[7.2] Legion Shadow Priest Guide and Discussion

[Rumex]

Can somebody explain the stat prio list to me. On some forums/youtube and shit people say Int > Haste > Crit > Vers > Mastery, but here the Haste is higher than Int and the stat list looks like this Haste > Critical Strike > Mastery > Intellect > Versatility. Also using the same pawn string like the one linked in this thread, but who is right and who is wrong? Why is Int so low on the list, usually int is the top stat?

[N1gh7h4wk]

Can somebody explain the stat prio list to me. On some forums/youtube and shit people say Int > Haste > Crit > Vers > Mastery, but here the Haste is higher than Int and the stat list looks like this Haste > Critical Strike > Mastery > Intellect > Versatility. Also using the same pawn string like the one linked in this thread, but who is right and who is wrong? Why is Int so low on the list, usually int is the top stat?

The last one is for s2m. That's according to Twintops statweight sim and it is the most accurate statpriority.
Haste and crit scale our damage very well, especially since haste gives us less time out of VF and more time within VF.
It's just a mathematical thing that we gain more benefit from a point of haste than from a point of intellect.
If you run 30k int, 1 point of int would be 1/30000 damage increase or ~0,003%, while a point of haste is ~0,003% haste.
If haste scaled only linear by making you rotation faster, both stats would scale the same. But since haste gives us more VF uptime (~2x ST dps in VF) and less downtime, aswell as more stacks accounting in mass hysteria and overall s2m VF duration, we gain a lot more benefit from that haste than just the linear dps increase.

[Alexieel]

Can somebody explain the stat prio list to me. On some forums/youtube and shit people say Int > Haste > Crit > Vers > Mastery, but here the Haste is higher than Int and the stat list looks like this Haste > Critical Strike > Mastery > Intellect > Versatility. Also using the same pawn string like the one linked in this thread, but who is right and who is wrong? Why is Int so low on the list, usually int is the top stat?

Well I'm nowhere an expert, but I guess the reason why haste and Crit are higher then Int is because Int "just" increase our damage, and haste/crit (with AS) increase our damage AND the time we can stay during Voidform.
And since the most damage comes from long Voidforms (because of the Voidform stacks and Mass Hysteria) the stats which increase the duration offer more DPS then just increasing the %dmg of our spells.
Also it depends on the talentchoice, with S2M it's haste >> crit > rest, whereas without S2M its crit (>) haste > rest, from what I've read.
I'm wondering how the statpriority is with the belt, since we go with SI instead of AS, I guess crit goes down in value, wondering if its better to go with haste > mastery > crit.

[Djriff]

Can somebody explain the stat prio list to me. On some forums/youtube and shit people say Int > Haste > Crit > Vers > Mastery, but here the Haste is higher than Int and the stat list looks like this Haste > Critical Strike > Mastery > Intellect > Versatility. Also using the same pawn string like the one linked in this thread, but who is right and who is wrong? Why is Int so low on the list, usually int is the top stat?

That's the combined stat weights that @Twintop published.

The actual values of each are:
Haste - 1.39
Crit - 1.25
Mastery - 1.05
Int - 1.00
Vers - 0.94

Essentially what that means when looking at a piece of gear you multiply the stats by the given number.

Taking two pieces with these stats this is what you would get.

Cloak of Awesome Haste/Crit
Ilvl 830
Int - 2000
Stam - 3000
Crit - 500
Haste - 1000

To math this out you would multiply the value of the stats by our stat weights which would be:

(1000 x 1.00) + (500*1.25) + (1000*1.39) = 3015

Essentially this is what pawn does when weighing different gear.

Now compare that to this item:

Cloak of Awesome Critical Mastery
Ilvl - 840
Int - 1250
Stam - 3500
Crit - 450
Mastery - 1100

  (1250*1)+(450*1.25)+(1100*1.05)  = 2967.5

This item is actually a downgrade, despite being 10 ilvl's higher.

This weights were calculated using a 100+ different simulations that factored fight type, length, talents, and # of targets using t-19 BiS gear.

Hopefully that answers your question.

[Kretan]

That's the combined stat weights that @Twintop published.

The actual values of each are:
Haste - 1.39
Crit - 1.25
Mastery - 1.05
Int - 1.00
Vers - 0.94

Isn't it exceptionally strange that int has such a low multiplier compared to THREE secondaries?

[Deleted]

Havent glossed over the pages yet - is there a dungeon/mythic BIS trinket list flying around somewhere?

[Djriff]

Isn't it exceptionally strange that int has such a low multiplier compared to THREE secondaries?

When you consider the interaction between haste and dots, Crit an AS, and Mastery and our dots, no not really. They just scale better than Int, which is a flat damage boost, same with versatility.

Havent glossed over the pages yet - is there a dungeon/mythic BIS trinket list flying around somewhere?

Ideally Chrono Shard and Darkmoon Deck: Hellfire are BiS trinkets. BoA trinket is meh after nerf.

[Terminel]

Just switched to shadowcrash for spam running heroics in the hopes of getting my first legendary, only to find that most pug tanks are afraid of the incoming projectile and move the pack out from under it just before it lands... feelsbad. Then try to tell them to stop while in voidform and just spouting a stream of gibberish. #noAOEforme

[Djriff]

I've only experience /say using gibberish, instance chat or party chat should work fine, would be silly otherwise.

Alternatively just link the spell with an arrow pointing to you.

[Terminel]

Yar I did use say, because I thought it'd be the most noticeable, since I rarely read instance chat. Makes boss mods warnings /say warnings pretty useless.

[Kretan]

When you consider the interaction between haste and dots, Crit an AS, and Mastery and our dots, no not really. They just scale better than Int, which is a flat damage boost, same with versatility.

Oh I understand the why of it. I was more speaking in comparison to an average spec. I know warriors at least used to value crit over strength, but they were strange. A spec where int is basically not a thing is just exceptionally strange to me haha.

At least this confirms we scale really well with ilvl though.

[Djriff]

Yar I did use say, because I thought it'd be the most noticeable, since I rarely read instance chat. Makes boss mods warnings /say warnings pretty useless.

I have elvui parse my "I interuupted X ability" to say, always chuckle when it pops up in Voidform as it's something along the lines of "N'askjdhfa apoisudht jsd!"

Oh I understand the why of it. I was more speaking in comparison to an average spec. I know warriors at least used to value crit over strength, but they were strange. A spec where int is basically not a thing is just exceptionally strange to me haha.

At least this confirms we scale really well with ilvl though.

It does seem weird, even with all the math. Sometimes i'll get an item with no haste and it's an upgrade because of crit + mastery and I'm like...how?

Sockets are easy though, at least they're always a flat value, although pawn doesn't seem to like them unless it's like 840+ ilvl otherwise it uses the +100 gem.

[Ilir]

I have macro'd a text message to my voidform only spells. Yeah, i'm one of those guys. But I have several macro for VB with different text so it doesn't spam the same thing everytime.

[zito]

I'm kind of miffed that void torrent doesn't have a character animation associated with it. Like the description says "raises the dagger in the air" but the animation just uses your basic channeling animation however the disc priest spell raises the staff in the air (which is a new animation all together for weapons and several weapons do this) so I don't understand why torrent was overlooked...

[Djriff]

It could be coming in 7.1, they did say there would be more stuff and maybe it just didn't make the cut for 7.0 I'm hopeful at least.

The twin streaming beams of death are cool though.

[Caladia]

Except Mind Flay is more prominently visible than Void Torrent. Here's hoping it gets more 'flair' I suppose.

[Ilir]

It could be coming in 7.1, they did say there would be more stuff and maybe it just didn't make the cut for 7.0 I'm hopeful at least.

The twin streaming beams of death are cool though.

Lol people still expecting visual buff for shadow, how cute

I wished the twin beams were at least not paper thin :/

[Djriff]

It's a very clear visual to me when I'm casting Void Torrent, I mean 2 spiraling beams of death above my character stands out quite a bit to me. Meanwhile Mind Blast still has no animation >>

[Djriff]

Well the armory is fixed now.

I really want to know if DMF: Hellfire is 100% BiS

Armory is still busted for me :/

Yes DMFL Hellfire is 100% BiS until mythic. Same with Chrono Shard. Other than that, you want static stat trinkets preferably int with haste or int with haste and crit.

[Romanticide]

Not sure if this has been discussed, but I don't remember seeing it. Just got moonlit prism from our mythic clear and I noticed something a little odd about it.

1) Void Torrent gives a stack on cast, but not on tick.
2) Mind Sear gives a stack on each tick.
3) Mind Flay gives a stack on cast, but not on tick.

Not sure if that qualifies as a bug. Since they're all channeled spells I'd assume they're supposed to act the same in their interaction with the trinket.

I believe it's not a bug because Mind Flay is actually a dot and Void Torrent might be too. When I want to stack if quickly I use MS instead of MF to get a juicy int stack before casting Void Torrent <3 (usually I'm able to stack 17~19).