SW: D as an execute

[Shad47]

First : I'm french so I apologize for my bad english :-X

I was thinking about something recently...
After seeing the new soulfire ability for Warlocks (Decimation = 60% less cast time on SoulFire after casting Shadow Bolt on targets below 35% health), I wondered if we (Shadow priests) could have approximatively the same thing in the shadow tree.

Let me explain, this new Soulfire can be considered as an execute (Great damage and the 35% health penalty)
And we know that Warlocks and SP have a lot in common when it's about ups. (CF : crit on dots, haste on dots, etc).
So why for once couldn't we get the same ?

Adding a similar talent in the Shadow tree wouldn't be so OP.

Example :
Death Sentence : When your target is below 35% health, your SW : Death damage is increased by 100% and the damage return penalty is cancelled.

[fabian]

Change the talent, because with a talent like that, we would be close to one hitting ourselves if it hit for like that.

I personally would like SW to be an execute but I doubt we'll see it before Wotlk is over.

If they need to free up some talents in the talent trees, they could combine Shadow Reach with Shadow Affinity(which makes a boomkin equivalent talent). Then add more to Focused Mind. One idea would be if you crit with MB, SW CD is reset, costs no mana and hits for 10% more, and if you crit with a mana consuming(to prevent MB/SW spam, although that could be a good idea) SW, the the CD on MB is reset and it becomes instant cast.

To add onto that, another example that could be added to Focused Mind would be when the target is at or below 35% health, if you crit with MB, SW CD is reset, costs no mana and hits for 50% more to the target but deals no recoil damage. If you crit with SW, the CD on MB is reset and it becomes instant cast.

[spkrb200]

I was actually thinking that swd should be an execute, but doesn't do damage back to us since we can only use it on targets lower than 20%. What also crossed my mind was that a lot of other classes already have an execute, thus making it sort of a boring spell and too much like other abilities.

[MushroomBomb]

It's a decent idea for PvP, but I just think it would really clutter our rotation in PvE.

[Nekhetyo]

I didn't read your entire post OP, But I agree in this topic. SW Is almost designed to be an execute. It just doesn't do the damage!

[xt]

It's a decent idea for PvP, but I just think it would really clutter our rotation in PvE.

well maybe they should make it more like killshot from hunters?

[Direshadow]

Adding more OP burst to a class that lacks it will not solve anyone's problem.

I'd say... nerf burst across the board on all classes, before giving anyone else amazing numbers that Hunters and Warlocks can push out.


I really hope that Blizzard doesn't jump the shark and throw us a re-castable Mind Blast for Cata...

a nuke would be nice... but make it an interesting nuke...

[Ultima]

I like the initial idea.

Death Sentence (needs a better name); When your target is on 20% health or less your Shadow Word; Death will always critically hit for 200% bonus damage and no longer cause recoil damage.

Obviously the damage needs better scaling, but I'll leave that to an expert.

[Berdine]

Itd be good for deep shadow pve, but for pvp as a disc priest i use it almost consistently to break sheeps, and TBH as a pvp disc priest i pref sheep breaker then damage because we are really easily locked out having only 1 trinket and a fearward that doesnt proc DR.

[Shad47]

That's why my idea was to put the talent in the shadow tree ^^

[Shibba]

Itd be good for deep shadow pve, but for pvp as a disc priest i use it almost consistently to break sheeps, and TBH as a pvp disc priest i pref sheep breaker then damage because we are really easily locked out having only 1 trinket and a fearward that doesnt proc DR.

off topic:
Kinda new to pvp, did i understood you correctly?
A priest can cast SWD while being a sheep, get the recoil dmg and break free? works in arenas? bgs? general world?

[Fluppy]

off topic:
Kinda new to pvp, did i understood you correctly?
A priest can cast SWD while being a sheep, get the recoil dmg and break free? works in arenas? bgs? general world?

Nope.
The recoil damage of SW does occur around 1 second after the cast. So if you see the mage does cast sheep and it's almost finished you SW him and the delayed recoil gets you out of it.

[Berdine]

No it can be cast while sheep is being cast because the damage recoil has a short delay inplace by blizzard which means they sheep, u SWD at about 40% cast left, they sheep u, recoil ticks and breaks sheep, takes practice a decent enuff MS maybe 500 or less and yes it can be done, its required for fighting mages at high rating

[Deleted]

this trick can be used on blind to tho you need a bit more "luck" since there is no cast time on blind. done it some times on blind.

[Shibba]

hmm...

if a mage has his mana shield or frost shield up then the swd is consumed, i have 0 recoil, and nothing happens? still a happy grass eating sheep?

[Ultima]

Sigh, de-railed.

We should not be discussing a server lag "trick" as a loss for the PvE increase. (And a gain in PvP, albeit not as great)

[Peacemoon]

Shadow Word: Death needs a redesign. Being worse then Shadow Word: Pain is completely unacceptable. ;-)

Yes, priests needed some kind of instant damage attack to finish someone off, but SW just does not cut it anymore. It should be given an increased cooldown (30s max) and increased effect, or have it used as a trigger spell for something else. Resets the cooldown on Mind blast, gives the target a "Marked for Death" debuff". Something cool.

At the moment, it isn't a fun spell and it isn't useful except when grinding dailies. In my eyes, Blizz have failed it and need to work at it. Also considering Shadow Priests current status in the game, now would be the perfect time.

[Deleted]

I did see a blue post somwere, that they had considered making SW : D not hurt us back at all if the target was under 25%, it was ment to be our execute spell, but hitting for 3k.. is hardly an execute.

[Pineapple]

Off Topic: I just realized SW = Shadowword Happyface!

[Symphonic]

Every class should have a sub-35% "execute" type ability in my opinion, but not something that is spammable.

For example.
Paladins: Hammer of Wrath
Warriors: Execute
Priests(disc and shadow):_________
Warlocks: Decimate
Mages:_________
Rogues:__________
Hunters: Kill Shot
Death Knight:_________
Shaman:_________
Druid(boomkin and feral):__________

etc.

The question is how to give each class an ability that behaves like execute but is not spammable and keeping things fair