Classes in World of Warcraft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
World of Warcraft consists of 9 playable classes - Warrior, Druid, Mage, Warlock, Priest, Hunter, Rogue, Paladin and Shaman. Each class has special talents and spells which give them all a unique purpose in the game.
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[edit] Druid
[edit] Druid Lore
Druids are the keepers of the world, followers of the demi-god Cenarius, who have been granted power over nature, including powerful healing and shapeshifting abilities. The first mortal creatures instructed in Druidism by Cenarius were the Tauren, although the Night Elves believe they were instructed before[1].
Cenarius' greatest student, Malfurion Stormrage, would lead the Night Elves through The War of the Ancients and the long years that followed. With the creation of the World Tree Nordrassil, the Kaldorei Druids were bound to Ysera, and her realm, The Emerald Dream.
Locked in slumber in their barrow dens for centuries, the Druids awoke to meet the threat of the Burning Legion during its recent invasion. After Archimonde's defeat, the Druids chose to remain in the waking world and help to rebuild their shattered lands. The Legion's attack left a terrible scar on the natural order, and the Druids seek to heal it. The Night Elf Druids were recently joined in the Cenarion Circle by the Tauren, who once again embraced their Druidic heritage.[2]
[edit] Gameplay
Druids in World of Warcraft are able to shapeshift, allowing them to take on multiple roles. Only the Night Elf and the Tauren races can play as druids.
- In Caster Form Druids can cast damage spells and healing spells, as well as various offensive and defensive support spells. The druid can also resurrect other players in combat. This is the Druid's starting form.
- In Bear Form, the Druid acts like a Warrior. It also increases armor, health, and attack power. At level 40 Druids gain a Dire Bear form, which is similar but provides larger armor, health, and attack power bonuses.
- In Cat Form, the Druid acts like a Rogue. Druids can prowl in this form, and they also get a boosted attack power plus agility.
- The Moonkin Form (an owlbear-like creature) gives the Druid more armor, attack power, chance on hit to regenerate mana, and an aura that increases the spell critical strike chance of nearby party members. In this form, the Druid can only cast Balance spells which are two schools of magic - Nature and Arcane. To gain this form the Druid must have at least 31 points in the Balance talent tree.
- The Travel Form and the Aquatic Form allow the druid to travel faster by land and sea. In the Burning Crusade expansion, a Flight Form will be trainable at level 68 to allow the druid to fly in Outland.[3]
- The new Tree of Life Form enhances the Druid and its group's healing power but slows the druid's speed by 20% and may only cast Healing-over-time spells. To gain this form the Druid must have at least 41 points in the Restoration talent tree.[4]
The Druid talent trees are: Balance (offensive spells), Feral (feral combat), and Restoration (healing spells).
Druids can wear cloth and leather armor.
[edit] Hunter
[edit] Hunter Lore
The Hunter has always existed to maintain the balance with the creatures of the wild. Adventurers far and wide venture into the wilderness to find an animal companion to protect and aid them on their journeys. These expert marksmen are unmatched in their skill with firearms and archery. Many of the races of the world venerate the rites of the hunt. For the Taurens, the Great Hunt is central to their culture and skilled hunters are honored above all others. The Orcs have always shared a natural relationship with the rugged land and the creatures of the wild. The Trolls share a similar relationship with the wilds as the Taurens do. The Night Elves have forever shared a unique bond with nature and its creatures. The Dwarves of Khaz Modan have never been strangers of nature, living in the rugged, ice capped mountains of the Iron Kings. They also have the reputation of being superb marksmen, and are the leading designers of gnomish invention of firearms, much to the jealousy of the Goblins.
Famous hunters include all High Elven Rangers like Alleria Windrunner and her two sisters Vereesa and Sylvanas, but also the Night Elven such as Shandris Feathermoon. Rexxar the Mok'Nathal Beastmaster is also a legendary hunter. Some mythical examples are the unnamed tauren who cornered Malorne the White Stag. Although not considered a hunter, Orgrim Doomhammer might have played the role of a Hunter in his years as a hermit.[5]
[edit] Gameplay
The Hunter class is based on the beast master and ranger classes seen in traditional role playing games. A unique class, their primary source of damage comes from ranged weapons such as guns, bows, and crossbows. As a hunter levels up they may learn how to track nearly any type of friend or foe. Race that can play as hunters are the Draenei, Night Elves and Dwarves of the Alliance and the Troll, Orc,Tauren, and Blood Elves of the Horde.
The hunter may learn to tame beasts as pets to assist them in battle. Hunters are only able to tame mobs that are labeled beasts. There are many different kinds of beasts the Hunter can tame and each pet is able to learn different abilities.
The hunter has several Tracking abilities. Tracking abilities allows the hunter to see, on the minimap, whatever he is tracking as circles with a red center. Hunters can track Beasts, Humanoids, Elementals, Undead, Giants, Dragonkin and Stealth.[citation needed]
The hunter also has Aspects. These allow the player to passively improve their skills or talents by taking on bestial traits from animals such as cheetah, monkey and hawk. Hunters can also lay traps to freeze an enemy, slow several down, do additional damage to a single target or multiple targets via an area of effect when triggered.[citation needed]
Hunters also have the ability to "Mark" a target, which increases the ranged attack power of those who attack the "Marked" target.
Hunters can use all weapons other than maces and wands. They can dual wield weapons once they reach level 20.
The Hunter talent trees are: Beast Mastery (improves pets), Marksmanship (damage and other ranged abilities) and Survival (melee abilities and defensive skills).
Hunters can wear cloth and leather armor. They can also wear mail armor after reaching level 40.
[edit] Mage
Mages are a magic-using class who focus on elemental (fire and frost) and arcane spells. Although they can deal large amounts of damage in a short period of time, survival is difficult due to their low hit points. Races that can play as mages include Humans and Gnomes for the Alliance, and Undead and Trolls for the Horde.
Mages also have the ability to teleport themselves to any of their faction's major cities ( Alliance: Stormwind, Ironforge, and Darnassus. Horde: Durotar, Thunder Bluff, and The Undercity.) and can summon portals to teleport their entire party to a major faction city as well. They can also conjure items such as food and water, but they can also conjure mana shards so which can be used by the Mage to replenish mana while in combat. [6]
The Mage is also very versatile when in groups. Mages are often favored in groups for their high amount of DPS (damage per second) and the ability to conjure food and water make them highly effective in "end game" raiding. Mages are the most effective class at AOE (area of effect) spells, which allow them to attack multiple targets at once.
Mages also have the ability to transform an unfriendly target into a harmless sheep. Pig and turtle transformations are attainable by acquiring special spellbooks. The target remains in this animal form and is not in control of his or her actions until the spell wears off.
The Mage talent trees are: Fire (For Damage), Frost (Survivability and Mana Efficiency) and Arcane (Support).
Mages can only wear Cloth armor.[7]
[edit] Paladins
[edit] Paladin Lore
Paladins are the virtuous defenders of the weak and tireless enemies of the undead. The original Paladin order, "The Silver Hand" was formed in the Second War and lasted until the time of the Plague. As Paladins were immune to the Plague (and indeed all diseases), many members of the order survived the intial push of the Scourge. Unfortunately, the corrupted Arthas killed many paladins upon his return leaving only a scattered few. Following the invasion of the Scourge, many of the order's paladins joined a zealous group of followers of the Light known as the Scarlet Crusade. After leaving the Crusade, some paladins decided to join the Argent Dawn.
Others fled south, to the Kingdom of Stormwind. The Paladin Order, still referring to themselves as the Order of the Silver Hand, now thrives under their new leadership at the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind City. Over time, the followers of the Holy Light spread their philosophy to the dwarves of Ironforge who soon adopted the tenants of the order as well.
The cruel Blood Elves learned the way of the Light by making experiments on a naaru they had captured in Tempest Keep. Lady Liadrin, a former priestess, had recently renounced her vows, for she felt the Light had abandoned her people. She volunteered to be the first to bend the stolen powers to her will. With her decision a new order was born: the Blood Knights. These renegade paladins are able to harness the sacred powers of the Alliance's noblest heroes.[8]
[edit] Gameplay
The Paladin is a supportive, hybrid melee fighter. Paladins use an assortment of spells, auras and blessings to aid themselves and others. Paladins also have powerful offensive spells against undead and demons, as well as several defensive abilities including a shield that makes the Paladin immune to damage for a few seconds.[9]
The Paladin is currently only available to the Human and the Dwarf races of the Alliance. But, the upcoming expansion, The Burning Crusade, will bring some significant changes to the paladin class composistion. Paladins will be playable by the Blood Elves[10] as well. As they belong to the Horde faction, Horde players will be able to create paladin for the first time.
While paladins have offensive abilities against Undead characters, these abilities do not affect Undead players. They are considered Humanoid, rather than Undead.[citation needed]
The paladin is able to heal others, magically augment themselves and their allies, and sustain large amounts of damage from enemies. Like the Warlock, paladins have a quest in order to obtain a free mount at level 40.[11]
The paladin talent trees are: Holy (which focuses on spell casting, especially healing), Protection (survivability and tanking) and Retribution (which focuses on melee oriented combat).
The weapons that a paladin can learn how to use are: Swords (one-hand and two-hand), Maces (one-hand and two-hand), Axes (one-hand and two-hand), and Polearms.
Paladins do not have ranged-weapon abilities and cannot use guns, bows, or crossbows. However, the paladin can use talent points to learn magical range attack powers. In the Holy tree, Holy Shock can be learned with 31 talent points. (Used on a friendly target, Holy Shock can also be used to cast a small instant heal). In the recent patch, Paladins gained the ability to learn Crusader Strike (a 41-point talent in the Retribution Tree).
They can wear cloth, leather and mail armor. They can also use plate armor after reaching level 40.
At the Burning Crusade expansion, the blood elves will be able to pick the paladin with a couple of taunt skills.
[edit] Priest
The Priest is usually considered the healer for a party because of the many healing abilities the Priest has. Races that can play as Priests include Night Elves, Dwarves, and Humans for the Alliance and Undead and Trolls for the Horde.
Priests get many support and healing spells in order to help their party. Priests, unlike other classes, get two special abilities that Priests of other races do not get. [citation needed]
- Night Elves - Starshards and Elune's Grace.
- Dwarves - Desperate Prayer and Fear Ward.
- Humans - Desperate Prayer and Feedback.
- Draenei - Symbol of Hope and Fear Ward.
- Undead - Touch of Weakness and Devouring Plague.
- Trolls - Hex of Weakness and Shadowguard.
- Blood Elves - Touch of Weakness and Consume Magic.
The Priest talent trees are; Holy (healing spells), Shadow (offensive spells), and Discipline (support abilities such as buffs).
Priests can only wear Cloth armor.
[edit] Rogue
Rogues are the "assassins" of World of Warcraft. Rogues are available to all races except for the Tauren and, in the upcoming expansion World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the Draenei
Rogues rely on Energy for their abilities instead of Rage or Mana. Rogues (and Druids, who also use Energy in cat form) can only hold 100 energy before Talents/Items, but Energy regenerates very quickly (about 20 energy every 2 seconds.) Most abilities either give or spend "combo points." Abilities that "spend" combo points ("finishing moves") become stronger as more points are spent. Each Rogue can have up to 5 combo points, but they are lost if the Rogue switches targets. Rogues can also go into a stealth mode, which makes them effectively invisible to enemy Players and enemy NPCs unless detected. Stealth becomes more or less effective depending on the Rogue's level and the level of the potential detector. Stealth can only be used out of combat, with the exception of the ability "Vanish," which forces the Rogue into stealth in exchange for a relatively inexpensive reagent.[1] Several attacks ("openers") require the Rogue to be in stealth.[2][3][4][5]
They can wield daggers, one-handed maces, one-handed swords, and fist weapons. They can also employ ranged weapons such as crossbows, bows, guns, and thrown weapons. Rogues can also learn to dual-wield, allowing one-handed weapons to be equipped in each hand. Rogues can create and apply poisons to their weapons. Depending on the applied poison, it allows the rogue to deal additional damage (either instantly or over time), slow their enemy's movement, increase their spell casting time, reduce the effects of healing, or make the enemy NPC less likely to attack the rogue. Many Rogues choose an enchantment, which often does more damage than their Damage Poisons, while others prefer the versatility of Poisons.
Rogues also have the ability to unlock locked doors, chests, and boxes using "thieves tools" and the "lockpicking" skill.
The Rogue talent trees are: Assassination (poisons, critical strikes, and finishing moves), Combat (melee combat abilities, passive damage increases) and Subtlety (stealth and opening abilities).
Rogues can wear cloth and leather armor.
[edit] Shaman
The Shaman is a healer, warrior and mage hybrid class, and as such, the Shaman is one of the most versatile classes in the game.[6]. They are designed to enhance all parts of a party while not being particularly focused on any one aspect of the game. Along with basic damage and healing spells, they have totem spells which can affect the area around the totem, usually positively, and "Shock" spells, instant cast damage spells with a secondary effect. Finally, they can augment their weapons with the elements, giving them an extra effect, including the infamous "Windfury," which gives weapons a 20% chance to hit two extra times.
The Shamen talent trees are: Elemental (offensive spells), Enhancement (melee abilities and buffs) and Restoration (healing spells). Elemental is generally ranged dps, generally much more at a time than a Warrior without a "Windfury" totem buff. Enhancement Shamen focus more of their energy in melee dps. Restorative Shamen are also ranged, though their primary role is essentially a healer with mail armor at level 40. Most Shamen are a hybrid of two.
Shamans can learn a spell called "Ghost Wolf" at level 20. This spell transforms the Shaman into a ghost wolf, increasing their movement speed by 40%. When the shaman assumes the Ghost Wolf form, he/she cannot attack or cast spells, although, the shaman can still gather herbs and loot corpses. Players who invest points in "Enhancement" talent tree, can get a talent that decreases the cast time of the Ghost Wolf by up to one second. A few items later on in the game can increase the movement speed of the Ghost Wolf.
The Shaman class is only available to three of the Horde races: Tauren, Orcs, and Trolls. It has been announced that in the upcoming expansion Burning Crusade, Draenei will be able to play as Shaman. Similarly, Blood Elves will be able to play as Paladins. [12]
Shaman can use One-hand Maces, One-hand Axes, Staves, and Shields. They can train to use Daggers by finding a Weapons Master in one of the major cities. They can also learn to use Two-hand Maces and Two-hand Axes by investing 11 points in the Enhancement talent tree and they can learn to dual wield weapons by investing 31 points in the Enhancement talent tree. [13]
Shamen can wear cloth and leather armor. After reaching level 40 they can also wear mail armor.
[edit] Warlock
Warlocks are Mages who have delved deep into dark magic. They are a spell casting class and their strengths lie within their summoned minions in combination with their spells and with the spells of the warlock. Races that can play as warlocks are Humans and Gnomes for the Alliance and Undead, and Orc for the Horde.
Warlocks are able to directly summon four demons permanent as pets, and two others as limited summons. However, they may only have one pet summoned at a time (however the 2.0 patch allows the Warlock to summon a Felguard). The pets available are the Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhunter. The Infernal and Doomguard can also be summoned, but the Infernal requires Enslave Demon to be cast after a short time to keep it, and the Doomguard requires immediate casting. Either may break free of Enslave Demon and attack the Warlock, which is why many players consider the Infernal and Doomguard as "Vanity Pets", or a last resort move. A Warlock can also gain access to a seventh demon known as the Felguard by investing 41 points in the demonology talent tree. They can also summon a mount and possess the ability to summon an Eye of Kilrogg - a fast scout which is incapable of attacking. Warlocks also have the ability to Enslave Demons and take control of a demon NPC.[citation needed] Using the Sense Demons ability, Warlocks can also track the location of "demon"-type enemies on the minimap.
Warlocks are able to drain the Souls of enemies to receive "Soul Shards," which can be used for several spells and summoning all pets excluding the Imp. They can also use a Soul Shard to summon other players to their location with the help of 2 other players via the Ritual of Summoning.[citation needed] Soul Shards are also used as reagents for the Shadowburn and Soul Fire spells.
The Warlock has several "stones" available which each require a Soul Shard to create. The Soulstone allows the Warlock to self-resurrect or resurrect other players. The Healthstone instantly heals the user. The Firestone adds fire damage to a melee weapon and increases fire spell damage. The Spellstone absorbs some spell damage, removes magical effects and increases the critical hit chance of the Warlock's spells.[citation needed] All stones are considered "conjured" items which will be removed from the players inventory if the player is logged out of the game longer than 15 minutes of real time. Stones are equipped in the "ranged weapon" slot, replacing any Wand weapon the Warlock has equipped.
The Warlock talent trees are: Affliction (Damage Over Time), Demonology (summoned demons, survivability and damage) and Destruction (burst damage).
The only armor Warlocks can wear is cloth armor.
[edit] Warrior
A Warrior is a class in World of Warcraft that excels in melee combat and playing the role of a damage dealer or tank. Rather than drawing on Mana to power their abilities, Warriors use Rage which, like a Rogue’s Energy, has a maximum limit. Rage builds up as the warrior deals or receives damage. Rage decays out of combat rapidly, though Arms warriors sometimes take the Anger Management talent, which regenerates 1 rage every 3 seconds.
Warriors can shift between three different combat stances to better accommodate their current situation.
- Battle Stance is the normal stance. It reduces threat generation slightly.
- Defensive stance increases threat generation by 30%, while decreasing damage taken and dealt by 10% each.[citation needed]
- Berserker stance increases critical hit chance by 3%, damage taken by 10%, and threat generation slightly.[citation needed]
Most Warrior attacks and abilities require them to be in a specific stance. Switching stances reduces rage to 0. At level 20, the Warrior learns the passive ability, Stance Mastery, which allows a maximum amount of 10 rage to stay with them when they change stances. The Protection talent, Tactical Mastery, allows the warrior to keep up to 25 rage when changing stances instead of the standard 10.
Warriors are able to use all weapons except wands. They can also dual wield after level 20.[citation needed]
The Warrior talent trees are: Fury (rage generation, increased buffs/debuffs & dual-weilding), Arms (burst damage & 2-handed weapon use) and Protection (defensive skills, tanking & threat generation). All races in the World of Warcraft have the option to play Warriors with the exception of the Blood Elves in the Burning Crusade expansion.
Warriors can wear cloth, leather and mail armor. After reaching level 40 they can also wear plate armor.
| Races | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classes | Human | Night Elf | Gnome | Dwarf | Draenei | Troll | Tauren | Orc | Undead | Blood Elf |
| Druid | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Hunter | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Mage | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Paladin | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Priest | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Rogue | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shaman | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Warlock | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Warrior | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
[edit] References
- ^ WoW Forums
- ^ WoW Wiki
- ^ WoW.com - Druids - Spell & Abilities
- ^ The Burning Crusade Druid Talent Tree
- ^ WoW Wiki
- ^ http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/
- ^ http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/
- ^ http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/classcombo.html
- ^ http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/paladin/spells.html
- ^ Announcement of faction-class crossovers
- ^ http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/paladin/tips.html
- ^ Announcement of faction-class crossovers
- ^ Shaman Talents
