1. #1

    Shadow Priest Evaluation

    Hey, so I just switched to Shadow two or three weeks ago and am currently progressing on Garrosh. I feel like I should be doing more damage, especially when comparing to the other Shadow priest in my group, but I'm not sure where to start.
    Armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...ahada/advanced
    WCL: http://www.warcraftlogs.com/guilds/2300/

    A few things to take into consideration is that I am doing engineer, part of the ranged group that moves out for desecrate placement and root the adds into the iron star path after our shaman's thunderstorm. All these tasks do occasionate some significant movement and I know that can drag me down a bit. Also, I received a lot of gear very quickly and ran out of valor to upgrade it all. Finally, I am aware there is some stat optimization to do, but I am looking more for gameplay improvement as that is where my inexperience with damage dealing (was a healing priest since my very first raid) shows more.
    Last edited by Shahad; 2014-02-07 at 02:08 PM.
    Shahaad , Kevkul
    <Magdalena's pet>

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevkul View Post
    Hey, so I just switched to Shadow two or three weeks ago and am currently progressing on Garrosh. I feel like I should be doing more damage, especially when comparing to the other Shadow priest in my group, but I'm not sure where to start.
    Armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...ahada/advanced
    WCL: http://www.warcraftlogs.com/guilds/2300/

    A few things to take into consideration is that I am doing engineer, part of the ranged group that moves out for desecrate placement and root the adds into the iron star path after our shaman's thunderstorm. All these tasks do occasionate some significant movement and I know that can drag me down a bit. Also, I received a lot of gear very quickly and ran out of valor to upgrade it all. Finally, I am aware there is some stat optimization to do, but I am looking more for gameplay improvement as that is where my inexperience with damage dealing (was a healing priest since my very first raid) shows more.
    Quick question: Why don't you send a hunter to kill engineers? Unlike you they lose next to zero dps while on engineer duty (pew pew pew disengage pew pew pew).

  3. #3
    I believe it's to do with the great cleave damage the hunters can do to down the adds quickly, while I'm an undergeared Shadow priest that wouldn't do that much more damage. Might also be to test me above and beyond my capability to dps, since I am technically a trial.
    Shahaad , Kevkul
    <Magdalena's pet>

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevkul View Post
    I believe it's to do with the great cleave damage the hunters can do to down the adds quickly, while I'm an undergeared Shadow priest that wouldn't do that much more damage. Might also be to test me above and beyond my capability to dps, since I am technically a trial.
    Sounds like you're right on the test part. You don't need any cleave in phase 1 if you're rooting/ironstar.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Nestar View Post
    Sounds like you're right on the test part. You don't need any cleave in phase 1 if you're rooting/ironstar.
    The adds need to be under 50% for the iron star to actually kill them.
    Shahaad , Kevkul
    <Magdalena's pet>

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevkul View Post
    I believe it's to do with the great cleave damage the hunters can do to down the adds quickly.
    I know. My point is that they can explosive trap, multishot, multishot, glaive, etc. while moving towards the engineer, disengage, kill engineer and then go back while you Halo / Sear adds, which is not negligible damage. Your team is just losing throughput by not sending a hunter.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevkul View Post
    The adds need to be under 50% for the iron star to actually kill them.
    2 tanks and cloak procs along with passive cleave from frost mages/dk's and the like will do that by itself. As far as legitimate damage goes, you're better off dotting a few adds up for DI procs and dumping all your dmg into Garrosh. The only time you would ever mind sear on those adds other than cheesing meters is after you push garrosh, during the 10 seconds or so of RP before he heals. You want all the adds left alive dead before he hits 100% so you can hopefully get a few % out of him before he sucks you to the first realm.
    Last edited by Nestar; 2014-02-07 at 08:54 PM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Dierdre View Post
    I know. My point is that they can explosive trap, multishot, multishot, glaive, etc. while moving towards the engineer, disengage, kill engineer and then go back while you Halo / Sear adds, which is not negligible damage. Your team is just losing throughput by not sending a hunter.
    I'd argue their team would lose effective damage on the boss BY sending a hunter. Shadow ST + AOE is less than a hunter. Shadow is great on the Engineers.

    Also, don't take Halo- take Divine Star.

    OP, you could drop some haste in favor of Mastery or Crit. I'd suggest doing this as it will help a bit. Your rotation looks fairly solid, from what I can gauge. You're on the Eng so it is a little harder to gauge. Gear and practice are biggies on this fight. Don't take DI, ToF has insane uptime (64% on my kill for all 3 Shadows).
    Last edited by Quenden; 2014-02-07 at 08:59 PM.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Nestar View Post
    2 tanks and cloak procs along with passive cleave from frost mages/dk's and the like will do that by itself. As far as legitimate damage goes, you're better off dotting a few adds up for DI procs and dumping all your dmg into Garrosh. The only time you would ever mind sear on those adds other than cheesing meters is after you push garrosh, during the 10 seconds or so of RP before he heals. You want all the adds left alive dead before he hits 100% so you can hopefully get a few % out of him before he sucks you to the first realm.
    Passive aoe was far, far from enough to down the adds before garrosh transitioned on any attempt we did. They do far too much damage if let up and having two packs of them just isn't doable for the tanks. Also, I'm using ToF because of the amount of low health adds and the amount of time garrosh spends under 35%.

    Quote Originally Posted by Quenden View Post
    I'd argue their team would lose effective damage on the boss BY sending a hunter. Shadow ST + AOE is less than a hunter. Shadow is great on the Engineers.

    Also, don't take Halo- take Divine Star.

    OP, you could drop some haste in favor of Mastery or Crit. I'd suggest doing this as it will help a bit. Your rotation looks fairly solid, from what I can gauge. You're on the Eng so it is a little harder to gauge. Gear and practice are biggies on this fight. Don't take DI, ToF has insane uptime (64% on my kill for all 3 Shadows).
    Pretty much. I'm the lowest dps anyway, so better to maximise the damage of the higher dps. But either way, we get to P3 reliably so it doesn't really matter what happens in P1. Also, I don't think the Raid Leader trusts any of the hunters to start doing my job and would probably rather not wipe on P1 to iron stars while they figure it out.

    And why Divine Star? I'm not there to AoE much in P1, 1.5 Halo can hit 9 targets for massive damage, P2 there's no aoe in a stack and I move out for desecrate anyway, 2.5 we /dance all long, P3 Halo would do more single target damage to garrosh. Unless I'm missing something in P4, Halo feels like the superior choice.

    I am using ToF.
    Last edited by Shahad; 2014-02-07 at 09:38 PM.
    Shahaad , Kevkul
    <Magdalena's pet>

  10. #10
    I guess it depends, but I didn't find many opportunities to maximize Halo. It probably comes down to strategy and raid needs; we used a kit strategy, so Halo would potentially peel the adds. The healing from Divine Star is obscene, but it's a tradeoff of some damage. Halo will do more damage outright in P1-P3, but I can't think of a time in P4 where you could reliably use Halo and have it be more beneficial than Divine Star.

    I guess it comes down to the following: Does your raid lack healing for stack? Are you able to maximize Halo damage and not becoming a liability on whirling adds?

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevkul View Post
    Passive aoe was far, far from enough to down the adds before garrosh transitioned on any attempt we did. They do far too much damage if let up and having two packs of them just isn't doable for the tanks. Also, I'm using ToF because of the amount of low health adds and the amount of time garrosh spends under 35%.


    Pretty much. I'm the lowest dps anyway, so better to maximise the damage of the higher dps. But either way, we get to P3 reliably so it doesn't really matter what happens in P1. Also, I don't think the Raid Leader trusts any of the hunters to start doing my job and would probably rather not wipe on P1 to iron stars while they figure it out.

    And why Divine Star? I'm not there to AoE much in P1, 1.5 Halo can hit 9 targets for massive damage, P2 there's no aoe in a stack and I move out for desecrate anyway, 2.5 we /dance all long, P3 Halo would do more single target damage to garrosh. Unless I'm missing something in P4, Halo feels like the superior choice.

    I am using ToF.
    With ToF in mind, its even more important to not push them past 50% before the iron star then. Ideally want them all at around 55, so they come out of the hit with just slivers of health, allow you to both trigger ToF and get a few SWD off (not possible if they go from 40-0 during the hit), Warlocks would have a similar advantage doing this.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Quenden View Post
    Halo would potentially peel the adds.
    Fade before Halo.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Dierdre View Post
    Fade before Halo.
    With a kite strat, you also risk killing one, (which stupidly buffs the rest)

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Nestar View Post
    With a kite strat, you also risk killing one, (which stupidly buffs the rest)
    This.

    I feel like you'd be hard pressed to find an instance where Halo would truly outweigh Divine Star for progression. For padding/ranks on farm content, it makes more sense to me.

  15. #15
    I have yet to wipe the raid with Halo and it does more damage to Garrosh than Divine Star would. I'll see what healing looks like once we get to P4, but so far I feel like Halo is better.

    As for the strat, I really don't think changing things up just so there are adds for me to get ToF and SWeath on is really worthwhile. I'm more worried about P2 and P3 damage than what I do in P1.
    Shahaad , Kevkul
    <Magdalena's pet>

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Quenden View Post
    This.

    I feel like you'd be hard pressed to find an instance where Halo would truly outweigh Divine Star for progression. For padding/ranks on farm content, it makes more sense to me.

    Halo is better for every fight save Thok on progression, for both normals and heroics. If you hit whirling adds with a Halo, that's poor play. Halo can be reliably used at the start of phase 4 and then during the bombardment transitions; there's really not much healing needed when normal malices are going out, so DS's healing really doesn't matter.

    Also, sending a shadow priest for engineers on heroic is better than sending hunters.
    Zinge
    Officer of <Smitus and Friends> 7/7M 10/10M
    US 10th

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