World of Warcraft DoT explained: What does it mean and how to use it

❘ Published: 2023-12-20T15:23:08

The massively popular online RPG is known for its variety of classes and diverse mechanics, such as DoTs. Damage Over Time are spells or abilities that hurt the enemies’ HP during a specific period of time. So, if you’re wondering how to use them effectively around Azeroth, this guide is what you need.

World of Warcraft has been around for almost 20 years, and because of how massive it is, many players may be reluctant to start their journey in Blizzard’s game.

As one of the longest-running RPGs to ever exist, the game is filled with terminology popping up everywhere, throwing off even the most proficient players. This mostly happens during combat, one of the main features the title has.

So, if you want to jump into the WoW universe, you’ll need to learn the basics. Here’s everything you need to know about the DoT mechanic, so you can stand a chance during combats.

What is DoT in World of Warcraft

DoT is the abbreviation for Damage Over Time. These are spells or special abilities that deal damage over a certain period of time, rather than inflicting a single burst at once.

This unique and very useful mechanic can be a bleeding wound, poison, burns, or even curses applied by your character. So, while you hit your enemy with Direct Damage, the Damage Over Time will help you extract extra HP from your enemy by the seconds.

However, keep in mind that even though they have prolonged effects, they do end, so you must refresh the DoT by re-applying it.

DoTs Mechanics Explained

Every DoT in World of Warcraft is different because of its characteristics, so you must analyze them to pick the DoT that suits your combat style the best.

Duration: The total amount of time the effect will last on your target.
Interval: How often the effect will hit your enemy.
Refresh: Re-applying the DoT. Doing this properly will result in optimal damage.
- Restart: Once you recast, the old effect will be removed and replaced with a new one.
- Legacy: Once you recast, the duration of the new effect is added after the one scheduled.
- 30% rule: Once you recast, the lesser of 30% of the base or remaining duration will be retained and added to the next effect’s duration.
- Extend: Once you recast, it will extend the DoT by the new duration.
Uptime: Keeping the DoTs active as much as possible to ensure constant damage.

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Though they seem complicated at first, once you get a grip of how to exploit DoTs, you’ll become unstoppable. Also, as this effect is built with time, the longer the combat, the more powerful you’ll be.

Classes that use DoTs

Even though every class in World of Warcraft has access to at least one DoT, this type of damage is mainly used by Affliction Warlocks and Shadow Priests, as well as Death Knights, Assassination Rogues, and Balance Druids.

Class	DoT
Affliction Warlock	Corruption / Agony / Unstable Affliction
Shadow Priest	Mind Flay / Vampiric Touch / Shadow Word: Pain
Death Knight	Death and Decay
Unholy Death Knight	Festering Wounds
Demon Hunter	Immolation Aura
Balance Druid	Moonfire / Stellar Flare
Feral Druid	Rip / Moonfire / Rake / Thrash / Adaptive Swarm
Hunter	Multiple abilities that cause poison, bleed, or burn
Fire Mage	Conflagration / Meteor
Monk	Spinning Crane Kick
Paladin	Consecration
Rogue	Garrote
Assassination Rogue	Deadly Poison
Shaman	Flame Shock
Warrior	Rend / Deep Wounds

DoT-heavy classes are devastating on boss encounters that have multiple enemies, as they can use their DoTs on various targets simultaneously.

Enemies can also use DoTs, so it’s key that you understand how they work and how damaging they can be in order to find the proper way to counter them.

That’s it! That’s all you need to know about DoTs in World of Warcraft. For more game content, check out some of our other guides below: