Mana Shield (Classic)

Mana Shield
Mana Shield (7 ranks) Mage ability 8% Base Mana Instant Absorbs X damage, draining mana instead. Drains 1.5 mana per damage absorbed. Lasts 60 sec.
Properties
Class	Mage
School	Arcane
Cooldown	None
Improvements	[Improved Mana Shield]
Related buff
Magic Mana Shield Absorbs damage, draining mana instead. Duration: 60 seconds

[[Category:mage abilities]][[Category:mage abilities]]

A mage can manipulate mana for defense as well as offense.

[Mana Shield] is a self-cast mage spell that shields the caster from all damage. It can be a mage's best friend or worst killer. When this shield up, physical and magical damage will be absorbed at the cost of 1.5 mana per point of damage. The shield collapses after absorbing a set amount or 1 minute passes, whichever comes first.

Rank	Mana Cost	Absorbs	Level	Cost
1	8% base mana	120	20	20
2	8% base mana	210	28	70
3	8% base mana	300	36	1 30
4	8% base mana	390	44	2 30
5	8% base mana	480	52	3 50
6	8% base mana	570	60	4 20
7	7% base mana	715	68	9 60
8	7% base mana	1080	73	9 60
9	7% base mana	1330	79	9 60

Talent improvements

The [Arcane Shielding] talent will reduce the amount of mana consumed per point of damage up to a 33% reduction at max rank. This makes the damage to mana ratio 1 to 1.

The [Incanter's Absorption] talent increases your spell power by 15% of of the damage absorbed.

Tips and Tactics

After it absorbs the given damage (consuming 1.5 times that amount of mana) it will collapse, but no cooldown means you can recast immediately, or even while it's still partially up to "refresh" the absorption pool.

Don't be fooled by the cheap casting cost. Mana Shield can drain your mana deceptively fast. Rank 3, for instance, will leave you (80 + (1.5 x 300)) 530 mana poorer in exchange for a measly 300 health. Use wisely.

The [Arcane Shielding] talent can make stomaching this spell somewhat easier - with all ranks of the talent active the ratio on the Shield is reduced to a much more manageable 1:1 Mana to Health trade-off.

The [Incanter's Absorption] talent however can make the mana used up worth the trade-off. 15% of the damage absorbed per hit will be added to your spell power. This effect lasts for 10 seconds but, it stacks on top of prior hits while refreshing the buff timer. This can make you keep the buff for the entire duration of the fight (as long as you get hit every 10 seconds) and the longer the fight goes, the more power you gain (up to 5% of your max health).

Level 80 Mage with 1500 spell power using Ice barrier with Mana Shield:

Mana Cost	Base Absorption	+ Spell Power	Total
817	3300	1208	= 4508
229	1330	1208	= 2538

Total Absorbed: 7046

Total Mana Used(to cast spells): 1046

Total Mana Used(by Mana Shield): 3807 (untalented) / 2538 (talented)

Total Mana Used: 4853 (untalented) / 3584 (talented)

Past Changes

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