Winners and losers of WoW Dragonflight Patch 10.0.5

World of Warcraft Dragonflight Patch 10.0.5 is here, and with it, Blizzard has introduced a boatload of new system updates and balance changes to shake up the game’s landscape. Beyond tuning changes—which came to nearly every class in the game—new additions to WoW include the Trading Post, Revival Catalyst, and the ability to transmogrify white and gray quality items. 

In what can only be a sign of good things to come, the first significant content update of Dragonflight brought far more good with it than bad. If anything, you’d have to look through a microscope and really start to nitpick if you want to find anything seriously wrong with the patch.

Still, everyone feels the fallout of patch day in some way or another. Here’s who’s feeling the positives and negatives of WoW Patch 10.0.5.  

Winner: Struggling Healer specs

For the first six weeks of Dragonflight season one, Druids and Evokers absolutely dominated the healing charts. With the launch of Patch 10.0.5, though, other healers in the game have been given a second lease on life. Restoration Shamans, in particular, received a flurry of buffs that should see their healing and damage throughput skyrocket, while Mistweaver Monks also earned well over a dozen adjustments to bring them back into the higher echelons of the healing tier list. The reintroduction of the spec’s Legion artifact ability, Sheilun’s Gift, is both mechanically and nostalgically pleasing. 

With buffs to Paladins and Priests as well, Healers should have more options available to them if they choose to roll new characters, and group leaders will certainly have more viable players in the pool of applicants when recruiting for raids and Mythic+ dungeons. 

Loser: God-King Skovald (and other denizens of the Halls of Valor)

Halls of Valor has been one of the toughest Mythic+ dungeons to complete in time this season, but a downpour of nerfs to the dungeon in Patch 10.0.5 should alleviate some of the struggles players have had in the Halls—especially at higher keystone levels. 

Enemies throughout the dungeon, including Hyrja, Fenryr, and the four Vrykul kings in Odyn’s throne room, all had their health decreased in the patch. But the biggest change came to God-King Skovald, who now only has one line of dialogue before his boss fight begins instead of his usual seven-line, back-and-forth conversation with Odyn. This change should relieve some of the pressure players felt while the dungeon’s timer was ticking down at its back end and all you could do was budget for almost two minutes of RP. 

Winner: Slower-paced players

Unless you’re a hardcore player who maxes out their keystones and raids Mythic-level Vault of the Incarnates each week, there’s a really strong possibility that your main character isn’t at “full build” level just yet. This week, though, the Revival Catalyst has made it possible for you to turn any eligible piece of Dragonflight season one gear into tier-set gear. That means if you have, for example, an item you earned from your Great Vault that doesn’t give any tier-set bonuses, you can transform it into a tier piece after completing a short quest line. 

Related: How to get Revival Catalyst charges in WoW Dragonflight

This addition is massive for players who aren’t min-maxing every character on their account since they can take miscellaneous pieces of gear they’ve earned throughout the season and immediately give it an extra boost in potency. If you have characters who are behind the gearing curve, Patch 10.0.5 provides immediate solutions.  

Loser: Players with just one character

If you only play one character in World of Warcraft, that’s entirely fine. It’s hard to get away from your main. With that being said, though, Dragonflight is the most alt-friendly expansion the game has had in ages, and if you’re only playing one character, you’re missing out.

The opportunities that WoW presents to you each week—especially after 10.0.5—via the Great Vault, Renown speed-up mechanics, Sparks of Ingenuity, and now the Revival Catalyst, allow players to have powerful alts at faster rates than ever before. Leveling and gearing an alt to a point where they’re raid-ready can effectively be done in a week (or less), and with tier gear being much easier to come by thanks to the Catalyst, you can have an alt fitted with two set pieces after one weekly reset if luck falls in your favor.