Spell Power & Healing Mechanics
The underlying engine rules and per-class core coefficients of Spell Power and Healing Power
for 1.18.1.
Nanami's mangosd refactor uses this archive as its baseline.
I · Core Engine Rule: The 3.5-Second Law
Blizzard established an absolute truth when designing the Vanilla engine: the slower a spell casts, the more spell power it scales with. Baseline: 3.5 sec = 100% coefficient. All spells derive from this formula.
II · Per-Class Data Models
Click a class tab to view its core spell coefficients and distribution.
Mage ✦ 1.18.1 Arcane T0 reign, Icicles 200%
Vanilla's textbook 3.5s rule still holds — Fireball at 3.5s eats 100%. But 1.18.1 deploys hardcoded super-models on new Arcane and Frost custom spells: Icicles 200%, Arcane Missiles 164%, Arcane Rupture 100% on a 2.4s cast, Arcane Surge 65% instant — all break the standard 100% / 42.85% instant ceiling. This is why Arcane went from a utility tree to tier-0 DPS.
Textbook 3.5s rule = 100% on direct. The trailing micro-DoT inherits 0% — pure 100% on the upfront blast.
The one Vanilla "rule-breaker" spell: direct gets 100% AND the DoT chunk independently gets another 70% total (17.5% per tick × 4).
(3.0 / 3.5) × 0.95 = 81.4% — slow utility gets the −5% penalty.
[1.17.2 Nanami add] Hardcoded super-model breaking the 100% ceiling. 5 missiles × 40% each = 200% total. Only fires after Flash Freeze procs (which only triggers on permanently-freeze-immune targets — i.e. raid bosses only).
[1.18.1 buff] 32.8% per missile × 5 = 164% total — above the textbook 100%, compensating for high mana cost and channel vulnerability. Each missile can independently proc Clearcasting (free next cast).
[1.17.2 Nanami add] 2.4s cast that should only get ~69%, hardcoded to 100%. Applies an Arcane Vulnerability debuff, weaving into the Missiles channel for huge damage. The Arcane spec's foundation stone.
[1.17.2 Nanami add] Instant baseline = 42.85%, but hardcoded to 65% — breaking the entire instant-spell ceiling. The Arcane opener / mobility filler.
Standard instant rule: (1.5 / 3.5) = 42.85%. Scorch's 1.5s cast is treated as instant for coefficient purposes.
(3.5 / 3.5) ÷ 3 = 33% total, evenly split into 8 ticks (~4.125% each). AoE penalty divides by 3.
Double-split: direct and DoT pools are weighted, then both hit by ÷3 AoE penalty. 6.81% DoT spreads over 4 ticks = ~1.70% per tick.
(1.5 / 3.5) ÷ 3 = 14.28%. No CC, no extra penalty — the clean AoE template.
(1.5 / 3.5) × 0.95 ÷ 3 = 13.57%. All three share the same calc: instant + AoE ÷3 + CC −5%.
Each ward inherits 10% of the matching-school SP onto its absorb pool.
Hard-coded 0% SP scaling — pure fixed absorb. Rank 1 maintained for "Jumping Frost Nova" build's bonus damage talent.
✦ Turtle 1.18 Additions · Direct DMG/Heal Only
Filtered from 82 mage-family additions by effect IN (2,10) OR aura IN (3,8) — only spells that actually deal damage or heal have meaningful spell-power coefficients. Other 79 entries are passive talents / triggers / forms, listed separately if needed.
Warlock
The Warlock is the Vanilla-era spell power black hole. Shadow Bolt follows standard scaling. But the real pain is the DoTs: hardcoded limits cap long-duration DoTs like Corruption and Curse of Agony at 100%, causing diminishing returns for multi-DoT builds.
Core single-target output. Standard (3.0 / 3.5).
>15s but capped at 100% (~16.6% per tick).
Same cap as Corruption; spell power yield per tick is very low.
Very special hybrid: 20% direct + 45% DoT = 65% total.
Highest DPS AoE. Group target → 33% total.
✦ Turtle 1.18 Additions · Direct DMG/Heal Only
Filtered from 92 warlock-family additions — only 1 entry directly deals damage (Dark Harvest = shadow DoT). The remaining 91 are passive talents, demonless tree mods, stones, banish-type CC, and curse modifiers — they don't have their own SP coefficient.
Priest ✦ 1.18.1 global heal −15% · PW:Shield 10%→35% · Inner Fire → SP
1.18.1 reshuffled the entire Priest coefficient model around one "−15% global heal nerf paradox": Greater Heal, Flash Heal, Renew, Prayer of Healing and Lightwell all had their base healing AND spell-power scaling cut by 15%. Why? Because the kit gained unprecedented face-value power elsewhere — Inner Fire now grants 74 flat Spell Damage (was Attack Power), Spiritual Guidance converts 25% of Spirit → SP/+Heal, and Enlighten adds a 10-15% multiplicative damage/heal bucket. Keeping the old 85.71% would have broken the difficulty ceiling. Meanwhile damage got buffed: Holy Fire 85.7%→100%, and the headline — Power Word: Shield jumped from a pitiful 10% to a game-changing 35% (2000+ absorb late-game). Shadow Word: Pain still eats the full 100%, pushing past 133% with talents.
Direct coefficient pushed from the old 85.7% (and an even earlier 60% test value) up to a stunning 100%, plus +10% base damage. Now the absolute opener of the Discipline DPS rotation, and the trigger for Purifying Flames / Searing Light.
Full 100% baseline. Talents add 2 extra ticks at a constant 16.66% each, so total scaling breaks past 133% — then Shadowform's % damage stacks multiplicatively on top.
Night-Elf racial channel, not hit by the −15% nerf. 6 ticks of arcane damage at full scaling — a strong off-GCD-adjacent DPS supplement.
Was 100% (20%/tick), now 85% (17%/tick) under the global nerf. Still the single most mana-efficient sustained HoT — pre-cast on the tank before pulls.
85.71% × 0.85 = 72.85%. Still the only answer to boss-tier burst — mastered via pre-casting and cast-cancelling. Big slow heal, high HPM.
+10% base damage, mana cost slashed by rank (R9: 300→240). With Searing Light it becomes instant and free after a crit — the Disc finisher.
Undead racial disease DoT. High mana / long CD, but 50% of damage dealt heals the caster — pairs with Vampiric Embrace for double lifedrain in PvP.
Channeled Shadow filler with a built-in slow penalty. The Shadow rotation's spammable between SW:P / VT refreshes.
42.85% × 0.85 = 36.42%. The nerf drops its mana-per-heal to the bottom of the pool — leaning on Flash Heal spam is the fastest way to OOM. Emergency use only.
The defining buff: coefficient raised 10% → 35% (rank 20+). A geared Priest now stacks 2000+ absorb per shield. On break it also fuels the Resurgent Shield talent (25% mana back + 6% of absorb → bonus holy SP).
Range trimmed to 28yd and hit by the nerf, BUT the engine unlocked cross-party casting — you can now cast it on any group in the raid frame. Net tactical value rose: the ultimate raid-wide save.
Reworked: no longer dispelled when the recipient takes damage. Carries 17% SP scaling and is further amplified by Spiritual Healing / Swift Recovery talents.
Base model as low as 7.14%, surfaced ~15%. −5% base damage, −20% mana, −25% threat. Niche role: low-threat AoE topup and stealth-breaking against rogues.
✦ Turtle 1.18 Additions · Direct DMG/Heal Only
Filtered from 107 priest-family additions — 7 direct DMG/heal/DoT/HoT entries. The other 100 are buffs (Ascendance, Apotheosis transforms), Enlighten/Chastise scripts, mind-control, talent passives — no own SP coefficient.
Paladin ✦ with Nanami exclusive changes
In standard 1.12, Prot/Ret Paladins had abysmal spell power yields. But in 1.18.1, Paladins enjoyed a mechanical revolution! New abilities convert spell power into melee damage (Holy Strike), and Prot gained a flagship spell with SP coefficient (Righteous Aegis). The result: the birth of true "Shockadin" gameplay on Nanami.
Paired with Illumination talent crit-mana-back, sustains very well at 71.4% SP.
Main spam-heal for tanks. Highly reliant on +healing gear.
[1.18.1 corrected] 6s CD instant. Weapon damage + flat holy damage with 43% SP coefficient, plus a 5% +Healing-scaled HP/mana return — the core engine of Spell-Ret and Melee Holy.
80%-100% weapon damage + flat physical, 33% SP on the bonus damage. Each cast stacks +3% attack/cast speed (max 3 stacks). Resets Holy Shock via Blessed Strikes — the AP-Ret pivot.
[1.18.1 new] Against control-immune targets (Bosses), Repentance converts into a holy-damage burst skill scaling on 50% SP + 12% AP. The Ret capstone is finally a real raid cooldown.
[Nanami Exclusive] 31-pt Prot talent. Instant direct, follows (1.5/3.5). 5-min CD doesn't affect per-cast SP ratio.
Standard instant scaling (1.5 / 3.5).
[1.18.1 reworked] Total coefficient still 33.3%, but the per-tick distribution is now a decay curve: tick 1 ~10-12% SP, tick 2 ~8%, decaying to 1-2% on the last ticks (was a flat ~4.16% each). Example with 300 SP → 100 bonus damage: tick 1 +30, tick 2 +24, last tick +4.5. Snap threat on pull is now devastating, but mobs leaving the AoE in the first 2 seconds cost you nearly all of the SP scaling.
✦ Turtle 1.18 Additions · Direct DMG/Heal Only
Filtered from 115 paladin additions (the largest rework) — 6 direct DMG/heal/HoT entries. Holy Shock (#51786) is a DUMMY effect that dispatches to linked DMG/heal sub-spells, so the parent ID isn't listed here. The remaining ~108 are seals, judgements, talents, taunts.
Shaman ✦ 1.18.1 Dual-Scaling (SP + AP)
1.18.1 broke the hybrid stat lockout. Shock spells now scale on both Spell Power AND Attack Power — Earth/Frost Shock get +10% AP each cast (offset by −25 base damage), Flame Shock gets +6% AP split between direct and DoT. Lightning Strike (new 11-pt Enhancement talent) consumes a shield charge and converts AP into damage/mana/healing based on which shield is active. Chain Heal SP was nerfed 71.4% → 61.4% to rein in raid HPS dominance.
Ele shaman main output. Standard 3.0/3.5 rule.
2.5/3.5 with no extra AoE penalty — full coefficient on first target.
[1.18.1] Base coefficient (1.5/3.5)×0.95 = 40.71% due to interrupt utility. R7 also gets +10% AP (with base damage −25 offset) — the breakeven point is 250 AP, trivial for Enhancement.
[1.18.1] Same 5% penalty (slow utility) and same +10% AP at R4. Synergy: when target has the slow debuff, Frostbrand Weapon auto-crits 100%.
Hybrid SP split: direct uses (1.5/3.5)² ÷ ((1.5/3.5) + (12/15)) = 14.95%. 1.18.1 adds +6% AP on the direct hit (base −16).
DoT segment carries the bulk: (12/15)² ÷ ((1.5/3.5) + (12/15)) = 52.09% total → 13.02% per tick. AP contribution 1.5% per tick (6% total).
Resto staple. Standard 3.0/3.5 = 85.71%.
[1.18 nerf] 71.42% → 61.42%, cast time bumped 2.5s → 3.0s. Resto talent "Tidal Waves" can compress it back to 2.0s. Forces players to deepen Resto for the raid-clearing tool.
Standard fast-heal model.
100% SP split across 3 charges → 33% each. Lightning Strike (new talent) consumes a charge and adds +25% AP as nature damage.
Hardcoded engine constant: 65% total over 30 ticks (~2.16% per tick).
Magma Totem 32% AoE-DoT constant, Fire Nova Totem 15% on its single nova.
8% per shot, hardcoded engine constant. Flame Guidance talent makes Flame Shock force it to focus your target.
10% SP per proc on the bonus damage. ⚠ Flametongue Totem (aura version) had SP scaling removed — it's now flat damage only.
✦ Turtle 1.18.1 Dual-Scaling · AP → Spell Cross-Scaling
Before 1.18.1, an Enhancement Shaman had to choose: stack AP and watch shocks deal token damage, or stack SP and watch white hits do nothing. 1.18.1 wires AP into 5 shock/shield abilities, turning the hybrid stat split into a true double-scaling engine. The headline coefficients:
+10% AP added on each cast, with base damage cut by 25 to balance low-gear. Breakeven point: 250 AP. At 1200 AP a single Earth Shock gains +120 free damage on top of the SP scaling.
+6% AP on direct hit (base −16), +1.5% AP per DoT tick × 4 ticks = +6% total (base −4/tick).
New 11-pt Enhancement talent. The strike itself is 60% weapon + 20% nature; consuming a Lightning Shield charge adds 25% AP as nature damage (1 dmg per 4 AP). Highest melee burst in the kit.
Consuming a Water Shield charge converts 5% AP into bonus mana (1 mana per 20 AP) on top of the 130 base. Ends Enhancement's mana drought permanently.
Consuming an Earth Shield charge converts 6.67% AP into self-healing (1 heal per 15 AP). The backbone of the Shaman Tank build.
New Tauren-only racial. Slams the target for 10% AP damage and reduces their attack/cast speed by 25% for 8s.
✦ Turtle 1.18 Additions · Direct DMG/Heal Only
Filtered from 134 shaman additions (the most of any class) — only 4 direct DMG/heal entries. The remaining 130 are totems (apply auras to area, not direct), shield buffs, Stormstrike-type weapon scripts that trigger linked spells, taunts, and passive enhancers.
Druid
Druid coefficients span a huge range. Starfire as a rare 3.5s direct spell scales at full 100%; Wrath gets only 57.1%. Regrowth and Moonfire are the game's hardest-to-compute hybrid spells (direct + DoT): SP is split proportionally between direct and DoT — neither portion scales well.
Moonkin nuke. No slow, full 100% scaling. Strongest single-cast spell late-game.
Calc: 2.0 / 3.5 = 57.1%. Fast but low SP scaling.
Slow big-heal, full scaling. (Downranks lose scaling due to shorter cast time.)
Calc: 12 / 15 = 80%. Each of 4 ticks gets 20%.
Extremely fragmented: ~18.8% direct + ~51% HoT.
✦ Turtle 1.18 Additions · Direct DMG/Heal Only
Filtered from 128 druid additions — 4 direct DMG/heal/DoT entries. Efflorescence (#51397) and Aessina's Bloom (#52567) are scripted heal-zone summons whose actual healing comes from linked spawned objects, so the parent IDs aren't here. Remaining 124 are forms, passives, idols, Idol of Laceration, Innervate, etc.