Understanding Void Stacks

[benjaminandjen]

Void stacks increase haste. Got it. Also got a void stack tracking WA. Great.

But what does it mean? Haha! Only two things I can figure out: maybe Shadowfiend/Bender should be reserved for a certain amount of void stacks? Maybe VoiT should be reserved for a certain amount of void stacks?

Right now, as a noob, when I enter void form, I cast void bolt immediately to refresh dots, then I channel VoiT. Then drop Shadowfiend/Bender. Then resume rotation.

Does that sound about right?

My next question is about void form, I always end up dropping out of void form at some point. Is that normal? Can a good play stay in void form forever? Or at least longer than me?

[Phookah]

Save fiend for 20+ stacks of Void Form or high haste situations (hero, etc)

You can't maintain void form forever, no.

[Arainie]

Void form stacks increase your haste and through the golden trait Mass Hysteria the damage of your dots. Your goal is to maximize the number of void form stacks you can get per iteration of void form. You gain 1 stack per second in void form regardless of haste, and the only way to pause the stack generation is through dispersion.

Two cooldowns come in to play, VoiT and Mindbender. VoiT pauses insanity drain and decay increase for the channeled duration but still lets you gain void form stacks. Mindbender generates insanity on melee hits. Both are on a one minute cooldown, and at this point I think you can understand that ideally you want a 1 minute "rotation" which includes 1 void form, 1 VoiT and 1 Mindbender. This means you want to prolong your Void Form to about 55 stacks (55 seconds Void Form, 5 seconds to get back in to Void Form) and use VoiT and Mindbender at roughly the same point in your rotation. Movement and mechanics complicate this, but if you pop Void Torrent before 25 stacks (most people do VErr > VB > VoiT or VErr > VB > MB > MB > VB > VoiT with belt as VF opener) followed by Mindbender at 25-35 stacks depending on gear and skill/tendrils/heroism you should be allright. Note that T20 4set makes things a lot easier with 10% lower insanity drain.

A good priest usually hits 55 stacks with more or less every void form with the occasional 60+ rotation during hero or lucky procs .

[Deleted]

You need to watch your insanity carefully. A good rule of thumb you can use until you get comfortable with the spec, is to use bender once you stop capping out on insanity (i.e. after casting MB in to VB you don't hit 100 insanity) and reach about 50 insanity. VoiT timing matters less, but you generally want to use it early rather than late.

As other poster mentioned, with our current gear and tier, the goal is to have a "cycle" that lasts 1 minute or longer. Cycle consists of your total voidform duration, time spent generating insanity to enter next voidform, and time casting eruption. It is even sometimes worth delaying your next voidform, and staying at 100 insanity, just to readjust back. Use mindbender cooldown as your timer, ideally you want it to be on 31 seconds or less, when you start casting eruption. This allows for a safer voidform, where you spend first 30 seconds on your own, allow mindbender to keep you up for the next 20+ (depending on your luck with KJ blood relic) and giving you between 5 and 10 seconds "extra" at the end, depending on procs and buffs.

This can be a bit hard to pull off without decent gear or with bad legendary items. Nearly impossible without T20. I would suggest spending some time practicing on a dummy, to figure out how it lines up for you. If you're using class hall ones, simply put SWP on a different dummy that you will not be mindflaying, to avoid extra insanity generated by mind sear.

Also I see people mentioning VErr > VB, you should not do that, as first VB is unavailable for the first GCD of VF, so you should be casting something else. Usually a MB or getting a tick of MF.

As I've said, VoiT timing does not matter much, but you can either use it early to make it easier to reach 30 stacks consistently, or you can delay it to 20-24 stacks if you are not reaching 30 stacks at all. That way you get a small benefit of regenerating insanity from your apparitions.

There is also a double VoiT opener/burn phase, but for that you need stable 1 minute cycle to begin with, so don't worry about it for now.

[benjaminandjen]

These are all very thoughtful and detailed responses. I appreciate them SO much. The one minute cycle makes so much sense. I love how much thought Blizzard put into this design!!

The last thing that I need to sneak into the rotation is my legenday ring. It gives me haste when I silence, dispel, or mind bomb. I never know when it will work, so sometimes when mind flay is my only option, I'll use my silence/dispel macro.

Is there a WA that can make this easier? Like, dispel now WA? Thanks again!!

[Deleted]

https://pastebin.com/9ChxJxq8

I use this WA for tracking sephuz.

[Deleted]

If we're talking about raid bosses you need to know when silence/stun will trigger sephuz (what spell can be interrupted on boss, or what types of adds are vulnerable for stun), there is a list for ToS (and NH, EN too i guess) on how2priest forums (or priest discord).

[cafecito820]

These are all very thoughtful and detailed responses. I appreciate them SO much.

I just want to echo the same sentiment. It's really helpful when people explain what we should do and why based on how our abilities interact with one another.

Off Topic: This current iteration of Shadow Priest play reminds me a LOT of Archon Form from the Diablo 3 Wizard.

[Spicymemer]

While the guides provided by how2priest are pretty terrible, they're still the best source of information.

Off Topic: This current iteration of Shadow Priest play reminds me a LOT of Archon Form from the Diablo 3 Wizard.

Both arent relevant, LMAO

[Deleted]

How are H2P guides terrible? I think those are great. Did not have much to ask after I read those guides. And I like that there is one main guide and multiple other posts about specific thing that go into details. Reading those is really worth the time if you are about to invest time into being shadow priest.

[Deleted]

He's obviously has no idea what he's talking about. I wish even a fraction of class communities would of put as much time and dedication in to class research as h2p did. So far I've played 9 classes at max, and for each one I've scoured their communities for guides and directions. The only one that was even remotely as helpful was warlock one.

[Fiftyonred]

While the guides provided by how2priest are pretty terrible, they're still the best source of information.



Both arent relevant, LMAO

Ahh the classic Dunning-Kruger response. Excellent

- - - Updated - - -