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  1. #1

    Shadow priest DPS help

    I've been playing Shadow Priest since the beginning of Naxx, and have recently becoming worried about my DPS.

    I'm pulling around 3.5-3.7k on a heroic dummy, and after looking at the DPS some priests are getting on this forum (For example Worshaka) I just get the feeling i'm inadequate.

    http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...gg&n=Rendition

    Obviously theres a gear difference between me and the full 245/258 priests, but I don't think that makes up for the amount of a gap in DPS there is.

    I'm going to get rid of the excess hit by replacing the T8 chest with the T9, and i'm running OS25 to get Illustration to replace the Fetish, which I only have because I was running with sundial.

    Thanks to everybody who responds with something other than "L2 play noob"

    Cheers,

    Rendition.

  2. #2

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    The higher ilvl gear does make a significant difference. Prior to ToC it was almost unheard of to hit 4k DPS on a target dummy. If you're still in Ulduar level gear then don't worry about it. If your gear level is higher than that get a WoL parse or something that will let people comment on your play style.

    Also - I'd suggest continuing to use the sundial over Fetish.

  3. #3

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    I think your dps is ok for your gear. If you're still in doubt try making a pre-made priest on the PTR and comparing your dps to what others have posted with pre-mades. I've seen a few pre-made dps posts around.

    Replace the fetish though. http://www.shadowpriest.com/viewtopi...193351#p193358
    Drunk toddlers in a dryer

  4. #4
    Warchief SoulPoetry's Avatar
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    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    you're ~500 SP behind some of the 245/258 shadow priests i've seen, so i'd say that's a significant gap. i would also recommend Sundial over Fetish but as Worshaka would say, you can't get help if you don't post your parses. not wanting to sound discouraging but we can't tell how often you're casting MB or your DoT uptime from just "my dps is xxxx, please help". if you follow the tips and guides in the shadow 101 thread, there's really not much more to learn.

  5. #5

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    I replaced Fetish with Sundial and increased my DPS, thanks



    Hopefully that should help.


  6. #6
    Warchief SoulPoetry's Avatar
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    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    you're casting MB every 7.7 seconds. if your latency isn't abnormally high, you should try to cast it more often, the closer to 7 seconds, the better. your DoTs have about a 90-5% uptime, which also can be improved upon slightly.

  7. #7

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    http://wowwebstats.com/t5imexhqjaggk

    My latency is normally green, occasionally spiking up 400-500 (I think my ms was 250 when I did the SS)

    Thanks for the advice

  8. #8
    Herald of the Titans iLive's Avatar
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    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    If you seek better latency, the try http://www.wowinterface.com/download...atencyFix.html

  9. #9

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Quote Originally Posted by iLive
    If you seek better latency, the try http://www.wowinterface.com/download...atencyFix.html
    I've already installed it, but failed to see any results.

  10. #10

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Kudos to you for actually doing some reasearch and providing some information people can work with to assist you, unlike the vast majority of other people on these forums that just have a bit of a cry their DPS is low and give us nothing.

    As someone stated above, your cast analysis breaks down to

    Mind Blast

    Cast every 7.7 seconds, 7.2 seconds is attainable, what this means is you missed out on 1 possibly 2 MB casts, something around 10K damage.

    Mind Flay

    Ticks occured every 1.69 seconds, it's attainable to get them to occur every 1.5 seconds (or slighly less), net result is you missed out on upto 15 ticks of MF. I suggest you are clipping MF, that means that when you start your next spell (whether it be a 2nd MF, MB or dot refresh) you are casting it too early and preventing the last tick of the MF to occur. This is very easy to do with high latency, I think you mention you can hit 400 so try casting your next spell when it is well and truly in the red section of the quartz bar. A good test is to do nothing but cast MF, count the number of times you cast the spell and cast it like you would normally. Then check how many ticks you go, if you cast 10 MFs you should have 30 ticks, if this isn't the case you are definitely clipping it.

    DoT Uptime

    They are all in the low 90% which isn't bad but it's possible to get 95% - 98%. You looked to have missed out on 2 VT ticks and 1 DP tick. Also I wonder if you used the opening rotation of VT > MB > DP > MF > SW:P, the SW:P figure should really be closer to 100% because it's always up, perhaps you cast it a little late?

    That should be plenty to work on for now, keep practicing your rotation until you can achieve the 7.2 MB, 1.5 MF tick and 97% dot Uptimes and you'll see a consistent increase in DPS.

  11. #11

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Yeah, it seems like a matter of timing. Shadow relies heavily on a very intimate familiarity with the way the rotation works, which takes practice. A good shadowpriest is always aware of what he's going to be doing 5 and even 10 seconds in the future at any given moment while DPSing.

    Once you have 95%+ uptime on your dots, a Blast every ~7 seconds, and a Flay tick every 1.5-1.6, you have achieved the timing required, and anything else is a gear issue: either not enough of it, or improper strategy in the gearing metagame.

  12. #12

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Thanks to all who have replied

    Worshaka:

    Its funny that I'm missing the last tick of the mind flay, because I'm using the stopcasting mind flay macro to prevent me from cutting it off, or do you mean that I shouldn't clip Mind Flay?

    About clipping Mind flay, at the moment I'm clipping it for Mind Blast and Vampiric Touch, but I'm unsure whether to clip it for Devouring Plague, should I?

    Yes I am using that opening rotation, but I let Mind Flay run its full course then cast SW:P, should I get 2 ticks off then cast SW:P?

    Thanks, Rendition.

  13. #13
    Warchief SoulPoetry's Avatar
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    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    you should clip MF for anything else. it's called filler for a reason :P from another thread:

    Quote Originally Posted by Berner
    MF has the lowest dmg per cast time of any spell, that's why it's the filler. You are better off casting anything else.


    If you clip MF 1 second earlier to refresh VT you also get back to channeling a new MF 1s earlier, winning you back that MF tick you clipped earlier.

    If you dont clip the MF, your VT gets delayed by 1s, but the total number of MF ticks is the same.

  14. #14

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Quote Originally Posted by SoulPoetry
    you should clip MF for anything else. it's called filler for a reason :P from another thread:
    It's actually more complicated than that... but yes you should clip MF but you aim to clip it at 2 ticks because 1 tick of MF is less damage than SW. The main issue where this occurs is when you are left with 1 GCD's worth of time leading into your next MB, you are better off to delay that MB by the 0.4 seconds or so that's required to get 2 MF ticks in, instead of 1 tick.

    Lastly you never want to clip the last tick of MF, if you have made it most of the way through your 2.7 sec channel (haste applied) then you want to get that last tick to register, using 2.6 seconds of time for 2 MF ticks is worse than using 2.7 seconds of time for 3 MF ticks.

  15. #15

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Quote Originally Posted by Rendition
    Thanks to all who have replied

    Worshaka:

    Its funny that I'm missing the last tick of the mind flay, because I'm using the stopcasting mind flay macro to prevent me from cutting it off, or do you mean that I shouldn't clip Mind Flay?

    About clipping Mind flay, at the moment I'm clipping it for Mind Blast and Vampiric Touch, but I'm unsure whether to clip it for Devouring Plague, should I?

    Yes I am using that opening rotation, but I let Mind Flay run its full course then cast SW:P, should I get 2 ticks off then cast SW:P?

    Thanks, Rendition.
    1. I'm unaware of a stop casting macor that prevents you from clipping MF, if anything a stop casting macro guarantees you will stop MF from casting. Do you mean the channeling macro that prevents you from interrupting a channel? You can't use that because it's necessary to clip MF to get up your other spells on occasion.

    2. Anything that is a higher priority should interrupt any MF channel, however as I described the ideal time to clip MF is at 2 ticks, if you can't get 2 ticks it's better to use SW, however in my experience (particularly with 15% haste or more) you either have enough time for MF2 or you have less than a GCD's worth of time, meaning you do nothing and wait that half a GCD or so.

    3. No use 3 ticks of MF, no point clipping it at 2, casting SW:P and then waiting half a GCD for your next MB, you just do a MF3, then SW:P and MB is instantly ready to use.

  16. #16

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    This is the macro I was talking about:

    #showtooltip
    /stopmacro [channeling]
    /cast Mind Flay

    It allows you to constantly press your mind flay hotkey without it clipping the previous one, but it lets you clip it for mind blast etc.

    When I get home tonight I'll consistently try to improve my rotation.

    My biggest concern is that is my DPS appropriate for my gear? Or am I just failing at playing Shadow?

    Thanks, Rendition.

  17. #17

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Ok so you eliminate the ability to clip MF with a new MF cast but that doesnt stop you clipping it for MB or dot refreshes which is likely what you're doing. So when you cast your next MB or Dot refresh try to be a bit less aggresive and ensure the MF channel has finished.

  18. #18

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    So never clip mind flay? So much conflicting data, clip mind flay, don't clip mind flay..

  19. #19

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    As far as i could understand,
    if you have time for 1 MF tick -> go for SWD
    if you have time for 2 MF ticks -> clip
    BUT
    on the opening, you just do a full 3 ticks of MF than SWP followed by a MB
    don't be too aggressive on reapplying dots (in order to avoid clipping if not necessary).

    Now my question is, what's the best timing to reapply dots?
    I usually try to do that right after the last tick, but what about VT? i tend to start casting it like 1.5 seconds before it fades off, should i wait more?


  20. #20

    Re: Shadow priest DPS help

    Quote Originally Posted by Rendition
    So never clip mind flay? So much conflicting data, clip mind flay, don't clip mind flay..
    You're misinterpreting what i'm saying... when I say you are clipping MF I mean you are meaning to cast 3 ticks of MF but because you are trying to cast your next spell too quickly you are only getting 2 ticks.

    Lets say you have 11.1% haste... you would spend 2.7 seconds to get 3 ticks of MF, however if you cast your next spell too early you might only spend 2.6 seconds channeling meaning you only get 2 ticks of MF.

    Obviously if you need to cast VT or MB or DP you deliberately clip your MF to 2 ticks, but what often occurs is people are trying to get the 3 ticks in and only get 2 ticks because they are being too aggressive with their spells.

    So continue to deliberately clip when it makes sense but when you are doing a full channel duration of MF be careful not to clip it.

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