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% for up to 6 seconds. They cannot gain this effect more than once every 6 seconds. Lasts 30 seconds.
As this shield currently functions, when the shield's pitiful 500 damage absorption is used up, both the shield and the crit bonus disappear.
Put bluntly, this is utterly useless. Even the most meager of L80 mobs can deal 200-500 damage in a melee swing, and in an instance or raid setting, this buff barely flashes active before it goes down.
Am I missing something? Is this a bug, or has blizzard once again implemented an ability with no real forethought to long-term usability?
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Sacred Shield - Am I Missing Something?Follow
idealy, the shield could absorb 2500 damage (5 hits). but thats if the timing of the cast and the swing of the mob is perfect. you are going to only get 2000 damage mitigation out of that spell.
if they really wanted to make it usefull. they should make it cast on the entire party. its not really healing so it wouldnt step on anyones toes. but it would help the aoe situation that Holy has problems with.
if they really wanted to make it usefull. they should make it cast on the entire party. its not really healing so it wouldnt step on anyones toes. but it would help the aoe situation that Holy has problems with.
The thing of it is, the mitigation isn't the important part of that spell. It's the buff to crit. That large bonus to crit as long as the shield is active _almost_ allows a holy paladin to forego +crit on their gear, and put time and energy into MP5. but the way the shield works, there's no way for a paladin to make use of that aspect of the spell.
I don't use this on the tank, I use this on the DPS/squishies getting caught in the AoE's. Lasts a bit longer that way. Perhaps I'm using it wrong, but I tend to think of it more like the Priest's bubble, lame on the tank, but helpful on DPS to allow them the few seconds to use their Aggro reducing move.
Edited because I had a brain fart and said 6 seconds when I meant to say 30 seconds :D
This can be looked at from both a mitigation and crit perspective. Lots of people GROSSLY misunderstand this ability thinking that it only helps on 1 hit every 30 seconds. In fact, it works on 1 hit every 6 seconds.
Yes, it is an amazing crit bonus for Paladin healers and yes, it does work as advertised. There's not much more to say there. It is a fantastic healing tool when used in damage intensive situations where you need to throw flash around -- and it's a GODSEND for Ret off-healing.
As damage mitigation, you're missing something if you think it's pitiful. It will mitigate between 1500 and 2500 damage during the 30 second period that it's up -- at which point you'll eat a hit for 100% damage again -- then it starts mitigating again. You underestimate 500 off of every attack. Look at it from a tank's perspective. First you have armor and base damage reduction percentages, once all that is taken care of you have nearly 2000 Block Value on an exceptionally geared tank (or 1000ish on a Naxx10 tank). This pulls another 500 off, and not only on Blocks -- on EVERY attack made against you INCLUDING magical attacks. It was mitigating FALLING damage for a while too (though that may be fixed now).
Over the course of a 2 minute + boss fight, being diligent with Sacred Shield makes the tank take very predictable damage. ESPECIALLY if it's a Block-Capped Paladin that just can't eat a white hit. It's practially essential to cast on tanks in magic-heavy fights. You can use it to greatly reduce damage spikes and make healing extremely linear.
Now look at it for the DPS. It's not great if DPS pull aggro. DPSers dont have the same inherant damage percentage reduction abilities as tanks, nor do they have the same mitigation from armor (even plate-wearing DPS) or a nice heavy Block Value. No.. on DPS it's not as great. What it does do is shave a little damage off if a mob charges your squishy Warlock as part of it's mechanic. And then it lets a Paladin healer insta-crit FoL the lock back to full. Not only that, but used in conjunction with Beacon, you put crit heals up on the tank as well. Even better for DPS are magic-heavy fights. If there's a TON of AoE magic damage being thrown around, spam this on everyone whenever you have a free GCD because the damage reduction is HUGE.
FINALLY -- it's not just healers who cast it. All Paladins get it. A Paladin tank without a Paladin healer can self-cast it whenever they want to make their incoming damage more controllable for the healer. This is especially true for AoE pulls where there's the potential to mitigate TONS of damage. Rets can throw it up when they have spare GCDs during those AoE intense fights, since they're taking damage they're getting Spiritual Attunement mana back.
Of all the praise I can sing for this ability, I feel I have to repeat the most important one. Magical AoE damage mitigation for the party. Amazingness.
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:24pm by Losie
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:26pm by Losie
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:26pm by Losie
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:27pm by Losie
This can be looked at from both a mitigation and crit perspective. Lots of people GROSSLY misunderstand this ability thinking that it only helps on 1 hit every 30 seconds. In fact, it works on 1 hit every 6 seconds.
Yes, it is an amazing crit bonus for Paladin healers and yes, it does work as advertised. There's not much more to say there. It is a fantastic healing tool when used in damage intensive situations where you need to throw flash around -- and it's a GODSEND for Ret off-healing.
As damage mitigation, you're missing something if you think it's pitiful. It will mitigate between 1500 and 2500 damage during the 30 second period that it's up -- at which point you'll eat a hit for 100% damage again -- then it starts mitigating again. You underestimate 500 off of every attack. Look at it from a tank's perspective. First you have armor and base damage reduction percentages, once all that is taken care of you have nearly 2000 Block Value on an exceptionally geared tank (or 1000ish on a Naxx10 tank). This pulls another 500 off, and not only on Blocks -- on EVERY attack made against you INCLUDING magical attacks. It was mitigating FALLING damage for a while too (though that may be fixed now).
Over the course of a 2 minute + boss fight, being diligent with Sacred Shield makes the tank take very predictable damage. ESPECIALLY if it's a Block-Capped Paladin that just can't eat a white hit. It's practially essential to cast on tanks in magic-heavy fights. You can use it to greatly reduce damage spikes and make healing extremely linear.
Now look at it for the DPS. It's not great if DPS pull aggro. DPSers dont have the same inherant damage percentage reduction abilities as tanks, nor do they have the same mitigation from armor (even plate-wearing DPS) or a nice heavy Block Value. No.. on DPS it's not as great. What it does do is shave a little damage off if a mob charges your squishy Warlock as part of it's mechanic. And then it lets a Paladin healer insta-crit FoL the lock back to full. Not only that, but used in conjunction with Beacon, you put crit heals up on the tank as well. Even better for DPS are magic-heavy fights. If there's a TON of AoE magic damage being thrown around, spam this on everyone whenever you have a free GCD because the damage reduction is HUGE.
FINALLY -- it's not just healers who cast it. All Paladins get it. A Paladin tank without a Paladin healer can self-cast it whenever they want to make their incoming damage more controllable for the healer. This is especially true for AoE pulls where there's the potential to mitigate TONS of damage. Rets can throw it up when they have spare GCDs during those AoE intense fights, since they're taking damage they're getting Spiritual Attunement mana back.
Of all the praise I can sing for this ability, I feel I have to repeat the most important one. Magical AoE damage mitigation for the party. Amazingness.
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:24pm by Losie
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:26pm by Losie
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:26pm by Losie
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 10:27pm by Losie
It scales with Spell Power. It gains 75% of your spell power. So at heroic gear levels for holy (about 1500 SP), you are looking at over 1500 absorption. Every 6 seconds. For less than 600 mana.
This is invaluable to use to slow down incoming burst damage. Cast it either on the tank or on someone you expect to get hit a lot, and it gives you some breathing room to heal them. Not a lot, but it is definitely noticeable. If it is used to its full duration, it is pretty efficient. This spell gets a lot of use from me, especially if the tank is just barely geared for the content, which happens a lot considering how new heroics still are.
I don't see how or why a holy pally would try to keep this on themselves during a group. You have to be hit for the +crit to take effect, and I don't know about you but I prefer not to be hit while healing. And even then, they will take down the shield (and your bonus to crit with it) before you can actually cast a flash of light.
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 8:52pm by Zeynothix
This is invaluable to use to slow down incoming burst damage. Cast it either on the tank or on someone you expect to get hit a lot, and it gives you some breathing room to heal them. Not a lot, but it is definitely noticeable. If it is used to its full duration, it is pretty efficient. This spell gets a lot of use from me, especially if the tank is just barely geared for the content, which happens a lot considering how new heroics still are.
I don't see how or why a holy pally would try to keep this on themselves during a group. You have to be hit for the +crit to take effect, and I don't know about you but I prefer not to be hit while healing. And even then, they will take down the shield (and your bonus to crit with it) before you can actually cast a flash of light.
Edited, Dec 3rd 2008 8:52pm by Zeynothix
1.) I don't know where this concept of casting it on myself came from. I think you mis-read something. o_o
2.) The question of the crit bonus still remains. In a world where the shield stays up all of .3 seconds - admittedly, serving its purpose in mitigating damage - the FOL crit bonus may as well not even exist. The only way the bonus will ever be applied is if a heal just so happens to go off right as the tank takes a hit.
Now...don't get me wrong, the mitigation is nice, and I'm sure it does wonders to even out spike damage, but if that crit bonus were even remotely stable, that would nearly double the healing output and half my mana usage. Do you see why I'm a little disappointed that the bonus sees so little face time?
2.) The question of the crit bonus still remains. In a world where the shield stays up all of .3 seconds - admittedly, serving its purpose in mitigating damage - the FOL crit bonus may as well not even exist. The only way the bonus will ever be applied is if a heal just so happens to go off right as the tank takes a hit.
Now...don't get me wrong, the mitigation is nice, and I'm sure it does wonders to even out spike damage, but if that crit bonus were even remotely stable, that would nearly double the healing output and half my mana usage. Do you see why I'm a little disappointed that the bonus sees so little face time?
Rheywolf wrote:
In a world where the shield stays up all of .3 seconds
I don't know where you're getting the concept that it goes away as soon as 500 damage is absorbed. What it sounds like to me is that it only absorbs 500 damage at a time, not total. So the buff will stay up for the full duration, only absorbing 500 damage a maximum of once every 6 seconds: is this correct or am I reading all your guys' information wrong?
Quote:
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 seconds.
The only realistic way to read this is that every 6 seconds, if the target of the spell takes damage, they take 500 less, and the original caster of the spell gets a 6 second buff of +50% Flash of Light crit chance
If it works like that, it's awesome. I'll be using it on myself all the time. Just one more level...
Edit: I love not proofreading myself. I also happen to work at the Redundant Department of Redundancy.
Edited, Dec 4th 2008 9:19pm by Ehcks
Look, it is a simple proc on hit that works just like Ice Barrier and Power Word: Shield. It scales with Spell Power. You don't gain a damage reduction for those entire 6 seconds, just a shield that will take damage instead of you. It works after armor, after block, after all other damage reduction. It is incredibly incredibly useful for when you can't heal faster than the target is taking damage (like on huge aoe pulls), or you just want to give the target a buffer so its easier to keep up on heals. It is a huge boon when you are worried the tank will take too much spike damage, and get killed before your holy light will go off.
It suffers from the same problems that power word shield has, although not as heavily since it doesn't absorb nearly as much. Casting it on the tank lowers the damage they take, which reduces rage or mana generated. But then, if they are taking so much damage that you need to cast SS, they will be generating rage/mana faster than they can use it. Use it when you need the breathing room, and forget about the +crit. It is not reliable enough to be worth mentioning, merely a bonus.
Edited, Dec 5th 2008 12:41pm by Zeynothix
It suffers from the same problems that power word shield has, although not as heavily since it doesn't absorb nearly as much. Casting it on the tank lowers the damage they take, which reduces rage or mana generated. But then, if they are taking so much damage that you need to cast SS, they will be generating rage/mana faster than they can use it. Use it when you need the breathing room, and forget about the +crit. It is not reliable enough to be worth mentioning, merely a bonus.
Edited, Dec 5th 2008 12:41pm by Zeynothix
As a prot pally I put mine into a target of target macro. Sure, it's only 500 damage. But it's 500 damage, post mitigation, which is about how much some mobs hit for. Currently it's about 50% of my block value, which means that if I keep the shield up on myself it provides a very real bonus on most attacks. 500 damage every 6 seconds over the course of a 4 minute boss fight is around 20000 damage. If you cast it religiously, it will pay off.
Okay, let's try this again, a little slower.
You cast the spell, it places a 30 second buff on your target.
Every 6 seconds, when that target gets hit, it gains a second buff.
This secondary buff gives 500 damage absorbtion and increases the crit chance of your FOL on that target.
This buff lasts 6 seconds, or until its 500 damage shield is breached.
When this shield is breached, the shield disappears, and the crit buff goes with it, regardless of whether it took 6 seconds, or .6.
So, while the 30 second buff persists and grants an appreciable amount of damage mitigation, the crit bonus frequently fades without use.
This is what bothers me about the spell.
Are we all on the same page now? I sincerely hope so.
Now here's what really confuses me about this spell.
When cast on a druid tank? This spell works exactly the way I think it should.
Which is to say, after the 500 damage shield has been breached, the 6 second mini-buff persists, lending its crit bonus to the healer for the full 6 second duration. It stays even though the tank is obviously still taking damage, not just conveniently dodging everything for the duration.
Now I'm not sure which version of this is bugged, but either way, it seems to me like Blizzard didn't think this spell out too well.
You cast the spell, it places a 30 second buff on your target.
Every 6 seconds, when that target gets hit, it gains a second buff.
This secondary buff gives 500 damage absorbtion and increases the crit chance of your FOL on that target.
This buff lasts 6 seconds, or until its 500 damage shield is breached.
When this shield is breached, the shield disappears, and the crit buff goes with it, regardless of whether it took 6 seconds, or .6.
So, while the 30 second buff persists and grants an appreciable amount of damage mitigation, the crit bonus frequently fades without use.
This is what bothers me about the spell.
Are we all on the same page now? I sincerely hope so.
Now here's what really confuses me about this spell.
When cast on a druid tank? This spell works exactly the way I think it should.
Which is to say, after the 500 damage shield has been breached, the 6 second mini-buff persists, lending its crit bonus to the healer for the full 6 second duration. It stays even though the tank is obviously still taking damage, not just conveniently dodging everything for the duration.
Now I'm not sure which version of this is bugged, but either way, it seems to me like Blizzard didn't think this spell out too well.
Quote:
Are we all on the same page now? I sincerely hope so.
I just turned 80 last night and started trying it out, so yeah.
Unless I am specifically to heal just one guy, I'll never even know the buff is on at all. And if I am, it falls off in less time than it takes to cast a FoL.
If it buffed the caster instead of the target it would solve just about everything.
I think it's a great spell, really helps in those heavy aoe damage fights were we pally healers will struggle. For example H Violet Hold, both Void Walker and the Etheral pump out some pretty heavy party wide damage.
What seems to work for me is beacon the tank, and throw SS up on the other 3 dps and myself. The spike damage is predictable and I can just move with the party, cast a FoL (which is nearly pushed down to 1 second with JotP and haste) on each person, and everyone is fine. 4k+ crit on each dps and myself is 16k going towards the tank, and iv'e just healed 5 people nearly to full in roughly 5 seconds.
My only peeve is that in order to keep up that rather effective healing rotation, I have to go through quite a bit of my mana. IMO make SS hit up to 5 people. (And reduce the cost of beacon, but that's for another thread :P)
What seems to work for me is beacon the tank, and throw SS up on the other 3 dps and myself. The spike damage is predictable and I can just move with the party, cast a FoL (which is nearly pushed down to 1 second with JotP and haste) on each person, and everyone is fine. 4k+ crit on each dps and myself is 16k going towards the tank, and iv'e just healed 5 people nearly to full in roughly 5 seconds.
My only peeve is that in order to keep up that rather effective healing rotation, I have to go through quite a bit of my mana. IMO make SS hit up to 5 people. (And reduce the cost of beacon, but that's for another thread :P)
I don't lose the 2nd buff at all when I self cast or when a healer casts on me.. It stays up for 6 seconds. The first buff mitigates the damage when you get hit, then the second buff activates to "mute" the mitigation for 6 seconds and add crit. When the second buff's timer runs out the "mute" is off and the first can mitigate again.
Like I said way up at the top. This spell has worked 100% as advertised for crits for me. It's never gone down after I take a hit.
Like I said way up at the top. This spell has worked 100% as advertised for crits for me. It's never gone down after I take a hit.
Losie, you are WRONG. That is NOT how it works. The first buff does nothing until you get hit. All it does is allow the second buff to activate. The second buff is what does everything.
Fair enough, that's just how the buff appears to work in observation while using it -- I havn't examined which buff does which in the combat log so I'll go on faith until I do.
It doesn't change the fact that the crit buff definitly stays active the whole time whether the whole shield's absorb power has been expended or not. Honestly, it seems a little OP to me as a Paladin healer can basically infinitly heal me with it (and I *have* checked the combat log for crits while it's active) -- leaving their only weakness being mass AoE damage to others.
It doesn't change the fact that the crit buff definitly stays active the whole time whether the whole shield's absorb power has been expended or not. Honestly, it seems a little OP to me as a Paladin healer can basically infinitly heal me with it (and I *have* checked the combat log for crits while it's active) -- leaving their only weakness being mass AoE damage to others.
11 posts
Look, I donn't know if the spell is not working correctly for you. But, how it works is, or supposed to, and works this way for me is... I hot key the spell onto my RET pally after i'm about 80%-85% then within a few seconds the shield is activated form either a damaging spell or melee attack. Now that spell is gonna do 2 things for 6 sec. 1st- it will absorb 500 dmg and when it does the shield will go away. 2nd it will give the Paladin who cast it a 6sec buff that increases its FoL crit rate by 50%. As soon as the shield is activated the 6 sec duration is triggered. Now whether the the shield gets brought down by 500+ dmg or not the crit to FoL buff still remains for 6 sec and that is why the spell can only be triggered every 6 sec. It is a very useful spell, i even use it while i quest cause those mobs hits are weak and it's mana efficient for me. Plus my FoL will crit and heal me for about 2200=2400 with the current gear that i have equipped which is nothing special. But being a RET paladin having "sheath of light" an additional 60% of that heal will be transfered to me in a 12 sec HOT. This spell is most usefull for a RET Pally, I think. But, Holy Pallys do get mana back on crits so im guessing when that shield is active your Fol crit chance is prolly somewhere between 75%-85%. I think for prot pallys its prolly a waste maybe usefull in a pinch but prolly not in the grand scheme of tanking.
But my main point is... the 6 sec buff to FOL to crit for the 50% does stay on for the full 6 sec duration unless of course you cast your FoL. The buff will be triggered the same time the shield gets triggered,and will last the 6 sec regardless if the shield has been absorbed up and gone. KK next question
But my main point is... the 6 sec buff to FOL to crit for the 50% does stay on for the full 6 sec duration unless of course you cast your FoL. The buff will be triggered the same time the shield gets triggered,and will last the 6 sec regardless if the shield has been absorbed up and gone. KK next question
It is easy to see who has this buff and its stack if you are using the updated healbot it shows the duration and I believe the number of hits the tank has taken.
Using it on a properly geared warrior tank who truly was heroic ready we ran vh regular last night for a guildie who wanted the key.
Until the dragon I only cast that spell and judged light except for perhaps 3 flashes which I am not sure would have even been necessary. So its definitely mitigating.
Another current feature for the paladin tank is that new shield slam, prior to today, anyway we shall see post maintenance, had ranks one and two operating on different cool downs.
Using it on a properly geared warrior tank who truly was heroic ready we ran vh regular last night for a guildie who wanted the key.
Until the dragon I only cast that spell and judged light except for perhaps 3 flashes which I am not sure would have even been necessary. So its definitely mitigating.
Another current feature for the paladin tank is that new shield slam, prior to today, anyway we shall see post maintenance, had ranks one and two operating on different cool downs.
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