Post by OscarDivine
There are a lot of questions regarding Power Word: Shield, so I wanted to create this thread to
dispel a few myths (lol, see what I did there?) and to give as much information on this spell as possible, especially the less-than-obvious stuff!
I’d like this to be another interactive community-post, so let’s all put our heads together as I’m sure I’ll miss a large amount of information. For information not covered here, you can refer to the
WoW Wiki page for PWS.
Since PWS and Divine Aegis are both absorb abilities, you can infer that most of this information here also relates to DA (with the exception of
Rapture).
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>>>>>TANKS AND PWS:<<<<<FIRST and foremost: I’d like to address the issue of Tanks with PWS. In fact, it’s the
inspiration behind me writing this whole post all together! I’m doing this first partly because I know that the tank readers probably won’t go very far into this... so here it is.
BOTTOM LINE: If you’re a lvl 80 tank and you think that PWS is keeping you from keeping up your threat-generating abilities (eg, rage, runic power, or mana) then you’re mistaken. ... mostly.
In a patch far far away, they DID fix the problem with rage not being generated from absorbed hits. If you think otherwise, you’re wrong. Warrior, DK, and Druid tanks are 100% unaffected in a negative way by Priest Absorbing spells.
However, for Paladins, this CAN decrease your mana regenerative capabilities. Your Spiritual Attunement ability gives you back mana for the damage you have healed, so this small aspect of your mana-regen is affected negatively. Really, though, for any self-respecting paladin with a Blessing of Sanctuary buff, this shouldn’t be an issue at all. “Just pull moar” if you aren’t taking enough damage.
At LOW LEVELS, mana regen for a paladin is always an issue, just don’t tack it on us. Our shields will likely be more help to you than anything. You can’t even GET
SA until level 40 and your
BoS buff becomes available as early as level 30, so don’t even start with your OOM whining if you’re lvl 30 or higher.
(Really though, you can hardly call yourself a “tank” until about this point anyway)
So, back to the priests. We have a great ability that helps you regenerate your threat-gen abilities, namely:
Rapture. Look closely, it does affect all tanking classes! So in reality, we’re not HINDERING your threat gen abilities, we’re helping you!
It's recently been brought to my attention that the mana return from Rapture is under what is received from SA for damage taken versus absorbed with a PWS.
Total Paladin mana raid buffed = 7714
2% = 154.28 mana received from a Rapture proc
This means that a minimum of 1542.8 damage must be inflicted and then healed in order to equivocate this proc. It assumes a fully spec'd 2/2 SA (which not all pallies take as many do 1/2). For those paladins who do spec 1/2 SA, the damage absorbed must be twice this, or 3,085.6.
10% total healing received vs. 2% total mana. In order for this total to be equivalent, the absorbed amount must not exceed the numbers above. Really, though, this amount of mana return is a drop in the bucket compared to other sources of regeneration for the paladin. However, please read the next section.
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What's so Great about Absorbed Damage Anyway?Well, I'm glad you asked! Spells that Absorb damage can PREVENT death where a heal cannot. Because Absorbing spells are proactive, the hit is taken off of the shield (or other absorbing event) before removing health from the HP Bar. Why does this matter? Well, again, I'm glad you asked!
Let's create a scenario:
Player HP: 55,000
Post-Mitigation Damage Incoming: 60,000
In this situation, this player is DEAD... UNLESS, a minimum of 5,001 HP is absorbed. A Prayer of Mending will not heal until AFTER the damage is done. The only other spells in this game that can prevent death are
Cheat Death,
Ardent Defender, and
Guardian Spirit.
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Damage OrderI’m not quite sure what the jury has said on this issue: whether PWS is consumed first or DA, but I suspect it is based on the order on which they were applied. Some help from the community please?
Edit: Pachuca Says:
It's always Divine Aegis which gets destroyed first. A simple PW:S followed by hastened Penance and/or Flash Heal should produce a Divine Aegis. If you're watching your tank's buffs, you'll see Divine Aegis get removed first, followed by the PW:S.
Edit: Squishalot Says:
Sacred Shield proc < DA < PW:S < Ice Barrier = Mana Shield
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Spell Push backThere is NO Spell casting time push back on the target with the shield so long as damage is being absorbed. You CAN, however be interrupted by kicks, etc. If a hit is partially absorbed, it will be subject to spell push back.
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Glyph of Power Word: ShieldThis glyph is best used for Disco, ... apologies. DISC priests. Holy priests may choose to use this glyph at the expense of
one of
their primary glyphs. The heal from this glyph can critically hit. It is also an excellent glyph to use for early game healing while leveling, especially through LFG.
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How Do I Calculate the Absorb Amount?I've split this section into two parts: Equations and Addons and mods that estimate Absorbs (mostly so you can show your raid leader you’re not actually a slacker).
Equations:Straight from WoW Wiki:
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
there is a lot more information on WoW Wiki as well regarding PWS, probably far more and better than what I can write, but since this is for WoWHead, let’s just consolidate the information here for ourselves.
Here is
Paolo's Interactive Calculator.
Addons:I personally use Skada, which I think is best. It's lightweight and I find it to be more accurate than Recount. This addon is clearly not going to be as good as a World of Logs either.
Thank you for your contribution Capnboomkin:
For calculating the damage absorbed by your shield, I recommend the addon
Dr. Damage. Don't let the name confuse you. It's an in-game theorycrafting tool that determines your average damage/healing/absorbtion. You can even add buffs! The numbers show up on the skill's button, and calculations are shown in the tooltip.
Per Ignayshus:
According to DrDamage the calcs were as follows as of April 2010.
Shield
(2230 + Spellpower * (0.8068 + BorrowedTime)) * (1 + Improved PWS) * (1 + SpiritualHealing + Twin Disciplines + Focused Power)
Glyph
20% * (2230 + Spellpower * (0.8068 + BorrowedTime)) * (1 + Improved PWS + Twin Disciplines) * (1 + Blessed Resilience) * (1 + Focused Power)
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Which Talents/Abilities affect PWS?This is straight from WoW Wiki as well:
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.
Not on WoW Wiki:
4PC Healing T10 increases the effectiveness of your shield by 5% (any previous Tier bonuses that affect PWS I haven't investigated, they're simply not relevant.
4PC Healing T9 - increases the effectiveness of
DIVINE AEGIS by 10%, thought it worth mentioning.
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Is PWS Affected by Spellpower?Yes. PWS Gains 80.68% bonus from Spellpower.
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Will PWS Absorb my Life Tap or Blood Tap?No. Quit wasting my mana and drink you lazy warlock. Just kidding. Please make good use of my endless mana-supply. Just don’t do it before giant damage is about to hit.
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Will My Weakend Soul Debuff affect other priests from using PWS?Yes. General rule of thumb is that if you're a Holy Priest in a raid with a Disco Priest, discuss with that disco priest your use of PWS. They will likely say that they don't want you casting it. A properly spec'd Disco Priest DOES have more talents that affect their PWS to make it stronger and better than that of an equally level geared Holy priest (also properly spec'd). You should refrain from casting PWS on your raid if you're a Holy Priest in a raid with a Disco Priest. If there isn't one... Bubble to your heart's content.
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Is there a way to get rid of the Weakened Soul debuff?Aside from
Death, which is fantastically good at removing all debuffs, there is no way to get rid of Weakened Soul besides just waiting the 30 seconds.
Divine Shield,
Ice Block, and similar spells will not remove this effect. It cannot be
Dispelled,
Mass Dispelled,
Cured,
Cleansed, or
Purged.
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Is PWS affected by Heal Reduction effects?No, it is unaffected by abilities such as
Mortal Strike,
Mind Trauma, and similar effect spells/abilities. This makes PWS a VERY good choice for use in PVP situations. The heal from the glyph, however, is subject to MS rules.
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How do I make the most out of my Rapture Ability?This is a very note-worthy and "creative" use of game mechanics.
Rapture is an ability that can earn you mana if used properly. Due to the internal cooldown of the spell, you must time it right or you will only gain the mana from a single shield breaking. The idea is that you can gain mana from multiple shields breaking simultaneously. Obviously, for this to work, you have to have a raid boss fight with predictable AoE damage. I do this regularly on the VoA fights, Torvon is best as the AoE is enormous and in one single large-shot. Bubble up as many players as you can, wait for the AoE to hit, then watch the blue numbers fly! There is also a bit of luck involved as you can never predict if ONE of your several shields will break and reset your internal cooldown.
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Does PWS generate Threat?Well, the answer is obviously, Yes. The concern here is that some priests may jump the gun and shield the tank before adequate threat is established. For most, this isn't really a concern, but it is something to keep in mind.
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Post Continued below: