Downranking Downranking described the usage of spell ranks lower than the highest one in order to increase damage or healing per mana spent , or for the use of a secondary , rank - independent effect , in trade for a lower amount of damage or healing . For healers , this was sometimes necessary to prevent overhealing . Mana reservation was the desired aim . In most circumstances , downranking is no longer a viable tactic . Downranking has been nerfed several times and ultimately removed in Wrath of the Lich King . The first time , it was nerfed so that any spell learned below level 20 suffered a penalty . Then , with patch 2 . 0 . 1 , it was nerfed again so that any spell of a certain number of levels too low was nerfed . The most severe nerf was introduced with the release of patch 3 . 0 . 2 , which caused player spells to cost a percentage of the caster ' s base mana , which either remained constant for all ranks or decreased with higher ranks . In addition to voluntary downranking , when a buff spell is cast on a character whose level is too low to receive that buff , the character will receive a downranked version of the buff instead . Removed from game . In Patch 3 . 0 . 2 ( Wrath of the Lich King release ) , downranking was killed by making spells cost a percentage of base mana rather than be based on rank . Previous practical uses of downranking . Downranking is still useful in a few circumstances : Downranking Algorithm . When it was relevant . . . Wrath of the Lich King . At some point between patch 2 . 2 and the release of Wrath of the Lich King , the downranking formula was changed again . Ghostcrawler made the following statement about the downranking formula : Burning Crusade . As of Patch 2 . 2 , the downranking algorith is as follows : Each spell rank has a range in which it is supposed to be used . Greater Heal rank 2 , for instance , is learned at level 46 and lasts until level 51 ( Rank 3 is learned at level 52 ) . The range for Greater Heal rank2 is thus 46 - 51 . The spell coefficient is given as follows : This number is in turn multiplied with your spell coefficient and your bonus healing / damage . Downranking is the process of using a lower than maximum spell rank in order to gain higher efficiency per mana . It is particularly used by healing classes - Shaman s , Druid s , Paladin s , and Priest s - in order to extend their longevity in long boss fights . General Downranking Penalty . A penalty for downranking to spells below level 20 has been present since early in the game ' s development . Shortly before the release of the 2 . 0 content patch , an additional downranking modifier was added in order to combat significant downranking of heal ing spells in raid ing . With the original system , as long as the spell was over level 20 , there was no penalty . This led to situations where certain classes were using spells down to into the lower 20s and compensating for the lower base healing amount by stacking + heal stats , resulting in an extreme increases in healing per mana beyond what Blizzard ' s encounter design had intended . The new formula scales down bonus healing and damage for spells which could have been learned more than 11 levels ago , by a simple multiplier : Calculation : sLvl = Level that the rank of this spell can first be learned cLvl = Caster ' s Current Level Downranking Multiplier = Min ( 1 , ( sLvL + 11 ) / cLvl ) Example : Flash Heal 4 Flash Heal 4 is a level 26 Priest spell . For a level 70 player , the multiplier for Flash Heal 4 is therefore Min ( 1 , ( 26 + 11 ) / 70 ) = 0 . 529 . This is in addition to the multiplier reduction due to Flash Heal ' s cast time - the final multiplier , including this , is 0 . 227 Level 20 penalty . The original form of downranking penalty was the Level 20 penalty , applied to all spells level 20 and below based on the level the spell was learned . This applies from the moment the spell is acquired , but it usually does not matter to the lower level characters as spell power gear is rarely available until later in a character ' s progression . Calculation : sLvl = Level that the spell is acquired at Level 20 Penalty Multiplier = 1 - ( ( 20 - sLvl ) * 0 . 0375 )