Guide
Defensives: before the hit, not after
A defensive reduces the hit that's coming, not the one that just landed. Here's when to use them, the ones each class has, and how Wipe to Win judges what they absorbed.
Anticipate
Most fast deaths can be seen coming: a boss casting a big spell, a pack casting a volley, a debuff about to explode. That's when the defensive goes out, not when your health bar is already red.
When you go from 70% to 0 in under 2.5 s, no heal lands in time: Wipe to Win calls it a fast death, and the only answer was a cooldown used before.
Your major defensive
Every class has at least one cooldown that strongly reduces damage taken, or makes you immune. Here are the main ones, with base cooldowns: your spec and talents add more or change them.
| Class | Spells (cooldown) |
|---|---|
| Death Knight | Anti-Magic Shell (1 min) · Icebound Fortitude (3 min) |
| Demon Hunter | Blur (1 min) · Netherwalk (3 min) |
| Druid | Barkskin (1 min) · Survival Instincts (3 min) |
| Evoker | Obsidian Scales (1 min 30 s) · Renewing Blaze (1 min 30 s) |
| Hunter | Aspect of the Turtle (3 min) · Survival of the Fittest (1 min 30 s) |
| Mage | Ice Block (4 min) · Greater Invisibility (2 min) |
| Monk | Fortifying Brew (6 min) · Diffuse Magic (1 min 30 s) |
| Paladin | Divine Shield (5 min) · Divine Protection (1 min) |
| Priest | Dispersion (2 min) · Desperate Prayer (1 min 30 s) |
| Rogue | Cloak of Shadows (2 min) · Evasion (2 min) |
| Shaman | Astral Shift (2 min) |
| Warlock | Unending Resolve (3 min) · Dark Pact (1 min) |
| Warrior | Spell Reflection (25 s) · Die by the Sword (2 min) · Enraged Regeneration (2 min) |
Externals
Some healers, and paladins, can put a defensive on an ally: on the tank before a big hit, on the player targeted by a spell that hurts. They save you when your own cooldown is down.
| Class | Spells (cooldown) |
|---|---|
| Druid | Ironbark (1 min 30 s) |
| Evoker | Time Dilation (1 min) |
| Monk | Life Cocoon (2 min) |
| Paladin | Blessing of Sacrifice (2 min) · Blessing of Protection (5 min) |
| Priest | Pain Suppression (3 min) · Guardian Spirit (3 min) |
Wipe to Win measures an external on whoever received it, but holds it against whoever cast it if it absorbed nothing: it's their cooldown that's wasted. When a player dies with no personal cooldown ready but an ally's external available, nothing is held against them: the cause is "Ally CD available".
Healthstone and healing potion
The healthstone, handed out by a warlock, and the healing potion give back a big chunk of your HP. Wipe to Win counts 2 min before the healthstone comes back and 5 min for the potion, corrected by the gaps it sees.
Don't keep them for the very last moment: used during a long drop, it gives your healer time to catch up. Used at full health, it does nothing: a healing consumable that restores less than 3% of your max HP while overhealing is counted as wasted.
When there's overhealing, the details also show the moment it would have healed in full, within the 20 s around it. It's not one more reproach: nobody knows the dip that's coming in advance.
A cooldown wasted on nothing
A defensive that didn't absorb at least 3% of your max HP is counted as used on nothing, in the "Wasted" column of the actions table. A shield counts for what it absorbed.
Never judged as wasted: immunities, since the log doesn't say what they prevented; group cooldowns, which cover everyone; and cooldowns the log can't measure, like the ones that trigger on their own. Minor, short cooldowns are left out of the report.
Keep the scale in mind: a defensive used a bit early costs a cooldown, dying with it costs a player. When in doubt, press it.
Dying with a cooldown ready
If you die without any major cooldown used on you while yours were ready, the "Defensive CD available" cause is noted, and your death weighs more in the report's order of mistakes.
Only cooldowns you used at least once during the key are suggested: the log shows neither your talents nor your bags. The exception: a few baseline defensives that a spec always has, like Shadow Priest's Dispersion.