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Each
class will get three new abilities as they level up through the zones
in Cataclysm. The first will come at level 81, the second at level 83,
and the final at the new level cap of 85. Each class looks to get
something useful for some aspect of their game that was missing before.
Many of the abilities have equal use in PvP and PvE, so should make
many players extremely happy.

So without further delay,
let’s check out the new abilities that each class has to look
forward to in the new expansion!

DEATH
KNIGHT ABILITIES

OUTBREAK
(Level 81): Instantly
applies Blood Plague and Frost Fever to
the target enemy. 1 minute cooldown.

• This is a great ability for
  Death Knights in almost any
  situation. In PvE it allows fast application of both diseases
  when forced to switch targets. In PvP it allows fast, up front burst
  damage and faster re-application when the diseases have been dispelled.
  

NECROTIC
STRIKE (Level 83): A vicious
strike that deals 80% weapon
damage and absorbs healing received by the target.

• This new attack is a solid
  boost to Death Knights PvP
  ability. It can be used in place of larger strikes that may cause more
  damage but that could then be healed through
  easier. Because of the absorbed healing after the initial
  strike this may well become the go-to attack for PvP Death Knights. It
  is essentially a new Mortal Strike effect in PvP without just outright
  duplicating the warrior ability.
  

DARK SIMULACRUM
(Level 85):
Places a dark ward on an enemy that
persists for 8 sec, triggering when the enemy next spends mana on a
single-target spell, and allowing the Death Knight to unleash an exact
duplicate of that spell. Against nonplayers, only absorbs
some harmful spells.

• This one is interesting in
  theory, but I think we have to wait to see
  it in action before deciding too much about it. While useful
  for canceling spells in PvE it’s real focus seems to be PvP
  where you could essentially copy heals or damage spells to your
  advantage.

DRUID
ABILITIES

THRASH
(Level 81): Deals 47 damage, and
causes all targets to bleed for
15 every 2 sec for 6 sec. Affects all targets within 10
yards. Available in Bear form only.

• This ability gives druid
  tanks a way to cause a bit more AoE damage and
  thereby hold threat on AoE groups easier than previously.
  Bear tanks will likely rejoice, as Swipe only hit a few targets,
  whereas this
  will hit everything nearby. It is the new bear equivalent to a
  paladin’s consecration.

STAMPEDING
ROAR (Level 83): The druid
roars, increasing all nearby
friendly players movement speed within 10 yards by 40% for 6 sec.
Usable in cat or bear form.

• This is a very cool, quick
  group buff that I can see being used on
  movement based fights. When a boss is doing a big AoE ability
  that everyone needs to clear out from, a druid could pop this and save
  those inevitable slow pokes.

WILD
MUSHROOM (Level 85): Grow a
magical Mushroom with 5 Health at the
target location. After 4 sec, the Mushroom will become invisible. When
detonated by the Druid or by damage by enemies, the Mushroom will
explode dealing 270 to 304 damage to all nearby enemies within 10
yards.
Only 5 Mushrooms can be placed at one time. No cooldown. 40 yd range.
Instant cast. Use Wild Mushroom - Detonate to detonate all Mushrooms.

• This sounds like a really
  complicated ability at first, mainly due to
  the wall of text currently used to describe it. However, in reality
  it’s pretty simple. These magic mushrooms are not
  something that causes delusions, other than maybe to your enemies.
  Instead think of them as land mines. These add a trap-like element to
  druids and could be especially useful in PvP matches.

HUNTER
ABILITIES

Cobra Shot (Level 81): Deals weapon damage plus Nature damage and increases the duration of your Serpent Sting on the target by 6 sec. Generates 1 Focus.

• This attack trades the heavy physical damage of most of the hunter’s attacks for a good amount of nature damage.  This will be a great shot against targets with high mitigation and could be a good PvP shot as well since generally spell damage does more than physical.

Trap Launcher (Level 83): When used, your next Trap can be launched to a target location within 40 yards. 1minute cooldown. No global cooldown triggered.

• This ability essentially grants the freezing arrow ability to all of your traps. You can now get those close in AoE traps into place without having to run into range, drop them, and then leap back.  Depending on use, this could add substantially to Hunter AoE damage.

Camouflage (Level 85): You camouflage, causing you and your Pet to blend into your surroundings. After 3 sec., you will enter a camouflaged state for 1 min, making you untargetable and providing stealth while stationary. While camouflaged, you and your pet's movement speed is reduced by 30%, but the damage done by your next attack is increased by 15%.

You can lay traps while under the effect, but any damage done by you or your pet will cancel the effect. Cannot be cast while in combat.

• I think of this as a sniper type ability.  You would use it at the beginning of a fight before entering combat to be able to strike that initial hit.  In PvE it has some use for opening hits at range, but it could really shine in PvP where a hunter will be able to setup in position and then hide out and wait for the perfect shot.  It could be useful, but it doesn’t sound as good as many of the other level 85 abilities.

MAGE ABILITIES

Flame Orb (Level 81): Launches a Flame Orb forward from the Mage's position, dealing 228 Fire damage every second to the closest enemy target for 15 secs.

• This ability will be much like Prince Taldaram's ability from Icecrown Citadel, in which you launch a fire orb that inflicts damage to everyone it passes and hurt its final target.  This will likely have talent buffs for fire mages, but will be useful for all mages especially for AoE and in crowded battlegrounds and PvP zones.
  

Curtain of Frost (Level 83): Summon a Curtain of Frost for 15 sec.  Movement through the curtain by enemies will cause 553 to 703 frost damage and slow movement speed by 50% for 4 sec.

• This is yet another great control spell for mages who will have another way to control the pace and advance of large groups of enemies.  Team this up with a frost nova and blink away right after and it provides over 20 seconds of control time.  This will be great in PvE for AoE groups and even better in PvP to control groups of enemy players.
  

Time Warp (Level 85): Warp the flow of time, increasing melee, ranged, and spell casting speed by 30% for all party and raid members.  Lasts 40 sec.

Allies receiving this effect will become Sated and be unable to benefit from Bloodlust, Heroism, or Time Warp again for 10 min.

• This is essentially a Mage version of Bloodlust / Heroism.  This will provide a boost to smaller groups that may not always have a shaman but have mages.  Making this critical buff available to many more groups seems like a win for everyone, especially mages.

PALADIN
ABILITIES

Blinding Shield (Level 81): Your shield glows with a blinding light causing 500 Holy damage to all targets within 8 yards and blinding them for 3 sec if they are facing you.

• This ability appears to be useful for several things.  First off it can give healers a chance to get you to full health again by stopping incoming damage briefly. Secondly it will help escape in PvP.  It will likely have a cast time and smart players quick players will be able to avoid it in PvP (unless it is made instant through talents), but will be useful in many PvE AoE situations.

Healing Hands (Level 83): Heals all friendly targets within 10 yards for 683 every sec.  Lasts 10 sec.

• Finally Paladins will get an AoE heal.  While mana cost will be steep, it at least gives a critical situational use spell to the paladin class, so that they can cope with AoE damage situations better than previously.

Guardian of Ancient Kings (Level 85): Summons a temporary guardian that will have a different effect based on your talent build.  For holy paladins it will heal, for protection it will absorb some incoming damage, and for retribution it will attack an enemy.

• This ability appears to just rock!  We will have to wait and see how it is implemented though to see how good it is.  The idea of a ret pally with a holy ghoul (to compare to the death knight’s pet) or an extra healer or damage absorption is just cool.

   

PRIEST ABILITIES

Mind Spike (Level 81): Blasts the target for 1083 to 1143 Shadowfrost damage, and causes 30% of the damage to be frozen in the target's mind for 12 sec. Mind Blast on the target will instantly trigger any frozen. Triggering this frozen damage causes a high amount of threat.

• This looks like a really interesting ability that will do a lot of up front damage but leave a debuff of the target to potentially do much more later when interacting with Mind Blast.  Doing more than just shadow damage it also provides a priest with something to do when they get locked out of shadow.
  

Inner Will (Level 83): A burst of Holy energy fills the caster, reducing the mana cost of instant cast spells by 15% and increasing your movement speed by 10%.

• This ability will provide an alternative to Inner Fire and when casting you have to pick one or the other, you can’t have both up at the same time.  When running around and casting many instant spells though this ability could be a great situational alternative.
  

Leap of Faith (Level 85): You pull the spirit of the friendly party or raid target to you, instantly moving them directly in front of you. Range 30 yards.

• This is one of the coolest new abilities and is like a friendly version of the death knight’s death grip ability.  In PvE it could be very useful to grab a player away from AoE damage, an accidental agro pull, out of fire, or more.  In PvP it gets even more interesting as you could grab someone away from being focused on, or around a corner and out of LOS as a big nuke spell is incoming at them.

ROGUE ABILITIES

Redirect (Level 81): Transfers any existing combo points to the current enemy target.

• This new ability is to help rogues when they are forced to flip targets for any reason.  They will now be able to transfer combo points and continue doing high damage.  In PvP this could allow faster initial switches and more upfront burst damage after target switches. Rogues will love that in arenas, and the rest of us will have another reason to loath them.

Combat Readiness (Level 83): Enter into a state of heightened awareness, deflecting enemy weapon strikes with increasing effectiveness.  Successive attacks will deal 10% less damage per application, stacking 5 times.  Lasts for 30 sec, but if 6 sec elapse without any incoming weapon strikes, this state will end.

• Wow!  This ability in its current form will allow rogues to take up to 50% less damage for 30 seconds, unless they are not hit, then it’s only 6 seconds.  This gives yet another way beyond evasion and player stuns to survive in PvP, and another way to briefly hold agro in PvE.  Usable every 2 minutes, this is a very solid survival ability that will keep rogues alive a lot longer.

Smoke Bomb (Level 85): Creates a cloud of thick smoke in a 10 yard radius around the Rogue for 10 sec. Enemies are unable to target into or out of the smoke cloud.

• Another game changing ability for rogues since it essentially creates terrain to block  LOS.  It could be used for distance pulls to force casters to move in, or in PvP to stop long distance heals or spells.  Players inside will still be able to be hit by AoE abilities, but it will be able to cause a lot of movement and sight issues.  It will be very interesting in arenas.

   

SHAMAN ABILITIES

Unleash Elements (Level 81): Focuses the elemental force imbued in the Shaman's weaponry, with the concentrated effects depending on the enchantment unleashed.

• This ability will boost the effect of your weapon enhancing abilities.  For instance Windfury will hurl a copy of your weapon at a target and increase your hast for several swings.  Flametonge will deal instant fire damage and buff the next fire attack.  Earthliving will heal the target and buff the next healing spell.

  The final bonuses are still being looked and are not, well, final.  Depending on the final numbers this could be a really useful ability for all kinds of shaman.  The ability to throw a little bit of instant damage or healing and provide a short term buff right after is useful in both PvE and PvP.
  

Healing Rain (Level 83): Calls forth healing rains to blanket the area targeted by the Shaman, restoring 345 to 409 health to allies in the area every 2 sec for 10 sec.

• This will provide Shaman another much needed AoE healing spell, since right now they only really have chain healing which only heals a small number of players.  In raid situations this will provide a way to mass heal players after AoE damage or if a group get caught by a void zone type ability.
  

Spiritwalker's Grace (Level 85): Calls upon spiritual guidance, permitting movement while casting non-instant Shaman spells. This spell may be cast while casting other spells. Lasts 10 sec.

• This is a great multi-purpose spell that will allow shaman to move and cast in situations that require it.  This could be life saving for healers that need to move at key points in a fight yet can’t let the tank die.  In PvP it will also allow players to move avoiding incoming damage while still dishing out damage while they do so.

WARLOCK
ABILITIES

Fel Flame (Level 81): Deals 250 to 278 Shadowflame damage to an enemy target, increasing the duration of Immolate or Unstable Affliction by 6 sec.

• This will be a new instant cast ability that does two types of damage using the weakest resistance on the target, and add time to your target’s debuffs.  This should allow Warlocks to keep moving and still deal damage even for destruction and demonology specs.  While they have movement anyway, this will allow more while still keeping damage being pumped out on target.

Dark Intent (Level 83): You link yourself with the targeted friendly target, increasing both of your haste by 3%. When you or the linked target gains a critical periodic damage or healing effect, the other gains an increased 3% increased periodic damage and healing lasting for 7 sec. Stacks up to 3 times. Dark Intent lasts for 30 min.

• This ability gives warlocks more group utility as they will now have a way to buff themselves and another player with up to a 9% boots to HoTs and DoTs.  Teamed with a druid for healing or another warlock for damage and you can significantly improve their effectiveness.  Better yet through it on a paladin tank judging vengeance and you improve the tank’s threat and your damage.

Demon Soul (Level 85): You and your summoned demon fuse souls, granting the Warlock a temporary power depending on the demon currently enslaved.

Imp - Critical Strike damage on cast time Destruction spells increased by 60% for 30 sec.  Each spell cast benefitting from this effect reduces the bonus by 20% until the bonus expires after 3 casts.

Voidwalker - All threat generated by you transferred to your Voidwalker for 15 sec.

Succubus - Shadow Bolt damage increased by 10% for 20 sec.

Felhunter - Periodic shadow damage increased by 20% for 20 sec.

Felguard - Spell haste increased by 15% and fire and shadow damage done increased by 10% for 20 sec.

• Wow, that’s a big ability description isn’t it?  What the ability essentially does is provide a cooldown boost ability. In general this will provide a pretty big damage output boost for about 20 seconds every 2 minutes.  Now, just to deal with all that extra threat.

   

WARRIOR ABILITIES

Inner Rage (Level 81): Whenever you achieve maximum Rage you enter an Enraged state, increasing damage caused by all abilities by 50% and increasing Rage cost by 15%.  This effect is immediately cancelled when your Rage total drops below 30.

• This provides a boost to warriors that happen to allow their rage to hit 100.  Previously if you had any rage stored it was almost a penalty, now there is a significant reason to store some up.  Blizzard has stated that they will watch how it functions and adjust as required as they want it to be a boost to warriors but not so much that they feel they must sit at or near full rage all the time.
  

Gushing Wound (Level 83): Wounds the target causing them to bleed for damage over time until cancelled.  If the target moves the bleeding damage will increase and refresh the duration up to a maximum of 15 seconds.

• This is an interesting ability that will provide solid use all the time, but be extremely useful in PvP.  Once the bleed is applied it will do a little bit of damage, but if the target moves it will quickly stack to 3 stacks and cause even more damage.  In a PvP situation it will require players to either take the damage and run or stay stationary and fight the warrior in toe to toe combat, which is not something many classes want to do.
  

Heroic Leap (Level 85): Leap through the air towards a targeted location, slamming down with destructive force to deal 100% weapon damage to all enemies within 5 yards, stunning them for 2 sec..

• Think of this as a flying whirlwind and you are probably not far off.  You get to leap through the air and cause damage to everything around you when you land.  This will be useful to warriors leaping in to start AoE damage, or as a way to leap to another target while their charge is on cooldown.  The imagery of this ability as a warrior executes a leap into combat while howling a berserker’s call is perfect.