Augmentation Evoker, Everything You Need to Know

Augmentation Evoker has been announced by Blizzard to be the third Evoker spec which will be released in patch 10.1.5. This exciting new spec works differently than any other class in the game, with a focus being on buffing your allies to increase their damage. Basically Augmentation Evokers are going to finally be the Bard class players wanted.

Augmentation Evoker, What is it?

On the spec selection screen we have a description of what Augmentation Evokers will do. They imbue their allies with the might of the Black dragons and use Bronze dragon magic to bend time and fate in their favor. When Evokers were first released everyone noticed how Black dragon magic seemed to be nonexistent, well now we know why. Unlike most DPS classes, their main focus is to improve their allies' damage capabilities. This could make Augmentation a must have spec, as many DPS are already familiar with players asking Priests for PI to boost their damage numbers. Now we have an entire spec for that!

Blizzard is keeping in mind the players that enjoy min maxing their characters, and go for the best parses. In the post Blizzard mentions they are working on new combat log hooks so that addons and community websites can properly reflect how the character is being played. Ideally this would mean that whatever extra damage your allies do would be added to your damage, since Augmentation Evoker's base damage will likely be low as their focus is on empowering allies.

Abilities

While we did not get to see all their abilities, Blizzard revealed some key abilities that are important to the core of the spec. The most important ability is Ebon Might which has a 1.5 second cast and a 30 second cooldown. Casting Ebon Might will “buff your 4 nearest allies' primary stat by a percentage of your own, and cause your Eruption to deal more damage for 10 seconds. Some of your other spells extend the duration of these effects.” This will be the most important ability as Augmentation Evokers will want to maximize the uptime of Ebon Might and keep it on players as long as possible. Since we do not know the duration of the buff yet, it is hard to tell how difficult this will be. It is also not mentioned how much duration is added when using other abilities, which will be a huge factor on how much uptime you will be able to get out of Ebon Might.

Their next ability is Eruption which is a 2 second cast, costs 3 Essence, and replaces Disintegrate. From the description it sounds like an earthen circle is formed under your targets, the ground then erupts dealing Volcanic damage split evenly among all enemies hit. Using this ability increases the duration of active Ebon Mights.

Augmentation Evoker's third ability is Upheaval, which is an empowered spell with a 30 second cooldown. This creates a ground effect around your target that will erupt, knocking up all enemies inside and dealing Volcanic damage to all enemies inside. The size expands based on the empowerment level of Upheaval. Using this ability increases the duration of active Ebon Mights.

The next ability that was revealed is Breath of Eons, this replaces Deep Breath and has a 1.5 minute cooldown. You can select a targeted area and then fly over it, all enemies under you receive Temporal Wounds. This is a debuff that accumulates a portion of the damage your allies do, when the debuff expires it releases the stored damage as a critical hit. Using this ability increases the duration of active Ebon Mights.

Talents

Blizzard showed us a picture of the new Augmentation Evoker talent tree, however they only revealed a few talents that players can choose. The first talent is Draconic Attunements, this is a passive ability that lets you tune yourself to the essence of the Black or Bronze dragonflights. Black attunement grants your 4 nearest allies increased maximum health. Bronze attunement grants your 4 nearest allies increased movement speed.

The next talent is Blistering Scales which is an ability you can place on other players. You protect an ally with explosive dragonscales, increasing their armor by a percentage of your own. Melee attacks against them cause the scales to explode, dealing Volcanic damage to enemies near them. This is an ability that would be great to put on Tanks, especially in big pulls on Mythic+, to deal extra damage to lots of mobs.

Bestow Weyrnstone is the next talent revealed to us. When you activate this ability you conjure a pair of Weyrnstones, one will be given to your targeted ally and the other you keep. The players can choose to activate the Weyrnstone at any time. When activated it will transport that player to the location of the other Weyrnstone holder if they are within 100yds. This ability looks like a fun movement ability that could be used to help immobile classes like Priests to get out of bad mechanics.