[Priest] Shadow DPS Guide

[Zoulis]

its seem like the totem is the winner http://www.howtopriest.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5766 RIP 500vp.

edit:im not convinced yet

If you check Drye's gear list WF BBoY pulls up ahead abit... It's just much more difficult to use. That's why most people go for KTT.. The dps difference is like 60dps though so I guess KTT HC is better if you're not 100% sure on your snapshotting.

[Frmercury]

Yep, player ability is the primary factor in deciding KTT or BBoY with BBoY having the highest potential payoff, but not by too large a number.

[Deleted]

I am going to be honest and say that I would use normal BBoY over HC KTT. The DoTs that you can get out at 10 stacks are just so strong that I would say that it outweights KTT. Even more of a reason is ofcourse the option to go for the haste cap since you get over 2k haste solely from the trinket. I would never do it if you aren't confident at Snapshotting at the last stacks/stack. BBoY is very rewarding, but can be a big downer if you don't handle it properly.

[kpii]

I've noticed that almost other guide prioritises MB over SW: D besides this one, what is the reasoning behind it? Or does it not make much difference?

[Zoulis]

I am going to be honest and say that I would use normal BBoY over HC KTT. The DoTs that you can get out at 10 stacks are just so strong that I would say that it outweights KTT. Even more of a reason is ofcourse the option to go for the haste cap since you get over 2k haste solely from the trinket. I would never do it if you aren't confident at Snapshotting at the last stacks/stack. BBoY is very rewarding, but can be a big downer if you don't handle it properly.

Going for GCD cap shouldn't be your goal. the DPS of gcd cap and dp+3 is virtually the same, only the play-style differs, I'd wager that GCD cap is abit better for most non-ST fights. On the other hand DP+3 pulls just a tad ahead on ST. If you're to lose alot of stats going for gcd cap there's no point.

I've noticed that almost other guide prioritises MB over SW: D besides this one, what is the reasoning behind it? Or does it not make much difference?

It depends. If you don't have the 4pc bonus it's more or less the same thing with a slight tip of the scale towards SW since you have a smaller window of using it. You want to get as much value off it as possible. At least that's the way I see it. But yeh w/o 4pc any of the two is more or less teh same.
With 4pc the choice is much more clear cut. SW hits harder so you want to be using SW with the 4pc buff. I'm not sayin taht you should delay MB to hit SW with the buff, but if you have the choice between MB and SW with 4pc buff on, go for SW

[Deleted]

Going for GCD cap shouldn't be your goal. the DPS of gcd cap and dp+3 is virtually the same, only the play-style differs, I'd wager that GCD cap is abit better for most non-ST fights. On the other hand DP+3 pulls just a tad ahead on ST. If you're to lose alot of stats going for gcd cap there's no point.

True that! It was just that some people might actually be able to reach the 50% Haste with BBoY even though that it is only normal. Truth to be told, the 2 trinkets are probably very close to eachother, and it is just up to player skill and preference wheter to pick BBoY or KTT.

[Alarinth]

Hi priests.

So I have some questions about stats and the tier 2 piece.

1. I've enough haste for the 14.8k haste BP by far, but i'm 1k shy of the 18200 one. Is it worth neglecting 120 int socket bonuses to reach this, as well as other bonuses?
2. I assume the tier 2 piece is part of what makes mastery and crit somewhat equal in value. Currently I have only 2 pieces of the set, but one of these two is a normal item - I happen to have a heroic offpiece. Currently, my crit and mastery is within 5% of eachother (8.8 and 8.4k) - If I reforged out of mastery and more into crit, would it be worth it to swap the itempiece for the offset one, as I'd reduce the inherent value of mastery by not having Shadowy Recall buffed?

The basis for these questions is that I was very unlucky in my luck as I got a lot of items from SoO the other day. Most of these items had either spirit or hit on them, meaning I'm in for a real stat shuffle.

[Zoulis]

Hi priests.

So I have some questions about stats and the tier 2 piece.

1. I've enough haste for the 14.8k haste BP by far, but i'm 1k shy of the 18200 one. Is it worth neglecting 120 int socket bonuses to reach this, as well as other bonuses?
2. I assume the tier 2 piece is part of what makes mastery and crit somewhat equal in value. Currently I have only 2 pieces of the set, but one of these two is a normal item - I happen to have a heroic offpiece. Currently, my crit and mastery is within 5% of eachother (8.8 and 8.4k) - If I reforged out of mastery and more into crit, would it be worth it to swap the itempiece for the offset one, as I'd reduce the inherent value of mastery by not having Shadowy Recall buffed?

The basis for these questions is that I was very unlucky in my luck as I got a lot of items from SoO the other day. Most of these items had either spirit or hit on them, meaning I'm in for a real stat shuffle.

Generally IF you want to make the transition from 14.873 to 18.215 you need to make sure you're not losing any stats. I'm saying if since the DPS is virtually the same with 14.873 pulling ahead abit on single target fights and 18215 pulling ahead abit on everything else. Both are viable for any kind though, especially at this point of the patch, also the gameplay changes a bit. Seeing how you can't reach 18215 w/o breaking alot of socket bonuses I wouldn't do it. Maybe 1 would be fine ( In my case i've neglected the legging's of furious flame socket bonus, since they're blue and a pain in the ass with so much hit on gear ) but up till now I hadn't neglected anything and I'm working on getting that sorted out also. So my advice would be; No if you're gonna lose alot of intellect in addition to the crit/mastery then don't do it, just wait for items with more haste if you really want to go for 18215.

On the set bonus question; I'd go for the 2piece with mastery=crit. The ilvl difference is too small to give up such a huge dps boost.
On a side note, if you choose to ignore it, I'd go for matery > crit with my eyes closed in comparison to crit > mastery. But that's just me. Still my advice is to go for the 2set.

[Deleted]

Alright, after playing my Priest for a bit more then usual the last weeks I have stumbled upon a few questions that I hope that someone could answer.

How do you handle MF:I on a multidot fight like Protectors? Let's say that you want to keep up dots on all the three bosses, but you pop your DP and want to channel MF:I for the next ~8 seconds. Do you just stop MF:I to reapply the dots or do you rather MF:I whilst dots on 2 or more targets actually may fall off?

Norushen: How do you actually handle this fight properly? The adds feel really aids to DoT up sometimes since they go down extremely fast in most cases. I do get that you always should keep up everything on the Amalgam of Corruption, but how do you handle the adds? SWP them and hope for some decent duration?

The largest question though is, DoTs over MF:I? Or would you rather let them fall off for a full duration of MF:I?

[Zoulis]

On 3 target fights your ST priority > multidot. So you use your DP + MFI and then proceed to redot if you have dots falling off.

On Norushen you need really good Halo's and besides that it depends on your raid really.. If your locks destroy all of em try and just snipe SWs off if they live for abit SW:P em up. Always SW:P something for the uptime on ToF though.

For DoTs and MFI , you should always plan ahead so you refresh your dots before your 3rd Mind Blast when the have <8secs remaining. If the dots are too strong and you have no proccs up then you could let em fall off and redot after MFI is finished.

[Deleted]

On 3 target fights your ST priority > multidot. So you use your DP + MFI and then proceed to redot if you have dots falling off.

On Norushen you need really good Halo's and besides that it depends on your raid really.. If your locks destroy all of em try and just snipe SWs off if they live for abit SW:P em up. Always SW:P something for the uptime on ToF though.

For DoTs and MFI , you should always plan ahead so you refresh your dots before your 3rd Mind Blast when the have <8secs remaining. If the dots are too strong and you have no proccs up then you could let em fall off and redot after MFI is finished.

Okey, as goes for Protectors though that is not actually solely a 3-target fight. During 2/3 transitions there is more then 3 targets. How would the priority be in let's say Rook or Sun's intermission? DoT stuff over MF:I?

After watching logs from Norushen, Cascade might actually be the to go option here, which makes the most sense to me too, but yea good positioning seems to be the way to go. I guess that the raid really does make a difference, and I'll have to make the decision wheter to multi-dot or not based on the comp of the week.

I get that you always should plan ahead, but I find that kind of hard when there is more then 2 targets. Because you don't want to clip your dots too early which will lead to at some point DoTs falling off.

Thanks for the reply.

[Zoulis]

Well in Rook's intermission I don't know how you guys do it, but we stack up all but 1 of the adds on the raid, where Mind Sear is the way to go. Generally with 5 targets you want to redot if they are falling off on more than 2 targets over MFI but the less you have to make that choice the better

I really don't like Cascade :S Dmg is too low, and a well placed Halo can do so much more. I can see it being a good option for Norushen, though I still prefer working for a well positioned Halo which will probably always do better. I know though that some times it might not be possible.

Now for planing ahead with more than 1 target, it can be tricky but you'll get used to it with practice.

[Deleted]

Well in Rook's intermission I don't know how you guys do it, but we stack up all but 1 of the adds on the raid, where Mind Sear is the way to go. Generally with 5 targets you want to redot if they are falling off on more than 2 targets over MFI but the less you have to make that choice the better

I really don't like Cascade :S Dmg is too low, and a well placed Halo can do so much more. I can see it being a good option for Norushen, though I still prefer working for a well positioned Halo which will probably always do better. I know though that some times it might not be possible.

Now for planing ahead with more than 1 target, it can be tricky but you'll get used to it with practice.

Aah, that's true. Mind Sear time. Yea we do it pretty much the same.

Well surely I will get better at it. Although I can't really see a scenario where you would, for 100% of the fight keep your dots on 3 targets with 100% uptime on MF:I. That doesn't make sence. It is absolutely possible, but it would mean that you in many cases have to refresh your DoTs like halfway through their uptime, which should be a DPS loss? But, what do I know? ;p

[Zoulis]

Well yes you'll never have perfect MFI uptime unfortunately. The way I see Shadow Priest DPS, and DPSing generally for that matter, is doing what you can to minimize the DPS you'll lose :P So you'll have to redot half-way through with equally strong DoTs but on the other hand you'd lose more by having those DoTs fall off. Now this is all theory and in a fight it's much different. It also depends on how strong your DoTs on the boss are compared to the ones you're about to cast etc. As a generally rule you want to do whatever you can to have an open window for a full MFI.

[Styx1992]

Hey, I need little bit of help, I am trying my best to deal more damage with my char (My most recently best was rank 9 in LFR which means I suck worse than anything) but here is my armory ... Working on professions and glyphs right now

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...C3%ADne/simple

[D4n13le]

Hey, I need little bit of help, I am trying my best to deal more damage with my char (My most recently best was rank 9 in LFR which means I suck worse than anything) but here is my armory ... Working on professions and glyphs right now

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...C3%ADne/simple

You are missing enchants and reforges (being at the 15% hitcap is super important), work on them asap.
Use a website like AskMrRobot (the default weight will do for now) and try to boost your haste as much as possible.

After you fix your gear you can provide us a log so we can find how you can improve.

[Zoulis]

Hey, I need little bit of help, I am trying my best to deal more damage with my char (My most recently best was rank 9 in LFR which means I suck worse than anything) but here is my armory ... Working on professions and glyphs right now

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...C3%ADne/simple

Mate you'll also want to check www.howtopriest.com since I'm pretty sure you're missing some pretty basic stuff, there are really good guides written there for Spriests along with a ton of information on more or less anything that has to do with shadow priest DPS. Without any logs and specific questions I can't really help unfortunately. Also fix your gear up as said above.

Btw, don't use PI... ever :P ToF and DI are much better for any fight at the moment.

[Dierdre]

Btw, don't use PI... ever

Does help with belts on H blackfuse if by some strange and convoluted plot you're not sending hunters to do hunter work.

[Zoulis]

Does help with belts on H blackfuse if by some strange and convoluted plot you're not sending hunters to do hunter work.

True that, my bad... It's just that I've never even thought of doing belt on heroic since we're running close to 3 hunters and 3 rogues every raid xD And well on anything but heroic won't DI do just fine and help more in the phases inbetween?

[Yvaelle]

Does help with belts on H blackfuse if by some strange and convoluted plot you're not sending hunters to do hunter work.

Hunters, or Windwalkers, or in the absence of them Warlocks, or in the absence of them anyone bursty on a 1 minute cycle - or in the absence of all of the above - a DoT based motionless class that sucks at single target and has no way to cheese the belt debuff mechanic ><

We're pretty much the worst choice, a Mistweaver would probably be a better call than us ^^