SW: D Change. Buff or Nerf?

[zsun]

* Shadow Word: Death now deals three times as much damage to targets below 25% health.

Does this mean that SW: D will do three times as much damage than it currently does during execute phase? If that's the case it would yet again seem overpowered, not to mention killing ourselves in 1 or 2 hits.

Or does it mean that it does 3 times as much damage during execute phase compared to non-execute phase? In which case it would probably be another nerf

[Danner]

Assuming SW: Death as it was 3 days ago did 1000 damage.
Then today it does 250 damage.
With the new patch, it does 750 damage if target is under 25% HP.

Unrelated, I really really don't know what blizzard has been thinking on this one.
"SW: Death spam does too much damage and taxes healers too much, so we'll nerf the spell in the first three quarters of the fight, and do absolutely nothing about it for the last 25%. Problem solved!".

[Deleted]

They stealth nerfed the glyph to, it has an internal CD. SO not only did they nerf the spell to the ground, which screwed us in PVP, they nerfed the glyph at the same time. Its now the same as killshot glyph.

[Grath]

its pretty easy to understand
example from my char
SWD above 25% = 2k
SWD below 25% = 2000*3 = 6k

currently my SWD does around 8k dmg below 25% so im guessing its a nerf.. im no theory crafter but it just sounds obvious

[Deleted]

It makes me rage they are Ok with hammer of wrath, being used an an opening move for 15k, then a finishing move for 15k. But a Self hurting 10k isnt allowed.. sigh.

[zenkai]

They shouldn't have nerfed both things because you take damage when you use it if you don't kill the target so spamming it is only an option if you're in a raid where the fight is easy and healers can keep you up. In PVP I couldn't see myself spamming this unless I was going to die anyway lol]

The only reason to cast SWP is for the mana atm, other than that, there is no point in using it

[Zoulis]

guys... the Mind Melt talent still exists...
so: >25% SW hits for 100% of the dmg it can do
<25% SW hits for 125% of the dmg it can do
That was before the buff... The way i see the sentence in the blue post it doesn't say that it's 3 times as hard as above 25%
so atm it should be: >25% SW hits for 100% of the dmg it can do
<25% SW hits for 375% of the dmg it can do
I know it sounds mad but this is what derives from what they wrote.
So if it is actually like that.. it's a heck of a buff.
Cheers
Zoulis

[Omgwtfbbq]

Well i dunno, i noticed that atm on live my SWD crits for ~4-5k.
But when i use it on targets below 25% hp (aka execute range) it hits for 20-25k, just like before the nerf. Mind this is before 3 times dmg in execute range was announced.
So if i get this buff correctly... i would hit on live ~60k in execute range atm?

Also as someone mentioned.. they nerfed SWD glyph too.. Now in execute range you can use it twice in a row, than it goes on normal cd.

[zsun]

And the problem with SW: D hitting for 60k? You kill yourself

Also keep in mind that currently on some fights shadow priests should refrain from using SW: D even on execute phase, such as blood queen, twin valks and anub, for obvious reasons. I have done a 78k SWD on twin valks just 2 days ago but didn't die since it was the killing blow (It better be the killing blow or else I definitely would have died).

[Trydene]

gonna try this out later today if our guild does ICC25, just becareful with suarfang xP dont wanna get mark and spam SW: D especially on heroic

[Kelesti]

It looks to be not another nerf, but simply a tooltip update compared to what we already have on live. All the changes were already implemented: the Glyph getting a very predictable ICD (can I say "I told you so" yet?), the base damage nerf with the "above X% health" damage going down, and "below X%" damage staying the same as it was.

Our findings were showing that it already was doing triple the nerfed damage below 25%, so nothing's really that off about it.

Next week, when they update the Glyph tooltip, and we catch it, people will come in thinking it was a nerf again.

[Kirish]

They should have just taken the glyph out. At this point no one will be using the spell, or the glyph.

Edit: or make SW: D only usable in execute phase, and honoestly, as someone whos played as a healer or dps and tank, if a damn dps gibs themselves with one of their abilities, then thats their own fault. You should have enough forethought to use and ability or not. To me, its the same as standing in fire.

[Kesia]

"SW: Death spam does too much damage and taxes healers too much, so we'll nerf the spell in the first three quarters of the fight, and do absolutely nothing about it for the last 25%. Problem solved!".

Healers aren't obligated to heal people doing something stupid. If somebody stands in fire, they get one heal from me so they can finish their cast or whatever. After that, they'll stand there and burn.

Seems the same could be said for this. If the priest is using SW: D to the point where they take a ton of dmg and it's stressing the healer, the healer can stop healing them and force the priest to stop using the spell. If the healer keeps healing, they've obviously not stressed.

[Rizzoti]

Are they just documenting a change they already made on live? Well, above 25% my sw: d crits around 3200. Below 25% it crits 13k+. So it's seems to be doing about 4x or a little more the damage below 25% than it does above 25%. Therefore this will be yet another nerf. My lovely 13k crits will drop to down 9-10k.

[Constantino]

They reduced the Damage on targets > 25% by 75%. Under 25% they bumped it back up be 3G which pretty much keeps it near the same, maybe a bit less. you can only cast it twice instead of unlimited.

All in all death is again completely out of our rotation over 25%, still good under 25% but not the only spell you cast anymore. It was definitely a nerf, but a reasonable one. Last night in a topserver guild raid on plague and frost wing heroics, spriest were consistently taking 3 of top 6 spots. Losing consistently to warlocks, still a nice change from the old hybrid tax.

[Worshaka]

Just a quesetion regarding the undisclosed SWD glpyh ICD.

Currently I'm able to cast SWD twice in a row at exectute range then cop the full SWD CD. Does the ICD mean that if I was to cast SWD once, then cast some other spells for 6sec then cast SWD again then repeat with casting other spells for 6 sec that the spell will behave as having no CD?

In which case it's just a bizzare version of a 6 sec CD?

The reason I ask is that obviously this is a better way to cast the spell than to force a full CD by casting it twice quickly.

[Constantino]

Thought about that myself, if the icd is shorter that the swd cooldown, I couldn't find it. In any case, the benefit of that vs the trouble of timing a cooldown you can't see clipping other spells, and ending up just casting death, waiting 5 sec, casting it again, and then still triggering a 10 sec cd because you were premature. Maybe if there were an addon to time it... If the icd is even appreciably shorter, which I can't really see why it would.

[Vook]

I tested it yesterday, SW: D was hitting for "normal" damage when the target was below 25% HP. IE, 10-12k noncrit, 22-24k crit.

Still don't see what the purpose of this is. Spriests are still going to try and spam it under 25% and tax the healers more.

[zenkai]

Healers aren't obligated to heal people doing something stupid. If somebody stands in fire, they get one heal from me so they can finish their cast or whatever. After that, they'll stand there and burn.

Seems the same could be said for this. If the priest is using SW: D to the point where they take a ton of dmg and it's stressing the healer, the healer can stop healing them and force the priest to stop using the spell. If the healer keeps healing, they've obviously not stressed.

As a main spec healer, the SWD spam does not bother me, in fact it gives me something to do, plus the fight ends sooner and my HPS looks pretty. Now if this was cata and a progression fight and mana was an issue, then I would let them die but if this is taxing on anyhealer they are probably under geared.

Before the nerfed, when I spammed it I always kept an eye on my health and stopped if I dipped too low, the only time I had to stop and shield myself was during pug VOAs. My dps only increased by .5 - 1k by spamming SWD. So if this was a progression fight there is no way I would spam it, it was dumb a nerf that was probably mostly done for PVP reasons.

I like how Blizzard lets Spriest suck all through TOC but the moment we do decent dmg, instant nerf.

[Kelesti]

Two reasons for the "point" of the nerf, Vook.

First, lower Shadow's "kiting" damage. Shadowy Apparitions might not do that much damage, but neither does Scorch/Arcane Barrage, and Shadow already has a full arsenal of DoTs already in effect.

Second, particularily the Glyph cooldown, it stops the "Your health bar is your resource pool, and unlimited mana!" Requiring a healer to pull your weight may be fine in 5 mans, but it's not fine on raid bosses considering how much damage is going out, and just how long those execute phases actually last.

There's not a chance in hell that Shadow's "execute" was supposed to be their top output spell over the course of an entire fight.

Not a chance in hell.