If you’re anything like me, then you love nothing more than knocking away enemies in Eye of the Storm. The satisfaction of watching them fly through the air and plunge into the black abyss is honestly the pinnacle of my WoW experience.
All jokes aside, knockback effects in World of Warcraft can be extremely useful, both in PvE and PvP. They’re a unique and rare type of crowd control that only a handful of classes and specs possess.
All knockback spells in WoW work differently, some have different ranges and some have much bigger cooldowns than others.
But what they all have in common is the ability to knock enemies away, effectively stopping their casting and attacking.
So I sat down and laid out for you all classes in World of Warcraft that can knock enemies back.
In this post, you’ll explore how each of those knockback spells work, their strengths and weaknesses, and their most common uses.
Let’s go.
1. Shaman – Thunderstorm
Shaman is one of the OG classes to have a reliable knockback spell on a relatively short cooldown. Back in Wrath of the Lich King, Thunderstorm was the final talent for elemental Shamans and for the longest time, it was only available to their spec.
But nowadays Thunderstorm is a class-wide talent and any Shaman can choose it. This means that even restoration and enhancement Shamans can knock enemies away in PvP or PvE.
As an Elemental Shaman main from WOTLK, I’ve had numerous laughs sending people to their doom with Thunderstorm in Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm.
But the spell is also useful in PvE, especially in mythic plus when you need to interrupt multiple mobs at once.
Thunderstorm doesn’t deal too much damage and is primarily used to create a space between the shaman and his enemies.
But since it also regenerates mana, it can be cast to quickly replenish your mana and keep on fighting.
As a bonus, each time you cast Thunderstorm you get to look at beautiful lightning spreading from your character.
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2. Priest – Shining Force
If you’re a classic player and can’t imagine priests having a knockback spell, that was me back when Legion came up. But since then, Priests have had access to Shining Force, their knockback spell that has a 45 seconds cooldown.
Shining Force is an AoE spell, of course, and has the same power as Thunderstorm. However, the cool thing about Shining Force is that it can be cast from a friendly unit and not only from the Priest.
In other words, Shining Force is a ranged spell that you can activate from your friend to push back all enemies from him. It’s a great way to knock back enemies in Eye of the Storm without even having to be near trouble.
So in PvP, Shining Force is very helpful for creating distance between the Priest and his enemies.
It works great because the spell also slows down the enemies you push back for several seconds, giving you enough time to reposition (unless they have an instant gap close).
3. Druid – Typhoon
Typhoon is another OG knockback spell that was only available to balance Druids back in the day. It’s used in a similar way to Bursting Shot but the good news is that you don’t need a primary target to activate it.
In other words, when you cast Typhoon, you send strong wind forward, knocking back all enemies in front of you. Casting it successfully requires aiming and it’s not uncommon to miss it sometimes.
Typhoon is no longer a balance-only talent in WoW. Instead, all Druid specializations can pick up Typhoon and utilize them if they want.
Like the rest of the knockback effects on this list, Typhoon can help you interrupt enemies in PvE and PvP and displace them to create a distance between them and your character.
And it also slows down the pushed enemies!
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4. Hunter – Bursting Shot
Bursting Shot is a talent limited only to marksmanship Hunters. It’s in the middle of the tree and can be picked relatively quickly.
Bursting Shot doesn’t have a 360-degree AoE effect such as Thunderstorm and Shining Force. Instead, it’s a spell you activate directly on an enemy target. And upon casting it, Bursting Shot knocks your primary target back, but also all surrounding enemies nearby.
Because of this, Bursting Shot is a great way for a marksmanship Hunter to quickly gain distance from multiple melee attackers.
You can double its effect if you use it in combination with Disengage and create an even bigger gap. This will allow you to set up traps and take advantage of the situation.
And lastly, Bursting Shot has a friendly target that lowers its cooldown when the Hunter gets to low HP which can be useful in sticky situations.
5. Monk – Ring of Peace
The Monk’s Ring of Peace is another unique type of knockback in World of Warcraft. It’s available to all three specializations and it’s a spell that you need to place on the ground.
When you do so, you create a green ring that enemies can’t pass through. Additionally, all enemies that were previously standing in the position you placed your ring are all pushed away from it, sometimes repeatedly.
There are cool and effective tricks you can do with Ring of Peace, especially in PvP.
For example, you can place it near a wall to lock an enemy target and prevent them from moving. When you do this, they’re pushed back into the wall (and are in the air) for several seconds and have no way of escaping it, not even with a trinket.
The same can be done to mobs in mythic plus if you need to keep them from casting spells.
6. Kul Tiran (Any Class) – Haymaker
Finally, Kul Tiran is an allied race with a racial ability that has a knockback effect tied to it. It’s called Haymaker and it’s the only knockback effect in WoW that requires 1-second casting.
But the good news is that Haymaker can be used on multiple classes some of which have insane synergy. One of these is Rouge, but it’s also unexpected to be knocked back by a mage, for example.
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Conclusion
Even though each knockback spell is uniquely different, they can all be put in the same category of spells. There are also similar effects to knockbacks that can’t quite be placed on the same list.
For instance, Demon Hunters get access to a PvP talent called Illidan’s Grasp. The first part of this spell grabs a targeted enemy and the second flings in any direction the DH chooses.
But it’s not necessarily a knockback like the rest of the spells here.
That said, those are all classes in World of Warcraft with a knockback effect!
