8 Nov 2026
What talents are
Talents are extra abilities you choose to strengthen your character. Some are passive bonuses, others are new active abilities. They come after your class and specialization as one more layer of customization, and swapping them is quick and cheap.
Each class has two trees: a class tree shared by all its specializations, and a tree for the specialization you are playing. The full list of talents for each class is on that class's abilities page.
Earning talent points
| Levels | What you get |
|---|---|
| 10–70 | One point per level, alternating between the class tree and the specialization tree. |
| 71–80 | One hero talent point per level. Each specialization picks one of two hero trees, and each tree is shared by two specializations. |
| 81 | Your specialization's apex talent opens: a strong talent with four ranks (new in Midnight). |
| 81–90 | Points rotate between the specialization, class and hero trees. |
Changing talents
- You can swap talents whenever you are in a rested area, such as a city or an inn.
- For a short time after you queue into a dungeon, raid or PvP instance you can also change them freely.
- Away from rested areas, consumables crafted with Inscription let you change talents in the field.
- Since Legion you can switch between all your specializations, and the game remembers the talents chosen for each one.
How talents changed
| expansion | Talent system |
|---|---|
| Original game | Three trees per class; points could go into any tree, deeper rows needed enough points in that tree, and many talents had up to 5 ranks. Resetting was done at a class trainer and cost more gold each time. |
| Wrath of the Lich King | Patch 3.1.0 added Dual Talent Specialization: two saved talent sets per character. |
| Cataclysm | Specializations became an explicit choice. Trees shrank from 11 rows to 7 and talent points from 71 to 41. |
| Mists of Pandaria | Trees removed: six tiers of three talents, one pick per tier, opening at levels 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90. |
| Warlords of Draenor | A seventh tier at level 100; some rows changed depending on the specialization. |
| Legion | Dual specialization removed; you could switch freely between all specializations. |
| Shadowlands | After the level squish (9.0.1) the tiers opened at levels 15, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50. |
| Dragonflight | Talent trees return (10.0.0): a class tree and a specialization tree, each with its own points. Row 5 needs 8 points spent in that tree and row 8 needs 20. |
| The War Within | Hero talents added at level 71 (11.0.2). |
| Midnight | Apex talents added at level 81 (12.0.1). |
Glyphs
Glyphs came with Inscription in Wrath of the Lich King. Today they mostly change how a spell or ability looks. Most are made by scribes, are tied to one class, and can be used from level 11.
- Right-click the glyph: your spellbook opens and the matching spell lights up. Click that spell to apply it.
- A glyphed spell shows a pink mark on its corner in the spellbook.
- Remove a glyph out of combat with Vanishing Powder.
- The Evoker has no glyphs at all.
Sources
Game pictures: © Blizzard Entertainment · worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com
