Shadow Priest - Reroll.

[Kevetic]

Hey guys,

Pretty much, i'm currently a rogue in a progressive guild. However, we're in dire need of RDPS (damn DH) giving us the opportunity to reroll. i've looked through some forum post on the us.bnet but it just seems like alot of QQing and one or two justifications.

My question is, how are Spriest doing right now in a raid environment and how bright does their future lookin T19?

This is a very non-alt friendly xpac so i'd like some wise advice before doing the swap. THanks!


P.S - This will be my first Range caster i've ever played haha.

[Fascinate]

You are safer to roll mage or lock, they do more consistent damage on all fights. Spriest can do well on some bosses but require very specific gear and if you mess up just one time your DPS can plummet.

[Kevetic]

Sadly, if i'm gonna reroll the only interest i have in RDPS is Spriest =\

[Deleted]

Shadow priests seem to like to bitch but atm I would say they are fine. The latest 75th percentile parses show them in top dps specs. Personally I like the game play (not big fan of StM but I should start familiriazing myself with it). There is a bit of ramp up time, around 15-20sec to get in the Voidform and 10-20sec in it to ramp up the stacks. Raiding is good, 5man require double the work to do the same other specs do with two buttons.

Also Shadow priest is he true king of execute phase.

[Kevetic]

That sounds fun, I enjoy a challenge. All though, sounds terrible for mythic+ lol

[Rumex]

Well, if you wan't to raid and clear mythic+ dungeons the best bet would be a Fire Mage. Shadowpriest are very fun, and the StM playstyle is very unique and something only shadow can do, but it requires alot of good timing and practice. But for mythic+ shadow is not good since is all about burst and shadow got a very long ramp up time in dmg. I would say a Fire Mage is the best overall caster dps atm, pretty good on almost every fight in EN and really good in Mythic+

[Deleted]

Mythic+ are good with SP. You bring aoe stun every 30 seconds and eventually some healing. Seems to be a bit behind on Mythic+ where you rush for 2 or more chests. But on high Mythic+ you can be valuable dps. On mythic +8 I was close to 300k dps overall with 850 gear, leaving hunter behind.

[Deleted]

here is my reasoning: you need really steady connection for competitive shadowpriesting in raids. some milliseconds here and there can cost you millions of damage. there are lagspikes what doesn't show in (standart UI) latency meter. i had real trouble even in wod with that damned class trinket. seeing the changes in legion i switched my main.

[Thelxi]

I would not recommend unless you really like the restrictive rampup playstyle and are a die-hard fan of the spec.

[Deleted]

I would not recommend unless you really like the restrictive rampup playstyle and are a die-hard fan of the spec.

If you want to deal good damag for the hole expansion for progress you play mage. Mages are always ToP tier dps. Shadow mostlikely wont be that strong in the long term. If you are okay with doing twice the work for normaly 80% of the result you are welcome here in the shadow section. Right now it looks good but i dont trust blizzard with that for a longer period.

[Nihiel]

I don't mean to spread negativity, but I cannot ignore warning you with good conscience.
Shadow is in a very strange spot. Immensely overhyped as the fotm top dps spec going into Legion, anyone who has played it just a bit knows that this only rings true in certain scenarios.

I feel the spec is all over the place. It is not only about managing dot uptime/multidotting, it requires interveawing with VBs to refresh and keep them running. It is so strict in how you play it, and with a much lower gcd you have to move around, face the correct target during the 1 gcd you're using VB etc while tab targetting to apply new dots, while also running away from breaths, bugs, brambles, shadow crashes etc. I mean, sure it is fun if people like the challenge but it is so unbelievably restrictive in my opinion.

These are my main points of critique:

- S2M (our NICHE execute talent) is what this spec in centered around
Blizzard ignored what the community said throughout alpha and beta, and only just now realised this is a freaking abomination in every way possible. And the fact that we have to reuse runes and eat for every. single. boss. attempt. is just making me sad beyond words. The other two lvl 100 talents are more or less dps neutral with MS being mechanically inferior. It makes one wonder what the heck they've been doing since Legion was announced. Don't forget we're probably gonna see S2M changed or removed in 7.1, which means a remake of our lvl 100 talents are coming. So much for making an informed decision when choosing shadow, everything is a fucking rollercoaster - best close your eyes and hope for the best.

- Ramp up time is sad
The usual listed con of ramp up time. It's old and beaten, but so true. Your guild is popping BL on pull? HA! enjoy being bottom of the barrel - you'll be into VF and start doing proper damage once BL actually finishes.

- The gameplay of shadow is so restrictive
I feel like dot uptime and dot management is the core of shadow. However, just doing that isn't gonna get you anywhere any longer. Now you have to manage insanity and void form on top of dots. The rotation is unforgiving, VB and MB must be used on cd otherwise you lose uptime on VF and therefore haste, MH stacks and generally just rip your dps. It is so strict in how you play it. With a much lower gcd you have to move around, face the correct target during the 1 gcd you're using VB etc while tab targetting to apply new dots, Put this into a raid setting where you have to handle mechanics as well
while also running away from breaths, bugs, brambles, shadow crashes etc. I mean, sure it is fun if people like the challenge but it is so unbelievably restrictive in my opinion. Every single gcd must be used correctly, otherwise you're losing so much by not having dots up, not getting them refreshed properly, or not generating insanity to keep VF going longer.

I guess you could argue this is a skill factor thing and that people might enjoy being able to master this, but I truly despise it. I hate it so much. There's so much you need to take into consideration to play optimally - and put this into a raid setting where you have to handle mechanics as well. Pull it off and you're still just middle of the pack unless it's a fight with weird niche mechanics like Xavius, catering to S2M and making us look too strong.
To look at Xavius as an example, the top Xavius HC spriest parse is 635k dps. WOAH, WTF ! Shadow is so strong, better stack spriests! I guess that's what the wow community at large thinks. Now, let's take a closer look. https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done
He had double S2M during the fight, with the first S2M being a two target cleave with one target in execute. Full uptime on ToF, tons of insanity from SW: D. Tons of haste and MH stacks severely inflating his dps. Then we enter the last phase of the fight where he goes S2M again. He did 92.19m dmg to the tentacle adds you aren't even supposed to be attacking. NINETY TWO MILLION. He also had to manually target every add and apply VT and SW: P, while for example a fire mage has his Ignite spread automatically and hunters step back and enjoy free Barrage cleave.
Shadow supposedly is the king of single target execute dmg, but he wasn't much higher than the other dps on Xavius dmg. Casting dots on off targets doesn't really do much to your st dps and you still generate insanity by doing so and MF as a filler isn't exactly amazing, but still the st isn't amazing.

With all this said, I do think some people enjoy playing shadow in its current iteration and I do think it is very viable. It's just so much effort for rewards that are in no way worth it. We are strong in very specific situations but those are so few and rare that I don't think it's worth it at all. Multitarget padding makes us look stronger than we are. If the cons I listed don't bother you much, then go ahead and play shadow, you'll like it

[Selky]

They're doing very well, but after the hotfix drama I'd say it's one of the least safe specs to play. It's also miserable to play in Mythic+. Do yourself a favor and just roll a mage.

[Ponk]

whether spriest is strong or not at the moment completely depends on the player. If you play to maximize your atm and consistently get 100+ stacks, you'll be fine. If not, you might lack compared to other specs. For this reason, a sizable number of people on mmo champion are going to give bad advice here.

[Linri]

shadow took a while to adjust to. the dps ramp up like everoyne said, is a bit tough... utilizing some of your dispersion actually can help extend the life of voidform, and carry existing stacks into the next pull or so... this way you can maintain stacks

seems to have a little bit of burst issues unless you have some really killer relics increasing the auspicious spirits rollin out at higher rates..

idk im sitting at 839 right now, and currently don't raid, so all i can say is.. watch some videos of people playing it, if it seems your style go for it.... also... the artifact tree took a long time to get 2 gold skills

[Xar226]

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/10/#dataset=100

Anecdotal evidence and advice is great to a point, and of course the biggest single factor in how you do with a class is you, but there is real-life mythic data. Obviously we're early in the expansion and are going to skew toward elite players who may not be representative of what you can do or the gear you have.

Whether you enjoy the gameplay is of course something you'll need to experience for yourself.

[Reposed]

In my opinion, while Shadow certainly may have some shortcomings (AoE, Mythic+...and melee in PvP), it is in a pretty good place overall (IMO), and absolutely one of the most fun specs to play! The first time I tried it, however, I didn't like it...but I came back to it as a 3rd alt on a whim, and now it gets more play time than any of my other toons. To each their own, I suppose.

[Kevetic]

Guys! thank you so much for the feedback. Based off everything said... im pretty sure i'm just gonna stick with my rogue and once the game puts in more catch-up mechanics i'll TRY the Spriest as an alt (damn suramar). Thank you!

[Djriff]

I feel the spec is all over the place. It is not only about managing dot uptime/multidotting, it requires interveawing with VBs to refresh and keep them running. It is so strict in how you play it, and with a much lower gcd you have to move around, face the correct target during the 1 gcd you're using VB etc while tab targetting to apply new dots, while also running away from breaths, bugs, brambles, shadow crashes etc. I mean, sure it is fun if people like the challenge but it is so unbelievably restrictive in my opinion.

That restrictive playstyle is one of the main reasons I like playing shadow. It's a rotation that makes you focus on what you're doing and not just spamming a button until shiny things pop up.

- Ramp up time is sad
The usual listed con of ramp up time. It's old and beaten, but so true. Your guild is popping BL on pull? HA! enjoy being bottom of the barrel - you'll be into VF and start doing proper damage once BL actually finishes.

Not entirely accurate. You do miss quite a bit of uptime by popping lust on the pull, we're not the only class with this problem though.

- The gameplay of shadow is so restrictive
I feel like dot uptime and dot management is the core of shadow. However, just doing that isn't gonna get you anywhere any longer. Now you have to manage insanity and void form on top of dots. The rotation is unforgiving, VB and MB must be used on cd otherwise you lose uptime on VF and therefore haste, MH stacks and generally just rip your dps. It is so strict in how you play it. With a much lower gcd you have to move around, face the correct target during the 1 gcd you're using VB etc while tab targetting to apply new dots, Put this into a raid setting where you have to handle mechanics as well
while also running away from breaths, bugs, brambles, shadow crashes etc. I mean, sure it is fun if people like the challenge but it is so unbelievably restrictive in my opinion. Every single gcd must be used correctly, otherwise you're losing so much by not having dots up, not getting them refreshed properly, or not generating insanity to keep VF going longer.

With the addition of void bolt, managing dots is ridiculously easy in comparison to what it was before. Personally shadow is a bit too spammy for me, but at the same time we have a very unique rotation that gets faster and faster as we climb higher and higher into voidform. The spec rewards good play, which isn't a bad thing IMO. It's definitely not forgiving if you make a mistake in the later stages of voidform, especially with StM, but the gain is worth the risk.

I guess you could argue this is a skill factor thing and that people might enjoy being able to master this, but I truly despise it. I hate it so much. There's so much you need to take into consideration to play optimally - and put this into a raid setting where you have to handle mechanics as well. Pull it off and you're still just middle of the pack unless it's a fight with weird niche mechanics like Xavius, catering to S2M and making us look too strong.
To look at Xavius as an example, the top Xavius HC spriest parse is 635k dps. WOAH, WTF ! Shadow is so strong, better stack spriests! I guess that's what the wow community at large thinks. Now, let's take a closer look. https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done
He had double S2M during the fight, with the first S2M being a two target cleave with one target in execute. Full uptime on ToF, tons of insanity from SW: D. Tons of haste and MH stacks severely inflating his dps. Then we enter the last phase of the fight where he goes S2M again. He did 92.19m dmg to the tentacle adds you aren't even supposed to be attacking. NINETY TWO MILLION. He also had to manually target every add and apply VT and SW: P, while for example a fire mage has his Ignite spread automatically and hunters step back and enjoy free Barrage cleave.

Shadow supposedly is the king of single target execute dmg, but he wasn't much higher than the other dps on Xavius dmg. Casting dots on off targets doesn't really do much to your st dps and you still generate insanity by doing so and MF as a filler isn't exactly amazing, but still the st isn't amazing.

Xavius is a shadow priest wet dream. Slight mistake in regards to fire mages though, their ignite spread does have a max radius, which those tentacles will be beyond. As for the shadow priest just padding DPS, it's a by product of applying so many dots to other targets, the main goal is increased insanity generation to keep StM going for longer and doing more boss DPS. Casting dots on off targets does increase your ST by virtue of keeping you in StM longer and allowing your dots on the boss to tick harder and longer.

With all this said, I do think some people enjoy playing shadow in its current iteration and I do think it is very viable. It's just so much effort for rewards that are in no way worth it. We are strong in very specific situations but those are so few and rare that I don't think it's worth it at all. Multitarget padding makes us look stronger than we are. If the cons I listed don't bother you much, then go ahead and play shadow, you'll like it

I enjoy it for sure, hell I haven't enjoyed shadow this much in years. I feel it's definitely worth playing.

Multitarget padding is something literally every class in the game does, so you can't really count that against us.

[Deleted]

Currently well played surrender to madness priest is probably THE strongest spec in mythic raiding (actually by quite a bit), pretty much entirety of emerald nightmare is just a wet dream for current state of shadow which is going to be changing in 7.1 for better or worse we don't know yet (Knowing blizzard for a lot worse, honestly).

There is a --HUGE-- variance between well and badly played shadow priest. If you believe you can play shadow to it's absolute maximum then yeah, play shadow now, right now it's retardedly good. No one knows how good it will be in 7.1 so that is impossible to answer.

All of above obviously applies to raiding only where we're amazing, we're okayish in m+ and pretty fucking terrible at everything outside of that.

[Deleted]

SP is a terrible choice for a reroll, since you need that very specific gear and high AP to not do horribly bad. Maybe if you don't mind preparing for 7.1, but even then I would wait until we get more info on the possible redesign.