White & Yellow

A terminological distinction that I will often employ on this blog is the distinction between "white" and "yellow" attacks.  These terms come from the color of the damage number that appears above the head of your target in Blizzard's default interface.  Generally, by "white" attack I mean an weapon auto-attack (melee or ranged), rather than a spell or ability.  "Yellow" attacks are everything else (the distinction is mostly irrelevant for casters, who typically don't attack with their weapons).  The difference is important, because auto-attacks tend to follow very different rules from spells and abilities, as we will see when we discuss the combat table.