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Spells, Talents & Mastery
Cataclysm Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
General
Pre-Launch Events
A Brave New World
Goblins & Worgen
Dungeons & Raids
Tier 11 Armor Sets
Player vs. Player
Class Changes
Professions
Spells, Talents, & Mastery
Guild Advancement
Stat Changes
UI Changes
Helpful Links
Cataclysm brings changes not only to the world, but to most of the character systems we were familiar with. One of those systems - the
Talents
- is getting an almost complete revamp. With the introduction of the mandatory Specialization at level 10, the removal of boring talents, and the destruction of 3 tiers of talents, the Talents system has undergone some serious changes!
Spells & Spellbook
Let's go straight to our all-time favorite bullet list:
Spell Ranks are gone! From the moment you train a certain ability or spell, you will never have to train it again. Its power, cast time, duration, and effects will scale and change with your level automatically.
Your professions will appear under a separate tab in the spellbook. Profession-related spells will also be there instead of under General.
All spells will cost a fixed percentage of your mana (base or displayed).
The spellbook will show every spell you will or may have available at some point in time.
Spells which you are not currently able to obtain (due to an inadequate current level) will be grayed out.
Spells which you have already learned will display as normal, with a tooltip, and specific spell details (such as damage dealt by a skill) will update automatically as your level.
Spells which you have access to, but haven't trained yet, will have a new flashy frame around them featuring a spellbook icon and the "See your trainer" message.
When you level up, you will be notified of which new spells are available to be trained with new on-screen and chat messages!
Talents
The talent trees in Cataclysm resemble what they looked like back in the original World of Warcraft - at least in terms of size. The final talent in each tree requires 30 points invested in that tree, as opposed to 50 in Wrath of the Lich King. To accommodate for this cut, Blizzard has reduced the number of talent points players get by roughly a half. You will get your first point at level 10, just like now, but from then on you'll be getting a talent point
every odd level
until you hit 81. Then, from 81 to 85, you'll get a point for every level. This configuration leaves you with a total of 41 talent points at level 85. To make this a little more visual, you will be getting a talent point on the following levels:
Level 10 (first point)
Levels 11, 13, 15, ..., 77, 79 (odd levels)
Levels 81, 82, 83, 84, 85 (Cataclysm levels)
In addition to this, talents will cost 1, 2, or 3 points - no more 5-pointers. You will still need to invest 5 points in order to advance to the next tier of talents though. What this means is that talents are becoming more powerful, on a per-point scale. In other words, what you are paying with 5 points in LK, you will get for 2 or 3 in Cataclysm; each point of that talent has become more powerful.
Check out our Cataclysm Talent Calculator!
Specialization
Back in 2009 Blizzard announced some stuff about passive bonuses coming from your talents; you spend points on fun talents, and you get the boring bonuses naturally. After going through a couple of semi-successful modes, here is what they have decided to stop on... for now:
When you hit level 10 and open your Talent Pane for the first time, you will be presented with a window similar to the one on the right. Each tree's description will include three basic components:
A short summary
. It gives you a one-two sentence description of what makes this tree unique and powerful. The goal here is to make all trees appear equally lucrative.
Signature move
. It is the "big spell" of this tree and, in a way, it defines it. You get that by simply choosing the respective tree. After all, nothing says "I am a FIRE mage!" better than a
Pyroblast
in the face.
Passive bonuses
. These are additional bonuses you get by selecting your Specialization. They could be as simple as
, or more complex - like
. Keep in mind, those are
flat bonuses
, and won't change as you level up (unlike the previous model, where your Mastery bonuses grew up with you).
And here comes the tricky part. Once you select a Specialization, you cannot invest any points in the other two talent trees until you first spend 31 points in your specialized tree (this happens on level 69). Choose carefully - your first point will determine your playstyle all the way until Northrend. Of course, you can always visit your class trainer and inform them that you would like to unlearn your talents, which will allow you to dedicate yourself to a different Specialization.
Specialization bonuses for each class and additional details can be found in the
Class Changes
section!
Mastery
Mastery bonuses are similar to the other passive bonuses you get from choosing a Specialization, but you need to train it at level 80. You will be able to increase this bonus by stacking the new Mastery Rating, found on gear introduced in Cataclysm.
Here is a list of the classes' and specializations' Masteries:
Death Knight
Blood:
Mastery: Blood Shield
Frost:
Mastery: Frozen Heart
Unholy:
Mastery: Dreadblade
Druid
Balance:
Feral:
&
Mastery: Razor Claws
Restoration:
Mastery: Harmony
Hunter
Beast Mastery:
Mastery: Master of Beasts
Marksmanship:
Survival:
Mage
Arcane:
Fire:
Frost:
Mastery: Icicles
Paladin
Holy:
Protection:
Mastery: Divine Bulwark
Retribution:
Priest
Discipline:
Holy:
Mastery: Echo of Light
Shadow:
Mastery: Madness
Rogue
Assassination:
Mastery: Potent Assassin
Combat:
Mastery: Main Gauche
Subtlety:
Mastery: Executioner
Shaman
Elemental:
Enhancement:
Mastery: Enhanced Elements
Restoration:
Mastery: Deep Healing
Warlock
Affliction:
Mastery: Potent Afflictions
Demonology:
Mastery: Master Demonologist
Destruction:
Mastery: Chaotic Energies
Warrior
Arms:
Fury:
Mastery: Unshackled Fury
Protection:
Mastery: Critical Block
