An Inside Look at the Upcoming Augmentation Evoker Changes
On Friday, July 21th, a slew of changes and bug fixes were announced for several classes and specializations for the upcoming server maintenance on July 27th. One of the classes receiving “nerfs” is the brand new support spec: Augmentation Evoker.
Although some players were quick to point out that these nerfs seemed severe or appeared to be taking the spec in the wrong direction towards DPS versus support, there is usually more to Augmentation than meets the eye.
As of Patch 10.1.5, Augmentation Evokers represent 6.4% of the total Mythic+ Population
Today, let’s take an inside look at the implications of the upcoming Augmentation Evoker changes in PvE content!
Table of Contents
Changes for Augmentation in Mythic+
CLOSE AS CLUTCHMATES NERF AND BUG FIX
Let’s start with Blizzard’s change to Close as Clutchmates. For anyone who doesn’t know what this ability is, it’s a tuning knob that makes Ebon Might and Breath of Eons more effective in non-raid groups. Currently, this is set to 40%, and the upcoming change will cut this in half to 20%. Although this may seem like a drastic nerf at first glance, the massive main-stat buff that Augmentation Evoker offers has been enhancing certain DPS specs disproportionately to one another. Although Augmentation Evoker is the first support spec in WoW and some specializations are bound to benefit more from their buffs more than others based on class design, with only one support class in the game at this time, the gap has been quite large.
Apparently, there was a bug with Augmentation’s Ebon Might as well, where it would not increase the damage of periodic spells, such as Fire Breath’s damage over time effect. With this bug soon to be resolved, it serves to slightly offset the impact of the nerf to Close as Clutchmates.
FATE MIRROR NERF
Fate Mirror is the capstone Augmentation talent that enhances Prescience. Prescience gives the Evoker’s affected allies 3% critical strike chance and, when talented into Fate Mirror, also gives that ally a percentage chance for their damage or healing to be echoed again. With the upcoming nerf, the chance of the echo’s proc will be going from 20% to 15%. Therefore, this represents a 25% nerf to the proc chance of Fate Mirror.
CHANGES TO AUGMENTATION’S DAMAGE OUTPUT
Next, let’s take a look at the upcoming changes to Ebon Might and Eruption.
Given that Augmentation is currently classified as a DPS spec rather than its own new support role, the amount of damage given to players via buffs seemed disproportionate to the damage that the Evoker itself actually dealt, which is looking to be addressed by Blizzard’s other upcoming changes to the spec. Although we may still see a shift in the future if/when the support role is differentiated from DPS, the way that the spec fits into the current context of the game feels as though it could have a little more agency to do its own damage rather than rely upon solely buffing other players at this time.
This way, the buffs to Ebon Might and Eruption as well as the bug fix to Close as Clutchmates, it looks as though Augmentation may not be losing as much “net damage” for the group as it may seem in the Close as Clutchmates nerf. Let’s take a quick look at those two changes.
The upcoming change to Ebon Might doubles the amount of damage it gives to the Evoker’s damaging spells, from 10% to 20%. The upcoming change to Eruption, Augmentation’s essence spender, will increase its damage by 40%. These two changes combined should add a significant amount of damage back in the form of the Augmentation Evoker’s personal damage.
CHANGES TO AUGMENTATION’S UTILITY
When an Augmentation Evoker is in Black Attunement, the Evoker and their 4 nearest allies have 4% more health. Activating Obsidian Scales amplifies this to 16%. However, the upcoming changes also included a nerf to Black Attunement, changing this amplification from 16% to 10%, resulting in a 37.5% nerf to this spell’s effect. This means that, in dungeons especially, there will be a noticeable decrease in survivability to the whole party than was previously enjoyed.
IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGES FOR MYTHIC+
According to Icy Veins Augmentation Evoker guide writer Saeldur in the Evoker class Discord, the changes coming on July 27th are estimated to impact the spec’s damage by approximately -4% overall in Mythic+.
As represented by the numbers in a Warcraft Log from Ququlcoatl, Saeldur estimates the impact as follows:
Although it is difficult to say for certain until we see the changes go live, Augmentation Evokers have been so strong that a ~4% damage nerf is unlikely to affect the spec in a notable way, nor is it likely to shift the balance of the current meta group composition as seen in The Great Push this past weekend and on the live Leaderboard.
Changes for Augmentation in Raiding
In a Raiding context, the sum of these changes end up netting an overall increase in power for Augmentation Evokers. According to Saeldur’s estimations shown above, Augmentation Evokers are likely to see a 5% power increase in a raid environment. Since Close as Clutchmates only applies to non-raid content as it is, the 50% nerf to the effect and the bug fix are negligible in a raid setting. Additionally, the 25% nerf to the proc chance of Fate Mirror will be offset by the personal damage buff component of Ebon Might, as well as the 40% buff to Eruption’s damage output.
Conversely, Augmentation Evokers will be providing slightly less utility in a raid setting, as the nerf to Black Attunement is also in effect during raids, resulting in the Augmentation Evoker and its four nearest allies receiving 6% less maximum health when Black Attunement is amplified than it has been providing pre-nerf.
Closing Thoughts
Augmentation Evoker is still likely to remain one of the most sought after specs in Raiding and Mythic+ for the foreseeable future of Dragonflight Season 2. Even though the tweaks to Augmentation appear to be in favor of giving them more direct damage output and less support capabilities, the majority of their damage is still in the form of support as it currently stands.
In the words of rank 1 Augmentation Evoker, Onezy (Bigbirdo):
“I think the changes are going in the right direction for the most part. I like that they addressed the Clutchmate passive, and I think a lot of good balancing can go into the game if more classes had that same option for different balancing in Mythic+ vs. Raiding. Overall, Augmentation will still be bis if they can be competitive DPS while still bringing the amount of support they currently add to the group.”
Ultimately, we love Augmentation Evoker so far and hope to see an official support role added to the game soon with more playable specs so that the role’s value can be further differentiated from that of a DPS.
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About the Authors
Kubie has played WoW for 13 years, achieving Cutting Edge during several tiers. Kubie enjoys meeting new players and making the community a better place, one person at a time. In 2016, he began streaming on Twitch — most notably, Heroes of the Storm. Kubie went on to become a coach for the HGC team No Tomorrow. Throughout his career in esports, Kubie has been an integral part of several support teams and is excited to bring his passion for gaming and community to the Raider.IO team.
VitaminP (VP) is the Content Manager of Raider.IO and has worked for the organization since the formation of the News Section in November 2018. Although VP is currently focused on pursuing her Masters of Business Administration, she specializes in tanking classes and has loved doing competitive Mythic+ on and off since early Legion.
