New to Shadow spec, asking a few pointers.

[MisterSoup]

Like the title says, I'm pretty fresh to the Shadow spec, but I enjoy it immensely. So much so, I dropped raiding on my rogue in order to gear out my Spriest.

The problem is, I'm not familiar with the kinds of numbers you'd expect a spriest to pull in 3.2.2

First off, here's my armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...thol&n=Slobber

There are a few items that need their gems updated, and I know I need to get rid of Energy Siphon; it's just what I have to work with at the moment.

Because I have 2pc tier 8, I prioritize VT>MB>DP>SW:P

I use SW, but only when I am:
a.) Above 50% of my maximum HP
b.) The cooldown on Mind Blast is <2 seconds
c.) The remaining duration of VT, DP and SW:P are all >5 seconds.

I tested myself on Patchwerk 25-man, and ended the fight at 5,126 DPS. Is this good for a Spriest? Bad? It feels really low to me, so I'd like to ask a few pointers from people who know the class.

If it's not low for a Spriest to pull those numbers... I understand why shadow priests are so excited about the buffs coming our way in 3.3

[brutnus]

got a lot of good gear to be new to shadow spec

honestly every fight is different. keep your dots up and MB everytime you can.

If you are doing 5k dps then you know what your doing and your damage will increase as your spell power increases.

understand that shadowpriests are a tad lower on single target dps right now.

its getting buffed in 3.3.0

[MisterSoup]

lol yeah, my guild has been very helpful in lending me a hand to gear out my Spriest... mostly because we don't have one in-guild, so... yeah. :P

I've been starting to stack haste for the 3.3 changes... the current weightings don't allot for mass amounts of haste, but.. at least my MF and Mind Sear already scales with haste, and I spam MF like a motherfucker during Bloolust (1.7 channel time :O)

[adikos]

VT and DP are priority, MB after that, anytime you arent doing something you should be mindflaying. most spriests dont use SW at all, i only use it if im on the move. and then there is talk that with the 4 piece bonus and the haste adjustments that we might be able to drop MB completely

right now its keep hit capped, stack spell power while maintaining decent crit and like 8-11% haste. when 3.3 hits it will mean haste is on par with spell power, which is not the case now. my spriest has really been suffering despite having good gear because haste seems attached to everything and i was WAY over 11%, once i got it back in line i was doing better but i still do less than mages/locks and then the melee just stomps all over my dps. 3.3 cant come faster imho.

looking at the armory i'd ditch the dispersion glyph for mind flay for the time being and like me earlier, your haste is too high, which will be fine in 3.3 but youll probably see an increase in dps now if you shed some of it.

and as someone else said, your dps will vary each fight, some fights are ideal for us and some arent.

[Juicebox]

adikos is wrong about the spell priority..
You are doing it right.

Download http://www.wowinterface.com/download...atencyMF2.html. It helps when you're clipping mind flays (which I assume you are, it's a dps increase if you clip them at the right time).

[Worshaka]

Read the Shadow DPS 101 sticky, the answers to your questions are in that post.

[MisterSoup]

I already use Quartz (used it on my Rogue just for the enemy cast bar.. made kicking properly a lot easier)

I saw a huge DPS increase when I started casting when Quartz's cast bar reached the red latency portion.

Also, I only ever clip MF past 2 ticks if something with a higher priority comes up. I never, ever, EVER clip the 2nd tick.

So basically, the best thing I can do at the moment is to stack more SP and crit, yeah?

[psych.]

theres only a slight window of time when its beneficial. usually when i use it, its because of this :

I MB and after the MB i see theres 2.5 sec duration left on VT. i use SWD, and 1.3 sec later i cast VT.

p.s: on 6 minute fights i use it like 4-5 times, and im pulling around 7k dps on gormok the impaler (25hc), so i wouldnt say im doing a bad job :P

[Sjorstiebal]

From a PvE perspective you might want to change the dispersion glpyh for something else.

Mind flay could be your pick till 3.3 (then the range get's increased by 10 yards anyway) or pick SW glyph.

Or perhaps still stick with dispersion as it's nice to have an oh shit button on a short CD when shit hit's the fan. However it's not gonna contribute anything to your dps other then save your ass in tight situations.

Imo you are doing it well. But then, Shadow is my offspec so what the guys ^ said.

[Zhivago]

Couple of suggestions:

1) Glyphs- drop Dispersion and get Mind Flay
2) Talents - Loose the point in Imp VE and Psychic Horror and put them in Focused Mind. You only need Imp VE for H Anub.
3) Gems - you need two (2) blues to activate the Meta. Any more is a waste. I don't understand the SP/Haste gems instead of straight SP, especially when you aren't getting a socket bonus from them. Gem for SP and SP/Crit and wait until 3.3 drops to see the value of Sp vs Haste vs Crit.
4) Enchants - get Icewalker on the boots and then maybe with the extra hit that gives, you can drop hit somewhere to get closer to 289. Even if you can't swap anything out, Icewalker is a better enchant than Stam/Run speed. Also, I don't feel like looking it up, but isn't there a better shoulder enchant from Sons of Hodir than the one you have. Work on that too.
5) Rotation - is fine and you are using a Cast Bar which is great.

All in all you are doing fine. Your DPS is good for you gear level. Keep up the good work.

[Grunthunter]

Reroll unless you want a painstaking time getting good dps.

[psych.]

2) Talents - Loose the point in Imp VE and Psychic Horror and put them in Focused Mind. You only need Imp VE for H Anub.

If u do faction champs / anub (10man hc or 25 man hc) . do spec psychic horror and imp VE. I switched into speccing both, and i lose no mana whatsoever, focused mind is pretty useless if u ask me.

[jrojason]

I'd say thats absolutely fine considering the garbage trinket you are using that is basically just a placeholder. Replace energy siphon for ANYTHING, its literally doing nothing for you.
You're a little low on gear with spirit. Don't shy away from it too much, with the buffs coming its making spirit even more important to shadow priest as it raises our spell power by a LOT.

Zhivago pretty much covered the rest.

[klurejr]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-priest/(priest)-shadow-dps-101/

[Sinusoid]

Glyph of Dispersion is really an awesome glyph for survivability. It's most obvious use is being able to handle all the Big Bangs on Algalon 10/25 by yourself, but it can also come in handy on fights like heroic Twins as well (either as a soaker or an opposite colored player if you're using the door strat). That being said, you should definitely use Glyph of Mind Flay for the extra range -- contact time > all, as the melee would say. If you're going to swap out any glyph for the Glyph of Dispersion, swap out Glyph of Shadow. It's benefits are so minimal that a lot of spriests don't run with it, but favor Glyph of Dispersion (for survivability) or Glyph of Mind Sear (for AoE like H-Anub) instead.

Please get rid of the +10 to all stats gem, it makes my eyes hurt.

Also, unless you spend all day fighting Patchwerk, +15 stam/minor run speed increase is the correct boot enchant, not Icewalker.

[jonish]

Like the title says, I'm pretty fresh to the Shadow spec, but I enjoy it immensely. So much so, I dropped raiding on my rogue in order to gear out my Spriest.

The problem is, I'm not familiar with the kinds of numbers you'd expect a spriest to pull in 3.2.2

First off, here's my armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...thol&n=Slobber

There are a few items that need their gems updated, and I know I need to get rid of Energy Siphon; it's just what I have to work with at the moment.

Because I have 2pc tier 8, I prioritize VT>MB>DP>SW:P

I use SW, but only when I am:
a.) Above 50% of my maximum HP
b.) The cooldown on Mind Blast is <2 seconds
c.) The remaining duration of VT, DP and SW:P are all >5 seconds.

I tested myself on Patchwerk 25-man, and ended the fight at 5,126 DPS. Is this good for a Spriest? Bad? It feels really low to me, so I'd like to ask a few pointers from people who know the class.

If it's not low for a Spriest to pull those numbers... I understand why shadow priests are so excited about the buffs coming our way in 3.3

5k is fine for the gear you have. it could fluctuate depending on what buffs you did or did not have from your raid at the time but 5k isnt about right for the gear your showing.

Best thing I can say is get out while you can. Spriest is a soul sucking demon of a spec that has trapped many in a perpetual rollercoaster ride of good at the start bad at the finish situations. Well , we sucked threw almost all of BC and have been beyond horid all of Wrath , but hey HERES TO CATA AMIRIGHT? more fail INC. but seriously , stop now before you get stuck playing a class that is subpar till the end of time.

[Sinusoid]

Shadow dps is pretty bad right now, but to say we've been terrible during WotLK is not entirely accurate. Shadow was very powerful in Ulduar, due to the high amount of multi-target and AoE encounters, where rolling VTs and Mind Searing are both very effective. Shadow also has amazing survivability, with the -15% damage taken from Shadowform and VE heals. A lot of top guilds ran with multiple ones: I know Ensidia was running with 3 for most of Ulduar.

Come 3.3, if simcraft is any indicator, we'll be very powerful again.