Power Word: Shield
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| Power Word: Shield | |
|---|---|
| |
| Properties | |
| Class | Priest |
| School | Holy |
| Cooldown | 7.5 seconds |
| Other information | |
| Level learned | 4 |
| Improvements |
 [Assured Safety],  [Atonement],  [Body and Soul],  [Borrowed Time],  [Crystalline Reflection],  [Eternal Barrier],  [Inner Focus],  [Inner Quietus], [Preventative Measures],  [Prophet's Will],  [Protector of the Frail],  [Strength of Soul],  [Void Shield],  [Words of the Pious] |
| Related buff | |
| |
Power Word: Shield (abbreviated PW:S) is a defensive Power Word priests learn at level 4. It creates a protective shield around a friendly target which absorbs a set amount of damage, and prevents spell pushback.
Power Word: Shield is undoubtedly one of the signature spells of the Discipline priest, protecting the target with a powerful shield that can seem unbreakable. It also is one of the primary ways Discipline priests apply [Atonement] to their allies.
Functionality
Power Word: Shield is an instant-cast spell which generates a shield around the target, absorbing most forms of damage. The shield will last for 15 seconds or until "broken" through combat. The shield enjoys the full protection of the player's armor, parry and dodge, partial resists, and other forms of damage mitigation: only damage which would actually injure the player will be absorbed by the shield.
Be aware that Power Word: Shield will not protect a target from debuffs, interrupts or crowd control, nor will it protect against environmental damage (falling, fatigue, drowning, etc). Attacks which additionally apply debuffs (eg. 
[Mortal Strike]) will still apply their debuffs even if all damage from the attack is absorbed. PW:S will also not absorb damage from abilities which injure their casters.
However, Power Word: Shield does protect targets against pushback. It also prevents 
[Dazed] effects caused by being struck from behind.
Power Word: Shield does not interfere with rage generation for druids in bear form or warriors.
Tips and tactics
- Power Word: Shield is notably useful for its pushback prevention. This is very useful for casters who are receiving damage, allowing them to continue casting uninterrupted.
- Some classes and enemies apply debuffs which reduce the effectiveness of healing on player targets. As Power Word: Shield is not a healing spell, it is generally not impacted by these debuffs.
- Shielding a stealthed ally will protect them from damage that would otherwise break stealth, allowing them to jump out of stealth at their own leisure.
- By preventing [Dazed] effects, Power Word: Shield can be useful for fleeing players.
- Power Word: Shield has a somewhat antagonistic relationship with [Prayer of Mending], which will not proc from absorbed damage, making the two spells hard to use in combination. One tactic is to first cast Prayer of Mending on the tank or current target, allowing it to jump to another player before casting Power Word: Shield on the tank. This ensures at least one proc, and reduces the likelihood of Prayer of Mending expiring prematurely.
Trivia
- Power Word: Shield is a basic Priest spell in Hearthstone. The flavor text reads: "Sure the extra protection is nice, but the shield really reduces visibility."
- During the original World of Warcraft beta, it was named "Holy Word: Shield".
Patch changes
Hotfix (2025-04-30): Resolved an issue causing the Cooldown Manager to track the duration of Power Word: Shield on the Priest instead of tracking its cooldown. - Hotfix (2025-03-11): Absorption reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
- Patch 11.1.0 (2025-02-25): Absorption increased by 15%.
- Patch 11.0.2 (2024-08-13): Absorb amount increased by 20%.
- Patch 11.0.0 (2024-07-23): Absorb value now has a 5% variance, like other healing spells.
Patch 10.2.0 (2023-11-07): Absorption increased by 10%. - Hotfix (2023-08-21): No longer reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
- Patch 10.1.5 (2023-07-11): Now costs 10% of base mana (was 5%).
- Hotfix (2023-06-05): Now absorbs 15% less damage in PvP Combat.
- Hotfix (2023-04-10):
- Now costs 2.4% of base mana for Discipline (was 3.1%).
- Now absorbs 25% more damage for Discipline.
- Hotfix (2022-12-19):
- Increased the mana cost of Power Word: Shield to 5% of base Mana for Shadow only (was 4%).
- Reduced the absorption value of Power Word: Shield by 20% in PvP Combat for Shadow only.
- Patch 10.0.2 (2022-11-15): Absorb value no longer increased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): No longer causes Weakened Soul. Now has a 7.5 second cooldown.
Patch 9.2.5 (2022-05-31):
- (Discipline/Shadow) Power Word: Shield absorb amount increased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Fixed an issue that reduced the value of Power Word: Shield critical strikes in PvP combat.
- Hotfix (2020-11-09): Absorb reduced by 8%.
- Patch 9.0.2 (2020-11-17):
- Now absorbs 17.5% less damage.
- No longer increased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Now available to all priest specializations and learned at level 4 (was 8). Now absorbs around 32% more damage.
Hotfix (2018-12-12):
- Resolved an issue that caused Power Word: Shield's value to be lower than intended when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Power Word: Shield absorbs an additional 10% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Developers' note: Shadow Priests' Power Word: Shield was unaffected by the above and is unchanged.
- Developers' note: Shadow Priests' Power Word: Shield was unaffected by the above and is unchanged.
- Patch 8.1.0 (2018-12-11): Once again applies Weakened Soul, preventing the same caster from recasting it on the same target for 7.5 seconds.
- Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Cooldown removed for both specializations.
Hotfix (2017-06-13): Power Word: Shield's absorption amount is increased by 10% in PvP situations (was 25%)./ - Patch 7.2.5 (2017-06-13): Power Word: Shield cost increase by 15%.
- Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Mana cost increased by 51%. Now learned at level 8 (was 5).
- Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): No longer available to Holy priests. The Weakened Soul and Borrowed Time effects have been removed.
Hotfix (2015-11-20): Weakened Soul effect from Power Word: Shield now has an 11-second duration while in PvP combat (down from 15 seconds). The perk, Enhanced Power Word: Shield (Discipline, Shadow) will continue to reduce the duration of Weakened Soul by an additional 3 seconds. - Patch 6.1.0 (2015-02-24): Now absorbs 10% less damage.
- Hotfix (2015-01-12): Power Word: Shield's absorption has been reduced by 15%.
- Hotfix (2014-12-04): Critical hits should now correctly absorb only 150% of normal in PvP.
- Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14):
- Now has a chance for a critical effect based on critical strike chance and can Multistrike based on Multistrike chance for all specializations.
- [Borrowed Time] has been redesigned, and merged into baseline Power Word: Shield for Discipline priests. It now increases the priest's stat gains to Haste from all sources by 40% for 6 seconds.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Cooldown increased to 6 seconds, up from 3. Spell power coefficient increased to 187%, up from 87%. Now learned at level 5 (was 6). 
Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Duration has been reduced to 15 seconds, down from 30. - Hotfix (2011-02-16): Power Word: Shield now costs roughly 34% of base mana, up from 25%. This is not reflected in the tooltip, but is reflected in the amount of mana used when the spell is cast. The tooltip update will require a client-side patch.
- Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): The mana cost of Power Word: Shield has been increased by approximately 31%, but its effect has been increased by 208%.
- Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Now costs 19% of base mana, down from 23% of base mana. Cooldown reduced to from 4 sec to 3 sec.
Hotfix (2010-02-05): The amount of damage being absorbed by 
[Sacred Shield] and Power Word: Shield is being reduced by 10% correctly in only battlegrounds, Arenas, and Wintergrasp. - Patch 3.3.0 (2009-12-08): This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.
Patch 2.4.2 (2008-05-13): Now has the correct sound associated with it and can no longer be heard from large distances. - 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.
- Burning Crusade Classic
- Patch 2.5.2 (2021-08-31): Resolved an issue where the first cast of Power Word: Shield used by Priests after a login would not benefit from [Reflective Shield].
See also
- Power Word: Shield, TCG card
Other versions
Classic
Power Word: Shield 
- Power Word: Shield (10 ranks)
- Level 6 priest ability
- 40 yd range
- 45 Mana
- 4 sec cooldown
- Instant
- Draws on the soul of the party member to shield them, absorbing 48 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.
Properties Class Priest School Holy Cooldown 4 seconds Other information Level learned 6 Improvements [Improved Power Word: Shield]Related buff - Magic
- Power Word: Shield
- Absorbs damage.
- Duration: 30 seconds
BC Classic
Power Word: Shield - Power Word: Shield (12 ranks)
- Level 6 priest ability
- 40 yd range
- 45 Mana
- 4 sec cooldown
- Instant
- Draws on the soul of the party member to shield them, absorbing 48 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.
Properties Class Priest School Holy Cooldown 4 seconds Other information Level learned 6 Improvements [Improved Power Word: Shield], [Reflective Shield]Related buff - Magic
- Power Word: Shield
- Absorbs damage.
- Duration: 30 seconds
Wrath Classic
Power Word: Shield - Power Word: Shield (14 ranks)
- Level 6 priest ability
- 40 yd range
- 23% of base mana
- 4 sec cooldown
- Instant
- Draws on the soul of the friendly target to shield them, absorbing 48 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.
Properties Class Priest School Holy Cooldown 4 seconds Other information Level learned 6 Improvements [Body and Soul], [Borrowed Time], [Improved Power Word: Shield], 
[Rapture], [Reflective Shield], 
[Renewed Hope], 
[Soul Warding]Related buff - Magic
- Power Word: Shield
- Absorbs damage.
- Duration: 30 seconds
Cataclysm Classic
Power Word: Shield - Power Word: Shield
- Level 5 priest ability
- 40 yd range
- 34% of base mana
- 3 sec cooldown
- Instant
- Draws on the soul of the friendly target to shield them, absorbing (87% of Spell power + 8863) damage. Lasts 15 sec. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage. Once shielded, the target cannot be shielded again for 15 sec.
Properties Class Priest School Holy Cooldown 3 seconds Other information Level learned 5 Improvements [Body and Soul], [Borrowed Time], [Improved Power Word: Shield], [Rapture], [Reflective Shield], 
[Soul Warding]Related buff - Magic
- Power Word: Shield
- Absorbs (87% of Spell power + 8863) damage.
- Duration: 30 seconds
External links
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