Counterspell

Counterspell
Counterspell (1 rank) Mage ability 30 s. yd range 100 Mana 24 sec cooldown Instant sec cast Counters the enemy's spellcast, preventing any spell from that school of magic from being cast for 8 sec. Generates a high amount of threat.
Properties
Class	Mage
Race	All
School	Arcane
Cooldown	24 sec
Improvements	[Improved Counterspell], [Arcane Focus]

[[Category:mage abilities]][[Category:mage abilities]]

[Counterspell] is a mage spell that interrupts enemy spellcasting. When successful, the caster may not use the interrupted spell school for 8 seconds. For example, counterspelling a priest's [Greater Heal] will interrupt the heal in progress, and prevent him from casting Holy spells for 8 seconds.

Rank	Mana Cost	Level	Cost
1	100	24	40

Talent Improvements

The [Improved Counterspell] talent will also [Silence] the enemy for 4 seconds.

The [Arcane Focus] talent will reduce the chance that Counterspell is resisted.

Notes

Counterspell is not affected by the Global cooldown. It can be cast at any time as long as the mage isn't silenced and has the mana.

Tips and Tactics

This is a very potent spell in the mage arsenal when fighting enemy casters. Learn when to use it... you might want to take a bolt to the face in order to have this up for a healing spell.

In PvE groups, use counterspell to pull ranged casters into the group. Chasing down a creep that is casting from range can be risky if other creeps are in aggro range. Counterspell will cause it to run towards your group, where you will be safely killing the rest.

Counterspell is a "twitch" spell, requiring good reaction time. Consider placing this spell on an easily accessible hotkey. One possibility is to use extra mouse buttons, such as the middle scroll wheel or thumb buttons if your mouse has them.

The Blizzard UI will show your target's cast bar. On the Interface Options page, select the "Show Enemy Cast Bar" options to display the bar. The cast bar appears below the target unit frame when the target is casting. Also, some addons will allow you to move and resize the enemy cast bar to make it more visible.

Shields that absorb damage such as Priest [Power Word: Shield] and the Paladin [Blessing of Protection] do not stop Counterspell. However, Invulnerability effects such as Paladin Divine Protection make your target immune to everything, and your Counterspell will be wasted.

If improved by the talent [Improved Counterspell], the 4 second silence will take effect whether you actually counter a spell or not (the counter effect still only works when you interrupt a spell). The silence effect is dispellable. You can use this "quirk" to interrupt a spell before it is even cast, should that be a good tactic to use at that moment. For example, you're fighting a priest or priest-like creep with an instant heal. They are almost dead, but have yet to cast their save-me spell. You can counterspell before they cast, giving you a four second window to kill them before they can recover and heal. Improved Counterspell is also the only way to stop instant spells which have no cast time, and thus cannot be interrupted.

While Counterspell is almost useless against warriors and rogues, it can be used to bring them into combat preventing them from using [Charge] or [Stealth]. It has a range of 30 yards. Given most other instant spells have cooldowns, if the mage intend to use polymorph which heals the opponent, casting Counterspell to start combat does not waste any cooldown.

Improved Counterspell is also very popular in instance to pull caster mobs into the players area, which is chosen safe away from other mob groups. This can also be used to remain a mob group sticked together in order to spam AoE spells.

Helpful Macros

This macro will make your Counterspell hotkey more responsive, by stopping any current spell casts in progress. Since Counterspell is not affected by the global cooldown, the macro will work at any time.

/stopcasting
/cast Counterspell

Past Changes

• Patch 2.0.1 - Counterspell was placed on the Global cooldown
• Patch 2.0.6 - Counterspell was removed from the global cooldown, again
• Patch 2.1.0 - Counterspell cooldown reduced to 24 seconds (down from 30) with a spell school lockout of 8 seconds (down from 10).