This article explains how each set bonus works, what triggers it, what can crit, power-scaling tables, simulator implementations, and more. I’ve also listed the spell IDs necessary to search or filter for them on Warcraft Logs.
For a more general overview of Domination gear, shards, and set bonuses, read this article.
Blood set bonus
Blood link: “Damaging an enemy establishes a Blood Link. Blood Link pulses every 3 sec, dealing ___Shadow damage and healing you for 100% of damage dealt. If your Blood Link would overheal you, it instead heals a nearby ally. Limit 1.”
- Spell damage ID: 355767
- Heal ID: 355768
- Overheal ID: 355769
- Simulator implementation
| Rank | Damage | Self heal | Ally heal (when applicable) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 637 | 637 | 637 |
| 2 – Ominous | 955 | 955 | 955 |
| 3 – Desolate | 1,273 | 1,273 | 1,273 |
| 4 – Foreboding | 1,592 | 1,592 | 1,592 |
| 5 – Portentous | 1,910 | 1,910 | 1,910 |
How does it actually work?
The first time you attack a target with a spell after entering combat, the blood set bonus starts a timer. A melee attack will not start it, it needs to be a spell. The timer ticks every 3 seconds (not affected by haste) as long as you stay in combat. Each time it ticks, it does flat damage and also heals for a flat amount.
Damage
Each time it ticks, it does flat damage that scales with the usual things (e.g. versatility, damage multipliers). The damage can also crit.
Using a spell on a different target will move the link to that target, but it will not reset the timer. Even if you “miss” a tick by not having it on a target, the timer keeps ticking in the background. Thus you could hit a new target and it might tick immediately, or not until 3 seconds from now.
Healing
It heals each time it ticks as well. Despite the wording of the spell, the heal is independent of the damage — it doesn’t heal you for damage dealt. It heals for the flat amount which is affected by the usual things that would multiply heals (e.g. versatility, healing multipliers, healing taken buffs).
The heal can also crit, and its chance to crit is independent of the damage (e.g. the damage might crit and the heal doesn’t crit on any given tick).
When the heal on yourself overheals by any amount (the whole thing could be overheal or it could overheal for just 1), it triggers another heal on a nearby ally for the same amount of the entire heal, but it re-multiplies by healing multipliers. If the main heal crits, this will heal for the crit amount. This heal seems like it can also crit independently.
NOTE: testing of the overheal was done before the latest hotfixes. I’m not sure if they changed or fixed those last two behaviors that seem buggy, i.e. the overheal probably should not double-dip on healing multipliers and crit. We will be testing it again.
Frost set bonus
Winds of Winter: “Each time you deal a critical strike, the Winds accumulate __% of that effect, up to a cap of ___ per critical strike. Every 20 sec, the Winds unleash, dealing Frost damage equal to the total accumulation and and surrounding you in the Winds for 20 sec, absorbing 100% of damage dealt by the Winds.” Damage ID: 355735 (simulator implementation)
The percent accumulation and the cap per crit scale with the set bonus rank. See table below.
| Rank | % accumulation | Crit cap value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9% | 180 |
| 2 – Ominous | 13% | 270 |
| 3 – Desolate | 17% | 360 |
| 4 – Foreboding | 21% | 450 |
| 5 – Portentous | 26% | 540 |
How does it work?
Whenever you do damage with a crit, or heal with a crit, a percentage of it is stored, up to a cap on that hit. (The percent and cap scale with the rank of the set bonus as indicated in the table above). For example, at rank 1, 9% of the crit’s damage, up to 180 max, is stored. The total stored has no limit, just the amount per each crit that you can add to the total.
Every 20 seconds, Winds of Winter does damage equal to this stored amount to your current enemy target. This damage event is multiplied by things like versatility and it can crit. It only hits one target, and since it has a big range (100 yards), you don’t need to worry about being close to an enemy.
You also get a shield on yourself equal to the actual damage dealt by the Winds of Winter. The shield lasts for 20 seconds.
This bonus is not particularly good for pet specs, because pet crits cannot contribute to the damage. It is also not as good for specs that tend to get very large crits, because the cap per hit prevents them from getting the full percent of each crit. But for specs that crit often and for small amounts, it is very competitive.
Unholy set bonus
Chaos Bane: “Your spells and abilities have a chance to drain a Soul Fragment from your target, granting you ___ Primary stat for 30 sec and stacking up to 15 times. When you reach 15 stacks, unleash Chaos Bane, dealing ___ Shadow damage split between nearby enemies and granting you ___ Primary stat for 15 sec.”
- Soul Fragment buff ID: 356042
- Chaos Bane damage ID: 356046
- Chaos Bane buff ID: 356043
- Simulator implementation
The amount of primary stat you gain, and the damage you deal scales with the set bonus rank. See the table below.
| Rank | Primary stat from Soul Fragment | Chaos Bane damage | Chaos Bane Primary Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 1,500 | 300 |
| 2 – Ominous | 15 | 2,250 | 450 |
| 3 – Desolate | 20 | 3,000 | 600 |
| 4 – Foreboding | 25 | 3,750 | 750 |
| 5 – Portentous | 30 | 4,500 | 900 |
Soul Fragment stacking buff
This is the most straightforward of the bonuses. Whenever you use a damage or heal spell, you have a chance to get a stack of the Soul Fragment buff. Each stack gives you a small amount of primary stat and it stacks up to 15 times (see “Primary stat from Soul Fragment” in chart above).
The chance right now is 8 RPPM, not affected by haste, and auto attacks cannot trigger it (only spells). This means that you’ll get an average of 8 stacks per minute.
There is also a short internal cooldown (ICD) on it, so e.g. an AoE spell only has one chance to trigger it. That doesn’t really matter much though because it’s an RPPM proc, so the time to reach 15 stacks is pretty consistent as long as you are chain casting spells.
Chaos Bane damage & buff
Immediately upon reaching 15 stacks, it triggers a flat damage explosion. The damage is cute, and can be ignored. It also applies the Chaos Bane buff, which gives you a large primary stat buff for 15 seconds (see “Chaos Bane Primary Stat in table above). All stacks of Soul Fragment are consumed.
You cannot gain Soul Fragment stacks again until the Chaos Bane buff drops off.
Domination set bonus bugs in WoW
It’s worth noting that there are various bugs in the game with regards to triggering the set bonuses.
Spells that use one spell id for “casting” and different id for the “damage event” aren’t all triggering the set bonus. An example spell is Whirling Dragon Punch.
Gear optimizing tools
Want help finding the best gear in your bags? Or choosing the best item from your weekly vault? Or just identifying which bosses have the biggest upgrades for you? We have tools for that!
- Go to the optimizer
- Best in Bags overview
- Upgrade finder overview
- Weekly vault tool (and an article about how the weekly vault works in-game)
- Worst in bags overview (find out which items you don’t need anymore!)