Two healers rebuilt, and PvP taken back to the ground floor
Between August 15 and 20, this Ascension patch pushed 87 changes into the official Changelog channel. Two of them are genuine overhauls: the Sun Cleric’s Blessings tree and the Starcaller’s Moon Priest specialization are rewritten almost end to end. Around them, the whole player-versus-player balance is being reworked: resilience, base health, dedicated gear.
- The two overhaulsSun Cleric (Blessings tree) and Starcaller (Moon Priest): 50 lines between them, more than half the patch.
- PvP taken back to basicsResilience reworked, +20% base health on every CoA class, item level 74 PvP gear, doubled Conquest point caps.
- Already live31 new items in Molten Core, an upgrade cost cap on Worldforged items, gear resilience 25% more effective.
- Still comingThe team announces further PvP tuning for Reaper, Tinker, Necromancer, Runemaster, Felsworn and Templar.
- RaidsNormal and Heroic now take up to 40 players, with raid scaling still climbing sparingly past 25.
- The catchThe vast majority of these lines are waiting on the next realm restart. They are flagged « ○ Not live yet » throughout this article.
Messages collected from the official Changelog channel on the Ascension Discord, August 15 through 20, 2026. No separate announcement accompanies this batch: the box above is reconstructed from the changelog lines themselves.
Ascension patches have alternated between two modes for a month now: class reworks handled one at a time, and balance batches that hit everyone at once. This Ascension patch does both simultaneously, and that is what makes it unusual. On one side, two healer trees rebuilt almost entirely. On the other, a revision of resilience (the stat that reduces damage taken from other players), paired with a 20% increase to the base health of every class.
The through-line of this Ascension patch on the healer side is the same for both classes, and it is worth noting: in both cases, the team pushes a healer toward a hybrid profile that strikes as much as it heals. The Sun Cleric receives four specialization talents that all tie its healing to melee blows. The Starcaller gains a chain-healing spell, Silverstream, whose efficiency depends on the lunar phase it is cast in, and therefore on its offensive rotation. These are not number tweaks, they are a shift in how the class is played.
The second axis, player versus player, is blunter. Baseline resilience changes behavior: critical strikes land a little harder, non-critical hits a little softer. Resilience on gear becomes 25% more effective. Add 20% health across every class and 800 extra health on faction insignias, and fights get noticeably longer. The team itself warns that six classes will receive their own PvP adjustments in the following days, so the picture is not settled.
To place a class before getting into the detail of this Ascension patch, the Ascension tier list gives the current ranking per game mode, and the Ascension builder lets you test a talent tree before spending a single essence.
How to read this article
General changes
Twenty-seven lines from this Ascension patch that belong to no class in particular, and whose bulk converges on the same place: player versus player. Baseline resilience is reworked, with critical strikes landing a little harder and non-critical hits a little softer, while resilience on gear gains 25% effectiveness. On top of that: 20% more base health on every CoA class, 800 extra health on faction insignias in battlegrounds and arenas, item level 74 PvP gear tailored to the stat needs of Conquest of Azeroth classes, and doubled Conquest point caps. Added together, those five changes make fights noticeably longer.
The second block is about tanks. Two gambesons see their threat effect move from 3% to 10%, in one direction for the first and the other for the second. The Riverscale Gambeson lowers threat, the Earth Warder one raises it. More importantly, Black Knight and Tyrant gain a stagger effect: 25% of physical damage taken from monsters is now spread over the following five seconds instead of landing at once. Two caveats come with that mechanic and should be read together: it only works in PvE, and Tyrant Felsworn must be in tank stance to benefit, the team having reverted its earlier damage adjustment to tie it to that stance.
The rest mixes rewards with housekeeping. Four specializations receive a flat PvE damage increase between 8 and 12%: Stormbringer, Inquisition Witch Hunter, Shadowhunting Witch Doctor and Draconic Pyromancer. The Mythic Cache stops handing out as many off-specialization items, and recycling one bans it from your next 200 caches. Molten Core receives 31 new items, 25 of them on trash mobs, a way to reward clearing the raid rather than only its bosses. Finally, Worldforged upgrade costs are capped at the Onyxia tier, ending a Rune of Ascension inflation that many players had flagged.
Only two lines go the other way: Embodiment of Y’shaarj stops boosting void shields cast on others, and the Runemaster’s Weapon Engravings benefit slightly less from the creature RPG overhaul, an expected correction after last week’s class rework.
What goes up
- ▲31 new items have been added to Molten Core: 25 drop from trash mobs inside Molten Core and Onyxia’s Lair, 6 come from Molten Core bosses.
- ▲Fixed a bug with Weapon Engravings that would remove certain enchants like Ninja’s Focus until you re-equipped the item.
- ▲Riverscale Gambeson now decreases threat by 10%, up from 3%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Earth Warder Gambeson now increases threat by 10%, up from 3%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Black Knight now staggers 25% of physical damage taken from monsters over the next 5 seconds. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Tyrant now staggers 25% of physical damage taken from monsters over the next 5 seconds. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the base health and Stamina of all CoA classes by 20%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Insignia of the Horde and Insignia of the Alliance now increase your health by 800 in battlegrounds and arenas. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Stormbringer damage done in PvE has been increased by 8%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Inquisition Witch Hunter damage done increased by 12%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Shadowhunting Witch Doctor damage done in PvE increased by 9%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Draconic Pyromancer damage done in PvE increased by 10%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲You are now less likely to get items that are not for your current specialization from the Mythic Cache. Recycling now prevents you from getting that item, on any mythic version, for the next 200 caches you open. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Inferno Barrier now scales with 50% of the caster’s spirit. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Worldforged item upgrade costs are now capped at the Onyxia tier rate. Upgrading these items beyond Onyxia will no longer require additional Runes of Ascension.
- ▲Faction Leader’s Immersive RPG drops have been increased to 72 item level and are guaranteed to drop 3 pieces. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Item level 74 PvP gear has been released and tailored towards the stat needs of Conquest of Azeroth classes. Regular PvP gear remains available under the « Legacy » tab of gear and has also been upgraded to item level 74. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Resilience on gear is now 25% more powerful in how much damage reduction it provides you.
- ▲Conquest point caps have been DOUBLED for the next restart. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Fixed a bug where certain held-in-offhand items had very low spell power and did not properly scale in the Mythic+ system. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Fixed a bug where Onyxia tier Worldforged held-in-offhand items did not have proper spell power. ○ Not live yet
What goes down
- ▼Embodiment of Y’shaarj will now only increase the void shield absorption amount cast by you on yourself.
- ▼Slightly reduced how much benefit the Runemaster’s Weapon Engravings get from their updated behavior with the creature RPG overhaul. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆The baseline resilience that classes have has been slightly reworked. Critical strikes now deal slightly more damage than before, but non-critical damage has been decreased. Over the next few days, further changes will roll out related to, but not limited to, Reaper, Tinker, Necromancer, Runemaster, Felsworn and Templar in PvP. ○ Not live yet
- ◆The change to Tyrant Felsworn damage done has been reverted and tied to the tank stance. However, the tank stance is now required to gain the benefit from the stagger mechanic that was added. ○ Not live yet
- ◆The aforementioned stagger mechanic only works in PvE.
- ◆Normal and Heroic raids can now take up to 40 players. Players past 25 will still increase raid scaling, sparingly. ○ Not live yet
Sun Cleric
Net buffTwenty-three lines, and the biggest tree restructuring of this Ascension patch. The team does not settle for retouching values: it moves talents around, merges two pairs, makes three of them free and rewrites four outright. This is the kind of Ascension patch that forces you to rebuild your talent tree rather than tune it.
The intent is legible, and it matches the Starcaller side: push the healer toward a hybrid profile that strikes to heal. The four rewritten specialization talents all revolve around Gavels and melee. Solemn Priest converts 125% of your Intellect into attack power and makes Gavel of Light heal for half the damage it deals. Holy Knight extends that healing to five nearby allies. Pure Heart, now free, turns your melee critical strikes into stacking healing and haste. And Battle Cleric pushes Gavels out to 40 yards while removing their cooldown during Paragon. A cleric standing at the back of the room gives up a good share of its power.
Mana trouble gets a direct answer. Bless restores 5% maximum mana every 10 seconds, Ancient Rites doubles its mana return, Lead Me Not Astray doubles both the healing and the mana Bless provides, Vow of Grace now accepts direct healing alongside direct damage, and the level 40 passive restores 10% maximum mana through Gavel of Grace. Five stackable sources on the same resource is a blunt answer to a class that drained its blue bar too fast.
The verdict leans clearly to the good side: three talents made free, two merges that free up points, and a flat doubling of Solar Invocation: Ascension healing, now guaranteed to crit. Only two lines bite. Savior loses its healing bonus below 20% health, traded for 30% critical strike chance against those same targets, and a bug that let Gavel of Light’s transferred healing benefit twice from healing modifiers is fixed. The second was an anomaly, not a design intent.
What goes up
- ▲Bless: now restores 5% maximum mana to you every 10 seconds. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Ancient Rites: now restores 2/4/6% maximum mana every 15 seconds, increased from 1/2/3%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Harmonious Bells, Pure Heart and Lightward have been made baseline. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Hot Spot: now also reduces the cast time of Illumination and Radiant Cascade. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Lead Me Not Astray: now doubles both the healing and mana restored by Bless. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Divine Vision: now also increases Physical damage done. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Touch of Light: now also increases the critical-strike chance of your Gavels by 20%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Pure Heart: melee critical strikes increase your healing done and haste by 5% for 10 seconds, stacking up to 3 times. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Solemn Priest: increases your melee attack power by 125% of your Intellect and causes Gavel of Light to heal for an additional 50% of its damage dealt. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Holy Knight: Gavel of Light additionally heals up to 5 nearby allies for 100% of the amount it heals you. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Battle Cleric: increases the range of your Gavels to 40 yards. Paragon‘s cooldown is reduced to 1 minute, and while Paragon is active, your Gavels have no cooldown and are 50% more effective. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Solar Invocation: Ascension: healing doubled at all ranks, and now guaranteed to critically heal. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Daybreak: now has 2 charges, with each charge recovering every 10 seconds. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Vow of Grace: now restores mana from direct ability healing as well as direct ability damage. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Fixed Dawn failing to update its Fulfillment effect immediately when Vow of Grace was applied or removed. ○ Not live yet
What goes down
- ▼Fixed an issue causing Gavel of Light’s transferred healing to benefit from healing modifiers more than once. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆An’she’s Guidance has swapped places with Angelic in the Blessings talent tree. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Blazing Chariot has been merged into Zealous in the Radiance tree. Zealous now also increases Radiance‘s damage and healing by 125%. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Gateway to Heaven has been merged into Hegemony in the Radiance tree. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Cultivate Divinity and Empowered Holy Form have moved to the left side of the Blessings talent tree. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Savior: no longer increases healing done to targets below 20% health. It now increases your critical-strike chance against those targets by 30%. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Heaven’s Appraisal, the level 40 passive, has been reworked: while Holy Form is active, Gavel of Light grants cumulative absorption shields, capped at 20% of each target’s maximum health, Gavel of Grace restores 10% maximum mana, and Gavel of Wrath removes a magical effect from each target hit. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Solar Priest has been reworked. Solar Invigoration now causes allies’ direct damage to cast Illumination instead of Shine, and its trigger lockout has increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. ○ Not live yet
Starcaller
Net buffTwenty-seven lines, all for the Moon Priest specialization, and this Ascension patch hands it what it lacked most: a group healing spell. Silverstream, learned at level 32, heals one ally then bounces to four more, each bounce healing 10% less than the last. During Lunar Eclipse, its healing and mana cost are doubled and it becomes instant cast, a mechanic that rewards the player who tracks their cycle over the one who presses buttons at random.
Four existing talents then hook into that new spell. Lunar Revelation grants it 10% more critical strike chance, Phase Guider raises how much it benefits from bonus healing by 20%, Teachings of Elune improves it by 10 to 20%, and Blessed by the Stars makes it apply Scattered Stars to up to five enemies around each healed ally. The team also added a connection between Full Cycle and Blessed by the Stars in the tree, opening a path that did not exist between Hand of Elune’s lunar-phase bonuses and Scattered Stars synergies.
The rest is numbers, and they climb hard. Prayer of Elune sees its six ranks raised by roughly 35%, with its healing-power scaling moving from 27.57% to 37.22%. Moonflow does the same across its nine ranks, with increases around 45% and scaling jumping from 48% to 69.6%. Fifteen lines of this patch say nothing else, rank after rank. Put end to end, they revalue most of the class’s healing kit by 35 to 45%. That is the kind of adjustment that moves a specialization in a ranking.
One line calls for attention in raids, and it explains why this batch remains a net gain rather than an unqualified one: Flow of Waters stops granting 3% critical strike chance to party and raid members. Instead, critically striking with Moon Arrow sends an Owl companion to a nearby ally, increasing their maximum mana, Rage, Energy, Focus and Runic Power by 10% for 30 seconds. The group loses a guaranteed passive bonus and gains a conditional, targeted effect that is potentially stronger, but hinges on a crit roll landing.
What goes up
- ▲Silverstream: new chain-healing ability learned at level 32. It heals an ally before bouncing to up to 4 additional nearby allies, with each bounce healing for 10% less. During Lunar Eclipse, its healing and mana cost are doubled and it becomes instant cast. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Lunar Revelation: now increases the critical-strike chance of Moon Arrow, Moonflow and Silverstream by 10%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Blessed by the Stars: retains its 15% chance for ranged damage to unleash a Scattered Star. It now also causes Silverstream to apply Scattered Stars to up to 5 enemies around each ally healed. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Phase Guider now increases Silverstream’s bonus-healing scaling by 20%. Teachings of Elune now increases Silverstream’s healing by 10/20%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the critical-strike chance granted during Full Moon from 5% to 10%. When Full Moon ends, the Starcaller enters New Moon. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Lunar Phasing: causes Cosmic Shift to dispel all harmful effects from its target, and now also reduces Cosmic Shift’s cooldown by 1 minute. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Prayer of Elune Rank 1 from 77-84 to 104-114. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Prayer of Elune Rank 2 from 115-126 to 155-170. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Prayer of Elune Rank 3 from 173-190 to 233-256. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Prayer of Elune Rank 4 from 261-288 to 352-389. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Prayer of Elune Rank 5 from 374-411 to 505-555. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Prayer of Elune Rank 6 from 498-544 to 672-734. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing-power scaling of Prayer of Elune from 27.57% to 37.22%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 1 from 59-66 to 85-96. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 2 from 97-106 to 140-154. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 3 from 129-141 to 187-205. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 4 from 159-174 to 230-252. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 5 from 218-238 to 316-345. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 6 from 300-327 to 435-475. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 7 from 411-446 to 596-647. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 8 from 483-525 to 700-761. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing of Moonflow Rank 9 from 549-600 to 796-870. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Increased the healing-power scaling of Moonflow from 48% to 69.6%. ○ Not live yet
- ▲All ranks of Moon Arrow are now 2s cast time, instead of increasing gradually from 2s. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Lunar Prophecy: now causes Moon Arrow to reduce Prayer of Elune’s cooldown by 3 seconds, and the cooldowns of Moonflow and Celestial Form by 2 seconds. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Added a connection between Full Cycle and Blessed by the Stars in the Moon Priest talent tree, creating a path between Hand of Elune’s lunar-phase bonuses and Scattered Stars synergies. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Flow of Waters: no longer increases the critical-strike chance of party and raid members by 3%. Instead, critically striking with Moon Arrow sends an Owl companion to a nearby ally, increasing their maximum mana, Rage, Energy, Focus and Runic Power by 10% for 30 seconds. ○ Not live yet
Ranger
Net buffSix lines, all already live in game, and all turning around the same axis: Falconstrike and the War Falcons that come with it. This is the only batch of this Ascension patch whose effect you can verify right now, without waiting on the next restart.
Two changes alter how the class plays. Woodland Arrow loses its cooldown and has its cooldown reduction indexed on Advantage spent: the spell moves from a periodic opener to a tool you modulate against your resource. And Highlander stops increasing the damage of your next Falconstrike and removes its cost instead, with the window stretched from 10 to 15 seconds: less raw spike, more flexibility. The rest goes the right way, including a fix for a flaw that simply ignored the War Falcons’ attack power when calculating Pecking damage, a bug that quietly penalised every pet-based build.
What goes up
- ▲Duration of Gutpiercer increased from 15 sec to 30 sec.
- ▲Dream Flowers healing increased from 3% to 5% maximum health.
- ▲Forest Fighter now causes critical hits with Falconstrike to summon an additional War Falcon.
- ▲Fixed an issue where Pecking was not receiving the War Falcons’ attack power value into damage consideration.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Woodland Arrow no longer has a cooldown. Base cooldown reduction is now 3 seconds, and cooldown reduction now scales with Advantage spent.
- ◆Highlander now removes the cost of your next Falconstrike instead of increasing its damage. Duration of the buff window increased from 10 sec to 15 sec.
Knight of Xoroth
BalancedTwo lines that answer each other almost exactly, one in each direction, and both already live. On one side, the Defiance level 10 passive Brimstone Buckler now also augments Demon’s Blood, granting 1% more total health per stack, a survivability gain that grows with fight length. On the other, Summon: Greater Imp receives a 5 second cast time where it used to fire instantly. That is a real hit to the summon’s responsiveness, particularly in PvP, where five seconds of standing still costs dearly. Gain in duration, loss in responsiveness: the verdict stays balanced.
What goes up
- ▲The Defiance level 10 passive « Brimstone Buckler » now additionally augments Demon’s Blood, granting you 1% more total health per stack of Demon’s Blood.
What goes down
- ▼Summon: Greater Imp now has a 5 second cast time.
Reaper
BalancedA single line, but it trades a variable mechanic for a fixed value, and the result depends entirely on what you play. Dark Fate used to reduce Reliquary of the Lost’s cooldown by one second per target hit by Crow’s Harvest: excellent on a pack of monsters, nearly worthless against a lone boss. It now applies a flat 10 second reduction, permanently. Single-target builds gain clearly, multi-target ones lose their spike. Note also that the team announces further PvP tuning for the Reaper in the coming days: this line is probably not the last one.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Dark Fate now permanently reduces the cooldown of Reliquary of the Lost by a flat 10 seconds, instead of causing Crow’s Harvest to reduce the cooldown by 1 second per target hit. ○ Not live yet
Templar
Net nerfOne line, and it only goes one way. Divine Trample now only affects players, which removes it outright from the PvE toolkit. A Templar who relied on it to control a pack of monsters will have to find something else. The class comes off a full rework published in early August and sits on the list of six classes announced for further PvP tuning, so this isolated fix is most likely the first of a series rather than a final verdict on the class.
What goes down
- ▼Divine Trample now only affects players. ○ Not live yet
Word from the Ascension teamThe team sets the frame itself: this batch is a step, not a destination. It states outright that further PvP adjustments will land in the following days on Reaper, Tinker, Necromancer, Runemaster, Felsworn and Templar, and specifies that the list is not exhaustive. The baseline resilience rework and the general health increase are visibly the foundation those per-class adjustments will sit on, not isolated touch-ups.
As always with a batch this size, the numbers announced here can still shift before the next realm restart, and the vast majority of these lines are waiting on exactly that. To dig deeper, head to the Ascension hub and, to play in French, the AscensionFR translation addon.
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