Sacred Shield (Wrath Classic)

Sacred Shield
	Sacred Shield; Level 80 paladin ability; 40 yd range; 12% of base mana; Instant; Each time the target takes damage they gain a Sacred Shield, absorbing 500 damage and increasing the paladin's chance to critically hit with Flash of Light by 50% for up to 6 seconds. They cannot gain this effect more than once every 6 sec. Lasts 30 seconds. This spell cannot be on more than one target at any one time.;
Properties
Class	Paladin
School	Holy
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	80
Related buffs
	Magic ; Sacred Shield ; Each time the target takes damage they gain a Sacred Shield, absorbing 500 damage and increasing the paladin's chance to critically hit with Flash of Light by 50%. ; Duration: 30 seconds ; ; Magic ; Sacred Shield ; Absorbs damage and increases the casting paladin's chance to critically hit with Flash of Light by 50%. ; Duration: 6 seconds ;

For Cataclysm version, see [Sacred Shield].

Sacred Shield is a paladin spell learned at level 80.

Notes

If the [Divine Guardian] talent was used, the duration of Sacred Shield buff would increase to 9/12 seconds while the buff would still be able to refresh every 6 seconds.
The Sacred Shield received approximately 75% of the casting Paladin's spell power.
Damage over time effects would proc the Sacred Shield buff.
An important note for ret Paladins was that casting Sacred Shield reseted the weapon swing timer.
Environmental damage (e.g. fall damage, lava) was not absorbed.

Damage over time effects triggered the Shield's buff making this ability very useful in pvp combat. It was a viable tactic to intentionally suffer a less harmful DoT spell on yourself in order to have it constantly proc the Sacred Shield buff.
Ret Paladins should time their [The Art of War] instant Flash of Light casts with the buff from the Sacred Shield.
Paired with the [Illumination] and [Beacon of Light] talents, the additional 50% [Flash of Light] crit chance would greatly increase the mana effectiveness of Paladin's healing. Thus, the holy Paladin's main target should be protected by the Sacred Shield buff whenever possible.

Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Removed.
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): Flash of Light no longer causes a heal-over-time effect unless the player has the [Infusion of Light] talent.
Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04):
- This buff will no longer have any effect if the target is another player engaged in a duel. In addition, the heal from this buff will no longer cause the paladin to stand, and it is no longer possible for two paladins to both have the spell active on one target.
- When a paladin casts [Flash of Light] on a target with this buff, they also now place a heal over time effect on the target, healing that target for 100% of the Flash of Light amount over 12 seconds.
Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14):
- This effect cannot be cast on more than one friendly target at a time.
- Now scales properly from spell power granted by Sheath of Light.
Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Added.