Blue post · Kaivax
Forever beta notes: Cooldown Manager test
KaivaxA new beta build puts the Cooldown Manager up for testing and brings many class fixes and tuning changes. Gamepad options and starting-zone quest fixes come with it.
Highlights
- Cooldown Manager to test: off by default, for
Druid, 
Mage, 
Priest, 
Warlock and 
Warrior so far - Temporary 1 silver respec during the beta, rising for repeat resets within the hour
- Mangle renamed
Primal Bite; several healing-over-time spells can now crit; 
Holy Strike ranks buffed - New gamepad options, including class flyouts and a compact action bar
What this means for players
Druid players should know Mangle is now Primal Bite, and Holy Strike users get stronger ranks. A respec costs only 1 silver during the beta, so this is a cheap time to try other talent builds. These are beta notes and may change.
The build
A long list of class fixes and tuning, the first test of the Cooldown Manager, new gamepad options, and quest and respawn fixes in the starting zones. It also listed ten new known issues, most of them spells the Cooldown Manager cannot track yet.
Druid
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Rejuvenation | Can now critically hit. | Fixed | Our Balance Druid guide |
 Tranquility | Can now critically hit. | Fixed | Our Druid guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Wrath | Base damage up by about 50%. | Buff | Our Druid guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Thorns | Its values now follow the caster's spell power, and fall back to the base values when the caster is missing or out of range. | Changed | Our Druid guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Druid: Feral
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primal Bite | The new name for Mangle, which lost its signature debuff, so the old name no longer fitted. Talents that named Mangle now name Primal Bite. | Changed | Our Druid guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Blood Frenzy | The talent called Primal Fury takes back its original name and icon, Blood Frenzy. | Changed | Our Balance Druid guide |
 Feral Charge | The  Cat Form version can no longer be cast on allies. | Fixed | Our Druid guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Druid: Restoration
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Wild Growth | Can now critically hit. | Fixed | Our Restoration Druid guide |
Hunter
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Tame Beast | No longer works on a Beast of a higher level than the  Hunter. | Changed | Our Hunter guide |
Hunter: Marksmanship
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Lone Wolf | Unlearning it no longer leaves the Hunter with 4% less damage while the pet is out. | Fixed | Our Hunter guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Hunter: Pets
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pet Happiness | Happiness now goes down again once a pet has reached maximum loyalty. | Fixed | Our Hunter guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
| Furious Howl | Its Attack Power bonus is 40% lower. | Nerf | Our Hunter guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
| Sonic Blast | Bat pets now get this ability as intended. | Fixed | Our Hunter guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Hunter: Survival
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Lacerating Strikes | Can now critically hit. | Fixed | Our Hunter guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Strider Kick | Now gives 30% more movement speed for 3 seconds. | Changed | Our Survival Hunter guide |
Mage
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Arcane Missiles | Line of sight is checked once when the channel starts rather than for each missile, so a target that moves out of sight mid-channel is still hit. | Changed | Our Mage guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Mage: Fire
| Change | What changed | Was | Now | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wake of Fire | The buff lasts longer, so it is easier to use while leveling, when a Mage often stops to drink between fights. | 20 seconds | 30 seconds | Buff | Our Mage guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
| Hot Streak | The buff lasts longer. | 15 seconds | 20 seconds | Buff | Our Mage guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Ignite | No longer counts percentage damage bonuses twice. | Fixed | Our Mage guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Paladin
| Change | What changed | Was | Now | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Retribution Aura | Its values now follow the caster's spell power. | Changed | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-10-08 | ||
 Flash of Light | The end of its cast animation plays again. | Fixed | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-10-16 | ||
 Consecration | Several fixes: it now applies its damage bonus to every target, handles height consistently, and no longer pulls enemies standing above or below the caster. | Fixed | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-09-24 | ||
| Holy Strike | Weapon damage per rank raised, so it hits harder at every level and each new rank is an upgrade. | 25%/25%/30%/30%/35%/35%/40%/40% | 25%/29%/32%/36%/39%/43%/46%/50% | Buff | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-10-16 |
| Echo of Justice | No longer triggers more often than intended. | Fixed | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-09-24 | ||
 Righteous Fury |  Holy threat bonus lowered. | 90% | 60% | Nerf | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Paladin: Holy
| Change | What changed | Was | Now | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holy Strike | Shorter cooldown. | 12 seconds | 10 seconds | Buff | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
| Improved Holy Strike | Taken out of the talent tree, and what it did is now part of Holy Strike for everyone. Blizzard felt a talent shortening a core ability this early in a healing tree had become one every Paladin had to take. | Removed | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-10-16 | ||
 Light's Vigil | The tooltip is reorganized to make clear that only the damage version refunds mana. | Fixed | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-10-16 | ||
 Holy Power | Now also adds 15% critical strike chance to Holy Strike, keeping everything it did before. | Buff | Our Holy Paladin guide |
Paladin: Retribution
| Change | What changed | Was | Now | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vengeance | Now triggers from any critical strike that is not periodic, and stacks fewer times. | 5 stacks | 3 stacks | Changed | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Two-Handed Weapon Specialization | Smaller damage bonus. | 3/6/9% | 2/4/6% | Nerf | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Sacred Arbiter | Bigger Holy Strike damage bonus. | 10% | 20% | Buff | Our Paladin guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Twist of Light | Now also makes your Seals cost 20% less mana. | Buff | Our Retribution Paladin guide |
Priest
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Renew | Can now critically hit. | Fixed | Our Priest guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Power Word: Shield | Can now always replace an existing Power Word: Shield on a target without Weakened Soul. | Changed | Our Priest guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Contingency Plan | The  Gnome Priest spell can now critically hit. | Fixed | Our Discipline Priest guide |
 Confounding Flash | The Gnome Priest spell now has a casting visual, closer to  Holy than Arcane, with new sounds to match. | Changed | Our Priest guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Starshards | The  Night Elf Priest spell now gets the pushback resistance that  Twilight Focus gives. | Fixed | Our Priest guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Dark Sacrifice | The  Undead Priest spell no longer breaks crowd control that damage would break, and its tooltip now says the mana it gives scales with Spirit. | Fixed | Our Priest guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Rogue
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Sap | Using it on a PvP-flagged target now flags the  Rogue for PvP. | Fixed | Our Rogue guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Shaman
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Lightning Bolt | Ranks 3 and 4 do more damage, so each rank is an upgrade on the one before despite their changed cast times. | Buff | Our Shaman guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Windfury Totem | Its buff shows the name Windfury Totem, without the word Passive. | Fixed | Our Shaman guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Flametongue Totem | Its buff now shows the plain totem name. The totem has no duration and is replaced at once by another totem; it no longer stacks from recasting, nor with  Flametongue Weapon or Windfury Totem. | Changed | Our Shaman guide |
 Grace of Air Totem | Tranquil Air Totem, Windfury Totem and Grace of Air Totem no longer stack with one another, even from different  Shamans in the same group. | Changed | Our Shaman guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Shaman: Elemental
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Elemental Fury | Elemental Fury (was row 3) and  Elemental Alacrity (was row 6) swap places, so Elemental gets one of its better talents early. Blizzard notes this costs  Enhancement some spell critical damage and plans to give Enhancement more later. | Changed | Our Elemental Shaman guide |
 Lava Burst | Ranks 1 and 2 hit harder: roughly 10% above the base damage of the Lightning Bolt rank you train at about the same level. | Buff | Our Shaman guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Shaman: Enhancement
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Rage of the Farseer | No longer raises spell casting speed, which Blizzard says the talent did not need. | Nerf | Our Shaman guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Shaman: Restoration
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Riptide | Can now critically hit. | Fixed | Our Shaman guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Warlock
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Life Tap | The tooltip now shows the right amount of life converted and says only that it scales with Spirit. | Fixed | Our Warlock guide |
| Voidwalker Sacrifice | Now scales with 10% of the Warlock's spell healing, as intended. | Fixed | Our Warlock guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Warrior
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Sunder Armor | Threat corrected on every rank, with slightly more threat from Attack Power. | Fixed | Our Warrior guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Warrior: Arms
| Change | What changed | Was | Now | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bloodthrill | Triggers twice as often. It triggers only from main-hand melee attacks,  Cleave and  Heroic Strike included. | 2/4/6/8/10% | 4/8/12/16/20% | Changed | Our Warrior guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
 Slam | Longer cooldown. | 15 seconds | 18 seconds | Nerf | Our Arms Warrior guide |
| Improved Slam | Now takes 1.5 or 3 seconds off Slam's cooldown. | Changed | Our Arms Warrior guide |
Warrior: Protection
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Focused Rage | Focused Rage (was row 6) and  Bastion (was row 5) swap places, so  Protection gets Focused Rage sooner while leveling, before  Shield Slam. | Changed | Our Warrior guide, changes of 2026-09-24 |
Races: Gnome
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Eureka! | For every class it is now a 10% discount on abilities that cost Mana, Rage or Energy. | Changed | Our Gnome guide |
Races: Human
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Will to Survive | Its visual now matches  Dispel Magic rather than  Will of the Forsaken. | Changed | Our Human guide |
Races: Tauren
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cultivation | Each herb now needs a character level: the  Herbalism level it needs divided by 5. Herbs needing more than 300 Herbalism can be cultivated at level 60. | Changed | Our Tauren guide |
Races: Undead
| Change | What changed | Kind | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
 Touch of the Grave | No longer breaks crowd control, and no longer triggers from anything that does no damage.  Shadow Word: Pain triggers it when cast but not from its ticks, and  Distract,  Pick Pocket and  Polymorph never trigger it. | Fixed | Our Undead guide |
Classes
| Change | What changed | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Campfire buff | Crafting or casting while you wait for the buff no longer makes you stand up. | Fixed |
| Campfire buff | You can now buff others, cast and craft while waiting for it, and resting in any pose (seated on the ground or a chair, asleep, lying, or kneeling with the emote) now earns it. | Changed |
| Talent reset cost | For the beta only, a respec costs 1 silver if you have not changed talents recently. Each reset after the first costs much more, and the price falls back to 1 silver after an hour. | Changed |
World and quests
| Change | What changed | Was | Now | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shareable dungeon quests | Some dungeon quests could be shared, which handed the receiver a quest item. They no longer can. | Fixed | ||
| Dalaran | Faction changes, and spawns now appear just outside the city entrance. | Changed | ||
| Dun Morogh | Snow Leopard Prowlers respawn much faster, and the rifle for Treacherous Cold can now be looted by everyone. | Fixed | ||
| Durotar | The escort NPC for Lost in the Shadows respawns sooner. | Changed | ||
| Elwynn Forest | Book Return now takes the spare Book Bag away when you finish it; there are more crates and supply spawns for Stolen  Enchanting Supplies; Murloc camps at Crystal Lake, Shinyfinder Narf and Nimsy respawn sooner, and Narf's quest item can be looted by the whole party; Mother Fang takes longer to respawn and her green drop is no longer guaranteed; you can learn  Skinning from Helene Peltskinner while on her quest. | Fixed | ||
| Jasperlode and Fargodeep Mines | Blizzard found them too dangerous for players on their own and removed the candles from both mines. | Changed | ||
| Mulgore | Water Pitchers for A Humble Task respawn sooner. | Changed | ||
| Silithus | Khonsu's arrival is out of this beta phase; Blizzard says it will return later. | Removed | ||
| Silverpine Forest | The worgen of Pyrewood Village respawn sooner. | Changed | ||
| Bounty: Gnarlpine Furbolg | In Teldrassil, fewer kills needed. | 20 | 15 | Changed |
| Exploring the Horde | The Skyborne quest in Undercity now completes its objective to speak with Lady Sylvanas Windrunner. | Fixed | ||
| Westfall | Defias Messengers spawn more often. | Changed | ||
| Zephras Isle | The  High Order Skyborne quest Catching Wind is redesigned and the spawns at the Overlook Standing Stones in Shen'dar Highlands are adjusted; Wounds of Betrayal now gives credit when you heal the Nightclaw Cavern druids, and A Firm Response gives its credit reliably. | Changed |
Items
| Change | What changed | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Ranged weapons | A few guns and bows that did not use ammunition properly now do. | Fixed |
| Quest rewards | Several quest rewards now have the right item level, and a few early caster rewards are adjusted. | Fixed |
| Wizard Oil | Minor, Lesser and plain Wizard Oil go back to their Classic Era values of 8, 16 and 24 spell power. Brilliant Wizard Oil is unchanged. | Changed |
| Wands | Spell damage no longer adds to wand damage. | Nerf |
Cooldown Manager
| Change | What changed | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Cooldown Manager | An optional display, off by default and switched on under Gameplay Enhancement in Options, that gathers key buffs and cooldowns into a place you choose. Druid, Mage, Priest, Warlock and Warrior can test it now, with more classes later. Blizzard most wants to hear which spells you would like tracked by default. | New |
| Spell ranks | The Cooldown Manager does not handle spell ranks yet; Blizzard says a later beta build will. | Changed |
Gamepad
| Change | What changed | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Class flyouts | Some classes get flyout menus on the action bar: shapeshifts for Druids, pet controls and pet spells for Hunters and Warlocks, auras for Paladins and stances for Warriors. | New |
| Pet bar | For Hunters and Warlocks it no longer takes the place of the bottom gamepad action bar. | Fixed |
| Gamepad options | Five new options in the Gamepad (Alpha) settings: a compact action bar that shows only the active bar; fixed party targeting, which gives each direction on the pad a party member; and three that swap the sides of the targeting modifiers or their pad and button actions. | New |
| Edit mode | Edit mode layouts apply again while the gamepad interface is on. | Fixed |
| Gamepad support | Updated Map and Quest Log bindings, new hover behavior for map pins, and updated support for the Compact Raid Frame Manager and role polls. | Changed |
User interface
| Change | What changed | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Nameplates | The nameplate selection display is updated, and so are the Personal Resource Display's textures. | Changed |
Audio and graphics
| Change | What changed | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Water jump sound | A different sound plays when you jump in water. | Changed |
 Human death sounds | Adjusted. | Changed |
| Huey Sunnydale | His legs render properly again. | Fixed |
| Undercity Canal ooze | No longer glows far brighter than it should. | Fixed |
| Fog setting | A setting that could switch fog off in a way Blizzard did not intend is gone. | Removed |
| Mac display | A water display problem and several other visual glitches on Mac are fixed. | Fixed |
General fixes
| Change | What changed | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Precast animations | Casters play their precast animation again, and no longer sometimes stand still while casting. | Fixed |
| Season of Discovery rune ability | One of these abilities was visible by mistake and is now hidden. | Fixed |
| Memory leak | Fixed a leak that slowly lowered performance for some players. | Fixed |
| In-game mail no longer ignores surnames. | Fixed |
Guides this affects
- Druid
- Mage
- Priest
- Warlock
- Warrior
- Feral Cat Druid
- Retribution Paladin
- Restoration Druid
- Balance Druid
- Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage- Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin- Paladin
- Holy Priest
- Discipline Priest
- Gnome
- Night Elf
- Undead
- Rogue
- Elemental Shaman
- Shaman
- Enhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman- Protection Warrior
Arms Warrior- Fury Warrior
- Human
Tauren
Shadow Priest- Races
- Skyborne (High Order)
Related news
This is our own summary of what Blizzard posted, not Blizzard's text. The original is the authority.