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Comment by raventears

Shadowbolt is the bread and butter of warlock DPS, and this is where we gain most of our DPS from. Gaining shadow spell dmg gear will certainly help add to the damage that shadowbolt can do.

Comment by frmorrison

Any shadow non-DoT damage will eat up a charge of imp SB, like shadow wands and the Succubus's Lash.

This spell got a new animation in 2.1.

Comment by 67683

seems to have had a debuff lessening the average damage but buffing the high damage, now 88-101 dmg

Comment by 106563

ive seen this crit up 2 13k

Comment by MasterOfDisguise

Without talents, Shadow Bolt gains an additional 85.7% of your Spell Damage bonuses.

Comment by 144172

Something Intresting:If you kite the Shadow Bolt(can be done without Crusader Aura or trinkets),It has the sound From Diablo 2's ending cinematic(It's the second video,and can be heard at 0:35)

Comment by 177625

420 mana. Coincidence? i think not

Comment by Maryha

The most powerfull Shadow Bolt in WotLK

Comment by kripz

huge crit on netherspite

Comment by 244934

this is similiar to the shadow bolt that these NPCS cast:
Apothecary Falthis
Balizar the Umbrage
Burning Blade Apprentice
Dalaran Conjuror
Dar'Khan Drathir
Dark Strand Adept
Dark Strand Cultist
Fizzle Darkstorm
Frostmane Shadowcaster
Gawanil
Gazz'uz
Ilkrud Magthrull
Licillin
Searing Blade Warlock
Syndicate Shadow Mage
Zevrax

all the details are the same but the yards, warlocks have 30 yards, and these npcs can cast at 40 yards.

https://www.wowhead.com/cata/spell=20791#used-by-npc

Comment by 450193

Shadow Bolt VS Incinerate VS Haunt
Sorry I'm not the type to start testing numbers so I don't have exact stats but I hope this part still helps anyways...
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm gladly edit this.

Shadow Bolt cast time 3 (talents: 2.5, without haste)
Might want to consider this if your mostly affliction, I find anyways, it might not crit as hard as Incinerate but it's white dmg is quite superior. If you add the shadow bolt glyph with cataclysm, you looking at the most mana efficient spell from the three. Plus something unique to shadow bolt, NightFall + glyph of corruption that gives you a 4% chance with drain life and 8% chance with corruption to have an Instant Bolt

Incinerate cast time 2.5 (talents: 2.25, without haste)
White dmg wise is not as hard as the Shadow Bolt but it's crit factor when spec destruction is simply amazing.
Make sure immolate is on -> Fire and Brimstone + Firestone + Flame and Shadow + Emberstorm + glyph of Incinerate with 5% extra dmg simply owns if you have a high crit chance.

Additions: These are add-ons that Shadow bolt and Incinerate have since they are destruction spells.
Excluding Haunt = Backlash, Backdraft and Empowered Imp

Haunt cast time 1.5 (without haste)
By far not the strongest of the three but the 20% increase in DoT dmg + life reg. after 12sec is more then worth the talent points. Bad point of view is that there is a cooldown on it, therefore, makes it a little hard to spec completely Affliction. Also Haunt has the fastest casting time from all of them.

Comment by 580283

This spell has a quite long casting time for medium damage, and isn't that good compared to mage's bolts, but since it's the only attack you have at low level, you'll have to deal with it.

Comment by Thottbot

Here's a comparison:

DRUID'S Wrath: 12-14 damage (20 mana, 1.5 sec)
SHAMAN's Lightning Bolt: 13-15 damage (20 mana, 1.5 sec)
WARLOCK'S Shadow Bolt: 12-16 damage (25 mana, 1.7 sec)
PRIEST'S Smite: 13-17 damage (20 mana, 1.5 sec)
MAGE'S Fireball: 14-22 damage + 2 damage over time (30 mana, 1.5 sec)

Comment by Thottbot

lol he just pointed out the DPS of the 1st rabks of their nuke abilities

Comment by Thottbot

ur right :s why bother reading the post fully if you can just flame the guy before you

Comment by Thottbot

Yeah... That's why good warlocks only use shadowbolts during nightfall proc.

Comment by Thottbot

I've had a lot of Warlocks since release and remade one again after a long absence. I really forgot just how sucky Shadowbolt is.

I currently have a lvl 19 Warlock, which is a lvl before you get a new SB. But the SB I have does:

48 to 56 Shadow damage at 2.8 seconds cast.

I have as a wand Cookie's Stirring Rod, which is a blue item, level 17.

20 - 38 Arcane Damage Speed 1.30
(22.3 damage per second).

So for 0 mana, no interrupts, I can do more damage than my current SB on average.

If you have a good wand, you simply don't need SB unless you are using it in conjunction with other spells/talents/whatever.

(I will note that next level's SB will then out damage my current wand. And it will take some levels to find a better one. However, the wand still has no mana needs, and can't be interrupted, and activates MUCH faster than SB. Which is great when combat is shifting around -- no need casting SB at something that's dead.)

If you're making a Warlock to be a direct damage dealer, you're going to be disappointed. They have pets and damage over time. Make a Wizard if you want DD.

Comment by Thottbot

I put it this way at 70 when a Most Warlocz go Destruc demo there burst dps is a lil more over the magez i seen in all my raiding and no mage has ever beat my rogue in dps but warloc destruc demo spec have

Comment by Thottbot

While I cannot argue about whether warlocks are better than mages (since they both have their specific advantages/disadvantages) I wish to point out a few points;

Mana isn't necessarily an issue with warlocks, as they have Life Tap (as well as Drain Mana, but I won't mention that to save for time). After they Life Tap they can Drain Life, use a potion, bandage, wear that one Shadoweave set that can replenish their life as they cause shadow/frost damage (I'm mainly speaking of the shadow part), Or, if they're Destruction, they have a chance to replenish their life upon doing damage.

But back to the topic; Shadowbolt. This move isn't as bad as people say it is. Yes, I can see the advantage of getting a 4% chance for an instant cast SB, the 16% one in Destruction isn't too bad either...and if you DO go Destro, it's possible to have enough points left over to get Nightfall. Now, I'm not a major warlock player (36 lock so far), I know the good in them. Though it was not necessarily meant for warlocks to out-DPS mages, they CAN. When they specialize Destruction. Yes, it's true (I've seen it, quite fascinating). It helps not to judge warlocks before one levels one to 40, when they start to get the REALLY nice moves (Death Coil ftw for warlocks; ftl for anyone fighting them). Not to sound like a jerk, but I think some of us here need to re-cehck our info; warlocks can DPS under the right circumstances, and I would say I'd rather have a warlock in my group than a mage if they could a.) create water, and b.) not proc a chance to summon a doomguard by using Curse of Doom. Eep.

Warlocks are just as 'ftw' as any other class. Thank you.

Comment by Thottbot

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Links

Shadow Bolt

Shadow Bolt	Level 85

10% of base mana	40 yd range

Instant

Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing 698 Shadow damage.

Spell Details

Duration

n/a

School

Shadow

Mechanic

n/a

Dispel type

n/a

GCD category

Normal

Cost

10% of base mana

Range

40 yards (Long)

Cast time

Instant

Cooldown

n/a

GCD

1.5 seconds

Effect

School Damage (Shadow)
Value: 2 (SP mod: 0.754)
PVP Multiplier: 1

Flags

Cannot be used while shapeshifted

Shadow Bolt

Buff

Spell Details

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