An October 2023 Test Build, Before the 10.2 Launch
Build 51601’s class and tier-set report was published on October 3, 2023, during Dragonflight’s Guardians of the Dream PTR. Squishei’s original datamining report and Linxy’s October 3 developer post, preserved by Blue Tracker, provide two views of that testing stage.
The datamining includes talent moves, tooltip edits and numerical changes. Blizzard’s notes explain selected gameplay changes. Read the values as a dated PTR snapshot; later builds could alter them before release.
Demon Hunter: Distinguish Talents from Baseline Spells
Several descriptions in the report depended on a talent being selected:
- A Fire Inside supplied the additional Immolation Aura charge and 30% refund chance, with overlapping auras permitted.
- Any Means Necessary was the talent connecting several magic schools to Chaos damage and Mastery scaling. The conversion was not an unconditional property of Mastery on every Havoc character.
- Chaotic Disposition changed its duplicated damage from 33% to 21%, retaining the 7.77% trigger chance and rank-dependent three/seven-event limits in this build.
The 40 Fury line belonged to Felblade. Its Vengeance description mentioned Shear resetting Felblade; that did not make Shear itself a 40-Fury attack.
The developer post also capped Fel Barrage at eight seconds, reduced its volley cost to eight Fury, and lowered Initiative’s critical-strike bonus from 12% to 10%. These changes affected different decisions: resource use, ability duration and the reward for opening damage windows.
Tier Bonuses: Correct Class, Spec and Piece Count
| Class, specialization and set | October 3 PTR change or effect |
|---|---|
| Havoc Demon Hunter — Screaming Torchfiend’s Brutality, 4-piece | Throw Glaive’s Hunt cooldown reduction: 0.4 → 2 seconds. The Hunt’s damage-over-time extension: 4 → 6 seconds. |
| Guardian Druid — Benevolent Embersage’s Guidance, 2-piece | Rage spent during Rage of the Sleeper fuels Dream Thorns, providing an absorb after the ability ends. |
| Shadow Priest — Blessings of Lunar Communion, 2-piece | The extra Shadow Word: Death casts fall from 35% to 20% effectiveness. |
| Shadow Priest — Blessings of Lunar Communion, 4-piece | Death’s Torment per-stack bonus: initial Shadow Word: Pain 250% → 200%; Shadow Crash 50% → 100%. |
| Outlaw Rogue — Lucid Shadewalker’s Silence, 4-piece | Roll the Bones refreshes one existing random enhancement for 40 seconds in the datamined description. |
| Demonology Warlock — Devout Ashdevil’s Pactweave | Doom Brand and the Doomfiend’s Doom Bolt Volley receive 150% damage increases in the developer notes. |
| Protection Warrior — Molten Vanguard’s Mortarplate | The bleed-consumption mechanic belongs to this set. Thunderous Roar consumption deals its full remaining damage; the sources label the piece count differently. |
The two Shadow bonuses moved in different directions: repeated Shadow Word: Death casts became weaker, while the four-piece shifted more of each Death’s Torment stack toward Shadow Crash. Reading only one percentage misses that redistribution.
For Outlaw, the developer notes also fixed lost set-bonus buffs and made refreshed enhancement durations match the other enhancements. The Roll the Bones entry concerns Outlaw; sharing a class set’s appearance and name does not make its effect a Subtlety bonus.
A Piece-count Disagreement in the Protection Warrior Sources
The datamined entry about spending Rage and consuming Deep Wounds, Rend and Thunderous Roar is labeled Molten Vanguard’s Mortarplate, two pieces. Linxy’s same-day note labels the Thunderous Roar adjustment as a four-piece change.
That discrepancy is part of this test-stage record. Both place the effect with Protection Warrior. Neither supports assigning Shield Slam and Rage-spending mechanics to the Warlock set, whose entries concern Doom Brand and a Doomfiend.
Use the Snapshot for Comparisons
When reconstructing an old build, match the specialization, set threshold and report date before comparing the number. A four-piece effect, a selected talent and a baseline spell describe different requirements.
For Demon Hunter’s later published rules, read the 10.2 launch rework reference. It identifies the final talent values and separates the subsequent Darkness hotfix from the earlier PTR discussion.
