The short version#
- The Spell Queue Window is how early you can press your next spell and have the game start it the moment your current cast, or your global cooldown, ends.
- It's 400 ms by default, and you can set it anywhere from 0 to 400.
- The one rule: no gaps between your casts. Past that, the right number is whatever feels right to you. Lower feels snappier, higher is more forgiving.
- A good place to start is your latency plus 100 ms. With 40 ms latency, type this in chat:
/console SpellQueueWindow 140
What it does#
Every cast ends at a moment, and so does the global cooldown after an instant spell. The Spell Queue Window is a short stretch of time right before that moment. Press your next spell inside it and the game queues it: it goes out ahead of time and starts the instant the current one ends. Press before the window opens and the game ignores the press, and you have to press again.
Lightning Bolt
Press here: ignoredIgnored
The game drops it. Press again later.
Press here: queuedQueued
It starts the moment this cast ends.
- One spell waits at a time. Press a different spell inside the window and it takes the queued one's place.
- A queued spell goes off on its own. You don't have to press anything else, and it doesn't care whether you still want it.
Why it exists#
Your character lives on Blizzard's servers, not on your computer. Every press has to travel there, and word of what happened has to travel back. That round trip is your latency, and without a queue you'd pay it on every single cast: the bar would end on your screen, you'd press, and your press would reach the server a full round trip after your cast actually ended.
The queue fixes that by letting you send your next spell before the current one is over. It reaches the server early, waits, and starts right on time.
Without a queue
120 ms gap, every cast- The cast ends on the server.
- Word of it reaches you 60 ms later: the bar ends on your screen, and you press your next spell.
- Your press reaches the server 60 ms after that. The next cast starts 120 ms late: your whole latency, on every cast.
With the queue
No gap- You press your next spell inside the window (the striped part of your bar), before the cast is over.
- It reaches the server early and waits there. The next cast starts the moment this one ends.
Never go below your latency
Your press has to reach the server before your cast ends there. If your window is smaller than your latency, even a perfectly timed press starts your next cast late, every time. And your latency isn't one fixed number: it moves around from moment to moment. Leave room above it for its spikes and for your own timing.
The only rule: no gaps#
No matter what anyone tells you, your Spell Queue Window has one job: no gaps between your casts. Past that, the right number is the one that feels right to you.
A gap is time your character spends doing nothing when it could be casting. Even a tiny one adds up when it happens cast after cast, and it's sneaky, because a gap of a few hundredths of a second is too short to see unless you know where to look.
1.6 seconds lost every minute: more than one whole cast, from gaps too short to notice.
A big window is forgiving: it catches early presses, so it's hard to leave a gap with it. A small one feels snappier, but asks for better timing. If a setting makes you leave gaps, it's too low for you, however responsive it feels. Anything above that is yours to pick.
Try it#
Keep Lightning Bolt going: press the button, or 1, inside the window before each cast ends. Then lower the window and see how much closer to the end you have to press. Push your latency past your window and you'll see why you never go below it.
- Press the button or 1 to start casting.
- Ignored
- Queued, on time
- Queued, but reaches the server late
- The gap before your next cast
No gap for a press between 400 ms and 40 ms before the end of the bar.
What a big window costs#
Here's the part that's easy to miss: a queued spell is a decision you've already made. With a 400 ms window your next spell can be queued almost half a second before it goes off, and it goes off unless you change it in time. A lot can happen in half a second. A boss mechanic. A cast you need to kick. A teammate who suddenly needs the heal more than the one you queued.
Yes, you can change it: press a different spell inside the window and it takes the queued one's place. In theory. In reality, your brain needs about a quarter of a second just to notice that something changed and press a key, and your new press has to reach the server before the cast ends there, so the last moment to change your mind is about your latency before the end of your bar. Hesitate past that and nothing stops the queued spell. It goes off.
You can swap a queued spell. You can't out-react your own brain, or your connection.
Window: 400 ms (the default)
A whole cast on the wrong target- You press a heal on the tank 0.35 s before your cast ends. It's inside the window, so it's queued.
- 0.2 s before the end, the rogue drops low.
- It takes you about a quarter of a second to notice and press a heal on the rogue. By then the queued heal has already gone to the tank.
Window: 100 ms
90 ms gap- The same early press is outside the window, so it doesn't count. Nothing is queued.
- The rogue drops low.
- You press a heal on the rogue a quarter of a second later. It starts as soon as it reaches the server: you lose 90 ms, not a whole cast.
And when it costs nothing: if your next spell rarely changes on you, a steady rotation where the next press is planned well ahead, there's nothing to swap. Then a big window simply catches every early press, and that's a perfectly good way to play.
How fast are you?
See how long it takes you to react when something changes. That time is gone before you can swap anything.
Press Heal (or 2) to start. When the rogue's health drops, heal them as fast as you can.
Most people need 200 to 300 ms just to notice a change and press a key.
Lower can feel better#
Even if you're not trying to squeeze out every last bit of performance, a lower window can make the game feel better. With a 400 ms window, the spell that goes off can be one you pressed almost half a second earlier. With a smaller window, it's never older than the window: your character does what you meant, closer to when you meant it.
If you mash your keys, a big window queues your spell the instant it opens, at the earliest moment, when you know the least about what's coming. A smaller window makes your mashing count later, closer to when it matters.
To be clear, a lower window doesn't make your spells come out any faster, and it doesn't lower your latency. For a lot of players it makes the game feel more connected to their hands, and over hours of play that's worth a lot.
It's your call#
This is a controversial topic, and many players will tell you not to change it. But it really depends on the content you're playing and what feels good to you. In PvE as a caster, you might use a different Spell Queue Window than a melee player in PvP, and that's okay.
I've played on a low, sub-50 Spell Queue Window to Rank 1, and I've raided with no gaps in my casts. That's the most important thing. Find a value where there are no gaps in your casting and your character still feels responsive.
There's no one right number. A big window lets you press once for each cast and stop thinking about timing. A small one keeps every press fresh, but asks more of you. Good players sit all over the range:
| How you play | Often feels right |
|---|---|
| Casual raiding, one press per cast | As high as it goes (400) |
| Casting in PvE | On the higher side |
| Melee | Lower |
| Competitive PvP | Much lower |
| A bit of everything | Somewhere in the middle |
What moves your number:
- Your latency. It's your floor, and it moves around, so leave room above your usual number. Playing from far away, on a weak connection, or on another region's realms pushes it up.
- How steady your timing is. If you tend to press early, a bigger window catches those presses instead of dropping them.
- How much your next press depends on what just happened. A steady rotation on a raid boss loses little to a big window. A rotation full of procs, reacting in arena or healing a group, a smaller one helps more.
- Your class. The same player might like one number on a caster and another on a melee class.
How to spot a gap#
There are two kinds. One you'll feel: press before your window opens and the press is ignored, so nothing is queued and your character stands still until you press again. The other you won't: a press that reaches the server a moment after your cast ended starts the next cast that much late, a few hundredths of a second, far too short to notice while you play. Those are the ones that add up over a fight.
Make them impossible
A press leaves no gap when it lands inside your window and at least your latency before your cast ends (Why it exists shows why). That stretch is your window minus your latency: 100 ms at the starting point this guide suggests. Press anywhere in it and the next cast starts on time, every time.
The Try it bar above shows where your presses land: its log says how early each one was, and it counts every gap.
See every gap
The SKTools addon shows them as you play. Type /sk, open Tweaks, and turn on Gaps Between Casts, right under the Spell Queue Window slider. It draws your last few casts on a timeline with every gap between them in milliseconds.
Queue Window on Cast Bar, just above it, shades the end of your cast bar, so you can see your window while you cast. Get the addon.
Find your number#
Find your latency
Hover over the Game Menu button in your menu bar (bottom right of the screen, unless you've moved it). Read your world latency: that's your connection to combat.
Game Menu (Escape)
Latency:
40 ms (home)
40 ms (world)
Pick a place to start
Your latency plus 100 ms is a good middle to start from. If you press once for each cast and the default already feels good, keep 400.
msStart at 140 ms/console SpellQueueWindow 140Play what you normally play
A training dummy for your rotation first, then the real thing: arena, dungeons, raids. Keep Gaps Between Casts on to see whether any gaps sneak in (see How to spot a gap).
Move it until it feels right
Try 10 to 20 ms at a time. Lower makes it snappier, higher makes it more forgiving. Keep the number that feels best to you.
Go back up if presses stop going through
If you catch yourself pressing again because a press didn't take, or gaps start showing up, go back to your last good value.
Tip
If your latency changes, say on another region's realms or a hotel's connection, find your number again.
Set it#
Type this in chat, with your own number:
/console SpellQueueWindow 140See what it's set to now (the game answers in chat):
/dump GetCVar("SpellQueueWindow")And to go back to the default:
/console SpellQueueWindow 400The game remembers it, so you only set it once.
Playing WoW: Forever too?
It keeps a setting of its own. Set it there as well.
Rather use a slider?
The SKTools addon has one: type /sk and open Tweaks. If that's all you want, SKSpellQueueWindow does just this one job (type /sksq). Both work in retail and WoW: Forever. Get the addon.
Questions#
Is there a best number?
No. The one rule is no gaps between your casts. Past that, it's whatever feels right, and that can change with your class and what you're playing.
Does a lower Spell Queue Window lower my latency?
No. It only changes how early the game takes your next press. Your connection stays exactly the same.
Does it matter for instant spells?
Yes. An instant spell starts your global cooldown, and the window covers the end of the global cooldown the same way it covers the end of a cast.
Why does a spell sometimes go off when I didn't want it anymore?
It was queued: you pressed it inside the window, and a queued spell goes off on its own. A smaller window means fewer early presses get locked in.
What happens at 0?
Nothing is ever queued. Each cast waits for your press to reach the server after the last one ends, so every cast leaves a gap at least as long as your latency. Don't go below your latency.
Will it raise my damage or healing?
Only by getting rid of gaps: a setting that leaves gaps does less. Past that it doesn't make your spells go out any faster. A smaller window lets a last-moment change of mind count; a bigger one forgives early presses.
Is it okay to change?
Yes. It's one of the game's own settings, and the chat command is the game's own way to change it.