n common usage, the term "spells" refers to both spells and abilities. Whether a spell or ability, they require some sort of resource mechanic to use - mana, rage, energy, combo points, and so on. In addition, many have cooldowns and casting times, which also limit how frequently or quickly you can use them. Below is a primer of some of the spell and ability terms in World of Warcraft:

Cast Time
The Cast Time is a measurement of the amount of time it takes from the start of casting a spell to the moment the spell is activated or finished casting. While you are casting, a progress indicator will pop up on the screen. If you take damage, the progress bar will drop and delay the casting of your spell. If you move or are interrupted, the casting process will be completely canceled. Some spells can be cast instantly. This means that they cannot be interrupted, and they do not have a casting time. All instant cast, non-channeled spells can be cast while moving.

Channeled Spells
Many spells must be maintained or "channeled" to achieve their full effect, such as many area-of-effect spells. You will know a spell requires channeling when a progress bar appears with the word "Channeling" in it. If you are interrupted by moving, performing another action, or being attacked, the spell will not be completed.

Cooldown
Cooldown is the amount of time it takes before you can cast the same spell again. Once you have used an ability, a visual timer will appear over the ability's icon that indicates how much longer you must wait in order to use that ability again. Many spells and abilities are subject to the global cooldown, which affects all other spells and abilities for 1.5 seconds.

Range
To cast a spell on a target, you will need to get close enough to be inside of the maximum range allotted by the spell. Typically you will want to cast your spell as far away from an enemy as possible, which will give you more time to cast a second spell before the enemy reaches you. If your current target is out of range, a red dot will display on that spell's icon if it is in your action bar.

Area-of-Effect (AoE) Spells
AOE spells affect multiple enemies at the same time. These abilities are useful if you encounter a pack of monsters, especially when another party member can taunt them and stop the pack from swarming on the caster, or if the pack is all nearly dead. Be very careful when using these spells; they can "wake up" monsters that are neutral and make them aggressive towards you, or generate enough "monster hate" to cause multiple monsters to attack you at once.

Line-of-Sight/Facing
Most targeted spells require the target to be in front of the caster, and that you be able to see the target. If you receive a line-of-sight error message, move your character until it is facing the target and the target is in your character's line-of-sight. All melee abilities require the target to be in front of the attacker.

Buffs and Debuffs
A buff is a beneficial and persistent spell effect, such as the Druid's Gift of the Wild. A debuff is a buff with negative effects, such as Curse of Tongues. Spells like these do damage over time, or modify your character in a negative way. You can remove debuffs with Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, or other abilities of that nature. Short of that, you will simply have to wait until the debuff's timer is up.

Reagents
Some spells and abilities require that you have special items, known as reagents, in your inventory. The spell's tooltip will tell you what item is required. Reagents are purchasable from reagent vendors, commmonly located in cities.

Enemy Resistances
Enemies have a chance to resist your spells, based on the level difference between you and the enemy as well as other factors. Refer to the Resistances page for more information.

Learning New Spells or Abilities
Most abilities can be found by visiting trainers. Certain abilities can be learned from books, which are items dropped by monsters, or rewarded through special quests.

Spell Stacking
Spell effects that stack multiple times on a character will display a number in the bottom corner indicating how many times the effect has stacked. For example, if a player has had the Sunder Armor ability used on them three times, the Sunder Armor effect icon will display "3" in the corner.

Coefficient Bonuses on Spells
Spells receive a smaller bonus from +healing and +spell damage based on a comparison of the level at which the spell was learned and the caster's current level. As a general rule, players will be able to use the top 2 or 3 ranks of each spell before receiving any penalty. Spell coefficients are affected by other variables such as the spell's cast time, duration, and other factors. They are continually in flux as the game continues to evolve.

Haste and Slow Effects
Conceptually, haste values indicate how much more of that activity you can perform in a given time. 30% melee haste means 30% more swings in a given time. Slow values indicate how much longer an activity takes to complete. 30% slow means an action takes 30% longer to finish.

Additional Information

• When casting a buff on a low level target, the appropriate rank of the buff will be automatically be applied.
• Healing-over-Time spells from different sources will stack (i.e. multiple druids can cast Rejuvenation on the same target).
• Spell Haste affects channeled spells, increasing the rate of their effects and decreasing their total duration. Spell haste also reduces the global cooldown on spells, down to a minimum of one second. This does not apply to melee and ranged abilities.
• Your current target will now display all of the duration based spells that you have cast on them with cooldown rings so you will know how much longer they will last.
• Mana does not normally regenerate for five seconds after you cast a spell. This system has been adjusted so that as your intellect rises, you will regenerate more mana per point of spirit.