Be sure to check out our class guide to learn about the latest Support Ranged DPS, Augmenation.
Augmentation Evoker Guide
Upcoming Augmentation Tuning
Evoker
- Augmentation
- Close as Clutchmates now causes Ebon Might and Breath of Eons to be 20% more effective when not in a raid (was 40%).
- Fixed a bug where Close as Clutchmates would not increase the Evoker’s damage done via Ebon Might for periodic effects such as Fire Breath.
- Ebon Might now increases the Evoker’s damage done by 20% (was 10%).
- Eruption damage increased by 40%.
- Fate Mirror’s chance to occur reduced to 15% (was 20%).
- Aspects’ Favor amplifies Black Attunement to 7%/10% maximum health (was 10%/16%).
Developers’ notes: Augmentation is overperforming in dungeons and is doing less direct damage than intended relative to the power of their buffing effects. These adjustments will increase their personal damage in all situations and moderately reduce the effectiveness of their buffs in dungeon content.
Augmentation Evoker is receiving a number of balance changes as part of the July 25 Hotfixes, reducing its contribution to group damage and survivability while slightly increasing its personal damage. While these changes will be felt by those currently pushing the hardest keys this season, particularly the nerfs to Close as Clutchmates and Aspects’ Favor, Augmentation is almost certainly still poised to remain a main fixture in the Mythic+ meta for the reasons discussed in this article.
Augmentation in Mythic+ Currently
It’s been a week since Augmentation Evoker hit Live servers, and the spec has already had a massive impact on the game. From stacking 22 Aug Evokers to clear Rashok in 20 seconds to reigniting the debate around tools like Details and WarcraftLogs, the community at large has absolutely been making the most of this unprecedented mid-season launch.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of this past week however has been how quickly the community would embrace Augmentation Evoker in Mythic+. The spec quickly became a cornerstone of a powerful meta composition including some of the other strongest specs in Week 1 of Patch 10.1.5, allowing teams in some cases to push several key levels higher than usual.
A clear meta composition has emerged in the top key clears of 10.1.5 including Holy Paladin, Shadow Priest, Fire Mage, Guardian Druid, and Augmentation Evoker.
Recommended Build Update
I’ll be going over the latest recommended build to help you jump into keys this week, diving into what it is that makes Augmentation so effective, and highlighting some strong utility options for coordinated groups to take your Augmentation gameplay to the next level.
Recommended General Mythic+ Build:
Swapping out Plot the Future for Interwoven Threads has emerged as a clear favourite among Augmentation players in keys, and it makes sense. The main benefit of playing Time Skip in raid is being able to set up simultaneous Shifting Sands Versatility buffs across four buffed DPS players during a Bloodlust burst window, which simply doesn’t translate to a Mythic+ setting. This along with the fact that Interwoven Threads allows you to be more flexible with your cooldown usage over the course of a full key makes this a comfortable choice, despite having to give up a throughput talent in exchange.
Overall this is a balanced, tried-and-true setup that has seen success with both inexperienced players and some of the top key-doers. It takes efficient damage-oriented talents along with core spec utility, while keeping open the possibility of swapping certain flexible talents for more group-specific or niche utility needs.
For Raging week you may wish to swap a point from Innate Magic into Overawe for the AoE soothe capability.
General Mythic+ Build (Raging Week):
Why is Augmentation a Powerhouse in Mythic+?
Augmentation Evoker is quite clearly able to layer powerful damage multipliers on allies and amplify their burst windows to achieve powerful synergies, making the spec well worth its spot from a damage standpoint—but this doesn’t tell the whole story. Augmentation also features an incredibly potent support and utility kit, greatly improving the group’s survivability and significantly increasing its odds of success.
Ebon Might and Close as Clutchmates
Close as Clutchmates makes Ebon Might share up to 13% main stat (with tier set) with all four members of the group. Although nerfed from 15% in the latest tuning hotfixes, this makes up a significant portion of Augmentation’s damage contribution, but also directly buffs the Healer player’s HPS. Combined with a multiplicative 3% bonus from Potent Mana, Augmentation Evokers directly buff healer output by roughly 16.6% from these two buffs alone.
Shifting Sands
Augmentation Evoker regularly applies Shifting Sands to nearby DPS players, granting in the ballpark of 20% flat Versatility depending on the Evoker’s Mastery. While this results in more damage, it also importantly provides these players with an additional 10% damage reduction with high uptime.
Black Attunement and Aspects’ Favor
Black Attunement provides the group with an additional 4% maximum health, which stacks with Power Word: Fortitude. With 2 points in Aspects’ Favor, the Evoker’s two stacks of Obsidian Scales are upgraded to provide the group with 10% additional maximum health for a base duration of 12 seconds. While the latest tuning hotfixes have brought this down from 16%, the availability of this effect, combined with the ability to stack with other mitigation like Zephyr, Chrono Ward, and Twin Guardian still make it quite possible with Augmentation to survive mechanics that would otherwise one-shot a team.
Blistering Scales
Blistering Scales is in many ways more useful than it first appears. The damaging effect of course deals damage to all nearby enemies, which can be quite effective, and makes Reactive Hide‘s damage stacking particularly attractive in certain keys like Freehold and Brackenhide Hollow. Importantly, this damage is fully attributed to the buffed player, meaning that tanks can passively generate threat on enemies while starting a pull, making it less likely for stragglers to break off and attack other group members. Molten Blood naturally makes Blistering Scales a powerful external which can be used on anyone in a pinch. Finally, any tank will appreciate some extra armor, but talents like Thorns of Iron make this bonus just a little bit sweeter.
All The Stops
Augmentation Evoker has baseline access to a knockback in Wing Buffet, and two knock-ups in Tail Swipe and Upheaval. Oppressing Roar can be used alongside allied crowd control spells for a longer effect. A 20-second interrupt in Imposing Presence is a great pick-up to keep things under control in less coordinated groups. Lastly, if you find that you need even more control on top of this, Terror of the Skies and Seismic Slam add two massive AoE stuns to the Augmentation kit, making for quite the collection.
The Great Push 2023 Begins this Weekend
While many of us have been enjoying Augmentation Evoker to great effect this past week on Live servers, some of the top Mythic+ teams have meanwhile been busy cooking up strategies and practising new routes for this weekend’s Group A round of The Great Push 2023. There are some concerns that there will be minimal variance in class composition this weekend, but personally I am particularly excited to see how these teams make the most of Augmentation Evoker’s extensive utility kit for the first time on the big stage.
Players have already found at least one use for Bestow Weyrnstone—a powerful niche talent which allows players to teleport up to 100 yards to each other—to save time in Freehold by allowing the Evoker to sneak ahead, start the Ring of Booty roleplay, and teleport back to the group.
Additionally, it’s not unlikely that we may see players lean harder than ever into Augmentation’s unique utility in order to survive these high level keystones. Some teams have been experimenting with using Timelessness on a buffed DPS player to keep them from overtaking the tank on large pulls. Additionally, coordinated teams focused on maximising control might drop less critical damage talents like Innate Magic, Font of Magic, or Ignition Rush in favour of strong control and utility picks like Terror of the Skies, Seismic Slam, and Spatial Paradox.
For those of us excited to see Augmentation Evoker in action, the timing of this year’s The Great Push could not be better. I’m quite sure that whatever happens, I’m quite sure that we can expect this weekend to have at least a few surprises in store.
About the Author
This guide is written and maintained by Jereico, author of the Jereico Evoker community site. Previously a long-time Shadow Priest main, Jereico has been involved as a theorycrafter and contributor in the Evoker community since the early Dragonflight Beta. If you want to get in touch, you can find him in his Community Discord, on Twitter, posting videos to YouTube, and occasionally streaming on Twitch.
