Shadow Priest Spells: Shadow Word: Pain

Shadow Word: Pain

SW: P, as it will henceforth be called, is another damage over time spell and is considered (at least by WoWwiki) to be the strongest DoT spell in the game. I am not sure I'd go THAT far, but it sure does do a lot of damage. There's also a talent in our shadow tree that gives SW:P up to 6% more damage overall. SW:P also benefits from Shadow Weaving (buffs all shadow damage by 2% per stack for up to 5 stacks. If you don't talent 3 points into this, I'll cry), and your +crit. That's right, a DoT that already does a ton of damage can also crit. Below is the base damage chart per rank.

Rank	Level	Mana cost	Damage
1	4	25%	30
2	10	25%	60
3	18	25%	120
4	26	25%	210
5	34	25%	330
6	42	25%	462
7	50	25%	606
8	58	25%	768
9	65	25%	906
10	70	22%	1116
11	75	22%	1176
12	80	22%	1380

The utility of this spell in a raid is undeniable for several reasons.

1. EVERY SINGLE PRIEST HAS THIS. I'll repeat: every priest in the game--be they holy, discipline, or shadow specced--has this spell. On DPS-race fights (i.e. Sartharion with drakes), it is invaluable. The reason Shadow priests are also invaluable is because our trainable spells make SW:P (and DP to a lesser extent) that much more viable for damage output.
   
2. You can use this spell while you run into a fight, and start your DPS that much sooner. The quicker
   
3. For most fights, a shadow priest SHOULD, theoretically, only have to throw it on a mob or boss once (for most fights; not all). Prior to the latest patch, this would be the 5th spell in your initial rotation, but due to some fixed bugs, it's bumped up to 2 or 3. Basically, you used to need 5 stacks of shadow weaving up to get the full dps benefit, but now, when SW:P refreshes (we'll discuss this when we discuss Mind Flay) it refreshes the damage based on current buff situation. In other words, SW:P refreshes, and will update itself based on the extra damage from shadow weaving/trinkets/etc. At least, that's my understanding.

Anyhoo, SW: P is your second/third spell in your initial DPS rotation (unless you have to run into position quickly, in which case it's 1 or 2). Next spell up for explanation is Shadow Word: Death. I'll try and post that later this week, but I'm raiding a LOT, and might not be able to contain my shakes if I manage to get my last few epics I need.