WOD Beta Spriest lvl100 Talent Impression [PVP]

[liquidsnake12]

After days of playing Shadow priest in WOD beta arenas and Ashran, here are some of my opinion on the lvl100 tier talents,
These are all from PVP perspective

Clarity of Power:

This is by far the most stable, viable and actually interesting talent out of all 3.

1. The Instant Mind blast ensure stable generation of shadow Orbs even when getting trained by melees. The current state of beta is extremely interupt-heavy with low haste on caster. Having to choose between Fear n Root also doesn't help keeping melee at bay.

2. 3 seconds reduced CD on Mind Blast speeds up orb generation in a stable way (in comparison to Auspicious Spirits) and at a higher rate on single target until we have loads of crit n haste.

3. This talent opens up two type of DPS rotations
a) Standard dot rotation: Maintain Vampiric touch + SW:Pain -> Devouring Plague -> Instant reduced CD Mind Blast -> Mindflay
b) Dotless burst rotation: Devouring Plague -> 40% bonus instant reduced CD Mind Blast -> 40% bonus Mind Spike Spam
Surprisingly, both rotations produce almost the SAME amount of DPS on a single target raid dummy, which means they are interchangeable at any point of the fight. This talent has a lot of potential in 3s arena when the switch between Dot and Burst mode is timed correctly. Quick Target Switch!

4. At the current beta build, this talent is doing the most dps out of all three talents (Subject to tunning).

Void Entropy:

This talent is not very viable in pvp due to low CD on dispell from healers, nevertheless

1. This talent is refreshed to full duration(1min) when Devouring Plague is landed so you can easily maintained it up forever (UNLESS it get dispelled).

2. The dot tick damge isn't really that great, it is weaker than that from SW:Pain

3. You can maintain it on 2 targets, possibly with three.

4. Very hard to land and maintain when getting trained. Doesn't help at all.

5. This talent's damage still needs buffing as it is behind Clarity of Power at the current beta build.

Even with Vamparic Touch Dispell protection, the 3 seconds fear isn't as threatening as before due to the slower pace of pvp in WOD.
Its maybe viable when mixed with lock's UA in arena but in BG and Ashran where there are many healers, this talent is simply a joke (and rogue can cloak this 1min dot with ease).

Auspicious Spirits:

1. Doesn't really speed up orb generation on single target that much at the current ilvl but A LOT when multi-dotting with SW:Pain

2. Since Mana problem is not as big as before, you can spam SW:Pain on all targets without much of a mana issue and try to gain orbs while on the run.

3. The single target damage output is similar to Void entropy, which is also much lower than Clarity of Power. But I am not sure blizz will buff it by much as it quickly gets out of control in large fights.

This talent is really tailored for multi-dotting in BG and Ashran until we have a much higher crit n haste rate.

In conclusion, I find CoP being the most distinctive and game-changing talent. I am happy that they allow us to freely choose between dot and burst with CoP by putting similar DPS on both side. Auspicious Spirits is fun to play with (who doesn't like crazy orb gen while multi-dotting in BG) and it may outrun CoP later in the expansion. Overall, I feel quite satisfied with our lvl100 Talents and can't wait when WOD hits Live!

[Theed]

After days of playing Shadow priest in WOD beta arenas and Ashran, here are some of my opinion on the lvl100 tier talents,
These are all from PVP perspective

Clarity of Power:

This is by far the most stable, viable and actually interesting talent out of all 3.

1. The Instant Mind blast ensure stable generation of shadow Orbs even when getting trained by melees. The current state of beta is extremely interupt-heavy with low haste on caster. Having to choose between Fear n Root also doesn't help keeping melee at bay.

2. 3 seconds reduced CD on Mind Blast speeds up orb generation in a stable way (in comparison to Auspicious Spirits) and at a higher rate on single target until we have loads of crit n haste.

3. This talent opens up two type of DPS rotations
a) Standard dot rotation: Maintain Vampiric touch + SW:Pain -> Devouring Plague -> Instant reduced CD Mind Blast -> Mindflay
b) Dotless burst rotation: Devouring Plague -> 40% bonus instant reduced CD Mind Blast -> 40% bonus Mind Spike Spam
Surprisingly, both rotations produce almost the SAME amount of DPS on a single target raid dummy, which means they are interchangeable at any point of the fight. This talent has a lot of potential in 3s arena when the switch between Dot and Burst mode is timed correctly. Quick Target Switch!

4. At the current beta build, this talent is doing the most dps out of all three talents (Subject to tunning).

Void Entropy:

This talent is not very viable in pvp due to low CD on dispell from healers, nevertheless

1. This talent is refreshed to full duration(1min) when Devouring Plague is landed so you can easily maintained it up forever (UNLESS it get dispelled).

2. The dot tick damge isn't really that great, it is weaker than that from SW:Pain

3. You can maintain it on 2 targets, possibly with three.

4. Very hard to land and maintain when getting trained. Doesn't help at all.

5. This talent's damage still needs buffing as it is behind Clarity of Power at the current beta build.

Even with Vamparic Touch Dispell protection, the 3 seconds fear isn't as threatening as before due to the slower pace of pvp in WOD.
Its maybe viable when mixed with lock's UA in arena but in BG and Ashran where there are many healers, this talent is simply a joke (and rogue can cloak this 1min dot with ease).

Auspicious Spirits:

1. Doesn't really speed up orb generation on single target that much at the current ilvl but A LOT when multi-dotting with SW:Pain

2. Since Mana problem is not as big as before, you can spam SW:Pain on all targets without much of a mana issue and try to gain orbs while on the run.

3. The single target damage output is similar to Void entropy, which is also much lower than Clarity of Power. But I am not sure blizz will buff it by much as it quickly gets out of control in large fights.

This talent is really tailored for multi-dotting in BG and Ashran until we have a much higher crit n haste rate.

In conclusion, I find CoP being the most distinctive and game-changing talent. I am happy that they allow us to freely choose between dot and burst with CoP by putting similar DPS on both side. Auspicious Spirits is fun to play with (who doesn't like crazy orb gen while multi-dotting in BG) and it may outrun CoP later in the expansion. Overall, I feel quite satisfied with our lvl100 Talents and can't wait when WOD hits Live!

From my experience:

VEnt ist just a joke of a talent. It is not viable at all. How can you be satisfied with our lvl100 talents if one can simply not be chosen?

AS is going to be the best talent in 5s/RBG/Ashran and in 3s against most comps. (DPS, More Orbs = PH useable on cd)

CoP will be great in 2s with 2dps but with a healer AS will be better. (DPS, More Orbs = PH useable on cd)

There is no mana problem at all right now. Mana is a useless resource and could also be removed from spriests. You could spam cast 1 second mind sears and still need ages to go oom.

[liquidsnake12]

From my experience:

VEnt ist just a joke of a talent. It is not viable at all. How can you be satisfied with our lvl100 talents if one can simply not be chosen?

AS is going to be the best talent in 5s/RBG/Ashran and in 3s against most comps. (DPS, More Orbs = PH useable on cd)

CoP will be great in 2s with 2dps but with a healer AS will be better. (DPS, More Orbs = PH useable on cd)

There is no mana problem at all right now. Mana is a useless resource and could also be removed from spriests. You could spam cast 1 second mind sears and still need ages to go oom.

Hi Theed,

VEnt is indeed a joke for pvp but perhaps I am just too used to one of the talent from a tier, in many cases, falling behind by a lot in pvp.
I agree they can definitely do something like refund orb/increase our stat when VEnt get dispelled.

AS is no doubt gonna be best in 5s/RBG/Ashran, but in 3s (depending on what comps) it may mostly be 2 target multi-dotting.
Currently on beta by dotting two dummy, (excluding effects of other talents by not taking them)

a) AS generates Shadow Orbs much quicker

b) Both CoP and AS allows us to Psychic Horror to be used on CD while you can land more DPs with AS

c) However, CoP's damage is still on the roof higher than AS
---1) CoP 2-target rotation is maintain full dot and put DP on one target while MB and MS spam on the other
---2) AS rotation is just standard 2 target dot strategy
---3) I would like to have more people to test on this but the possible reason for the difference is the 40% bonus damage on MB and quicker MB with lower CD outweights the extra DPs from the extra orbs. Keep in mind that AS traded off the Shadowy Apparition damage for each orb.

Maybe we can extend the test onto 3 targets scenario to ensure AS outperform CoP in that case.
But definitely, CoP suppress AS on 1 & 2 targets test.

[Blackmorgrim]

One thing to also keep in mind is with the increased uptime of DP on AS, your ability to recover health will be greater. Plus, you'd never even need to currently use mindflay at all with AS (unless you're trying to pull out an interrupt). You can kite, spam SWP and drop DPs all day while melee chase you around. I'd say CoP has more reliable burst, whereas AS may have higher pressure+survivability. (Although, CoP does still have SAs that do damage)

The only thing I could say about VEnt is that since it's a relatively low damage DoT, it might either be ignored by a healer, or be used to make them waste dispels on a non kill target. But you just don't have the burst or the survivability of the other two... VEnt is purely meant for PVE imo.

[liquidsnake12]

One thing to also keep in mind is with the increased uptime of DP on AS, your ability to recover health will be greater. Plus, you'd never even need to currently use mindflay at all with AS (unless you're trying to pull out an interrupt). You can kite, spam SWP and drop DPs all day while melee chase you around. I'd say CoP has more reliable burst, whereas AS may have higher pressure+survivability. (Although, CoP does still have SAs that do damage)

The only thing I could say about VEnt is that since it's a relatively low damage DoT, it might either be ignored by a healer, or be used to make them waste dispels on a non kill target. But you just don't have the burst or the survivability of the other two... VEnt is purely meant for PVE imo.

Yep, since we lost renew and instant POM, the major source of healing is shifted to DP. Therefore, AS actually provide more survivability, especially SW:Pain can be spammed without the mana issue.