| Power Word: Shield | |
|---|---|
| |
| Properties | |
| Class | Priest |
| School | Holy |
| Cooldown | 4 seconds |
| Other information | |
| Requirements | Target must not have Weakened Soul debuff. |
| Improvements |
 [Improved Power Word: Shield],  [Silent Resolve],  [Mental Agility],  [Reflective Shield],  [Pain Suppression],  [Borrowed Time], [Renewed Hope] |
| Related buff | |
| |
| Related debuff | |
| |
[[Category:priest abilities]][[Category:priest abilities]]
Power Word: Shield (abbr. PW:S) is a defensive priest ability available at level 6. It creates a protective shield around a friendly target which absorbs a set amount of damage. Power Word: Shield also gives the target the Weakened Soul debuff for 15 seconds, which prevents the target from being shielded.
Rank table
| Rank | Absorbed damage | Level | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | 6 | 1
|
| 2 | 88 | 12 | 8
|
| 3 | 158 | 18 | 29
|
| 4 | 234 | 24 | 71
|
| 5 | 301 | 30 | 85
|
| 6 | 381 | 36 | 1 50
|
| 7 | 484 | 42 | 1 98
|
| 8 | 605 | 48 | 4 20
|
| 9 | 763 | 54 | 5 80
|
| 10 | 942 | 60 | 4 70
|
| 11 | 1125 | 65 | 7 20
|
| 12 | 1265 | 70 | 12 60
|
| 13 | 1920 | 75 | 18
|
| 14 | 2230 | 80 | 18
|
Notes
- Absorb effects apply after damage reduction effects, including armor. If the damage of an attack is partially resisted or reduced by another effect such as
[Renewed Hope], this will lower the amount of damage remaining to be absorbed and allow a shield to last longer. - Power Word: Shield absorbs damage only. Most other effects attached to a damaging attack, such as a debuff that the attack applies or a spell interrupt will ignore the shield even if the attack deals no damage. Exceptions are [Dazed] effects from being attacked from behind and spell pushback, which are both prevented.
- Environmental damage (fall, fatigue, drowning) is not absorbed.
- Receives a 80.68% bonus from spell power (30% of +healing in Patch 2.3; 20% as of Patch 2.0.10, previously 10%)
- Generates about half the threat of normal healing spells.
- The shield cannot absorb health paid to pay the cost of an ability such a [Life Tap] or [Blood Tap]. Such health lost ignores the shield.
- As of Patch 3.1, will still allow warriors and druids to generate rage from damage absorbed.
Improvements
Talents and spells
- [Body and Soul]: When you cast Power Word: Shield, you increase the target's movement speed by 30-60% for 4 sec.
- [Borrowed Time] increases spell haste by up to 25% on the next spell cast (with a cast time) after casting Power Word: Shield and increases spell power contribution to the amount absorbed.
- [Focused Power] increases the amount absorbed by the shield.
- [Improved Power Word: Shield] increases the amount of damage absorbed by the shield.
- [Mental Agility] reduces the mana cost of Power Word: Shield.
- [Pain Suppression] is an activated talent which also decreases the chance of Power Word: Shield being dispelled.
- [Rapture] returns mana to the caster when the shield is fully absorbed.
- [Reflective Shield] causes partial damage absorbed by the shield to be reflected to the attacker, without increasing threat. Only works if the casting priest is the target of the shield.
- [Renewed Hope] increases critical strike chance on targets with Weakened Soul and reduces damage done to your party or raid when you cast Power Word: Shield.
- [Silent Resolve] reduces threat gain from the shield and decreases its chance of being dispelled.
- [Soul Warding] reduces the cooldown of your Power Word: Shield ability by 4 sec, and reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Shield by 15%.
- [Spiritual Healing] increase the amount absorbed by the shield.
- [Twin Disciplines] increases the amount absorbed by the shield.
Items
- Tier 8, [Conqueror's Sanctification Regalia] or [Valorous Sanctification Regalia]: Four piece set bonus grants 250 spell power for 5 seconds upon casting Power Word: Shield.
- [The All-Seeing Eye of Zuldazar]: On equip, increases the amount of damage absorbed by Power Word: Shield by 35.
Glyphs
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Formula
Current formula for working out Power Word: Shield (Patch 3.2)
(base_absorb+(0.8068+0.08*BT)*sp)*(1+0.05*IMP)*(1+ 0.02*FP)*(1+0.01*TD)
- base_absorb is the base absorb given the PW:S which is 2230 at the moment
- BT is your [Borrowed Time] level
- SP is your Spell Power
- IMP is your [Improved Power Word: Shield] level
- FP is your [Focused Power] level
- TD is your [Twin Disciplines] level
e.g. (2230+(0.8068+0.08*5)*2500)*(1+0.05*3)*(1+ 0.02*2)*(1+0.01*5) = 6589
It should be noted here that PW:S will only absorb damage after all other damage reduction including the target's armor. This means that while the amount absorbed here is 6589 the character will most likely be taking more than 6589 damage before the shield has absorbed all it can.
Bugs
- The bonus given by [Twin Disciplines] and [Focused Power] do not apply correctly to the amount absorbed by the shield; the bonuses are added instead of multiplied. Thus, when fully talented, the size of the shield is multiplied by 1.09 rather than 1.092. (4% & 5% = 1.04*1.05 = 1.092)
- [Glyph of Power Word: Shield] does not take into account the bonus from [Improved Power Word: Shield] when calculating the healing amount
- The amount healed by [Glyph of Power Word: Shield] is increased by any talents or effects the target has that increase healing done. For example, if the effect is used on a Restoration Shaman, the heal will be increased by 10% because of [Purification]. This bug created the commonly held misconception that [Focused Power] applies twice to [Glyph of Power Word: Shield]. When a priest tests the effect on herself, [Focused Power] does apply twice; once correctly and once because of this bug. On any other target the caster's [Focused Power] will apply only once.
Tips and tactics
- Casting it before combat does not cause any threat and reduces the time until the target can be shielded again.
- A major disadvantage of the shield is that it is not a true healing spell, so it may wear off without having any impact. If the shield is cast on a player who will not be taking damage in the next 30 seconds, it is a waste of mana.
- Paladins want to be healed rather than shielded, even though they are perfectly capable of using [Divine Plea] and [Judgement of Wisdom]. They receive mana from heals, but not from Power Word: Shield. Paladin tanks have tiny mana pools and rely on healing or will go oom.
- Due to changes in rage/mana generation (especially with [Blessing of Sanctuary]), Power Word: Shield is more acceptable to place on tanks since 3.0.2.
- There was a time when Power Word: Shield would only be used in case of emergency because of its large mana cost and cooldown. Now it is a mainstay of healing for Discipline priests and is actually one of the Discipline priests' most mana efficient heals.
- Power Word: Shield can also be seen as a way of pushing a tank's health beyond its normal limit. It is effective to Power Word: Shield before major attacks that will destroy the shield in one blow. Using it before Patchwerk's Hateful Strike or similar devastating attacks reduces the chance that a tank will die to a possible critical hit after such an attack.
- The effectiveness of Power Word: Shield is not altered by [Mortal Strike] and similar healing-reducing debuffs; in these situations it can sometimes be more effective to shield a tank first, rather than spam heals right away.
- This is useful for casters who are receiving damage, as it prevents spell interruption from damage, especially while they are channeling, and even the priest himself can benefit from this (especially in solo combat).
- The Weakened Soul debuff can be shortened to 13 seconds with the 4 piece bonus from Gladiator's Investiture.
- In PvP, this spell can be a huge boon to bestow on Rogues and Feral Druids. Any damage taken will unstealth a character. However, if you Power Word: Shield a Rogue, AoE damage that doesn't get through the shield is absorbed, which greatly increases the difficulty of finding a Rogue by laying down an AoE. Power Word: Shield will also absorb the damage from DoT's, allowing DoT'd Rogues to Vanish safely. Just know that if the AoE or DoT damage is greater than the shield will take, then the actual character will take damage and stealth will become undone.
Patch changes
- Template:Patched
- Patch 3.3.0 (2009-12-08): This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.
- Patch 2.4.0 (2008-03-25): Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
- Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Now gains additional benefit from spell damage and healing bonuses. Base absorb values of ranks 10, 11 and 12 have been reduced.
- Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): The Weakened Soul effect will no longer sometimes be re-applied while zoning with this buff on.
- Patch 2.0.10 (2007-03-06): The damage absorption of "Power Word: Shield" added by the caster's bonus healing has been increased to 20%.
- Patch 1.10.0 (2006-03-28): This spell will now get a small bonus from items and effects which increase your healing.
- Patch 1.7.0 (2005-09-13): Fixed a bug where [Soul Link] and Power Word: Shield, when used together, would heal the Warlock instead of splitting or absorbing damage.
- Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12): Damage absorption now absorbs damage from mana burn effects like Lava Shield.
- Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07): Now castable on all raid targets.
- Patch 1.2.0 (2004-12-18): Now usable on party members only.
External links
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