MOGS

Breakdown of new Abilities in Cataclysm, Class by Class

I am going to list all of the new abilities that each class is getting in Cataclysm, along with an analysis for which ones I think are best. Keep in mind this is from a PvP perspective. Each class is really getting a lot of utility with all these new moves, as the majority of them are very useful. Some combine 2 mechanics from other abilities, while others are completely unique. One overall positive change is the prevalence of 1-2 minute cool down moves. I am glad blizzard is moving more away from the over powered moves with 3-4 minute cool downs, since moves with 1 minute cool downs can be used much more often.

Death Knight

• Dark Simulacrum
  20 Runic Power 40 yd range
  Instant 1 min cooldown
  Places a dark ward on an enemy that persists for 8 sec, triggering when the enemy next spends mana on a spell, and allowing the Death Knight to unleash an exact duplicate of that spell. Against nonplayers, only absorbs some harmful spells.
• Necrotic Strike
  1 Unholy Melee Range
  Instant
  Requires Melee Weapon
  A vicious strike that deals 100% weapon damage and absorbs the next (0.75 * AP) healing received by the target. For 15 sec, or until the full amount of healing is absorbed, the target’s casting time is increased by 30%.
• Outbreak
  30 yd range
  Instant 1 min cooldown
  Instantly applies Blood Plague and Frost Fever to the target enemy.

A Death Knight was the last class I played in WOW, and Necrotic Strike is the move I would have most liked to have. This move would be good against anyone receiving healing in a BG’s and Arenas, but would really shine when used against casters, and especially healers. With the extra pressure of being able to slow cast times (much like a rogue’s mind-numbing poison), while eating the healing being received, it would really help you to set up kills. It also only takes 1 unholy rune to use, so you could theoretically use it once every five seconds, if needed.

Druid

• Thrash Level 85
  25 Rage 8 yd range
  Instant 6 sec cooldown
  Requires Bear Form
  Deals AP*0.154+243 damage, and causes all targets within 0 yards to bleed for (AP * 0.026 + 151 * 3) damage over 6 sec.
• Stampeding Roar Bear Form / Cat Form
  15 Rage
  Instant 2 min cooldown
  Requires Bear Form
  The druid roars, increasing all nearby friendly players movement speed within 10 yards by 40% for 6 sec.
• Wild Mushroom
  11% of base mana 40 yd range
  0.5 sec cast
  Grow a magical Mushroom with 5 Health at the target location. After 6 sec, the Mushroom will become invisible. When detonated by the Druid, all Mushrooms will explode dealing 650 to 786 damage to all nearby enemies within 0 yards. Only 3 Mushrooms can be placed at one time.

  Use Wild Mushroom: Detonate to detonate all Mushrooms.

• Wild Mushroom: Detonate
  40 yd range
  Instant 10 sec cooldown
  Detonates all of your Wild Mushrooms, dealing 650 to 786 Nature damage to all nearby targets within 0 yards.

I am going to go with the two feral druid moves here, Thrash and Stampeding Roar. Thrash gives ferals an area of effect damage over time move. What this means is that druids will be able to run into a group of players, and everyone within 8 yards gain a damage over time debuff on them, and will tick for bleed damage every three seconds (and bleed damage can be difficult for opponents to negate).

Stampeding Roar is equally as impressive, as it could be used either offensively or defensively. It can be used to have a group of players charge in on the enemy quickly, or to escape. Word is that feral druids are among the most powerful classes at the moment, so are sure to see arena strategies develop around this move.

Hunter

• Cobra Shot Level 85
  40 yd range
  1.5 sec cast
  Requires Ranged Weapon
  Deals weapon damage plus (276 + (RAP * 0.017)) in the form of Nature damage and increases the duration of your Serpent Sting on the target by 6 sec. Generates 9 Focus.
• Call Pet 5
  Instant
  Summons your fifth pet to you.
• Aspect of the Fox
  Instant 1 sec cooldown
  The hunter takes on the aspects of a fox, allowing you to shoot Steady Shot and Cobra Shot while moving and causing you to gain 2 Focus whenever you receive a melee attack.
• Camouflage
  20 Focus
  Instant 1 min cooldown
  You blend into your surroundings, causing you and your pet to be untargetable by ranged attacks. Also reduces the range at which enemy creatures can detect you, and provides stealth while stationary.

  You can lay traps while camouflaged, but any damage done by you or your pet will cancel the effect. Cannot be cast while in combat. Lasts for 1 min.

I am going to go with a tie between Aspect of the Fox, and Camouflage. Aspect of the Fox addresses two of a hunters biggest weaknesses in PvP, their need to stand still while firing some their most important shots, and getting hacked down by melee while doing so. This provides you with 2 more instant shots, and Focus for when you are getting hit by melee for when you must stand still to cast shots.

Camouflage will also be a big help to Hunters in PvP, as it will allow they to get the jump on other ranged classes in PvP. I can see this being a big advantage for them at the start of an Arena when facing off against ranged clothies, such as a Warlock or Mage. While in this camouflaged state, you will also be able to invisibly set traps, and maneuver your pet into position.

Mage

• Flame Orb
  6% of base mana 40 yd range
  Instant cast 1 min cooldown
  Launches a Flame Orb forward from the Mage’s position, dealing 228 Fire damage every second to the closest enemy target for 15 secs.
• Ring of Frost
  7% of base mana 30 yd range
  Instant cast 2 min cooldown
  Summons a Ring of Frost, taking 3 sec to coalesce. Enemies entering the fully-formed ring will become frozen for 10 sec. Lasts 12 sec. 10 yd radius.
• Teleport: Tol Barad
  8% of base mana
  10 sec cast
  Reagents:
  Rune of Teleportation
  Teleports the caster to Tol Barad.
• Time Warp
  26% of base mana
  Instant cast 5 min cooldown
  Warp the flow of time, increasing melee, ranged, and spell casting speed by 30% for all party and raid members. Lasts 40 sec.

  Allies receiving this effect will become unstuck in time, and be unable to benefit from Bloodlust, Heroism, or Time Warp again for 10 min.

On to the Mage. These are the most exciting changes for me, as I’ll be playing resurrecting my Mage for Cataclysm. I will mainly be doing 3v3 Arenas with a comp dubbed Shatterplay (Shadow Priest, Restoration Druid, and Frost Mage), with Jon playing the Druid. They have three new useful moves, the best being Ring of Frost, with Time Warp coming in at a close second.

Ring of Frost is essentially an area of effect Frost trap. Even better though, because it triggers on enemies within a 10 yard radius. Healer hiding behind a Pillar? Ring of frost him out, so he is forced either be trapped for 12 seconds, or to come in line of site of frostbolts and mind blasts. Moreover, it’s on a 2 minute cool down, so you will likely be able to use this twice in most arena matches.

Timewarp is also amazing, and will let team comp’s that were reliant on a Shaman’s Heroism/Bloodlust, to be viable with other healers. This is the main reason Shatterplay is now viable a Druid now, because a lot of Season 8 comp’s relied on a Shaman’s Heroism/Bloodlust 30% increased casting time for 40 seconds to set up kills. This lets the Mage barrage a frozen enemy even quicker with crit frostbolts and icelances, and allows a Shadow Priest’s dots and mind flays to tick even faster.

Paladin

• Inquisition
  Instant
  Consumes all Holy Power to increase your Holy Damage by 30%. Lasts 4 sec per charge of Holy Power consumed.
• Holy Radiance
  40% of base mana
  Instant cast 1 min cooldown
  Heals all friendly targets within 0 yards for up to 683 every sec, with effectiveness diminishing on targets farther than 8 yards away and for each additional player target beyond 6. Lasts 10 sec.
• Guardian of Ancient Kings
  Instant 5 min cooldown
  Select a talent specialization in order to activate Guardian of Ancient Kings.

  Holy: Heals nearby wounded targets, preferring the ones with lowest health.
  Protection: Reduces damage taken.
  Retribution: Attacks nearby enemies (like Summon Gargoyle).

• Word of Glory Level 85
  40 yd range
  Instant
  Consumes all Holy Power to heal a friendly target for 2018 to 2248 per charge of Holy Power.

Word of Glory seems to be the best of the bunch. With the new Holy Power mechanic added to Paladins, certain spells (Crusader Strike, Hammer of the Righteous, and Holy Shock) will build a charge of Holy Power with each application, stacking up to 3 times. This gives Holy Paladins another instant heal to use along with Holy Shock, and it will not consume any mana.

I played a Holy Paladin in arena’s not to long ago, and I know how frustrating it can be when Holy Shock is on cool down, and you are forced to spam flash of light to keep someone alive, which leaves you sitting out in the open subjected to spells and melee attacks. This spell will help to keep Holy Paladin’s more mobile in PvP.

Priest

• Mind Spike Level 85
  12% of base mana 40 yd range
  1.5 sec cast
  Blasts the target for 1083 to 1143 Shadowfrost damage, but extinguishes your shadow damage-over-time effects from the target in the process.

  Mind Spike also increases the critical strike chance of your next Mind Blast on the target by 30%. Stacks up to 3 times.

• Inner Will
  Instant
  A burst of Holy energy fills the caster, reducing the mana cost of instant cast spells by 15% and increasing your movement speed by 10%. Lasts 30 min.
• Leap of Faith
  13% of base mana 40 yd range
  Instant cast 1.5 min cooldown
  You pull the spirit of the friendly party or raid target to you, instantly moving them directly in front of you.

I played a priest in Vanilla WOW and TBC, and I’d say the new priest abilities are a mixed bag. Mind Spike is highly situational, as it gets rid of a shadow priests mainstay damage, which are their three damage over time spells. It has some potential synergy with Paralysis, a high end shadow talent (immobilizes the target for 4 seconds after you crit a mind blast), but this requires 4.5 seconds uninterrupted casting for three MInd Spike’s to stack(bumping your crit chance to 90% with mindblast), and 1.5 sec to cast for a Mindblast (of which you can get 2 off while the Mind Spike debuff stays up). This amount of time is not always available in a PvP Scenario.

Inner Will seems to have potential, but you will have to give up the 10% armor and spell power bonus from Inner FIre to use it. However, the 10% increase to run speed and instant casts seems very suitable to a PvP environment. Leap of Faith, or “Lifegrip” (since it similar to a DK’s deathgrip) will be great for Discipline Priests who are healing in BG’s and Arena’s. It should have a 45 second cool down, as I believe 1.5 minutes is too long. I think it should also be a Discipline school spell so that Shadow Priests are able to use it without dropping Shadowform.

Rogue

• Combat Readiness
  Instant 2 min cooldown
  Enter into a state of heightened awareness, deflecting enemy weapon strikes with increasing effectiveness. Successive attacks will deal 10% less damage per application, stacking 5 times. Lasts for 30 sec, but if 6 sec elapse without any incoming weapon strikes, this state will end.
• Redirect
  40 yd range
  Instant 1 min cooldown
  Transfers any existing combo points to the current enemy target.
• Smoke Bomb
  Instant 3 min cooldown
  Creates a cloud of thick smoke in a 8 yard radius around the Rogue for 10 sec. Enemies are unable to target into or out of the smoke cloud.

Redirect takes the cake here, as it’s pretty powerful for a one minute cool down move. With all the switches that occur in PvP, it will be nice for rogues to be able to conserve their combo points every once and awhile. This will enable them keep up their damage where it needs to be, while allowing them to use their finisher’s in stride.

Redirect seems a little underpowered since its a 2 minute cool down, and can be negated by when the opponent sees it pop, and backs off. Smoke bomb is great, and will give the rogue a leg up on ranged attackers, such as Elemental Shaman, Shadow Priests, Mages, Warlocks, Balance Druids, and Hunters. Rogues sometimes have a hard time against ranged targets when all their cooldowns are popped, and this will allow them to regroup in the position they are already in, rather than having to run away.

Shaman

• Unleash Elements
  7% of base mana 40 yd range
  Instant cast 15 sec cooldown
  Focuses the elemental force imbued in the Shaman’s weaponry, with the concentrated effects depending on the enchantment unleashed.

  See individual weapon imbue spell tooltips for details regarding the effects of unleashing each.

• Unleash Earth
  100 yd range
  Instant 15 sec cooldown
  Unleashes the Rockbiter enchantment upon the Shaman’s weapon, forcing the target enemy to attack the Shaman for 5 sec.
• Unleash Flame Level 85
  100 yd range
  Instant 15 sec cooldown
  Unleashes the Flametongue enchantment upon the Shaman’s weapon, dealing 1023 to 1211 Fire damage to target enemy and increasing the damage dealt by the Shaman’s next Fire spell by 20%.
• Unleash Frost Level 85
  100 yd range
  Instant 15 sec cooldown
  Unleashes the Frostbrand enchantment upon the Shaman’s weapon, dealing 807 to 937 Frost damage to a target enemy and reducing their movement speed by 50% for 5 sec. Increased in effectiveness if the target is already afflicted by a movement-slowing Frost effect.
• Unleash Life Level 85
  100 yd range
  Instant 15 sec cooldown
  Unleashes the Earthliving enchantment upon the Shaman’s weapon, healing a friendly target for 1916 to 2074 and increasing the effect of the Shaman’s next direct heal by 20%.
• Unleash Wind
  100 yd range
  Instant 15 sec cooldown
  Requires Melee Weapon
  Unleashes the Windfury enchantment upon the Shaman’s weapon, dealing 125% of weapon damage to the target enemy and increasing the Shaman’s melee attack speed by 40% for the next 6 swings or until 12 sec have elapsed.
• Healing Rain
  46% of base mana 30 yd range
  2 sec cast 10 sec cooldown
  Calls forth healing rains to blanket the area targeted by the Shaman, restoring 690 to 820 health to allies in the area every 2 sec for 10 sec. Healing effectiveness diminishes for each player beyond 6 within the area.
• Spiritwalker’s Grace
  12% of base mana
  Instant cast 2 min cooldown
  Calls upon spiritual guidance, permitting movement while casting non-instant Shaman spells. This spell may be cast while casting other spells. Lasts 10 sec.

Healing Rain seems like the most impressive new Shaman ability. It’s a modified Tranquility, where the healing increases the closer you are to the shaman. Despite the high mana cost, it will be virtually spammable in dire situations, as you can have your BG partners or Arena team members stack up on top of each other for maximum healing. Spirtwalker’s Grace will very useful all shaman’s, providing them with all the utility of their moves while on the run, albeit pursuing the enemy or escaping.

Warlock

• Fel Flame Level 85
  6% of base mana 40 yd range
  Instant cast
  Deals 221 to 255 Shadowflame damage to an enemy target, increasing the duration of Immolate or Unstable Affliction by 6 sec. The ability uses green fire.
• Dark Intent
  6% of base mana 30 yd range
  Instant cast
  Requires Metamorphosis
  You link yourself with the targeted friendly target, increasing both of your haste by 3%.

  When you or the linked target gains a critical periodic damage or healing effect, the other gains an increased 3% increased periodic damage and healing lasting for 7 sec. Stacks up to 3 times. Dark Intent lasts for 30 min.

• Demon Soul
  15% of base mana 100 yd range
  Instant cast 2 min cooldown
  Requires Metamorphosis
  You and your summoned demon fuse souls, granting the Warlock a temporary power depending on the demon currently enslaved.
• Imp – Critical Strike damage on cast time Destruction spells increased by 60% for 30 sec. Each spell cast benefitting from this effect reduces the bonus by 20% until the bonus expires after 3 casts.
• Voidwalker – All threat generated by you transferred to your Voidwalker for 15 sec.
• Succubus – Shadow Bolt damage increased by 10% for 20 sec.
• Felhunter – Periodic shadow damage increased by 20% for 20 sec.
• Felguard – Spell haste increased by 15% and fire and shadow damage done increased by 10% for 20 sec.

Fel Flame is the best new Warlock Spell. “The ability uses green fire”, is the most important part, since locks having been asking for green fire since Vanilla WOW. It also renews the duration of an Affliction lock’s most important damage over time spell (unstable affliction), and a Destruction lock’s most important damage over time spell (Immolate). Moreover, it does not have a cooldown, so it is spammable for when your in between DOT rotation, and do not have time to stand and cast.

Warrior

• Colossus Smash Battle, Berserker Stance
  20 Rage Melee Range
  Instant 20 sec cooldown
  Requires Melee Weapon
  Requires Battle Stance, Berserker Stance
  Smashes a target for 150% weapon damage plus 120 and weakens their defenses, allowing your attacks to entirely bypass their armor for 6 sec.
• Inner Rage
  Instant 1.5 sec cooldown
  Usable when you have over 75 Rage to increase all damage you deal by 15% but increase the rage cost of all abilities by 50%. Lasts 15 sec.
• Heroic Leap
  8 – 40 yd range
  Instant 1 min cooldown
  Leap through the air towards a targeted location, slamming down with destuctive force to deal (1 + 0.5 * AP) damage on all enemies within 8 yards.

I played a Warrior in Vanilla WOW, and all these three moves seem to address their weaknesses. Inner rage and Heroic Leap are tied for the best new move in my opinion. As a warrior, there are times you become rage capped in PvP, with no outlet for the excess rage. Inner Rage addresses this by giving you the trade off of 15% more damage, while making your moves cost 50% more rage. With no cool down, this can be used whenever you need it.

Heroic Leap addresses mobility concerns that warriors sometimes have. When charge and intercept are on cool down, this will allow you a third option. It also does not appear to be restricted by stance like charge and intercept, so it can be used in emergencies to get to a target quickly.

Questions or Comments? Drop me a line, Jake@mogs.com. I will be sure to update everyone on the status of my Arena team, once the Arena season starts. Happy grinding to 85 everyone!!”