Why am I so bad at Shadow? (Healer needs info)

[MelodicAssassin]

Hey all, I recently dinged 85 and I've been gathering gear to help my group in DS. I've been focusing on being a Disc healer and as we've working on Heroic Modes, I realized that my group needs more DPS. So, on fights as Yors and Ultrax Heroic, we've talked about 2 healing it. We have a Resto Druid, Holy Pally and myself as Disc as our healers. I'd like the Paladin to stay Holy and the Druid prefers healing as well. So that leaves me to DPS.

I don't mind DPSing.. but last week I DPSed for a few bosses and I was lowest on the charts all night (19k). I reforged all my Post-Hit Cap Spirit to Haste, but I'm primarily using my Healing gear. I don't want to hold the group back, so I'm looking for advice on what I could be doing wrong.

Here's my armory link. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...s%C3%AD/simple

I'm keeping up my Dots, and using Mind Blast off CD. I'm also doing AoE when I need as well. I feel like I know the encounters well, but I still cannot pull great numbers. I've researched Shadow and played a bunch in Heroic Dungeons last week to practice. What can I do to get my numbers up while I wait to get my offspec Tier set?

Any helpful info would be appreciated.. thanks!

[Easo]

I suck at theorycrafting, but know this, those two fights are two-healer ones. So your choice to DPS is the right one imho.

[MelodicAssassin]

I suck at theorycrafting, but know this, those two fights are two-healer ones. So your choice to DPS is the right one imho.

Agreed.. but i"m having trouble with my numbers if I let my Holy Pal/Resto Dru heal.

[Serix69]

Unless your gear is different for shadow, the most obvious thing I could tell you is aim for 30% raid buffed Haste. I currently have 27% Raid Buffed haste as a healer, and having such low Haste will directly result in very low damage.

Pick up at least 1 more good DPS Trinket, the Bottle of Vishes from VP is a good choice if you can't get DS Offspec trinkets.

Try to get a non-Death Wing weapon, or a DPS Deathwing weapon such as the caster dagger, as the Healing Mace does nothing to help damage, and directly hurts it due to the missing stats substituted for the healing proc.

I am assuming you know the Shadow Priorities, so everything above is a pretty big red flag if you want to increase DPS. Start with Haste first off, and work on offspec pieces. As Disc, I personally reforged all excess spirit into Mastery and Haste, as it is pretty useless in raids above 2000 with a good mana regen trinket. You can see my profile in my signature if you want to know what to look for, the stats between Disc and Shadow are fairly similar.

[MinusTimes]

It would help a lot more if you had some dps logs to take a look at your rotation but you say you've done your research so I take your word for that. Best advice I can give is use your shadowfiend whenever it's up; it gives pretty decent dps and the cooldown is reduced when your mind flay crits. Mind blasting off cd should keep Empowered Shadows up as much as possible. Keeping that buff up is the most important and unfortunately most affected by bad RNG.

Also, on Yors you can use mindspike/blast on the oozes for burst dps since applying dots is a waste. And if you can time a shadow word: death right before the last mana drain tick on the blue ooze it'll give you a little bit of mana so you aren't completely oom every blue phase.

[Christan]

shadow word: death right before the last mana drain tick on the blue ooze it'll give you a little bit of mana so you aren't completely oom every blue phase.

we have our spriest mana hymn on blue ball, and then ofc killing first ball when second one comes out.

[MelodicAssassin]

Here is the only log I have of me DPSing.

Here's the Zon'ozz kill. http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/9...?s=2625&e=2858

[Deleted]

Well since you are raiding DS10 as a healer and are going to get the tier sets for the healing spec, you should do LFR as shadow and get shadow gear.
That way you get to practice the fights and also get dps weapons/trinkets.

[Biggles Worth]

For obvious reasons you really want to go for your 2 set. With some fights having lots of incoming damage there is nothing worse being able to SWD and not being able to cause you'll kill yourself. I've done a few times for lols and I actually managed to 1 shot myself from 100% to death which is really funny to do

[Deleted]

Shadow really depends alot on your stuff. you need a gear with much more haste and mastery/crit too to have a chance at some descent DPS. you also need the 4p bonus to have a strong addition when your fiend is up.

[helloberry]

Looks like you had no black phase at all on Yorsajh, that will make everyone's number low in general without the aoes to pad the meter. You could also try to refresh your dots before you move out to kill the ooze for better DOT up time on that fight. Really if you're DPSing in heal gear with no tier at all is gonna suck. Try to get 2589 (30% haste, or 27% if you are getting DI) for the extra tick of VT. Your gear is pretty low as well, so if you said you've read up on your rotation and are doing everything right, could just be your 385 ilvl healing gear. =/

shadowpriest.com and howtopriest.com are great sites to help whatever shadowy inquiries you needs.

[Spotnick]

I was in the same situation as you, and I managed to get my dps on heroic Ultraxion from 26k to 36k in the last 6 weeks after using the tips in the "fix my dps" thread in the stickies. Granted I also got gear including finally better trinkets, but what really seemed to have made a huge difference for me is when I started to clip mind flay on its last tick instead of letting it fall off.

Granted it's still a work in progress, but one thing you have to remember.. melee are balanced with casters using a legendary staff, so it's normal if you are behind them in dps. I can do 42k on Ultraxion on my paladin and 36k on my priest, sure shadow is my off-spec, but I'm not sure I'd ever be able to even things out even if both have same iLvl. 40k is the best I have seen a shadow priest do on Ultraxion without a legendary staff.

[DeniedNZ]

Here is the only log I have of me DPSing.

Here's the Zon'ozz kill. http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/9...?s=2625&e=2858

Even for a MS/MB Rotation try to have your dot uptime up, thats REALLY REALLY low.

[helloberry]

Don't even MS/MB without your 4 pc shadow, unless it's a sapper or something.

[Arlee]

You got some good advice, and in the future please use the dps sticky at the top of the forums. Also if you get logs that helps a bunch for us trying to help you.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-My-DPS-Thread