Molten Core and Onyxia are coming, and baseline resilience is going up
This balance pass is not landing at random. Grey shipped the patch alongside an announcement: Molten Core and Onyxia release soon on Conquest of Azeroth. No date has been given yet, but two decisions in this patch follow directly from that arrival.
- What is comingMolten Core and Onyxia, announced as « soon » with no set date
- What changes for youBaseline resilience is going up for every player, to keep pace with stronger gear
- The spec under watchStormbringer Maelstrom, which the team says it will keep monitoring once Molten Core opens
- Why nowThe eight damage bonuses against monsters target the incoming content, not PvP balance
Announcement taken from the official Changelog channel on the Ascension Discord, message from Grey [ASC], Release Lead, on August 8, 2026. The Maelstrom note comes from the patch line that accompanies it.
Ascension shipped three straight days of updates on Conquest of Azeroth, from August 6 to August 8, 2026. Nineteen classes out of twenty-one are touched, but the spread is anything but even. The Templar alone weighs more than the other eighteen combined.
Its rework is the heart of this patch. Grey, Release Lead, sums it up in three points. The floor of the class goes up, its ceiling stays very high for anyone who plays their oaths well, and it no longer relies on luck to function. The price is one number: Oath Chain is now capped at 10 stacks instead of 20. You have to pick your oaths instead of stacking them, and it will show most in AoE.
The second theme is new. Eight specializations get a damage bonus against monsters, from 5% to 25%. The previous patch moved whole classes; this one tunes specs one at a time, with the incoming content in mind. Farstrider Ranger takes the biggest share at 25%.
The third is a cleanup. Around sixty bug reports are closed over these three days, including twenty-three for Spirit of the Hunt alone on the Barbarian, the same problem reported twenty-three times. The Guardian and the Pyromancer also get entire spells rescaled rank by rank.
To place each class before digging into the details, the Ascension CoA tier list and the talent builder remain the best starting points. Patch source: the official Changelog channel on the Ascension Discord.
How to read this article
General changes
Three cross-class fixes ship alongside this patch, with no direct tie to a specific class.
The honor cost of certain items is fixed, Illumination’s spell power scaling jumps sharply, and Capacity Expansion works normally again.
What goes up
- ▲Illumination’s spell power scaling jumps from 63% to 105%, without the note specifying which class it belongs to.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆A bug tied to the core merge, which made items like Bloody Mark of War cost more honor than intended, is fixed.
- ◆Capacity Expansion is fixed. ○ Not live yet
Templar
Net buffTemplar gets the biggest overhaul of this patch. Close to sixty lines of changes are dedicated to this class alone, more than every other affected class combined. The verdict is a net buff, with a real tradeoff attached.
The change that shapes everything else is the Oath Chain stack cap, cut from 20 to 10. Once you hit that cap, you can no longer stack new Oaths. Grey, the Release Lead, explains that this limit now forces you to choose your Oaths intentionally and apply the right amount for the situation you’re in. The effect will be most noticeable in AoE fights, where stacking every Oath without thinking no longer works.
On damage, Scourgebane hits nearly twice as hard and always crits Undead enemies, and Divine Fury now strikes an entire group of enemies instead of a chain limited to 5 targets. Spell power and attack power scaling also go up on most of Templar’s core spells, and four more spells get their base damage raised by roughly 33% to 50% across all their ranks.
On resources, Warrior of Tyr procs on almost every hit and generates twice as much Energy, and Calm Combatant gains attack power and unlocks new Armor penetration based on your Intellect.
Several talents change what they do rather than simply getting stronger. Argent Blade no longer extends the duration of your Oath Chain and instead triggers Scourgebane. Blessing of Aggramar is completely reworked around your stacked Oaths.
Grey sums up the intent behind the rework. Templar’s floor is raised, with many interactions and base abilities buffed, but the ceiling stays very high for players who play it well. You will no longer need insane RNG to play your specialization effectively, and the team will monitor live realms for further adjustments. A fix also corrects the Martial Training tooltip, which was not mentioning its 100% Weapon Damage bonus to Scarlet Hammer.
What goes up
- ▲Scourgebane now always critically strikes Undead enemies. Its base damage increases by 100%, with an additional 50% Weapon Damage.
- ▲Legacy of the Silverhand increases Scourgebane’s critical strike damage by 25%, up from 15%.
- ▲The base duration of Oath Chain increases from 10 to 15 seconds.
- ▲The duration of Condemn increases from 15 to 21 seconds.
- ▲The duration of Blade of Faith increases from 21 to 30 seconds.
- ▲Warrior of Tyr now procs on 100% of hits, up from 20%, and generates 10 Energy instead of 5.
- ▲Divine Stand’s base threat gained increases from 110% to 150%.
- ▲Calm Combatant goes from 30% to 50% of your attack power, and now also increases your Armor penetration by 50% of your Intellect.
- ▲Divine Fury now strikes all enemies around you instead of a chain limited to 5 targets, with 275 additional base damage.
- ▲Divine Fury’s spell power scaling increases from 45% to 85%.
- ▲Fury of Aggramar now also reduces the cooldown of your Librams.
- ▲Might of Aggramar now also works with Condemn.
- ▲One With The Light now also works with Divine Force.
- ▲Condemnation now allows Condemn to critically strike, and the One Punch Man talent also increases Condemn’s damage.
- ▲Blade Sermon now also gives a 10/20% chance for Zealotry to trigger twice.
- ▲The per stack bonus Zealotry grants to Upheaval increases from 5% to 10%.
- ▲Blade of Faith’s spell power scaling increases from 20% to 30%, and its attack power scaling from 10% to 15%.
- ▲Reckoning’s attack power scaling increases from 17.5% to 23.45%.
- ▲Righteous Upheaval‘s spell power scaling increases from 28.125% to 52%, and its attack power scaling from 34.375% to 36.8125%.
- ▲Blade of Faith’s flat damage is raised by roughly 50% across its nine ranks, from 17 to 26 at rank 1 and from 137 to 206 at rank 9.
- ▲Reckoning’s flat damage is raised by roughly 33% across its seven ranks, from 27-32 to 36-43 at rank 1 and from 124-160 to 166-214 at rank 7.
- ▲Sacred Swing‘s flat damage is raised by roughly 45% across its six ranks, from 9 to 13 at rank 1 and from 192 to 278 at rank 6.
- ▲Sacred Swing’s Weapon Damage also increases across its six ranks, from 125% to 140% at rank 1 and from 150% to 180% at rank 6.
- ▲Righteous Upheaval’s flat damage is raised by roughly 35% across its seven ranks, from 53-76 to 72-103 at rank 1 and from 488-653 to 659-882 at rank 7.
What goes down
- ▼The maximum number of Oath stacks drops from 20 to 10. Once you hit that cap, you can no longer stack any more.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Argent Blade no longer extends the duration of your Oath Chain. It now triggers Scourgebane instead.
- ◆Every extension to Oath Chain now increases its duration by 20%, instead of adding a flat 5 seconds.
- ◆Divine Fury now transforms Vindication instead of Titanstrike.
- ◆Blessing of Aggramar is reworked. It now refreshes the duration of an active Blade of Faith on all nearby enemies when you use an Oath Breaker with at least 10 stacks of Oath Chain.
- ◆The Templar’s Might talent swaps places with the Holy Tempest and Whirling Tempest switch node.
- ◆Greater Crusader’s Oath is renamed Greater Gift of Fervor.
- ◆A fix corrects the Martial Training tooltip, which was not mentioning its 100% Weapon Damage bonus to Scarlet Hammer.
Pyromancer
Net buffPyromancer gets a clear buff this patch, split across its two specializations, Draconic and Incineration.
The most structural change hits Aspect of Time. Its damage will be calculated from the first cast for every following trigger, instead of a percentage of each recast. The team states this is roughly a 60%+ buff at maximum recast count once it goes live.
Six spells also climb across their full rank range, gaining somewhere between roughly 15% and 40% damage depending on the spell. Both periodic and direct damage get touched, from the lowest rank to the highest.
Both trees also get position swaps and new synergies. One talent will grant intellect equal to your critical strike rating, another spell unlocks a new trigger source, and Incineration sees two talents swap places and behavior during Fired Up.
What goes up
- ▲Aspect of Time’s damage will be calculated from the first cast for all subsequent triggers, instead of a percentage of each re-cast. Roughly a 60%+ buff at maximum recast count. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Aspect of Time now deals 40% of the damage dealt, up from 30%.
- ▲Blackflight Resurgence value increased to 50%, up from 25%.
- ▲Timed Attacks now also increases Flare Bolt damage by 10/20%.
- ▲Echo of Nozdormu gets roughly a 20% damage increase across its ten ranks, from 120-139 to 144-167 at rank 1 and from 1081-1235 to 1297-1482 at rank 10.
- ▲Flare Bolt gets roughly an 18% damage increase across its ten ranks, from 19-23 to 22-27 at rank 1 and from 572-626 to 675-739 at rank 10.
- ▲Destroyer’s Maw gets roughly a 40% damage increase across its seven ranks, from 103-112 to 144-157 at rank 1 and from 760-814 to 1064-1140 at rank 7.
- ▲Blaze gets roughly a 25% periodic damage increase across its eight ranks, from 26 to 33 at rank 1 and from 277 to 346 at rank 8.
- ▲Ignite gets roughly a 15% periodic damage increase across its thirteen ranks, from 22 to 25 at rank 1 and from 221-288 to 254-331 at rank 13.
- ▲Firefall gets roughly a 30% damage increase across its seven ranks, from 79-88 to 107-119 at rank 1 and from 690-744 to 832-904 at rank 7.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Dragon’s Edge will increase your intellect equal to your critical strike rating. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Draconic Tempest will also be able to trigger from Lava Shard. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Timed Attacks and Agonizing Burns swap positions in the Draconic tree.
- ◆The positions of Melting Point and Fiery Passion are swapped. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Fiery Passion will also let critical strikes with Explode and Flames of Neltharion during Fired Up spread your periodic damage effects to a nearby enemy, up to one enemy per cast. ○ Not live yet
Guardian
Net buffGuardian gets a clear buff this patch, driven by a straight doubling of two stat conversion passives rather than by rank scaling.
Shield Training now converts 20% of Strength into Block Rating, up from 10% before this patch. Experienced Combatant follows the same path and converts 40% of Strength into Attack Power, up from 20%. Both passives simply double their conversion rate. Tactical Combat rounds it out with a higher block value across its two ranks.
Four spells also climb across their full rank range, gaining somewhere between roughly 28% and 40% damage depending on the spell, from the lowest rank to the highest.
A fix also lands on the Gladiator specialization’s passive.
What goes up
- ▲Shield Training converts 20% of Strength into Block Rating, up from 10%.
- ▲Experienced Combatant converts 40% of Strength into Attack Power, up from 20%.
- ▲Tactical Combat gets a higher block value across its two ranks, from 8% to 10% at rank 1 and from 15% to 20% at rank 2.
- ▲Ram gets roughly a 32% flat damage increase across its nine ranks, from 9 to 12 at rank 1 and from 374 to 494 at rank 9.
- ▲Pulverize gets roughly a 28% flat damage increase across its eight ranks, from 3 to 4 at rank 1 and from 380 to 439 at rank 8.
- ▲Broad Sweep gets roughly a 40% flat damage increase across its seven ranks, from 12 to 17 at rank 1 and from 112 to 157 at rank 7.
- ▲Centurion Strike gets roughly a 30 percentage point weapon damage increase across its six ranks, from 110% to 145% at rank 1 and from 210% to 275% at rank 6.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆The Gladiator specialization’s passive is fixed. ○ Not live yet
Necromancer
BalancedThe Necromancer stays balanced this patch. A big bug purge offsets two corrections that weaken the class.
Necromancer Minions were dealing too much damage in PvP and ignoring gear resilience. The bug is fixed, cutting their power against other players.
The team also corrects a miscommunication from the previous patch. Corpse Explosion’s cooldown was wrongly announced at 30 seconds, the real applied value is 60 seconds, a much heavier nerf than players believed.
Five fixes also close out report threads on inconsistent spell ranks, a charge that wasn’t generating, and runes with no effect.
What goes down
- ▼Necromancer Minions were dealing too much damage in PvP and ignoring gear resilience. The issue is fixed.
- ▼Corpse Explosion’s cooldown is confirmed at 60 seconds. The previous patch wrongly announced 30 seconds, the real value is twice as long.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Nine reports were closed over the same issue. Grim Mandate gave inconsistent ranks, with Rank 2 granting less spell power than Rank 1. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Corpse Explosion wasn’t working correctly and had no scaling by rank. The issue is fixed. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Charges for Diabolical weren’t generating. They generate again. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Profane runes weren’t boosting Blight damage. They do now. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Other minor fixes round out the list for the Necromancer. ○ Not live yet
Barbarian
Net buffThe Barbarian gets the sharpest buff of this patch, carried by the biggest bug purge in this chapter.
Twenty-three closed reports all pointed to the same issue. Spirit of the Hunt kept turning off on its own or got cancelled by several other class abilities. This is the record for this patch, well ahead of every other fix.
Whirling Advance now has 2 charges, with a 6 second recharge. The team says it will keep monitoring the Barbarian’s mobility in PvP.
A fix also stops you from refreshing a major defensive buff for nothing, a difference the team illustrates with a before/after comparison at 100% crit.
What goes up
- ▲Whirling Advance now has 2 charges, with a 6 second recharge. The team says it will keep monitoring the Barbarian’s mobility in PvP. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Twenty-three closed reports all pointed to the same issue. Spirit of the Hunt would turn off randomly, drop in PvP, or get cancelled by Whirling Advance, Dauntless, Utter Devastation, Maximum Carnage, Unbridled Rage, or Every Man for Himself. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆A fix touches Outrage and Bloodthirsty. You can no longer extend the duration for nothing, the addition only counts now if it grants full value. Grey posted a before/after comparison at 100% crit to show it.
Felsworn
BalancedThe Felsworn is balanced this patch, with a single change, but it’s a full rework of its identity.
Doomstride loses its mobility. It no longer refreshes Chaos Rush charges, so it no longer grants extra dashes.
In exchange, at 100% health, you resist the next curse or magic effect cast on you with 100% odds, once every 10 seconds. The class trades mobility for magic defense.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Doomstride is reworked. It no longer grants an extra Chaos Rush charge, it instead offers an anti-curse and anti-magic synergy. While at 100% health, you have a 100% chance to resist the next curse or magic effect cast on you, once every 10 seconds. ○ Not live yet
Cultist
BalancedThe Cultist stays balanced this patch. A solid power gain on the Heretic side offsets a duration nerf on Black Blood.
Heretic’s level 50 passive now grants 2.5 attack power per critical strike rating, half a point more than Strength, while still increasing your critical strike chance.
Godblade gains 5% damage against monsters.
Black Blood now lasts 12 seconds instead of 15, and now always prioritizes players over pets, a clarification rather than a nerf.
What goes up
- ▲Godblade gains 5% damage against monsters. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Heretic’s level 50 passive grants 2.5 attack power per critical strike rating, half a point more than Strength, while still increasing your critical strike chance. ○ Not live yet
What goes down
- ▼Black Blood now lasts 12 seconds, down from 15. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Black Blood now always prioritizes players over pets. ○ Not live yet
Stormbringer
Net buffStormbringer gets a clean buff, entirely aimed at damage against monsters.
Lightning gains 8% damage and scaling against monsters, and Arm of Thorim stacks another 10% on top. Maelstrom follows with 11%.
The team is keeping an eye on that last spec. It warns that plenty of Molten Core targets will be vulnerable to Maelstrom damage, and more tuning may follow.
What goes up
- ▲Lightning gets all its ability damage and scaling increased by 8% against monsters. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Arm of Thorim gets 10% extra damage against monsters, on top of the Lightning bonus. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Maelstrom gets all its ability damage and scaling increased by 11% against monsters. ○ Not live yet
Runemaster
Net buffRunemaster gains no raw power this patch, but you finally get a class that works as intended. Eight fixes land at once, the second-biggest bug purge after Barbarian.
Three of them touch Warpdagger. The error message you saw when casting it was wrong, its interaction with roots did not work, and an exploit let you escape the Temple of Kotmogu with the spell. That last one is a PvP fix, not a comfort fix.
Three more fix numbers that displayed wrong. The absorption you saw was calculated incorrectly, Granite Shield showed the wrong amount, and a talent tooltip did not match the buff actually applied.
Echoes of Eternity gets its own effect back after having Runelord merged into it by mistake, Frost Spectre recognizes the Frozen status again, and Windbreaker gets its interaction with Frost Spectre fixed.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Echoes of Eternity had Runelord merged into it by mistake. The spell gets its own effect back. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Calculated absorption was incorrect, Granite Shield showed the wrong amount, and a talent tooltip did not match the buff actually applied. All three are fixed. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Three fixes touch Warpdagger. The error message shown when casting it was wrong, its interaction with roots did not work, and an exploit let players escape the Temple of Kotmogu with the spell. That last one is a PvP fix, not a comfort fix. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Several minor fixes touch various abilities, with no further detail given by the source. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Frost Spectre recognizes the Frozen status again. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Windbreaker gets its interaction with Frost Spectre fixed. ○ Not live yet
Sun Cleric
Net buffSun Cleric is a clean buff, driven by a damage bump and two quality-of-life fixes.
Piety gains 5% damage against monsters. Ancient Rites finally restores the right amount of maximum mana, between 1% and 3% depending on rank, instead of a broken value.
Sanctified, from Blessings, now refunds the base mana cost. During Vow of Dawn, the refund stays constant, it no longer drops.
What goes up
- ▲Piety gets all its ability damage and scaling increased by 5% against monsters. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Ancient Rites now correctly restores 1%, 2% or 3% maximum mana depending on rank. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Sanctified, from Blessings, now refunds the base mana cost. During Vow of Dawn, the refund no longer drops.
Ranger
Net buffRanger gets a clean buff, one single line but the biggest one in this patch.
Farstrider gains 25% damage and scaling against monsters. That’s the largest PvE damage bonus in this patch, well ahead of the 5% to 11% other specs get.
What goes up
- ▲Farstrider gets all its ability damage and scaling increased by 25% against monsters, the biggest PvE bonus in this patch. ○ Not live yet
Witch Doctor
Net buffWitch Doctor gets a clean buff, centered on Brewing’s healing.
Brewing gets all its healing increased by 20% in PvE. Hexplosion is fixed, it was only working halfway.
Grey also teases an idea still on the table, not applied yet. A « Growing Vine » mechanic would make each heal from Mojo Beam sprout out to more group members, and those new heals would sprout out again.
What goes up
- ▲Brewing gets all its healing increased by 20% in PvE. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Hexplosion is fixed, it was only working halfway. ○ Not live yet
Knight of Xoroth
Net buffKnight of Xoroth gets a clean buff, two short and symmetrical lines.
War and Hellfire each gain 5% ability damage and scaling against monsters.
What goes up
- ▲War gets all its ability damage and scaling increased by 5% against monsters. ○ Not live yet
- ▲Hellfire gets all its ability damage and scaling increased by 5% against monsters. ○ Not live yet
Tinker
Net buffTinker gets a clean buff, one damage bump and one core fix.
Demolition gains 5% ability damage and scaling against monsters.
Scientific Nature is fixed. The talent only boosted spell critical strike, it is also meant to boost healing power.
What goes up
- ▲Demolition gets all its ability damage and scaling increased by 5% against monsters. ○ Not live yet
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Scientific Nature is fixed. The talent only boosted spell critical strike, it is also meant to boost healing power. ○ Not live yet
Witch Hunter
Net buffWitch Hunter gets only one change this patch, but it’s a full reimplementation, not a simple fix. If you played Rampaging Hounds, you know it hit poorly in cleave. The spell did not always cleave, did not affect Lesser Shadow Hounds, and hit your primary target twice.
The new version lets Lesser Shadow Hounds cleave, and that cleave now triggers Shadow Rage damage. In exchange, your primary target is no longer hit twice. It’s an AoE gain traded for a single-target loss.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Rampaging Hounds is reimplemented. Lesser Shadow Hounds now cleave and that cleave triggers Shadow Rage damage, but the primary target is no longer hit twice. ○ Not live yet
Starcaller
Net buffStarcaller closes six bug reports on the same spell this patch. If you used Asteroid Belt, you already know the effect was unreliable. It did not always refresh, sometimes disappeared, and would turn off for your whole group through the group finder tool.
The spell finally becomes reliable after this cleanup.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Six separate reports about Asteroid Belt close at once. The effect was unreliable, did not always refresh, sometimes disappeared, and would turn off for the whole group through the group finder tool. ○ Not live yet
Reaper
Net buffReaper closes two fixes this patch. Spectral Scythe was not working correctly for you, and Domination specialization scythes were not hitting in an area as intended.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆Spectral Scythe was not working correctly. The spell is fixed. ○ Not live yet
- ◆Domination specialization scythes were not cleaving. They now do. ○ Not live yet
Venomancer
BalancedVenomancer gets a single fix this patch, and it’s actually a small loss if you played around it. The Vizier specialization let you take Blight Antidote as early as level 13, which was not intended. That is no longer possible, the talent goes back to its intended level.
What goes down
- ▼Blight Antidote is no longer accessible at level 13 for the Vizier specialization. ○ Not live yet
Primalist
BalancedPrimalist gets only one fix this patch, on the Earthmother’s Pendant item. The source does not say what was broken for you, only that it’s fixed now.
Reworks and quality of life
- ◆A fix touches the Earthmother’s Pendant item. The source does not specify what was broken. ○ Not live yet
Word from the Ascension teamGrey, Release Lead, shipped the Templar rework with this note: the changes roll out to live realms shortly, and the team stays available for the adjustments that follow. A good share of this patch is still waiting on the next realm restart, and those lines are flagged as such in every section.
In other words, the numbers in this article are the announced ones. Some will still move, and one lead is already on the table for the Witch Doctor. The Ascension hub tracks changes as they land, and if you play in French, the AscensionFR addon translates the interface and spells directly in game.
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