Classes and Talents

A hero in Azeroth Survivors Reborn is a class, a race, a talent build and two racials. Your spells cast on their own while you move, so the choices you make in the hero menu and on the level-up cards decide how a run plays. This guide covers all of them. For the runs themselves see Runs and zones; for gear, gold and cosmetics see Progression and cosmetics.

The twelve classes

The game has twelve classes. Nine come from the start: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Warlock and Druid. Three open later:

The unlock belongs to your account, not to one hero: once one hero has done it, every hero can pick the class. Some classes are limited in which races can play them (see Races).

What makes a class

Every class is built from the same parts:

• A starting spell. Every run starts with one spell of your class, for example Cleave for a Warrior or Shadow Bolt for a Warlock. Some talents change which spell you start with.
• A pool of spells. Level-up cards in a run teach you more spells from your class's pool and raise the ones you know. You carry up to six spells at once.
• Three talent trees. You spend talent points in the hero menu before the run. See Talents.
• Class mechanics. Some classes bring pets, forms, stances or totems, usually through talents.

Spells cast on their own when their cooldown is ready. You steer, dash and pick cards; you do not press spell buttons.

Reading the spell book

In the hero menu, the Spell Book button (a book icon above the hero button) opens a window titled SPELLS that lists every spell your chosen class can find in a run. Each spell is a card showing what it does at rank 1, and the spell your run starts with is tagged starting spell. Open it before you pick a class to see what it plays like.

The classes one by one

Each paragraph names the spells and talent trees that define the class. Talents can add more, such as pets, forms and extra starting spells.

Warrior. Starts with Cleave. A close-range fighter with Whirlwind, Thunder Clap, Mortal Strike, Execute, Bloodthirst, Shield Slam, Rend, Bladestorm and Shield Wall. Trees: Arms, Fury, Protection. The capstones make you start with Mortal Strike, spin a free Whirlwind over and over, or turn you into a durable Shield Slam tank.

Paladin. Starts with Consecration, a patch of holy ground you fight on. Also Exorcism, Hammer of Wrath, Holy Shock, Judgement, Hammer of Justice, Holy Light, Divine Storm, Avenger's Shield, Holy Shield, Sacred Shield, Divine Shield and Avenging Wrath. Trees: Holy, Protection, Retribution.

Hunter. Starts with Auto Shot and shoots from range. Arcane Shot, Multi-Shot, Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Explosive Shot, Chimera Shot, Kill Shot and Black Arrow carry the damage; Explosive, Immolation and Frost Trap, Volley, Rapid Fire and Kill Command fill the rest. Trees: Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, Survival. The Tame Beast talent brings a wolf, and the Beast Mastery capstone adds a raptor.

Rogue. Starts with Sinister Strike. Eviscerate, Backstab, Mutilate, Envenom, Rupture, Fan of Knives and Blade Flurry for close combat; Slice and Dice, Adrenaline Rush and Cloak of Shadows for buffs and safety; Killing Spree for bursts. Trees: Assassination, Combat, Subtlety.

Priest. Starts with Smite. Holy damage (Holy Fire, Holy Nova, Penance) sits beside Shadow damage-over-time spells (Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, Vampiric Touch) and Mind Blast and Mind Flay. Power Word: Shield, Renew, Circle of Healing, Lightwell and Power Infusion keep you alive. Trees: Discipline, Holy, Shadow.

Shaman. Starts with Lightning Bolt. Chain Lightning, Earth Shock, Flame Shock, Lava Burst and Thunderstorm for spell damage; Stormstrike and Lava Lash for melee; Magma Totem and Searing Totem for ground control; Healing Wave and Riptide for healing; Feral Spirit for summons. Call of Flame is a passive (see Passives). Trees: Elemental, Enhancement, Restoration.

Mage. Starts with Fireball. Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, Pyroblast, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage and Ice Lance for single targets; Blizzard, Flamestrike, Frost Nova, Cone of Cold and Arcane Explosion for crowds; Living Bomb, Ice Barrier, Ice Block, Icy Veins, Arcane Power and Mirror Image for support. Trees: Arcane, Fire, Frost. The Arcane and Frost capstones swap your starting spell.

Warlock. Starts with Shadow Bolt. A damage-over-time class: Corruption, Immolate, Curse of Agony, Unstable Affliction and Seed of Corruption (see Damage over time), with Chaos Bolt, Haunt, Rain of Fire, Hellfire and Death Coil for direct damage and Drain Life for sustain. Trees: Affliction, Demonology, Destruction. In Demonology, milestones bring a permanent Felhunter or Voidwalker, and the capstone summons either a Felguard or a Dread Lord (you take one).

Druid. Starts with Wrath. Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Starfire, Starfall, Hurricane and Typhoon in the Balance style; Shred, Mangle, Lacerate, Swipe and Berserk in the Feral style; Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Wild Growth, Thorns and Barkskin for healing and defence. Trees: Balance, Feral Combat, Restoration. The Feral capstones turn you into a Cat or a Dire Bear (you pick one), the Balance capstone brings two treants and the Restoration capstone gives you Tree of Life.

Monk (opens after Classic). Starts with Jab. Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, Rising Sun Kick, Fists of Fury, Spinning Crane Kick and Rushing Jade Wind for martial arts; Chi Wave, Healing Sphere, Renewing Mist and Expel Harm to heal; Keg Smash, Breath of Fire and Fortifying Brew to tank. Trees: Windwalker, Brewmaster, Mistweaver. Three stances in the talent trees (Fierce Tiger, Sturdy Ox, Wise Serpent) decide which of those spells your level-up cards offer. See Exclusive pairs.

Demon Hunter (opens after The Burning Crusade). Starts with Demon's Bite. Chaos Strike, Blade Dance, Eye Beam, Fel Rush, Throw Glaive and Felblade for offence; Immolation Aura, Chaos Nova and the sigils for area control; Metamorphosis, Blur and Darkness for defence; Soul Cleave and Fel Devastation on the Vengeance side. Trees: Havoc, Vengeance, Fel-Scarred. Spirit Bomb and Demon Spikes are dealt only to heroes who took the Soul Rending talent.

Death Knight (opens after Wrath of the Lich King). Starts with Icy Touch. Plague Strike and Pestilence spread disease, Death and Decay crushes crowds, and Obliterate, Heart Strike, Scourge Strike, Howling Blast and Frost Strike hit hard. Anti-Magic Shell, Icebound Fortitude and Death Strike keep you alive; Summon Gargoyle and Army of the Dead (a capstone) bring helpers. Trees: Blood, Frost, Unholy.

Class rules worth knowing

Damage over time

Corruption, Curse of Agony, Immolate and the other damage-over-time spells choose their targets when you cast them:

• A cast picks as many enemies in range as the spell allows, and extra targets from cards, talents and stats widen that.
• It prefers enemies that do not carry the effect yet, then the nearest. A recast therefore spreads over the pack instead of refreshing the front row.
• There is no cap on how many enemies carry the effect. How many targets each cast reaches is the limit, so a larger pack just waits its turn.
• A spell that does not stack refreshes when it is cast on an enemy that already has it.

If you play a damage-over-time class, cards that add targets are worth more than cards that add damage against a big pack.

Passives

A passive spell casts nothing and has no cooldown. It is on from the moment you take its card. The Shaman's Call of Flame is the example:

• Every card of a passive adds one rank, whatever its rarity. A Legendary card of a passive is worth the same as a Common one.
• A passive never has a Legendary amulet.
• The bonus applies to the hits of all your spells, not only spells of one school.

Faction spells

Race decides one thing about spells: the Shaman is dealt Bloodlust if the hero's race fights for the Horde and Heroism if it fights for the Alliance. Only one of the two ever appears.

Races and racials

Which races exist

There are thirteen races, sorted by the side they fight on:

Pandaren exist twice, one for each side. Which races can be which class is fixed per class. The Druid takes Night Elf, Worgen and Tauren; the Paladin takes Human, Dwarf, Draenei and Blood Elf; the Demon Hunter takes only Night Elf and Blood Elf; the Warrior takes the widest choice.

How racials work

Every race has racials, some that act on their own and some that always hold. You are not tied to your own race's: each hero carries one active racial and one passive racial from any race.

To pick them, open the hero card in the hero menu. The RACIALS section shows two rows. Click one to open a picker with the title Choose an active racial or Choose a passive racial.

Which racials are open

Every hero starts with the same two weak racials: Darkflight (an active one, short sprints) and Treasure Finding (a lasting one, wider pickup). The rest open by account level, from the weak ones to the strong ones, a level or two apart up to the highest level. A racial you cannot use yet is greyed out, and its tooltip says Opens at account level N. The picker lists them by the level that opens each one, lowest first.

At the highest account level every racial is open.

Talents

Where talent points come from

Each class has its own talent points. A class earns talent experience in every run played with it, and the experience buys points. A better zone, a longer run, bosses and a victory all pay more. A class can hold up to 51 points.

Open the hero menu and press TALENTS in the bottom bar. A green number on the button counts the points you have not spent yet. In the window you see three trees as a web, a badge with the points to spend, and under the title how much experience is left to the next point.

Spending and resetting

• Left-click a talent to learn a rank. Right-click to take a rank back.
• A talent shows why it is locked: a row needs more points in its tree first, a talent needs a rank of another, or you have no points left.
• A rank cannot be taken back while a talent further out builds on it.
• Reset all clears the whole build. Respecs are free, and you can change the build before every run.

A row opens after every five points you spend in that tree. Milestones sit at 10 and 20 points in a tree and the capstone at 30; a talent's tooltip shows the points it needs.

Capstones and exclusive pairs

A milestone is a talent that changes how your spells play, such as a pet joining you, a stance or an extra starting spell. A capstone closes a tree and changes your class more deeply: it often gives you a starting spell or a free recurring cast. A capstone needs 30 points in its tree, so with the points a class can hold you can finish one tree's capstone and spend the rest elsewhere.

Some talents are exclusive: taking one rules out the others of its group.

• A tree with two capstones lets you take one. The Warlock's Demonology capstones (a Felguard or a Dread Lord) and the Druid's Feral capstones (Cat Form or Dire Bear Form) work this way.
• The Monk's three stances share a group, and the first one you take rules out the other two.

A locked talent tells you You already chose the one that rules it out. To change your mind, right-click the first talent to take it back.

Five talent loadouts per class

Each class keeps five loadouts, which are separate builds. In the talent window, the Loadout row switches between them; hover one to see what it holds. Clicking one switches to it; everything you spend, take back or reset is kept in the active loadout. The run uses the active loadout of the class you play. Keep one build for crowds and one for bosses and switch before you enter.

If a loadout spends more points than your class has earned, the window shows how many too many, and the run starts without talents until you take some back.

Account level and the account tree

Your account has one level, from 1 to 30, shared by all your heroes. Runs and achievements pay account experience, and every level brings account talent points. The levels also open the racials one by one.

The account talent tree is a second tab of the talent window. The window has two tabs, CLASS and ACCOUNT. It replaced the shop's old Perks. It has three branches:

The talents are bought rank by rank, and every hero of every class gets them. A row opens after you hold enough points in its branch, and respecs are free (Reset all). The green number on the TALENTS button counts class and account points together.

Veteran's Lessons helps a class you have played less: it earns more talent experience than your best class does.

Level-up cards in a run

Each level-up shows a hand of three cards from your class. A card either teaches a spell you do not know yet or raises the rank of one you do. You can skip a hand for gold or reroll it. Rerolls are free a few times a run and then cost gold, and the Banish talent lets you remove a card from the rest of the run.

Rarities

Every card rolls a rarity, from Common to Legendary: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary. A higher rarity makes the card stronger, and Legendary is the rarest. A card for a spell you know raises damage, cooldown, targets, area or duration, and a Legendary card gives two of those lines at once. Luck from the Fortune branch and from your level makes better rarities more likely.

Jewelry and amulets

Caches in a run offer rings, trinkets and amulets. Most spells have a Legendary amulet of their own that adds extra effects to that one spell, so keep the spell it belongs to. Passives never have one. Gear, armor sets and the shop are in Progression and cosmetics.

Where to go next

• Zones, bosses and how a run is built: Runs and zones
• Armor sets, the shop, game pass and cosmetics: Progression and cosmetics