Soulstones

Soulstones are bag-slot, conjured items, which a warlock can create beginning at level 18, that temporarily grant a buff on a target player conferring the power of self-resurrection. Often, the term is used as a verb meaning to apply a soulstone to a target.

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, but only one soulstone can be held at a time.

Creating a soulstone only starts the global 1.5-second cooldown, but due to the soulstone being unique and soulbound, it must be used before another can be successfully created.

Types
The main difference between the type of soulstones is the amount of health and mana they restore when the target of the buff is revived.

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 target of the soulstone (prior to patch 2.3, this effect always appeared on the warlock using the Soulstone). The buff image, looks like a soulstone on the target. The soulstone self-resurrect effect lasts 15 minutes.

Using a soulstone has a 15-minute cooldown that begins when the warlock actually uses the soulstone on someone. If the target dies after 1 minute, it will be 14 more minutes before the same warlock can use another soulstone on anybody. If the target dies after 14 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 themselves).

Dying while Soulstoned
A player who dies while soulstoned will be presented with an extra option: besides the usual "Release Spirit" choice, there is a new option called "Use Soulstone". Choosing this will immediately return the player to life where he or she died, with reduced health and mana. Choosing "Release Spirit" or accepting another player's resurrection will essentially waste the soulstone effect.

Before using a soulstone to resurrect, it is good to make sure no mobs are in close aggro range, since depending on the strength of the soulstone or survivability against any nearby mob that attacks immediately, a quick death also wastes the soulstone benefit.

Using a Soulstone in a group
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 or 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.

Most groups choose to have a paladin soulstoned first, as they tend to have the best survivability of the rez-capable classes. Priests and druids are usually the next in line, followed by shamans (who are already capable of self-rezzing via Reincarnation).

In general, it is best to soulstone a character who will be standing away from monsters, as that character has less of a chance to accidentally aggro another group.

Tips for being Soulstoned while in a group
If you are the target of a soulstone, congratulations! For the next 15 minutes, if you die you will be able to rez right where you died. With great power comes great responsibility.

Take extra care where you die (this is known as "dying well"). 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.

"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 — that is, 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. (It can also 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 flak, 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, the same rules apply; if you're in a safe spot, don't resurrect using the soulstone unless you're too near where the mobs would be in the case of a wipe. If you merely died from a bit of bad aggro management and the fight is still clearly under control, it is also generally acceptable to use the soulstone. If a boss is nearly dead, you may also want to use the Soulstone. The difference in a raid is that you should probably request the raid leader's orders before using the Soulstone in any case other than having died in a spot you know is bad (and if that's the case, tell the raid so they don't presume you used it wrongly!). The leader should be watching the situation closely and know what to have you do. Also, if he tells you it's alright to use it in combat, you are thereby exempt from any fault if it was the wrong decision.

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.

If you are a shaman that has been soulstoned, and die, take care not to use Reincarnation as you will start its long cooldown, use up an Ankh, and waste the soulstone.

Tips for warlocks using Soulstone in a group
Understand the responsibilities you are giving an ally if you soulstone them. Choose a party member based not only on their class abilities to recover your group from a wipe, but also on their understanding of the guidelines above. If you soulstone someone who tends to die bad, or who rezzes during combat, consider someone else next time. Remember that the rest of your group are also depending on you to soulstone the right person.

Soulstones and shamans
In general, shamans are considered a lesser choice for soulstone after priests and paladins because of their Reincarnation ability. However, using a soulstone will allow the shaman to save the Reincarnation cooldown for another wipe, and if someone else is soulstoned, the shaman generally shouldn't be using Reincarnation anyway. So, the argument that "Reincarnation is doing nothing while not being used, and using it sooner and having the soulstone on someone else just sees to the ability's usefulness and the cooldown coming back faster" is moot.

The shaman's resurrection ability has no cooldown, just like a priest's or paladin's, and a shaman is nearly as viable a choice for the soulstone as anyone. The one reason that the shaman would be considered a slightly lesser choice for it would be if the group wishes to have more than one person capable of self-resurrection in case one of them dies in a bad place. Also remember that, much like paladins, some shamans will be built to be in melee combat, and the chance of a melee character dying in a good place to use a Soulstone is less probable than a ranged character doing the same. Enhancement shamans will generally be tied with Retribution paladins for the lowest priority rezzers to receive the soulstone buff.

Soulstones and druids
Prior to Wotlk, druids were considered the last of the healing classes to soulstone. This was due to the fact that the only resurrection spell a druid had was Rebirth. While Rebirth is, and remains, the only resurrection spell that can be used in combat, it costs the druid a reagent unless glyphed, and has a long cooldown. (20 minutes since patch 2.3, down from 30 minutes.)

With the introduction of Revive, a normal resurrection spell without cooldowns or regeants, this raises the potential for druids to be soulstoned. Druids remain the only class that can resurrect in or out of combat, as well as tougher armor either by wearing leather, or turning into a form. If one is considering to soulstone between a priest and a druid, the main healer should get a soulstone. Druids could arguably be a wiser class to receive a soulstone, but may not be ideal if a priest or other class is dying frequently.

Spell information
The Create Soulstone spell is of the Shadow school and the Demonology ability category, and has 7 ranks. 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.