The 20 Most Unknown Yet DEADLY Debuffs Of Classic WoW

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Vanilla questing ain't easy, and Blizzard at the time decided to make it even harder by filling the world with debuffs that could seriously damage your character performance.
Here's a bunch of Vanilla's nastiest debuffs to watch out for - and in some cases what you can do about them. Don't get caught out on your hardcore character!
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[@WillEmmo]

Start grinding those IRL stats 🧠 Try Brilliant 30 days FREE ➡ brilliant.org/WillE/ First 200 sign ups also get 20% off their annual subscription!

[@BasicMaffs]

No thanks 😉

[@trader2137]

why are you copying hirumandex?

[@julianzenker6679]

@@trader2137 who?

[@trader2137]

@@julianzenker6679 a youtuber whos Willie is trying to copy as hes lacking content

[@Wadjah]

The best unique debuff imo is from Lefty, the gnome rogue/monk from the Dungeon set 2 pvp-like fight in BRD Arena. He has an ability that puts a debuff on you: "Five Fat Finger Exploding Heart Technique" "Taking five steps after taking five hits of this ancient technique will cause your heart to explode." When you got this on you and you take 5 steps, you literally die! Edit: It's a cool reference to Kill Bill!

[@Fankine78]

Yeah i wonder how this was not in this video lol

[@harmonyinchaos6381]

@@Fankine78 haha most youtubers usually have barely an idea what their talking about and mostly care about subs, views, paid sponsorships and ad revenue^^

[@mattakiss5572]

There is a hardcore clip of someone dying tothis

[@rhamsus1]

⁠@@harmonyinchaos6381you’re an idiot.

[@BenjaminAlexanderSWH]

This is why Dwarfs are so underrated in classic. Having stoneform to remove all these debuffs in pve and pvp is so clutch.

[@TheHorreK2]

Not just that, i remember how it saved my ass several times with like 1-2 HP left thanks to the minor armor buff

[@bejeta7]

They're hardly underrated...

[@BenjaminAlexanderSWH]

@@bejeta7 Humans are hyped up on Alliance side so dwarfs don't always get a lot of attention for what they bring to the table.

[@CharterForGaming]

@@kalldr7403 Gnomes and female dwarves all the way

[@DaveDavis-f9w]

lol 'clutch'.

[@butterfingurs]

The shadowfang keep debuff to reduce various weapon skills by 100 was always very unique and devastating, lol

[@BabinSquared]

I did Mother's Milk solo using invisibility potions, the cloaking device trinket, feign death, lots of trial and error, and a Kargath hearthstone - the proc can trigger while you're flying to the questgiver, but you'll be immune. The funniest part of the quest is when you realize that it's a simple poison and it's entirely possible that a "friendly" druid, shaman, or paladin can cure you without your consent before you get milked.

[@vulpax5915]

For me, the Tetanus Disease from the Westfall rusty harvest golems is probably the most memorable one.

[@Arz0rsProGaming]

I got it so much that I still got it today…

[@Weavelol]

Another unique & deadly debuff that (I think) has never been recreated since in wow is the poison breath from the nightmare dragon world bosses. Nasty nature damage dot + increases all your abilities cooldowns by 10 sec per stack (stacks up to 1 min cd and ~1800 dmg per tick). This also affects abilities who normally DON'T have a cooldown (f.ex sunder armor). If the raid gets hit by this it will be hard to recover, 2 stacks is 100% a wipe.

[@WillyDee123]

Aids

[@Abrexfroman]

NGL if they had that "Add something that is just cool" philosophy for retail, I think it would be awesome.

[@General12th]

It probably wouldn't break things as much as they worry it will.

[@Vath121]

Maining Druid during Wrath and soloing Strat for Baron’s mount and always getting ghoul plague. It was at that point I decided I need another healer that can dispel these fuggin 30 minute diseases

[@gabbe4781]

The most annoying debuff that i remember is rabies which halves your health regeneration from ALL sources for 10 MINUTES! and a pretty deadly debuff is slowing poison that slows you by 30% and your melee swings by 25% for 25 seconds, its really deadly because it only has a 10 second cooldown so even if you remove it they can insta cast another one shortly after.

[@General12th]

I remember trying to do mage farming in Stratholme with a friend before our priest showed up... only to find out it would take us at least a minute to recover between packs. Suffice to say, we waited patiently for the priest.

[@dudebrah7791]

Worst part about that debuff is that if you're fighting multiple mobs that cast it at once, they can batch the debuff applications, resulting in multiple rabies debuffs. Note that the health regen portion stacks ADDITIVELY, which means that with 2+ rabies debuffs you cannot restore health for 10 minutes.

[@BabinSquared]

Rabies hurts your base health regeneration, which affects your healing from standard food. One thing I've found is that percentage-based holiday food (Halloween apples, Christmas cake, conjured harvest bread, etc) is able to still heal you. These foods are usually in short supply, though...

[@General12th]

@@BabinSquared HOLIDAYWEAVING

[@shawnclark764]

The Sons of Arugal in Silverpine kill so many HC toons with their Damage per minute curse. It's nasty.

[@loftus8660]

The silithid pox was my instant thought when i saw the title, maining a rogue meant that area in un'goro was absolutely brutal. Although to be fair, solo questing in vanilla is brutal in a countless number of places lol

[@frtzkng]

There was also an undead mob in the Western Plaguelands who, while not applying a debuff to you, had an aura that dealt some damage to you every 3 or 5 seconds and *always* interrupted your spell casts for at least 10 seconds.

[@thatsdank6706]

Not rly unknown, most of them still gives nightmare memories from vanilla days. Hey bro, want to do some dung - nah Ill go afk to wait out the debuff

[@FreeHectic]

I'm doing a naked warrior run and all of this just terrifies me.

[@quinn562]

The lashers in ungoro are super annoying without a cleanse, they have a dot that also drains your mana!

[@Techniclty]

Love the old lcd @ 0:14

[@kevedo93]

3:10 skipperino willierino

[@fryingpan94]

The Basilisks stun can be avoided by simply turning around. Basilisks are, in fantasy, similar to Medusa. Where they stun you if you look in their eyes. Turning around avoids the stun, regardless of range.

[@streetguru9350]

I vaguely remember a debuff someone had that "haunted" them, making their character quiver in fear or shudder in fear randomly. It lasted forever and they couldn't stay in the barber's chair anymore and get a haircut lol.

[@drbeef5054]

Was a debuff in SFK, also summoned ghosts attacking the debuffed player periodically

[@Kokocollects]

I was fighting the Bleakheart satyrs on my rogue yesterday and was caught by surprise with that random stun when fighting two mobs. Let's just say I took it much slower after that and my hc rogue still lives, but it was scary!

[@1un4cy]

No healing from the gargoyle is kind of incorrect. You can still heal, you just cannot regenerate health passively, or from eating.

[@cultoffish8076]

Hey willy, I'm really enjoying this content that is giving a deeper dive into obscure classic stuff that's inspired by your hard-core experience, thank you!

[@sev9597]

For me it would be the 50% reduced healing in northern Felwood from the evil furbolgs. Nasty stuff when your alone.

[@Buggabones]

The Mossflayer Zombie's in EPL chain stun you over and over if you pull too much, and the Jabbering ghouls in WPL use pierce armor that reduces your armor by 75% for 20 sec. They can bring warriors down in seconds.

[@unlimitedpower978]

It’s stuff like this that makes Vanilla great. Feels like a real RPG with some crazy stuff out in the world all over the place and it’s impactful to your play. And you encounter it in different ways and places. Modern WoW seems too stiff and optimized to have everything where you have been trained to expect it and at an expectedly predictable range of impact

[@CharterForGaming]

also made having first aid with it's poison removal a bit more interesting instead of purely healing

[@SwedetasticGames]

The rare Wyvern in Thousand Needles has a poison that effectively 1-shots you at equall level if not insta-dispelled. It also lasts a very very long time.

[@Fankine78]

Heartrazor ? The poison doesnt oneshot you. I killed it on my HC hunter at lvl 28, poison does a big dot, around 50 iirc but far from a oneshot.

[@holysecret2]

Not sure if you mentioned the Stratholme 10 minute debuff disabling health regeneration. I used to try to solo the instance by kiting the mobs with my warlock, but that debuff was very punishing. And since you went into other related leveling dangers, as a caster or even any class without a thorns-type effect those Swarmer bugs in Tanaris could overwhelm you with little adds with 1 HP that interrupted your spell casting. If I remember correctly, they could not even be tab targeted, you had to click on them manually, or have a thorns buff on you.

[@ffarkasm]

Player cc-s have diminishing returns, but mob cc-s don't. This is outrageous! It's unfair!

[@NEPAAlchey]

A lot of banshees have a 30%+ hit reduction curse, but it's only for 15ish seconds

[@fredericbrasseur7399]

Don't forget the Curse of thorns, 3min debuff with a 50% chance to take 38 to 82 damage on attack, that one is a pain when you play Rogue or Feral Druid.

[@Frostgnaw]

I remember fighting the zombies in Duskwood on my druid. That mana leech disease was awful for any caster that couldn't dispel it. While not deadly, mp5 was almost nonexistent in that area. Better hope you don't go oom.

[@Biggerwhenpulled]

The same range trick mentioned in the video is usable, you can run out of range it only has 5yrds

[@clt510]

Great video, but I actually greatly prefer having a range of mob threats and abilities (most of which can be counteracted in ways that you addressed), as Classic does it, compared to the boring over-tuned abilities in linearly-progressing games. Having everything being strictly "balanced" works against an interesting playing environment.

[@darylcheshire1618]

I did like the curse you got from the Stalvan Mistmantle quest line. I think it was called “The Curse of Stalvan” or such.

[@TEJR69]

Tetanus, Rabies and Son of Arugal's debuffs are what made me cry myself to sleep back in the day

[@ITSONSIGHT.]

You're my favorite wow content creator, sir.

[@argentpuck]

As someone who played this game at launch, the fact that I recognize so many of these items is testament to how much soloing I did. And my PTSD from quite a few of them.

[@gregorshepherd3561]

As an Aussie, hearing you say, if it casts entagling roots, you know you're going to get rooted. 😮

[@General12th]

Root me.

[@martintuskevicius8084]

I actually LOL'd at "Lich Slap". Ah, the devs were really having fun with it back then

[@maapaa2010]

The book q in WPL where you have to loot the history book and each time you do and it's not the correct one but a dusty tome you get a 20+% attack speed and movement speed debuff I believe. As a 2h paladin it was absolutely devastating as it's applied constantly by the ghosts. You would go oom trying to remove it.. so your stuck with it as you try and pick up the quest item. I had 7 dusty tomes and ghosts to kill before I finally got the q item. Another guy in my group later had 13... Dusty tomes..

[@TrueMakaveli50]

The addon Classic Bestiary is so good for hardcore.

[@Pershath08]

Stalvan always the stupid curse of Stalvan. Just lasted forever and they had the balls to recast it on you EVERY time you progress the quest!

[@baronbad5907]

I just found out that Fizzle guy in Durotar has some crazy ass chain life drain spell that ive never seen any other mob have

[@chainclaw07]

most of these things are cool "aesthetic" things - like spiders numb and stun their prey. a really powerful/rare water elemental can freeze you etc. it's also the difference between gameplay being chill and where you should care about what's going on. much like any floor indicators in retail it makes combat more dynamic - however classic doesn't have clear communication of what is happening and when which makes most of those skills devastating. but that's as if those heavy hits with floor indicators wouldn't have floor indicators....

[@Whurlpuul]

Those Satyrs made great warlock pets. It's why I liked levelling there. Although it did break out a few times and I died since I was fighting something else when it did that once..

[@JoLiKMC]

As someone who's currently going through Vanilla just to complete every quest, I can attest that "Curse of the Bleakheart" might be the worst thing I've experienced, so far. I play a hunter and, guess what? It affects pets, too. There's no way around it beyond having someone de-debuff you. ): Thankfully, it's just that area…

[@General12th]

Hi Will! I think it's possible to have your cake and eat it too with Classic fun: just have buffs always scale up or down appropriately with level, and don't have buffs that change things percent-wise. (This is why rating was introduced in TBC.) Blizzard can have _way_ more fun with this awesome nonsense if they just put slightly sensible caps on when you can experience it.

[@sammehlberg6664]

Eckalom is what happened to me all those years ago?! I noped out of there never again to return to that zone

[@ShintarsVideos]

The Corrosive Swamp Oozes in Dustwallow Marsh give a debuff called Corrosive Ooze which lasts for a minute and reduces physical damage by 10. So far, so good... but it *stacks*. I once killed a bunch of oozes in a row as a melee and discovered to my terror that I suddenly couldn't do any damage to them anymore... XD

[@jacobma385]

The most annoying debuff that I remember is this: Drowning Death Magic Swim speed reduced by 20%. Agility reduced by 15%. 5 minutes remaining Casted by water elementals in Eastern Plagueland. They live in the water, and they slow your swim speed. Which makes farming Essence of Water from them supper inefficent and it's such a troll.

[@BiSFeralDruid]

What I learned is whomever did Duskwood really hated Alliance.

[@Xynth22]

Funny that the spiders at raven hill were mentioned here. One of these bastards got me yesterday on my level 25 warrior and ended my run. I was so pissed.

[@stevenglowacki8576]

You're not quite correct about the Gargoyle debuff. The only regeneration that's prevented is natural regen and eating, which just counts as boosting natural regen. Anything that actually heals you, like with the green numbers, works fine, though it's tough to get many ticks of a bandage off since it deals damage itself. Classes that can heal aren't really affected, but it's very annoying for rogues and warriors.

[@remmickwadsworth1179]

I'm shocked you never mentioned the Kurzen Commandos when discussing stuns and the other two Kurzen mobs. I mean yeah, the full heal thing is annoying and stuns aren't too much of a problem. The issue with the Commandos was, unlike the basilisks and Silithids, it was an instant proc once they reach 20% health and seems unavoidable. This by itself would be annoying, but the issue was that if you aggro more than one and you proceed to aoe or use dots, you can very easily be chain stunlocked until your dead. As mentioned earlier, its impossible to kite without a pet taking aggro and you keeping your distance. Very hard to single pull them in that cave on top of them being stealthed mobs. Even doing hardcore on Ascension, those mobs gave me way too many close calls accidentally pulling more multiple mobs and attempting to burn them all with aoe. I can't imagine attempting the Kurzen questline in retail vanilla hardcore, or at least not without a friend.

[@darylcheshire1618]

I would grind the Kurzen Medicine Man to get the Jungle Remedy to dispel the Un’goro disease.

[@Teshkul]

Another debuff that is pretty nasty but thankfully avoidable is black sludge from some of the slime monsters. -30% movement speed and 50% longer swing timer for 30 seconds is really crippling for melee.

[@SamSGLM]

Definitely missed the gnome brawler in brd arena event. The kill bill reference

[@grit1]

Makes me wish that you could get something like a PoE spectre to fight for you like a pet. It'd be hilarious in PvP just to debuff enemies in absurd ways

[@GailsonPvPwtf]

I was playing my rogue in hillsbrad and I was attacking a couple of those guard with the shield effect and blade flurry cleave will trigger it too. killed myself in 2 seconds.

[@mattjharrisyahoo]

I spent tons of time farming Jungle Remedy as it worked up to level 55 diseases.

[@epiqschwer1578]

I remember one buff, Chance to get hit with dmg when your auto attack. As a Rouge this is brutal for 3 minutes no fighting

[@DonYagamoth]

Ah yes, I remember now why I never took off my pvp trinket when leveling

[@MRXary]

I love the video, as always. Would have loved to see this video 20 hours ago when I got destroyed by the Gorishi mobs in Un'goro lmaooo The debuff was at 44% Was lvl 52 Does really seem to scale with player level

[@Mornings]

More devs should act like early WoW instead of trying as hard as possible to make sure nothing is even remotely powerful enough to be worth earning

[@myself2noone]

Weren't there potions you can get in Strangahorn that cure diseases? Or was that added in Wrath?

[@BobGnarley.]

Also the Rabies debuff which comes from any "Rabid" mob type. Reduces health regen by 50% for 10 mins and stacks. So if you get 2 that's no health regen for you. Got it earlier and was wondering why I couldnt eat.

[@bamnasitis]

For me, one of the worst is slowing poison by noxious plaguebats. Always used to be the most annoying to deal with.

[@tannerrasco5436]

Great video topic!

[@maziegaarak3701]

I did Mother's Milk quest on all my lvl 60s during classic (7 ). I love that quest! Doing the instance with the debuff is the fun part. It is hilarious!! I don't get why some people hate it.

[@renephilipps6422]

So many people play harcore , it's amazing

[@Riecheck]

I watch your videos often and I have to say, the slow turn on the bald gnome in the purple robes has always bothered me lmao I think I also just realized it's your staple clip at the start and end of most videos 😂

[@IamNervv]

fire vids, as always

[@maapaa2010]

The deadwood furblog curse is the worst curse in the game for me it reduces all healing by 50% for 2 minutes meaning any form of healing is reduced, eating, bandages, holy spells... Your basically stuck with it because as soon as you remove it or it falls of, they will automatically try and reapply it to you!

[@chainclaw07]

you know what you could call "adding things that you think sound cool or intersting"? artistic expression. when development gets too restrictive we don't get innovation. does the attempt at innovation produce unwanted/bad mechanics? yes absolutely. but also consider that with an iterative process, the more you restrict, the longer it's going to take to get to something new. so the price for new is the risk of bad.

[@iriswaldenburger2315]

Personally MY worst debuff for Classic was my own family ;) and it eventually ended my WoW game time for good - after starting in 2007 - for good

[@General12th]

for good

[@lynxerz]

Tough boss

[@monkeyjames9285]

Just some advice for classic hardcore noticed lot things f you up poison or diseases so playing class can't cleanse them. Recommend if playing alliance go dwaf stoneform if recall remove diseases

[@johnjenkins1370]

2 words: Jungle Remedy

[@Raukodor]

As warrior main i alwais hated "ink spray" debuff from swamo murloc (decrease chance to hit in 80% i think

[@metermaide1726]

Honorable mentions to, getting Dazed off your mount, and the ZF npc's that have dismounting shot mechanic, super annoying.

[@teddys5775]

Currently frustrated with rot contagion in STV. It stacks so my whole party spreads it to eachother and refreshes it when they get hit in melee

[@72293]

The "Five Fat Finger Exploding Heart Technique" from the 0.5 quest boss in brd is pretty bad, get hit 5 times and move 5 steps, then a insta death

[@davidpowell9965]

was waiting for those ashenvale satyrs

[@nddst77]

Dalaran Spellscribe in silver pine also casts freeze. Beware!

[@NorthWay_no]

How about a video on stuff that can be spellstolen and reflected?

[@Verdis_deMosays]

You forgot the nerubians in Strat dead side having the annoying Encasing Webs that prevents you from moving or doing anything and can chain with no DR. YAY CLASSIC!

[@judecale8076]

FYI I find that the sound treatment since the last videos makes it super hard to listen to. Feels like loudness maximiser pushed to 11 (old commercial effect).

[@otbaht]

the medicine man is one of the few times i use mana burn on my priest.

[@tobybuckle7818]

poison from the plants in un'goro crater one second you have full Mana the next you have zero because the poison takes your Mana away as a mage wen your used to pulling everything the plants suck

[@nurikeeyuki9828]

Jungle Remedy wasnt mentioned, sure it doesnt work all the time at max level but its super easy to farm and spamable.

[@u-mos8820]

Old Murkeye had a disease that lasted way too long and did like 1000-2000 nature damage over a time, at level 20 that is a lot of damage. Watched a hardcore hunter waste away b4 my eyes from it, volatile infection or some such.

[@szejtanik]

So touch of zanzil reminded me of sth: isnt there a debuff which killed you after 1 Day if not removed? Toy maybe?

[@cornflakeshumunculus8373]

The most dangerous debuff is wife aggro

[@Zeranaar]

Love your Content:)

[@stemina32]

THe putrib bile debuff can also be applied in Strat but has another name and lasts 10to30mins idr

[@KThuzad]

Like Your content ! I am watching You from TBC Clasic 😂

[@downpp2255]

The ungoro one😅 hated it.. 30 minutes! Warriror 😂🎉

[@RyanTurner1331]

I'm late to the party and I will pressume your hunter is 70 (so tbc) therefor Silithid Pox doing 60%. It always your current level - 10 levels. The calculation behind it

[@MuppetLord1]

I loved gathering all the world buffs. ^^

[@Fion355]

The "rabid" kind of mobs are also pretty annoiying. 50% less health reg and loss of Attributes. That thing is damm powerfull in the lower levels.

[@slidexztv9727]

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