WoW Hotfixes, August 31: Class Fixes and Venomous Abyss Work

What changed on August 31

Blizzard's August 31 hotfixes are a correctness pass rather than a tuning pass. Six specialisations got bug fixes, the Venomous Abyss raid took the largest share of the work across both the Coiled Altar and Ula'tek, and the only number Blizzard actually moved is a 20% reduction to a Mythic healing absorb. There is no Player versus Player section on the day. The full list is on Blizzard's rolling hotfix article.

The hotfixes

Classes

• Death Knight, Unholy. Dread and Virulent Plague Erupt effects were not working as intended with the target and caster damage modifiers Foul Infections, Thrill of Blood, Incite Terror, Morbidity, Soul Reaper, Brittle, and the War debuff of Rune of the Apocalypse.
• Druid, Restoration. Grove Guardians were not prioritising the target of your Swiftmend or Wild Growth. Everbloom could incorrectly heal 6 targets instead of the intended 5.
• Mage, Fire. The 2-piece set bonus Flamestrike did not always grant Hot Streak! when it was a guaranteed critical strike due to Pyroclasm.
• Monk, Mistweaver. Soothing Mist could rarely cause the incorrect aura to be cancelled.
• Priest, Holy. Guardian Angel would not reduce the cooldown of Guardian Spirit when placed on an ally.
• Warlock, Affliction. With Hellcaller, Blackened Soul would not activate from Unstable Affliction applied via Fatal Echoes.

Dungeons and Raids

All of it is the Venomous Abyss. On the Coiled Altar, Coalesced Venom could rarely spawn inside a Virulent Mutation rim on Mythic, Soul Sever was highlighting the wrong Manifestations of Dread, and the Defilement healing absorb is down 20% on Mythic. On Ula'tek, damage from carrying eggs is now periodic rather than direct, Blight Vein and Toxic Burn could each occasionally deal extra damage, Dancing Rune Weapon could fail to cast when targeting the Venomous Heart, Grasping Fangs has more range, and Ula'tek could incorrectly re-emerge during the intermission.

Delves, Omnium Folio and interface

• Gnarldor Isle. Minchi's Osseous Adventure now asks for 4 bone piles instead of 6.
• Omnium Folio. The Rune of Lingering no longer breaks crowd-controlled enemies.
• User Interface. Housewarming housing quest groups moved to the Questing section of the Premade Group Finder, from Custom.

PvP verdict

Nothing here changes a PvP tuning value: Blizzard published no Player versus Player section, the raid, delve and interface entries are scoped outside instanced PvP, and the Mythic absorb reduction is a raid number. The six class entries are written without encounter scope, so the corrected behaviour applies in arena and rated battlegrounds too, but every one of them restores intended behaviour rather than altering a cooldown, duration or damage value you would plan a game around.

What is not affected

The Omnium Folio line is the one entry that reads like a PvP fix and is not confirmed as one. A rune breaking crowd control is exactly the kind of interaction that matters in a rated match, but Blizzard does not say where the fix applies, and no official source confirms whether Omnium Folio runes function inside instanced PvP at all. Until Blizzard scopes it, treat the entry as unresolved rather than as a change to your arena setup.