Patch 9.2.5a

Patch 9.2.5a is what Wowpedia is calling the Shadowlands Season 4 patch notes, to separate it from patch 9.2.5. It released on 2 August 2022.
==Fated Raids==
*Each week during Shadowlands Season 4 will feature a different Fated raid: Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, or Sepulcher of the First Ones. Enemies within Fated raids are stronger and drop upgraded loot with a higher item level, while bosses are augmented with a variety of Fated Powers that offer additional risk and powerful bonuses.
*Seasonal rewards for Fated Raids include new Feat of Strength achievements, mount, the "Hero of Fate" title, and teleports to each Shadowlands raid location.
*Fated Powers
**Developers' note: Fated Raids are an experiment in giving a fresh take on an existing experience. Adding new mechanics atop pre-existing encounters is a precarious balancing act and we wanted to reward players' efforts, and as such built powerful beneficial auras, called Fated Infusions, which are earned after executing the new Fated Power mechanics.
**Creation Spark
***Targeted players become charged with Cosmic damage over time. When this Magic-dispellable aura is removed, Creation Sparks fly off and impact the ground. This can explode if no player is there to intercept it, but if they do they're rewarded with a powerful Fated Infusion, increasing the flow of time and the movement speed of any player within the radius.
**Reconfiguration Emitter
***An enemy appears which continually casts, inflicting Cosmic damage to all players if successful. Over time, this enemy gains energy and increased damage done, and when defeated grants a Fated Infusion which increases mastery, critical strike, versatility, and avoidance based on the enemy's energy value.
**Protoform Barrier
***Infuses a powerful enemy to inflict Cosmic damage to players. When removed this power manifests as an enemy who shields all enemies in the area for a short period of time, sharing the pool of shielded health. Players may additionally heal a secondary unit to contribute against this pool. If this shield breaks, damage and healing done to shielded enemies is inflicted upon them, and players are granted a Fated Infusion, increasing total health, damage, healing, and absorbs done based on how much that player contributed.
**Chaotic Essence
***Summons an orb which defeats all players, but may be interacted with. This activates the foe, which spawns additional enemies for a short period of time. For each one slain, more spawn, and after the window of time players are rewarded with another Fated Infusion, increasing damage, healing, and absorbs done, stacking for each enemy defeated.
*Fated Raid Rewards
**Entering any Shadowlands raid in Season 4 will start the quest "Crossing Fate", kicking off a questline that will reward players for participating in Fated Raids over a number of weeks with a new currency: up to 3 Puzzling Cartel Dinar.
**3 New Vendors (Ko'ropo, Ta'choso, and So'turu) can be found lurking near the Great Vault in Oribos, and will gladly trade one Puzzling Cartel Dinar for any of their wares: trinkets, weapons, and unique items from across the 3 Shadowlands raids, at Fated Normal quality (item level 278-285).
**Defeating Fated bosses on Heroic or Mythic will reward each player 1 Confounding Cypher of the appropriate difficulty. Combining 20 Heroic or Mythic Cyphers awards a Creation Impetus, which upgrades any Fated items to Heroic or Mythic quality.
***Developers' note: This system is an experiment for Season 4 with the goal of providing a method for players to overcome extreme bad luck scenarios when it comes to a particular piece of loot that just won't drop, especially in a season where each raid is only Fated every 3 weeks. We're limiting it to only 3 Puzzling Cartel Dinar over time so that players can fill the gaps in their regular gearing and protect against runs of significant bad luck, but not undercut the primary gearing experience of doing meaningful content with your group over time. Additionally, we're trialing a method for players to upgrade raid gear as they move into harder difficulties, rewarding effort over an extended period of time. Our hope is that these two systems combine with Fated Powers to create a satisfying and well-paced progression of power through Season 4's perilous new challenges.
==Mythic+==
*New Seasonal Affix: Shrouded (affix) – Nathrezim infiltrators have disguised themselves among the enemies throughout the dungeon. Cartel Ta will reward you handsomely for assisting in their capture.
*New seasonal rewards for Mythic+ include new Feat of Strength achievements, the two new titles: "the Shrouded" and "Shrouded Hero", dungeon teleports, and a new coloration of the Mythic+ Deathwalker mount.
*New dungeon rotation consisting of:
**Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
**Tazavesh: So'leah's Gambit
**Operation Mechagon: Junkyard (Battle for Azeroth dungeon)
**Operation Mechagon: Workshop (Battle for Azeroth dungeon)
**Return to Karazhan: Lower (Legion dungeon)
**Return to Karazhan: Upper (Legion dungeon)
**Iron Docks (Warlords of Draenor dungeon)
**Grimrail Depot (Warlords of Draenor dungeon)
*Portals to Gorgrond, Karazhan, and Mechagon are now available in Oribos.
*Tazavesh: So'leah's Gambit
**Enemy Forces have been adjusted.
**Coastwalker Goliath's Tidal Stomp damage reduced by 15%.
**Coastwalker Goliath's Undertow increases the damage of Tidal Stomp by 15% per stack (was 25%).
**Timecap'n Hooktail
***Anchor Shot no longer scales with Fortified.
***Anchor Shot damage reduced by 10%.
*Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
**Enemy Forces have been adjusted.
**Veteran Sparkcaster's Hyperlight Salvo deals damage less frequently.
**Customs Security Hard Light Baton cooldown increased to 18 seconds (was 12 seconds).
**Customs Security Hard Light Baton damage reduced by 10%.
**P.O.S.T. Master
***Fan Mail damage reduced by 15%.
==Empowered World Bosses==
*While a raid is Fated, the rewards from the world boss linked to that raid will have their item levels increased.
**Mortanis, Oranomonos, Nurgash, and Valinor are linked to Castle Nathria, Mor'geth is linked to Sanctum of Domination, and Antros is linked to Sepulcher of the First Ones.
==Classes==
*Druid
**Balance
***Starfall damage increased by 15%.
****Developer's note: Balance AoE has gradually fallen off in recent months, we believe due to Starfall not benefitting as as much as other comparable spells from increased Astral Power generation and Haste, as gear levels increase. We are looking into different solves for the future, but for now are giving it a boost to better compete in the current content.
*Hunter
**Survival
***Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite, and Kill Command (Survival) damage increased by 15%.
***(4) Set Bonus: Wildfire Bomb bonus damage lowered to 20% (was 30%).
***Wildfire Bomb, and any Wildfire Infusion variants of Wildfire Bomb now deal reduced damage when hitting more than 8 targets. The tooltips will be updated to reflect this in a future patch.
****Developer Note: The Mad Bombardier set bonus boosts Wildfire Bombs in fun and powerful ways, but with the potentially frequent set bonus activation, and Wildfire Bombs not having any target cap where their damage is lowered, Survival Hunters have exceeded expectations in content where there are many targets to hit. The set bonus interactions are fun to play with, so rather than adjusting frequency or power level of the buffed Wildfire Bomb, we're going to lower its effectiveness when pulling very high numbers of enemy targets. We're increasing the damage of Kill Command, Raptor Strike, and Mongoose Bite to offset the loss of damage in single target scenarios.
*Mage
**Arcane
***Clearcasting duration increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
****Developers' note: We're increasing the duration of Clearcasting to minimize scenarios where the buff would fall off without the opportunity for players to gain value. This is primarily a PvP concern, but we did not feel there was a reason to make it PvP exclusive.
*Monk
**Windwalker
***Spinning Crane Kick damage reduced by 5%.
****Developers' note: We're happy with prior single target changes that have resulted in making Windwalker a powerful option in a broad spectrum of situations. However as a result, their total contribution ends up being slightly too strong in areas where their AOE strengths can be brought to bear. This change is not intended to remove those strengths, but ensure they're not too far ahead of the pack.
*Paladin
**Protection
***Armor increased by 5%.
***Holy Shield (Talent) increase to block chance increased to 20% (was 15%).
****Developers' note: We are seeing Protection Paladins dying to melee damage, or mixed melee and spell damage. This change is intended to improve their performance against both those damage types.
*Priest
**Shadow
***Mind Sear damage increased by 30%.
***Shadow Crash (Talent) damage increased by 25%.
***Searing Nightmare (Talent) damage increased by 15%.
****Developers' note: We are looking into Shadow's AoE toolkit for Dragonflight and want to address the concerns brought up by the community. However, in the meantime, we are implementing these adjustments to help Shadow's performance in multi-target situations for Season 4. We'll continue to watch Shadow's performance as the season unfolds and make further adjustments if needed.
*Warlock
**Destruction
***Chaos Bolt damage increased by 5% in PvE combat.
***Incinerate damage increased by 20%.
***Immolate damage increased by 20%.
***Conflagrate damage increased by 10% in PvE combat.
***(4) Set Bonus: Blasphemy no longer grants Rain of Chaos.
****Developers' note: In order to address Destruction's excess soul shard generation issues, we're removing the ability for the Blasphemy to grant Rain of Chaos. This will prevent their shard generation from getting out of control and rein in their AOE output. However, this will have some effect on Destruction's single-target damage and to help counter the impact we're increasing the damage of several single-target spells in the Destruction toolkit. This is a big shift so we'll be monitoring feedback closely and will adjust in the future if needed.
*Warrior
**Protection
***Ignore Pain's absorption increased by 30%, and the absorption cap is now 30% of maximum Health (was twice the Ignore Pain absorb value).
****Developers' note: We find that Protection Warriors struggle with magic and unblockable forms of incoming damage. This change is intended to help improve survivability in those situations, while the change to the cap will constrain its strength otherwise.
==Item and rewards==
*Great Vault
**Raid rewards
***All 3 Shadowlands Raid rewards will be available in the Great Vault via the Fated rotation. Once you slay a Fated Raid boss, their rewards will be added to the pool of available drops for the rest of the season.
**Unspent Attendant's Token of Merit left in bags will be converted to 1000 gold each.
*Fated Castle Nathria and Fated Sanctum of Domination encounters now reward Cosmic Flux.
*Accumulated Valor is reset, but the cap will stay removed.
*Accumulated Conquest is reset, with a higher weekly cap than previous seasons. The cap will be removed later in the season.
*Domination Sockets have been removed from all Sanctum of Domination items, as well as items sold by Archivist Roh-Suir and Duchess Mynx in Korthia.
*Helms and Waists from Sanctum of Domination can now roll sockets naturally, and when Fated, can be socketed using the new socketer: Fated Matter Fractalizer.
*Fated Matter Fractalizer socketer item can be purchased for 3 Attendant's Token of Merit.
*Ephemera-Infused Mesh no longer functions and can be sold to a vendor for 6,000 gold.
*Vessel of Profound Possibilities no longer requires Season 3 achievements to purchase. It can now be purchased for 10,000 Cosmic Flux.
*Stygian Embers no longer drop from Bosses, Lieutenants, or the Korthia Weekly Quest "Shaping Fate."
*The following trinkets have been adjusted:
**Bells of the Endless Feast now stacks on the player (was target).
**Blood Spattered Scale damage and absorb reduced by 25%.
**Chains of Domination initial spike damage increased by 10%, and area-of-effect explosion damage increased by 20%.
**Decanter of Endless Howling primary stat increased by 10%.
**Heart of the Swarm damage increased by 15%.
**Inscrutable Quantum Device secondary stat gain reduced by 25%.
**Intrusive Thoughtcage is now more effective at reading your target's mind; dodge rating increased by 20%, health drain damage increased by 10%, and final mind shatter damage to nearby enemies increased by 20%.
**Macabre Sheet Music duration of the dancers increased by 25%.
***Developers' note: The duration is increased to give players more time to finish the dance mini-game.
**Manabound Mirror non-stored healing increased by 10%, and healing stored per mana spent increased by 20%.
**Memory of Past Sins damage increased by 10%.
**Old Warrior's Soul Haste granted per stack reduced by 10%.
**Pulsating Riftshard damage and absorption increased by 10%, and Rift Portal charge reduced to 1.5 seconds (was 3 seconds).
**Relic of the Frozen Wastes damage increased by 15%.
**Resonant Silver Bell healing increased by 15%, and Spectral Feline now appears when healing an ally below 50% health (was 40%).
**Scars of Fraternal Strife secondary stats granted by each rune increased by 25%, and Final Rune's explosion damage increased by 25%.
**Shadowed Orb of Torment Mastery increased by 12%.
**Skulker's Wing damage increased by 10%.
**The Lion's Roar cooldown reduction from critical heals increased to 6 seconds (was 3 seconds), and now absorbs 30% of all damage taken in the zone of protection (was 20%).
**Tome of Monstrous Constructions damage increased by 15%.
***Developers' note: The reasons for these trinket changes are that we hope to remove an advantage some players might have from obtaining a 278 version of a Shadowlands trinket from the Season 3 Great Vault, considering that Shadowlands Dungeon trinkets will be attainable at a max of 262 ilvl for anyone who starts after Season 4 begins.
***Second, with raids rotating, we want to ensure that a higher amount of items looted from a raid on given week have a chance to be satisfying upgrades for players. You could imagine a scenario where Castle Nathria for example might not be worth it if all of the ‘good trinkets' come from a different raid you won't be able to access for 1-2 weeks. Additionally, Season 4 is a unique opportunity for us to look at these items will a full season (or more) of hindsight, and thus able to improve ones that we felt were close power-level wise, but not quite enough to compete with popular or easier-to-acquire options.
***Lastly, given the limited Dinar currency we've seen a lot of fear from players that they'd be afraid to spend them, only to have that item nerfed or another item made better. We're frontloading these changes at the start of the season and intending to stay as hands-off as possible so decisions made about which items you buy can be removed from the fear of those numbers changing dramatically.
*The following weapons have been adjusted:
**Slightly increased the drop rate of Edge of Night and Rae'shalare, Death's Whisper.
***Developers' note: Due to a shorter season and a raid rotation, we want these items to be a bit more attainable, so we have slightly increased their drop rate. As an epic quality item, the Edge of Night will also be available via the Fated Raid vendor.
**Genesis Lathe's Ephemeral Effusion effects increased by 10%.
**Sepulcher's Savior on-use effects increased by 20%.
==Player versus player==
*With the new season, you'll see increased item levels for rewards and new seasonal rewards. The new seasonal rewards for PvP include a new Arena title: "Eternal Gladiator", a new weapon illusion: Eternal Flux, new coloration of the Gladiator soul eater mount, and new Vicious mounts–Alliance and Horde themed Warstalker.
*Death Knight
**Spellwarden (PvP Talent) now grants a 25% increased effectiveness to Rune of Spellwarding (was 50%).
***Developers' note: With the baseline increase to Anti-Magic Zone in 9.2.5, we've seen Death Knight defensives be stronger than we would like against casters.
**Brutal Grasp (Necrolord Conduit) effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
***Developers' note: Abomination Limb's contribution in a Death Knight's damage profile is substantial, so we are looking to bring it down.
*Demon Hunter
**Havoc
***Dancing with Fate (conduit) (Conduit) is now 75% effective in PvP combat (was 100%).
****Developers' note: Demon Hunter's damage is slightly higher than we would like, so we are reducing the Dancing of Fate conduit to tone it down.
*Mage
**Deathborne (Necrolord Ability) increased spell damage decreased to 10% in PvP combat (was 15%).
**Incanter's Flow (Talent) no longer has a reduced effect when engaged in PvP combat (was 25% reduction).
**Arcane
***Arcane Missile damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
****Developers' note: Arcane Mages continue to be underrepresented so we are looking to increase damage opportunities for them through various parts of their kit, including Arcane Missiles, Clearcasting, and Incanter's Flow.
**Fire
***Blazing Soul now ignites a Blazing Barrier at 50% effectiveness in PvP combat.
****Developers' note: Fire Mage survivability has continued to be higher than we would like, so we are targeting Blazing Soul to address that while keeping the overall feel of Mage gameplay intact.
**Frost
***Ice Lance damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
***Frozen Orb (mage ability) damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
****Developers' note: A substantial portion of a Frost Mage's damage profile has come from Frostbolt, particularly around the Necrolord class ability Deathborne. We're looking to reduce Deathborne and increase some of their base abilities to have a better distribution of damage in their kit.
*Monk
**Mistweaver
***Rising Sun Kick now deals an additional 25% damage in PvP combat.
***Blackout Kick now deals an additional 25% damage in PvP combat.
****Developers' note: We are increasing Mistweaver damage on Rising Sun Kick and Blackout Kick to better reward aggressive gameplay moments.
*Paladin
**Retribution
***Blade of Justice damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
***Crusader Strike damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
***Hammer of Wrath damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
***Avenging Wrath increases damage, healing, and critical strike chance by 15% in PvP combat (was 20%).
***Crusade (Talent) effectiveness reduced by 25% while in PvP combat.
****Developer's note: The damage dealt in Avenging Wrath's window can be volatile, so we would like to bring that down while increasing some of Retribution Paladins' base damage abilities.
*Priest
**Holy
***Greater Fade (PvP Talent) now has a 60 second cooldown (was 45 seconds).
***(4) Set Bonus: Divine Conversation increases the healing of your next Holy-word affecting spell by 24% in PvP combat (was 36%).
***Flash Heal heals for an additional 20% in PvP combat (was 30%).
***Heal heals for an additional 25% in PvP combat (was 35%).
****Developers' note: Holy Priests continue to outperform other healers, and we are looking to target various areas of their kit to better fit within other spec representation and performance.
*Rogue
**Invigorating Shadowdust (runecarving power) (Runecarving Power) now reduces the cooldown of your other abilities by 10 seconds in PvP combat (was 20 seconds).
**Septic Shock (Night Fae Conduit) effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
**Subtlety
***Eviscerate damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
***Resolved an issue that caused Deeper Daggers (conduit) (Conduit) to affect non-Rogue abilities.
****Developers' note: Rogues have been overperforming across all specs so we are looking to tone down damage within burst windows for Subtlety and Assassination while reducing Outlaw's cooldown recovery potential.
*Shaman
**Restoration
***(4) Set Bonus: Chain Heal cast by Theurgic Starspeaker's Regalia is no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 30% reduction).
****Developers' note: Resto Shaman's Tier Set bonus has not had as much impact as we initially suspected so we are nullifying the reduction of power it previously had.
*Warlock
**Health Funnel effectiveness increased by 20% in PvP combat.
**Affliction
***Unstable Affliction damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
***Unstable Affliction backlash damage when dispelled deals 20% more damage, but can no longer critically strike.
***Corruption damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
***Dark Soul: Misery (Talent) increases Haste by 20% in PvP combat (was 30%).
****Developer's note: For Affliction, we want to smooth out some of the spiky damage that results from Dark Soul windows and the occasional Unstable Affliction critical strikes, while at the same time allowing them to maintain consistent pressure outside of these windows.
**Demonology
***Call Felhunter (PvP Talent) cooldown increased to 30 seconds (was 24 seconds).
****Developers' note: Overall Demonology has high utility potential, so we are increasing the cooldown to Call Felhunter to bring it more in line with what we are comfortable with. Additionally, Warlock pets can have difficulty with survival, especially when being focused, so we are increasing Health Funnel as a tool to help that.
9.2.5a