Glyph



Glyphs are spell and ability enhancements created by scribes. Until used, they are not soulbound and can be traded or sold. The colors used in Glyphs are colors of the class for which they are meant.

Once learned, glyphs are permanent and may be switched out at any time outside of combat. Changing a glyph requires a Vanishing Powder for characters level 25-80, and a Dust of Disappearance for characters over level 80.

Prime glyphs
Prime glyphs are effective in combat, and generally increase the healing or damage of an ability.

Examples:
 * Increases the healing done by an ability: Glyph of Earth Shield, Glyph of Renew.
 * Increases the damage done by an ability: Glyph of Steady Shot, Glyph of Arcane Barrage.
 * Add an additional effect to your ability: Glyph of Shadowburn, Glyph of Howling Blast.

Major glyphs
Major glyphs feature spell changes that may increase the damage, or another feature of the spell. Some of these glyphs have trade-offs. For example increasing direct damage but removing a DoT effect of the spell.

Examples:
 * Slightly changes the way a spell works: Glyph of Divine Protection, Glyph of Chain Heal
 * Reduces the cost of a spell: Glyph of Feint, Glyph of Trap Launcher.
 * Reduces the cooldown of a spell: Glyph of Rapid Charge, Glyph of Starfall.

Minor glyphs
Minor glyphs give convenient or cosmetic improvements, such as reducing a spell's cost or removing the need for a spell's reagent.

Examples:
 * Increases the duration of a spell: Glyph of Battle, Glyph of Horn of Winter.
 * Removes the reagent cost of a spell: Glyph of Levitate, Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth.
 * Changes the graphics of a spell: Glyph of the Penguin, Glyph of the Monkey.
 * Increases the effectiveness of a spell, but only in a minor way or with a trade-off: Glyph of Thunderstorm, Glyph of Typhoon.

Some minor glyphs do have a more substantial effect, such as reducing cooldowns (Glyph of Challenging Roar) or increasing damage (Glyph of Sense Undead) so don't dismiss minor glyph slots straight away.

Class-specific Glyphs
Glyphs for individual classes can be found on their own pages:

Cataclysm


Initially, there would be additional glyphs known as "ancient glyphs", added with the Path of the Titans system. When Path of the Titans was canceled, the glyph system was changed to three tiers - Major, Medium and Minor. This was later changed to the system implemented in Patch 4.0.1 - Prime, Major and Minor.

Video
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Patch changes
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