Devastation Evoker Guide for The War Within (2024)

Last updated on Jun 18, 2024 at 10:00by Blueprint28 comments

Welcome to our War Within expansion guide for Devastation Evoker.Ahead of launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about theDevastation Evoker spec in the forthcoming The War Within expansion,including changes, Hero Talent Trees, and some light predictions on the stateof the spec going into the expansion.

This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regularchanges expected as updates hit the War Within beta. This is not meant to bea launch guide for Devastation Evoker, but instead serves as aresource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving on Beta, andwhat you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.

Devastation Evoker has received one major change to its talents thus far, with the capping of Animosity to a duration of 16 seconds, this will have a large impact on our Dragonrage window.

The War Within has major implications for all specs thanks to the HeroTalent Tree system, new tier sets, and the natural reduction in secondarystats when entering a new expansion.

Devastation Evoker gets to choose between the Flameshaperand Scalecommander Hero Talent Trees. In sections below, we will talk moredeeply about the implications of these Hero Talent Trees for the spec, and somethoughts on what looks strong and weak ahead of launch.

The Flameshaper Hero Tree Talents are primarily based on interactions of Fire Breath and the new Flameshaper specific ability Engulf.

Gameplay-wise, Flameshaper brings Engulf which adds an additional ability into your core rotationthat will be used at different times depending on the amount of targets you are aiming to hitit can be used with multiple charged in quick succession for a large amount of AoE burst damageor can be staggered in order to maximize the benefits of the passive aspects of the Flameshaper tree.

Power-wise, Flameshaper should excel in situations with high priority AoE targets that need to die quicklywhich can be done without any real loss to your ST damage, it will have a rotational change that will bemildly different from what you are currently used too with Devastation in DF, but it should be very comfortable and consistentafter you've spent a little time working with it.

Defensively, Flameshaper does not add much to our toolkit, Draconic Instincts in situations of sustained damagewill have some value but due to its unreliability its not something you will be able to consider a real defensive. Its alternate however Lifecinders allowing you to duplicate your Renewing Blaze on another target aswell as yourself willbe very beneficial in both a progression raiding and high mythic+ setting.

The Scalecommander Hero Tree Talents are based around Mass Disintegrate and Bombardmentsthe core rotation is more or less identical to what we currently have in DF with Deep Breath now becominga real part of our rotation due to the massive buffs it has received, casting it will give you 3 different benefits,firstly it will reset a charge of Hover, secondly it will deal a substational amount of damage over time, and finallyit will make enemies take 20% increased damage from Essence abilities like Pyre and Disintegrate andyour Bombardments for 12 seconds, and to top it all off, it can be turned and adjust mid flight to cover a different area insteadof a straight line, aswell as cancelled earlier now to reduce your casting downtime.

Gameplay-wise, the entire kit is a passive tree but the major benefits are active components which you will haveto maximize through rotational adjustment in order to get the most out of Scalecommander.

Power-wise, Scalecommander is looking exceptionally good in basically every situation, while at its coreit turns your ST damage profile into a 3 target damage profile, its ability when paired with other aspects of the Devastationtree primarily Charged Blast and how quickly you will be able to reach maximum stacks when channeling Mass Disintegratemeans it has no real weakness in AoE either, it will not have the burst AoE that Flameshaper does, but it will be able to hold its ownagainst most other specs and excel heavily on the single target and stacked cleave scenarios.

Defensively, Scalecommander has alot of benefits in mythic+ but very few in raid at this time, Hardened Scales increasing your Obsidian Scales DR from 30-35% is almost never going to be a relevant factor, its alternative however Menacing Presence whichreduces the damage targets who were hit by Tail Swipe or Wing Buffet deal to you by 15% for 8 seconds, will be incredibly valuablein mythic+ and depending on how it interacts with immune targets in raid could provide a huge benefit there aswell.

Below are the Tier Set Bonuses for Devastation Evoker in The WarWithin. After the wording of the bonus, you will find a brief note/commentarythat is italicized.

• Evoker Devastation 11.0 Class Set 2pc — increases the damage of your Disintegrate and Pyre by 10%, this is entirely passive andincredibly underwhelming
• Evoker Devastation 11.0 Class Set 4pc — your Eternity Surge cooldownis reduced by 5 seconds taking it from 30 seconds baseline to 25, or 22 if you are talentedinto Event Horizon aswell as giving you a charge of Essence Burst upon use.

Both set bonuses are passive and should not have any real impact on your rotation.

The 2pc bonus is numerically very weak for Flameshaper being worth 2.5-3% dps on STand slightly stronger for Scalecommander being worth closer to 4% ST and scaling upfairly well as a 2nd and 3rd target are added.

The 4pc bonus is very weak for Flameshaper also as it has no interactionswith the passives or actives within the hero tree, for Scalecommander howeverdue to both Mass Disintegrate and Bombardments being tied to your empowerspells you can expect this to bring a much more substantial increase.

The total expected value of the Tier Set is around 5-6% for Flameshaper and 10-12% for Scalecommander,this is on the weak side compared to what we are used too for Devastation, especially for Flameshaper, buthopefully that will be adjusted in the future.