Overview
This is the purest expression of caster cleave in 5s: four ranged damage dealers layering Chain Lightning, Mind Blast, Shadow Bolt and Frostbolt onto one target while the holy paladin keeps the squishy backline alive. The strength is that so much of your damage is instant or near-instant — Elemental Mastery, Ice Lance on a frozen target, Shadow Word: Death, Conflagrate — that a kill can come together faster than a healer can react, especially under a Shadowfury stun.
The skill floor is high because five casters means five cast bars to protect and five sets of cooldowns to sequence. You win by trading control for control: bait the enemy's defensive globals, land your interrupt chain on their healer, and burst into the opening. Against control teams you have a second gear — sustained mana burn and drain — that turns a stalemate into a mana kill.
Win condition
You win by collapsing every instant on one target inside a single control window. The opener is a Shadowfury from the warlock or a Frost Nova plus Polymorph from the mage to lock the enemy healer, then Elemental Mastery Chain Lightning, Mind Blast, Shadow Bolt and an Ice Lance on the primary kill target all inside two globals. Power Infusion from the priest goes on whoever is casting hardest — usually the shaman or warlock. If the healer isn't sheeped, chain Counterspell into Spell Lock into Priest Silence into Earth Shock so they never get a cast off; nobody survives that with the paladin's team-wide burst online. When damage stalls, pivot the shadow priest and warlock to Mana Burn and Drain the enemy healer and take the mana kill.
Strengths
- +Stacked instant burst — Elemental Mastery Chain Lightning, Mind Blast and Shadowfury land in one global for kills healers can't outheal
- +Overlapping lockout — Counterspell, Spell Lock, Priest Silence and Earth Shock chain-silence any healer for 8+ seconds
- +Two damage schools plus mana burn give it a plan-B win: attrition the healer dry when the burst is peeled
Weaknesses
- −Five casters with no melee peel bleed hard once a warrior or two rogues sit on the shaman or priest
- −Loses its whole identity if the Grounding Totem, Frost Nova and Bubble cooldowns are baited out before the go
Cooldown timeline
Bloodlust is your kill signal — pop it with Elemental Mastery, Icy Veins and Power Infusion for a stacked go, and only when the enemy's Grounding Totem and the target healer's escape (Divine Shield, Ice Block, trinket) are already spent. Shadowfury and Hammer of Justice are your hard control on the go; save them, don't open blind. Cold Snap gives the mage a second Frost Nova or Ice Block to reset a peel. The paladin holds Divine Shield and a Blessing of Protection for whoever the enemy trains. Reserve the shaman's Nature's Swiftness Chain Heal and the priest's Fear as defensive breathers when a melee comp is on top of you.
Positioning
Play the pillars: keep the shaman, priest and warlock ranged and staggered so a single Chain Lightning, Blast Wave or intercept can't catch multiples, and never let all five stack for an enemy Shadowfury or Blast Wave. Drop Grounding Totem to eat the first Counterspell or Polymorph aimed at your casters, and Tremor Totem preemptively against fear teams. The mage plays a step forward to land Frost Nova and set up shatter windows, then blinks back behind a pillar. The paladin sits deepest, LoS-ing the enemy's damage while staying in Cleanse and Holy Light range of the front two. Against melee, kite around the pillar rather than trading in the open — every second they spend running is a second you free-cast.
Vs. the meta
Two warriors plus a rogue or two will train your shaman and priest and interrupt every heal. Spread hard around pillars, drop Tremor and Grounding early, and use the mage's Frost Nova plus the warlock's Shadowfury as peels rather than opener control. Blessing of Freedom the kited caster, Chain Heal on Nature's Swiftness to survive the first train, and Polymorph one melee out while you burst the other or mana-burn their single healer. Do not try to out-race their damage in the open — win the LoS war and take the kill when they overcommit an Intercept.
Pets and hunters give them constant Viper Sting mana drain and pet-driven interrupt pressure on your casters. Purge and Frost Shock the pets, keep the shaman topped since he is the Viper Sting magnet, and use the paladin's Blessing of Freedom to break Wing Clip and Frost Trap kiting. Save Grounding for Scatter Shot and Silencing Shot on your kill setup. Burst a hunter, not a pet — kill one hunter and their damage and mana pressure collapse.
Gear requirements
- ▸Prioritize spell hit to the caster cap and heavy spell damage on the shaman, mage, warlock and priest — the burst only works if it lands; take spell penetration pieces against the enemy paladin's resist auras.
- ▸Holy paladin stacks resilience, +healing and mp5 with a fast heal weapon; every caster wants max survivability resilience gear plus a high-spellpower weapon and enough Intellect to fuel long mana-burn games.
Tips
- •Assign one caller for the go — burst only lands when Chain Lightning, Mind Blast and Shadow Bolt hit the same target in the same two globals, not spread across three targets.
- •Bait defensives before Bloodlust: force the trinket, Divine Shield or Ice Block on a fake go, then commit the real one when the target is naked.
- •Rotate your interrupts, don't stack them — Counterspell, then Spell Lock, then Silence, then Earth Shock keeps a healer locked far longer than dumping all four at once.
- •Keep Grounding Totem on cooldown for the enemy's key cast (Polymorph, Fear, Counterspell) rather than letting it sit unused.
Gear & talents for this comp
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