checked November 8 against Blizzard’s November 6 announcement. These are planned changes for November 10, not a report that the tuning is already live.
