Breakfast Topic: What's the best spell in the game?
by Olivia Grace 
May 12th 2012 at 8:00AM
One of the things I like best about WoW is how almost all of its spells require some kind of judgment when you use them. Oh my, did I just make an amazing paladin joke? Well, not intentionally.
Let's take Lay on Hands as an example, shall we? As the astute reader will observe from the header image, it's an instant-cast, freakin' huge heal. I don't know off-hand of any other heal in the game that will provide you with 262,444 HP at the drop of a hat. My paladin is a tank, so "an amount equal to your maximum health" is fairly substantial, and I refer to it as healing my fail. I messed up? Oh, it's OK, I can fix that. But it has a 7-minute cooldown (with the glyph) and puts Forbearance on the target. Used it when you didn't really need to (like when you had a set of priest wings on you)? Now you have to wait another seven minutes, thanks to your itchy trigger finger. Nice work, cowboy.
But I still think Lay on Hands is a contender for best spell. Particularly for a tank, it's a pretty awesome cooldown. You can reset your health instantly (debuffs considered, of course) -- or indeed, anyone else's. Not many people (apart from perhaps other tanks) are likely to have more health than you. But (and it's a big but), Lay on Hands can't be used in Arena. This is bad. Very bad. Well, actually, it's quite good, really. Imagine if it were useable ...
So my surprise entry for best spell in the game, coming from way back in the field, is Leap of Faith. It doesn't have inherent downsides like Lay on Hands, but it requires good judgment. Sure, there are simple cases when it's a good idea, like when someone's standing in bad, but use it to interrupt an arcane mage's Evocation and there'll be trouble. Grab a melee player in Arena just as they're about to take down an opponent? Bad times.
I had a bit of trouble thinking of ideas for best spell in the game. I'm sure you won't, lovely, knowledgeable people. So tell me, what's the best spell in the game? And why?
Let's take Lay on Hands as an example, shall we? As the astute reader will observe from the header image, it's an instant-cast, freakin' huge heal. I don't know off-hand of any other heal in the game that will provide you with 262,444 HP at the drop of a hat. My paladin is a tank, so "an amount equal to your maximum health" is fairly substantial, and I refer to it as healing my fail. I messed up? Oh, it's OK, I can fix that. But it has a 7-minute cooldown (with the glyph) and puts Forbearance on the target. Used it when you didn't really need to (like when you had a set of priest wings on you)? Now you have to wait another seven minutes, thanks to your itchy trigger finger. Nice work, cowboy.
But I still think Lay on Hands is a contender for best spell. Particularly for a tank, it's a pretty awesome cooldown. You can reset your health instantly (debuffs considered, of course) -- or indeed, anyone else's. Not many people (apart from perhaps other tanks) are likely to have more health than you. But (and it's a big but), Lay on Hands can't be used in Arena. This is bad. Very bad. Well, actually, it's quite good, really. Imagine if it were useable ...
So my surprise entry for best spell in the game, coming from way back in the field, is Leap of Faith. It doesn't have inherent downsides like Lay on Hands, but it requires good judgment. Sure, there are simple cases when it's a good idea, like when someone's standing in bad, but use it to interrupt an arcane mage's Evocation and there'll be trouble. Grab a melee player in Arena just as they're about to take down an opponent? Bad times.
I had a bit of trouble thinking of ideas for best spell in the game. I'm sure you won't, lovely, knowledgeable people. So tell me, what's the best spell in the game? And why?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
