Xaryu reads a big WoW Forever class patch: what the client backs up

2026-10-17 · ForeverDB

Xaryu, a community creator, reads out a large set of WoW Forever patch notes and calls them some of the best in the game's history. We checked the ability and talent names and numbers against the Forever beta client. Most of the mage, paladin, priest and shaman points line up with the client; a few behaviours and costs aren't in our data yet, so for those we have only Blizzard's notes for now.

This is a community video, not a Blizzard post. Xaryu reads Blizzard's own beta development notes (updated October 26) and reacts; the changes are Blizzard's, the reactions are Xaryu's. The video covers the October 15 notes, while the Mage spell and talent changes below are checked against the later 28 October client build 1.60.1.70658. The captions mangle a few names ("Iceland" for Ice Lance, "cona cold" for Cone of Cold, "Frell" for Furor); we use the game's names.

Xaryu says they read the patch notes the night before and could not wait for stream, then goes through them on camera, mostly the mage ones. They call it a huge patch and ask whether it is the best in the game's history. Below is each claim we can match to the client: where it agrees, where the client adds the level or a condition, and where our data cannot back up a number or behaviour.

The short version

• The Mage section gets the most attention. The client confirms a new Frost Blast Frost Blast at level 24, a rebuilt Arcane Blast Arcane Blast, a new Arcane Wrath Arcane Wrath, a new Ice Lance Ice Lance at level 20, and Missile Barrage Missile Barrage in the first Arcane row.
• For Paladins, Righteous Fury Righteous Fury's threat is 90% instead of 60%, as Xaryu says; the client also shows new Seal of Fury Seal of Fury and spell #1038 Salvation renamed from Blessing of Salvation.
• Priests have Devouring Plague Devouring Plague on a 24-second cooldown, and Shadow gains new buttons: Shadow Word: Death Shadow Word: Death, Dark Inspiration Dark Inspiration and Devouring Contagion Devouring Contagion.
• For Shamans, Chain Lightning Chain Lightning costs less, with new Earthbound Earthbound and Lava Burst Lava Burst in the fifth Elemental row.
• The client data cannot confirm Xaryu’s claims about wands and Auto Shot requiring you to stand still, Totemic Recall’s cost, or Grace of Air becoming “no longer exclusive”. These points appear in Blizzard’s October 15 development notes, but are not represented in the client data.

Claim by claim

Numbers are from the Forever beta client unless the row says our data does not carry them.

Mage: the headline changes

The mage block is the one Xaryu reads most closely. The biggest addition is Frost Blast Frost Blast, a level 24 spell in the client that Blizzard's notes say is meant to give mages what rank 1 Frostbolt downranking used to. Xaryu frames it as keeping the mage's core tool without gaming the ranks:

Rank one frostbolt always been a very core fundamental to mages kit, but it feels weird to game the system by using a rank one spell. Xaryu, The GREATEST Patch Notes in WoW Forever History (11:31)

Arcane Blast Arcane Blast is rebuilt: each cast gives 15% of your Intellect as spell damage, stacks up to 4, and lasts 15 sec from the first application. Blizzard's notes say its base damage and spell-power coefficients were reduced 40%, while its mana cost was unchanged; the stack still makes each Arcane Blast cost more. Alongside it is Arcane Wrath Arcane Wrath, a 16-point gold talent with a 3.5 sec cast and 6 sec cooldown that adds spell power equal to 5% of your maximum Mana to its damage calculation. Missile Barrage Missile Barrage is a two-rank talent in Arcane's first row, available from level 10; it can proc from Arcane Missiles hits as well as other qualifying spells. Xaryu wonders whether it is too strong that early.

For fire, Heating Up Heating Up now has Fire Blast feed it: the tooltip says it stacks to 3 and "Fire Blast grants an additional stack every time it deals damage". Critical Mass Critical Mass is now 5 ranks (10% crit at rank 5), and Fire Power Fire Power is 3 ranks giving 1% per fire effect, with "Effects which mix multiple schools of magic do not qualify" (level 35, above the beta cap).

For Frost, Ice Lance Ice Lance at level 20 deals 200% extra damage to Frozen targets. At level 35, Winter's Chill Winter's Chill builds up to five stacks that make your next Cone of Cold hit harder; Blizzard's October notes describe the redesigned talent and the stronger slow on the first four targets. The current client has since changed other Frost talents too: Elemental Precision is now three ranks for up to 6% Frost and Fire spell hit, Piercing Ice was removed, and Frost Warding now improves Ice Barrier and Frost Ward absorption while giving Frost Ward a chance to negate damage. See the 28 October client changes for those later file changes. On the Cone of Cold AoE change, Xaryu explains the reasoning:

Mages shouldn't be able to just farm infinite gold. Xaryu, The GREATEST Patch Notes in WoW Forever History (22:23)

Xaryu sums up the state of the mage rotation:

Mages are fine now in terms of their rotational complexity. Xaryu, The GREATEST Patch Notes in WoW Forever History (24:26)

Paladin

Xaryu reads the Righteous Fury threat change:

Righteous fury's holy damage threat gen increased by 90 was 60. Xaryu, The GREATEST Patch Notes in WoW Forever History (29:45)

The client agrees: Righteous Fury Righteous Fury increases Holy threat by 90% instead of 60%. There is a new Seal of Fury Seal of Fury (learned at level 10, rank 3 at level 26 in the client). spell #1038 Salvation is renamed from Blessing of Salvation, reduces threat by 30% and now lasts 1 hour; Xaryu also describes a raid-wide mass version, which our data does not carry. Reckoning Reckoning (level 30, within the cap) "Stores up to 4 extra attacks", matching the client tooltip.

Priest: Shadow gains buttons

Xaryu reads the Devouring Plague change:

Devouring plague reduced to 24 seconds. Xaryu, The GREATEST Patch Notes in WoW Forever History (30:57)

The client shows Devouring Plague Devouring Plague on a 24 second cooldown (Classic was 3 min). Shadow also gains a new Shadow Word: Death Shadow Word: Death at level 32 (18 sec cooldown, above the cap), a new Dark Inspiration Dark Inspiration at level 25 that gives your party Spirit, and a new Devouring Contagion Devouring Contagion at level 30 that spreads Devouring Plague to nearby enemies. Vampiric Embrace Vampiric Embrace is on a 30 second cooldown; Xaryu says it can no longer be resisted, which the client tooltip does not state.

Shaman: Elemental

The client confirms Chain Lightning Chain Lightning costs less (315 mana instead of 605 at rank 4). There is a new Earthbound Earthbound talent at level 25 that makes Earthbind immobilise for 5 sec, and Lava Burst Lava Burst sits in the fifth Elemental row (level 30), which Xaryu says it moved to. The client has a new Totemic Recall Totemic Recall; Xaryu mentions a silver-cost bug fix, which our data cannot confirm. Grace of Air Totem Grace of Air Totem now lasts 5 min (Classic was 2 min); Xaryu says the air totems are no longer exclusive, which is not in our data. He also calls Grounding Totem Grounding Totem's old behaviour a long-standing bug, which we cannot check.

Hunter, Druid and Rogue

For hunters, Xaryu welcomes the auto shot fix:

Autoshot now requires you to stand still. Xaryu, The GREATEST Patch Notes in WoW Forever History (7:34)

Our data has Auto Shot Auto Shot but not a stand-still rule, so we cannot confirm it. The client does have a new Summon Hawk Summon Hawk (level 25) that shares a cooldown with Arcane Shot, a new Sniper Shot Sniper Shot (level 40, above the cap) and a new Strider Kick Strider Kick (level 30). For druids, Xaryu mentions Furor, Omen of Clarity, Leader of the Pack going raid-wide and Shred moving to level 20 (from 22). The client backs three of them: Leader of the Pack Leader of the Pack now reaches "party or raid members" and covers only melee and ranged crit, Shred Shred rank 1 is learned at level 20 instead of 22, and Furor Furor no longer drops your stored Energy in Bear Form. The Omen of Clarity fix is behaviour our data does not show. For rogues, he notes Sap Sap no longer procs weapons and some poison fixes, which are not numbers we can verify.

Racials and the interface

Xaryu spends the opening on racial changes (War Stomp, Blood Fury, Touch of the Grave, Gnome's Eureka and more). These come from Blizzard's October 15 notes, and the client backs the numbers we can check: War Stomp War Stomp's cooldown is 1.5 min instead of 2, Blood Fury Blood Fury's is 3 min instead of 2, and Eureka! Eureka! is now an 8 sec buff. On the interface, Xaryu is happy with the new nameplates, unit frames, minimap borders and action bars. The client does carry "Unit Frames" and "Action Bars" options, a "Classic Style" setting and a "New Players" tutorial entry, so those features exist in the client. Behaviour like wands requiring you to stand still is not something our data shows.

Where the client and Xaryu differ

• Arcane Wrath: the October client confirms the 16-point gold talent Xaryu describes; it opens at level 25.
• Shadow Word: Death: Xaryu says the cooldown went to 18 from 12; that is a change between beta builds in Blizzard's notes, not a comparison with Classic. The client agrees on 18 seconds, though in our data build 1.60.1.70425 raised it from 15, not 12.
• Ice Lance: Xaryu reads "200 instead of 300"; that is a change between beta builds, not a comparison with Classic, and the client agrees: build 1.60.1.70425 changed the tooltip from 300% to 200% increased damage to Frozen targets.
• Later Mage changes: the October 28 client has additional Frost talent and Ice Barrier changes that came after Xaryu's video. The client files show their tooltip data; server-side behavior still needs in-game confirmation.
• Totemic Recall, Auto Shot standing still, Grace of Air no longer exclusive, Grounding Totem's old behaviour: these are in Blizzard's October 15 notes, but our client data does not carry those costs or behaviours, so we cannot confirm them.

More on our pages

• Warrior changes in the client and the Warrior talent calculator
• Rogue changes in the client and the Rogue talent calculator
• Druid changes in the client and the Druid talent calculator
• Mage changes found in the 28 October client build

Sources

• The GREATEST Patch Notes in WoW Forever History (Xaryu, YouTube)
• Mage: changes from Classic Era (ForeverDB, from the client)
• Priest: changes from Classic Era (ForeverDB, from the client)
• Shaman: changes from Classic Era (ForeverDB, from the client)