One class rebuilt in full, and zero nerfs
From 24 to 26 August, this Ascension patch pushed 63 lines into the official Changelog channel. Fifty-five of them land on a single class, the Witch Hunter, whose three ways of playing are lifted at the same time. The striking part, though, fits in one observation: across all 63 lines, not a single one takes anything away from anyone.
- The overhaul The Witch Hunter: 55 lines, 87 % of the patch. Twenty-six rank lines across four spells, twenty-nine other changes, and one passive rewritten from scratch.
- No nerfs in the patch Zero reduction lines out of 63. Only two changes alter a mechanic without strengthening it, and there is a single trade-off: one effect becomes dispellable.
- Useful to everyone Noctis Blade now returns 100 % of its damage as healing against monsters, and its overhealing is no longer wasted.
- Haste changes role Timerend and Melt Reality gain extra ticks instead of losing duration, the way Decomposition already does.
- Worth watching 5 of the 63 lines were waiting on the realm restart at the time of writing. They carry the « ○ Announced for the next restart » marker.
Taken from the official Changelog channel of the Ascension Discord, 24 to 26 August 2026. These notes are also published on the official Ascension changelog, Conquest of Azeroth tab. No separate announcement accompanies this batch: the panel above is reconstructed from the changelog lines themselves.
A patch that takes nothing away from anyone is rare enough to be worth a pause. The last six Ascension batches all carried their share of shaved values, usually on the player-versus-player side. This one has none. Only two lines change a mechanic without strengthening it, and the sole trade-off in the entire batch fits in three words: one effect becomes dispellable.
The reason for that imbalance is simple: this Ascension patch is not a tuning pass, it is a rebuild. The Witch Hunter takes up 55 of its 63 lines, and the team worked its three playstyles at once, without sacrificing one to fund the others. The damage-soaking tank, the marksman and the beast summoner each get their share, which is fairly unusual when a class goes on the workbench.
Two lines of this Ascension patch are worth a look even if you do not play the class in question. Noctis Blade goes from a quarter to all of its damage returned as healing against monsters, and its overhealing, until now simply discarded, spreads over eight seconds instead. As for Timerend and Melt Reality, they finally respond to Haste the right way: by adding ticks rather than cutting their own duration short.
To place a class before digging into the detail, the Ascension tier list gives the current ranking by game mode, and the Ascension builder lets you test a talent tree before spending a single essence.
How to read this article
General changes
Seven class-agnostic lines: five clear improvements and two rule corrections. The most useful one day to day concerns Noctis Blade, which returned a quarter of its damage as healing. It now returns all of it against monsters, and the overhealed portion, until now simply thrown away, is spread over eight seconds instead. For a survival weapon, that is a change of scale rather than a tweak.
Two damage-over-time spells also fall in line with how Decomposition handles Haste: instead of shortening their duration, they gain extra ticks. The difference looks like nothing on paper and matters a great deal in play, because it turns Haste into net damage rather than plain speed. The rest is housekeeping: the Mythic+ vendor has a rebuilt interface, Champions stop spawning below key level 40, and two bosses finally get the right creature family.
What went up
- ▲The Mythic+ Vendor UI has been upgraded and updated. It is now an upgraded vendor menu and now holds EVERY single mythic0 item that you can upgrade with a search function and a cleaner display. ○ Announced for the next restart
- ▲Timerend and Melt Reality now scale similarly to Decomposition with Haste, gaining more ticks instead of losing duration. ○ Announced for the next restart
- ▲Noctis Blade now heals 100% of its damage dealt vs. monsters. (25% unchanged against players). ○ Announced for the next restart
- ▲Overhealing done by Noctis Blade now heals the overhealed portion over 8 seconds. ○ Announced for the next restart
- ▲Mojo Beam now has a 14s cooldown from 18s.
Reworks and fixes
- ◆Champions in Mythic+ will no longer Spawn on Keys lower than level 40 (the maximum level progression).
- ◆Atal’Zul and Lord Kazzak are now properly Undead and Demon classified.
Witch Hunter
Net buffFifty-five lines for a single class, and not one of them takes anything away. The Witch Hunter accounts for 87 % of this patch on its own, and the team worked all three of its faces at once rather than favouring one.
The Black Knight first, the one that soaks damage. Shadowy Tendrils changes function outright: the passive now converts damage taken into attack power, up to 20 % of maximum health, with a bonus against demons and undead. Around it, March of the Black King sees its seven ranks raised by a third, both coefficients lifted, and now lands its first tick on cast instead of making you wait for it. Gaze of the Black Knight drops to a two-minute cooldown.
Then comes the shooter, and this is where the numbers get brutal. Heartseeking Bolt gains 50 % flat damage at every rank and goes from 200 to 300 % ranged weapon damage. Tormentor does better still, climbing by three quarters across both of its components at once. Three talents converge on Shadowblast, which clearly was not being played enough: more damage, more crit, and Silver Bolts finally applying to it.
The third axis is the summons, and it comes out stronger without being deeply reworked: Darkflock takes 40 % more damage at each rank and sees its coefficient climb from 20 to 35 %, while Houndmaster’s Call gains 90 base damage and twenty points of scaling. There is one single trade-off in the whole block, and it is tiny: Feast of Talons becomes a Magic effect, therefore dispellable, in exchange for two clear gains.
What went up
- ▲Damage dealt by March of the Black King Rank 1 was increased from 17 to 23.
- ▲Damage dealt by March of the Black King Rank 2 was increased from 37 to 50.
- ▲Damage dealt by March of the Black King Rank 3 was increased from 67 to 90.
- ▲Damage dealt by March of the Black King Rank 4 was increased from 97 to 131.
- ▲Damage dealt by March of the Black King Rank 5 was increased from 135 to 182.
- ▲Damage dealt by March of the Black King Rank 6 was increased from 177 to 239.
- ▲Damage dealt by March of the Black King Rank 7 was increased from 211 to 285.
- ▲Spellpower scaling for March of the Black King was increased from 14.2% to 19.17%.
- ▲Grasp of the Undying now hits 3 targets baseline.
- ▲Shadowstorm will now additionally always trigger from Desecrate.
- ▲Dark Power now grants 2 Stamina for every 2 Agility up from 1 Stamina for every 2 Agility.
- ▲Attack power scaling for March of the Black King was increased from 5.2% to 7.02%.
- ▲Bulwark of Darkness value increased from 5% to 10%.
- ▲Pommel Smash now deals additional damage scaling with level.
- ▲Guardbreaker Ranks 1 and 2 now also increase the damage of Pommel Smash by 25/50%.
- ▲Increased the duration of Witching Idol to 30 sec up from 15 sec.
- ▲Calm Under Pressure now reduces the cooldown of Burrow Bolt by 10 sec up from 5 sec.
- ▲Dark Barrier now also increases the effectiveness of Stoicism by 25%.
- ▲Gaze of the Black Knight now has a 2min cd down from 3min.
- ▲March of the Black King now also deals its first tick of damage instantly on cast.
- ▲Fixed a bug where Shadow Rage was not benefiting from ranged attack power.
- ▲Increased Darkflock Rank 1 damage from 49 to 69.
- ▲Increased Darkflock Rank 2 damage from 79 to 111.
- ▲Increased Darkflock Rank 3 damage from 94 to 132.
- ▲Increased Darkflock Rank 4 damage from 112 to 157.
- ▲Increased Darkflock Rank 5 damage from 144 to 202.
- ▲Increased Darkflock attack power scaling from 20% to 35%.
- ▲Increased the base damage of Houndmaster’s Call by 90.
- ▲Increased the ranged attack power scaling of Houndmaster’s Call from 35% to 55%.
- ▲Defender of Darkshire now gives 15% haste up from 10%.
- ▲Feast of Talons now also triggers from casting Houndmaster’s Call and its base damage per sec has been increased by 104, but it is now a Magic effect.
- ▲Quickdraw now gains 100% increased critical damage from Pure Agony up from 50%.
- ▲Deal with the Devil now also guarantees Quickdraw to critically strike.
- ▲Expert Shot now increases the damage of Shadowblast by 15/30% up from 10/20%.
- ▲Increased Tormentor Rank 1 periodic damage from 8 to 14 and direct damage from 4 to 7.
- ▲Increased Tormentor Rank 2 periodic damage from 15 to 26 and direct damage from 9 to 15.
- ▲Increased Tormentor Rank 3 periodic damage from 22 to 37 and direct damage from 15 to 26.
- ▲Increased Tormentor Rank 4 periodic damage from 29 to 49 and direct damage from 18 to 31.
- ▲Increased Tormentor Rank 5 periodic damage from 36 to 61 and direct damage from 23 to 39.
- ▲Increased Tormentor Rank 6 periodic damage from 43 to 73 and direct damage from 28 to 48.
- ▲Increased Tormentor Rank 7 periodic damage from 51 to 87 and direct damage from 35 to 60.
- ▲Increased the ranged attack power scaling of Tormentor from 19% to 29.5%.
- ▲Relentless now also increases the damage of Witchbane by 30%.
- ▲Bringing the Law now gives 25% increased critical strike chance to Shadowblast up from 10%.
- ▲Silver Bolts now also works with Shadowblast.
- ▲Increased Heartseeking Bolt Rank 1 flat damage from 39 to 59 and ranged weapon damage from 200% to 300%.
- ▲Increased Heartseeking Bolt Rank 2 flat damage from 80 to 120 and ranged weapon damage from 200% to 300%.
- ▲Increased Heartseeking Bolt Rank 3 flat damage from 137 to 206 and ranged weapon damage from 200% to 300%.
- ▲Increased Heartseeking Bolt Rank 4 flat damage from 182 to 273 and ranged weapon damage from 200% to 300%.
- ▲Increased Heartseeking Bolt Rank 5 flat damage from 246 to 369 and ranged weapon damage from 200% to 300%.
- ▲Increased Heartseeking Bolt Rank 6 flat damage from 333 to 500 and ranged weapon damage from 200% to 300%.
- ▲Increased Heartseeking Bolt Rank 7 flat damage from 488 to 732 and ranged weapon damage from 200% to 300%.
- ▲Lethal Pursuit now allows Shadow Rage to stack 5 times instead of 3 times.
Reworks and fixes
- ◆Wicked Intent now triggers from damage dealt instead of on cast.
- ◆Shadowy Tendrils (Black Knight Level 40 Passive) has been reworked and now reads, « Taking damage increases your attack power, up to 20% of maximum health. Increased further against Demons and Undead. This degrades slowly over time, and while out of combat. ».
Sun Cleric
BalancedOne line, and it does not touch the game itself: the tooltips of Rapture and Dawnsear were lying. They advertised a Spell Power benefit well above what the two spells were applying. The display is what got fixed, not the power.
The distinction matters for anyone playing the class: nobody loses healing tonight, but those who built their gear around those numbers now find the starting figure was wrong. The Sun Cleric is otherwise coming off two weeks of continuous tuning, including the proc fix from last week: this patch leaves it alone for the first time in a while.
Reworks and fixes
- ◆Fixed an issue where the tooltips of Rapture and Dawnsear were advertising significantly more benefit from Spell Power than they were actually receiving. ○ Announced for the next restart
Word from the Ascension teamNo announcement accompanies this batch, and the changelog alone does not say where the team means to stop. What it does show reads perfectly clearly: the Witch Hunter was next on the list, after the Runemaster on 15 August, the healers on the 20th and the Stormbringer and Felsworn pair on the 22nd. One class per batch, rebuilt in full rather than tweaked, and without taking back with one hand what it hands over with the other.
As always with an Ascension patch, the numbers announced here can still move before the next realm restart, and 5 of these lines were waiting on exactly that to take effect. To dig further, head to the Ascension hub.
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