Spell Breaker

From Liquipedia Warcraft Wiki
[e][h]Human Spell Breaker
Unit Information
Built From:
Arcane Sanctum
Requirements:
Cost:
 215 15}px 30  28  3
Hotkey:
B
0.25 (always)
3 (6)
Sleeps:
no
Formation Rank:
1
1400 / 800
Acquisition Range:
700
250
Selection Priorty:
7
Movement
300
Turn Rate:
0.6
Move Type:
foot
Collision Size:
31
Cargo Size:
1
Icon
Combat
13 - 16 (16 - 24)
250
missile
  • ground
  • structure
  • debris
  • item
  • ward

Elven warrior trained to disrupt and contort magical energies. This is an anti-spellcaster unit.

Spell Breakers initially has the Spell Immunity ability, which renders him immune to magic; Feedback, which causes his attacks to combust mana; and Spell Steal which manipulates buffs to your advantage. Can also learn Control Magic.

Since Spell Breakers are immune to magic, you can safely cast Blizzard and Flamestrike on them. If you put them in the front lines, you can easily cast Blizzard or Flamestrike without worrying about hurting your own units.

Spells & Abilities[edit]

Spell Steal
Cast Type : Autocast  Ability Type:  Magical
Target Type : Unit Target
Steals a positive buff from an enemy unit and applies it to a nearby friendly unit, or takes a negative buff from a friendly unit and applies it to a nearby enemy unit.
Cast Requirements : 75 6 s  Range:  700
Hotkey : T

Notes: Spell Steal is one of the abilities of the human Spell Breaker unit. It's an auto-cast ability which can steal positive buffs from enemy units and apply them to friendly units, or can remove negative buffs from friendly units and apply them to enemy units.

The 1st target of Spell Steal is the unit that the ability is casted on, the 2nd target is determined by proximity from the Spell Breaker unit, i.e the 2nd target is the closest/nearest unit to the Spell Breaker*.

A very common situation in the Human vs Nightelf matchup is for the Nightelf player to cast Rejuvenation on their heroes/units, the Human player can use Spell Steal by first disabling the auto-cast, then moving a Spell Breaker near a low health hero/unit (2nd target) and then casting Spell Steal on the enemy unit with the Rejuvenation (1st target).

Another situation might be in the Human vs Undead matchup, in which the Undead player uses the Banshee unit's Curse ability, the Human player can use Spell Steal by first moving a Spell Breaker near a high damage hero/unit (for example the Lich hero), then cast Spell Steal on a friendly unit with Curse.

When a buff is stolen it's duration is reset. I.e doesn't matter if Rejuvenation is stolen immediately after it is casted or 0.01 seconds before its duration is over, the stolen Rejuvenation will last for its full 12 seconds.

Spell Steal cannot steal all buffs, notably the Undead's Lich hero's Frost Armor ability can not be stolen.

The 2nd target of Spell Steal must be within certain distance from the Spell Breaker, otherwise the buff is simply dispelled.

Spell Steal steals only 1 buff at at time, the order in which buffs are stolen is determined by the buff's spell steal priority.

If a unit only has 0 priority buffs then the order in which they are stolen seems to be:

List of 0 priority buffs

  • Spirit Link
  • Roar
  • Unholy Frenzy / Incite Unholy Frenzy
  • Rejuvenation
  • Scroll of Protection
  • Polymorph


i.e Spirit Link is always stolen before Roar, Roar is always stolen before Rejuvenation, Scroll of Protection is always stolen last.

If a unit only has buffs with non 0 priority then the buffs are stolen in the reverse order in which they were casted.

Example 1: a unit is first buffed with Inner Fire and then with Bloodlust, the 1st stolen buff will be Bloodlust and the 2nd Inner Fire

Example 2: a unit is first buffed with Bloodlust and then with Inner Fire, the 1st stolen buff will be Inner Fire and the 2nd Bloodlust

List of non 0 priority buffs

  • Inner Fire
  • Slow
  • Bloodlust
  • Faerie Fire
  • Curse

If a unit has both 0 priority buffs and non 0 priority buffs then the order seems random.

  • when there are more than 1 possible 2nd targets, the 2nd target is the closest that doesn't already have that buff
Control Magic
Cast Type : Active  Ability Type:  Magical
Target Type : Unit Target
Give Spell Breakers the ability to take control of enemy summoned units. The spell's cost is relative to the current hit points of the target.
Cast Requirements : 25 5 s  Range:  700
Targets Allowed : Air, Ground, Enemy, Neutral, Ward, Organic
Mana Cost : 0.45 per HP of target
Hotkey : C
Upgrade: Control Magic
Cost : 75 75  Research Time:  45
Researched at : Arcane Sanctum
 Hotkey : G
Requirements : Arcane VaultCastle

Notes:

  • You can control enemy Orc wards!
Spell Immunity
Cast Type : Passive
Target Type : No Target
Renders this unit immune to negative spells.
Effect : Spell Immunity
Feedback
Cast Type : Orb  Ability Type:  Magical
Target Type : No Target
Spell Breaker attacks destroy 20 (4 to Heroes) Mana per hit. The Mana combusts, dealing damage to the attacked unit. Each point so removed causes 1 point of damage to the target. Feedback does not affect spell-immune units.
Mana Burned (Hero) : 20 (4)
Damage : 1 per Mana point burned
Unit Inventory (Human)
Cast Type : Passive
Target Type : No Target
Allows the unit to carry 2 items.
Item Capacity : 2
Notes : Items cannot be used by the unit and are dropped, if the unit dies.
Upgrade: Backpack (Human)
Cost : 50 25  Research Time:  20
Researched at : Town Hall
Requirements : Arcane Vault

Upgrades[edit]

Iron Forged Swords
Increases the attack damage of Militia, Footmen, Spell Breakers, Dragonhawk Riders, Gryphon Riders and Knights.
Researched at : Blacksmith
 Hotkey : S
Cost : 100 50  Research Time:  60
Damage Dice Bonus : 1
Steel Forged Swords
Cost : 175 175  Research Time:  75
Requires : Keep
Damage Dice Bonus : 2
 
Mithril Forged Swords
Cost : 250 300  Research Time:  90
Requires : Castle
Damage Dice Bonus : 3
 
Iron Plating
Increases the armor of Militia, Footmen, Spell Breakers, Knights, Flying Machines and Siege Engines.
Researched at : Blacksmith
 Hotkey : P
Cost : 125 75  Research Time:  60
Armor Bonus : 2
Steel Plating
Cost : 150 175  Research Time:  75
Requires : Keep
Armor Bonus : 4
 
Mithril Plating
Cost : 175 275  Research Time:  90
Requires : Castle
Armor Bonus : 6
 

Version History[edit]

Balance Patch History
VersionReleaseBalance Changes
1.35.02023-01-19
1.32.92020-10-21
1.31.02019-05-28
  • Nerf Control Magic mana requirement increased from 35% of enemy HP to 45% of enemy HP.
1.30.22018-11-30
1.30.02018-08-08
1.152004-05-10
  • Neutral Control Magic mana cost is now calculated based on the target unit's current hit points instead of its maximum hit points. The dynamic mana cost of Control Magic has also been increased to .45 mana per hit point from .3 mana per hit point.
  • Nerf Spell Breaker feedback damage vs. Heroes reduced to 4 per hit from 5 per hit.
1.102003-07-03

References[edit]

http://classic.battle.net/war3/human/units/spellbreaker.shtml