Why Play Shadow?

[Pelleas]

Hi Guys - this is not a troll or a QQ

Truth is, my raid lacks a Shadow Priest in its roster and I was asked if I wanted to level up a char and take the spot...
I have never played shadow and never played a priest.

I gave it a few hours a my Shadow priest is now L55 - it's fun a fast killing even if w/o dispersion or pet, mana regen is a pain.
I was wondering what it's like end-game wise.

One guy from my guild told me "You're basically a warlock with less burst and dps". I knew he was trying to tease me up, but it sounded a bit true too.

Can you please share how do you think you differentiate yourselves as Shadow to other DPS classes? Whether you'd advice I take the spot and oh yes - how are we doing in PVP?

Many thanks

-ch

[warboss]

You wont take top DPS as shadow, at least in its current state. We have some upcoming buff that should help, but your DPS is still competitive, burst sucks but overall damage is good. Regen is never an issue in end level raiding. PvP as shadow is great, spriests are very tough you practically have a bubble like a pally and if you spec pvp you have good snare removal.

[Abandon]

You wont take top DPS as shadow, at least in its current state. We have some upcoming buff that should help, but your DPS is still competitive, burst sucks but overall damage is good. Regen is never an issue in end level raiding. PvP as shadow is great, spriests are very tough you practically have a bubble like a pally and if you spec pvp you have good snare removal.

Erm, Shadow PVP is currently not what you could call great. Our dispel protection actually encourages the other team to dispel it, since it makes them immune to Psychic Horror, Death Coil, and itself, and does no damage. We also have no way of actually putting distance between us and melee, and our self-healing is practically gone, being far behind the self-healing from other classes who don't need to stop doing damage or drop Shadowform and take 15% extra damage to heal themselves. Glyph of Sark Succor, for example.

In PVE Shadow is currently fine and is getting a buff next patch to Mind Blast and Mastery, as well as Mind Sear, which should help.

[zito]

Erm, Shadow PVP is currently not what you could call great. Our dispel protection actually encourages the other team to dispel it, since it makes them immune to Psychic Horror, Death Coil, and itself, and does no damage. We also have no way of actually putting distance between us and melee, and our self-healing is practically gone, being far behind the self-healing from other classes who don't need to stop doing damage or drop Shadowform and take 15% extra damage to heal themselves. Glyph of Sark Succor, for example.

In PVE Shadow is currently fine and is getting a buff next patch to Mind Blast and Mastery, as well as Mind Sear, which should help.

This^^^^^^^

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

I'm not able to out-dps the Rogues, Hunters or DK's in my raids, but I can compete with them on longer fights. My Dps on Trash is pretty low, all things considered, but my damage to any trash that matters (trash that can wipe a group) I find myself up among the top dogs.

The Key is Mana management. Only Arcane Mages rival us in mana intensive damage based specs. Vampiric Touch, Shadow Word: Pain, and Devouring Plague eat up a good 15% of your mana bar just to get all three up. Mind Flays will eat away at even more, and refreshing Vamp Touch or Devouring Plague can feel like Benjamins being stolen from your wallet. To counter-act this you want to keep Shadow Word: Death on cooldown, even when the target is above 25% health. You also want to use Mind Blast on a target with Vampiric Touch everytime it comes off cooldown, so long as it doesn't result in you losing the DoT-buff.

In 4.0.6 We're going to be even stronger with a Mind Blast that actually feels like a nuke so I can see myself at least passing that filthy Guild Leader Rogue of mine on meters lol.

[zenkai]

One guy from my guild told me "You're basically a warlock with less burst and dps". I knew he was trying to tease me up, but it sounded a bit true too.

Not true, single target wise anyway. A warlock with same gear and same skill will out dmg you on fights but not b a whole a lot and they are getting nerfed next patch anyway.

Warlocks are great and have their place (i love you warlocks, DI nom nom nom) but Spriest do too, we bring versatility with us, just like any raiding class we have our little niche for raids as well, how many people I have saved with Hymns and LOF I will never know.

[Vzelik]

I personally have had no issues with playing my Shadow Priest. I raid strictly 10 man, I really have no intentions ever of doing 25 man raids again. Regardless, we run a most caster heavy group and I still usually am #1 or 2 on the DPS meters. (DK-Tank, Warrior-Tank, Warrior-Fury, Hunter-Survival, Warlock-Affi/Demo, Mage-Fire, Priest-Shadow, Priest-Holy, Paladin-Holy, Druid-Resto).

Our single target damage is very good. Our burst isn't, obviously being a 4-dot class. I can't speak of PvP because I've always been a PvE player, but in general shadow priests are OK at the moment from what I've seen and heard.

Also, I wouldn't suggest using SW every time it's off of CD. Between Archangel and Shadowfiend, even using both as DPS CD's immediately, 90% of the time you won't go oom.


I think you'll enjoy playing shadow, I know I do.

[GOMEZ]

Don't forget we rely a lot on Dark Intent to be competitive, I never get it though QQ

[Deleted]

Don't forget we rely a lot on Dark Intent to be competitive, I never get it though QQ

If you are not getting it then talk to your warlocks. SPriest is the best class for DI, as all our damage except mindblasts and SW comes from dots, thus is increased by DI's 3/6/9%. :P

[ariatas]

its a fun class to play. you won't top meters except for some fight you might get pretty high, but well in my opinion its pretty cool class to play:P

[Penumbra]

I can and always have competed for top dps in my guild as a raiding shadow priest. You can out damage any warlock if you have flawless dot up-times.

[Aceso Jenkins]

I play Holy spec most of the time to heal, but sometimes my guild's DPS isn't quite up to par so I will often go DPS to help out on that front and let someone else off-heal. One thing that no one has mentioned yet is the AoE healing you do as a priest. I think this is often an over-looked utility that we offer to the raid. For some fights, I have done 25+% of the raid healing from my shadow spec! We may not necessarily top the charts all the time, but we can make the difference in the raid's capacity to take a boss down.

I have tried a hunter and warlock, but I found myself not really enjoying the aspect of managing a pet. It's just a personal preference, but I like the simplicity and utility that we offer. There have been times when I've had to off-heal in my shadow spec because a healer may have gone OOM or died during a fight. It's a versatile spec and I really, really enjoy it! I haven't touched my warrior since I created a priest last fall before Cataclysm came out.

[Verjil]

All in all the shadow priest is a great class. My absolute favorite. Like others have said you can be competitive and you will have your own niche in raids/groups. In my opinion the shadow priority rotation is the most difficult to play among other classes. Therefore once you practice it a lot, it's very rewarding to be among the top or at the top of DPS charts. Here's a few more pros:

-You can be a gnome
-You can also heal, which means shorter queue times.
-You can be a gnome
-There are several buffs that are worthwile to a party/raid (i.e. spell haste, sustainable stam/shadow prot even if you die, etc)


And above all else, you are able to select the Gnome race for your class.

Enjoy it!

[FengHouzi]

I think that S Priest is THE class. I do well with DPS, right in the middle, sometimes higher. The best part about us is our utility. In almost every Heroic I have ran, I not only DPS, but CC, silence, Horror and heal. There's really nothing better than ensuring victory on the end boss by dropping shadow and blowing a few overpriced heals. Nobody notices, but it is satisfying to me.

[sasslefrassed]

In raids, your dps on larger trash pulls will be low (until the buff to Mind Sear, cross your fingers). But on bosses, I typically top my raid's charts. As a rule of thumb, the longer the fight is, the better it is for your dps. Spriests rely more on DoTs than warlocks, seeing as our main nuke (Mind Flay) is technically a DoT. I don't personally have a problem with Spriest dps, but they are getting buffed in the patch. I think the spec is enjoyable. I played a boomkin for the early half of wrath and got bored of it fast. I find Spriests much more engaging and interesting to play.