Augmentation Evoker Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Chronowarden vs. Scalecommander

The War Within Posted 3 days ago by Jereico

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Frost DK
Havoc DH
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Arcane Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Holy Paladin
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue

Enhancement Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Augmentation Evoker in the War WithinEbon MightClose as ClutchmatesEbon MightClose as ClutchmatesBlack AttunementBlack Aspect's FavorBlack AttunementBlack Aspect's FavorSpatial ParadoxTime Spiral

It still buffs tank and healer throughput with Ebon Might.

It still improves tank survivability with Blistering Scales.

Shifting Sands still provides your DPS with extra Versatility (although noticeably less at the start of the expansion).

Upheaval is still a strong rotational knock-up.

Chrono Ward can still make a difference when timed just right.

It's still only Evoker spec with access to Bestow Weyrnstone and Defy Fate.

Hero Talent Showdown: Chronowarden vs. Scalecommander Breath of Eons Chronowarden

Strengths

Weaknesses

Ebon MightPrescienceShifting SandsThreads of FatePrescienceGolden OpportunityChrono FlameLiving FlameAzure StrikeTip the ScalesWarpTemporalityHoverWarp Scalecommander

Strengths

Weaknesses

BombardmentsMass EruptionBombardmentsWingleaderBreath of EonsManeuverabilityBreath of EonsWhat's Changed? Chronowarden

Warp now has a noticeably shorter animation time, and feels better than it did earlier in the Beta.

Temporality was changed from 30% to 20%.

Double-time was reworked (was Careful Contemplation, passive Intellect and Stamina at the expense of longer cooldowns).

Time Convergence was changed from 10% to 5% and had its defensive effect removed.

Temporal Burst now starts at 30% and ramps down over 30 sec, instead of ramping up to 40% over 20 sec.

Threads of Fate now lasts 10 sec instead of 15 sec.

Master of Destiny was reworked (was Empower spells buff Threads of Fate effect).

Golden Opportunity was reworked (was 25% chance for Prescience to have its cooldown reset).

Instability Matrix now provides up to 6 sec of cooldown reduction instead of 10 sec.

Golden Opportunity swapped positions with Instability Matrix.

Scalecommander

Mass Eruption was changed from 25% to 15%.

Might of the Black Dragonflight was changed from 10% to 20%.

Hardened Scales was changed from 5% to 10%.

Bombardments was changed from 10 sec to 6 sec duration, but now deals significantly more damage per hit.

Unrelenting Siege maximum value was changed from 50% to 15%, but also now benefits Eruption.

Maneuverability damage increased by 25%.

And the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Chronowarden & Scalecommander (Tie)

Both Chronowarden and Scalecommander feature a nice mix of unique visuals and twists on existing spells that enhance the Bronze and Black dragonflight elements as well as the support identity of the Augmentation Evoker.

Chronowarden truly leans into the feel of Bronze time magic, with talents like Temporal Burst making you move and cast noticeably faster, and Warp making Hover feel special and unique. Chrono Flame brings a substantial visual upgrade to Living Flame, which makes it extra clear that you're playing Chronowarden.

Scalecommander does have a bit of a missed opportunity, in that Mass Eruption is much less visually noticeable than the Devastation counterpart Mass Disintegrate. That said, from a visuals standpoint Bombardments truly caries the Scalecommander aesthetic, as the dracthyr aerial support swoops in to dispatch your enemies. Additionally, Maneuverability does significantly change the feel of casting Breath of Eons, providing an additional new gameplay experience.

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Chronowarden (Winner)

While the difference in gameplay is definitely minimal and somewhat nuanced, in my opinion the combination of Warp along with slightly faster gameplay during cooldowns causes Chronowarden to edge out ahead overall. That said, the elements of buff RNG inherent to the Chronowarden tree shouldn't be overlooked, and certainly may contribute to a somewhat frustrating experience in raid.

Difficulty: Scalecommander (Winner)

I expect players to find the direct damage tilt of Scalecommander to generally result in a slightly more consistent damage output that is somewhat less reliant on elements of RNG, or the performance of your allies in Raid or Mythic+.

Defensiveness & Utility: Chronowarden & Scalecommander (Tie)

When it comes to defensives, even at 20% Temporality is a particularly standout node and makes Chronowarden that much more attractive. However, the ability does have to be carefully timed in order to have a meaningful impact. Having to manage your usage of Warp between mobility and cast-while-moving while also saving charges to use defensively may take some adjustment. Additionally, this is basically the only defensive node for Augmentation in the Chronowarden tree.

On the other hand, Scalecommander has Hardened Scales, which provides around 17% additional Effective HP while Obsidian Scales is up. It also has access to Nimble Flyer, which actually provides a similar average benefit to Temporality, restricted to area of effect damage.

It could be said that Chronowarden might pull slightly ahead if Temporality is played perfectly, while Scalecommander still provides solid alternatives with a much higher margin for error.

Leveling: Scalecommander (Winner)

While I would not generally recommend leveling as Augmentation Evoker, particularly while questing in the open world, Scalecommander is somewhat better suited for this style of gameplay with its higher direct damage and lesser focus on buffing allies.

Mythic+: Chronowarden & Scalecommander (Tie)

At the moment there really is no clear winner when it comes to performance in Mythic+. In practical gameplay, both hero talent options seem to provide similar overall damage output on average, and neither tree is especially advantaged from a utility standpoint.

As it stands, it could very well come down to personal preference, or it could depend on your specific group members (ie. if you happen to be running with specs that have mostly 90 sec major cooldowns, you may consider Scalecommander for its shorter cooldown on Breath of Eons).

Raid: Chronowarden & Scalecommander (Tie)

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to Augmentation Evoker in Raid, as the spec's performance is especially dependent on your ability to buff strong allies at specific times. Under current tuning, Chronowarden looks like it may edge out slightly ahead in the hands of top players, however players with a less flexible roster, less willingness to optimize cooldown timings, or who are easily frustrated by having to track RNG buff effects may just as easily prefer Scalecommander.

Best Overall: Chronowarden & Scalecommander (Tie)

While I would love to award one of the two hero talent choices the title of "Best Overall" winner, the fact is that both hero talent trees for Augmentation Evoker bring unique twists to the spec without dramatically altering the spec's base gameplay, and are at the moment tuned to a roughly even degree in terms of overall throughput in Raid and Mythic+ (pending further analysis and potential tuning). The fact that Chronowarden directly affects the spec's group buffs, while Scalecommander is slightly more focused on direct damage means that different players may inherently have different preferences depending on their level of skill or preferred playstyle.

At the end of the day, metas invariably emerge, players will establish preferences, and perhaps we may even see strategies involving specific interactions or timings which could cause one to emerge victorious. As it stands, only time will tell.

Hero Talent Feedback Chronowarden

Optimal gameplay with Temporal Burst encourages you to cast and immediately /cancelaura Tip the Scales, in order to avoid upranking Fire Breath. Cancelaura gameplay is cumbersome and unintuitive at best, and should be revisited.

The recent undocumented change to Warp shortening its animation time is a great change and one that we're quite happy to see. This makes the spell feel much more responsive than before.

It is difficult to track when Ebon Might has been buffed by Double-time. This is a problem because re-casting Ebon Might too early can potentially overwrite a buffed Ebon Might with an unbuffed version of the spell.

Scalecommander

Wingleader remains deeply situational for Augmentation Evoker, as Breath of Eons still needs to be timed with allies' cooldowns. This means that Augmentation often gets no value from this particular node. Devastation on the other hand has access to a 1 min base cooldown Deep Breath which can be reduced to 30 sec and does not need to be aligned with others' cooldowns.

It is worth noting that Devastation also has naturally significantly higher uptime on Bombardments compared to Augmentation, due entirely to its significantly lower cooldowns on its Empower spells. This isn't necessarily an enormous problem on its own, but given that hero talent changes often affect both specs at once, this is an important fact to highlight.

Bombardments also has relatively poor target scaling, and as a major component of the Scalecommander damage breakdown, may present some challenges in overall tuning.

Maneuverability is definitely a focal point of the Scalecommander hero talent tree, but the cumbersome flying controls still leave something to be desired. Perhaps this one will feel better with practice.

Base Augmentation Evoker Gameplay & TalentsMolten EmbersFire BreathEbon MightRumbling EarthMolten EmbersSense PowerShould You Play Augmentation Evoker in the War Within?best About the AuthorJereicoCommunity DiscordTwitterYouTubeTwitch

Comment by SoeroahWait, Close as Clutchmates is gone?

What's that going to do to outdoor world solo augvokers?Comment by Hilgonodelete augComment by JereicoWait, Close as Clutchmates is gone?

What's that going to do to outdoor world solo augvokers?Comment by kehrseiteWait, Close as Clutchmates is gone?

What's that going to do to outdoor world solo augvokers?Comment by kehrseitedelete augComment by ZiyshotDelete Aug :)Comment by Onigodxjust delete aug pls guysComment by likerdosAll the delete augmentation comments aside I genuinely don't understand what we're supposed to do with this class. Blizzard clearly regrets making a support and they're just going to try to pigeonhole this into a pure DPS spec eventuallyComment by Calluxusimagine a spec taking a 50% nerf to its support and people would still rather take it than you.

you guys must really be bad at the game.Comment by DreadfuryDKWait, Close as Clutchmates is gone?

What's that going to do to outdoor world solo augvokers?Comment by BornysCool artitcle. Cannot wait to play with aug. One of my fav class in the game.Comment by SlyrakI love playing Aug, I just feel like a lot of the nerfs were unwarranted and will effect gameplay in open world/pvp.Comment by D3Nvdelete augmentation plsComment by acidqtpls delet augComment by PhishFortranOh man, I can’t wait until aug’s a tank spec like it should have beenComment by Energizer1Delete this aberration spec from the game.Comment by DenshiDelete Aug or turn it into DPS/TankComment by Rainy89delete augComment by NarhwalsCreate more support specsComment by LautnerLot of haters out here sharin the same braincell.

Imagine Blizzard, "Sorry, I know we spent millions of dollars creating a new spec for the newest class, but I was reading on this third party website's comment section for a random article and Dragonboi69420 wants this deleted. We gave it our best, time to let Aug go."

It's massively popular. If this bothers you, maybe unsub for a while. Hit them with their wallet (this will go unnoticed) right?