Looking for DPS help: Assess my World of Logs!

[Cynsation]

Hey Everyone,

I've recently been improving my dps, but feel my gear level should be able to yield higher results. I have uploaded my latest raid logs here and would love to get some assessment on it: Paste this in browser ->worldoflogs.com/reports/hs0h2v245cvmnqi7/sum/damageDone/

My armory profile can be found under: Realm - Rivendare > Cynsation

My rotation is VT>DP>SW:P>MB>(SW: D if 25%)>MF

I have been popping Shadowfiend at the start of fights after my trinkets proc since it usually comes up a 2nd time by end of fights. I have also been popping Dark Archangel at the beginning of fights after casting my initial dots. If I know the timing of Time Warp/Bloodlust I will save Dark Archangel and Shadowfield until then, and have been popping a Volcanic Potion at that time too.

I will sometimes recast VT/DP after my trinkets pop, but I suppose the jury is out as to whether that time would be better spent casting MF.

If you have any comments to improve dps here I would really appreciate it! Need all the help possible to get Cho'gall and Nefarian down. Thanks!

~Cyn

[Haotududis]

The one thing you should work to improve on from quick glances at each fight's logs that I saw is your DOT uptime. Magmaw's is just way too low and so are some other fights for VT and DP. However, V/T DOT uptime is very good not sure if its because there are 2 solid targets for the majority of the fight or what

For Magmaw, I know that adds need to go down ASAP, but imo its worth the 3 seconds or so to reapply VT and cast a DP and swap back to the adds since other classes have much more efficient AOEs.

For your gear, you seem to have the idea down. The only thing I would recommend is that you get at least 2p T11. Get the chest and legs and you should stay at hit cap since its quite obvious that you're aiming for it.

Your rotation is on point as well.

[schoenkid37]

Your DPS doesn't look bad at all for your gear. Your gemming is good, although your reforging is a little strange. You reforge haste to hit and then reforge hit to spirit and spirit to haste so effectively your reforges aren't changing anything. I would strongly suggest an addon such as power auras to track your power torrent, theralions mirror, and DMC:V procs because if you can apply your dots during them the dots get the buff even after the proc falls off until you reapply the dots.

Priority wise I would say your decent but mind blast needs to be higher priority, used on cooldown unless no orbs are up and less than 7 seconds remain on empowered shadows.

For starting a fight, since none of the procs share any cooldown, i generally apply my initial dot set while running in to where I will be standing, pre-fade and VT during countdown when possible. I then mindflay till all my procs are up and I have an orb, at which point i mind blast and refresh VT then DP (in this order is important or else you cost yourself an extra gcd) when I have about 3 seconds left on the proc that is closest to running out. This ensures that you get as much benefit out of your procs as possible.

Mana permitting I reapply my dots the second I get a DMC:V proc and let them tick until about 3 seconds left on the buff where I reapply them again. The only time you should EVER reapply dots early is to accomodate a proc, otherwise let them all tick to their full duration and reapply them before the last tick occurs.

I don't know what your UI looks like but in my opinion shadow priests are THE most UI dependent class, a bad UI will horribly impact your DPS if you cannot properly manage your dots/procs/buffs/cooldowns.

Hope there was something in there you didn't already know that'll help you squeeze out a few k more dps, because again really only with shadow priests will really minor changes in your play style show significant results.

[Cynsation]

Thanks for all the comments. Yeah, dots on Magmaw are pretty tough in general since he wipes dots during his transitions between being spiked down and not. I need to put better effort into reapplying dots then as well as during adds, but TBH I'm our best dps, and even though Spriest AE is terrible, we depend on it for killing the parasites in my group.

Schoenkid - Do you have any UI suggestions specifically? I use the standard Blizzard UI out of laziness, particularly since I hate reconfiguring after major patch updates.. I definitely need to get Power Auras at the very least.

Thank you for the comments regarding rotation as well, I'll try to focus my efforts more on reapply dots as you mentioned. I also need to make more of an effort in keeping Empowered Shadows up. It does fall off sometimes, but I've read in a few places that it may be better dps to just use MB on cooldown rather than to hold off on it until an Orb procs to keep ES up. I'll have to try in raid to see what is better.

[Haotududis]

How can he/she put MB above any higher on the priority list? Already has it right after keeping DOTs up where it should be.

And I really would not recommend waiting for procs before you start your rotation/opener. One MF to proc Power Torrent and DMC:V and god knows how long for an orb to proc since its pure RNG there. Start out with the normal opener and then refresh DOTs and follow the priority list accordingly. When you get a Shadow Orb -> MB and gain Empowered Shadows, refresh DP automatically since the initial damage along with ES is a DPS increase. Not positive about VT however.

The only time you will absolutely need to watch your ES time, # of orbs, and a proc is when you have Theralion's Mirror. There, you want to MB ASAP when you get an orb with the proc, and then continue on as normal. However, before the proc runs out, you want to hit MB with an orb to get the Mastery boosted ES and then refresh VT and DP before that runs out/refreshing ES after the proc runs out.

The only addons you really need as a spriest are a DOT timer, a buff tracker, something that announces/shows you clearly when something is off CD (DA and Shadowfiend come to mind), and a castbar addon for latency reasons.

Cyn - keeping ES up is generally the second most important thing aside from keeping DOTs up. Yes, you can MB on CD for a DPS increase, but only with good judgement as Schoen said. If you have no orbs and MB is off CD, make sure you have 7 seconds or more left on ES so it doesn't fall off.

[ruzhy6]

Thanks for all the comments. Yeah, dots on Magmaw are pretty tough in general since he wipes dots during his transitions between being spiked down and not.

Actually that is not true. In reality both the exposed head and the regular magmaw take damage from dots simultaneously whether they are active or not at the time. It is best to refresh all of your dots right before a phase change. Especially for the exposed head as they will continue to tick at the extra damage %.