Evokers will be receiving a third specialization in Dragonflight patch 10.1.5: Augmentation, focused on support

Dragonflight patch 10.1.5 Fractures in Time will be implementing a third spec for the Dracthyr Evoker, with the new Augmentation spec being the first attempt at a support class by the World of Warcraft team in a long time. Augmentation will use the powers of the Black and Bronze Dragonflights to deal damage and buff their allies, and while still considered primarily a DPS class — group finder and raid composition will treat them as such — the ability to increase other player’s abilities should make them a popular addition.

While the spec is still a work-in-progress, we have some sense of how this will work. New spells such as Ebon Might will both buff your allies and increase the damage of the core spell Eruption (which replaces the class spell Disintegrate) for the Evoker. Other abilities will increase the duration of Ebon Might, so the more uptime it has, the more powerful the entire group will be.

There is also a feedback loop with the buffs, through spells like Breath of Eons — which replaces Deep Breath. It stores up damage and unleashes it after ten seconds, and the amount of damage dealt is based on allies’ damage to the targets. The Evoker buffs their allies, and in turn that increases their own DPS.

The Augmentation talent tree will possess a similar design, with many abilities focusing on the health (Black Dragonflight) or speed (Bronze Dragonflight) of allies. Spells such as Blistering Scales — which functions similar to the Shaman spell Earth Shield but deals AOE damage when a stack is removed — will be most beneficial on tanks, but won’t be as powerful as a regular Earth Shield; and, of course, the Evoker will not be able to function as a healer in a pinch even with the health-increasing aspect.

The addition of a new class spec mid-expansion is an interesting experiment by the development team, especially as it’s a serious attempt at a support class as well. If the Augmentation Evoker can be balanced successfully it’ll help the game evolve a variety of support specializations — perhaps we may finally see a Bard class!