World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Talent System Guide (2024)

The World of Warcraft talent system has been completely revampedin Dragonflight with the re-introduction of talent trees.Instead of selecting 1 talent per row, each class now has access to two separatetalent trees — a Class Tree and a Specialization Tree. Thisis due to the combined importance of class-wide and specialization-specificthemes for current characters.

Here is an example of a talent tree. As you can see below, talenttrees now have multiple rows and nodes of various shapes.

• Square nodes are active abilities;
• Circle nodes are passive effects;
• Octagonal nodes are multiple-choice talents.

Your character will have access to the new talent system at Level 10 when youchoose your specialization and gain the first talent point.

Talents with multiple ranks require additional points to be spent per rank ofthe talent. Currently, there are only passive effects with multiple ranks.

The value of these passives may not linearly scale with points invested. Youmust purchase all available talent ranks of a multi-rank talent to progressfurther down the tree from this node.

Talent points are obtained by gaining character levels. You will receive 1point every level, alternating between a class point for your Class Treeand a specialization point for the Specialization Tree.

In the pre-patch at Level 60, you will havea total of 51 talent points for your Class Tree and your SpecializationTree, split up as 26 in your class and 25 in your spec tree.

Upon reaching maximum level (70) in Dragonflight, you will have61 talent points, with 31 in your class tree and 30 in your spec tree.

Certain basic abilities in the class tree, are given automatically toparticular specializations. These do not cost any points.

Most talents have prerequisites indicated by arrows. If a talent has any arrowsleading to it, you must have fully purchased at least one of those previous talentsto access it. For clarity, arrows always point downwards or diagonally downwards.

In our specific scenario, the Evoker cannot unlock Terror of the Skies because it is missing multiple nodes that lead up tothe talent, like Leaping Flames from the row above it.

Every tree has rows that you cannot advance past until you have spent acertain number of talent points. You cannot buy talents in the fifth row andbeyond until you have spent 8 points in the tree. Similarly, you cannot buytalents in the eighth row and beyond until you have spent 20 points.

In octagonal choice nodes, you can only select one of the two choicesat a time.

If you have both a talented version of a ShadowlandsCovenant ability or Legendary powerand the actual ability or power, those versions will override the talent. Youcannot have multiple versions of the same spell to cast, or double-stackedLegendary Power effects.

The new talent system allows you to change talents anywhere and for free.Switching talents no longer requires being in a Rested Area or using tomes.You still cannot change talents in combat, Mythic+ runs, and active PvPmatches.

Loadouts allow you to save and switch between multiple talent builds. Youcan Import Loadouts from outside sources, Export Loadouts bycopying a loadout code. Each Loadout has its own saved set of Action Bars.Specific loadouts can be set to share Action Bars by enabling the "Use SharedAction Bars" function.

Starter Builds are preset talent builds available for players who wanta decent build that is suitable for most content. They are ideal if you arenew to the class or do not want to spend time experimenting with differentbuilds just yet.

To get started, switch to your desired Specialization and from within theLoadout Tab dropdown, select the Starter Build option.

The talent tree has been updated with a Search Bar that lets you locatespecific talents, keywords, and synergies. For example, searching for Tidal Waves will highlight Riptide, Healing Wave,and Healing Surge because they are mentioned in Tidal Waves'tooltip.

The search bar comes with a preset search to help you locateabilities missing from your Action Bars.

Unlearning a talent high up in the tree may automatically unlearn talentsbelow it. Unlearned talents are highlighted to make it easier to reconstructyour build and you can mass re-learn them by using Shift click.

It is not possible to unlock every single talent in the talent trees.Similar to the old system, maximum-level builds will have to make decisions aboutwhat to include and exclude.

No, you cannot spend talent points in a specialization tree different from yourown. For instance, if you put points into the Restoration Druid treeand swap to Balance Druid, the effects from the Restoration tree will no longerapply to you. You will have new points to spend in the Balance tree.

Yes, some talents are shared between multiple specializations. For example, Berserk is available to both Feral and Guardian Druids, whereasRestoration and Balance will not have access to it.

With a few exceptions, nothing will change in the Class Tree when changingyour specialization. One such exception might be a Hunter's Counter Shot,which will change to Muzzle if you choose Survival Hunter. Theyare both the interrupt button, but are themed differently and have variouscooldowns.

No, even though there may be some throughput-increasing talents in the classtree, but the specialization tree likely has the majority of them. One of themain purposes of the class tree is to give you a place to explore parts of yourclass that are not focused on your main role's throughput (such as utility, orabilities that are more closely connected to other specializations), so Blizzardis limiting the pressure to make throughput optimizations in the class tree.

No, most of them already exist in the game, but there are also new activeand passive abilities present in the class and specialization trees.

Exile's Reach remains unchanged; you will still get many fundamental classabilities from completing the quests and this content. Your interaction withthe new talent system will begin after you reach Level 10.

The goal is to fit as many combat-changing abilities as possible into the newtalent trees. This includes spells such as movement abilities, interrupts,dispels, hybrid healing options, or defensive abilities. The major focusis to set up the trees and paths so that there are opportunities to choosebetween different types of utility, but not to, for example, abandon all utilitychoices entirely in order to maximize your DPS.

If you choose not to have an interrupt, it is mostly because you traded itout for some other type of utility or crowd-control that you believed wouldbe more useful in the situation.

The opposite is also true, where specs that do not have a certain capabilityin Shadowlands (like an interrupt) may be able to obtain it bygiving up something they currently have.