Most often, a buff refers to a temporary beneficial spell or effect placed on a player. Buffs can range in effect from simple personal shields to buffs which augment almost every category of stats a given player may have for their race or class.
Buffs can be of two types: those that expire over time (simple buff like Arcane Intellect) and those that are dependent of the environment around you (like the AoE effect given by totems).
You can dismiss either buff by right-clicking on its icon.
Most buffs do not stack with other similar buffs. One prominent exception is heal over time spells, heal over time spells from multiple characters and different heal over time spells from the same character (such as a druid's Regrowth and Rejuvenation) will stack with eachother.
Buff can also be used as a verb, i.e. "to buff" means to apply buffs.
Buff is also used to represent a change to a class or ability that makes it more effective or useful. It is the opposite of a nerf.
Buffs by Effect[]
Combat based buffs[]
- Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intellect increased by 5% and increased magical resistances.
[Mark of the Wild] Lasts 1 hour.
[Blessing of Kings] Lasts 1 hour.- Note: the casting of Kings cancels MoW. If your group has both a Druid and Paladin, the Paladin should not cast Kings!
- Drums of Forgotten Kings is crafted by Leatherworkers. Increases Strength Agility, Stamina, and Intellect by 4% and all magical Resistances by 52. Lasts 30 minutes. Recommended for Level 80.
- Drums of the Burning Wild is crafted by Leatherworkers. Increases Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intellect by 4% and all magical resistances by 78. Lasts 1 hour. Recommended for Level 85.
- Stamina (+1485 Stamina at Level 85)
[Qiraji Fortitude] Silithid Aura.
[Power Word: Fortitude] Lasts 1 hour.- [Blood Pact] Imp Aura.
- [Commanding Shout] Generates 20 Rage. Lasts 2 minutes.
- Runescroll of Fortitude is crafted by Scribes (Inscription). Increases Stamina by 165. Lasts 1 hour. Recommended for Level 80.
- Mana (+5401 maximum Mana at Level 85)
- [Arcane Brilliance] also increases Spell Power by 6%. Lasts 1 Hour.
- [Fel Intelligence] also regenrates 828 mana per 5 seconds at level 85. Felhunter Aura.
- Strength and Agility (+1395 Strength and Agility at Level 85)
- [Horn of Winter] Generates 10 Ruinic Power. Lasts 2 minutes, 3 minutes with Glyph of Horn of Winter.
- [Roar of Courage] Cat and Sprit Beast Aura
- [Strength of Earth Totem] Lasts 5 minutes.
- [Battle Shout] Generates 20 Rage. Lasts 2 minutes.
- Haste - Increases group's melee, ranged, and casting speed by 30%
- [Bloodlust]/ [Heroism] Lasts 40 seconds.
- [Time Warp] Lasts 40 seconds.
- [Ancient Hysteria] Core Hound ability. Lasts 40 seconds.
- Drums of Battle is crafted by Leatherworkers. Increases haste rating by up to 80 (5% at level 70). Recommended for Level 70.
- Attack Power (10% increase to Attack Power)
- [Abomination's Might] Aura.
- [Trueshot Aura] Aura.
- [Blessing of Might] also regenerates 828 mana per 5 seconds at level 85. Lasts 1 hour.
- [Unleashed Rage] Aura.
Non-combat buffs[]
- Falling speed decrease
- [Slow Fall]: Requires a reagent unless glyphed.
- [Levitate]: Also allows water walking, requires a reagent unless glyphed (ends in combat).
- Speed increase
- [Aspect of the Pack]: +30% run speed, dazed when hit.
- [Crusader Aura]: Increases mounted speed by 20%. Each paladin can only have one aura active at a time.
- Water breathing
- [Water Breathing]: Requires a reagent unless glyphed.
- [Unending Breath]: No reagent cost.
- Water walking (ends in combat)
- [Path of Frost]: No reagent cost.
- [Levitate]: Also slows falling speed, requires a reagent unless glyphed.
- [Water Walking]: Requires a reagent unless glyphed.
By class[]
Death Knight[]
- Abomination's Might - Increases your group's Attack power by 5,10% and own Strength by 1,2%.
- Horn of Winter - Increases your group's Strength and Agility for 2 minutes, 3 minutes with Glyph of Horn of Winter.
- Improved Icy Talons - Increases the melee and ranged attack speed of group by 10%, and your own attack speed by an additional 5%.
Druid[]
- Mark of the Wild/Gift of the Wild - armor, all attributes, and resistances for target/target's party
- Thorns - reflective damage for target
- Innervate - massive short term mana regeneration for target
Hunter[]
- Aspect of the Pack - Increases group movement speed by 30%. If struck in combat, will stun you for 4 seconds.
- Aspect of the Wild - Increases Nature Resistance for the group.
- Trueshot Aura - Increases Attack Power for the group by 10%. Marksmanship Talent.
- Hunter pet
- Roar of Courage - Increases Strength and Agility of group members. Available to Cats and Spirit Beasts
- Qiraji Fortitude - Increases group members' Stamina. Aura
Mage[]
- Arcane Intellect - Increases maximum mana and spell power.
- Focus Magic - Increases the target's chance to critically hit with spells by 3%. When the target critically hits your chance to critically hit with spells is increased by 3% for 10 sec. Cannot be cast on self.
Paladin[]
- Auras - Auras affect the Paladin's party/raid.
- Devotion Aura - Increases armor.
- Retribution Aura - Reflects damage onto attackers.
- Concentration Aura - Lose 35% less casting or channeling time when damaged.
- Resistance Aura - Increased fire, frost, and shadow resistance.
- Crusader Aura - Increases Mounted speed by 20%. Does not stack with other speed increasing effects.
- Blessings - Blessings affect everyone in a paladin's party/raid. Only one blessing can be active on a party/raid per paladin at a time. Blessings can also be put on single targets only if the target is not in your party. All Blessings last 1 hour.
- Blessing of Might - Increases attack power by 10% and restores mana based on level.
- Blessing of Kings - Increases Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intellect by 5% and increases magical resistances by level. Note: Kings is exactly the same buff as a Druid's Mark of the Wild.
- Hands - Hands are very short term buffs that affect only a single group member.
- Hand of Reckoning - A paladin's taunt. Usable against mobs to get them off others in the group.
- Hand of Protection - Target is protected from all physical attacks for 10 seconds, but during that time they cannot attack or use physical abilities.
- Divine Protection - Target takes 20% less damage for 10 seconds.
- Hand of Freedom - Target is granted immunity to movement impairing effects for 6 seconds.
- Hand of Salvation - Target has their total threat reduced by 2% every 1 sec. for 10 seconds.
- Hand of Sacrifice - Target transfers 30% damage taken to the Paladin. Lasts 12 sec or until the Paladin has transfered 100% of their maximum health.
- Beacon of Light - Direct heals from the casting Paladin also heal the Beacon if the target is within 60 yards. Not affected by Line of Sight.
- Seal - Seals grant bonuses to the Paladin and allow the use of Judgement.
- Seal of Righteousness - Grants each single-target melee attack additional Holy damage.
- Seal of Insight - Gives each single-target melee attack a chance to heal the Paladin and restore 4% of the paladin's base mana.
- Seal of Truth - Causes single-target attacks to Censure the target, which deals (additional Holy damage over 15 sec. Censure can stack up to 5 times. Once stacked to 5 times, each of the Paladin's attacks also deals 15% weapon damage as additional Holy damage.
- Seal of Justice - Causes each single-target melee attack to limit the target's maximum run speed for 5 sec and deal additional Holy damage.
Priest[]
- Power Word: Fortitude - Increases Stamina for group. Lasts 1 hour.
- Power Word: Shield - Shields a target from some damage. Lasts 30 seconds.
- Power Infusion - Increases spell casting speed by 20% and reduces the mana cost of all spells by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds.
- Shadow Protection - Increases Shadow resistance for group. Lasts 1 hour.
- Fear Ward - Wards the friendly target against the next Fear attack. Lasts 3 minutes.
Rogue[]
- Tricks of the Trade - Redirects all threat caused by the rogue's attacks to the targeted raid member for 5 seconds, and increases their damage by 15% during this time.
- Master Poisoner - Increase the critical hit chance of all attacks made against any target you have poisoned by 1,2,3%
- Savage Combat - all physical damage caused to enemies you have poisoned is increased by 2,4%
Shaman[]
- Bloodlust/Heroism - Increases casting and attack speed by 30%
- Elemental Oath - While Clearcasting is active, group members receive a 3,5% bonus to their critical strike chance. Elemental Talent.
- Unleashed Rage - Increases all group members attack power by 5,10%. Enhancement Talent.
- Ancestral Healing -Reduces physical damage taken by 5,10% for 15 sec after receiving a critical heal. Restoration Talent.
- Earth Shield - Shields the target, reducing casting or channeling time lost when damaged by 30% and causing attacks to heal the shielded target. Lasts 10 minutes. Restoration Ability.
- Earth Totem
- Strength of Earth Totem - Increases the Strength and Agility of the group
- Fire Totem
- Flametongue Totem - Increases Spell Power of the group by 6%
- Water Totem
- Healing Stream Totem - Periodically heals group members
- Mana Spring Totem - Periodically restores mana to group members
- Elemental Resistance Totem - Increases Fire, Frost, and Nature resistance
- Air Totem
- Windfury Totem - Increases melee haste of the group by 10%
- Grounding Totem - Redirects one harmful spell from a group member to itself
- Wrath of Air Totem - Increases spell haste of the group by 5%
- Water Breathing - Target can breathe underwater. Lasts 10 minutes. Requires Shiny Fish Scales. Reagent removed with Glyph of Water Breathing
- Water Walking - Target can walk on water. Lasts 10 minutes Requires Fish Oil. Reagent removed with Glyph of Water Walking
Warlock[]
- Unending Breath - Underwater breathing for target
- Detect Invisibility - Increase detection of invisibility for target
- Demonic Pact - Adds a percentage of the Warlock's spell power to all party or raid members on minion crit
- Imp
- Blood Pact - Health for Warlock's party or raid
- Felhunter
- Fel Intelligence - Increased Spirit and Intellect for Warlock's party or raid
Warrior[]
- Battle Shout - attack power
- Commanding Shout - health
- Stance - A warrior's stance affects which abilities they can use and also provides additional benefits for the warrior.
- Battle Stance - Increases damage done by 5% and decreases damage taken by 5%
- Defensive Stance - Decreases damage taken by 10% and increases threat generation.
- Berserker Stance - Increases damage done by 10%
Racial buffs[]
- Heroic Presence - 1% increased chance to hit with all spells and abilities. Affects all group members.
List of notable buffs from environment[]
Lordaeron's Blessing[]
Increases stamina by 5%.
Lasts: 30 min
How to get: Take control of the northpass tower in Eastern Plaguelands, click the altar that appears outside the door.
Notes: Persists in Scholomance and Stratholme, and persisted in the original Naxxramas.
Fire Resist[]
Increases fire resistance by 83.
Lasts: 1 hour
How to get: Mind Control (either by the Priest spell or the Engineering device) a Scarshield Spellbinder, found in Blackrock Spire.
Notes: Sometimes the tooltip will say differing amounts of Fire Resistance, but the buff always provides 83 resistance. Stacks with Paladin aura.
Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer[]
Increases critical chance of spells by 10%, melee and ranged by 5% and grants 140 attack power, for characters below level 61.
Lasts: 2 hours
How to get: When the head of Onyxia or Nefarian is returned the players located in (or nearby) Orgrimmar or Stormwind are buffed with this buff.
Spirit of Zandalar[]
Increases all stats for a value depending on level for 2 hours.
(Old Effect: Increases movement speed by 10% and all stats by 15% for 2 hours.)
Duration: 2 hours (As of 1.11, this buff no longer persists through death)
How to get: When the Heart of Hakkar is turned in to Molthor on Yojamba Isle as part of The Heart of Hakkar quest, players on the Isle and in Booty Bay will receive the buff.
Warchief's Blessing[]
Blessing of the Warchief: Increases health by 300. 15% haste to melee attacks. 10 mana regen per tick.
Lasts: 1 hour
How to get: When the head of Rend Blackhand is returned after a player completes "For the Horde!", the end of the first part of the Onyxia prequest chain, all players located in Orgrimmar are buffed with this buff.
Songflower Serenade[]
Increases critical strike rating and spell critical strike rating by 70 and all attributes by 15.
Lasts: 1 hour
How to get: Cleanse a Corrupted Songflower in Felwood.
Buffs, debuffs, and raid stacking in WotLK[]
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In the Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. expansion, buff stacking and whether buffs affected the raid versus only the party were significantly changed. Here is the official release of this change from Blizzard on the forums:
Raid composition will still matter to some extent, but without this change, it would have overwhelmed every other aspect of raid planning (as we added new capabilities to each of 30 different talent trees). You no longer need to rigidly control the melee/spellcaster balance of your raid, or make sure every group has all the critical buffing classes, etc. This change has many class balance implications.
IMPORTANT! Before we are done, we will thoroughly test the performance of every class. It should not be assumed that one class' current performance relative to others in beta is final. Some classes (and specializations) will need to be reduced in power and some increased. Many may feel the change has more impact on class X than class Y. We will address all of those concerns via our internal testing and community feedback.
There are thirty or so different categories into which buffs and debuffs fit. Here you will find a comprehensive list of the changes made broken down by category and which spells/talents are in that category.
- Armor Debuff (Major): [Acid Spit] (exotic Hunter pet), [Expose Armor], [Sunder Armor]
- Armor Debuff (Minor): [Faerie Fire], [Sting] (Hunter pet), [Curse of Recklessness]
- Physical Vulnerability Debuff: [Blood Frenzy], (2nd Talent Spec TBA)
- Melee Haste Buff: [Improved Icy Talons], [Windfury Totem]
- Melee Critical Strike Chance Buff: [Leader of the Pack], [Rampage]
- Attack Power Buff (Flat Add): [Battle Shout], [Blessing of Might]
- Attack Power Buff (Multiplier): [Abomination's Might], [Trueshot Aura], [Unleashed Rage]
- Ranged Attack Power Buff: [Hunter's Mark] (only Hunters benefit, so no need to exclude against other class abilities)
- Bleed Damage Increase Debuff: [Mangle], [Trauma]
- Spell Haste Buff: [Wrath of Air Totem]
- Spell Critical Strike Chance Buff: [Moonkin Aura], [Elemental Oath]
- Spell Critical Strike Chance Debuff: [Improved Scorch], [Winter's Chill]
- Increased Spell Damage Taken Debuff: [Ebon Plaguebringer], [Earth and Moon], [Curse of the Elements]
- Increased Spell Power Buff: [Focus Magic], [Improved Divine Spirit], [Flametongue Totem], [Totem of Wrath], [Demonic Pact]
- Increased Spell Hit Chance Taken Debuff: [Improved Faerie Fire], [Misery]
- Percentage Haste Increase (All Types): [Improved Moonkin Aura], [Swift Retribution]
- Percentage Damage Increase: [Ferocious Inspiration], [Sanctified Retribution]
- Critical Strike Chance Taken Debuff (All types): [Heart of the Crusader], [Totem of Wrath]
- Melee Attack Speed Slow Debuff: [Icy Touch], [Infected Wounds], [Judgements of the Just], [Thunderclap]
- Melee Hit Chance Reduction Debuff: [Insect Swarm], [Scorpid Sting]
- Healing Debuff: [Wound Poison], [Aimed Shot], [Mortal Strike], [Furious Attacks]
- Attack Power Debuff: [Demoralizing Roar], [Curse of Weakness], [Demoralizing Shout]
- Stat Multiplier Buff: [Blessing of Kings]
- Stat Add Buff: [Mark of the Wild]
- Agility and Strength Buff: [Strength of Earth Totem], [Horn of Winter]
- Stamina Buff: [Power Word: Fortitude]
- Health Buff: [Commanding Shout], [Blood Pact]
- Intellect Buff: [Arcane Intellect], [Fel Intelligence]
- Spirit Buff: [Divine Spirit], [Fel Intelligence]
- Damage Reduction Percentage Buff: [Grace], [Blessing of Sanctuary]
- Percentage Increase Healing Received Buff: [Tree of Life], [Improved Devotion Aura]
- Armor Increase Percentage Buff: [Inspiration], [Ancestral Healing]
- Cast Speed Slow: [Curse of Tongues], [Slow], [Mind-numbing Poison].
In each category, you can only benefit from the most powerful spell granting that effect. For example, Fel Intelligence grants spirit and intellect, both weaker than Arcane Intellect and Divine Spirit. If a player has Fel Intelligence and receives a stronger Arcane Intellect buff, he will gain the intellect value from Arcane Intellect and the spirit value from Fel Intelligence.
In most cases, fully-talented players will have exactly equal power on the strength of these buffs and debuffs. Fel Intelligence is an example of where one ability is weaker than others. The buffs in the "Increased Spell Power Buff" category are also not all the same potency, as they scale and grow in radically different ways. In virtually every other case, however, the buffs are equal. This means, for example, that fully-talented Battle Shout and Blessing of Might now grant the exact same amount of attack power.
In addition to this change, we also needed to address the "mana battery" roles in a raid. The mana regeneration effect they grant is no longer limited to their own party, and it no longer depends on the amount of damage they deal. Each time they trigger the mana regeneration effect, 10 people in their raid group will receive a buff which causes them to regenerate 0.5% of their maximum mana each second. This buff, Replenishment, will be given preferentially to raid members with the lowest mana, but will re-evaluate which raid members receive it each time it is fired. Replenishment is provided by Shadow Priests, Survival Hunters, and Retribution Paladins.
Finally, we have modified Heroism and Bloodlust to affect the entire raid. However, all affected raid members will be unable to cast or benefit from Bloodlust/Heroism for 5 minutes.
Below you will find a list of the changes to abilities which exhibit new behavior regardless of the exclusive categories. The changes usually mean the old behavior was removed and replaced by the new behavior. Numbers listed are for maximally-talented versions. Here is that list of changes:
- [Improved Scorch]: Increases spell critical strike chance against the target.
- [Winter's Chill]: Also increases spell critical strike chance against the target.
- [Elemental Oath]: Grants 5% spell crital strike to raid members.
- [Improved Moonkin Aura]: Grants 3% haste of all types.
- [Earth and Moon]: Increases spell damage taken from all schools by 13% on the target.
- [Misery]: Causes spells cast at the target to have +3% spell hit.
- [Shadow Weaving]: Buffs only self.
- [Improved Shadow Bolt]: Buffs only self.
- [Expose Weakness]: Buffs only self.
- [Shadow Embrace]: Buffs only self.
- [Blood Pact]: Grants health instead of Stamina.
- [Fel Intelligence]: Has replacement ranks that grant flat values of Intellect and Spirit.
- [Frost Aura]: Excludes properly against all other resistance buffs.
- [Grace]: Reduces damage taken by target by 3%.
- [Rampage]: Increases melee and ranged critical strike chance by 5% for the raid.
- [Improved Faerie Fire]: No longer benefits melee and ranged hit chance, only spell hit.
- [Hunter's Mark]: No longer increases attack power bonus from attacks against the target.
- [Improved Hunter's Mark]: No longer grants melee attack power.
- [Sting (Hunter pet)]: Now acts as a minor armor debuff.
- [Waylay]: Attack speed reduction changed to 20%.
- [Icy Touch]: Only slows melee attack speed (not ranged or spell).
- [Tree of Life]: No longer grants healing based on spirit, grants 3% increased healing received to raid.
- [Demonic Pact]: Now buffs raid instead of debuffing monsters.
- [Focus Magic]: Now buffs raid instead of debuffing monsters.
- [Totem of Wrath]: Now grants a flat amount of spell damage, and all enemies in its radius have an increased chance of being struck by criticals.
- [Heroism]: Cannot be recast while caster has Exhausted debuff, and those with Exhausted debuff cannot be affected by it.
- [Bloodlust]: Cannot be recast while caster has Sated debuff, and those with Sated debuff cannot be affected by it.
- [Vampiric Touch]: Grants Replenishment mana regeneration buff to up to 10 raid members on dealing damage.
- [Hunting Party]: Grants Replenishment mana regeneration buff to up to 10 raid members on specified shots.
- [Judgements of the Wise]: Grants Replenishment mana regeneration buff to up to 10 raid members on Judging.