Polymorph

Polymorph
	Polymorph; Level 10 mage ability; 30 yd range; 4% of base mana; 1.7 sec cast; Transforms the enemy into a sheep, wandering around incapacitated for 1 min. While affected, the victim cannot take actions but will regenerate health very quickly. Damage will cancel the effect. Limit 1.; ; Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.;
Properties
Class	Mage
School	Arcane
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	10
Improvements	[Master Shepherd]
Related debuff
	Magic ; Polymorph ; Incapacitated. Cannot attack or cast spells. Increased health regeneration. ; Duration: 1 minute ;

In the TCG.

Polymorph is a mage ability, learned at level 10 or from the Exile's Reach quest [1-10] A Mage's Knowledge. This ability offers long-duration crowd control that breaks on damage.

In lore

The book Polymorphic Rules & Regulations contains a list of rules to prevent polymorph-related mishaps, which make up the highest number of complaints the Kirin Tor receive. These include rules about what can be polymorphed, what types of creatures a mage can transform a target into, and what spells are dangerous to combine with polymorphs. The book goes on for hundreds of pages.
During the time of her studies in Dalaran, Jaina Proudmoore polymorphed a squirrel into a sheep.^[1]
When Thrall searched the Stonetalon Peak caverns, several Alliance units polymorphed themselves into sheep as a trap. Thrall quickly realized that he had not seen any sheep in Kalimdor.^[2]

This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

Dak'mal polymorphed Umber Goonrock into a beetle.^[3]

Tips and tactics

Polymorph has a maximum PvP duration of 6 seconds and is subject to diminishing returns. Its diminishing returns category is shared with [Hex].
Druid shapeshift forms provide immunity to polymorphs. Even if a druid is polymorphed while in their caster form, they can simply break the effect by shapeshifting.
Although Polymorph causes the target's health to regenerate quickly, it doesn't affect mana in any way.
Polymorphing a target on the ground will dismount them.

Alternate versions

The default version of Polymorph transforms a target into a sheep. A variety of alternate versions for different animals exist:

Spell	Effect	Source	Notes
Polymorph: Pig	Pig	The Amazing Zanzo in Dalaran	Was learned from [60] Fragmented Magic before patch 4.0.3a.
Polymorph: Black Cat	Black Cat	[Tome of Polymorph: Black Cat]	2,500 from Endora Moorehead in Dalaran at neutral Kirin Tor reputation.
Polymorph: Monkey	Monkey	[Tome of Polymorph: Monkey]	Drops from hozen and monkey mobs.
Polymorph: Rabbit	Rabbit	[Tome of Polymorph: Rabbit]	Found or purchased during Noblegarden.
Polymorph: Polar Bear Cub	Polar Bear Cub	[Tome of Polymorph: Polar Bear Cub]	Drops from Arctic Grizzlies in the Dragonblight.
Polymorph: Porcupine	Porcupine	[Tome of Polymorph: Porcupine]	Drops from porcupines in Pandaria.
Polymorph: Turtle	Turtle	[Tome of Polymorph: Turtle]	Can be fished up from Cataclysm fishing pools.
Polymorph: Bumblebee	Bee	Tome of Polymorph: Bumblebee	Alliance only. 1800 from Sister Lilyana in Stormsong Valley at revered Storm's Wake reputation.
Polymorph: Direhorn	Baby direhorn	Tome of Polymorph: Direhorn	Horde only. 1800 from Natal'hakata in Dazar'alor at revered Zandalari Empire reputation.
Polymorph: Duck	Duck	[Tome of Polymorph: Duck]	Reward from [65-68] Best Spell Ever at ^{[66.4, 33.3]} inside the Duck Cave of Upper Frostlands, Azure Span

Notes and trivia

Polymorph is...
- One of the Mage's abilities in Warcraft II. Its description in the Tides of Darkness game manual reads: "Perhaps the most fearsome of the Mage spells, Polymorph alters the physical form of its target. This metamorphosis changes man to beast, forever warping both mind and body. This sorcery wholly transforms the victim into a creature of the wilds, thus losing their reasoning - making commands for direction or battle impossible. Although there is no counter for this spell, possessing a greater stamina does decrease the possibility of this enchantment taking effect."
- One of the Sorceress's abilities in Warcraft III. Its description in the Reign of Chaos manual reads: "Long ago, this spell was considered to be the ultimate insult to the enemy. It has the ability to turn any enemy into a mere sheep for a limited duration of time."
- A common mage ability in the Trading Card Game. Its flavor text reads: "Baaaaa."
- A basic mage spell in Hearthstone. Its flavor text reads: "There was going to be a pun in this flavor text, but it just came out baa-d."
- One of Brightwing's basic abilities in Heroes of the Storm.
Polymorph: Penguin is a common mage ability in the Trading Card Game. Its flavor text reads: "'I thought being turned into a sheep was humiliating enough... now this?!' —Gorebelly"
Polymorph: Boar is a rare mage spell in Hearthstone. Its flavor text reads: "It's always Huffer."
Poly Bomb is one of Medivh's heroic abilities in Heroes of the Storm. It polymorphs an enemy hero for two seconds, then spreads to nearby enemy heroes. It can spread from hero to hero continually.
In "The Dark Portal," the opening cinematic for The Burning Crusade, a human mage polymorphs a tauren into a sheep.
In the Warcraft film, Khadgar polymorphs a prison guard into a sheep.
In the animated short Hearth and Home, an orc minion is polymorphed into a sheep.

Gallery

Icon in Warcraft II.
Icon in Warcraft III.
In "The Dark Portal" cinematic.
In the Warcraft II manual.
In the Warcraft film.
In Hearth and Home.
Polymorph: Penguin in the TCG.
Polymorph: Boar in Hearthstone.

Patch changes

Patch 10.1.0 (2023-05-02): Duration decreased to 6 seconds in PvP combat (was 8 seconds).
Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Now learned at level 10 (was 8), or from the Exile's Reach quest [1-10] A Mage's Knowledge.
Hotfix (2018-09-12): Player pets polymorphed by Polymorph: Direhorn will no longer be giant baby dinosaurs.
Hotfix (2018-08-22): All Polymorph variants should now have the same duration.
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Now learned at level 8 (was 18).
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Now learned at level 18 (was 14).
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Polymorph variants except for Polymorph: Sheep are now all learned as spells and grouped in a flyout on the Spellbook instead of being a Minor Glyph that alters the visuals of Polymorph: Sheep.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Range reduced from 35 to 30 yd.
Patch 4.3.0 (2011-11-29): Mages who apply both [Glyph of the Monkey] and [Glyph of the Penguin] at the same time will cause the polymorphed target to be randomly transformed into one of the two forms.
Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): Many crowd control abilities no longer cause creatures to attack players when they are cast. The creature will not attack the player when the crowd control wears off, and nearby creatures will not become hostile to the player either. However, if a visible player gets too close to the target creature, the creature will remember and attack the player when the crowd control effect wears off. This includes Polymorph.
Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): Now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Now learned at level 14 (was 8).
Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Now costs 12% of base mana.
Patch 2.4.2 (2008-05-13): Mounted creatures will no longer remain mounted while polymorphed.
Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): It is no longer possible to polymorph a player and have that player remain mounted. In addition, it will now always be removed correctly if multiple Mages overwrite each other's Polymorph.
Patch 2.2.0 (2007-09-25): Duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): Spell duration has been changed from 20 seconds to 8 seconds.
Patch 2.0.1 (2006-12-05):
- In PvP, Crowd Control effects will last no longer than 12 seconds instead of the full duration, with a chance of a heartbeat resist.
- Casting a lower rank polymorph on a target that is already under the effect of a higher rank will cause an error message and not consume mana.
Patch 1.12.0 (2006-08-22): This spell will now be removed when a player leaves a battleground. This prevents some bugs involving polymorph from occurring.
Patch 1.4.0 (2005-04-19): Charm and Polymorph mechanics can now be reactively countered by spells and abilities (e.g. Druid Shapeshifting will now cancel Polymorph effects).
Patch 1.1.0 (2004-11-07):
- Facing requirement removed.
- Now dismounts the enemy target, increased the chance of breaking early.
Patch 0.12 (2004-10-11): No longer affects Dragonkin or Giants.
Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17): Polymorphed targets will now wander a short radius around where they were polymorphed. They will no longer return to where they were first attacked and wander from there. Note that they may still wander off if the duration lasts long enough, so keep an eye on your sheep.
Patch 0.8 (2004-07-07): Added to replace [Sleep].