Patch 5.3 PTR Patch Notes for April 15

The latest set of patch 5.3 PTR patch notes has just dropped, and boy is it a doozy. There are some pretty significant changes in there, so let's dive right in to the highlights, as ever the full notes are after the break.

• Shado-Pan and The August Celestials daily quests no longer have a faction prerequisite to be Revered with the Golden Lotus.

• A Test of Valor: Reduced the amount of Valor needed for this achievement to 3000 Valor Points, down from 6000.

• Tyrannical weapons no longer have a conquest-earned prerequisite to purchase them.

• Picking up the Alliance or Horde flag while in a Rated Battleground now increases damage taken by 50% for characters in a tanking specialization, and increases damage taken by 20% for characters in a non-tanking specialization.

• Demonic Gateway cast time has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds, and can now be attacked and killed by enemy players. Each gateway has 100% of the summoning Warlock's health, and 100% of their resilience.

• Living Bomb's periodic damage has been increased by 121%. Its explosion damage has been reduced by 78%, but now scales with additional periodic ticks added by haste, and hits all nearby targets (up from 3).

• Shuriken Toss now deals 100% more damage in the initial ranged attack, damage is no longer doubled when used on targets farther than 10 yards away, and energy cost has been increased to 40 energy, up from 20.

• Savage Roar now increases physical damage done by 40%, up from 30%.

• Aspect of the Hawk now increases ranged attack power by 25%, up from 15%.

• Aspect of the Iron Hawk now increases ranged attack power by 25%, up from 15%.

• Binding Shot is no longer a talent and learned by Marksmanship Hunters at level 30.

• Blink Strike has been renamed to Blink Strikes. Blink Strikes is a passive ability, increases the pet's Basic Attack damage by 50 %, can be used from 30 yards away, and causes the pet to instantly teleport behind their target.

• Intimidation is now a level-30 talent available to all Hunter specializations and no longer learned by Beast Mastery Hunters at level 20.

• Beast Cleave now deals 75% of the original damage, up from 50%.

• Bombardment now increases the damage of Multi-Shot by 60%, up from 30%.

• Arcane Explosion now deals 40% more damage.

• Blizzard now deals 40% more damage.

• Flamestrike now deals 100% more initial damage. Periodic damage remains unchanged.

• Living Bomb's periodic damage has been increased by 121%. Its explosion damage has been reduced by 78%, but now scales with additional periodic ticks added by haste, and hits all nearby targets (up from 3).

• Rising Sun Kick now causes all targets within 8 yards to take an increased 20% damage from the Monk's abilities, up from 10%.

• Mastery: Illuminated Healing now places an absorb shield for 10% of the amount healed, down from 12%.

• Daybreak is now a stackable effect with a duration of 10 seconds, stacks up to 2 times, and causes the next Holy Shock to also heal other allies within 10 yards of the target for an amount equal to 75%/150% of the original healing done.

• Sword of Light now increases damage with two-handed melee weapons by 30%, up from 15%.

• Tier-14 Holy Paladin 4-piece set bonus now reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 second, down from 2 seconds.

• Borrowed Time now reduces the cast or channel time of the next Priest spell by 15% after casting Power Word: Shield (was 15% spell haste).

• Shuriken Toss now deals 100% more damage in the initial ranged attack, damage is no longer doubled when used on targets farther than 10 yards away, and energy cost has been increased to 40 energy, up from 20.

• Glyph of Cheap Shot now increases the duration of Cheap Shot by 0.5 second, down from 1 second.

• Glyph of Garrote now increases the duration of Garrote's silence effect by 1 second, down from 1.5 seconds.

• Feral Spirit's summoned Spirit Wolves are now immune to root and snare effects.

• Lava Lash now deals 300% weapons damage, up from 250%.

• Mental Quickness now converts 65% of the Shaman's attack power to spell power, up from 55%.

• Stormstrike now deals 450% weapon damage, up from 375%.

• Demonic Gateway cast time has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds, and can now be attacked and killed by enemy players. Each gateway has 100% of the summoning Warlock's health, and 100% of their resilience.

• Health Funnel now causes the Soulburn portion of the spell to increase healing generated from Health Funnel by 140% instead of instantly restoring 36% health.

• Haunt now refunds a Soul Shard when it is dispelled.

• Fire and Brimstone no longer requires a Burning Ember to cast. Instead, the spell causes Immolate, Incinerate, Conflagrate, and Curse spells to consume a Burning Ember when cast, and the effect remains active as long as the Warlock has at least 1 Burning Ember remaining.

• Enraged Regeneration no longer costs rage to use, instantly heals the Warrior for 5% of their total health, and healing an additional 5% over 5 seconds. Using the ability while Enraged doubles the healing effects to 10% of the Warrior's total health and an additional 10% over 5 seconds.

• Second Wind no longer generates rage when the Warrior is struck by a Stun or Immobilize effect.

  • Arms and Fury Warriors receive a passive ability that enables them to generate rage when struck by a Stun or Immobilize effect at level 56.

• Shield Wall's cooldown has been reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes.

• Spell Reflection is no longer consumed by spells from player pets and guardians.

• Bastion of Defense now reduces the cooldown of Shield Wall by 1 minute, down from a 3-minute reduction. For Protection Warriors, this results in no net change to Shield Wall's cooldown.

• Shield Slam now receives a 50% bonus to attack damage from attack power (down from 100%) for Warriors below level 85.

• Shado-Pan and The August Celestials daily quests no longer have a faction prerequisite to be Revered with the Golden Lotus.

• A Test of Valor: Reduced the amount of Valor needed for this achievement to 3000 Valor Points, down from 6000.

• Corrosion now deals 5 damage-per-round, up from 2, and increases damage taken by 2, down from 5.

• Counterspell now deals 10 damage in addition to the ability's previous effects.

• Deep Freeze now has a 10% reduced chance to hit.

• Fury of 1,000 Fists now has a 4-round cooldown, up from 3 rounds.

• Haymaker now has a 3-round cooldown.

• Headbutt now has a 4-round cooldown, up from 3 rounds.

• Impale now has a cooldown of 3 rounds, down from 5 rounds, deals 17% less damage, and no longer deals damage as a percentage of the target's health. The ability now deals a flat amount of bonus damage instead.

• Interrupting Gaze now deals 50% more damage.

• Interrupting Jolt now has a 4-round cooldown, down from 5 rounds.

• Kick now deals 50% more damage.

• Minefield now has a 5-round cooldown, and lasts for 9 rounds, down from 10 rounds.

• Mudslide now has a 4-round cooldown, up from 3 rounds.

• Predatory Strike no longer deal damage as a percentage of the target's health. The ability now deals a flat amount of bonus damage instead.

• Quicksand now has a 4-round cooldown, up from 3 rounds.

• Reckless Strike now has a 1-round cooldown.

• Rupture now has a 4-round cooldown, up from 3 rounds.

• Shock and Awe now has a 4-round cooldown, up from 3 rounds.

• Soulrush now has a 4-round cooldown, up from 3 rounds.

• Tyrannical weapons no longer have a conquest-earned prerequisite to purchase them.

• Picking up the Alliance or Horde flag while in a Rated Battleground now increases damage taken by 50% for characters in a tanking specialization, and increases damage taken by 20% for characters in a non-tanking specialization.

• Players can now use items that are in the bank or Void Storage for transmogrification.

• In-game support system is now a direct portal to the Battle.net Support site, allowing players to access the knowledge base and support contact system.

• Please check out the blog titled: In-game Browser and Support Tools in 5.3 for more information about this change and how you can help us test this new feature.