Pretty sure I've had Searing Pain cast on me quite a lot by destruction warlocks. Doesn't it have some heightened crit rate? Seems like scorch, and mages make use of that.
'Tis. Problem with SP is, that once you gain more than +100 dmg in gear, the spell gets outranked pretty MAJORLY by shadowbolt. It only gets like, 45% of the plus damage gear
ever since it's on such a short cast timer, while SB with talents enjoys the bonus along with a special shadowbolt vulnerability bonus. SP is only to be used when you're trying to draw aggro or have maybe, INSANE +fire gear when you're heavy into the destruction tree and not BWL gaining new epixx. Seriously, an SM/DS-spec for plus 25% shadow damage, and add to that plus extreme damage gear, pitch a curse of shadows/amped agony and few dots for measure, and you're so overkill in PvP it ain't even cool.
Sure, SP got its places too, it's saved me in close encounters a few times, but I haven't had as much experience with fire as shadow to be fully honest. The PVP gloves has a cast time reduction for SP too, so I guess it's good for
something even with higher plus damage. But I just can't see WHY you'd ever use it against a warrior, your basic seduce/nuke/pray target. SP doesn't crit that high!
Some guy named Mosh on the EU forums crunched these numbers, not me!! Will try to find post, relevance for 'locks.
Edit: So, can't find it. Some "official guide" had to this to say, but no link:
Searing Pain
In rare occasions a Warlock wants to deal ANY damage as fast as possible. Searing Pain is the pick
then as it got shorter casting time than the Shadowbolt, it gets through way more often than the
Shadowbolt, which is superior to Searing Pain othervise (Please read Mosh's calculations
considering Shadowbolt vs Searing Pain)