Barkskin

Barkskin
	Barkskin; Level 24 druid ability; 45 sec cooldown; Instant; Your skin becomes as tough as bark, reducing all damage you take by 20% and preventing damage from delaying your spellcasts. Lasts 8 sec.; ; Usable while stunned, frozen, incapacitated, feared, or asleep, and in all shapeshift forms.;
Properties
Class	Druid
School	Nature
Cooldown	45 seconds
Other information
Level learned	24
Improvements	[Brambles], [Improved Barkskin], [Matted Fur], [Reinforced Fur], [Survival of the Fittest], [Ursoc's Endurance], [Verdant Heart]
Related buff
	; Barkskin ; All damage taken is reduced by 20%. ; Duration: 8 Seconds ;

For the Furbolg tribe, see Barkskin tribe. For the pet battle ability, see [Barkskin].

Barkskin is a druid ability.

Tips and tactics

This spell gives you the opportunity to cast a spell without suffering pushback.
This spell is especially useful for casting [Tranquility] and [Hurricane], as they are very expensive, and Tranquility in particular has a long cooldown. Even though you can still be interrupted by counterspell mechanics, Barkskin will allow the full duration of the spell to take place in lieu of damaging attacks.
Barkskin has no global cooldown, so you can add it into macros to cast it automatically when using the aforementioned skills, or any other combination, such as [Frenzied Regeneration].
In PvP, using Barkskin when under [Cheap Shot] or [Kidney Shot] by a rogue, or under [Hammer of Justice] or [Fist of Justice] by a paladin, may give you the edge to survive the encounter, especially if caught in caster form.

Notes

Barkskin is undispellable.
Barkskin is off the global cooldown.
Barkskin is usable in all forms, including [Flight Form] and [Swift Flight Form].

Inversion

Every spell can have a reverse reaction from that originally intended, an example of this is the barkskin spell. Malfurion Stormrage developed a reverse effect to use against the Burning Legion. This variation of the barkskin spell also hardens the targets skin, but at the same time makes the target unable to move, turning him into a statue.^[1]

Patch changes

Hotfix (2023-04-10): Cooldown reduced to 45 seconds (was 1 minute).
Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): Rank 2 converted into the [Improved Barkskin] talent.
Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13):
- All druid can now learn Barkskin at level 24 (was 26 for Balance, Guardian, and Restoration only). Duration reduced from 12 seconds to 8.
- Rank 2 added at level 44: Duration increased by 4 sec.
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Now learned at level 26 (was 36).
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): New visual animation. Now learned at level 36 (was 44).
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): No longer available to Feral druids.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Now learned at level 44 (was 58).
Hotfix (2011-12-02): Druids can no longer cast Barkskin while Hexed.
Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): Barkskin is no longer dispellable.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Now learned at level 58 (was 44).
Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): Barkskin is now off the Global Cooldown.
Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Barkskin cannot be used while under the spell effect of [Cyclone].
Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): Barkskin now reduces all damage taken, with its duration reduced to 12 seconds and cooldown reduced to 1 minute.
Patch 2.0.3 (2007-01-09): Barkskin is now usable while stunned.
Patch 1.12.0 (2006-08-22): The tooltip has been changed to 25% due to the haste effect change.
Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07): Added.

References

^ World of Warcraft: Stormrage, pg. 332

External links

[1] World of Warcraft: Stormrage, pg. 332

[1]