Kilee’s “Old Man” Guide to CoP Shadowpriest (PVE, CoP only, 6.2.3)

[Djriff]

I'm talking about full mastery and never using flay

Ah, well once you pass 2 minutes you kinda have to except on fights where you can SW: D adds like manno and archi like you mentioned.

[Deleted]

Thank You for all the feedback guys! :3

[Djriff]

The best way I learned to stop clicking back in BC was to just create the same class from level 1 and level it using only key binds until I felt confident enough to hop back over to my main and test a little more on mobs.

I'd say it's easy doing it from scratch because some people may feel overwhelmed to suddenly go from clicking all spells at once rather then having the time for the key binds to sink into memory.

Another good way to break the habit if you don't feel like making a new toon is do the proving grounds. The artifact quest will also be a good way to make it muscle memory.

[Isentropy]

Hello everyone!

Reading through this thread, I may have overlooked the answer to the question I am about to ask, so I want to apologize in advance if that'll be the case!

At what point will I truly gain DPS by enchanting FULL MASTERY?
I've been pondering about that question for a while now, due to multiple reasons:

1) I've already reached the 35%+ Haste Breakpoint (if enchanted and gemmed),
2) Mythic Hellfire Citadel is on Farm Status for us (this includes Archimonde)
3) Other priests I compete with run the full mastery build. Some use it on full farm - others are using it on Archimonde progression.

At what point in the raid's 'dynamic' can I definitely say that going Mastery will prove to be better than gemming and enchanting items to maintain your haste level at or above 35%?
What factors are important to determine the definite answer? How fast should my raid be downing bosses, in order for it to be potent to enchant full mastery - therefor focusing on the Burst - and Execute Phase?

Thanks in advance!
Narline

As some people have already pointed, on really fast kills mastery will trump haste. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter what you pick and it comes down to preference. If you really want to optimize you'll switch between haste and mastery depending on the fight, but that will be such a minimal theoretical DPS gain that that's just kinda redundant. You'll probably get better results focusing on one playstyle and perfecting it to be honest.

I've tried both builds extensively (mastery for a few weeks, then haste for a few weeks) and concluded that both are fine. My burst during ring and bloodlust didn't even seem worse when using haste compared to mastery, and the highest ring explosions I've gotten have all been using the haste build. Not empirical evidence but the point is play what you prefer!

[Kilee25]

I play opposite someone who runs a low haste setup, and that's been my observation as well. I haven't seen a difference between us yet that would make me feel compelled to rethink my build. Actually it seems like I'm beating him on target-switching type fights pretty handily, and that's making me wonder if there's some hidden value in haste when doing that.

[Djriff]

I play opposite someone who runs a low haste setup, and that's been my observation as well. I haven't seen a difference between us yet that would make me feel compelled to rethink my build. Actually it seems like I'm beating him on target-switching type fights pretty handily, and that's making me wonder if there's some hidden value in haste when doing that.

That's easy enough to figure out. Higher haste = faster mind flay ticks which = more damage in a shorter window. Haste has always been king for burst, pretty much universally across all casters.

[Relapses]

I've found slightly higher ring explosions with a mastery build, but a fair bit of RNG was involved since it's usually the result of back-to-back 400k+ MB crits. That said, it's still kind of weird to be happy with a 1.5-2 million ring proc on my Priest when I can easily get 3-4 million ring procs on my similarly geared Arcane Mage and Moonkin.

[Skylarking]

I've found slightly higher ring explosions with a mastery build, but a fair bit of RNG was involved since it's usually the result of back-to-back 400k+ MB crits. That said, it's still kind of weird to be happy with a 1.5-2 million ring proc on my Priest when I can easily get 3-4 million ring procs on my similarly geared Arcane Mage and Moonkin.

Well thats understandable when they can burst very hard

[Deleted]

although pointless, if you're doing 725+ myth dungeon spamming, do you use RoW + DSI or DSI + sethe?

[Kilee25]

The safe bet is DSI+RoW + Insanity. You use Searing Insanity as often as you can on trash. On bosses, you save up 5 orbs and then just unload everything and try to get a good 15s in before it dies.

Sometimes I run Insanity + PoF + Sethe when I'm feeling lazy and I don't feel like managing RoW. Technically you can get stronger AE, and a better burst with these trinkets. If you're in a group that's just shredding stuff and you don't even have time to cast a few Mind Flays, you can get a bit more damage as it's basically just down to sniping shadow word deaths and trying to get a few hits in before things are dead.

[Seriv]

In mythic dungeons I run PoF+Sethe for Trash and DSI+RoW for Bosses. If you do not want to swap trinkets you should favor PoF+Sethe. If you are more serious about it you can also start to optimize your gear to Haste>Multistrike/Crit>Versatility>Mastery.

[Deleted]

speaking of sethe, in a fight with constant cleaving and adds (myth assault-tyrant-iskar-mannoroth-xhul) would a mythic sethe beat out a mythic warforced DSI?

[Kilee25]

No, we did an analysis a few pages back. Best case scenario is you break even in total damage, but take a loss to single target damage, which is basically the only thing you're bringing to the raid at the mythic level.

[Djriff]

No, we did an analysis a few pages back. Best case scenario is you break even in total damage, but take a loss to single target damage, which is basically the only thing you're bringing to the raid at the mythic level.

This and in half the time those fights you mentioned UGoS is next to useless.

Assault - Decent
Tyrant - Nah, Void Trinket > DSI anyways
Iskar - You want the ST damage from DSI for the shadow add and other class are better suited for AoE damage. Gaze could be good, but honestly isn't worth it.
Manno - Unless you get lucky infernal spawns gaze is next to useless. Imps usually die 2-3 seconds after they spawn.
Xhul - I could see it here, however DSI is better for nuking down the adds than any bonus damage you can get from Gaze.

[Deleted]

Is Ilvl > secondary stats?

was wondering if my 730 poweder singed bracers is better than 735 pristine manari cuffs (haste multi vs haste versa). obviously tyrant's wrists are bis but I don't foresee myself coining that, and I ain't getting that via council as well seeing as I won a 730 myth cloak and mythic glove token yesterday already.

[Djriff]

Generally yes, however sockets throw a loop into it. I'd just go with high ilvl stuff until you can get your BiS stuff.

[Deleted]

Do you guys use void trinket over DSI mythic on some bosses?

[Kilee25]

The scaling on Gorefiend (suck phase) and Tyrant (last phase) would put it ahead of Mythic DSI, if it actually manages to proc at the right time. However, the same could be said of DSI, if it procs at the right time. Honestly it's random. You're rolling dice with these trinkets. Sacrifice a cow before you pull and hope for the best.

Mathematically, DSI is better than OOV except on the two fights I mentioned, but it is only by a very small degree. Ideally you'd get a wf or socketed DSI, and then it would be clearly better and you don't have to fret over it.

If you're fishing for parses, go for it.

If you are chewing glass, play it safe and use DSI. It'll do better on average.

[Isentropy]

I personally use Orb of Voidsight on Gorefiend, Tyrant, Fel Lord, Mannoroth and Archimonde as I've had the best results with it as opposed to DSI. Basically, all the fights that consist only of demons (Gorefiend has non-demon targets but I'm largely able to ignore those in my guild). But I don't think it matters that much, it all depends on what trinket procs the most in the end. I also believe the Orb is better for a mastery build compared to a haste build because the 600 haste proc is more valuable for the mastery build. Once again though it doesn't seem to matter a whole lot. I've gotten good results with the Orb of Voidsight equipped so I don't really have a reason to change is my logic.

[pkm]

Just got a question about the 35% haste breakpoint, does this take into account that target switching with class trinket and the chaotic nature of some fights will throw the sync off of your cooldowns? Hope I worded that right.