History Main / Cooldown

* ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}} 2'' had the combination. Some spells were cooldown spells, some could be cast continuously. Unlike most games, if any cooldown spell was used, it would prevent all other cooldown skills from being used for the period, not just itself. Many skill setups in the game involved combining a cooldown skill with a fast casting skill.

* Common in [=DnD-type RPGs=], with spells that can only be used once daily, and so on.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'''s own fourth edition provides a {{tabletop RPG}} example with its split of at-will, encounter (basically "usable once per fight") and daily powers for virtually all classes. At-will attack powers in particular were sharply limited in number -- most characters would start with two, perhaps three different class-specific at-will moves at their disposal right at level 1 and then never get any more or improve them much, forcing them to increasingly rely on their daily and encounter powers as those became available.
** The ''Tome of Battle'' supplement for edition 3.5 has a variant - each of a character's martial maneuvers can be used once per combat, but they can pause to "refresh" them so that they can be used again. The [[SupernaturalMartialArts swordsage]], who relies on rote memorization, knows a large number of maneuvers but must spend his entire turn to refresh even one. The [[GeniusBruiser warblade]], who relies on improvisation and practical experience, knows a moderate number of maneuvers but can refresh all of them at once by making a basic (non-maneuver) attack. The [[{{Determinator}} crusader]], who relies on instinct and tenacity over skill, knows a small number of maneuvers and [[FightLikeACardPlayer the selection he can use at any one time is randomised]], but they refresh automatically (i.e. he never runs out).

* ''BloodlineChampions'' uses cooldowns to limit abilities, as well as having them all activate global cooldowns. Certain abilities can be used to refresh these cooldowns or cause the enemy to suddenly have their abilities to suddenly be on a temporary cooldown, and a few may be activated that ignores the global cooldown.

* ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft II}}'' is moving a bit in this direction, where some {{Mana}}-based abilities are being replaced with cooldowns.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' uses cooldown management extensively for class balance. All classes have some form of resource management, whether it be mana, runic power, energy, rage, etc.; but also mix this up with cooldowns for individual abilities and occasionally shared families of abilities. To this, add a global cooldown, plus certain abilities that aren't on the global cooldown but ''also'' have their own shared cooldowns. The {{Metagame}} of managing one's cooldowns can therefore become as much if not more a part of the game mechanics as the abilities themselves.
** In some cases, the "rotation" that one goes through with their character can affect Damage Per Second or Threat per second by several THOUSAND points, but are typically obscure and can only be found out by people using add-ons, trial and error, or just being told what to do.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has a hero type whose resource management is replaced by cooldown management.
** To clarify; all characters in the game have cooldown on all of their abilities. Most champions also have a resource bar, meaning they can't spam abilities for two reasons (cooldown and mana cost, essentially). However, some champions, such as Garen and Katarina, don't have a resource bar, and instead can spam their abilities as long as they arent on cooldown.

* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series has both versions with various tradeoffs. In ''Mass Effect 1'', each power had its own cooldown, which was abominably long or somewhat fast, depending on what passive abilities you had equipped. In ''Mass Effect 2'', however, using one power put all the other powers on a cooldown after using only one power. In exchange, though, the cooldowns were greatly reduced to a few seconds for almost every ability; powers with cooldowns longer than ten seconds were almost non-existent. Unless the squad members used their powers, since the squad members had much longer cooldown times than Shepard. ''Mass Effect 3'' removed cooldowns from ammo powers and introduced powers that ran on a limited stock of grenades rather than cooldowns (or in the case of Nova and Phase Disruptor, the user's barrier). Armor powers no longer trigger cooldowns on activation, but do trigger a cooldown when "detonated" and impose a cooldown penalty when active.

* ''VideoGame/{{Eve Online}}'' has the global session change timer, which starts when you do an action on a rather small list and forces you to wait 30 seconds before doing another (these include actions like dock at a station, change the ship you're in, join/leave a fleet, use a stargate, ''log on to the game''; you know, that sort of thing). Most active modules have individual cooldown as well; active, repeating modules call it ''cycle time'', while non-repeating modules call it a ''reactivation delay''.

* {{Eve Online}} has the global session change timer, which starts when you do an action on a rather small list and forces you to wait 30 seconds before doing another (these include actions like dock at a station, change the ship you're in, join/leave a fleet, use a stargate, ''log on to the game''; you know, that sort of thing). Most active modules have individual cooldown as well; active, repeating modules call it ''cycle time'', while non-repeating modules call it a ''reactivation delay''.
* ''{{Solatorobo}}'' has cooldown present only in the fishing minigame; any weapons can be fired until they run out of ammo.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', [[MakeMeWannaShout Shouts]] have a cooldown period related to how powerful they are and to what level they've been upgraded.

* ''LeagueOfLegends'' has a hero type whose resource management is replaced by cooldown management.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' uses cooldown management extensively for class balance. All classes have some form of resource management, whether it be mana, runic power, energy, rage, etc.; but also mix this up with cooldowns for individual abilities and occasionally shared families of abilities. To this, add a global cooldown, plus certain abilities that aren't on the global cooldown but ''also'' have their own shared cooldowns. The {{Metagame}} of managing one's cooldowns can therefore become as much if not more a part of the game mechanics as the abilities themselves.

** The ''Tome of Battle'' supplement for edition 3.5 has a variant - each of a character's martial maneuvers can be used once per combat, but they can pause to "refresh" them so that they can be used again. The [[SupernaturalMartialArts swordsage]], who relies on rote memorization, knows a large number of maneuvers but can only refresh one at a time. The [[GeniusBruiser warblade]], who relies on improvisation and practical experience, knows a moderate number of maneuvers but can refresh all of them at once by making a basic (non-maneuver) attack. The [[{{Determinator}} crusader]], who relies on instinct and tenacity over skill, knows a small number of maneuvers and [[FightLikeACardPlayer the selection he can use at any one time is randomised]], but they refresh automatically (i.e. he never runs out).

* In ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'', the Gunlance's [[LimitBreak Wyvern Fire]], various maps' [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice Dragonators]], the Restraints and [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon Demolisher]] in the Battlequarters, the Frenzy-suppressing Wystones, among many, many other things have cooldown periods on the order of minutes. Using one of these ineffectively can be very costly in a quest.

* ''CityOfHeroes'' has a recharge time for all powers.

* ''[[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'''s own fourth edition provides a {{tabletop RPG}} example with its split of at-will, encounter (basically "usable once per fight") and daily powers for virtually all classes. At-will attack powers in particular were sharply limited in number -- most characters would start with two, perhaps three different class-specific at-will moves at their disposal right at level 1 and then never get any more or improve them much, forcing them to increasingly rely on their daily and encounter powers as those became available.

The [[TropesAreNotBad upside]] to this mechanic is that it adds a layer of complexity to the overall {{Metagame}} as players have to deal with timing as well as damage numbers and StandardStatusEffects. Changing a skill's recovery time has a disproportionately large effect on its usefulness compared to its other statistics as one second less can make it a {{Gamebreaker}} while one second more can make it entirely useless. As a result, the recovery time of an ability is almost always balanced against that of others as opposed to approximating reality or following flavor.

* All special abilities in ''AlphaProtocol'' have a cooldown time, which can be reduced by certain perks or armour upgrades. The ability Brilliance (which, itself, has a base cooldown time of 300 or 45 seconds) resets the timer for every other ability. [[ThatOneBoss Brayko]] becomes much less of a threat when you can use [[GameBreaker Master Chain Shot]] on him twice on a row.

* A notable aversion in the BeatEmUp game of [[ComicBook/XenozoicTales Cadillacs and Dinosaurs]]. Each character has a special move that kills all the enemies that surround him/her, but using it depletes your health bar. You can keep using it but that effectively leaves you in a [[GlassCannon touch-and-go state]].

* A njotable aversion in the BeatEmUp game of [[ComicBook/XenozoicTales Cadillacs and Dinosaurs]]. Each character has a spcial move that kills al the enemies that surround it, but using it depletes your health bar. You can keep using it but that effectively leaves you in a [[GlassCannon touch-and-go state]].

Certain games also have a '''global cooldown''', which triggers after ''any'' sequence of moves depletes a character's 'stamina' or 'energy' and disables ''all'' moves while it recharges, possibly closer to how this mechanic would work in RealLife. There are also games with a combination of both, such as having common cooldowns for different sets of moves rather than all moves or having some moves with individual cooldowns and others shared.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' - The Scout's Bonk! Atomic Punch, Crit-a-Cola, and Mad Milk, the Demoman's Chargin' Targe and Splendid Screen charges, the Sniper's Jarate, and the Heavy's Sandvich and Buffalo Steak Sandvich are all subject to cooldown, though they can be recharged instantly by visiting the respawn lockers and the Sandvich can also be recharged by picking up a health pack when you already have full health.