Shadow Word: Pain

Shadow Word: Pain
	Shadow Word: Pain; Level 2 priest ability; 40 yd range; 0.3% of base mana; Instant; A word of darkness that causes (12.92% of Spell power) Shadow damage instantly, and an additional (76.704% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 16 sec.; ; Generates 3 Insanity.;
Properties
Class	Priest
School	Shadow
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	2
Improvements	[Catharsis], [Deathspeaker], [From Darkness Comes Light], [Misery], [Pain and Suffering], [Power of the Dark Side], [Shadowy Insight], [Throes of Pain], [Tormented Spirits]
Related debuff
	Magic ; Shadow Word: Pain ; Suffering (9.588% of spell power) Shadow damage every 2 sec. ; Duration: 16 sec ;

"SWP" redirects here. For the raid instance, see Sunwell Plateau.

"Your pain is my pleasure." —Omedus the Punisher^[1]

Shadow Word: Pain is a level 2 priest damage over time ability with a direct damage component.

For Shadow priests, Shadow Word: Pain generates 3 Insanity on application.

Notes

As with many baseline abilities, the actual damage dealt by Shadow Word: Pain will vary based on the priest's specialization. This is due to each spec having a hidden core aura that modifies ability damage done solely for that spec.
- As of patch 9.0.1, these hidden core auras grant Shadow Word: Pain a 7% damage increase for discipline, an 81% damage increase for holy, and a 20% damage increase for shadow.
Like all damage over time spells, sufficient haste will cause Shadow Word: Pain to gain extra ticks.
Shadow Word: Pain will not deal its initial damage when applied with [Vampiric Touch] via [Misery].

Tips and tactics

In the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

Shadow priests use Shadow Word: Pain (commonly abbreviated as SW:P) as one of their key damage-over-time attacks. Though its damage is considerably low, its primary use is to enable [Mastery: Shadow Weaving], and it should generally be kept active on enemies at all times. Being both instant cast and free of cost, SW:P is the easiest of Shadow's three DoTs to apply and spread, especially with the talents [Misery] or [Searing Nightmare].

As Discipline priests do not have access to [Renew], they instead make use of Shadow Word: Pain as a "reverse HoT" via [Atonement]. Unlike shadow, discipline does not have any options to directly improve SW:P, but they can talent into [Purge the Wicked] which replaces SW:P entirely with a stronger DoT.

In PvP, SW:P can be useful for preventing rogues or druids from stealthing, and dealing damage while on the move. Unlike most DoTs, Shadow Word: Pain has an initial direct damage component that will interrupt flag captures and similar processes, making it highly useful for this purpose. This makes SW:P the priest's only instant spammable direct damage ability.

In the RPG

This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

This spell envelopes a target briefly in a cloud of dark energy conjured from the netherworld.^[2]

Trivia

In Classic, Shadow Word: Pain is the only shadow damage over time ability available to priests (excluding the undead priest racial [Devouring Plague]). It is also considered to be one of the strongest DoTs in Classic due to both its high base damage and its synergy with the numerous shadow damage talents and debuffs available.
Shadow Word: Pain is a basic Priest spell in Hearthstone. The flavor text reads: "A step up from a spell cast by many beginning acolytes: "Shadow Word: Annoy"."

Patch changes

Hotfix (2024-05-07): Healing increased by 15% in PvP combat.
Hotfix (2024-01-22): Damage increased by 15%.
Patch 10.2.0 (2023-11-07):
- Damage increased by 10% for Discipline.
- Damage increased by 17% for Shadow. Not applied to PvP combat.
Hotfix (2023-08-10): Fixed an issue causing this week's Shadow Word: Pain damage adjustment to apply to PvP combat.
Hotfix (2023-08-07): Damage reduced by 15%. Does not apply to PvP.
Patch 10.0.7 (2023-03-21): Shadow Word: Pain and [Purge the Wicked] now have a spell highlight when [Catharsis] is above 80% of its maximum stored damage.
Hotfix (2022-12-19): Damage increased by 10% for Shadow only.
Hotfix (2022-11-01): Shadow damage increased by 10%.
Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): Rank 2's effects are now baseline.
Hotfix (2022-06-24): Damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
Patch 9.1.0 (2021-06-29): Shadow damage increased by 25%.
Hotfix (2020-11-09): (Discipline) Damage reduced by 10%.
Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Once again available to all Priests as a baseline ability.
- Damage coefficient reduced to 12.92% instant (was 16.56%) and 57.528% periodic (was 99.2%).
- Duration reduced to 12 seconds (was 16 seconds).
- For shadow priests, a new rank has been added that increases the duration by 4 seconds.
- Mana cost reduced to 0.3% base mana (was 1.8% base mana).
- Now learned at level 2 (was level 3).
- Periodic critical strikes no longer generate [Shadowy Apparitions] for shadow priests.
Patch 8.3.0 (2020-01-14): Shadow Word: Pain damage reduced by 9%.
Patch 8.2.0 (2019-06-25): Shadow Word: Pain damage reduced by 9%.
Patch 8.1.0 (2018-12-11): (Discipline) Damage reduced by 11%. (Shadow) Damage reduced by 5%.
Hotfix (2018-09-10): Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) damage increased by 20%.
Hotfix (2018-08-07): Shadow Word: Pain (Discipline) damage reduced by 9%.
Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Duration reduced to 16 seconds (was 18 seconds).
Hotfix (2017-12-05): Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) damage reduced by 12%.
Hotfix (2017-11-28): Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) damage reduced by 4%.
Hotfix (2017-06-13): Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) damage reduced by 20% in PvP situations.
Patch 7.2.5 (2017-06-13): Shadow Word: Pain damage increased by 5% for Discipline and 10% for Shadow.
Hotfix (2017-02-21): Shadow Word: Pain (with the Misery talent) is now properly applied to the target when out of range.
Patch 7.1.5 (2017-01-10): (Shadow) Duration now 18 seconds (was 14 seconds). Now generates 4 Insanity (was 3).
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): (Shadow) Damage reduced by 10%.
Hotfix (2016-08-26): Shadow Word: Pain (Discipline) damage increased by 7%.
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): No longer available to Holy. Damage per tick reduced by 5%. Duration reduced to 14 seconds (down from 18). Now generates Insanity (Shadow only).
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Mana cost reduced by 50%. Shadow Word: Pain's initial damage is now considered direct damage rather than periodic damage. Shadowy Apparitions and Shadowy Insight are no longer able to trigger from this initial direct damage.
Hotfix (2013-09-23): Shadow Word: Pain's damage has been reduced by 15%.
Patch 5.4.0 (2013-09-10): Now deals 25% more damage.
Hotfix (2013-03-12): Shadow Word: Pain now deals 25% less damage.
Hotfix (2013-03-05): Shadow Word: Pain now deals 25% more damage.
Hotfix (2012-09-14): Shadow Word: Pain should now interrupt flag captures and other similar processes with its initial damage (but not its periodic damage over time).
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Now deals initial damage in addition to its periodic damage. Now learned at level 3 (was 4).
Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): Shadow Word: Pain damage done has been decreased by 12%.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Range increased to 40 yards, up from 30.
Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): No longer gains increased damage from critical strike via [Shadowform]. Instead, Shadowform will now grant Shadow Word: Pain the ability to critically strike.
Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): Shadow Word: Pain now will gain the correct damage modifiers for the creature type of the target.
Patch 3.0.3 (2008-11-04): Shadow Word: Pain cast while in [Shadowform] now deals increased damage equal to the caster's critical strike chance.
Patch 2.0.6 (2007-01-23): Spell power coefficient reduced by 9%.
Patch 1.1.0 (2004-11-07): Removed facing requirement.
Patch 0.6 (2004-04-13): Shadow Word: Pain will now stack with [Corruption].