Shadow priests has gone through a lot of changes in this expansion. In TBC, they were mana batteries, vampiric touch was returning certain % of dmg done as mana, while dps was, well, mediocre at least. In TBC, they changed it, and today shadowpriests are one of most fearsome classes in pvp, and can be top dps in pve. Here i will cover some basic and not so basic things you need to know about playing shadow priest in Pve. From what i see they are quite popular now on new FS, so this guide will come handy i guess
DESIRABLE STATS AND COMBAT RATINGS:
Main stat is, ofcourse, spellpower. You want that as much as possible. But not before you are hit capped. For that you need 17% spell hit, before talents/racials. Next comes haste, which is only a bit worse than spellpower. As a matter of fact spellpower : haste = 1 : 0.9. And everything else is less important. Order of desirable stats goes like this:
hit (till hitcapped, what is 446, with 3/3 misery and 3/3 shadow focus 297 ) -> spellpower -> haste -> crit -> spirit -> everything else
GEMMING:
So, this is somewhat complicated. For maximizing your damage, you need to follow this:
Red -> 23 spellpower (runed cardinal ruby)
Yellow - if socket bonus is
- 5+ spellpower -> 12 spellpower / 10 haste (reckless ametrine)
- anything else -> 23 spellpower
Blue - if socket bonus is
- 7+ spellpower -> 12 spellpower/ 10 spirit (purified dreadstone)
- anything else -> 23 spellpower
- but if item has 2 or more blue sockets (usually healing items have that), then its not worth going for bonus
Meta: 21 crit & 3% increased critical damage (chaotic skyflare diamond)
ENCHANTING:
Head
- 30 spellpower / 20 crit (exalted with kirin tor)
Shoulders
- 24 spellpower / 15 crit (exalted with sons of hodir)
- if scribe - 70 spellpower / 15 crit
Back
- 23 haste
- if tailor - lightweave embroidery
- if engineer - springy arachnoweave
Chest
- +10 stats
Wrists
- 30 spellpower
- if leatherworker - 76 spellpower
Hands
- 28 spellpower
- if engineer - hyperspeed accelerators
Belt
- eternal belt buckle, where you put 23 spellpower
Legs
- 50 spellpower 20 spirit (brilliant spellthread - tailoring)
Feet
- 15 stamina / minor speed increase
- if engineer - nitro boosts
Rings (enchanters only)
- 23 spellpower
1h weapon
- 63 spellpower
Staff
- 89 spellpower
TALENT BUILDS:
Well, there is only 1 "accepted" shadow pve build, and that is 17/0/54
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bVcbuZZGxbiRfzcfqfzAoOnly thing you might change if you lack hit, then you might switch 1/2/3 points from Focused mind -> Shadow focus. Every % of hit = 26.23 hit rating
GLYPHS:
Major glyphs:
Glyph of mind flay
Glyph of Shadow
Glyph of Dispersion
Minor Glyphs:
well, nothing is required, but recommended are:
Glphy of fortitude
Glpyh of shadow protection
and third, well, glyph of shadowfiend or glyph of levitate (this one just for shits and giggles ^_^)
DPS ROTATION:
Well, here comes the most complicated part of shadow dps. Shadow priests resemble warlocks a lot (not sure if thats good usage of word "resemble"), meaning they have 3 dots to keep an eye onto. Those would be:
SHADOW WORD: PAIN
DEVOURING PLAGUE - once upon a time every priest race had its own, special spell, and this was of undeads, but in wotlk other race spells were removed and every priest got this as baseline
VAMPIRIC TOUCH - hardest ticking dot, needed for replenishment
Except dots, you have:
MIND BLAST - nuke spell, can crit up to 14k
MIND FLAY - filler spell, when all dots are up and MB on cooldown
MIND SEAR - aoe stuff, best aoe eu. Downside of it is target needs to be alive in order to mind sear, but upside is that its probably best aoe damage ingame. And just remember tbc, with mediocre damage and no aoe
SHADOW WORD: DEATH - only use it when you need to move, so cant cast anything else
How do you open a fight:
Vampiric touch (to get misery up) -> Devouring plague -> 3 ticks of mindflay (in order to get 5 shadow weaving stacks) -> Inner focus -> Shadow word: pain -> Mind blast -> mind flay.
After that you need to watch dots, cast mind blast on every coolodwn, and mind flay when there is noting else to apply/refresh/cast
Why is so?
1. VT - has cast time so it goes first in order to let tank get some aggro + it applies misery.
2. DP - it does certain amount of insta damage + damage over time
3. 3xMF - to get 5 stacks of shadow weaving, what is needed before casting SW:P
4. Inner focus - if you cast it before SW:P, it will have +25% crit chance, so if you manage to refresh it through all the fight, its pretty hawt dps increase
5. SW:P - goes in the end because mind flay refreshes it, and while on every refresh it calculates your current spellpower, it doesnt shadow weaving, so in order to get the most of SW:P, it needs to be applied when you have 5 stacks of shadow weaving
6. MB - all dots are up, so you cast that
7. MF - filler for everything
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
Priority list:
When dots are about to expire, you need to refresh them in certain order to get maximum dps.
1. Vampiric touch
2. Devouring plague
3. Mind blast
4. Mind flay
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
Dots clipping:
DO NOT CLIP THE DOTS! I REPEAT! DO NOT CLIP THE DOTS!
To clip dots means to refresh them before they expire. That is HUGE dps loss and needs to be avoided at any cost. Its not good to be without them either though.
In perfect conditions, there will be only 2 spells that need to be refreshed, Vampiric touch and Devouring plague. They will mostly expire in about same time, so start to cast Vampiric touch first, about 1 second before it expires on target, and then immidietely Devouring plague. With 844 haste Vampiric touch is 1.19 seconds cast, so if you cast it 1 second before it expires, you will be only 0.19 seconds without it. Its tricky to learn when to start to cast, but it is what differs good and bad shadowpriests,
Mind flay clipping:
Only when / if you need to recast dots. NEVER clip it to cast mind blast. What means, for example there is 1.2 seconds left on Vampric touch, and you are channeling Mind flay. In that case, stop Mind flay and start to recast Vampiric touch, but if you are at 1/3 Mind flay and Mind blast is about to be ready, DO NOT stop Mind flay. Finish it, and then cast Mind blast.
