Shadow Priest Vs Warlock, what to expect - PVP Playstyle

[Redbtk]

Hey everyone, currently debating to level my warlock or shadow priest, but unsure which to do. Looking for some insight on how their playstyles may differ in 3v3 arenas. Really so many questions, but unsure exactly how to word it lol, so hopefully someone knows what I'm asking.

I know I can play the basics to each class without a problem once I start leveling as it, but is there anything major difference to expect when it comes to each class handling an offensive/defensive situation?

Which has better CC?
Better survival/getaways?
Better damage/pressure potential?
Resource management? (I know SPriest only get theirs from MB/SW death, but does the warlock's embers/shards/DF build up fairly quickly too?)
Where does their damage output come from? (Usually try to avoid the "DoT and run around" class)

Understandably it's like comparing apples to oranges, but hopefully anyone has some pros/cons to this comparison!

[Misuteri]

I do not have extensive 3's SP experience but have played SP and Locks as my Horde and Alliance mains respectively.

Generally I think SPs have better CC vs melee, better survival/getaway abilities.

Damage/pressure the burst capability has to go to locks right now with Chaos Bolt alone. Pressure, SP dots have been more effective than anything an arena lock has right now since affliction is out of favor for arenas ATM and even during Cata SP DOTs ticked harder.

The two classes are extremely similar in play style. I generally tell people if you can play one you can play the other.

The one thing that is the difference maker is being a hybrid and able to glyph to heal in shadow form makes this choice a no brainer. SPs are stronger.

[Deleted]

Hi there,
I've been arena-ing as a shadow priest this season with a warrior and a holy paladin.
I've been happy with the damage and the control that we have - and admit that flash healing is too powerful at the moment.

Shadow Priest:
CC: Fear, Psy-boy or roots and silence.
Survival + Getaways: PW:S, renew and PoM without dropping shadowform. Dispersion for when times get hard or negating enemy offensives. Also we have fade and phantasm (stealth) which make you untargettable/stealthed.
Pressure: Shadow pressure is quite high if left alone. The dots themselves don't tick for too much, but the procs given off are nice.
Burst: Shadow burst consists of getting your 3 orbs and some free procs, then blowing it all and hoping they get into shadow word: death range.
Source: Damage mostly comes from procs (mind spike + mind blast) that themselves come from the dots - and lead to the orb spender.

I don't play a warlock, but I do know that if we face them in arenas we pay close attention if they're destruction, pay no special attention if they're demo (depending on other enemy classes) and blow them up if they're affliction.

[xSoulx]

I don't play a warlock, but I do know that if we face them in arenas we pay close attention if they're destruction, pay no special attention if they're demo (depending on other enemy classes) and blow them up if they're affliction.

LOL, big mistake. Destro's burst is far easier to counter than Demo's, and Demo has better CC than Destro as well.

[Chainreactor]

LOL, big mistake. Destro's burst is far easier to counter than Demo's, and Demo has better CC than Destro as well.

This
And add better survivability to it aswell

All of Demo's burst is Instant Cast and near impossible to stop as was evident in the recent Tournament

[xSoulx]

This
And add better survivability to it aswell

All of Demo's burst is Instant Cast and near impossible to stop as was evident in the recent Tournament

Yeah, I watched that too, (pretty fun watch, IMO).

[corebit]

Having both a warlock and priest:
Destro lock is unviable for high-level PVP so it's not worth mentioning. It's only good for entertainment purposes, like Cobrak videos.
Demo lock burst only comes from 2x Chaos Wave paired with Dark Soul. This is once every two minutes. The rest of the time they do wet noodle damage.
Shadow Priest burst, although quite a bit RNGish, comes much more frequently.

Locks are only good with shaman healers. Spriests have much more diverse comp selection.
The one advantage demo locks have is that they're less susceptible than spriest when focused.

[Axi]

My Warlock is just about to get to 90, but I have an Spriest which is a joint main.

Spriest can be shut down easily if focused, its probably the most synergy dependent of all commonly used arena class/specs, and by that I mean you need to play with someone with fantastic control for any spriest comps to really work, Mage is the ideal one. Mage synergy is enhanced because you are unrestricted by waiting on any damage increasing cooldowns unlike most other classes that have 2 or 3 minute burst phase cooldowns. This means that every 45 seconds a Deep Freeze is a burst phase for a Mage+Spriest team, rather than every 2mins for a Demo warlock team, or every 3 mins for a melee cleave.

Without the control that say a Mage can put out, when tunneled you become little more than a very weak healer because maintaining dot uptime becomes tricky and consequently you build up fewer procs.

Spriest has a high skill cap because you are constantly having to make decisions on whether you need to be a healer or a dps at any given time. There's nothing specifically challenging about dealing damage though, you just keep the enemy team dotted, and co-ordinate with your teammate that you are ready to set up for a burst when all of your procs are active and you have 3 shadow orbs to empower devouring plague. Viability suffers a little because of the prevalence of Shaman comps right now which can tremor out of fear very often.

Spriest are also one of the strongest duel classes right now, but are countered pretty hard in duels by warriors.


From what I have seen of the game in its current state, more people will want to play with you as a Demo Warlock than a Shadow Priest, so if you want to find teams easily go lock.

[Nicola]

Having both a warlock and priest:
Destro lock is unviable for high-level PVP so it's not worth mentioning. It's only good for entertainment purposes, like Cobrak videos.
Demo lock burst only comes from 2x Chaos Wave paired with Dark Soul. This is once every two minutes. The rest of the time they do wet noodle damage.
Shadow Priest burst, although quite a bit RNGish, comes much more frequently.

Locks are only good with shaman healers. Spriests have much more diverse comp selection.
The one advantage demo locks have is that they're less susceptible than spriest when focused.

*cough* LG-IM ended up 3rd on world championship with a destrowarlock, granted it was adouken, it doesn't mean destro is not viable.

-As for cc, I feel like shadow is ahead of warlocks atm.
-In terms of getaways, warlocks can roll double trinket and with portal + gateway + demoleap you can easily get out of shit unless instantly bursted down.
-Shadowpriest is clearly ahead in damage however, both demonology as destruction have a deadlier burst. Also, when playing demonology, the pressure you apply with your aura is insane.
-Resources are easier to get by for shadow as far as I know, both df and embers take a good amount of casting to build up.
-As for damage, shadowpriests do multidot with frequent bursts with mindblast and plague, demonology uses the double chaoswave for big damage and destruction has the damage come from chaosbolts.

[akon]

Pick warlock u can always try 3 different specs,totally different and really interesting.If u go Spriest then u should expect that u will either be a dps with the priest mechanics or a healer nothing more.

[Deleted]

"LOL, big mistake. Destro's burst is far easier to counter than Demo's, and Demo has better CC than Destro as well."

"This
And add better survivability to it aswell

All of Demo's burst is Instant Cast and near impossible to stop as was evident in the recent Tournament"

"Demo lock burst only comes from 2x Chaos Wave paired with Dark Soul. This is once every two minutes. The rest of the time they do wet noodle damage."

Three quotes from the thread, the first two aimed at me. I know that Demo is the better PvP spec, but with the instant casts, all the survivability in the world and the most obvious burst phase in the game - why would we not try to blow his team mate up? Not much to be interrupted, not much damage until he pops meta (at which time we react).
On the same theme, why would we then let the destruction lock free cast?

Or, for arguments sake, you came up against a demo and a destro warlock. What would be your plan?

[Axi]

*cough* LG-IM ended up 3rd on world championship with a destrowarlock, granted it was adouken, it doesn't mean destro is not viable.

-As for cc, I feel like shadow is ahead of warlocks atm.
-In terms of getaways, warlocks can roll double trinket and with portal + gateway + demoleap you can easily get out of shit unless instantly bursted down.
-Shadowpriest is clearly ahead in damage however, both demonology as destruction have a deadlier burst. Also, when playing demonology, the pressure you apply with your aura is insane.
-Resources are easier to get by for shadow as far as I know, both df and embers take a good amount of casting to build up.
-As for damage, shadowpriests do multidot with frequent bursts with mindblast and plague, demonology uses the double chaoswave for big damage and destruction has the damage come from chaosbolts.

He only went Destro because the concept of Demo being good wasn't known in Asia before the tourney. He was genuinely surprised that Demo was (so incredibly) viable.

I know what you are trying to say, but yeah it says a lot that he only went Destro because he hadn't discovered Demo.

[NPSlow]

Warlock has much more defensive CDs than Spriest do. Yes you can fade momentarily but basically once dispersion is on CD it's wet paper bag time.
Left alone Spriest can instantly melt someones face better than Warlock can.
Warlock has superior mobility with demon leap/2 teleports on seperate cd's/gateway.

All from a demo's perspective. A common arena partner for me this season has been an Spriest friend of mine. Things always go better when I am focused over him.

[Martgsr]

Spriest has a high skill cap because you are constantly having to make decisions on whether you need to be a healer or a dps at any given time. There's nothing specifically challenging about dealing damage though, you just keep the enemy team dotted, and co-ordinate with your teammate that you are ready to set up for a burst when all of your procs are active and you have 3 shadow orbs to empower devouring plague. Viability suffers a little because of the prevalence of Shaman comps right now which can tremor out of fear very often.

Spriest are also one of the strongest duel classes right now, but are countered pretty hard in duels by warriors.
.

Good post and you are right. In 3s i'm just not sure when to help heal, offheal, bubble, renew-pom, or just do straight dps. you have a lots of options with fear, silence psyfiend ... its not easy to use them at their full potential efficiency.

What would be the "goal" of a SP lets say with a lock or mage in 3s ? I'm with a lock atm and healer is pally.
We met some warrior-dk or warrior-ret that just destroyed us so hard ... i have no clue what we could've done.