Shadow Bolt

Shadow Bolt
	Shadow Bolt; Level 1 warlock ability; 40 yd range; 1.5% of base mana; 2 sec cast; Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing (70.2% of Spell power) Shadow damage.; ; Generates 1 Soul Shard.;
Properties
Class	Warlock
School	Shadow
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	1
Improvements	[Dark Virtuosity], [Demonic Calling], [Nightfall], [Rot and Decay], [Sacrificed Souls], [Sargerei Technique], [Shadow Embrace], [Withering Bolt]

May darkness take you, for when I'm done, the Light will not recognize you.^[1]

Shadow Bolt is a level 1 warlock spell that deals direct damage to the target. It's the primary filler spell for both Affliction and Demonology warlocks. For Destruction warlocks it is replaced by [Incinerate]. For Demonology warlocks, Shadow Bolt generates a Soul Shard each time it is cast.

Notes and trivia

Shadow Bolt is sometimes misspelled Shadowbolt by Blizzard.
Shadowmages and Necromancers can both harness the shadows into bolts of incendiary energy.^[2] This would be one of the overlapping abilities shared with warlocks.^[3]
Shadow Bolt is a basic Warlock spell in Hearthstone. The flavor text reads: "It's a Bolt. Its made out of Shadow. What more do you need to know!"

Patch changes

Hotfix (2024-05-07): Damage increased by 90% in PvP combat (was 60%).
Patch 10.2.0 (2023-11-07): Damage increased 60%.
Hotfix (2023-08-21): Now deals 60% increased damage in PvP combat (was 30%).
Hotfix (2023-06-05): Damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
Hotfix (2023-01-09): Damage increased by 10%.
Hotfix (2022-12-19): Damage increased by 20%.
Patch 10.0.2 (2022-11-15): No longer deals 10% increased damage in PvP combat.
Hotfix (2021-08-09): Damage increased by 10% in PvP situations.
Patch 9.1.0 (2021-06-29): Mana cost reduced to 1.5% base mana (was 2%).
Patch 9.0.2 (2020-11-17): Damage has been increased by 13%.
Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Now available again to Affliction warlocks. New visual spell effect.
Patch 7.3.5 (2018-01-16): Damage increased by 100%.
Hotfix (2017-01-17): Shadow Bolt damage increased by 42%.
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): No longer exclusive to Demonology. Now available to Destruction until Level 14.
Hotfix (2016-09-23): Shadowbolt damage increased by 10%.
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Now exclusive to Demonology and generates 1 Soul Shard. Damage reduced by 15%. Cast time reduced to 2 seconds, down from 2.5 seconds. [Molten Core].
Patch 6.2.0 (2015-06-23): Now deals 25% less damage.
Hotfix (2014-12-15): Shadow Bolt's damage has been increased by 25%.
Hotfix (2014-10-17): Shadow Bolt's damage has been reduced by 20%.
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): [Decimation]'s effects have been merged into baseline Shadow Bolt: When you cast Shadow Bolt on a target below 25% health, you gain the Molten Core effect.
Patch 5.2.0 (2013-03-05): Now deals 15% more damage.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Cast time reduced to 2.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds. Now replaced by [Malefic Grasp] for Affliction and [Incinerate] for Destruction.
Patch 4.3.0 (2011-11-29): Shadow Bolt has a new visual spell effect.
Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Cast time increased to 3 sec, up from 1.7. Range now 40 yards, up from 30.
Patch 3.2.2 (2009-09-22): When using Shadow Bolt while having [Backlash] and [Backdraft] active, only Backlash will now be properly consumed.
Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): Shadow Bolt animation updated.