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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 4.3: Tier 13 set bonuses revealed
by Matthew Rossi 
Sep 24th 2011 at 9:30PM
We've seen a lot of previews for the upcoming tier 13 armor sets that will come with Patch 4.3, but until now, we have had no concrete information on what the set bonuses will be. Well, thanks to Zarhym, now we do. While keeping in mind that the PTR hasn't even dropped yet (soon, according to the blues) we can take a look at the set bonuses and contemplate.
The set bonuses in some cases seem linked to the armor design (the mage one has a "Steal Time" mechanic that synchronizes with the name of the set), while others seem less flavor and more functional.
The set bonuses in some cases seem linked to the armor design (the mage one has a "Steal Time" mechanic that synchronizes with the name of the set), while others seem less flavor and more functional.
For starters, as a DPS warrior, I'm astonishingly underwhelmed by these set bonuses. The protection ones are awesome -- jaw-droppingly good. Revenge giving a damage shield? If there's no internal cooldown on this ability, it will make Revenge one of the best abilities in tanking. The raid Shield Wall four-piece seems shared with similar abilities across all tanking classes, and it makes me wonder just how much AOE damage we're going to be looking at in the Deathwing fight. But the DPS bonuses make me sad. Inner Rage? Reducing HS rage? That's terrible. And the four-piece seems ridiculously weak. Do we really want a set bonus that will only add damage for warriors in Execute range?
Here's the complete list of set bonuses so you can check them out for yourself. The mage ones in particular look interesting and thematic. I like the ret bonuses a lot and find the hunter set bonuses might be clues to the set's look.
Zarhym - Patch 4.3: Tier 13 set bonuses
While we've been previewing the visuals of tier 13 on the front page at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com, we thought you might be interested in the magics that lay imbued betwixt their stitches and plating. Behold -- the tier 13 set bonuses!
Please keep in mind that the below data is pre-PTR and could change prior to the release of patch 4.3.
Death Knight
Druid
Hunter
Mage
Paladin
Priest
Rogue
Shaman
Warlock
Warrior
Please keep in mind that the below data is pre-PTR and could change prior to the release of patch 4.3.
Death Knight
- Blood, 2P -- When an attack drops your health below 35%, one of your Blood Runes will immediately activate and convert into a Death Rune for the next 20 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 45 sec.
- Blood, 4P -- Your Vampiric Blood ability also affects all party and raid members for 50% of the effect it has on you.
- DPS, 2P -- Sudden Doom has a 30% chance and Rime has a 60% chance to grant 2 charges when triggered instead of 1.
- DPS, 4P -- Runic Empowerment has a 25% chance and Runic Corruption has a 40% chance to also grant 710 mastery rating for 12 sec when activated.
Druid
- Balance, 2P -- Insect Swarm increases all damage done by your Starfire, Starsurge, and Wrath spells against that target by 3%.
- Balance, 4P -- Starsurge generates 100% extra Lunar or Solar energy while Eclipse is not active.
- Feral, 2P -- While Berserk is active, Savage Defense absorbs are 100% larger, and your Blood in the Water talent now causes Ferocious Bite to refresh the duration of your Rip on targets with 60% or less health.
- Feral, 4P -- Frenzied Regeneration also affects all raid and party members, and your Stampede talent now grants two charges after using Feral Charge (Cat).
- Restoration, 2P -- After using Innervate, the mana cost of your healing spells is reduced by 25% for 15 sec.
- Restoration, 4P -- Your Rejuvenation and Regrowth spells have a 10% chance to Timeslip and have double the normal duration.
Hunter
- 2P -- Steady Shot and Cobra Shot generate double the amount of focus.
- 4P -- Your Arcane Shot ability has a chance to grant 25% haste to you and your pet for 10 sec.
Mage
- 2P -- Your damaging spells have a 30% chance to grant Stolen Time, increasing your haste rating by 50 for 30 sec and stacking up to 10 times. When Arcane Power, Combustion, or Icy Veins expires, all stacks of Stolen Time are lost.
- 4P -- Each stack of Stolen Time also reduces the cooldown of Arcane Power by 3 sec, Combustion by 4 sec, and Icy Veins by 6 sec.
Paladin
- Holy, 2P -- After using Divine Favor, the mana cost of your healing spells is reduced by 25% for 15 sec.
- Holy, 4P -- Increases the healing done by your Holy Radiance spell by 20%.
- Protection, 2P -- Your Judgement ability now also grants a physical absorb shield equal to 30% of the damage it dealt.
- Protection, 4P -- Reduces the cooldown of Divine Guardian by 60 sec and increases the radius of its effect by 70 yards.
- Retribution, 2P -- Your Judgement ability has a 50% chance to generate 1 Holy Power.
- Retribution, 4P -- While Zealotry is active your abilities deal 12% more damage.
Priest
- Healer, 2P -- After using Power Infusion or Lightwell, the mana cost of your healing spells is reduced by 25% for [10|15] sec. (10 sec for Discipline, 15 for non-Discipline.)
- Healer, 4P -- Your Power Word: Shield has a 10% chance to absorb 100% additional damage, and the cooldown of your Holy Word abilities is reduced by 20%.
- Shadow, 2P -- Shadow Word: Death deals an additional 55% damage, and you no longer take damage from your own Shadow Word: Death when the target fails to die.
- Shadow, 4P -- Your Shadowfiend and Shadowy Apparitions have a 100% chance to grant you 3 Shadow Orbs each time they deal damage.
Rogue
- 2P -- After triggering Tricks of the Trade, your abilities cost 20% less energy for 6 sec.
- 4P -- Increases the duration of Shadow Dance by 2 sec, Adrenaline Rush by 3 sec, and Vendetta by 9 sec.
Shaman
- Elemental, 2P -- Elemental Mastery also grants you 400 mastery rating 15 sec.
- Elemental, 4P -- Each time Elemental Overload triggers, you gain 200 haste rating for 4 sec, stacking up to 3 times.
- Enhancement, 2P -- While you have any stacks of Maelstrom Weapon, your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and healing spells deal 20% more healing or damage.
- Enhancement, 4P -- Your Feral Spirits have a 45% chance to grant you a charge of Maelstrom Weapon each time they deal damage.
- Restoration, 2P -- After using Mana Tide Totem, the cost of your healing spells are reduced by 25% for 15 sec.
- Restoration, 4P -- Increases the duration of Spiritwalker's Grace by 5 sec, and you gain 30% haste while Spiritwalker's grace is active.
Warlock
- 2P -- The duration of your Doomguard and Infernal summons is increased by [15|45] sec and the cooldown of of those spells is reduced by 4 min. (45 for Demonology, 15 for non-Demonology.)
- 4P -- Soulburn grants a 10% increase to your spell power for 10 sec.
Warrior
- Protection, 2P -- Your Revenge ability now also grants a physical absorption shield equal to 20% of the damage done by Revenge.
- Protection, 4P -- Your Shield Wall ability now grants 50% of its effect to all party and raid members.
- DPS, 2P -- Heroic Strike costs 10 less rage while Inner Rage is active.
- DPS, 4P -- Your Execute critical strikes have a 20% chance to refresh the duration of Colossus Smash.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back! 
Reader Comments (Page 8 of 8)
muumi Sep 28th 2011 4:58AM
mage set bonuses seem nice, unlike the tier12 set bonuses, which are total bullscheisse.
Sphirex Sep 25th 2011 3:52PM
It's clear that the devs have been listening and want locks to make use of, otherwise useless abilities in pve. That is why soulburn has been given such an effect.
Average Joe Sep 25th 2011 4:07PM
Enhancement Shaman 2pc and 4pc:
/yawn
Justin ross Sep 25th 2011 6:01PM
Is it me or did the Warlock class get hosed with the bonus? they seem very weak and no variation for the different specs.
Natsumi Sep 26th 2011 12:42AM
Trust me, it's you.
Izzy Sep 25th 2011 6:47PM
Not impressed with the lock 4pc. Going to cause a lot of rotation changes, grrr
UnLokly Sep 25th 2011 10:01PM
Why doesnt Blizz just get it over with and remove shaman's totally from the game... Resto is the only spec that gets anything decent.
Roldy Sep 26th 2011 12:31AM
Perhaps I'm mistaken but by my numbers the mage 4pc set bonus doesn't work for Arcane spec mages. Typically you don't worry about the cooldown of Arcane Power and often it sits waiting to be used because there is no point activating it until the cooldown for Evocation falls within ~35 seconds.
If the 4pc allowed us to squeeze two Arcane Power CDs into one Evocation CD then there is probably a small benefit but the CD's just don't fit. Arcane power is on a 1.5 min CD and Evocation on a 2 min CD. By my numbers you'd need to delay your burn phase by 24 seconds in order to get two Arcane Power CDs into one Evocation CD which obviously doing so is a DPS loss. Am I off the mark here or are other people reaching the same conclusion?
Here's some rough numbers demonstrating the issue:
Burn Phase Start = 0 sec
Arcane Power used = 0 sec
Arcane Power CD Begin = 15 sec
Burn Phase End = 35 sec
Evocation Used = 35 sec
Evocation CD Begin = 41 sec
Stolen Time 10 Reached = 75 sec
Arcane Power Ready = 75 sec
Arcane Power Used = 75 sec
Arcane Power CD Begin = 90 sec
Evocation CD in Range = 126 sec
Delay burn phase = 126 sec
Stolen Time 10 Reached = 150 sec
Arcane Power Ready = 150 sec
Burn Phase Start = 150 sec
Evocation Ready = 161 sec
Arcane Power CD Begin = 165 sec
Burn Phase End = 185 sec
Evocation Used = 185 sec
terph Sep 26th 2011 1:25AM
Since no one else has commented:
Ret pally 2 pc = Could be really handy and make those filler Judgments less wasteful, esp if it procs often. Again though, more RNG for ret, surprise surprise. But more HP is always a good thing.
4 pc: Will have to see the math on it, but sounds like it could be fairly powerful. It's not especially exciting or fun though, just another reason to time our CDs together like we do already. Now it'll just be 12% more important to time yourself well.
DisappointedPriest Sep 26th 2011 1:04PM
This latest bit of news just makes me want to cry. I am in a 10-man raiding guild and my healing team consists of holy priest (me), disc priest, and druid. Firelands has enabled disc priests to shine, but 2 discs (in a 10man) is not the most desirable setup, so I stay holy. I don't need to state again why the set bonuses are lackluster. Just another disappointment to add to the list.
I know some may say - roll another class!, respec to shadow!, respec to disc!
I shouldn't have to. I would love to use my disc offspec, but 2 discs is not an optimal raid composition. Priest is my main and I love healing, so rolling another toon or switching to dps just isn't an option. It's not that the set bonuses are game-breaking - they never should be, but the lack of attention to holy priests is baffling. It's like the designers have no clue how the class works which seems ridiculous to me. Of course they know what they're doing... Don't they? I'm done rambling.
Maybe I am way off the mark - just my 2 copper.
jigantoraz Oct 11th 2011 11:18AM
(hunter singing) " PARTY LIKE A ROCK! PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR"
madman248 Oct 17th 2011 7:46PM
anyone else think the feral cat druid 2pc is really OP?