Update from October 1: When Warlock players were stressing that Soul Rot, the Night Fae pact skill, was too weak during the Shadowlands beta, they probably didn't expect the current reaction from the developers. Because in the current beta build, the Venthyr, Necrolord, and Kyrian pact skills have taken massive nerfs:

  • Venthyr'sImpending Cataclysm: The damage of the damaging cloud that hits everything in its path has been lowered from 100 percent spell power to 20 percent(!) . The DoT effect at the point of impact has also been halved.
  • Decimating Bolt of Nekorlords: The attack itself now only does damage equal to 120 percent of your spell power (previously 200 percent). The subsequent damage bonus for three uses of Soul Thief, Shadow Bolt, or Incinerate has been halved.
  • Scourging Obulus of the Kyrians: The immediate damage effect now only deals arcane damage equal to 60 percent of your spell power (previously 80 percent), while the subsequent DoT effect is based on 90 percent of spell power (previously 114 percent).

Accordingly, Soul Rot is hardly worse than the alternatives in the other three pacts. However, feedback on these changes in the official forum thread has been correspondingly negative.

06:20
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Original from September 24: Only a short while ago we reviewed the pact abilities for warlocks in WoW: Shadowlands, but already there are the next changes in the beta of the expansion. They cause a lot of annoyance in the camp of Necrolord supporters, while Nachtfae sorcerers are happy.

Night fae soul rot now more practical

Namely, in the official Blizzard forum, community manager Kaivax has revealed the adjustments for warlocks. Soul Rot will no longer consume health when cast and will do increased damage to the spell's primary target compared to the others.

Nerfs for Decimation Bolt of the Necrolords

Decimation Lightning, previously a favorite of many warlocks, will have to make do with significantly less DpS potential in the future. The developers have reduced the damage boost from the Necrolords' spell depending on the skill:

  • If an Affliction War lock uses Decimation Bolt, it will only increase the next use of Soul Thief (if selected as a talent), not the next three.
  • Destruction Warlocks with Fire and Brimstone as a talent get half as much bonus damage from Decimation Bolt.
  • Demonology War locks deal more damage from Decimation Bolt in the new build with both Shadow Bolt and Demon Bolt - in an upcoming build, the damage boost will only affect Demon Bolt.

While many Destruction Warlocks complain about the greatly shrunk damage potential, many Affliction Warlocks are also perplexed: why did the developers have to nerf a niche application with Soul Thief so much? Now, they say, the attack is once again barely an option. But there are also some players who welcome the nerfhammer - they had simply been overpowered.

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