Magic schools (WoW)


 * See also, Magic schools.

Every ability, power, or spell belongs to one of seven magic schools which define what can be done to absorb, immunize against, or resist it. Your resistance against five of these schools are displayed in your character information.

If you are a caster, and an opponent uses Counterspell, Spell Lock, Kick, Shield Bash, Pummel, Wind Shear, Rebuke or Mind Freeze on you while you're casting a spell, these and other abilities will not only interrupt that spell but also to prevent you from casting any spell in that school for some amount of time. It's good to know what schools your abilities are in so you can switch to another when this happens. It's fairly clear for Mages (the school of the spell is the same as the tree it falls under) and Warlocks (if it doesn't involve fire, it's Shadow). For other classes it's not always clear. Fortunately, the tooltip of any damage spell will specify the type of damage it does. Warriors are the only class that strictly deals only one damage type, that being Physical. Hunters and Shamans have the most varied damage types, with both being able to deal Physical, Nature and Fire damage, as well as Arcane and Shadow for Hunters and Frost for Shaman.

Physical
Not presented as magic to the user, but treated as a school by the game mechanics. All classes use physical type damage, as attacking with a weapon falls into this school; the target can use Dodge to avoid the attack, a shield to Block it, the Parry skill to block it with a weapon, and Armor to resist some of the damage if all else fails. Damage taken is physical damage. Most Warrior and Rogue abilities are Physical. Death Knight abilities obtained by spending talent points in the Blood Tree do physical damage. Armor penetration only ever applies to physical damage dealt.

Some physical abilities, like Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap, are treated like spells. These abilities have a chance to miss like all spells, which can be offset by Hit rating, but resistance to these abilities cannot be increased.

Arcane


Arcane magic is typically utility magic that causes various effects rather than dealing direct damage, and is used by mages, druids, hunters, and blood elves.

Most non-damaging magical hunter abilities, including Silencing Shot, Hunter's Mark, Misdirection, and Distracting Shot are Arcane-based. Arcane Shot, however, is a main source of direct damage, as is the druids' Moonfire and Starfire. Also, the blood elf racial ability Arcane Torrent is Arcane-based. (Before patch 3.0.2, night elf priests could do Arcane damage with Starshards.)

The true masters of the Arcane, however, are mages. For mages, the Arcane school is primarily a utility line rather than a damage line. Any spell from a mage's Arcane ability category is of the Arcane school, including four spells that do damage (Arcane Missiles, Arcane Explosion, Arcane Blast, Arcane Barrage) and a very broad range of utility spells: Polymorphs, Arcane Intellect, Mana Shield, Mage Armor, Blink, Teleports, Portals, Counterspell, and Conjure Mana Gems, Food, and Water.

Hostile Arcane spells (including those that do no damage) can be resisted; there are items that increase one's Arcane resistance. Arcane is the only resistible magic school against which players cannot increase their Resistance via class abilities, short of abilities which increase all Resistances like Mark of the Wild.

Fire


Spells of the Fire school typically inflict damage, which can be direct damage and/or damage over time. Mages and Warlocks use it as one of their primary source of damage, while Shamans, Hunter traps, and engineers also use the Fire school.

Many spells and environmental effects (such as lava) do Fire damage. The class most associated with the ability to control fire is also the Mage. Fire is also one of the fundamental elements that Shamans can manipulate with their Totems. To a lesser extent, Warlocks can also deliver Fire damage. Warlocks specced heavily into their Destruction talent tree are sometimes called "Firelocks". Hunters' Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot also deal Fire damage; similarly, explosives and damaging trinkets created by Engineers typically do Fire damage. Mages can absorb Fire damage with Fire Ward.

Like Arcane resistance, Fire resistance is a statistic that can be affected by spells and items. Paladins and Shaman can specifically increase Fire Resistance with Fire Resistance Aura and Fire Resistance Totem respectively. A Warlock's Imp can cast Fire Shield to increase fire resistance of friendly player characters and pets, but only the highest rank (Rank 6) will do so.

Frost


The Frost school is effective both for attack (doing damage) and defense (raising armor value). Frost spells often inflict snare or root effects, as well. Mages, Shaman, Death Knights and the occasional Hunter trap uses the Frost school.

Mages and Death Knights have Frost talent trees, and obviously any spell in those trees is of the Frost school. Of course, Shamans' Frost Shock is of the Frost school too, as well as the Hunter's Freezing Trap, Freezing Arrow and Frost Trap. Mages can absorb Frost damage with Frost Ward.

Frost Resistance exists as a statistic as well. Paladins and Shaman can specifically increase Frost Resistance with Frost Resistance Aura and Frost Resistance Totem, respectively.

Nature


The Nature school is usually used for nature based attacks, buffs, and curative spells. Nature damage can be direct damage (like lightning) or damage over time (like poison). This means that Rogues (poison), Shamans, Druids, and Hunters (stings) have access to Nature damage.

Acids, diseases, and poisons inflict Nature damage, and damage from lightning is also considered part of the Nature school. Shamans' and Druids' healing spells are Nature spells, and other nondamaging spells such as Entangling Roots and Faerie Fire are in this school as well. Hunters' Stings and the Snake Trap's viper poisons are Nature based, as are their Mend Pet and Revive Pet abilities. Rogues' poisons are also Nature based.

A Nature resistance statistic exists. Hunters and Shamans can specifically increase Nature Resistance with Aspect of the Wild and Nature Resistance Totem, respectively.

Shadow


The opposite of Holy magic, Shadow is probably the most versatile school. Used by Priests, Warlocks, Death Knights and Hunters (Black Arrow) it contains a wide variety of spells. Apart from Direct Damage and Damage over Time spells, there are various utility spells, including Drains, Crowd Control spells, and Debuffs.

Shadow damage is dealt by dark spells such as those of the Priest's Shadow Magic ability category and most of the Warlock's repertoire. The Blood Pact that a Warlock's Imp pet casts to boost the entire party's Stamina is a Shadow effect, as are the creation of a Healthstone or Soulstone and the summoning of demons. Warlocks can also absorb shadow damage with Shadow Ward.

Shadow Resistance is the final resistance type. Paladins and Priests can specifically increase Shadow resistance with Shadow Resistance Aura and Shadow Protection, respectively.

Holy


The Holy school is usually related to abilities which heal and aid living beings. There are also a few spells that do Holy damage: Smite and Exorcism, for example. Contrary to popular belief, Holy Magic does not deal additional damage to undead or demons unless specifically mentioned in the tooltip (such as with Exorcism).

Priests and Paladins are the primary users of the Holy school, including all their healing and resurrection abilities.

It is not possible to resist Holy magic, giving it a slight advantage over other schools, but it does have a basic miss chance like all spells, offset by Hit rating.

Items and Buffs which give a bonus to all resistances, such as Mage Armor, do not include Holy resistance, but percentage-based damage-reduction abilities such as a Warrior's Defensive Stance successfully reduce damage from Holy spells. Also, the, , and items will also absorb limited amounts of Holy damage.

Combinations
Some abilities belong to multiple schools of magic. They benefit from talents that affect either school. They can also work around absorption, resistance, and immunity effects that apply to only one of their schools.
 * Chaos - fire, frost, arcane, nature, shadow, holy, and physical.
 * Chromatic - fire, frost, arcane, nature, and shadow.
 * Divine - holy and arcane.
 * Elemental - holy and arcane.
 * Firestorm - fire and nature.
 * Frostfire - frost and fire.
 * Froststorm - frost and nature.
 * Holyfire - holy and fire.
 * Holyfrost - holy and frost.
 * Holystorm - holy and nature.
 * Plague - shadow and nature.
 * Shadowflame - fire and shadow.
 * Shadowfrost - shadow and frost.
 * Spellfire - arcane and fire.
 * Spellfrost - arcane and frost.
 * Spellshadow - arcane and shadow.
 * Spellstorm - arcane and nature.
 * Twilight - shadow and holy.

Additional information
A shadow Priest's Shadowform ability refers to the Priest's Holy talent tree, not the Holy school of magic. Therefore, the priest can still cast holy-based spells from the Discipline talent tree while Shadowformed.