Power Word: Shield

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Power Word: Shield
Spell holy powerwordshield.png
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], [Preventive Measures], [Prophet's Will], [Protector of the Frail], [Strength of Soul], [Void Shield], [Words of the Pious]
Related buff
  • Magic
  • Power Word: Shield
  • Absorbs (463.8% of Spell Power) damage.
  • Duration: 15 seconds
Related debuff
  • Weakened Soul
  • Cannot be affected by <name>'s Power Word: Shield.
  • Duration: 7 seconds

Power Word: Shield (abbreviated PW:S) is an instant-cast Power Word spell which creates a protective shield around a friendly target, absorbs a set amount of damage and preventing pushback.

Power Word: Shield is a signature spell of the Discipline priest, it being one of the primary ways Discipline priests apply [Atonement] to their allies.

Functionality

The shield will last for 15 seconds or until "broken" through combat. The shield prevents damage after all 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 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.

Power Word: Shield does not interfere with rage generation for druids in bear form or warriors.

Tips and tactics

In the World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game.
  • Power Word: Shield is notably useful for its pushback prevention. It also prevents  [Dazed] effects caused by being struck from behind.
  • 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.
  • 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

Patch changes

  • The War Within Hotfix (2025-09-09): Absorption increased by 20% in PvP combat.
  • The War Within Patch 11.2.0 (2025-08-05): Mana cost increased by 8%.
  • The War Within 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.
  • The War Within Hotfix (2025-03-11): Absorption reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
  • The War Within Patch 11.1.0 (2025-02-25): Absorption increased by 15%.
  • The War Within Patch 11.0.2 (2024-08-13): Absorb amount increased by 20%.
  • The War Within Patch 11.0.0 (2024-07-23): Absorb value now has a 5% variance, like other healing spells.
  • Dragonflight Patch 10.2.0 (2023-11-07): Absorption increased by 10%.
  • Dragonflight Hotfix (2023-08-21): No longer reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Dragonflight Patch 10.1.5 (2023-07-11): Now costs 10% of base mana (was 5%).
  • Dragonflight Hotfix (2023-06-05): Now absorbs 15% less damage in PvP Combat.
  • Dragonflight Hotfix (2023-04-10):
    • Now costs 2.4% of base mana for Discipline (was 3.1%).
    • Now absorbs 25% more damage for Discipline.
  • Dragonflight 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.
  • Dragonflight Patch 10.0.2 (2022-11-15): Absorb value no longer increased by 10% in PvP combat.
  • Dragonflight Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): No longer causes Weakened Soul. Now has a 7.5 second cooldown.
  • Shadowlands 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.
  • Shadowlands Hotfix (2020-11-09): Absorb reduced by 8%.
  • Shadowlands Patch 9.0.2 (2020-11-17):
    • Now absorbs 17.5% less damage.
    • No longer increased by 10% in PvP combat.
  • Shadowlands 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.
  • Battle for Azeroth 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.
  • Battle for Azeroth 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.
  • Battle for Azeroth Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Cooldown removed for both specializations.
  • Legion Hotfix (2017-06-13): Power Word: Shield's absorption amount is increased by 10% in PvP situations (was 25%)./
  • Legion Patch 7.2.5 (2017-06-13): Power Word: Shield cost increase by 15%.
  • Legion Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Mana cost increased by 51%. Now learned at level 8 (was 5).
  • Legion Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): No longer available to Holy priests. The Weakened Soul and Borrowed Time effects have been removed.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-11-20): Weakened Soul now has an 11-second duration while in PvP combat (down from 15 seconds). [Enhanced Power Word: Shield] will continue to reduce the duration of Weakened Soul by an additional 3 seconds.
  • Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.1.0 (2015-02-24): Now absorbs 10% less damage.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-01-12): Power Word: Shield's absorption has been reduced by 15%.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2014-12-04): Critical hits should now correctly absorb only 150% of normal in PvP.
  • Warlords of Draenor 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.
  • Mists of Pandaria 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).
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Duration has been reduced to 15 seconds, down from 30.
  • Cataclysm 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.
  • Cataclysm 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%.
  • Cataclysm 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.
  • Wrath of the Lich King 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.
  • Wrath of the Lich King Patch 3.3.0 (2009-12-08): This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.
  • Burning Crusade Patch 2.4.2 (2008-05-13): Now has the correct sound associated with it and can no longer be heard from large distances.
  • Burning Crusade Patch 2.4.0 (2008-03-25): Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
  • Burning Crusade 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.
  • Burning Crusade Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): The Weakened Soul effect will no longer sometimes be re-applied while zoning with this buff on.
  • Burning Crusade 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%.
  • World of Warcraft Patch 1.10.0 (2006-03-28): This spell will now get a small bonus from items and effects which increase your healing.
  • World of Warcraft 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.
  • World of Warcraft Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12): Damage absorption now absorbs damage from mana burn effects like Lava Shield.
  • World of Warcraft Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07): Now castable on all raid targets.
  • World of Warcraft Patch 1.2.0 (2004-12-18): Now usable on party members only.
Burning Crusade Classic
  • Burning Crusade 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

Other versions

External links

Ability Weakened Soul
Rank 1 Rank 10
Rank 1 Rank 12
Rank 1 Rank 14
Playable classes
Classes
About priests
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