According to the latest news, Tank classes in WoW Midnight will be buffed in Patch 12.0.7.
This is quite surprising, because in past Patches, nerfing powerful classes has often been Blizzard's usual method for adjusting class balance. However, in Patch 12.0.7, they surprisingly didn't nerf the strongest Tank class in the current Patch - Brewmaster Monk - but instead buffed some of the weaker Tank classes.
This article will explain in detail how Patch 12.0.7 buffs Tank classes, helping you better prepare for the new Patch.
Blood Death Knight
Of all Tanks, Blood Death Knight's core mechanics are unique and perplexing for new players. This is because in WoW Midnight, Tank classes typically use abilities in advance, attempting to mitigate damage with shields or armor before the boss's attacks arrive.
But Blood Death Knight doesn't do this. Its core logic is called reactive damage reduction, which means first using its extremely high health to Tank damage, and then using its signature skill, Death Strike, to heal itself.
This rollercoaster-like experience of its health bar is thrilling, but it also leads to a fatal weakness: if the enemy enters their burst phase during Blood Death Knight's Death Strike cooldown, its health can often be reduced to almost zero within seconds, making it very easy to be killed instantly.
In the past, many players would use Gold to acquire numerous healing potions or wear equipment that increases health before entering a dungeon to cope with this situation.
However, in WoW Midnight Patch 12.0.7, Blizzard did three things. First, the parry chance of Dancing Rune Weapon has been increased from 20% to 25%, meaning Blood Death Knight can now completely block an attack.
Second, the stamina bonus from Blood Enhancement has been increased from 35% to 40%, further raising the ceiling of his base survivability. Third, the healing effect of Death Strike has been enhanced from 5% to 15%, resulting in a higher percentage of full health restored with each heal.
It's clear that these changes target Blood Death Knight's greatest weakness and enhance his survivability. However, as a precaution, Blood Death Knight players should still bring plenty of healing potions obtained from WoW Midnight Gold before entering dungeons, as his class characteristics make him easily killed, a point Blizzard hasn't changed.
Vengeance Demon Hunter
While Vengeance Demon Hunter is friendly to new WoW Midnight players, it has consistently underperformed in high-difficulty dungeons. In fact, its biggest problem stems from the fragility of its basic defensive skills - it often gets beaten up by enemies because of this.
In response, Blizzard made several adjustments in Patch 12.0.7: First, the damage reduction effect of Demonic Wards was increased from 8% to 12%, meaning that Vengeance Demon Hunter will have additional damage reduction regardless of their location;
Second, the stamina increase from Thick Skin was increased from 50% to 55%; third, the overall effectiveness of Fel Blood was increased by a full 20%.
Finally, the damage reduction provided by Void Reaver's Frailty effect was increased from 4% to 5%. If you've played this class, you'll know that Frailty is a curse your attacks inflict on the target, granting you damage reduction whenever the target of attacks you.
Protection Paladin
The changes to Protection Paladin are particularly noteworthy. First, Ardent Defender was already a powerful trump card for Protection Paladin, and after this change, the duration of this skill was extended from 8 seconds to 12 seconds, and the damage reduction effect jumped from 20% to 30%. This is fantastic news for Protection Paladin enthusiasts.
Secondly, Sentinel's duration has been increased from 16 seconds to 20 seconds.
Thirdly, Blessing of Dusk has become more interesting and counterintuitive: its damage reduction increases as your health decreases, and after WoW Midnight Patch 12.0.7, the cap of this increase has expanded from 10% to 20%.
While Tanks generally don't intentionally lower their health in dungeons - because that's a recipe for ins1tant death - the maximum benefit of Blessing of Dusk often remains theoretical. However, experimenting with this playstyle is worthwhile.
Finally, the stamina increase from Protection Paladin's Sanctified Plates skill has been adjusted from 5%/10% to 7%/15%. Stamina is essentially base health for Tanks, so this change effectively strengthens their health pool.
Read More: WoW Midnight 12.0.7 Overview: Raids, Lore, and Gameplay Improvements
Protection Warrior
Protection Warrior has always excelled at dealing with melee physical attacks, but his defense is less robust against magical abilities and damage-over-time spells. Therefore, the main changes in WoW Midnight Patch 12.0.7 focus on increasing his magic resistance and providing minor damage reduction.
Specifically, firstly, Blizzard increased his Fight Through the Flames magic damage reduction from 4% to 6%; secondly, Phalanx's damage reduction was increased from 5% to 8%; and thirdly, the overall effect of Ignore Pain was increased by 8%.
While these changes enhance Protection Warrior's overall defensive capabilities, his defense may still be insufficient for battles with purely physical attacks. Players will still need to employ other methods - such as wearing gear obtained with WoW Midnight Gold that increases character defense or health - to prevent their characters from being killed.
However, there's a hidden highlight: Phalanx's damage reduction effect is stackable, and this stacking theoretically guarantees near 100% uptime - because as long as you play normally, you can repeatedly refresh your own damage reduction buff.
Therefore, the changes in Patch 12.0.7 can still improve the weaknesses of Protection Warrior to some extent.
The above are the enhancements made to Tank classes in WoW Midnight Patch 12.0.7. Two Tanks were not mentioned: Brewmaster Monk, who was already very strong and received no changes; and Guardian Druid, who also received virtually no changes and is therefore omitted.
