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Character Talent Basics
Talent points are one of the main ways to customize your character in World of Warcraft. They can make your character a specialist in one of their available class roles, change their entire playstyle, and offer countless combinations for you to experiment with. Characters begin gaining talent points at tenth level, with one additional point per level gained thereafter.
Talent points are assigned on your character's Talent window (accessible by pressing "N" upon reaching level 10). Talents can improve your existing abilities, give you new abilities, create new synergies between abilities, and more. Each class has three unique talent trees, each focusing on a different area. The possible talent points in the three trees are far greater than the maximum number of talent points that you can earn at maximum level. Thus, how you choose to spend your precious talent points is an important decision that should be planned and executed with careful deliberation.

Talent Trees

Every class has three talent trees that are organized by the focus of the talents in that tree. Mages, for instance, rely primarily on their spells, which are broken up into the arcane, frost, and fire schools - which are also the names and focuses of their three talent trees. The talents in a particular tree will tend to improve the abilities associated with that tree - for example, Improved Frostbolt in the Mages' Frost tree. You can switch between trees by using the tabs at the bottom of the Talents window.
Talent trees are structured in vertical tiers. A minimum number of talent points must be spent in a tree to learn talents below the first (top) tier. Sometimes, specific lower tier talents must be learned as a prerequisite to learning higher-tier ones. A talent that is grayed out cannot presently be learned, either because you have no talent points to spend or because you do not meet the prerequisites to take that talent.

Starting at the "11 point" talent (thusly named because it first becomes available with the minimum 10 points spent in that tree), and every 10 minimum points thereafter invested in that tree, classes can learn a special talent that typically grants an entirely new class ability. Examples of this include Circle of Healing, the Priest's 41 point Holy talent, Tree of Life, the Druid's 41 point Restoration talent, and Adrenaline Rush, the Rogue's 31 point Combat talent. Typically, these abilities must be activated to use, and boost the power of your character.

To invest points in a talent, simply click on its icon until you wish to stop spending points in that talent. Keep in mind that there is no way to undo your talent choices short of resetting your entire talent build at a trainer. It will cost money to unlearn your talents in an increasing amount until it reaches a high cap.
Be sure to peruse your class' entire array of talents before choosing them. It helps to have a goal or general theme for your character when purchasing talents, rather than picking them haphazardly. Of course, there is nothing wrong with experimentation, but you may wish to research all your class' talents before purchasing them. The talent calculators are provided so that you can plan out your points prior to spending them. You can also use the Armory to research popular and effective talent builds.