World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is well on its way, and the current alpha servers provide a fantastic chance to see some of the features that we can expect once the expansion finally hits the playable servers.
Much of this upcoming content is new to the franchise, but there’s a good bit that’s being carried back in from previous expansions. For example, the newest version of Legendary powers seem to be mostly derived from old Legion Legendaries and set bonuses.
Some of the additions, however, serve as new content iterating on old content as a sort of middle ground. Such is the case with the newest set of Darkmoon Decks, a trinket players collect cards to eventually turn into the Darkmoon Faire to earn.
Four new Darkmoon Decks are being added for players to track down and collect before receiving a powerful trinket in return. While powerful, they’re rarely endgame equipment – the current Battle for Azeroth trinkets rest at 355 item level, whereas gear that drops from Mythic Ny’alotha is between 475 and 485.
Additionally, these four new cards are different from previous iterations in that they’re all trinkets with a usable effect, essentially making them a new ability. This contrasts the Battle for Azeroth decks, which are all passive proccing abilities.
As with every expansion, #Shadowlands will be adding 4 new Darkmoon Decks. The Shadowlands Darkmoon Decks have a very unique feature — they are all On Use effects with a 3 minute cooldown. #Warcrafthttps://t.co/m5ZDvqtMX5 pic.twitter.com/SF5BM1f1Bz
— Wowhead💙 (@Wowhead) June 27, 2020
With four new cards, there’s one for each category of character – tank, caster DPS, agility/strength DPS, and healers. These cards are obtainable through the Inscription Profession, where players will create Darkmoon Cards of Death to randomly receive one as they work towards completing decks.
Tank toons will want to create the Darkmoon Deck: Indomitable trinket. When used, this trinket surrounds the caster with five shields, each of which absorbs 500-1500 damage from an attack before breaking. The amount healed depends on the card on top of the deck when used.
Casters will track down the Darkmoon Deck: Putrescence option, which causes enemies to explode with energy. This causes heavy shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yards, split evenly, and increases your critical strike chance against them by 5-15%.
Darkmoon Deck: Voracity is the option for agility/strength DPS classes such as rogues, hunters, and warriors. When used, this trinket drains a flat amount of haste from the target and empowers the caster with it instead, the amount increasing in relation to the topmost card of the deck.
Finally, healers will want Darkmoon Deck: Repose, which launches a web of healing energy forward. This web’s width is affected by the card on top of the deck as well, healing all allies touched for a high amount of healing.
