[7.2] Legion Shadow Priest Guide and Discussion

[Deleted]

Quick question, forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere (i also take a link to that source, if existent):

If being in VF and VB and MB are on cooldown, i cast MFlay as a filler. What happens, if (especially at higher haste levels), VB comes of cooldown before Mflay ticks the first time? Before Legion, afaik, clipping a Mflay right before a tick was considered a dps loss. But i somehow heard otherwise. So... letting Mflay tick? Or interrupt it (so Mflay did 0 damage) to cast VB exactly on cooldown? Or the latter, but only if one would drop out of Voidform when not casting VB?

Thanks!

Always prioritize Void Bolts and don't care about Mind flay ticks.

At the point where your cast speed is being limited by global cooldown ( 100% haste), you will notice that sequence like VB - MB - MF -VB will delay the second Void Bolt. So a with a few percent haste over 100%, your rotation should change to something like this VB-MB-VB-MF-repeat.

The reason is that Void bolt does a lot more damage and generates a lot more insanity than Mindflay tick (about 8 times as much). Someone might add exact numbers here, but anyway you will want to maximize Void Bolt casts.

[Deleted]

Quick question, forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere (i also take a link to that source, if existent):

If being in VF and VB and MB are on cooldown, i cast MFlay as a filler. What happens, if (especially at higher haste levels), VB comes of cooldown before Mflay ticks the first time? Before Legion, afaik, clipping a Mflay right before a tick was considered a dps loss. But i somehow heard otherwise. So... letting Mflay tick? Or interrupt it (so Mflay did 0 damage) to cast VB exactly on cooldown? Or the latter, but only if one would drop out of Voidform when not casting VB?

Thanks!

if VB comes off cooldown befor the first tick of MF ( half a gcd or less) you shouldn't have cast that MF to begin with. You can't really cancel the MF befor the first tick though, or even the second tick.

Get a way to track your haste %, after ~130% haste make sure to only cast 1 spell between your void bolts.

oh and always clip mf for vb

[elsus]

When I get to around 90 stacks while in VF I've noticed every other VB cooldown comes up instantly. Is that server lag or is this supposed to be happening?

[Djriff]

I'm going to weigh in real quick on the trinket discussion. Going over my own logs it appears my DSB procs at 6+ ppm single target, and procs 7.1 on dragons. I had 32 procs on a 3.5 min H Ursoc kill, but RNG is RNG.

Regardless, I think a base of 4ppm is probably a bit low.

EDIT:

Here are my exact stats for last week's H clear:

Nyth 5.7 PPM
Eler 6 PPM
Ursoc 6.4 PPM
Ilg 6.5 PPM
Cen 6.1 PPM
Xav 6.6 PPM

Im my raid gear im around 863 ilvl and 34% haste or so. My DSB is 865.

That seems about normal. RPPM is well random, but the average of 6.1 PPM seems to stick. It'll be different for gear as well as when lust is popped.

When I get to around 90 stacks while in VF I've noticed every other VB cooldown comes up instantly. Is that server lag or is this supposed to be happening?

Well at 130% haste, VB is off CD every other GCD which is why the rotation changes to

VB -> MB -> VB -> Fill.

[davesignal]

Am I insane, or is there a narrow band at around around 100% haste but before 130% where "VB>MB>VB>2 GCDs of filler" works? I'm assuming what you describe above is VB>MB>VB>1 GCD of filler, at 130% haste.

[Djriff]

Well as you get closer and closer to 130% the rotation becomes tighter and tighter. However once you're past 60ish stacks, the rotation becomes reliant on the CD of Voidbolt, since you're already hitting the GCD floor of 0.75. I've felt that too and at that point it's better to just try and get a 3rd tick of flay, which stops happening around 110% haste and you have a bit of a dead spot.

[elsus]

I guess what I was trying to say is my rotation and this may be some kind of lag at high stacks can look like VB-SWD-VB-VB with no time in between the last two voidbolts. The last one is instantly up.

[Djriff]

That's definitely a lag issue there. There's not way VB is immediately coming off CD unless you're at 500% haste which is plain unreachable atm.

[Ocedic]

So one thing I've been wondering is... do you want to filler when the GCD will slightly delay a Void Bolt? Say there's about 0.5 sec left on Void Bolt cooldown, do you just wait for the cooldown without casting anything, or do you flay?

[Shifterstorm]

So are we still not sure how much damage the Bough of Corruption does? I just got one this week warforged to 870 with a socket for 150 haste to it. 1,000 mastery while not our best stat is still great damage increase and the proc chance seems to be decent while the damage is can produce on single/aoe looks good. I haven't been in a raid yet to test it but with it being such a high ilvl with a haste socket feels like such a waste to being using others even if mathematically wrong. If anything if it it complete crap, Blizzard did say in the Q and A then they are looking to buff the trinkets as they know they are really bad.

[Deleted]

So are we still not sure how much damage the Bough of Corruption does? I just got one this week warforged to 870 with a socket for 150 haste to it. 1,000 mastery while not our best stat is still great damage increase and the proc chance seems to be decent while the damage is can produce on single/aoe looks good. I haven't been in a raid yet to test it but with it being such a high ilvl with a haste socket feels like such a waste to being using others even if mathematically wrong. If anything if it it complete crap, Blizzard did say in the Q and A then they are looking to buff the trinkets as they know they are really bad.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like Bough of Corruption does very poorly compared to something like Unstable Horrorslime. Got both same ilvl and most fights Bough deals half as much damage as Unstable does, and sometimes it the proc is very inconsistant. I haven't simmed it, but I've tried it out in a few dungeons and it felt kinda shitty to use.

[Djriff]

So one thing I've been wondering is... do you want to filler when the GCD will slightly delay a Void Bolt? Say there's about 0.5 sec left on Void Bolt cooldown, do you just wait for the cooldown without casting anything, or do you flay?

If you run into that situation, wait it out. Only time you want to delay VB is if you're casting SW: D where the insanity loss would otherwise kill you.

So are we still not sure how much damage the Bough of Corruption does? I just got one this week warforged to 870 with a socket for 150 haste to it. 1,000 mastery while not our best stat is still great damage increase and the proc chance seems to be decent while the damage is can produce on single/aoe looks good. I haven't been in a raid yet to test it but with it being such a high ilvl with a haste socket feels like such a waste to being using others even if mathematically wrong. If anything if it it complete crap, Blizzard did say in the Q and A then they are looking to buff the trinkets as they know they are really bad.

Unfortunately, it's still bad. I have that trinket factored into my sheet for ST only, and it's still pretty bad in comparison. Maybe in an AoE fight you might some worth, but there are better trinkets out there.

[Shifterstorm]

So I should prob go back to my 850 Oakheart and my 845 shock baton? Or should i use one of them with a stat stick?

[Djriff]

So I should prob go back to my 850 Oakheart and my 845 shock baton? Or should i use one of them with a stat stick?

Well for Mythic + I would probably go with oakheart and shock baton since you probably aren't running StM, those will be better for you. For raids, I'd swap to them on trash and for bosses I'd use shock baton and stat stick. The sheet in the first post can help weigh those since I don't the ilvl of your stat stick.

[Shifterstorm]

Okay thanks!

[Yvaelle]

I got Norgannon's Foresight yesterday!

It's one of the shittier legendaries for Shadow - but I'm still pretty enthusiastic

Our mythic group also got our Arms warrior the AOE Colussus Smash legendary in our very next dungeon too

I was also pants-shitting terrified because I had swapped to Holy so we could get another guildie into the run, and when I saw Orange text I had a heart-stopping, "Did I remember to set my loot specialization?!" moment.

Moral of the story: Always check your loot specialization!

[Naga Coatl]

I dropped my first legendary!

...A shitty follower equipment from the withered scenario final chest. I REALLY hope that these legendaries don't count as a regular legendary for the mythical bad luck protection...

[tehzor]

If you run into that situation, wait it out. Only time you want to delay VB is if you're casting SW: D where the insanity loss would otherwise kill you.

Is my understanding correct? You cast VB>MB>Filler>VB>Filler>Filler prior to 130% haste? I feel like I am almost instantly clipping my MF near the beginning of VF and that the 1 filler rotation should commence much earlier than 130% haste….

[Cheekun]

Okay guys, so i need some advice regarding my relic choices. As it stands I have a 855, an 840, and a 835. my 840 and 835 relics both increase my chance to spawn a shadowy apparition but are of pretty low item level.

I have 2 mindblast relics at 855 that can replace both of them, in this case would it be worth giving up the shadowy apparition spawn chance for the mindblast damage and more item level?

Im also at 19% crit (low for now) 33% haste, and 41% mastery. I'm assuming the relic swaps would increase my haste as well as it would make my dagger a higher item level.

[Djriff]

Go for highest Ilvl. The relics are pretty close at the same ilvl.

Is my understanding correct? You cast VB>MB>Filler>VB>Filler>Filler prior to 130% haste? I feel like I am almost instantly clipping my MF near the beginning of VF and that the 1 filler rotation should commence much earlier than 130% haste….

Can you link your armory. It sounds like a latency issue.