Soulstone (item)

A Soulstone is a conjured item that a Warlock can create beginning at level 18 that temporarily grants one player the power of self-resurrection.

Creating a Soulstone

The [Create Soulstone] spell requires 3 seconds of casting time, an amount of mana that depends on the rank of the spell, and a Soul Shard. The Soulstone created is soulbound to the Warlock, who can never have more than one soulstone at once.

The soulstone creation process has a 30-minute use cooldown that begins when the Warlock actually uses the soulstone on someone. If the target dies after 1 minute, it will be 29 more minutes before the same Warlock can use another soulstone. If the target dies after 29 minutes, though, the Warlock can use another one in 1 minute. Because the cooldown is the same length as the effect's duration, it is possible for the Warlock to provide near-continuous coverage for one person (possibly themself).

Using a Soulstone

Having a Soulstone in the inventory provides no benefit, and it cannot be equipped. The benefit occurs when the Warlock selects an ally (or himself/herself) and uses the Soulstone (usually by right-clicking on it). This requires approximately 2 seconds and ends with a sound and graphical effect that surrounds the Warlock no matter who is getting the benefit.

Using a soulstone in a group

If you are the target of a soulstone, congratulations! For the next 30 minutes, if you die you will be presented with an extra option: besides the usual "Release Spirit" choice, you have a new option, "Use Soulstone," meaning that you will immediately return to life right where you died. If you die while soulstoned and choose "Release Spirit," or if someone rezzes you, you have just wasted your Soulstone.

Soulstoned characters should therefore take extra care where they die. (This is known as "dying good.") Soulstone resurrection takes place at the exact spot where your corpse is - if that's right next to the mobs that just wiped your party, you'll immediately draw aggro and probably die again. If you are soulstoned and the wipe is coming, try to pick a safe place away from the mob's home so you can resurrect safely.

Do not succumb to the delusion that you can singlehandedly turn the tide of the battle by resurrecting with partial health and mana and no buffs in mid-combat. Your group is counting on you to wait until the mobs go away and only then to use the Soulstone to resurrect yourself and begin resurrecting the others.

The best use of the Soulstone in a group situation is for the Warlock to pick a rez-capable character (usually a Priest or Paladin, sometimes a Shaman, rarely a Druid) and soulstone that person as a form of "wipe insurance". It is the soulstoned person's job to be sure to die far from the mobs' spawn points, so that, if the entire party is wiped out, they can wait until no mobs are around, then self-resurrect with the Soulstone and commence wipe recovery.

"Never rez until the wipe is complete" is generally the best plan, but there are very specific, limited occasions when using the soulstone as a combat rez is an acceptable tactic. One situation is if you died while soulstoned but are near where mobs will return after the wipe – if you died badly – and there's nothing you're losing by using the soulstone now except a chance to turn the tide of the battle. Another example might be if you are the healer and you die late in the fight, when the boss is almost dead (1% to 3% health). Using the soulstone as a combat rez and using a mana potion to get your mana back up quickly can mean that you are soon looting. (Or it can mean that everyone now has to run back from the graveyard, or even that your run is over due to respawns. Be careful in this situation and realize you will be taking a lot of flack, and maybe even removed from the group, if you do this wrong.) These situations are – or should be – fairly rare, however. When in doubt, wait until combat is over to use the soulstone.

If you are in a raid, never use the soulstone until the wipe is complete or combat is finished. Ever. If the soulstoned rezzer dies badly, don't soulstone them in the future. If they rez during combat, look for someone to take their place, unless it's because they died bad.

Most groups choose to have a paladin soulstoned first, as they tend to have the best survivability of the rez-capable classes. Priests are usually the next in line, followed by shamans (who are already capable of self-rezzing via [Reincarnation]). Druids generally are last to be soulstoned, since they are only able to rez once every half hour, and soulstoning them will not therefore allow your group to recover from a wipe.

If you have the ability to resurrect other players, check to see whether they're soulstoned before you do so. The "Soulstoned" buff will appear if you select their corpse (assuming they haven't yet released). This means they're looking at the "Release Spirit/Use Soulstone" dialog box, perhaps thinking about what to do. The only reason they shouldn't self-resurrect if there's an ally alive and going around resurrecting people is if by using the soulstone they might aggro nearby mobs, as by having an ally cast a resurrect spell on them they will move to that ally's (hopefully safe) location. But if they've died in a good location, you only have your mana to lose by casting a rez on them.

Soulstones and Shamans

You might want to soulstone a Shaman if:

• the Shaman isn't level 30 yet (doesn't have [Reincarnation])
• the Shaman is out of Ankhs (the reagent for [Reincarnation])
• the Shaman has used [Reincarnation] recently (it has a 1-hour cooldown, reducible to 40 minutes with talent points)

Normally, it is better to soulstone a Priest than a Shaman if there's a Priest in your party, though. If you're a Shaman with [Reincarnation] and Ankhs, are soulstoned for some reason, and die, you'll get three options: release as normal, use Reincarnation, and use the Soulstone. If you select anything other than "Use Soulstone," the Soulstone will be wasted; if you choose Reincarnation you'll use up an Ankh and waste the Soulstone.

Spell Information

The [Create Soulstone] spell is of the Shadow school and the Demonology ability category, and has 5 ranks. See [Create Soulstone] for more information. The act of using a soulstone of any rank begins an action of the type "spell" titled "Soulstone Resurrection" (english client). This spell occurs when the soul is stored, not when the player is resurrected. This may be identified with addons by using spell events.

---

Template:BacktoSpellFooter