Classes and races 2026-10-08
Three Fire critical hits cut a long cast to 1.5 seconds
shortens to 1.5 seconds. One player reports that queuing the spell early may miss the final stack.
Updated What changed
Added a single report that an early queued may use two stacks instead of three. Cause and author build are unconfirmed.
Description
In its Mage deep dive published on October 8 Moscow time, Blizzard clarified . The talent sits in Fire's fourth row and requires . Direct critical hits from eligible Fire spells shorten the next cast by 25% per stack, up to three stacks within 20 seconds. Rank 1 takes six seconds to cast, so three stacks bring it to 1.5 seconds. The Forever database places at level 25 and rank 1 at level 20. This is an official explanation of an existing talent, not a new build change. On October 15, one player reported a limitation when queuing early. They queue it with two stacks. The final critical hit adds a third stack, but the started cast still takes three seconds and consumes all stacks. No video, log or build number supplied. Check the started cast time before relying on the third stack. Another participant’s spell-queue latency explanation is not confirmed by Blizzard.
Effect
A Mage can use the long during a fight after building stacks instead of trying to stand still for six seconds while under attack. The effect lasts only 20 seconds.
How to reproduce it
- Take in the Fire tree from level 20 and from level 25. Check for higher ranks at the trainer as you level.
- Deal direct Fire damage, such as , and watch for critical hits and the timer. Periodic damage does not grant a stack under the talent description.
- Cast before the 20-second effect expires. One, two and three stacks shorten the base six-second cast by 25%, 50% and 75%. Even at three stacks the spell still takes 1.5 seconds. It is not instant.
Further conditions
- Blizzard published the article at 01:00 MSK and modified it at 07:42 MSK. It is a class explanation, not a new-build announcement.