Note: Last updated April 15, 2012.

Shadow Priests get Tranquility.

Healing Priests get… Entangling Roots?!

Since the level cap has been raised to level 87 on the beta, Druids now have access to their level 87 spell, Symbiosis. This is one of the more popular abilities in the game because it’s one of those things where every class has a vested interest in it.

What Druids get from Symbiosis

	Guardian	Feral	Restoration	Balance
Death Knight	Bone Shield	Death Coil	Icebound Fortitude	Anti-Magic Shell
Hunter	Ice Trap	Play Dead	Deterrence	Misdirection
Mage	Mage Ward	Frost Nova	Ice Block	Mirror Image
Paladin	Consecration	Divine Shield	Cleanse	Hammer of Justice
Priest	Fear Ward	Dispersion	Leap of Faith	Mass Dispel
Rogue	Feint	Redirect	Evasion	Cloak of Shadows
Shaman	Lightning Shield	Feral Spirit	Spirit Walker’s Grace	Purge
Warlock	Life Tap	Soul Swap	Demonic Circle: Teleport	Unending Resolve
Warrior	Spell Reflection	Shattering Blow	Intimidating Roar	Intervene
Monk	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

Sources and notes

1: WoWHead Mists of Pandaria Symbiosis Comments
2: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/4427534745
3: Owlkin | Symbiosis Results
4: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1103278-MoP-Symbiosis
5: http://www.wowheadnews.com/blog=202586/symbiosis-breakdown-what-abilities-it-brings-to-each-class

I did my best to cross reference spells and abilities in the WoWHead Mists database. Certain spells that had key words like “Energy” instead of a different form of energy used naturally by the class and spec, “Druid” or included certain Druid abilities like Rip are almost guaranteed to be the Druid form. Another dead giveaway is the level when the ability is gained (it should say 87). However, Not every ability lists that. In the event of inconsistencies, I deferred to the MMO Champion list as it’s the most recently updated.

What you get from Symbiosis


Death Knight	Blood	Frost	Unholy
	Might of Ursoc	Wild Mushroom: Plague	Wild Mushroom: Plague
Hunter	Marksman	Beast Mastery	Survival
	Dash	Dash	Dash
Mage	Frost	Arcane	Fire
	Healing Touch	Healing Touch	Healing Touch
Paladin	Protection	Retribution	Holy
	Barkskin	TBD	Rebirth
Priest	Shadow	Holy	Discipline
	Tranquility	Entangling Roots	Entangling Roots
Rogue	Assassination	Subtlety	Combat
	Growl	Growl	Growl
Shaman	Elemental	Enhancement	Restoration
	Solar Beam	Solar Beam	Prowl
Warlock	Demonology	Destruction	Affliction
	Rejuvenation	Rejuvenation	Rejuvenation
Warrior	Arms	Fury	Protection
	Stampeding Shout	Stampeding Shout	Frenzied Regeneration
Monk	Brewmaster	Windwalker	Mistweaver
	Growl	Savage Defense*	TBD*

* Speculation based on tooltips. Savage Defense costs 3 Chi. Chi is Monk only energy.
Wrath is listed as a Symbiosis spell but is not attached to a class.

Reactions

I don’t even want to think about how they plan to balance this ability for arena usage. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just disable it entirely, but I’m sure they’ll give it a spirited attempt anyway. The main purpose of Symbiosis is to give classes and specs certain abilities that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. Mages get a Heal, for example.

Shadow Priests with Tranquility is pretty darn nice. Part of me wishes Holy Priests had it, but the other (sane) part of me knows that if that were to happen, Priests would instantly jump to the top. Divine Hymn/Power Word: Barrier and a Tranquility would be blatantly overpowered.

Wasn’t expecting DPS Shaman to receive Solar Beam, but since they’re all with the elements and stuff, I can see why.

Restoration Druids receiving Leap of Faith? I guess it’s payback time .

Curious with the Balance Druids receiving Mass Dispel. Though it could be used as a more offensive ability since you don’t really see Balance Druids whipping out debuff removals as much.

Feral Druids receiving Divine Shield from Paladins. Ho boy.

If you notice a spell that’s in the wrong spot or if an ability’s missed, let me know but make sure you toss in a source (Screenshow, WoWhead link, or something).

Let’s assume you’re a Druid in a raid group with every conceivable class and spec compositions (Let’s say science is thrown out the window and the raid limits are higher than 25). Who do you give Symbiosis to and why?

In my morning perusal of MMO-Champion, I came across a Blue Post from our friendly neighborhood crab (AKA Ghostcrawler) about the mandatory nature of Shamans. You can read the whole post if you like, since there are some compelling arguments on both sides. However, I want to draw your attention to one specific part that caught my eye:

For now, in Cataclysm, we are just sharing even more of the buffs and debuffs across a wide gamut, especially very powerful ones like Bloodlust and Battle Rez,….

Say what now?!! We can all agree that Rebirth is a very nice ability to have in progression fights. It’s the only ability to bring someone else back to life in the middle of combat. Sure, Shamans have Reincarnation, but Rebirth allows any class to return to the land of the living.

Even our beloved Goblin Jumper Cables XL lack the ability to rez in combat.

Another Battle Rez?! What an awesome addition, if you ask me. Especially if the intent is to make 10man raids more appealing. There won’t be a need to stack druids on harder fights where a lot of people are “off’ed”. Take a look at a couple other skills that are being shared:

Warlocks are getting Dark Intent, which is sort of a mirror of the Mage’s Focus Magic.
Mage’s gain Time Warp, an alternative to the Shaman’s iconic Heroism/Bloodlust.

Who is going to get it, though? The new class abilities show no sign of another in-combat resurrection, even amongst non-healing classes. Will it be something that can be learned like the Jumper Cables? Or will it be assigned to one specific class? With the latest tweaks to Guild Perks, we can’t expect it to be one of those. Blizzard doesn’t want those to be game-changing abilities.

So, who do you think it will be?

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