The Egotistical Priest
An irreverent and opinionated discussion of the many classes
in the World of Warcraft gaming universe.
Power Word : Shield (Bubble)
by Vonya
First thing’s first. It’s not Power Word : Shield, it’s not even PW:S.
It’s bubble.
Jello bubble, to be more specific, but I’m satisfied just calling it a bubble. Sure, paladins have a bubble too, but this is the only priest bubble we’ve got.
It’s a bubble. A bubble.
Now that we’ve got the most important detail out of the way, we can move on to the actual spell review.
Today, my gentle snowflakes, we are going to discuss the priest bubble.
The tooltip says, Draws on the soul of the party member to shield them, absorbing XX damage. Lasts 30 sec. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage. Once shielded, the target cannot be shielded again for 15 sec.
What Bubble Does
Draws on the soul of the party member to shield them, absorbing XX damage.
It’s a damage shield. You bubble someone and they are protected, completely, from all damage up to the XX. Kinda handy, innit? Sounds simple enough. Let’s move on to the next bit.
Lasts 30 sec.
Well, that ain’t bad either. They don’t come right out and say it, but it doesn’t always last 30 seconds. It’s 30 seconds or XX damage, whichever comes first. That’s not particularly surprising either. So far the spell seems pretty straightforward. Bubble will shield the target for XX damage for up to 30 seconds.
While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage.
Oho! Now THAT’s a nice little turn of events. Not interrupting spellcasting? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been soloing and I can’t even get a smite off because the thing hitting me keeps resetting my cast bar. If I’m bubbled, my casting can’t be interrupted.
And let’s take that a step further, shall we? If we’re grouping with a warlock who is trying to use Drain Life (a channeled spell), we can toss a quick bubble on them. Their spell won’t be interrupted, and they can complete the cycle without losing any casting or health.
And for those of you raiding Karazhan, your warlocks will ADORE you for keeping the Bubble up on them while they’re tanking the hordes of imps in Illhoof’s room.
Play with a mage? Sheep get broken unexpectedly? No worries. Cast a quick bubble on them and the released mob will be a sheep again before you know it. While they’re beating on the mage, the polymorph spell keeps getting reset. The bubble solves that little problem, and with a quick spell you’ve become a hero.
Once shielded, the target cannot be shielded again for 15 sec.
And, of course, the honeymoon is over. You knew the bad part was coming up, didn’t you? After you bubble someone, they cannot be rebubbled for 15 seconds. They actually get a debuff on them called Weakened Soul - until that debuff falls off, no more bubbles for them.
So you can’t just chain-bubble someone. You have to know when to cast it and why.
What the Tooltip Doesn’t Tell you
You can cast bubble if you are in shadowform.
I know, I know, it’s a holy spell, but it’s not on the holy tab of your spellbook. So shadow priests, feel free to utilize bubble, it’s one of the few pure “heals” you have available while you’re melting faces.
Threat. The instant that bubble is cast, it generates threat equal to 1/2 of the amount of damage that it is willing to shield. So if your bubble would shield 200 damage, then you will immediately gain 100 threat for casting it. Simple as that. It’s not threat-free, and you still get the threat even if the person you bubble never takes a single hit.
Healing Coefficient. That’s a big word that just means “how much of my +heal does the spell get?”. The answer for bubble is pretty small - 20%. My eyes glaze over whenever someone blogs with a lot of math, so I’ll skip it. It’s not a lot, but it does exist, and you should be aware of it.
Tanks. This is a touchy subject, and I’m going to begin and end with the same advice - ASK YOUR TANK. Some tanks don’t care if they’re bubbled before a fight, and some of them have a red-hot hatred for it. It’s something that any and all tanks should have a say in.
Why would we want to bubble the tank before the fight? Well, for one thing, we don’t get threat if the bubble is cast before the fight starts. For another thing, the bubble will give us some breathing room when it comes to healing - a few extra seconds where the tank is protected and doesn’t need heals, during which time they can get aggro on the mobs.
Why would the tank not want us to bubble them before the fight? For warriors and bears, it’s because they generate rage when they get hit (rage is that little red bar beneath their health bar where their mana would be). If they’re bubbled, then they’re not getting hit. If they’re not getting hit, they don’t generate rage. And if they don’t generate rage, then they can’t do a very good job of getting aggro on the mobs. Simple as that.
For paladins, it’s something similar. Every time a paladin is healed, they get mana returned. If they don’t get healed, they don’t get that mana trickle, and without mana, they can’t get aggro on the mobs. If they’re bubbled, then they don’t get hit and they don’t need to be healed.
You can see where this is going.
My policy on tanks is that I don’t bubble them before fights. It doesn’t benefit ME very much (especially when I can cast a Frisbee instead, which gives the tank some free threat) and it can have a detrimental effect on their tanking.
I rarely bubble a tank. The exception to this is when things go terribly wrong and they took spike damage. A lucky crit from the mob, what have you. I’ll toss out a bubble and immediately begin casting a heal. The bubble is there to keep them alive for a few more seconds so that my heal can go off.
For the rest of the group, I will bubble warlocks and mages, and sometimes hunters if they’re trapping and just need a second to regain control. The warlocks and mages get the bubble because of the casting interrupt feature - if they’re casting and getting beaten on, they’re not trying to cast damage spells, they’re trying to crowd control. Fear, Polymorph, whatever it is. Healing them isn’t going to help them nearly as much as helping that spell finish.
That Last Hit. You know the one I mean. Your bubble is supposed to absorb 200 damage, and it’s already absorbed 180. The mob strikes for 50. Do you take damage?
The answer is yes. You’ll get a partial hit. Your bubble will absorb 20 of the 50, and the other 30 will nail you in the kidney.
Mortal Strike. Tank Mortal Strike’d so that your heals do 50%? Toss a bubble up. The amount protected by the bubble is not affected by MS at all, so in that situation, it is by far your most efficient “heal”.
The Bad, and the Ugly
To be completely frank with you (and don’t call me Frank) the spell really isn’t all that great.
It doesn’t absorb much. Once you start doing the level 70 dungeons, it absorbs so little that it’s laughable. When you’re tossing a 2,000 damage shield up against a mob that hits for 4,000 you deserve to wipe. (note : numbers are pretty much always made up. If you’re looking for a mathhead blog, you’re in the wrong place)
I don’t know any priests who use the bubble with the intention of seriously mitigating any damage. Mostly, it’s used for its ability to protect casters and possibly to buy a few seconds for a real heal.
It does not scale well with damage at all. As a matter of fact, it scales MISERABLY with damage, and the measly 20% of your +heal is laughable. To borrow a phrase, you’d be better off if the devs came over to your house and pissed on your shoe.
Don’t expect great things from this spell. Even if you spend the talent points to make it better, it’s still not good enough. I know very few priests who put points into the Improved Power Word : Shield talent, and for good reason. Those points can be better spent elsewhere, improving already-good talents, rather than futility buffing a pitiful one.
Also, remember that although the bubble is an instant-cast spell, it does trigger the global cooldown. So if it’s being cast to pad the tank so that you can cast a longer spell….remember to add 1.5 seconds to the cast time of the spell you’re trying to save him with. If your bubble is going to get blasted away the first time the mob sneezes at the tank, you’re better of not wasting the time to use it.
Augmenting the Bubble
There are two talents that will make your bubble stronger. (we can rebuild it, we have the technology)
Improved Power Word : Shield lives on the second tier of the Disc tree. Shadow priests aiming for Inner Focus tend to snag this because a bubble is a useful addition to a solo-shadow build (not imperative, mind you, but useful). And you have to place some points in the previous tiers to get there, may as well do this one. At full points, it increases the damage absorbed by 15%.
Also, at the very bottom of the Disc tree (where even brave priests fear to tread) is Reflective Shield, which, henceforth shall be known as FLAMING SHIELD (all caps). At full points it actually reflects 50% of the damage absorbed back at the attacker…threat free.
VERY nice. You know…if there were really any viable Disc-heavy builds for a PvE priest. It’s just that what you give up over in the Holy tree to get this is much better. And let’s say your shield blocks 2,000 damage. That means you did 1,000 damage to the mob. You maybe made him sneeze once. Good job you.
Summary
Bubble is one of the core talents that differentiate a priest from other classes. Know when to use it and why, and know when it would be as useful as spitting at a housefire.
August 23rd, 2007
I see a lot of Priests use this sheild and expect it to be the knight in shining armor every single time. But I sheilded you!!!111 etc…
Or they use it so much they go oom from spamming it. I usually try and correct the priest espically as a warrior just starting out that isnt full prot they need all the rage they can get.
On hard hitting bosses ala Tidewalker in SSC the shield gets applied before the pull its a free buffer for the healers so Tidewalker doesn’t squish the tank like he wants to do ever so badly. Its basically like 1k extra life for the tank at the begginning which is nice.
It certianlly has its uses but more often then not you’d be better falling alseep for the global cooldown it generates.
August 23rd, 2007
Lies! It’s “shield”! Bubble is that hateful thing that those… those paladins do to themselves. Do not taint your lips with the utterance of such filth!
August 23rd, 2007
This is a fine article for the healing priests out there. I’d like to note two things:
One, as a shadow priest at level 42, my shield already absorbs 480 damage, so i am sure it’s a LITTLE more at 70 than 500? In fact, it’s 1315 damage according to wowhead, and if you have +1200 healing like my cow does now, it’s 1555. That’s still a piddly amount, but better than a measly 500.
Two, for those of you out there who read this but sometimes play as a shadow priest, i’m sure you know just how useful the shield is. You can’t mind flay very well without having it up! I heartily recommend the improved shield talent for shadow priests simply because it’ll help the thing stay up a little longer if it needs to, and i think all of the shadow builds i’ve seen have it.
Last night, i finished up in Dustwallow Marsh (43 now). The last quest was to fight Mok’Morokk, a level 45 elite ogre, whom you have to get down to 30% to complete the quest. My first attempt did not go well. I tried the usual shield, shield, fear, shield all while tossing damage spells, and took down maybe 15% of his health. I ran for the hills. For my second attempt, i scouted the area a little until i found a bunch of crates laying around, just to the right of the cave with the two-headed ogre in it. I had a vain hope i could kite him by running around these and hoping he would get stuck or slowed (vain i say because mobs don’t get slowed down by running into obstacles — they go over or through them). Fortunately (and not entirely a great surprise), i found that his AI would not let him walk through the middle of the crates. He preferred to run all the way around the side should i manage to get past them. Of course, i used this to my advantage and spent the next few minutes casting SW:P and Mind Flay at him while jumping across the crates back and forth as he ran stupidly around the outside. I finished him off and happily went on my way.
August 23rd, 2007
@Zasp
*nod* As far as damage shields go, this one’s kinda lame. It DOES have other uses though, and those can be quite handy for the quick-thinking priest. =]
@Mel
*laughs* BUBBLE. It’s a bubble. I don’t know about the pally thing, but I do know that our bubble even has a little bit of an ethereal bounce to it, like it’s actually a bubble. Besides, bubble is more fun to say and twice as easy to spell.
Also…you caught me. Not that I was doing a very good job hiding it, but whenever I do examples that involve numbers, you can rest assured I totally made them all up. *laughs* I don’t have a way to verify the numbers without running home quick, and in this case I ended up making the spell sound more pathetic than it actually was. Like you said, it’s still a piddly amount. *winks*
But I’m ALWAYS interested in hearing about how the shadowy half lives. Knowing that the imp bubble talent is good for you is also good for me to know - I’m about to dust off my level 60 priest, and she’ll need a respec. Should give some interesting articles coming up as I newb it up in outland.
August 23rd, 2007
One small addendum. IF (and it’s a big if) you wish, there is another shield-enhancing talent for priests. Way up high in the Disc tree, which means you sacrifice both Holy (healing) and Shadow goodness to get it. That’s Reflective Shield, where 10/20/30/40/50% of the damage the shield absorbs is reflected back at the attacker. (To spin off Mel’s comment, that’s about 750 self-damage for the attacker. It’s a Flaming Bubble.)
Frank, it’s a small (very small) goodness for the Disc based BG/Arena PVP player. And the vast majority of priests go elsewise. But it’s there.
August 23rd, 2007
“Frank, it’s a small (very small) goodness for the Disc based BG/Arena PVP player. And the vast majority of priests go elsewise. But it’s there.”
Zingiber, did you just call our hostess, “Frank”??
Ego, I re-tweaked Osprey’s talents yesterday (after reading Zing’s essay on Disc), and this time, passed on IPW:S–thanks for justifying my faith (no pun intended) in that decision.
August 23rd, 2007
@Zing
FLAMING BUBBLE! That should so be some kind of pokemon attack.
And I like it when talents exist for “the other half” (or “other three-quarters”, I suppose but it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it). Just because I don’t PVP doesn’t mean it’s not a useful talent for someone! Thanks for bringing it up. =]
Also, Shirley you’ve got better things to do with your time than mock me? *winks*
Kestrel
Woot, someone on my side! They’re callin me names, Kestrel, beat ‘em up!
I think Zing and I are gonna trade some comments on the build discussion he’s up to over at Priestly Endeavors - hopefully we’ll both learn something fun!
August 23rd, 2007
I look forward to your comments. I’ll point out that while the build post(s) was (were) ungainly and ugly, they’ve generated three spinoff posts from me so far, and I’m trying to polish at least two more — in addition to tweaking the build based on discussion already. (which will generate Yet Another Post, at least.)
August 23rd, 2007
Ah, sadly, Kirk seems unwilling to commit to a decision about how useful Meditation is for shadow priests. I agree that people have a right to put their points where they want, but when i ask for advice, i’m really looking for what somebody personally thinks about something.
How about the rest of you? Is Meditation very useful for a raiding shadow priest? Does high-end shadow damage gear have a decent amount of spirit on it, or are we stuck with mp5 effects?
August 23rd, 2007
Wow … I never would have thought to use “bubble” in some of the ways you describe here (allowing a Mage to get off a Polymorph, keeping Drain Life from being interrupted). Of course, that’s probably because I’m a Resto druid and don’t have much occassion to group with a Holy Priest. =) Good to know, though, especially for raids!
August 23rd, 2007
Bubbles are for paladins! Bubbles only help if you can hearth while still being beat on! Also, bubble takes more time to type than PW:S. /lazy. XD
As a shadow priest, I use the bubble as an OH SHIT button. For instance, my mind control has ended, the MC’d mob is now beating on me like a boxer punches his punching bag, but the tank is busy tanking 3 new mobs that the hunter just butt-pulled? I bubble and MC my mob over again. I also bubble if (god forbid!) I pull aggro. Bubble/Fade (or both) and run towards the tank, begging him to get that pesky mob off me.
I see my healer getting beat on while trying to get off a heal, but he’s in no danger of dying? My healer gets a bubble. Our healer has died (woe!), and I’m now in the hotseat healing the tank. The tank gets an automatic Frisbee-Renew-Bubble so I have time to settle into healbot mode with my gimp damage/heal gear and piddly MP5.
I also completely agree with Vonya’s assessment that Imp PW:S is a worthless talent at 70, considering how hard mobs hit. I ended up taking 1 point in Silent Resolve (for the dispel effects for PvP and not threat), 2 points in Imp:Fort so I can help buff, and 2 points in… that one other talent on that tier that’s not Imp PW:S.
It is also somewhat useful in PvP. If I see a rogue or I know a feral druid is out there, I bubble. I bubble when there’s a warrior or a hunter pet beating on me. =) I probably use PW:S more in PvP than in PvE, but it has its uses both ways.
@Melnayo
I’ve taken Meditation, and I find that it does help me a bit with mana management because I can count on a bit more mana regen during endurance fights, which is nice. Also, notice that our Tier gear (particularly T5 and T6, since T4 for a shadow priest is laughable) has spirit on them, so Meditation will be particularly useful at that time as well.
August 23rd, 2007
One situation where I rather like the bubble is when the tank gets mortal strike - granted the amount shield absorbs isn’t very high, but I think every little bit of damage you don’t have to heal immediately after a mortal strike is good! Better to have them drop 1000 hp after a MS than drop 2000, when your heals still only heal for 400 u_u
Back when I raided pre-BC, on certain bosses we had one priest designated to pw: shield after every mortal strike, to give a little buffer for the healers (like Brood lord in BWL). Not that big, but anything can help when healing effects are so diminished
August 23rd, 2007
@Melnayo (again)
I actually never shielded once I got shadowform, and I still don’t when I go out and farm. I stand at max range from the mob, Mind Blast -> SW:P -> VE -> Mind Flay to death. Once I got SW:D, I would do that to finish off the mob.
Now that you’re in your 40s, you can actually kill two (or 3 or 4, but I wouldn’t recommend 4 until you’ve got the technique down pat) by making like a warlock and fear kiting. Mind Blast one and dot it up, tab to the next one and do the same thing as the first one is running to you. Once both are on you, fear and mind flay one to death. By the time fear wears off, the other mob should either be dead or almost dead.
I will also say that shadow priests tend to put 3 points into Imp PW:S because after 2 points in Imp Fort, you need a place to dump 3 talent points in order to get to Inner Focus and Meditation, and the other two talents in the tier are either for healbot priests or PvP. So Imp PW:S becomes the default dumping ground. ^^ I prefer to stick those 3 points elsewhere in Disc.
As always, YMMV, and if bubbling works well for you, more power to you. I tend to find it a useless waste of mana and really only pull it out for OH SHIT HELP moments. I also use it up in Skettis when I’m soloing the huge trees while waiting for my fear cooldown to come up… but really, that’s about the only time I use it regularly.
August 23rd, 2007
Mel, that’s not… quite … the question you asked. You wanted a clear-cut decision done for you. Sorry, I don’t work that way.
I generally recommend meditation for all specs. But I dislike Always and Never, and especially when it’s someone else’s $15. I don’t really know if you, and your style of play, are better off with sacrificing 15% of mana regen and maximizing mp5 gear. This is especially true given you really want to squeeze some points from somewhere to get those other talents.
There is no “best” talent or template. There are only players who do better or worse with each. Don’t rely on others to tell you how to have fun.
August 23rd, 2007
Ego, I just realized another subtle point about PW:S - implied, not stated.
That delay between shields… The delay on the player applies to all priests in the party. Nobody can bubble him or her till the debuff clears. On the other hand, there is zero cooldown (beyond GCD) on bubbling multiple party members. Which I’ve done a time or two…
August 23rd, 2007
@Zing
Actually PW:S does have a cooldown, 5 secs maybe I can’t remember exactly. When we do AOE type pulls I shield the lock and the have to wait a few seconds to shield the mage.
August 23rd, 2007
*blink* (go doublecheck) [blush]
thanks, Galadria
August 23rd, 2007
@Galadria: It is four seconds cool down.
Power Word: Shield is not as good as it was before The Burning Crusade because the damage increase is much greater than the increase of the damage absorbed by this spell, at the moment it is a preventive and also an emergency spell but not as good as it should be. Especially in PvP you will see the difference, because often one auto attack crit of a warrior will consume the whole shield so you will not get much of the “prevent cast interrupt” part of the shield
August 23rd, 2007
Re: meditation
Sorry, maybe i asked my question poorly, Zingiber. I want Meditation and i also want a full Shadow Power, but i can’t have both. I don’t know if there’s itemization out there to support Meditation’s usefulness over that of talent points placed elsewhere. Lauchis has suggested there is at least some. Then again, maybe i should stack mp5 and just use the points elsewhere anyway. Horrible decisions must be made.
Re: fear kiting vs using shield + flay
Well, that certainly sounds like an interesting method, probably faster than my own. I think i will personally stick with shield + flay, as i find that fearing my enemies typically brings another 3 running and puts my target out of line of sight if there are obstacles near.
Are there other standard methods of soloing as a shadow priest?
August 23rd, 2007
Lauchis : “I will also say that shadow priests tend to put 3 points into Imp PW:S because after 2 points in Imp Fort, you need a place to dump 3 talent points in order to get to Inner Focus”
Yep, that’s me! While it doesn’t make much of a difference, I will cling to the belief that it’s saved somebodys sorry ass at some point in my career. I use shield frequently - often at the request of a warlock about to hellfire or a mage about to start the AoE jump dance. In fact, I had a level 70 warlock pet monkey during my leveling who would come and help me with elite and group quests, and he’d ask for shields all the time. He used to come with me to Uldaman as well, whenever I had to go bother the Enchanting trainer for new recipes. Bringing enough crap with me to level all the way up in one visit wasn’t my style, and I’m Aldor as well so no Scryer trainer for me. He’d pull half the instance with his dots of doom and I’d keep him shielded as he hellfired everything to ashes. Worked like a charm!
In an attempt to get back on track - shield (or bubble, but that’ll confuse me as my paladin team bubble things and theirs have slightly different uses. They’re sparklier too. Bastards.) is a lovely thing. I use it in Kara every now and then, though usually on myself whenever I’m shackling as I’ve had problems with mobs breaking free. Without the shield I’d never have been able to keep my shackle on Moroes’ little DPS friend. I’ll shut up now before I write more in your comments than I do in my own blog /blush
August 23rd, 2007
mel - grin, decisions, decisions. And that miscommunication is one reason I try to avoid shortcuts (and get so longwinded). Sorry for misunderstanding what you were seeking.
As to shadow power… read my post on crits for a better understanding, but the short answer is that while I’ve made crit-heavy builds it’s low on my list of priorities. You’re going to have to give up something, though. Since you really, really seem to want the shadow focus, I’d recommend following your heart and dropping some meditation for the crits. Later, after you’ve played it for a while, see if you miss the mana regen.
Remember - if it’s not fun, why are you doing it?
August 23rd, 2007
I confess, I don’t play a priest. . . I just hang out here because I like to learn more about other classes (I think that makes everyone a better player) and because I like Ego’s writing (and puns!). That being said, I have a question about PW:S aka bubble.
Does it protect against non-damage effects, such as movement impairing effects and debuffs? Is it dispellable? Ok that’s two questions, but the second one just now popped (hee!) into my head.
August 23rd, 2007
The answer to the first question is no. In fact, it doesn’t even prevent falling damage.
The answer to the second question is, i believe, yes. I’ve heard of mages spellstealing it, anyway.
August 23rd, 2007
@ Josh
PW:S does not protect against non-damage effects like fear. And as Melnayo says, it doesn’t protect against falling damage either. It is also dispellable magic effect. I have, in fact, dispelled more than one PW:S myself, and mages can spellsteal it as well.
@ Melnayo
The fear kiting method is one where you have to be able to pull back into a relatively mob-free area, or if you have just a couple mobs left in a zone where you’ve been busily farming for a while. I rather like it, because if I have four mobs dotted up, two of them will have VE up on them (due to that pesky 10 second cooldown) so I get nice heals despite taking a little more damage. If I’m out of mana, I sic my shadowfiend on one of the mobs for more damage and mana regen while I DPS them down one at a time. It does help to be familiar with an area, and to know which mobs, when feared, will pull which ones. Generally, humanoids don’t pull beasts when feared into them, etc.
When I was still raid-specced (I am currently PvP specced, hence the lack of important talents like Shadow Affinity), I put two points in Martyrdom and one point in Imp PW:S for lack of a better place to put it. Though I think when I next respec, I’ll end up putting that point into Silent Resolve so my dots are not as easily dispelled when I am in arenas.
RE: Meditation. I will hasten to note that if you don’t have your T5 or T6 sets, you won’t have very much spirit on your gear, as in general, DPS caster gear tends to be low on the spirit, if there even is any spirit on them at all. Warlocks and mages with whom shadow priests compete for gear don’t exactly stack on the spirit as we like to do. Or used to, so you might find that putting those three points into Imp Mind Blast or Shadow Power and stacking MP% might be more beneficial until you get sufficient spirit. Unfortunately, MP5 tends to yet again be a healery stat, which you won’t get on DPS gear. It’s pretty much a catch-22 at this point, since Meditation is effectively an MP5 talent that just happens to be based on spirit.
When I was specced into meditation, I had about 26 MP5 while casting, and as you can see from my PvE gear, I don’t really have any spirit to speak of. Right now, I have 6MP5, and that’s only due to the 6MP5 enchant I had put on my chest piece. So Meditation can make a pretty substantial difference over time, especially during an endurance fight.
@ Mana Battery Bitch
And yup! AoE-rs will also get a PW:S if they warn me in advance that they are going to AoE.
August 24th, 2007
@Lauchis
Ack, you’ve found how I make my text red. If you could, please don’t? I use it to know where my comments are, kinda like having a blue poster at the official WoW forums. There’s really no reason to ask you not to use it other than that…if I scroll quickly down a page I know which stuff was written by me and which was written by other people.
However, since you’re doing a singular job responding, would you like your OWN color?
Also, you’re totally wrong. Bubble is much faster to type than PW:S - the shift+combinations, and the fact that every other letter requires a different hand (and a different shift key) make it extremely awkward for a touch-typist like myself. So neener.
@Mel and Lauchis
Would the Spirit Tap skill make Meditation that much stronger? Or do high level shadowpriests not take Spirit Tap anymore (obviously not useful when raiding, but good for soloing, right?)
@Voice
Ah, good point on the Mortal Strike. In BC, there’s tons of that floating around and we hates it, precious. I haven’t confirmed that the amount shielded isn’t modified by the debuff though, does anyone know for sure?
August 24th, 2007
@Zing and Galadria
Good point, and yup, there’s a bit of a follow-up cooldown (as you’ve already sorted).
@Pasco
I don’t know its usefulness in PVP, but everyone who’s mentioned (both directly and indirectly) the fact that the amount shielded has not even remotely scaled with damage done is correct. That’s one of the inherently broken things about the spell. However, even two seconds of not-interrupt can significantly help out someone casting a CC spell. =]
@ManaBattery
lol - /sign petition for sparklier priest bubbles
How does the shield help your shackle? Just not getting beaten on while you recast shackle? What’s your +hit at? (I end up pre-re-shackling anyway. Gah I hate how often that spell breaks obscenely early)
@Josh
Hey, you’re welcome to hop on the bandwagon any time, priest or no.
Also, I’ve not tested, but I’m pretty sure you can be polymorphed while you’re bubbled. That leads me to believe that it only blocks DAMAGE, so non-damage things would probably still work against it. So…pretty much just what mel said. *laughs*
@Lauchis
Dude, can I hire you to answer comments more often? The pay sucks but you get your own color! Think of it! Your own COLOR!
August 24th, 2007
Oh my hit rating is laughable - I’ve managed to wrestle it up to 56 and got Shadow Focus back, after my priest class leader goofed and gave me a spec without it. That’s when I had my shackle troubles ._. And you’re on the money, I meant that the shield would give me an extra precious second to reshackle before being one-hitted to Elune.
I tried the pre-re-shackling at first, but then I was let in on the loveliness that is Nature Enemy Castbar and though ‘cool, I won’t have to freak out and re-shackle every minute’. Oh how naive I was!
Randomly, is it just me or do hunter arrows go past the shield? I haven’t really paid much attention because those situations tend to be very hectic for a carebear like myself but I seem to remember that whenever a hunter hops on me for some PvP, the arrows still mess up my spellcasting.
August 24th, 2007
ManaBattery
I need to find out what Vonya’s damage gear gives her for +hit, maybe I could recommend a few pieces for you. I know that for my shackle, I swap out for the Star-heart lantern (I think) from Black Morass.
Also, stolen from my husband :
Point for point, all damage casters get more DPS from spell hit up to the hit cap than any other stat.
Lets say you take into account a caster class being a tailor with one of the specializations that help their class…even with the amount of +dmg those sets give, the class would be better off switching all of it out (if need be) to hit the +hit cap first.
This is because a missed (or partially resisted spell) costs more damage per second and damage per mana than a spell that always hits for slightly less.
The opportunity cost of a missed spell is always the mana spent, plus at the very least the games GCD, then you have to factor in wether the spell was instant cast or not.
TLDR: Spell hit is king, the end.
Also, on the hunter arrows, they SHOULDN’T. If I remember, I’ll duel my hunter friend (she’ll be thrilled) and test out the arrow theory. =] Possible the hunter’s just eating your shield early. =]
August 24th, 2007
@ego,
I have to quibble with your husband’s remark. Quibble because he’s right, but… what’s the cap? No, I know the numbers, I’m being obtuse.
If you’re a 70 running an instance, there are two caps. The first is for the trash - also (usually) level 70 - and it’s +3 (well, 38 hit rating, or two points of shadow focus). Anything more nets you zero additional damage over time from your attacks. The bosses, on the other hand, are level 73 which is 16 better than you which is (assuming you put 5 in shadow focus) another +6 (76 hit rating).
How important is it, as a shadow priest, that you’re helping to take out the trash? That’s going to depend on a lot of party-related issues. And the core statement is right that +hit is the best single overall improvement. But given ENOUGH trash that matters, more +damage can become more useful (over time) than more +hit. Which is, to say it again, a quibble.
August 24th, 2007
@Zing
‘Quibble’ is now the word of the day.
Quoted from my Beloved Lux Et Umbra :
Shadow Focus - “Reduces your target’s chance to resist your Shadow spells by [2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%].”
Increases Spellhit (see Stats section above) for Shadow spells. Since 3% Spellhit is all that’s needed to max that stat vs. even level players, two points in Shadow Focus is all a PvP oriented Priest should allocate.
Raid bosses on the other hand require five points in Shadow Focus plus another 6% from gear to max out Spellhit, making this a required talent for any raiding Shadow Priests.
So your numbers look right to me. I’d say that if you’ve got the Shadow Focus talent, the extra 6% is pretty easy to get without sacrificing much else in gear. You’ll have to do some work to get it, but with minimal fuss you should be able to get some +hit gloves and get the +hit enchant on them. =] It won’t get you all the way there, but it would minimize the number of gear sacrifices you need to do.
August 24th, 2007
@Ego
But… but… the shiny colours! XD Yes, I’ll stop nipping away your pretty colours. =P I totally answer comments, though! *points up to show proof* You’ll probably find me more useful with shadow-specific stuff than anything else.
Don’t quote me on this, since I’ve never checked it out, but I think Spirit Tap and Medidation don’t stack. Or rather, Meditation adds 15% of your spirit as MP5, and Spirit Tap does one better for a shorter period of time and gives you 50% of your spirit as MP5. So Meditation is for all the time, and Spirit Tap is for times when you’re basically chain-killing mobs and nobody is stealing killing blows from you.
RE: Spell Hit
When you’re just leveling up, having shadow focus maxed out pretty much covers you taking on mobs that are 2 levels higher than you easily, and also gives you a better chance against mobs 3 levels higher than you. Your husband is correct about spell hit, and especially for shadow priests who don’t stack crit, shoot for the hit until you’re hit-capped and then stack the spell damage. Unless you’re raiding, getting an additional 76 spell hit rating on top of shadow focus is rather a waste. 3 points in Shadow Focus should be more than enough for you to run the end-level instances. Though I think that if you run heroics, you’ll want to tend towards more spell hit for the bosses. =3 I’m going to have to go and check, but basically. More hit = more spell damage.
Doesn’t matter how much spell damage you have if your spells don’t actually hit the target. That’s my philosophy. ^^
August 24th, 2007
I am not sure what to think about Spirit Tap. I love the idea of reduced downtime. If you pause between fights to stay outside the 5sr while Spirit Tap runs, you’d probably be better off just drinking during that time. But if you keep going on with fights, at least you’re getting 50% of your out-of-5sr regen for a good 15 seconds.
All i can say is that the only other shadow priest i know uses Blackout and doesn’t use Spirit Tap. But then, he has a build that minimizes spirit (no Meditation either) and emphasizes crit on MB and SW:D.
August 27th, 2007
@Lauchis
Toss me an email if you’d like a color. =]
Also, with regards to your spell hit comments, that’s a huge reason to leave yourself room in your bank for the gear that’s an upgrade but doesn’t have hit on it - KEEP THAT. When you get other upgrades, you may be able to swap into them.
@Mel
Ah, but drinking takes money. I’m lazy. *winks* But I haven’t decided if it’ll be part of my build. Some very good arguments on a lot of the talents, I need to sit down and ask my hubby which toon he’s got that I might be duoing with, so I can decide what spec helps the best.
August 28th, 2007
@Ego
=P That’s why, besides, PvE damage gear, PvP damage gear, PvE heal gear and PvP heal gear, I also have a slew of different rings, neck pieces, cloaks and trinkets to mix and match. @__@ WTB more bag and bank space. (Though I will admit that my damage gear is almost exclusively different from my heal gear, my PvE/PvP of each set has some interchangeable pieces. x__X But that’s still 2 16 slot bags worth of gear, besides the ones I already have on my person.)
August 28th, 2007
@Anon
Ugh, that’s just awful! I’m bad enough with just PVE healing/shadow gear, alternate pieces, and RP dresses (because you never know when you’ll be invited to a guild event).
Have hope though! I heard rumors of an itemrack-like game addition which doesn’t use bag space.
I can only hope.
August 29th, 2007
I PvP a bunch with my battle priest, and I think that any improvements on our bubble would have to be pretty small to remain resonable. Maybe more dispel resistance, a slightly better percentage of +damage absorbed from our +healing, things of that nature.
Warriors swinging against your shield don’t generate rage from the damage they do to it, and because of the 4-piece Merciless Gladiator’s set bonus, I can repop it 2 seconds faster. Between that, the frisbee and renew, I almost never die in Alterac Valley, and easily top the chart in Healing and HKs. In Arenas it’s different, but it still takes awhile to punch through 450 resilience. The biggest difference maker is if I’m getting dispel/purge spammed WHILE being focus-fired, that’s the toughest.
The major issue is that in PvP priests are very very very gear dependent. I see priests trying to heal in BGs with 7k health with their PvE gear get 2-shot all the time, but the amount of (physical dmg) punishment I can take (from rogues especially, poor sods…) is almost ridiculous.
@Ego, the damage absorbed by our bubble is not affected by Mortal Strike at all. Definitely toss it up on someone getting smacked with that.
Elonwy
Frostwolf US
August 31st, 2007
Comments have been Assimilated
September 4th, 2007
The Discipline Tree to me, as a whole, seems very oriented around PvP. Improved Inner Fire, Improved Power Word:Shield and Reflective Shield increase both damage output and survivability. Technically Improved Power Word: Fortitude is one of the talents taken by most priests, regardless of spec, but more Sta is quite a boon in PvP. When you get to the bottom of the tree with Pain Suppression, I can see no other purpose of this tree. Still…I’m tempted to mess around with it once…just to see how it might work.
Go go super smite attacks!
As a Shadow Priest, however, I LOVE my Shield. It’s my baby. And with the talent that improves it, I can generally go through a few mobs before needing to even THINK about casting it again.
September 4th, 2007
@Elryse
Very interesting…I think it’s all in how you play the class. Most of the commenters on my shadow spec question entry seemed to value fear-kiting above single-mob killing.
I’m not sure which way I would prefer…I dislike the uncontrolled aspect of the fear, but it’s probably a more efficient way to solo (when it works)
I would tend to agree with you on the tree purpose though. There’s a lot of “Please don’t kill me now” in here, and the shadow tree’s biggest PvP talents are all at the top.
Nice thing is that the top of the Disc tree has things that are useful to both holy and shadow specs. =]
November 5th, 2007
[...] by Vonya of The Egotistical Priest and her recent post on Power Word: Shield, I’d like to look at the Druid’s self-only equivalent, [...]
January 3rd, 2008
Glad to see you’ve seen the palatank light already.
You mentioned about blame somewhere… possibly on the heroics post… the best solution I’ve found is to pick one person and blame them every time. Whether they’re in the group or not. The blamebear is a solid institution on AD.
For spookies I recommend stacking spellhit BEYOND cap. This frees up talent points for more imp MB etc.
PWS is totally faster than bubble. Neener.
I do apologise for the spam, but it’s all Gaupe’s fault. Also yours for having such a nice site you’ve kept me up until 6am (my sleep cycle is wrecked from new year).
July 17th, 2008
[...] Ignoring spell interruption, eh? That’s pretty handy. That’s one of the tricks that the priestly bubble has, and it’s a really nifty feature. Often, it’s overlooked in favor of the heal it [...]