Touch of Weakness

For the quest which teaches this ability, see Touch of Weakness (quest).

Touch of Weakness
Touch of Weakness (7 ranks) Level 10 priest ability 235 Mana Instant The next melee attack on the caster will cause X Shadow damage and reduce the damage caused by the attacker by Y for 2 min.
Properties
Class	Priest
Race(s)	Undead, blood elf
School	Shadow
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	10
Improvements	[Blackout], [Mental Agility], [Force of Will], [Darkness], [Shadow Focus], [Shadow Weaving]
Related buff
Magic Touch of Weakness The next damaging melee attack against you will damage and weaken the target. Duration: 10 minutes
Related debuff
Curse Touch of Weakness Physical damage done reduced by Y. Duration: 2 minutes

Touch of Weakness was one of the priest racial abilities formerly available to undead and blood elven priests. It is a Shadow spell/ability that provides a self-buff when cast on the priest which causes shadow damage to enemy attackers and weakens their next attacks by a set amount.

Rank table

Rank	Level	Mana Cost	Shadow Damage Done (X)	Attacker's Physical Damage Reduction (Y)	Cost
1	10	25	Cause 8 shadow damage.	Reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 2.	0 90
2	20	45	Cause 15 shadow damage.	Reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 4.	1 50
3	30	75	Cause 24 shadow damage.	Reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 7.	5 0
4	40	105	Cause 35 shadow damage.	Reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 11.	9 0
5	50	145	Cause 48 shadow damage.	Reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 15.	15 0
6	60	195	Cause 64 shadow damage.	Reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 20.	23 0
7	70	235	Cause 80 shadow damage.	Reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 35.	50 50

Notes

• Casting Touch of Weakness applies a 10 minute buff to the Priest. When an enemy target successfully hits the Priest in melee, the target is hit for a small amount of Shadow damage (which can be modified by Shadow/general spell +damage) and a 120-second (2 minutes) duration debuff is applied to the target that reduces melee damage. This debuff does not stack.

• Prior to patch 1.10.0, it applied a 60-second buff to the Priest, and the debuff would only be applied if the Priest melee attacked an enemy target.

Tips and tactics

Touch of Weakness can be very useful for a Priest who has invested heavily in the Shadow talent tree. Although the amount of damage that is reduced at high levels is fairly insignificant, the true power of Touch of Weakness is the Shadow damage component. Since Shadow damage is dealt to the target, Touch of Weakness will apply a charge of [Shadow Weaving] to the target (if the Priest has fully invested in the [Shadow Weaving] talent), and it also has a chance to proc [Blackout], making it a useful tool against Rogues, Warriors, Enhancement Shamans, etc.

Patch changes

• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Removed.
  
• Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): This spell can now activate [Surge of Light].
  
• Patch 1.10.0 (2006-03-28): Now a 10 min. buff on the caster that is triggered when they are struck in melee. The effect is otherwise the same. Mana cost decreased substantially.
  
• Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12): Stronger versions of this effect on enemy targets will no longer be replaced by weaker versions.
  
• Patch 1.4.0 (2005-04-19): Should now be affected by the [Blackout], [Darkness], [Force of Will], [Shadow Focus], [Shadow Weaving] and [Silent Resolve] talents.
  
• Patch 1.1.0 (2004-11-07): Added.
  

External links

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