Highlights

  • WoW's War Within expansion introduces 39 new hero talent trees, impacting gameplay significantly with exciting changes and additions.
  • Nearly every class gets access to three or four unique hero talent trees, starting at level 71, enhancing gameplay with new abilities and bonuses.
  • While some concerns exist about certain talent trees, Blizzard's unveiling of 28 trees has generated excitement among players for the upcoming expansion.

World of Warcraft: The War Within is bringing a handful of new updates, including a new underground landmass called Khaz Algar, four new zones, 39 new hero talents, new end-game content, a better and shared Warband progression system, and more. While the whole Warband system is agreeably going to impact the gameplay in more than one way and could pave the way for major gameplay changes moving forward, the hero talent tree update within select specializations for different classes, too, is also going to be a major game-changer for the community — cousin-game Dota 2 players have seen firsthand how this will play out.

WoW players were initially introduced to the contents of only eight out of a total of 39 hero talent trees coming in World of Warcraft: The War Within. An article on Blizzard’s blog then went on to reveal the contents of eight more hero trees and has recently unveiled a dozen more talent trees, all of which are exciting and have generated a buzz among the WoW player base — for better or for worse, considering that some classes also seem to have been overlooked in the much-anticipated expansion.

world of warcraft war within Thrall offering a hand to Anduin
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What are the Hero Talent Trees in The War Within Expansion?

World of Warcraft Talent Trees

The Hero Talent Trees introduced in The War Within expansion is a new form of character progression, similar to the original talent trees, and becomes available to players starting at level 71. Each class, with specific exceptions for Druids and Demon Hunters due to their unique class structures, gets access to three Hero Talent trees (Druids get four because of their extra specialization, and Demon Hunters get two which most DH players are more than happy with).

So basically, once level 70 is hit and then all the way up to level 80, players are looking at new ways to enhance their gameplay at each level with either a keystone that’s passive, gives a boost to something as simple as attacking speed, or another cool attribute, or replaces an existing ability with a new one.

This feature essentially brings with it a micro-level of specialization and gameplay where players will choose from 11 nodes, three or four of whom would be choice nodes that will make the game all the more subjective to a certain hero/class. The talents will have starter builds available and saved builds will save hero talent choices as well.

Analyzing The War Within Hero Talent Trees

The Diabolist Warlock is a good example of how the system will work, which is being hyped up as a nice addition to the Warlock's arsenal. Warlocks are masters of dark magic and demonic summons, and this new talent tree amplifies their ability to dominate the battlefield with even more formidable demonic allies. The new update amplifies their symbiosis with the Felguard, in particular, and in ways previously unseen.

The Felguard will now perfectly sync with the Demonic Tyrant ability, with it buffing the Felguard by 15% and extending its duration by 10 seconds. This means players can now enjoy 13 seconds of enhanced Felguard devastation without the awkward pause where there was typically a need to hold off on summoning the Tyrant. It's essentially like receiving a 25% buff to both the Tyrant and the Felguard's effectiveness, which should feel great in practice. Ruination and Demonfire barrage are also interesting passive effects to look forward to.

39 Talent Trees Will Have a Huge Effect on Gameplay Collectively

Diabolist Warlock is just one out of the 39 talent trees about to change the game. There’s Trickster Rogue, Templar Paladin, Herald of the Sun Paladin, Scalecommander Evoker, Wildstalker Druid, and Elune’s Chosen Druid from the previously unveiled batch of eight War Within Talent Trees. Following up on these eight, there are a dozen more talent trees including Rider of the Apocalypse Death Knight, Deathbringer Death Knight, Aldrachi Reaver Demon Hunter, Druid of the Claw Druid, Flameshaper Evoker, Pack Leader Hunter, Spellslinger Mage, and Shado-Pan Monk, as well as 11 other names that have yet not been unveiled.

Just like Warlock’s talent tree, there’s Death Knight’s Rider of the Apocalypse, which will be a beast to try with Frost DK in TWW. The same goes for the Guardian Druid, which also seems decent enough as it will allow cat-form dps play while retaining 80% bear-form armor. All in all, there is a lot going on, and the true potential of the system will only come to light once the expansion goes live.

The New Talent Trees Also Raise a Few Concerns

However, it's worth considering the downside of the new talent trees. For example, there's the Shado-Pan Monk, whom the devs seem to have designed for steady damage output and defensive maneuvers like Flurry Strikes, which may seem bland for players preferring a more dynamic gameplay. Additionally, while most Demon Hunter players are perfectly content with two talent trees, DH mains want to have more of the cake, especially when Druid mains are getting four pieces of it.

Still, Blizzard has unveiled the contents of 28 talent trees, and most of them seem very exciting. That, combined with all that World of Warcraft: The War Within is bringing to the table on the franchise’s 20th anniversary, should be enough to pull in both oldies of the game and generate enough buzz to pave the way for a fresher player base. It will be interesting to see how the talent trees pan out in real time once the expansion finally rolls out later this year.