Devastation Evoker Guide
Class Changes
Here are the Devastation Evoker changes on the Patch 12.1 PTR.
Developers’ notes: Devastation’s Apex talent, while powerful, hasn’t been as gameplay-affecting as we had hoped. We’ve redesigned the Rank 3 effect to override Dragonrage with a limited number of uses of a new, powerful spell, Unbound Flame, once Dragonrage is over. Additionally, Rising Fury and Risen Fury have been streamlined into one buff effect. Please give Unbound Flame a try on the PTR, and let us know how this new spell feels!
Rising Fury (Rank 3) has been redesigned – When Dragonrage ends, Rising Fury persists for 4 seconds per stack, and Dragonrage becomes Unbound Flame. Unbound Flame may be cast 4 times before Dragonrage finishes its cooldown.Unbound Flame – Exhale destructive flame, critically striking for Fire damage to your target and nearby enemies. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets. Causes 1 Essence Burst. Instant cast and 25-yard range.
Tyranny has been updated – Now interacts with Unbound Flame, causing Unbound Flame to always gain the maximum benefit of Mastery: Giantkiller regardless of the targets’ health.
Living Flame healing increased by 25%.
Verdant Embrace healing increased by 25%.
Emerald Blossom healing increased by 25%.
Risen Fury has been removed.
Devastation Evoker's Apex talent Rising Fury has received some love in 12.1. The new version of this talent converts Dragonrage into a new ability, Unbound Flame, that deals AoE damage with a guaranteed Crit and grants Essence Burst. This ability has 4 uses and can only be used after Dragonrage ends. This design is certainly more interactive, but long-time Devastation Evokers are likely to be feeling déjà vu right about now. This is essentially if old Shattering Star and Engulf mixed, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Unbound Flame's main difference from its predecessors is in the availability. Unbound Flame's damage is decent per use, but it doesn't make a huge difference overall due to the limited availability. For reference, it ended up only accounting for <5% of my damage in my Single Target tests. Unless something changes, we will likely end up treating it the same way we treated old Shattering Star in optimized gameplay, ideally in the 20 second damage amp that follows Dragonrage. This ability also scales with Mastery: Giantkiller, which is good because it does not scale with Critical Strike (since it always Crits).
Overall, this seems like an improvement from the old Apex, but I can't help but notice that this new design continues the trend of Devastation Design being "backloaded" which seems at odds with the initial concept of the spec and its Mastery. If Devastation is destined to have long-lasting cooldowns and powerful abilities that can only be used after, it might be time to rethink the Mastery and what the spec is allegedly good at.
Tier Set
Devastation's Season 2 tier set has also been revealed.
2-Set Bonus: Shattering Star’s damage is increased by 150%, and it always casts as if you had reached maximum empower level.
4-Set Bonus: Causality reduces the remaining cooldown of your empower spells by an additional 0.1 seconds each time the effect occurs. Eternity Surge deals 10% increased damage.
This tier bonus significantly buffs your passive damage from Shattering Stars, and Scintillation by proxy. It also makes Disintegrate 20% more effective in reducing the cooldown of Empowers (Eternity Surge and Fire Breath). Disintegrate was already very powerful compared to Pyre in cleave scenarios.
This tier set will likely push us to using the Shattering Stars talents, and using Pyre less. A buff to Pyre (or Feed the Flames pathing) is likely in order. You do feel the power of this tier bonus despite it being mostly passive, and that's why I'd call it a success.
