I don’t recall ever seeing anything about it and you certainly don’t hear lore characters ever muttering a spell when casting one.
I assume, aside from game balancing, that in-game channels/non-instant-casts would imply your character is saying an incantation or something (obviously there is no voice acting for your toons for this and I don’t care if there is any or not).
I just find it interesting that incantations are never really mentioned, as far as I can tell, considering there are magic schools and such.
Then I wonder; are incantations only for beginner magic users; the more experienced you are, the more magic you can do in your head, or…?
I could’ve sworn they used incantations in the movie, but then again that’s the movie.
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I went to Warcraftwiki and typed “incantation.” They seem pretty prevalent tbh.
The incantation used to conjure fire for one spell (e.g: [Fireball]) might be the same incantation used to conjure fire for another spell (e.g: [Pyroblast]); Micky Neilson imagines if there is a difference in incantation, it’s minor.[
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It’s the other way around we generally hear incantations when someone is doing a very high powered magic ritual that it’s usually our job to stop.
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While not absent, it doesn’t come up in-game very often, but the books often feature incantation as part of conjuring a spell, by way of so many of them having mage and dragon-posing-as-mage PoV characters.
The involvement of specific “finger-wagging” gestures and whatnot to cast spells is less frequently implied, usually amounting to a single movement to “throw” the spell once it’s conjured, but the need for more complex and specific gesticulations theoretically might also be a thing.
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It has been a long time, but I recall the War of the Ancients trilogy by Knaak had alot of moments where spell casting and silencing were described graphically. With spells and counter spells being cast between the various casters of both sides.
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Off the top of my head is Archimonde using one to destroy Dalaran in War3.
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You can see him drawing a magic circle on the ground as he begins to chant a spell to bring down Dalaran
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Every now and then they show up but it’s not common. I remember some quest in I think Legion where Kalec chanted in Thalassian. I think Khadgar has once or twice too.
It doesn’t happen a lot.
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incantations exist entirely at the discretion of the writers. thalyssra uses them a lot, iirc, but they don’t appear necessary for working most or all kinds of magic. this magic system is preeeeetty soft, so wanting determined rules and laws for magic is pretty, uh, fantastical thinking.
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TL: DR: I have always assume that magic is treated like a superpower where you just learn how to just channel a type and just project it. Since I knew MMO typically would never actually expand on magic spells beyond the visuals in a game unless it’s a ritual of summoning ‘something’ like mention before, that we the heroes usually want to stop… unless your a Warlock of course! 
Hide my additional thoughts yet not completely on topic to spare your eyes! lol
Then again this could change maybe in the future… if part of the story with the restoration of Silvermoon and the unification of the elves is also discovering their racial and natural connection to different types of magic. Now with the Arathi I wonder if it will be just adding sharp ears to humans just like Darkfallen, the Eredar Skin and the Nightwarrior Eyes or if they will eventually add to does a visual at least like they did with the Eredar or different racial if you activate does skins on the races.
I can totally see the primalist wanting to join this (Shaman for elves here we go!! 
) and Tyrande makes a fuse about it but gets rebuke by Azshara in her restore Night Elf Naga mix new model with her typical grand entrance and smart passive aggressive word daggers. (since N’zoth is dead it should be simple for the Highborn to semi-revert to land walking form, though I do love their Naga shape and it be easier for Blizz to just reuse them or they can use the Evokers CC to the Night Elf model for that humanoid Naga traits to their model, I am curious what they pick if their dev time allows Blizz team)
Hopefully since we have undead elves among us… this leads to the next focus restoration “The Forsaken!” ("wink, wink with sad puppy eyes begging, looking beyond these forums!)
Aahh there I go again vomiting all my thoughts on this, sorry…
I always took it to be Jujutsu Kaisen rules. Incantations, sigils/runes/ and hand movements aren’t necessary for normal spellcasting, but doing them can strengthen the spellcasting and even let the user do larger scale/more elaborate magic.
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A mage who has been silenced can no longer cast spells.
This means he has to speak to cast.
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