• Author: GideonAI
• Date: November 5, 2019
• Updated: March 28, 2025
• Expansion: WoW Classic

In this guide, we’ll take a look at a niche technique, meleeing while wanding. While this might sound like a waste of DPS — and it often is — there are some instances where it can be quite helpful. Check out the video or read on for a detailed explanation of when and why to use this technique!

The Deets

Alright, so turns out you can melee while wanding in Classic WoW. You just need a macro:

/startattack

Push that macro every time you shoot and push the shoot button every time you melee, while wielding a melee weapon that is of equal speed or faster than your wand.

This technique follows the same principle as meleeing while casting instant and channeled spells, although this method isn’t exactly free damage like it is with instant and channeled spells. That’s because you technically interrupt your wanding each time you melee, which adds the 0.3 second windup delay onto your wand shots (which normally only happens for the first wand shot). Combine that with the Caster-class glancing blow penalty (which lowers melee dps to beteween 50-85% less than the listed amount), and you usually lose damage by doing this.

But there are 3 times when this is really good:

• When you’re fighting green or gray level mobs, when you basically never have glancing blows and your melees deal tons of damage.
• In PvP, when you also never have glancing blows and your melees deal significantly more damage and you apply more spell pushback to enemy casters.
• When you want to land more attacks on a target to benefit from Paladin’s Judgement of Wisdom.

Here’s a little list to show the wand damage loss from executing this technique (independent of the added melee damage):

• 2 speed wand = 15% wand damage loss
• 1.9 speed wand = 15.75% wand damage loss
• 1.8 speed wand = 16.5% wand damage loss
• 1.7 speed wand = 17.5% wand damage loss
• 1.6 speed wand = 18.75% wand damage loss
• 1.5 speed wand = 20% wand damage loss
• 1.4 speed wand = 21.5% wand damage loss
• 1.3 speed wand = 23% wand damage loss
• 1.2 speed wand = 25% wand damage loss

If you have any questions or perhaps tips and tricks to share, please feel free to do so. And remember, go crazy!