Warlock Spells: Soulshatter
by Chris Miller 
Jan 31st 2007 at 10:08AM
Soulshatter is another new skill that warlocks receive, this one at level 66. As a variation on the usual "Spells cost
mana" theme, this spell costs you 8% of your base health. Base health is your health before any bonuses from items, so it's probably between 3 and 4 percent of your hit points. It also costs one Soul Shard. For the warlocks this spell is great because we didn't have a practical way to dump aggro before, and now we can easily reduce our produced threat to stay below the threat of our tank. The 5 minute cooldown means it's only usable once or maybe twice per fight, but that's usually enough to keep you far enough down the aggro list to not be a threat.
Sorry, no action shot for this one. Trying to capture an instant-cast spell with the screenshot tool would run me out of shards fast.
mana" theme, this spell costs you 8% of your base health. Base health is your health before any bonuses from items, so it's probably between 3 and 4 percent of your hit points. It also costs one Soul Shard. For the warlocks this spell is great because we didn't have a practical way to dump aggro before, and now we can easily reduce our produced threat to stay below the threat of our tank. The 5 minute cooldown means it's only usable once or maybe twice per fight, but that's usually enough to keep you far enough down the aggro list to not be a threat.Sorry, no action shot for this one. Trying to capture an instant-cast spell with the screenshot tool would run me out of shards fast.
Filed under: Warlock, The Burning Crusade
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt Jan 31st 2007 2:57PM
Good God, it's about time. I was getting tired of 'locks pulling aggro and dying at the beginning of a fight. I want my Curse of Elements!
Twinny Jan 31st 2007 10:29AM
"Sorry, no action shot for this one. Trying to capture an instant-cast spell with the screenshot tool would run me out of shards fast."
BOOOOOOOOOO!
GamerJunkie Jan 31st 2007 10:54AM
Can we stop it with the Warlock threads and blogs? There are so many other issues with other classes and all wowinsider blogs about is Warlocks every day.
Kabira-Fenris Jan 31st 2007 3:38PM
Yeah, where are the mage spells? Hot-freakin-awesome druid stuff? Tell me about warriors, I have no idea what playing one entails.
Undying Jan 31st 2007 11:12AM
@ GamerJunkie
I like this kind of post. I don't play a Warlock, and it's nice to learn about their spells. It would be nice to ear of the other classes too...
Also, this is a "Positive" post, compared to your comment or other post where people only complains about everything they think of.
my 2 copper...
Twinny Jan 31st 2007 11:23AM
@4 i agree
im a warlock and i get enjoyment out of this post...
Meg Jan 31st 2007 11:36AM
Personally as a warlock, I LOVE this spell for fighting big boys. Especially since I have a tendency to pull aggro at least once during a fight. It has really come in handy, not in instances, but in random elite encounters throughout these new quest lines.
chris Jan 31st 2007 11:30AM
My main's a warlock. So I write lots of warlock stories. I'd expect a level 70 spell story this weekend, then probably some articles on tailoring. I'd write articles on engineering, but...oh yeah, there is no cool engineering in BC.
I've gotten my hunter to 62, my druid and warrior are still at 60. I intend to level my druid next, so if nobody's taken them I'll write those articles.
Also, I think it's kinda nice to know about the spells other classes get, especially since this one is a huge impact in the PvE game, and the previous one (Incinerate) is a huge impact in the PvP game (make sure you dispell that immolate kids).
90% of claim of "OMG OVERPOWERED NERF" are not understanding how another class works.
TonyMotorola Jan 31st 2007 11:48AM
Hands down the best spell we got in the xpac.
Zuuler Jan 31st 2007 12:18PM
I still have a few lvls to go before getting this spell but it seems awesome. I've run Ramparts and Blood Furnace so far, and in both I have pulled aggro off the tank. It would be nice to be able to cast this and have the aggro go back to the tank. The end boss of Blood Furnace came after me and killed me after I had knocked out about 60% of his HP fairly quickly. Would have been nice to survive the encounter isntead of laying there waiting for a rez.
I do agree its good to know the abilities of other classes. I always read abilities posted here for any class. Its good to know what you have in a group. So I do agree, do other classes too, but don't leave out the cool warlock stuff.
Someone tell Blizzard warlocks need a summonable mount with some interested cool long quest chain to obtain it.
Nerf Mages. De-nerf Locks.
Octagon Jan 31st 2007 12:48PM
@4 I also agree. Disclaimer: I am a warlock as well.
@2 I know all the warlock spells I can expect, this is nothing new. Even if you don't play a class it's important to understand their abilities and role in the game. I would be as interested in hearing about other classes, but as Chris stated, no one else has posted anything yet.
I also don't understand why a single post about Incinerate yesterday, and a single post about Soulshatter today translates to "all wowinsider blogs about is warlocks every day."
Your concept of "every day" intrigues me.
Krianna Jan 31st 2007 12:55PM
Other than invisiblity and the magma armor, *are* there any cool mage spells? (New, bigger water doesn't count)
I like learning about other classes.
Mats Jan 31st 2007 2:08PM
I love this spell for all the instance work I am currently doing. Tempest Keep, Shadow Labyrinth, Steam Vaults, shattered halls.. Used this spell in every one of these instances.
When I get aggro from a boss, I just click this spell and poff, it's gone. And since it takes away 50% of my threat, I'll have a hard time getting aggro again from that encounter.
Matt Jan 31st 2007 3:49PM
@ 11
If you don't think Ice Lance is fantastic, you fail.
Kabira-Fenris Jan 31st 2007 4:32PM
I didn't mean to seem like I was agreeing with the guy that says warlock articles are all wowinsider offers. I just meant that it would be cool to see more posts like these, on other classes, as well. I have a lil lock myself that I'm working on :)
Benny Jan 31st 2007 8:38PM
This is going to save my butt as a destructo lock. All my fire draws the ire of "teh mobs". I have the "hypnotist's watch" trinket right now. That isn't a big help. This will be.
Zuuler Feb 1st 2007 7:13AM
I had the hypnotists watch, and I used it a few times, and it never once worked for me, so I vendored it. I now wear my abyssal shard (the only equipment I still use from before the expansion) and my illidari trinket, which increases my critical strike change, and one use increases my spell damage by 120. I use it during boss fights/soloing elites to knock out a lot of HP real fast. Problem is that pulls lots of aggro. From what others are saying here, this spell should be of real benefit to me.