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Polymorph
Spell nature polymorph
  • Polymorph
  • Level 10 mage ability
  • 30 yd range
  • 4% of base mana
  • 1.7 sec cast
  • Transforms the enemy into a sheep, wandering around incapacitated for 1 min. While affected, the victim cannot take actions but will regenerate health very quickly. Damage will cancel the effect. Limit 1.

    Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.
Properties
Class Mage
School Arcane
Cooldown None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned 10
Improvements Spell nature doublepolymorph2 [Master Shepherd]
Related debuff
Spell nature polymorph
  • Magic
  • Polymorph
  • Incapacitated. Cannot attack or cast spells. Increased health regeneration.
  • Duration: 1 minute
Polymorph full

In the TCG.

Polymorph is a mage ability, learned at level 10 or from the Exile's Reach quest B Mage [1-10] A Mage's Knowledge. This ability offers long-duration crowd control that breaks on damage.

In lore[]

  • The book Polymorphic Rules & Regulations contains a list of rules to prevent polymorph-related mishaps, which make up the highest number of complaints the Kirin Tor receive. These include rules about what can be polymorphed, what types of creatures a mage can transform a target into, and what spells are dangerous to combine with polymorphs. The book goes on for hundreds of pages.
  • During the time of her studies in Dalaran, Jaina Proudmoore polymorphed a squirrel into a sheep.[1]
  • When Thrall searched the Stonetalon Peak caverns, several Alliance units polymorphed themselves into sheep as a trap. Thrall quickly realized that he had not seen any sheep in Kalimdor.[2]
Icon-RPG This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

Tips and tactics[]

  • Polymorph has a maximum PvP duration of 6 seconds and is subject to diminishing returns. Its diminishing returns category is shared with Spell shaman hex [Hex].
  • Druid shapeshift forms provide immunity to polymorphs. Even if a druid is polymorphed while in their caster form, they can simply break the effect by shapeshifting.
  • Although Polymorph causes the target's health to regenerate quickly, it doesn't affect mana in any way.
  • Polymorphing a target on the ground will dismount them.

Alternate versions[]

The default version of Polymorph transforms a target into a sheep. A variety of alternate versions for different animals exist:

Spell Effect Source Notes
Spell magic polymorphpig Polymorph: Pig Pig The Amazing Zanzo in Dalaran Was learned from N Mage [60] Fragmented Magic before patch 4.0.3a.
Achievement halloween cat 01 Polymorph: Black Cat Black Cat Inv misc book 07 [Tome of Polymorph: Black Cat] 2,500g from Endora Moorehead in Dalaran at neutral Kirin Tor reputation.
Ability hunter aspectofthemonkey Polymorph: Monkey Monkey Inv misc book 07 [Tome of Polymorph: Monkey] Drops from hozen and monkey mobs.
Spell magic polymorphrabbit Polymorph: Rabbit Rabbit Inv misc book 07 [Tome of Polymorph: Rabbit] Found or purchased during Noblegarden.
Inv pet babyblizzardbear Polymorph: Polar Bear Cub Polar Bear Cub Inv misc book 07 [Tome of Polymorph: Polar Bear Cub] Drops from Arctic Grizzlies in the Dragonblight.
Inv pet porcupine Polymorph: Porcupine Porcupine Inv misc book 07 [Tome of Polymorph: Porcupine] Drops from porcupines in Pandaria.
Ability hunter pet turtle Polymorph: Turtle Turtle Inv misc book 07 [Tome of Polymorph: Turtle] Can be fished up from Cataclysm fishing pools.
Inv bee default Polymorph: Bumblebee Bee Tome of Polymorph: Bumblebee Alliance only. 1800g from Alliance Sister Lilyana in Stormsong Valley at revered Storm's Wake reputation.
Inv pet direhorn Polymorph: Direhorn Baby direhorn Tome of Polymorph: Direhorn Horde only. 1800g from Horde Natal'hakata in Dazar'alor at revered Zandalari Empire reputation.
Inv misc questionmark Polymorph: Duck Duck Inv misc book 07 [Tome of Polymorph: Duck] Reward from N Mage [65-68] Best Spell Ever at [66.4, 33.3]VZ-Azure SpanBlip inside the Duck Cave of Upper Frostlands, Azure Span

Notes and trivia[]

  • Polymorph is...
    • One of the Mage's abilities in Warcraft II. Its description in the Tides of Darkness game manual reads: "Perhaps the most fearsome of the Mage spells, Polymorph alters the physical form of its target. This metamorphosis changes man to beast, forever warping both mind and body. This sorcery wholly transforms the victim into a creature of the wilds, thus losing their reasoning - making commands for direction or battle impossible. Although there is no counter for this spell, possessing a greater stamina does decrease the possibility of this enchantment taking effect."
    • One of the Sorceress's abilities in Warcraft III. Its description in the Reign of Chaos manual reads: "Long ago, this spell was considered to be the ultimate insult to the enemy. It has the ability to turn any enemy into a mere sheep for a limited duration of time."
    • A common mage ability in the Trading Card Game. Its flavor text reads: "Baaaaa."
    • A basic mage spell in Hearthstone. Its flavor text reads: "There was going to be a pun in this flavor text, but it just came out baa-d."
    • One of Brightwing's basic abilities in Heroes of the Storm.
  • Polymorph: Penguin is a common mage ability in the Trading Card Game. Its flavor text reads: "'I thought being turned into a sheep was humiliating enough... now this?!' —Gorebelly"
  • Polymorph: Boar is a rare mage spell in Hearthstone. Its flavor text reads: "It's always Huffer."
  • Poly Bomb is one of Medivh's heroic abilities in Heroes of the Storm. It polymorphs an enemy hero for two seconds, then spreads to nearby enemy heroes. It can spread from hero to hero continually.
  • In "The Dark Portal," the opening cinematic for The Burning Crusade, a human mage polymorphs a tauren into a sheep.
  • In the Warcraft film, Khadgar polymorphs a prison guard into a sheep.
  • In the animated short Hearth and Home, an orc minion is polymorphed into a sheep.

Gallery[]

Patch changes[]

  • Dragonflight Patch 10.1.0 (2023-05-02): Duration decreased to 6 seconds in PvP combat (was 8 seconds).
  • Shadowlands Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Now learned at level 10 (was 8), or from the Exile's Reach quest B Mage [1-10] A Mage's Knowledge.
  • Battle for Azeroth Hotfix (2018-09-12): Player pets polymorphed by Polymorph: Direhorn will no longer be giant baby dinosaurs.
  • Battle for Azeroth Hotfix (2018-08-22): All Polymorph variants should now have the same duration.
  • Legion Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Now learned at level 8 (was 18).
  • Legion Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Now learned at level 18 (was 14).
  • Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Polymorph variants except for Polymorph: Sheep are now all learned as spells and grouped in a flyout on the Spellbook instead of being a Minor Glyph that alters the visuals of Polymorph: Sheep.
  • Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Range reduced from 35 to 30 yd.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.3.0 (2011-11-29): Mages who apply both Inv glyph minormage [Glyph of the Monkey] and Inv glyph minormage [Glyph of the Penguin] at the same time will cause the polymorphed target to be randomly transformed into one of the two forms.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): Many crowd control abilities no longer cause creatures to attack players when they are cast. The creature will not attack the player when the crowd control wears off, and nearby creatures will not become hostile to the player either. However, if a visible player gets too close to the target creature, the creature will remember and attack the player when the crowd control effect wears off. This includes Polymorph.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): Now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Now learned at level 14 (was 8).
  • Wrath-Logo-Small Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Now costs 12% of base mana.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.4.2 (2008-05-13): Mounted creatures will no longer remain mounted while polymorphed.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): It is no longer possible to polymorph a player and have that player remain mounted. In addition, it will now always be removed correctly if multiple Mages overwrite each other's Polymorph.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.2.0 (2007-09-25): Duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): Spell duration has been changed from 20 seconds to 8 seconds.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.0.1 (2006-12-05):
    • In PvP, Crowd Control effects will last no longer than 12 seconds instead of the full duration, with a chance of a heartbeat resist.
    • Casting a lower rank polymorph on a target that is already under the effect of a higher rank will cause an error message and not consume mana.
  • WoW Icon update Patch 1.12.0 (2006-08-22): This spell will now be removed when a player leaves a battleground. This prevents some bugs involving polymorph from occurring.
  • WoW Icon update Patch 1.4.0 (2005-04-19): Charm and Polymorph mechanics can now be reactively countered by spells and abilities (e.g. Druid Shapeshifting will now cancel Polymorph effects).
  • WoW Icon update Patch 1.1.0 (2004-11-07):
    • Facing requirement removed.
    • Now dismounts the enemy target, increased the chance of breaking early.
  • Test-inline Patch 0.12 (2004-10-11): No longer affects Dragonkin or Giants.
  • Test-inline Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17): Polymorphed targets will now wander a short radius around where they were polymorphed. They will no longer return to where they were first attacked and wander from there. Note that they may still wander off if the duration lasts long enough, so keep an eye on your sheep.
  • Test-inline Patch 0.8 (2004-07-07): Added to replace Spell nature sleep [Sleep].

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

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