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Comment by 6667

This spell's scaling changed in 2.0.1.
It now adds 429% of total spelldamage gear to it's damage, or 86% per tick. It does pretty insane damage and would easily be the best Warlock DoT, if not for that tiny problem of standing still and having a purple line connecting you and the enemy :)

Comment by 142785

Why channel this for up to 15 seconds hoping for an enemy to die. Use this immediately following a spell to save time.

Because of the time it takes for a spell to hit an enemy (IE. Distance for it to travel) you can cast a Drain Soul Immediately after a casted spell like Shadow Bolt and get credit for the drain, and the shard.

Paying close attention to your cast bar can aid in this.

Comment by 113047

As of built 9014 (2008-09-30), this spell now does 4x damage when target drained is at below 25% health.

Comment by 163531

What is its spell Co-efficiant? With the 4xdam at 25%HP, could it do more than Shadowbolt? I hope so! Love the animation...

Comment by 227709

With 1791 Spelldamage and Shadow Mastery it deals 1010 damage every 3 seconds at >25% hp. If the mob has 25% or less hp it deals 1131. Even if the *4 damage only works on the tooltip damage and ignores spelldamage this number is way of. This is of patch 9061.
I already got in a previous patch as destruction a 2700 drain soul tick but not every tick. Seems kind of buggy at the moment.
If Drain Soul would just quadruplicate the damage and there are enough affliction debuffs on the target I would be able to deal (1010 * 4 * 1,6) 6464 damage every 3 seconds or 2154 dps with Drain Soul alone (as long as I keep my debuffs up). Now Shadowbolt is nowhere near hitting this hard not even half of that. Also I'm not quite sure if speccing destruction for 2.5 sec shadowbolt and ruin is more dps than demonic aegis if you are affliction.

Comment by 178827

I think the 'four times normal damage', if implemented, is a bit too much. As stated before, it can deal 4-5k damage every 3 seconds. As far as PvP goes, almost any player with less than 25% health will have less than 5k health remaining, or anyway not much more. The fact that Drain Soul alone exterminates a player in less than 3 seconds is a bit worrying, especially since it's not intended to be a major damage-dealing spell (at least wasn't up to TBC) and locks have plenty other damage spells to have fun with.

Comment by Gershuun

Just got this spell at level 77 and went to try it out to see what it hit.

Including Fel Armor... with 1708 Spell Power:
+ Demonic Pact + Demonic Empathy + Trinket + Metamorphosis

Drain soul ticked for 5191. Ranged Execute ftw.

Obviously this was just a short collection of self-buffs, but in a raid situation (at least as Demonology) as long as your dots are on and your pet is swinging, this has the potential to do more damage than Shadowbolts for a lot less mana when the boss dips below 25% health.

Also pretty good for taking down seige vehicles in a flash past 25%.

Comment by 238363

To clarify, you must begin channelling when the target is at or below 25% for the ticks to be four times the normal damage. For example, if you begin channelling at 40% and the target then drops below 25%, you will not see any additional damage (unless you recast the spell, of course).

Comment by lordkarthas

Soul Siphon's now a DPS talent; who would have thought?

Comment by n4rt0n

yeah, it's even more useful now, cause does a good deal of damage in 3seconds and probably will give you a soulshard (saving time of farm soulshards later).

Comment by LordVarbaro

DS DPS Spellthread

Drain Soul
Drains the soul of the target, causing 710 Shadow damage over 15 sec. If the target is at or below 25% health, Drain Soul causes four times the normal damage.

2k Spell Power assumed

ie:
142 Shadow damage every 3 seconds
214.3% coefficent according to wowwiki

142 base damage + ((214.3% coefficient * 2000) / (15 sec duration / 3 second tic)) =
142 + ((2.143 * 2000) / 5) = 999 base Damage Per Tic (DpT).

Modifiers:
999 * 15% Shadow Mastery * 3% Malediction * 13% Earth and Moon * 3% Sanctified Retribution (ret pally) * 10% Shadow Mastery =
999 * 1.15 * 1.03 * 1.13 * 1.03 * 1.10 = 1515 modified DpT.

Death Embrace
Increases the amount drained by your Drain Life by 30% while your health is at or below 20% health, and increases the damage done by your Shadow spells by 12% when your target is at or below 35% health.

1515 * 1.12 = 1697 DS DpT

Drain Soul Bonus < 25% Bonus
1697 * 4 = 6788 DS_DpT

So we have 6788 Drain Soul Damage per Tick.

Soul Siphon (rank 2):
Increases the amount drained by your Drain Life and Drain Soul spells by an additional 4% for each Affliction effect on the target, up to a maximum of 60% additional effect.

Affliction Effects: Corr, UA, CoA, SL, Haunt, SE, *DS = 7
(*DS: I believe DS counts as an Affliction Effect for the purpose of SS)

6788 * (Affliction Affects * 4%) =
6788 * 1.28 = 8689 SS_DS_DpT

8689 - 6788 = 1901 damage per tick boost from Soul Siphon or roughly 272 DpT per effect.

/please report bugs/

Comment by mouseno4

Talented, right now i deal 1500 dps, with only casting this spell with elements curse on a heroic target dummy.

The reason being is because the dummy is almost always 0% health. So with Soul Siphon's 4% for Curse of the Elements debuff, the Curse of the Elements' own 13% with Malediction talent, Death's Embrace's 12% for the dummy being under 35% health and finally with the Drain Soul's own bonus of 4 times the damage for a target under 25% - right now it deals well over 4000 every 2-3 seconds.

My warlock only has 1481 spell power, yet if i wanted to i could kick 1900 dps.

Comment by monstermoul

lol here iss the strategy I use to get the cristals pretty quick:
1. Throw lots of spells and when he has like a 20% do this
2. Use Immulate
3. Use fear
4. And as soon the spell is finished use drain soul hell just run away as u keep using this and quickly die because of both Damage dealing spells

Ps: Immulation is just to lower the health fasster

Comment by 161701

Just got this spell at level 77 and went to try it out to see what it hit.

Really...? I hope you mean the rank =)

Comment by anthem47

I've been meaning to check if this can proc during a duel now. Obviously it didn't before because the target never died, but now it procs off damage as well, might just work. You'd think they would've fixed this...but then it does currently proc off target dummys, so you never know =D

Will report back here when I've got a guildy nearby to test it on.

Comment by 336718

If you attack critters with this spell you won't get any shards.

Comment by 361954

Today in a VOA pug i had a few buffs not many maybe 2200sp all my dots and everything i had drainsoul ticking for 16k now thats 5300dps spell pluss dots corr doing like 500dps ot including crits easy 6k dps

Comment by dor11

Can anyone tell me why when I fight mobs, I cant seem to notice the x4 damage?
And yes, they are below 25% HP.

Edit:I saw someone say it only works on last rank (@ lvl 77) why is that? and if that is confirmed.

Comment by Lojza

Mmm, If I drain soul from player, can I wear his soulbound items? :P

Comment by 176514

I'm spoiling my priest alt of all his heirlooms in favor of my new alt: A Warlock.

Why just rip, shred, backstab, burn, freeze, bash, someone when you can have his soul?

Comment by 216978

"Each time the Drain Soul damages the target, it also has a chance to generate a Soul Shard"
wtf why....... who needs constant 32 shards in the bags :@
damn u blizz i hate affly now =/

Comment by Gullwings

Mortal Kombat anyone?

"You're soul is mine!" -Shand Tsung

Comment by kapitalistic

awesome macro list thank

Comment by 85139

lvl 85 Drain Soul receives 3 shards.. which is nice, but i heard Cataclysm would not have shards anymore.

Comment by Cusco

Does not work on gingers.

Comment by arley86

Cant believe warlocks are complaining about mana, back when I was young, we used to lifetap

Comment by PikaPika

Back in my day we had to lifetap for more spellpower, in the snow, uphill both ways, and we liked it dammit!

Comment by squiretoad

My 70 warlock's not getting any shards, no matter how often she casts Drain Soul, no matter when, whatever.

Comment by 997771

The tooltip for this MoP version of Drain Soul does not explicitly state that you regain Soul Shards if the target dies while under the effect of Drain Soul.

In Cataclysm the tooltip states:

If the target dies while being drained, and yields experience or honor, the caster gains 3 Soul Shards. Soul Shards are required for Soulburn.

Does Drain Soul still grant shards when the target dies?

Comment by Railander

As of 5.0, Drain Soul execute range is 20% (instead of 25%) and is also affected by your current DoTs on the target.

Anyway, my main point is that I just tested it and apparently Blizzard finally fixed the damage threshold for the execute, meaning it now updates dynamically rather than when you first cast it.

Comment by wynaught

With Glyph of Drain Life this does energize all 4 shards upon a mob's death while channeling, even though the tooltip does not change.

Comment by Thottbot

Use this spell when grouping or even soloing. You are not going to depend on this spell for damage, so why waste the mana when you still get a perfectly good shard for Rank 1.

This is my view, your's might be different, its just play style.

Comment by Thottbot

The highest rank skill still does less then 500 damage in the entire skills cast time. The 500 damage on a 52+ mob isn't a make or break it amount, especially with your DoT's and in a group. If you need the mana the lower rank would be fine.

Comment by Thottbot

Where does it say there's a "chance" to receive a soul shard? Any rank will give you one if you get the spell off in time. The only time you won't get one is if there is some lag and you "think" you get the spell off in time but really it's only showing you the animation.

Comment by Thottbot

ya dont b stupid and waste mana
just use rank 1 it only needs wut 55 mana?
i hope u r rele not relying on drain sould for ur main source of damage
even when i use rank 1 i still do 200+ dmg with the extra sdmg so dont worry bout how much more dmg its doing just save ur mana for ur nukes and dots

Comment by Thottbot

true dat

Comment by Thottbot

The fact that there are higher ranks of Drain Soul is ridiculous. The damage at the highest rank is so negligible. Just toss enough DoTs on the mob/player so that you know they'll die in at most 15 seconds. That's it. There's no reason at all to spend more than 55 mana to get a Soul Shard.

Comment by Thottbot

I am embarassed it took me so long to figure this out but it seems safe to say you should always use rank 1. I have a hard time coming up with a scenario where the extra dps is gonna be worth the mana cost of using a higher rank. What a big mana saver. Especially useful for grinding through mobs.

Comment by Thottbot

so hang on can u literaly just kill anything with it and it will give u a sould shard? like can i cill like some lvl 5 monster and it will give me a shard?

Comment by Allakhazam

This sucks, why all this work for a spell? WoW you screwed this up big time.Any one want a lev 18 WL?

Comment by Allakhazam

how come sometimes when i cast drain soul on an enermy , it doesnt give me a soulshard?

Comment by Veradas

Does Drain Soul obtain a shard on any target/creature or just humans/humanoids?

Comment by Manbearcow

YouTube Tutorial for All Races: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5iznNSzYVo

All Races:
1. Cast Drain Soul on a critter to receive Pure Soul Shard.

2. Cast Drain Soul on a named mob to receive Tainted Soul Shard, the named mob you need to drain soul on is as follows:
a. Tirisfal Glades - Maggot Eye, at the north end of farm directly north of Brill.
b. Durotar - Kazz'uz, at the back of SKull Rock cave in Northern Durotar.
c. Elwynn Forest - Hogger, at end of "peninsula" in South West corner of map.
d. Dun Morogh - Captain Beld, at Ironband's Compound in South-Eastern corner of map.

3. Once you have both shards, turn them in with a vendor, as follows:
a. Tirisfal Glades - Denton Bleakways, in Undercity near the Warlock voidwalker trainer.
b. Durotar - Darmak Bloodhowl, at Razor Hill.
c. Elwynn Forest - Damien Kane, in basement of Lion's Pride Inn at Goldshire.
d. Dun Morogh - Gaklik Voidtwist at Kharanos.

Comment by Manbearcow

Explorer Imp & Fel Portal Locations Guide - https://youtu.be/VpF5N2mzLdY

1. Acquire an Explorer's Soul by defeating a mob while channeling Drain Soul.
-Explorer's Soul will teach spell Explorer Imp

2. Find a Fel Portal (known as Fel Rift, Fel Crack, Fel Sliver, Fel Tear, or Fel Scar depending on the level range)
-Summon Explorer Imp while standing near Fel Portal and right click to receive a dialogue option to send the Imp in to the portal.
-You will receive a buff called "Imp on a Mission" which will prevent you from summoning the imp again for a few minutes while he explores.

3. After 10-20 minutes the Buff will dissappear and the imp will reappear next to you, or you can resummon him.
-Speak to imp to receive rewards.

Comment by Manbearcow

Warlock Mark of Chaos Rune Video Guide - https://youtu.be/iwxDYpB1xTA

1. Head to Western Plaguelands.
2. Cast Drain Soul on Skeletal Flayer (Level 50-51) until you receive 3 Plagued Soul Shards.
3. Take the Plagued Shards to:
-Horde - Prazik Pilfershard - South side of The Bulwark (on the border between Tirisfal Glades and Western Plaguelands.)
-Alliance - Pixi Pilfershard - Chillwind Camp in the South side of Western Plaguelands.

Links

Drain Soul

Drain Soul	Level 90

1.5% of base mana, plus 1.5% per second	40 yd range

Channeled (12 sec cast)

Drains the soul of the target, causing (275 + Spell Power * 0.257) Shadow damage every 2 sec and energizing one Soul Shard after it deals damage twice. If the target dies and yields experience or honor, 4 Soul Shards are energized. Lasts 12 sec.

If the target is at or below 20% health when Drain Soul deals damage, it deals 100% additional damage and causes all of your other periodic Affliction damage effects to instantly deal 60% of their normal periodic damage.

Buff

Drain Soul

Deals 275 Shadow damage and causes all of the warlock's other periodic Affliction damage effects to instantly deal 60% of their normal periodic damage, every 2 seconds.
12 seconds remaining

Spell Details

Duration

12 seconds

School

Shadow

Mechanic

n/a

Dispel type

n/a

GCD category

Normal

Cost

1.5% of base mana, plus 1.5% per second

Range

40 yards (Long)

Cast time

Channeled

Cooldown

n/a

GCD

1.5 seconds

Effect #1

Apply Aura: Periodic Damage
Value: 1 every 2 seconds
PVP Multiplier: 1

Effect #2

Apply Aura: Absorb Damage
Value: 1
PVP Multiplier: 1

Effect #3

Apply Aura: Dummy
Value: 20
PVP Multiplier: 1
Server-side script

Effect #4

Apply Aura: Periodic Dummy (7)
Value: 1 every 2 seconds
PVP Multiplier: 1

Effect #5

Apply Aura: Dummy
Value: 60
PVP Multiplier: 1
Server-side script

Effect #6

Apply Aura: Dummy
Value: 100
PVP Multiplier: 1
Server-side script

Effect #7

Apply Aura: Dummy
Value: 4
PVP Multiplier: 1
Server-side script

Flags

Proc Failure Burns Charge
Cannot be used while shapeshifted
Channeled
Track Target in Channel
No AutoCast (AI)
Require All Targets
No Target Per-Second Costs
Only Proc on Caster
Spell Haste Affects Periodic
No Caster Aura Icon
Taps immediately
Reflection Only Defends
Periodic Can Crit
Aura Points On Client
Haste Affects Duration
Do Not Log Absorb
Hide Damage Absorb UI

Drain Soul

Buff

Spell Details

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