Tier 8 set bonuses hit the PTR
A new build has hit the patch 3.1 PTR, and with it has come something that many people have been waiting on most of all: Tier 8 set bonuses! We have all of them listed below, but keep something in mind while you read them: They are probably not finished, just take this as a preview. Set bonuses always shift and change before they go live, and I can guarantee that some of these will. At the very least, they'll have some typos and grammatical issues cleaned up, and we'll find out where the missing percentage symbols are supposed to go.Death Knight
- DPS 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the critical strike chance of Death Coil and Frost Strike by 5%.
- DPS 4Piece Bonus -- Increases the bonus damage done per disease by 20% on Blood Strike, Heart Strike, Obliterate, and Scourge Strike.
- Tank 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by Rune Strike by 5%.
- Tank 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by Rune Strike by 10%.
Druid
- Balance 4Piece Bonus -- Each time your Insect Swarm deals damage, it has a chance to make your next Starfire cast within 10 sec instant.
- Feral 2Piece Bonus -- The periodic damage dealt by your Rake, Rip, and Lacerate abilites has a chance to cause you to enter a Clearcasting state.
- Feral 4Piece Bonus -- Increases the duration of Savage Roar and Survival Instinct by 8 sec.
- Restoration 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the healing done by your Swiftmend spell by 10%.
- Restoration 4Piece Bonus -- Your Rejuvenation spell also instantly heals your target for its periodic healing amount.
- 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by your Serpent Sting by 10%.
- 4Piece Bonus -- Your Steady Shot has a chance to grant you 600 attack power for 15 sec.
- 2Piece Bonus -- Your Arcane Blast, Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, and Fireball spells have a chance to grant you 350 spell power for 15 sec.
- 4Piece Bonus -- You have a chance for the effect of your Missile Barrage, Hot Streak, or Brain Freeze talent not to be consumed when you cast the spells which benefit.
- Retribution 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by your Exorcism and Hammer of Wrath abilities by 10%.
- Retribution 4Piece Bonus -- Increases the critical strike chance of your Divine Storm and Crusader Strike abilities by 10%.
- Protection 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by your Seals by 10%.
- Protection 4Piece Bonus -- Shield of Righteousness now increases your shield block value by 225 for 3 sec.
- Holy 2Piece Bonus -- Your Holy Shock critical heals now also place a periodic healing effect on the target, healing for 15% of the Holy Shock's heal amount over 9 sec.
- Holy 4Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage absorbed by your Sacred Shield by 10%.
- Shadow 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by your Devouring Plague by 15%.
- Shadow 4Piece Bonus -- Your Mind Blast also grants you 15 haste rating for until cancelled.
- Healer 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the critical heal chance of your Prayer of Healing by 10%.
- Healer 4Piece Bonus -- Casting Power Word: Shield also grants you 15 spell power for until cancelled.
- 2Piece Bonus -- Your Deadly Poison causes you to gain 1 energy each time it deals damage.
- 4Piece Bonus -- The damage dealt by your Rupture can now be critical strikes.
- Enhancement 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by Lava Lash and Stormstrike by 20%.
- Enhancement 4Piece Bonus -- Increases the frequency of Maelstrom Weapon being triggered by your melee weapon attacks by 20%.
- Restoration 2Piece Bonus -- Reduces the cooldown on Riptide by 1 sec.
- Restoration 4Piece Bonus -- Reduces the cast time of Chain Heal by 0.2 sec.
- Elemental 2Piece Bonus -- The periodic damage dealt by your Flame Shock can now be critical strikes.
- Elemental 4Piece Bonus -- Your critical Strikes from Lightning Bolt cause the target to take nature damage equal to 8% of the Lightning Bolt's damage over until cancelled sec.
- 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the damage done by your Unstable Affliction and Immolate spells by 20%.
- 4Piece Bonus -- Increases the critical strike chance of your Shadow Bolt and Incinerate spells by 5%.
- Protection 2Piece Bonus -- Increases the critical strike chance of your Devastate ability by 10%.
- Protection 4Piece Bonus -- Shield Block also grants you 20% reduction to magical damage taken.
- DPS 2Piece Bonus -- Heroic Strike and Slam critical strikes have a chance to grant you 150% haste rating for 5 sec.
- DPS 4Piece Bonus -- Increases the critical strike chance of Mortal Strike and Bloodthirst by 10%.
[via MMO-Champion]
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria news





Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
Fayhand Mar 19th 2009 3:05AM
Unless the 15sp is stackable, so every time you cast PW:S you gain 15sp and you loose 15sp when shield disappears.
Wyred Mar 19th 2009 7:56AM
@fayhand: That would only really be good for disc priests, as holy there's usually some other spell you should be casting. The PoH bonus is great for both classes with the changes in 3.1, the 4 piece bonus is just odd.
Evaline Mar 18th 2009 11:26PM
Agreed, most of the set bonuses look very nice so far. But some of them are still placeholders, by the looks of things.
On another note, does it strike anyone else as odd that Hunter T8 is 'Scourgestalker' when there's not a single scourge in Ulduar? Titanstalker would make more sense...
Nadril Mar 18th 2009 11:26PM
@ DPS Warrior 2pc: Is that 150% haste rating period, or 150% of your haste lol. Because 150% haste for 5 seconds... rofl. 150% of anything really is nuts...
@ DPS Warrior 4pc: Nice and simple bonus, I like it. That's going to give MS/BT probably a 50% or so on a good raid buffed warrior.
The set bonuses look really useful though for once.
Evaline Mar 18th 2009 11:42PM
Haste rating is never a %. It's most likely a bug or a typo, and should be 150 haste rating, without the %. That would be decent, nothing too earth-shattering for a 2-piece bonus.
Nadril Mar 18th 2009 11:58PM
Yeah that actually sounds right.
Bpow Mar 18th 2009 11:27PM
Mage 2 piece bonus...wow
Ludovik Mar 18th 2009 11:29PM
One of the best things about the Emblem of Heroism libram for Tankadins was that the temporary increase in block value was an excellent way to hit nice and hard with Shield of the Righteousness to front-load quite a bit of threat.
The paladin protection 4-set bonus is very lacklustre...
225 Block Value for !3! seconds? The extra mitigation will help a small amount no doubt, but it's hardly worth being a 4-set bonus...
If it somehow could add to the BV just before the actual SotR damage is done, then it might be more useful (more damage = more threat)
RipeTomatoe Mar 18th 2009 11:51PM
I really hope that's that it's doing, so that I can hit harder, otherwise that 4-piece is shit.
Angus Mar 19th 2009 8:52AM
Now here's another question:
The new libram, good or not?
Paladin T8 Protection Relic -- Increases your block rating by 136 while Holy Shield is active.
As you said, that front loaded threat is nice, so how does this stack? I'm not sure I will be upgrading librams. Which sucks, since I can't get the "Epic" achievement thanks to my stupid libram.
Dave Mar 19th 2009 7:30PM
No, that libram is terrible. Any paladin worth his salt should be block capped by now. I'm currently bemoaning my fate every time I walk into Naxx 25 and thirty items with Block Rating drop. Go away!
Charlie Mar 18th 2009 11:38PM
As much as i hate that we have to wear pants. The t8 mage set bonus are SIIIICK.
I am probably going to try and get a good set of pants that arent part of the set. Get 4/5 Kirin'dor, instead of 5/5 and use a robe instead of pants. Even if the stats are a bit worse.
Of course i won't complain if i get them. They are still sick =D.
It's just that pants look bad on a gnome. Lol.
Keyra Mar 18th 2009 11:59PM
Come on...let's face it.
EVERYTHING that's cool looks bad on a gnome :-)
Richard Mar 19th 2009 12:09AM
We're all always wearing pants. I think you mean you want a robe instead of a tunic. Those are both chest pieces. :P
zappo Mar 19th 2009 8:58AM
You assume we're all wearing pants...
Evaline Mar 18th 2009 11:39PM
Why do plate dps classes have so much stamina on tier pieces?
Ret Paladin T8: 622
Warrior DPS T8: 634
Rogue T8: 388
Enhance Shaman T8: 324
Plate dps gets ~300 more stamina than most other classes. Odd.
(numbers from 25-man)
Horris Mar 19th 2009 10:40AM
This might have something to do with their "plate wearers should be able to OT in any spec" philosophy.
Chamual Mar 19th 2009 2:26PM
Plate dps is always melee and melee are more likely to stand in dangerous places because they have to be where the boss is, not 30 yards away in a safe zone shooting off fireballs. They are also more likely to get hit in a cleave or by a loose mob than a ranged dps, hence they are designed to take a bit more damage
Evaline Mar 19th 2009 5:55PM
@ Chamual
This is why I compared plate dps classes to rogues and enhance shamans. By your logic, those 2 would take just as much 'extra damage' from being in melee range, but they have ALOT less stamina on gear (compared to warriors and rets).
Charlie Mar 18th 2009 11:40PM
Healer 4Piece Bonus -- Casting Power Word: Shield also grants you 15 spell power for until cancelled.
Thats gotta be a typo. It's prolly 150.
It's good for a holy spec. It's sick for a disc spec.