Patch Notes 12/02/2026

[Mvl130]

Like I said in my previous post :

It was fairly easy to counter a WH using Sanctified Oil into restealth, all you had to do was use an AoE to set back the cast. One hit was enough to counter-play this escape, and since the ability no longer grants a speed boost, WH/WE can not really move away from the enemy, making it rather easy to be hit by an AoE.

It just required a good reaction time from the enemy, it also required of the WH/WE to have both cooldowns available. All of this combined made it enough to allow for that type of escape, this nerf you did is unecessary

Stealth classes are "all over the place" because stealth is the only tool available in this game to protect yourself from blob, the only thing this change does is make it easier for a whole warband to catch an isolated WH/WE, because obviously the game is not already rewarding enough winning by just outnumbering

I agree that groups of WH/WE can be a pain, mostly as they gank as three one guy, but this change does not fix that issue either ; def regen WE and super-burst BaL are the issues, and BaL received even more crit in previous patch, while regen WE are unchanged, so why are people happy about the classes getting nerfed in the wrong area ? Just because they are annoyed by stealth classes and take some petty pleasure into seeing some random nerf being applied on them, despite the fact the core problems remain unchanged (too much blob, too much burst, too much def-regen builds)

[Mvl130]

Regarding shield healers, what I notice in scenarios, is for example Runepriests stacking armor talismans, despite remaining in the backline, and greatly out-healing shield spec.

While with your shield spec, you are forced to invest into full strength talismans, because otherwise your healing output is non-existent. And despite this investment, you now deal low damage, because of this base heal change they made. You have as such lower defenses than backline healers, who heal for more while taking less risk : their healing output is more consistent, because they are not susceptible to kiting, snares or parry stacking do not affect their ability to heal, and receive less knockbacks and stuns because they are away from the melee train

There is not a single thing shield specs do better than backline healers, you die all the time, your healing output is weak and inconsistent, you no longer have assist damage, you steal a guard slot ; any WE hitting you with healing debuff poison is enough to make you 100% worthless, and it's easy for them to do so, because you are forced to be in melee

I mean what the hell is this

[eigner93]

I think i can speak on behalf of all slayers and choppas. Thank you for reverting the yellow change and making improvements to 2h specs. It was needed.

[ravezaar]

I think i can speak on behalf of all slayers and choppas. Thank you for reverting the yellow change and making improvements to 2h specs. It was needed.

no a revert would have bin to not let us have 25% less armor, so it was NOT a revert and class is still bottom tier

[Florian90210]

I think i can speak on behalf of all slayers and choppas. Thank you for reverting the yellow change and making improvements to 2h specs. It was needed.

no a revert would have bin to not let us have 25% less armor, so it was NOT a revert and class is still bottom tier

Art of the deal.
Make outrageous nerf, revert it a bit and peasants are happy again.

[lemao]

I think i can speak on behalf of all slayers and choppas. Thank you for reverting the yellow change and making improvements to 2h specs. It was needed.

no a revert would have bin to not let us have 25% less armor, so it was NOT a revert and class is still bottom tier

bottom tier when bad players play them

[Nelly74]

Like I said in my previous post :

It was fairly easy to counter a WH using Sanctified Oil into restealth, all you had to do was use an AoE to set back the cast. One hit was enough to counter-play this escape, and since the ability no longer grants a speed boost, WH/WE can not really move away from the enemy, making it rather easy to be hit by an AoE.

It just required a good reaction time from the enemy, it also required of the WH/WE to have both cooldowns available. All of this combined made it enough to allow for that type of escape, this nerf you did is unecessary

Stealth classes are "all over the place" because stealth is the only tool available in this game to protect yourself from blob, the only thing this change does is make it easier for a whole warband to catch an isolated WH/WE, because obviously the game is not already rewarding enough winning by just outnumbering

I agree that groups of WH/WE can be a pain, mostly as they gank as three one guy, but this change does not fix that issue either ; def regen WE and super-burst BaL are the issues, and BaL received even more crit in previous patch, while regen WE are unchanged, so why are people happy about the classes getting nerfed in the wrong area ? Just because they are annoyed by stealth classes and take some petty pleasure into seeing some random nerf being applied on them, despite the fact the core problems remain unchanged (too much blob, too much burst, too much def-regen builds)

No, quite simply because these classes are way too powerful and have far too many tools compared to their overall effectiveness (and I’m not even talking about endu/regen builds).
On top of that, I’d say stealth groups tend to attack in groups of five or six rather than two or three, without even giving low-level players a chance (which probably discourages quite a few of them — great idea for the long-term health of the server), preventing them from joining their WB even after having thoroughly farmer them.
But the request for a nerf has absolutely nothing to do with that situation , it’s only about how completely overpowered these classes are.

[ravezaar]

I think i can speak on behalf of all slayers and choppas. Thank you for reverting the yellow change and making improvements to 2h specs. It was needed.

no a revert would have bin to not let us have 25% less armor, so it was NOT a revert and class is still bottom tier

bottom tier when bad players play them

ok

[kpihuss]

Great patch! The change to DoK/priest is in the right direction, but still not enough imho. I have yet to try it, but even now I would not use soul infusion over another skill. The tooltip value is higher for sure, but the contribution of stats to hots is pitiful and you stil won't crit.

I believe a good step in fixing shield don/priest would be to make both soul infusion e khaine vigor scale on str and crit on melee crit upon slotting a shield. Actually, upon slotting a shield every heal should scale on str and crit on melee crit, but that may be too much.

I think the direction matters a lot here. A shield WP/DoK is not meant to be a caster healer, and this HoT approach is fundamentally a caster tool. Shield is supposed to be the “melee healer” archetype: you take the risk of being in the frontline, and your healing output is tied to actually hitting enemies (strike → heal, lifetaps/conversion, heal-on-hit), not to playing like a backline HoT bot.

So improving/adding a HoT as the main “fix” is a step in the opposite direction. It nudges the spec toward being a caster disguised with a shield, and that’s exactly what many of us who have played the spec don’t want. We want it to remain a melee healer — not a caster in plate with a shield.

Also, from a counterplay perspective: the way you punish/counter a shield WP/DoK is by disengaging from them. When you get peeled off / kited / detargeted and you can’t keep contact, that’s the moment a shield WP usually knows they’re dead (or at least out of impact), because their healing and sustain are supposed to come from staying stuck in melee. If we improve the “disengaged” option via stronger HoTs, we’re effectively removing one of the few clean counters the spec has and rewarding exactly the state it shouldn’t be good in: being unlinked from melee combat.

We want a fair spec, not an OP one. It should have clear counterplay options for other players — not a healer that can do everything (frontline pressure, strong sustain, and still perform like a caster while disengaged). If shield WP/DoK is strong, it should be strong for the right reason: staying in melee and committing to that risk, with the obvious downside that if you get peeled or you lose contact, your effectiveness drops sharply. That tradeoff is what makes the spec healthy and skill-based. As a WP healer i want strong heals on melee to sustain me and my allies, but weaks heals when i'm not engaged

If the goal is to make shield WP/DoK viable, the lever shouldn’t primarily be HoT scaling. It should be reinforcing the strike-to-heal loop: better heal-from-damage conversion (especially now that these effects can be debuffed), more reasonable resource costs on the key melee-heal buttons, and incentives that reward staying engaged in melee. That keeps the identity intact, preserves counterplay, and actually addresses viability.

I agree with you BUT there are things that every healer in the game have to be able to do. This is a balance reason, the game was balance with the idea that everyone healer have these base tools, which are:

Sustained healing in the form of hots
Cleanse
Absorb
Big aoe healing
Big st healing

As of now, shield dok does not have a melee hot. What you have is khaine's encouragement+khaine vigor, which is completely underwhelming since the hot can't crit.

Atm Shield dok lacks sustained healing, and this can't be solved by optimising resources cost or increasing damage -to-heal conversion.

What I envision in not a backline shield dok spamming heals, but a frontline shield dok using khaine's vigor every 10s instead of just spamming transfer essence and rend soul on CD.

Shield WP could already do all of that before the patch, without needing the “improvement” they added. But that wasn’t its primary function before the mega-nerf. What it excelled at above everything else was group healing, AoE healing, and an exceptional single-target tool like Divine Assault.

If shield WP/DoK can’t run HoTs as strong as the other healers, then that’s just how it is. It’s like asking an Archmage to hold the frontline like a WP, or telling a WP to play completely backline without using Martyr’s Blessing. Every healer archetype is strong in a different kind of play.

[Deadpoet]

Funny to see non stealth class Player being happy about wh/we escape nerfs, its part of the game and has ever been, its not only zerg game

I'm 100% positive Elixir/oil stealth+speed was introduced a few years after the game came out. Veterans can confirm. I still remember being shocked at seeing a WH vanish midfight after returning to playing the game after a long hiatus