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  1. #1

    Shadow Priest DPS, when does it get better

    Ive been 85 maybe 4 days now, been running regs for JP and leveling my tailor/chanting as much as possible for upgrades. My problem is im only at ilvl 332 and I can barely break 10k on bosses. Ive got the rotation down refreshing DoTs when buffs proc or with 1sec left but I just seem to pull what other classes in my group are.

    Did my first hero last nite, Lost City, and on first boss I was 2nd in dps at like 9500. On top of having mana issues I just cant seem to push anymore dps. Even on the reg 85 dummy Im only getting ~9800. Is this just a power thru it now and gear upgrades will help issue?

    My rotation atm is SW:P>VT>DP then flay til orb > MB, after that I use AA with 5 stacks and Feind, flay and refresh DoTs as needed and MB with at least 1 orb. I tried throwing in SW on CD which some suggested helps with mana but it made my dps go down some.

    Right now Im stand offish about queueing for heros since Im worried ill be kicked since my dps isnt thru the roof.

    Armory link: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...g/shoat/simple
    Last edited by Acousticferret; 2011-05-05 at 09:17 PM.

  2. #2
    how's your gear/gemming/enchants/glyphs going? tallents?

    stack haste

    edit: Feind on CD!!!!

  3. #3

  4. #4
    Stood in the Fire
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    You're nearly 9% under the hit cap, and reforging away from hit/haste. While haste > hit, you're probably missing a lot of spells with that little hit. Try reading the Shadow Priest guide, in the sticky on this forum.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Tihr View Post
    You're nearly 9% under the hit cap, and reforging away from hit/haste. While haste > hit, you're probably missing a lot of spells with that little hit. Try reading the Shadow Priest guide, in the sticky on this forum.
    He's well over hit capped for heroics and isn't stepping in to a raid environment yet.
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  6. #6
    Herald of the Titans ElAmigo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tihr View Post
    You're nearly 9% under the hit cap, and reforging away from hit/haste. While haste > hit, you're probably missing a lot of spells with that little hit. Try reading the Shadow Priest guide, in the sticky on this forum.
    has no idea what he's talking about. The hit cap for heroic dungeons is 6%. It'll slow down how fast your dps increases in dungeons but try to just stack haste and spirit for the raid hit cap since I'm assuming you're aim is to raid. Look at my spriest, name's Laoscuridad on daggerspine US. That's somewhat what you want to look like pre raid gear though you can do much better now that 4.1 is out (haven't played in months).
    "Didn't we have some fun...though? Remember when the platform was sliding into the fire pit and I said 'Goodbye' and you were like 'No way' and then I was all 'We pretended we were going to murder you'......that was great"

  7. #7
    9500 for 332 ilv is ok... Most player in random have 350 ilv and don't do 10k so... 9.5k for 332 is more than enough... when u'll have 355 ilv If you're still stuck at 9500 then u might want to ask what's wrong...

  8. #8
    Awesome thanks for the replies all =)

  9. #9
    I would switch out the Sorrowsong trinket when you can. I have a priest on two different servers. One has Sorrowsong and the other has the int jewelcrafting trinket and I found that even though the one with the jewelcrafting trinket has a bit lower quality gear than the one with Sorrowsong their DPS is quite similar.
    Last edited by Ineras; 2011-05-05 at 10:22 PM.

  10. #10
    The Patient Lockrocker75's Avatar
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    You need hit before haste. That's all DPS 101. If you are 9% under hit cap you probably missing every 1 of 10 to 1 of 12 spells and/or ticks. They all add up, which lowers your DPS. After you hit capped then reforge and gem haste/intel/mastery.

  11. #11
    i noticed you're forging mastery into haste... try to get every piece with haste already on it and forge away from crit......

    hit>haste>mastery>crit imo

    as said earlier hit for dungeons is only 6% so you're already above it... when you get gearing for raids focus on spirit/haste gear and reforge crit to mastery.

    and you don't have a meta gem? try to get the + max mana one... i forget the name....

    edit:
    Gems:
    Red - int
    yellow - int/haste
    blue - int/spirit
    that is if you care for the bonus... if not..... use Int gems
    Last edited by Alenoria; 2011-05-05 at 10:24 PM.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Lockrocker75 View Post
    You need hit before haste. That's all DPS 101. If you are 9% under hit cap you probably missing every 1 of 10 to 1 of 12 spells and/or ticks. They all add up, which lowers your DPS. After you hit capped then reforge and gem haste/intel/mastery.
    You may want to try and read the whole thread before replying next time. Also.... there is not a hit chance for each tick of a dot btw -_-

  13. #13
    The Lightbringer Siri's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lockrocker75 View Post
    You need hit before haste. That's all DPS 101. If you are 9% under hit cap you probably missing every 1 of 10 to 1 of 12 spells and/or ticks. They all add up, which lowers your DPS. After you hit capped then reforge and gem haste/intel/mastery.
    Hello, welcome to the priest forum.
    Since you are clearly unaware let me introduce you to how shadowpriests and hit interact.
    Most of a shadowpriest's damage comes from dots. If you cast a dot and it misses the target
    you only lose a fraction of the damage of the spell. In the case of VT, DP and SW:P this
    fraction is equal to half a tick of the dot as well as one GCD of (usually) Mind Flay.
    For Mind Flay you lose one and a half tick.

    Seeing as missing one of these spells doesn't make you miss out on the full damage of the
    spell which is the case when you're talking about something such as Fireball hit ends up having
    a lower value for spriests than most other dps classes.
    In fact, hit usually ends up as the lowest valued secondary stat.

    Spriests are not even the sole exception to the rule of "cap hit first". Another obvious example
    that springs to mind would be Feral Druids who much like spriests relies on dot damage and in
    addition they rely on Shred, a move which refunds 80% of the used energy if it fails to connect.
    That coupled with not being energy capped means a feral druid can afford to recast an ability
    several times until it hits without it affecting the overall damage much.

    Clearly you are just trying to help, which is a good thing.
    However, seeing as you don't even know the class maybe it would be better for everyone if you
    kept your advice to yourself.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Lohe View Post
    Hello, welcome to the priest forum.
    Since you are clearly unaware let me introduce you to how shadowpriests and hit interact.
    Most of a shadowpriest's damage comes from dots. If you cast a dot and it misses the target
    you only lose a fraction of the damage of the spell. In the case of VT, DP and SW:P this
    fraction is equal to half a tick of the dot as well as one GCD of (usually) Mind Flay.
    For Mind Flay you lose one and a half tick.

    Seeing as missing one of these spells doesn't make you miss out on the full damage of the
    spell which is the case when you're talking about something such as Fireball hit ends up having
    a lower value for spriests than most other dps classes.
    In fact, hit usually ends up as the lowest valued secondary stat.

    Spriests are not even the sole exception to the rule of "cap hit first". Another obvious example
    that springs to mind would be Feral Druids who much like spriests relies on dot damage and in
    addition they rely on Shred, a move which refunds 80% of the used energy if it fails to connect.
    That coupled with not being energy capped means a feral druid can afford to recast an ability
    several times until it hits without it affecting the overall damage much.

    Clearly you are just trying to help, which is a good thing.
    However, seeing as you don't even know the class maybe it would be better for everyone if you
    kept your advice to yourself.
    While this is true, you also need to have a good eye for when that DoT misses. If you're like me, then you rapidly go through you're rotation. I doubt I'd be able to spot a DoT missing.

  15. #15
    The Lightbringer Siri's Avatar
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    I did simplify it a bit when I wrote it because I don't really think it is necessary to talk about it in detail.
    Because it is not a set rotation you should always be on the lookout for things such as missing dots anyway.
    In the case of ability misses that alters your next move (so VT, SW:P, DP) only VT should reasonably provide
    any losses greater than what I already mentioned because you will have queued another spell. (Which will
    sometimes be another VT on another target, in which case the loss is exactly what I said it was.) In the case
    of SW:P and DP you have a whole global to react (so 1.0 - 1.5 seconds) which will be enough for most
    players who pay attention to it.

    For people who have troubles paying attention to things like missing dots and the fight at the same time
    there are addons that provide audio warnings when certain abilities miss. Adding an audio component to
    misses almost universally increases reaction time.

    My main issue with the post I replied to was that it states that being hit capped is the basics of any dps
    class, something which is demonstrably false. Even if you run the simulations at low skill settings hit won't
    overtake haste in value.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by jeleopard View Post
    While this is true, you also need to have a good eye for when that DoT misses. If you're like me, then you rapidly go through you're rotation. I doubt I'd be able to spot a DoT missing.
    This issue doesn't matter because the OP is hit capped for heroics. Moving on.

    OP: You seem to be doing fine with the gear you have so far. We scale immensely well with Int and Haste, so if you prioritize those while you get more heroic gear, you'll do much better stacking those over all else. You're about 3% over the hit cap for heroics, so you can actually stand to drop a few hit pieces if you won't be raiding any time soon. The JC trinket is also great if you can get that.

    As for mana issues, that gets better with time. Your primary ways to regain mana are SF and Archangel, so use them as soon as they're convenient during a heroic boss fight. SW is not that great of a mana return until you have a larger mana pool, but it's good for a crunch moment if you need some. If you're in for a long boss kill, casting Hymn of Hope (especially with SF out) is fine if you aren't standing in something bad or have to nuke an add. You're doing heroic dungeons, but they shouldn't expect you to have the raid gear and capabilities of someone who's 12/12 or more. Try to ensure you're also not refreshing your DoTs too early, as you'll do slightly less damage and spending way more mana. The best way to minimize this issue is CD management and getting upgrades with more Int.

    If you PLAN on raiding, going for hit cap it good so you can master your spell priorities without worrying about nasty misses. Once you get more skill, dipping below hitcap for more haste (not more mastery or crit) is recommended to see if you can increase your DPS. If you're good at reacting to a refresh miss and have minimal lag, it tends to be good for you. However, only do that if you're comfortable with it; going below hit cap when you're still learning the spec can mess you up big time. (This whole paragraph ONLY applies to raid bosses, so don't worry about it otherwise.)

  17. #17
    Deleted
    I think your dps is pretty fine with your ilvl, i'd like to give ideas for a new rotation, my rotation is: mf until 5 stacks of evangelism, if orb procs mb if not > vt > sw: p > dp > mb > aa > mf ... and so on, i get up to 14k dps on a bosspuppet, with ilvl 359 (2nd t11 boni), i think you should try this rotation, should optimize your dps

    A.
    Over and Out.

  18. #18
    Another thing for mana that just occurred to me. If mana's still an issue for you, get some crit rather than mastery (though haste is still best). Mind flay crits reduce your shadowfiend CD, so you'd be able to cast it more often and get more mana back per fight. However, this only helps a little bit, so don't start stacking crit just because of mana problems. Just don't avoid crit, it can be helpful for this issue.

  19. #19
    Stood in the Fire Doomsoul's Avatar
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    Start using Shadow word: Death more often to get back some mana, just be careful when things are below at a certain %hp or you might kill yourself.

  20. #20
    9.5k singletarget in 5 mans is pretty decent, so you have nothing to be ashamed about. You'll probably be able to compete quite well with anyone you'll get grouped with unless they vastly outgear you. (And by competing well I mean, not fall ages behind).

    Remember that shadowpriests have quite a ramp up time (applying dots, stacking evanglism, getting the mastery buff up, reapplying) so by the time you did all that and maximized your dps potential most 5man bosses will be at 50-75% hp already. If on bosses like that you compare your dps to say, an arcane mage blowing cd's from the start: expect to suck on the meter, you can't win that.

    Don't forget we scale pretty good with raidbuffs, you will probably be able to pull off 11k+ in a full raidbuff setting. Should you encounter a warlock, make him DI you and lol at your dps.

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