what are the benefits of a shadow priest?

[Butosai]

Hi I was just wondering ( im a ret paladin) what the benefits are of having a shadow priest in a raid are? like what buffs/debuffs do they bring to the group? thanks.

[Strykie]

Nothing unique.

Take no damage.
Smash Multi target fights.

[sleekit]

3% spell hit debuff to target, Replenishment, raid healing via Vampiric Embrace and the usual Priest Health, Spirit and Shadow Resistance buffs and dispelling and disease curing ablitys.

[epard]

3% spell hit, heals the group as they dps, replenishment, and did I mention 3% spell hit it's that good

[funkyfloyd]

replenishment.
heals from vampiric embrace.

both can make the diff between the healer oom and small passive heals to keep the tanks alive.

[Quibble]

Nothing much but we do have some nice futures

+3% hit, a boomkin brings this too tho

http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=15286 On some fights in ICC this can be a very nice thing to have, it\s not much, but it do help healers alittle.

Being we have 15% less damage taken in shadow form, we require less healing

Being we have dispersion *deep talent* we can suvive things if someone fails or when there are 50k left on a boss (been reason to a few kills, due to staying alive with it)

Because our damage is highly based on dots, we are exelent dps'ers for fights that require moving, or changing targets, where clas's like rogues drop heavy in damage done

We can never run oom, unless the person playing the spriest fails at his class.

[Jonisawsom]

http://raidcomp.mmo-champion.com/

[Nakriel]

http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=33193
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=57669
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=15286

[Baabinator]

http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=33193
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=57669
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=15286

+Stamina buff

[Quibble]

+Stamina buff

+stam is not a benefit from "shadow priest" but merely priests.

[jinetix]

Replenishment (Also provided by some Hunters, Warlocks, and Paladins)
Healing through Vampiric Embrace (Very little healing to others but useful for fights like Anub'arak Phase 3)
3% Spell Hit Debuff on Target from Misery (Also provided by Balance Druids)

Shadow Priests are great for fights with multiple targets and they do respectable single target damage as well. They also have higher survivability when compared to other casters due to Dispersion, Power Word: Shields, VE healing, and some passive damage reduction provided by Shadowform. Also, some shadow priests have a healing offspec to add to a raid's flexibility.

[Doors79]

Shadow priests can also mass dispel. Better for them to do it rather than a healing priest

[JohnGalt]

They also require very little maintenance from raid healers as the VE keeps us up pretty much on its own

[Waterwings]

VE, Misery, magic/disease dispeller, mass dispell. standart priest buffs,

No mana issues, Good dps, Can move while dpsing, hmmm... Did i mention that VE is pure sex?

[Tobyjohn]

The healing given from Vampiric Embrace is not much, but is still great to have. It (almost) removes the small abounts of raidwide dmg in many fights, thus helping healers from spending Mana on monir heals (not that Mana is a big issue :P)

The 3% hit buff is given by a Doomkin aswell, but since they are not all that popular to play, i think it's a good little buff to bring

Replenishment is given from many other clases, but if they are present, you don't need to procc it (unless vampiric touch is important in DPS rotation... my priestie is only lvl 58 :P)

[kronpas]

AFAIK, atm only spriest and ret pallies bring replenishemnt via their mandatory talents. Many locks and hunters I know of pick talent trees containing no such talents, or just simply skip them.

[Deleted]

The main benefits are high multi-target damage, VE Healing (especially in 10-mans), replenishment and misery.

Yes, 5 classes *can* provide replenishment, but only spriests and ret pallys have it in a normal spec/rotation (warlocks need to spend 3 largely useless points to get it, it is a surv hunter talent, most of which are MM at raiding level, and the mage talent is deep frost).

Basically, since 3.3, spriests are no longer the bottom class on pure dps meters. They are not near the top, sure, but no longer at the bottom.

[rekinash]

(unless vampiric touch is important in DPS rotation... my priestie is only lvl 58 :P)

VT is nr.2 on dmg done

[Lothan]

yes, vampiric touch is very important, but with 4 piece t10, mind blast no longer is. And it's mind blast that activates replenishment. Otherwise, what many others have said is true, the extra healing and 3% hit buff not to mention very respectable dps now makes shadow priests nice to have around.

[Rayzan]

The benefit of owning in pvp of you know what your doing. I've seen some real nasty spriest in bgs and arenas. A single dot (excuse my ignorance but I don't play an spriest and forget the name) took my rogue in decent pvp gear from 25k HP to about 10k, wth each tic critting me for around 1500-1800 shadow dmg.

EDIT: post was OT I know, sorry, but i wanted to acknowledge your "ownness" lol