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 demigod Cenarius who have been granted power over nature, including powerful healing and shape shifting abilities. The first mortal creatures that Cenarius instructed in Druidism were the Night Elves, although the Tauren believe they were instructed before[1]. Cenarius first and 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, in which they spent centuries of their immortal lives. Locked in slumber in their barrow dens for generations, 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.
- 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.
- The Bear Form allows the Druid to act as a Tank. Bear form increases armor and health. At level 40 Druids gain a Dire Bear form, which is similar but provides larger armor and health bonuses.
- In Cat Form, the Druid acts as a melee DPS class. Using their boosted attack power and various rogue-like Energy skills.
- The Moonkin Form (an owlbear-like creature) gives the Druid more armor 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 Tree of Life Form will be available in the Burning Crusade expansion. this form will enhance the Druid and its group's healing power. 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), Restoration (healing spells) and Feral (Feral Forms). Druids wear 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.
The hunter may learn to tame beasts as pets to assist them in battle. Most pets are unique and can learn a variety of different abilities.
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.
The Hunter talent trees are: Beast Mastery (improves pets), Markmanship (damage and other ranged abilities) and Survival (melee abilities and defensive skills). Hunters wear Leather armor, and upgrade to Mail armor at level 40.
[edit] Mage
Mages are a magic-using class who focus on elemental 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 and limitation of only wearing cloth.
Mages are the only class that can conjure food and water without the use of "conjuring" items, allowing for quick regeneration of hit points and mana out of combat. A mage may also conjure a mana crystal that provides the creator with a one-time mana boost similar to a Mana Potion but on a seperate cooldown timer. Mages also have the ability to teleport themselves to any of their faction's major cities & can summon portals to teleport their entire party to a major faction city as well.
Mages have spells available from three schools of magic: Fire, Frost, and Arcane. Mages can also polymorph humanoid and beast targets into various animals rendering it unable to act for a short period of time.
Mages may use staves and learn one-handed swords and daggers as well as off-hand items. Mages, along with the Priest and Warlock classes, may also use wands for ranged attacks.
The Mage talent trees are: Fire (burst damage), Frost (slowing and damage) and Arcane (support abilities). Mages wear Cloth armor.
[edit] Paladin
[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.
[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.
The Paladin is currently only available to the Human and the Dwarf races of the Alliance. In the upcoming expansion, The Burning Crusade, paladins will be playable by both the Draenei and the Blood Elves[6]. The latter belongs to the Horde, so Horde players will be able to create paladins for the first time. Similarly, the Draenei will be able to play as Shamans.
The Paladin is also able to heal others, magically augment themselves and their allies, and sustain large amounts of damage from enemies. Paladins, like warlocks, are rewarded with a free class-specific mount and are able to complete a chain of difficult quests to obtain an epic mount.
Additionally, Paladins have several abilities to keep them alive, including damage immunity shields and the ability to heal to full health in exchange for all remaining mana.
The Paladin talent trees are: Holy (healing spells), Protection (survivability and tanking) and Retribution (damage). Paladins wear Mail armor, and upgrade to Plate armor at level 40.
[edit] Priest
The priest possesses the most powerful healing spells of any character class in World of Warcraft as well as having the capability to resurrect fallen players and cast buffs to temporarily enhance the attributes of the party. Each race has two class specific spells unique to the priest class.
Priests normally focus on either healing or damage dealing spells. Priests are either classed "Holy" priests or a "Shadow" priests. Holy Priests are normally centered around healing while Shadow Priests are better at dealing damage.
The Priest talent trees are; Holy (healing spells), Shadow (offensive spells), and Discipline (support abilities such as buffs). Priests wear Cloth armor.
[edit] Rogue
Rogues are the "assassins" of World of Warcraft. Rogues are available to all races except for the Tauren and the Draenei in the upcoming expansion World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
Rogues rely on Energy for their abilities instead of Rage or Mana. They also use combination points to execute finishing moves. They can also go in to a Stealth mode which makes the Rogue invisible to other player and non-player characters as long as the Rogue maintains the required distance. Some of the Rogue's attacks require that the Rogue to be in stealth.
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, allowing them to deal additional damage, slow enemies movement and casting time among other various debuffs.
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 (burst damage), Combat (damage and defensive abilities) and Subtlety (stealth and gaining combo points). Rogues wear 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[1]. 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 augument 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.
Shaman's also gain the ability to transform into a Ghost Wolf, increasing their movement speed by 40%. When in Ghost Wolf, the Shaman cannot cast spells, although he/she can still use auto-attack. 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 Shamans. Similarly, Blood Elves will be able to play as Paladins. [7]
The Shaman talent trees are: Elemental (offensive spells), Enhancement (melee abilities and buffs) and Restoration (healing spells). Shaman wear Leather armor, and upgrade to Mail at level 40.
[edit] Warlock
Warlocks are Mages who have delved too deep into dark magic. They are a spell casting class and their strengths lie in their summoned minions and their DoT (Damage over Time) spells.
Warlocks are able to directly summon six demons as pets, but may only have one pet summoned at a time. The pets available are the Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Felhunter, Infernal and Doomguard. In the upcoming expansion to World of Warcraft, a seventh demon will be added at the top of the demonology tree, known as the Felguard.[2] They can also summon a mount. They also posses the ability to summon an Eye of Kilrogg - a fast scout which is incapable of attacking.
Warlocks can use the spell Enslave Demon to take control of a local demon as a pet and can banish a demon or elemental making it temporarily unable to attack. They can also summon other players to their location.
The Warlock uses soul shards to summon all minions other than the imp, create beneficial "stones" (including the Soulstone which is used to resurrect players including the Warlock and the Healthstone which can be used to instantly heal the player) and as a reagent in some spells such as Ritual of Summoning and Shadowburn.
The Warlock talent trees are: Affliction (damage over time), Demonology (summoned demons and survivability) and Destruction (burst damage). Warlocks wear 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. Warriors are analogous to Fighters in other RPGs. 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.
Warriors can shift between three different combat stances to better accommodate their current situation. The Battle Stance is the normal stance, while they have the ability to also switch to the Defensive Stance and the Berserker Stance. Defensive stance increases threat dealt, while decreasing damage taken and dealt by 10% each. This stance is ideal for Warrior's acting as their party's "tank". Berserker stance increases the Warrior's chance to crit by 3%, while also increasing the damage they take by 10%. Most Warrior attacks and abilities require them to be in a specific stance.
Warriors are able to use all weapons except wands, as well as all kinds of armor. They can choose between using a one handed weapon and a shield, a two handed weapon, and starting at level 20, they can choose to dual wield two one-handed weapons as well.
The Warrior talent trees are: Fury (sustained damage; PvE DPS), Arms (burst damage; PvP) and Protection (defensive skills; PvE tanking). Warriors wear Mail armor and upgrade to Plate armor at level 40.
| 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 |
