[Legion] Shadow Priest Discussion

[Deleted]

I've seen some Shadow Priest gameplay and honestly it looks fine, I like the Voidform but I'll most likely miss the Shadowform. They shouldn't remove Shadowform, like really, could give us the ability to go into a Shadowform and at 100 insanity enter the Voidform, but whatever, I'll see what Blizzard has to offer us.

[Dukov]

Oblivion wasn't a DPS cooldown. I also wouldn't say it was removed in favor Shadow Crash (someone else can get into its usefulness). Oblivion made getting into voidform faster, but so does shadow word: void (Celestalon mentioned moving it back to 30 insanity per charge) and it's on a tier that makes much more sense (i.e. the first one). Getting into voidform doesn't automatically make you do a bunch of damage outside of the 30% increase. The haste stacks takes awhile to kick in which is when voidform really shines.

I see, thanks for the clarification.

I've seen some Shadow Priest gameplay and honestly it looks fine, I like the Voidform but I'll most likely miss the Shadowform. They shouldn't remove Shadowform, like really, could give us the ability to go into a Shadowform and at 100 insanity enter the Voidform, but whatever, I'll see what Blizzard has to offer us.

So Shadowform has in fact been removed?

[Gnarilex]

I've seen some Shadow Priest gameplay and honestly it looks fine, I like the Voidform but I'll most likely miss the Shadowform. They shouldn't remove Shadowform, like really, could give us the ability to go into a Shadowform and at 100 insanity enter the Voidform, but whatever, I'll see what Blizzard has to offer us.

Shadowform still exists. Voidform is something we go into only at 100 insanity when the ability is activated.

[shanthi]

As far as I can tell, Shadowform in Legion is essentially current glyphed Shadowform at 0 insanity and current unglyphed Shadowform at 100 insanity (but prior to activating Void Form...Void Form is a shadow/void hybrid with tentacles). In between 0 and 100 it gradually darkens.

[Kretan]

@Theed Have you tried out mind spike on alpha yet? The buffed mind blast is actually some NASTY damage, and you can bait kicks on shadow to spam mind spikes. I loved the feeling of it when I swapped to mind spike. It really damped out the prevalence of kicks when I had the extra school to cast on. (PVP only here)

[Dukov]

As far as I can tell, Shadowform in Legion is essentially current glyphed Shadowform at 0 insanity and current unglyphed Shadowform at 100 insanity (but prior to activating Void Form...Void Form is a shadow/void hybrid with tentacles). In between 0 and 100 it gradually darkens.

I don't think I like that, I'd rather remain in full Shadowform all the time.

Thanks.

[Gnarilex]

I don't think I like that, I'd rather remain in full Shadowform all the time.

Thanks.

yeah I don't understand the change. I preferred it when it was one or the other depending on if you glyphed it or not. The transition from Shadowform -> voidform was supposed to be progressively looking like the latter. Hopefully it's temporary and they're still working on it. Earlier in the alpha they used SF as a placeholder for VF.

[Theed]

@Theed Have you tried out mind spike on alpha yet? The buffed mind blast is actually some NASTY damage, and you can bait kicks on shadow to spam mind spikes. I loved the feeling of it when I swapped to mind spike. It really damped out the prevalence of kicks when I had the extra school to cast on. (PVP only here)

Mind Spike currently feels like a downgrade compared to Mind Flay. It does not slow like mind flay and it does low damage. The mindblast damage buff does not last long enough for pvp. The only good thing about it is the frost school, you can cast it if locked out of shadow.

Two things would make this talent much better in a pvp environment:
- Increase the duration of the mindblast buff or make it permanent
- Reduce the stacks needed for maximum mind blast damage to 3

Problem: It doesn't feel like a powerful level 100 talent. Shadow Word: Void should become baseline, Mind Spike would replace it as a talent, and something new would be a level 100 talent.

[Kilee25]

Seems like what I've been saying about it. My hunch is that it will become another "null talent" in Legion, like many of the others.

[Theed]

I don't think I like that, I'd rather remain in full Shadowform all the time.

Thanks.

Yes, maybe they will add a glyph for that. 0 Insanity Shadowform is darker than Glyphed shadowform on live realms. As a year 1 vanilla shadowpriest i am fine with the legion shadowform.

One thing they need to adress is the roar animation and sound effect your character makes whenever it reaches 100 insanity. It is cool when it happens one time after hitting 100 insanity out of voidform but not if you are in early void form and constantly capping insanity with voidbolt, mindblast or Shadow Word: Death.

[mkultra55]

......... Getting into voidform doesn't automatically make you do a bunch of damage outside of the 30% increase. The haste stacks takes awhile to kick in which is when voidform really shines.

A 30% increase to damage DOES automatically make you do a "bunch of damage". A 30% increase to all damage is HUGE and is the main reason we want to get into and stay in Voidform as long as possible.

[Deleted]

Shadowform still exists. Voidform is something we go into only at 100 insanity when the ability is activated.

Really? Haven't really seen it, is it like a glyph now?

[deviantcultist]

Barely played in WoD so I have a question.

How does DoT snapshotting work now in Voidform? Do they automatically update? Does Voidbolt update them? Do they need to be refreshed entirely?

[Kretan]

Mind Spike currently feels like a downgrade compared to Mind Flay. It does not slow like mind flay and it does low damage. The mindblast damage buff does not last long enough for pvp. The only good thing about it is the frost school, you can cast it if locked out of shadow.

Two things would make this talent much better in a pvp environment:
- Increase the duration of the mindblast buff or make it permanent
- Reduce the stacks needed for maximum mind blast damage to 3

Problem: It doesn't feel like a powerful level 100 talent. Shadow Word: Void should become baseline, Mind Spike would replace it as a talent, and something new would be a level 100 talent.

I don't think mind flay is ever going to be used for serious damage or the slowing component. It just leaves you too vulnerable to just chain-channel imo. The slowing component of mind flay is retained through the artifact tentacle. I liked the swap to mind spike just because it gave insanity generation on the frost school like you said. Also, setting up mind spikes in to a target to set up a void form -> mind blast does a chunk of hp all on its own.

I think if some of the adjustments were made like you said that this could become the go to for pvp. I think the foundation of the talent is good for pvp, but it could still use work.

[deviantcultist]

Really? Haven't really seen it, is it like a glyph now?

Shadow/Voidform scales with insanity. 0 Insanity is old glyphed Shadowform and gradually becomes more like the classic Shadowform. At 100 Insanity, it becomes almost Voidform and by going into Voidform you start growing tentacles.

Despite being an all-time fan of Shadowform, I am 100% excited about Voidform both in terms of mechanics and visuals.

[Kretan]

Shadow/Voidform scales with insanity. 0 Insanity is old glyphed Shadowform and gradually becomes more like the classic Shadowform. At 100 Insanity, it becomes almost Voidform and by going into Voidform you start growing tentacles.

Despite being an all-time fan of Shadowform, I am 100% excited about Voidform both in terms of mechanics and visuals.

I agree, I think void form really looks fantastic. Butt tentacles isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I understand those who want old shadowform though.

[Deleted]

Shadow/Voidform scales with insanity. 0 Insanity is old glyphed Shadowform and gradually becomes more like the classic Shadowform. At 100 Insanity, it becomes almost Voidform and by going into Voidform you start growing tentacles.

Despite being an all-time fan of Shadowform, I am 100% excited about Voidform both in terms of mechanics and visuals.

Wow, that sounds very interesting. I have to check that out, I'm so excited right now! Thank you.

[Djriff]

Barely played in WoD so I have a question.

How does DoT snapshotting work now in Voidform? Do they automatically update? Does Voidbolt update them? Do they need to be refreshed entirely?

Everything is dynamic. The only exception to this is the increased Shadow Word damage. I'm not sure how it works with voidbolt. I do know that spreading SW: P with mindsear only applies a base version and overwrites the powerful version.

[Isentropy]

Everything is dynamic. The only exception to this is the increased Shadow Word damage. I'm not sure how it works with voidbolt. I do know that spreading SW: P with mindsear only applies a base version and overwrites the powerful version.

To clarify, Void Bolt extends the duration of the current dot on the target, ergo it doesn't apply a new version of the dot. This is why people refer to Legacy of the Void as a snapshotting mechanic, as you can apply a 2 stacks Legacy of the Void Shadow Word: Pain and keep it up for a really long time with Void Bolt. With regards to the Void Bolt change Celestalon was talking about, I see no reason to think that it'll behave any differently because that would frankly be quite stupid.

[Djriff]

Also to clarify:

PvE: Everything is dynamic and Voidbolt will refresh your dot, but not overwrite it.
PvP: Applying SW: P via Mind Sear will overwrite w/e dot you have up.