Just looking for some Shadow Help

[Zamix]

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/h0162swwkvzshvum/ <---- World of Logs
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...locin/advanced <---armory


I'm just looking for some help with my raiding, I have looked at every guide I can and right now all I need is real time practice.

After my last DS raid I'm quite discouraged to continue playing my shadow priest although it would be great to master the class, I just find this thing so difficult to play.
Today I had it very rough in DS and my performance sucked to be honest.

If there is any help that I can get I would be most appreciative.

Basically what I am looking for is what am doing wrong in each respective boss fight, I'm unsure if I am blowing CDs to early or too late. Maybe just not using the right rotation, I have a habit to refresh DoT early due to not paying attention to Empowered Shadows...

Keep in mind that I did not have the t13 2pce during the raid and nor did I have the staff, instead I wore the T12 chest and a HoT 378 helm with the Vagaries of Time and an offhand with the name of "skull...something".

[Nianif]

Hmm, looks like your gear have some room for improvement and also your professions.

You played without 8% spell damage debuff, 10% spellpower buff and DI.

You did ~26k on Ultraxion in 182 sec.
If I put you actual char (changed gear) in simcraft for a 200 sec patchwork fight => 28564 dps

So your damage was ok for your gear.

Uptime for Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague should be better - both ~93%.
Only 3 Shadow Word: Death
Mind Flay and SW:P uptime is good - two additional MB would be possible but is also ok.

Improve you gear and your damage will be better. A personal Warlock would also help

[Deleted]

OK, let's start with your gear first of all.

I see from your logs that you did have Power Torrent on your weapon at the time; but make sure that you always update your enchants as soon as you can
You'll want Greater Mastery on your Gloves, a belt buckle and Powerful Ghostly Spellthread. I personally prefer Lavawalker over Haste on boots unless you're close to getting a threshold, but it's only a minor DPS gain.

As far as reforging goes, I'm guessing you'll have lost a lot of Hit from switching to Ti'tahk, but this is your first priority. 17% is obviously the goal but avoid gemming for it (as in, pure spirit/hit gems) unless absolutely necessary. After that, at your gear level, Haste is by far and away your best stat. Until you get 4pc of T13 don't bother with hitting a threshold and then reforging to Mastery, just go all out Haste for now.

Secondly, let's look at your Logs and see what can be improved.

A general rule is that, unless you're specifically told not to, you should be multidotting as much as possible. Especially on fights like Yor'sahj, Warmaster and Madness, you should be multidotting the entire time. If you don't feel comfortable with this, sit at dummies keeping a full set of DoTs on 2 targets, until you get a general feel for when they're about to drop off and need refreshing. Once you've got a feel for this, try and do it with a proper rotation too so that you can get used to doing it in a raid setting.

Refreshing DoTs early doesn't matter too much anymore with the way that DoTs work in Cataclysm, so just try and keep an eye on your ES and stacks of Dark Evangelism/any procs or buffs and refresh them when they are needed. The higher your DoT uptime, the higher your DPS will be. Keeping your DoT uptime is another thing you have to work on, as well. Again, dummies are your friend here. Also, try and look at boss timers etc when you're in fights so you can see what's coming up, and adjust your rotation accordingly. Going into a movement phase? Refresh VT and Pain, and spam DP on the move. Keep Mind Blast on CD, etc.

Unless something is going to mean that your CDs are wasted (movement, mainly) you should use them pretty much as soon as they're available. So long as you don't wait *too* long before you use them (if you wanted to line things up with procs or Bloodlust) it's not a DPS loss, but if delaying it means you won't get as many uses in the fight as you could by using them on CD, don't delay it.

Finally, your Death usage is poor. I doubt that the bosses are only <25% for 10 seconds, thus you should be getting AT LEAST 4 uses per boss fight rather than two. Death hits like a TRUCK below 25%, so make sure it gets used on CD.


Thirdly and finally, some general things to point out.

You haven't maxed your professions which means you're missing out on some 'free' intellect :>.
Your group composition was HORRIBLE for caster DPS. Always take that into account, as you would have done a lot more damage with a better comp .

I'd say just practice at dummies until you're 100% comfortable with the rotation and multi-dotting. Once you've mastered that you can look into the more detailed parts such as timings of CDs, timings of procs and so forth. For now, just make sure you're completely comfortable with the rotation and keeping DoTs as close to 100% uptime as possible.

[Zamix]

Thanks a ton for all the help, I'm definitely going to practice multi-dotting on the dummies until I feel 100% comfortable keeping dots up with a solid rotation.

Also when multi-dotting in a raid situation. You mean I should dot Everything on fights like Yor'Sahj? All the adds and all the globs? Typically I just hit Mind Sear because the black glob adds die way to fast. :/

Again, thank you so much for all the great input.

[Deleted]

Thanks a ton for all the help, I'm definitely going to practice multi-dotting on the dummies until I feel 100% comfortable keeping dots up with a solid rotation.

Also when multi-dotting in a raid situation. You mean I should dot Everything on fights like Yor'Sahj? All the adds and all the globs? Typically I just hit Mind Sear because the black glob adds die way to fast. :/

Again, thank you so much for all the great input.

Ah, no. Multi dot on 2-3 targets OR when single target is important but you still need the AoE damage (Warmaster Blackhorn, Zon'ozz HC). If there are loads of adds all bunched up, such as on Yor'sahj, just keep your DoTs on the boss, keep Mind Blast on CD (more for ES than anything) and 5 stacks of Dark Evangelism up, then Sear the adds.

Generally, the rule is multidotting is better if they are spread and sear won't hit all, but otherwise: 2 targets multidot, 3-4 targets multi dot and sear, 5+ sear.