Hotfixes of 8 October, a new item pool and the tank survival model
The simulator's game data took Blizzard's hotfixes of 8 October, and on the same day the item pool, the tank model and the gear search changed: a spec can move for either reason.
Game data and sim 9 Oct 2026 · 1 boss · 3 min
The game data and our simulator both changed: a move can come from either, so it is not on its own a Blizzard buff or nerf. The notes say what each side changed.
What changed
Simulator 50beadf → ac5b545
- GameGame data: Blizzard's hotfixes of 8 October to client 1.60.1.70245 (spell, talent and item tables; the upstream data names client build 1.60.1.70291 since 9 October). A change Blizzard's development notes describe is in the simulator only where it is in those tables or the simulator models it.Blizzard: WoW Forever beta development notesSimulator data: 70245 with the hotfixes of 8 OctoberSimulator data: client build 1.60.1.70291
- SimSeason of Discovery's items and enchants leave the pool: Wowhead's Forever planner dropped 1,028 of its items and 556 of its enchants, so the searches no longer wear them.Wowhead Forever planner refresh
- SimRing of Spell Power and Talisman of Ephemeral Power are counted as raid drops (Wowhead records them by zone only) and are left out of the pre-raid sets.
- SimCaster weapons get the game's damage and spell power (Forever flags them in its item data): Sageblade is 39-73 with +94 spell power, not 58-109 with none.
- SimItems the client does not ship take the planner's weapon damage, speed and school spell power where higher (Mograine's Might, Bad Mojo Mask, Spire of Hakkar), and negative stats on 20 items now count, as their tooltips show.
- SimTanks move to the survival model: the mitigation focus is ranked by Survival (the boss's normal hits a tank takes from full health) and the balanced focus by threat per health bar. Their numbers are not comparable with the old ones.
- SimWeapon swaps: a set may pull with Manual Crowd Pummeler and swap to its own weapons once the haste is over, and taking the weapon off ends its buff, as in the game. Retribution, Shockadin and the bear do so on the one-minute fights.
- SimSimulator updates from upstream: many rotations turn to their area spells by target count (Sweeping Strikes, Hurricane, Volley, Consecration, Cleave and others) and Hammer of the Righteous hits four targets, which shows on the three-boss fights.Upstream simulator
- SimEvery build was re-optimised with a faster gear search, and Frostfire mage (a Fire/Frost build around Frostfire Bolt) joins the rankings.
- SimNew gear set: Pre-raid + PvP, with Forever's PvP rank rewards in the pool. It has no earlier results to compare.
Biggest winners
Damage specs, by the change of their DPS
Beast Mastery Hunter +1.4 %725.3 → 735.3 · #13 → #10
Marksmanship Hunter +0.7 %819.6 → 825.6 · #5
Feral Druid +0.2 %724.3 → 726.0 · #15 → #12
Biggest losers
Damage specs, by the change of their DPS
Balance Druid −3.9 %712.5 → 685.1 · #17 → #19
Shockadin −3.8 %1,075.1 → 1,034.3 · #1
Elemental Shaman −3.4 %558.9 → 539.7 · #24 → #25
Stormcaller Shaman −3.2 %559.9 → 541.8 · #23 → #24
Arcane Mage −2.7 %745.0 → 724.5 · #10 → #14
Damage ranks, before and after
One line per spec, from its place before the update to its place after; thick lines moved three places or more.
Damage
In DPS.
| Shockadin | 1,075.1 | 1,034.3 | −3.8 % | #1 | #1 | = |
 Fury Warrior | 983.1 | 973.1 | −1.0 % | #2 | #2 | = |
 Retribution Paladin | 951.4 | 931.7 | −2.1 % | #3 | #3 | = |
 Arms Warrior | 845.5 | 840.3 | −0.6 % | #4 | #4 | = |
| Marksmanship Hunter | 819.6 | 825.6 | +0.7 % | #5 | #5 | = |
 Survival Hunter | 804.7 | 799.9 | −0.6 % | #7 | #6 | ▲1 |
 Demonology Warlock | 805.7 | 792.6 | −1.6 % | #6 | #7 | ▼1 |
 Frostfire Mage new | – | 758.6 | – | – | #8 | – |
 Shadow Priest | 758.7 | 743.5 | −2.0 % | #8 | #9 | ▼1 |
| Beast Mastery Hunter | 725.3 | 735.3 | +1.4 % | #13 | #10 | ▲3 |
 Enhancement Shaman | 745.5 | 729.8 | −2.1 % | #9 | #11 | ▼2 |
| Feral Druid | 724.3 | 726.0 | +0.2 % | #15 | #12 | ▲3 |
 Affliction Warlock | 731.1 | 725.8 | −0.7 % | #12 | #13 | ▼1 |
| Arcane Mage | 745.0 | 724.5 | −2.7 % | #10 | #14 | ▼4 |
 Destruction Warlock | 734.1 | 717.8 | −2.2 % | #11 | #15 | ▼4 |
 Fire Mage | 724.7 | 711.4 | −1.8 % | #14 | #16 | ▼2 |
 Frost Mage | 723.7 | 710.1 | −1.9 % | #16 | #17 | ▼1 |
 DS/Ruin Warlock | 697.2 | 693.7 | −0.5 % | #18 | #18 | = |
| Balance Druid | 712.5 | 685.1 | −3.9 % | #17 | #19 | ▼2 |
| Combat Rogue | 679.1 | 673.0 | −0.9 % | #19 | #20 | ▼1 |
 Assassination Rogue | 659.7 | 657.1 | −0.4 % | #21 | #21 | = |
 Smite Priest | 660.1 | 645.2 | −2.3 % | #20 | #22 | ▼2 |
 Subtlety Rogue | 642.0 | 636.1 | −0.9 % | #22 | #23 | ▼1 |
| Stormcaller Shaman | 559.9 | 541.8 | −3.2 % | #23 | #24 | ▼1 |
| Elemental Shaman | 558.9 | 539.7 | −3.4 % | #24 | #25 | ▼1 |
Tanks · Threat
In TPS.
 Ret/Prot Paladin | 1,207.7 | 1,119.0 | −7.3 % | #1 | #1 | = |
 Protection Warrior | 1,028.1 | 1,100.0 | +7.0 % | #2 | #2 | = |
 Fury/Prot Warrior | 890.2 | 951.3 | +6.9 % | #4 | #3 | ▲1 |
 Feral Druid | 919.7 | 920.2 | ±0.0 % | #3 | #4 | ▼1 |
Tanks · Mitigation
Ranked by hits survived now, by DTPS before: the numbers are not comparable, only the places.
| Feral Druid | 308.1 | 10.28 | metric changed | #2 | #1 | ▲1 |
| Protection Warrior | 308.7 | 9.36 | metric changed | #3 | #2 | ▲1 |
| Protection Paladin | 228.0 | 9.34 | metric changed | #1 | #3 | ▼2 |
Tanks · Balanced
Ranked by threat per health bar now, by TPS / 100 DTPS before: the numbers are not comparable, only the places.
| Protection Warrior | 267.1 | 19,416.3 | metric changed | #2 | #1 | ▲1 |
| Feral Druid | 222.4 | 16,944.9 | metric changed | #3 | #2 | ▲1 |
| Protection Paladin | 285.7 | 16,038.3 | metric changed | #1 | #3 | ▼2 |
Healers · Single target
In HPS.
 Restoration Druid | 953.6 | 939.4 | −1.5 % | #1 | #1 | = |
 Discipline Priest | 943.3 | 936.4 | −0.7 % | #2 | #2 | = |
 Restoration Shaman | 923.6 | 922.0 | −0.2 % | #3 | #3 | = |
 Holy Priest | 892.1 | 887.8 | −0.5 % | #4 | #4 | = |
 Holy Paladin | 696.2 | 691.0 | −0.7 % | #5 | #5 | = |
Healers · Party
In HPS.
| Restoration Druid | 992.7 | 970.0 | −2.3 % | #1 | #1 | = |
| Restoration Shaman | 948.3 | 949.5 | +0.1 % | #2 | #2 | = |
| Discipline Priest | 938.7 | 938.5 | ±0.0 % | #3 | #3 | = |
| Holy Priest | 914.5 | 910.8 | −0.4 % | #4 | #4 | = |
| Holy Paladin | 696.2 | 691.4 | −0.7 % | #5 | #5 | = |
Each list is the rankings’ of that day: one row per spec, the best of its builds, ranked by its role’s number. A spec whose best build is another build than before is marked, and its change is the spec’s. Both sides are the benchmark’s simulations of each build’s optimised setup on 1 boss · 3 min.