Patch 10.2 Hotfixes, November 14: Feral Buffs and Aug Nerfs

Blizzard's November 14 hotfixes: what changed

On November 14, 2023, a week into Dragonflight's Guardians of the Dream patch and the opening of Amirdrassil, Blizzard pushed a round of class tuning, bug fixes, and PvP consumable changes. The headline was a heavy Feral Druid buff and a matching Augmentation Evoker nerf; the rest cleaned up Season 3's first week.

Key Takeaways

Feral Druid took the day's biggest buff: Rip and Shred up 140%, Ferocious Bite up 200%, and Cat Form energy regeneration raised to 50%.
Augmentation Evoker was reined in, with Ebon Might cut to 6.5% primary stat and Close as Clutchmates halved to 10%.
Unholy Death Knight gained across the board: Death Coil and Scourge Strike up 10%, Virulent Plague up 20%.
Discipline Priest lost throughput as Divine Aegis dropped to 5% of healing done and Inescapable Torment fell 19%.
War Mode consumables became stackable to 200 and cheaper, dropping from 100 to 50 Bloody Tokens per stack of five.
Emerald Dream pets could be caged again, and the Revival Catalyst accepted renown gear bought from Moon Priestess Lasara.

The class tuning made up the bulk of the notes, led by the Druid and Evoker swings that headlined the day.

Class tuning

Death Knight

Unholy: Death Coil damage increased 10%; Scourge Strike and Clawing Shadows increased 10%; Ghoul damage increased 8%; Virulent Plague increased 20%; Apocalypse ghoul damage increased 5%.

Demon Hunter

Havoc: Chaotic Disposition was reworked to directly benefit the damage of affected abilities instead of duplicating portions of the damage they dealt, with no change to the total output. Its Chaos damage had a 7.77% chance to be increased by 17%, up to three or seven total times.

Vengeance: Sigil of Silence base duration dropped to 5 seconds (from 6), with PvP duration unchanged; Fel Flame Fortification's magic-damage reduction fell to 10% (from 12%); Illuminated Sigils increased Parry chance against affected targets by 15% (from 20%).

Druid

Guardian: Mangle now granted 12 Rage (was 10).

Feral: Rip damage increased 140% (not in PvP), Rake 60%, Shred 140%, and Ferocious Bite 200% (not in PvP). Cat Form energy regeneration increased by 50% (was 35%).

Evoker

Blizzard's note read: the utility Augmentation Evoker brought on top of its high damage had proven too powerful despite recent changes, so the team cut its damage contribution to the group to balance it against other specializations.

Ebon Might granted 6.5% of the Evoker's primary stat (was 8%).
Close as Clutchmates increased the effectiveness of Ebon Might and Breath of Eons by 10% (was 20%).
Versatility granted by Shifting Sands was reduced by 15%.

Hunter

Various pet abilities such as Kill Command, Bite, and Flanking Strike now correctly reattributed their damage to an Augmentation Evoker who had buffed the Hunter in the combat log. On Beast Mastery, a Bloody Frenzy bug that granted Beast Cleave for longer than intended, and failed to update the personal nameplate icon, was corrected.

Paladin

Retribution: all ability damage increased 3%.

Priest

Blizzard's note read: Discipline healing throughput, particularly in raids, sat slightly higher than intended given the spec's damage and utility, so a couple of overloaded talents were trimmed to improve talent balance and line the spec up with other healers.

Divine Aegis absorption reduced to 5% of healing done (was 10%).
Inescapable Torment damage reduced roughly 19%.

Rogue

Assassination: fixed Internal Bleeding being incorrectly applied by Deathmark's version of Rupture; fixed Internal Bleeding not contributing to Sudden Demise; fixed Shrouded Suffocation incorrectly generating combo points when a duplicated Garrote was applied through Deathmark.

Warlock

Destruction: Unstable Tear and Shadowy Tear damage increased 5% each, and Chaos Tear increased 30%.

Demonology: the Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible 2-piece set bonus reduced the cooldown of Grimoire: Felguard by 0.5 second (was 1 second). Blizzard noted it was bringing the previous set bonus in line with other Aberrus bonuses.

Bug fixes

Renown items purchased from Moon Priestess Lasara became eligible for conversion at the Revival Catalyst.
Emerald Dream pets could once again be caged.
Seedbloom stacked correctly.
Jewelcrafting: the Band of New Beginnings no longer carried a higher Stamina value than intended.

With the tuning and fixes covered, the last block of the day landed on PvP.

PvP and War Mode changes

Blizzard fixed a bug that had kept the first-win-of-the-day bonus from being awarded in Battleground Blitz. It also enabled a set of Engineering bombs for unrated battlegrounds and battleground brawls, excluding Battleground Blitz: the Grease Grenade, Primal Deconstruction Charge, Polarity Bomb, Gravitational Displacer, Sticky Warp Grenade, and their EZ-Thro counterparts.

War Mode consumables saw the larger overhaul. Several had their power dialed back: Wild Truffle's duration dropped to 12 seconds (from 20), Gritty Stone Potion's speed penalty fell to 15% (from 30%), Warbanner of Ire's bonus primary stat dropped to 5% (from 10%), and Prismatic Snail Mucus's critical strike bonus fell to 30% (from 50%). Two moved the other way: Soothing Emerald Tea's immediate heal rose to 25% with its heal-over-time up to 40%, and Volatile Crimson Embers gained a 30% damage bonus, reduced self-damage, and a 24-second duration.

More importantly, War Mode consumables stopped being Unique and dropped their charges. They became items stackable up to 200, and their cost fell from 100 Bloody Tokens to 50 for a stack of five, with Seltherex also offering them for 500 Honor per stack of five.

FAQ

What was the biggest change in the November 14 hotfixes?

Feral Druid received the largest buff, with Rip and Shred up 140%, Ferocious Bite up 200%, and Cat Form energy regeneration raised to 50%. Augmentation Evoker took the matching nerf through Ebon Might and Close as Clutchmates.

Why was Augmentation Evoker nerfed?

Blizzard felt Augmentation brought too much group utility on top of its damage. Ebon Might dropped to 6.5% of the Evoker's primary stat, Close as Clutchmates fell to 10%, and Shifting Sands' Versatility was cut 15%.

What changed for War Mode consumables?

They stopped being Unique and lost their charges, became stackable up to 200, and dropped from 100 to 50 Bloody Tokens per stack of five. Seltherex also sold them for 500 Honor per stack of five, and several individual consumables were retuned up or down.

Did the hotfixes touch Amirdrassil or raid tier sets?

Not directly. The Demonology Warlock change adjusted the Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible 2-piece bonus, but Amirdrassil's own tier sets were unaffected. The Revival Catalyst fix let renown gear from Moon Priestess Lasara convert into tier pieces.

Were these class changes permanent?

They were live tuning for Dragonflight Season 3 and stood as the balance baseline for that raid tier. Later patches reworked several of these specs again, so the numbers here reflect the November 14, 2023 state, not the current game.

For players still working through Season 3 content, you can explore our Mythic+ dungeon boosts or see our WoW PvP carries.

Last reviewed 2026-07-03 against Patch 10.2 Guardians of the Dream — Maintained by WowCarry's WoW team.