I've been playing my shadow priest at level 70 for a few months now. I've got the frozen shadoweave shoulders and boots (almost finished gathering mats for the robe), and the rest are blues. I've heard that shadow priests can be huge damage dealers...but I wasn't seeing it on my priest. I was always way below the other dpsers in damage output and couldn't figure out why. Then a warrior I befriended who had a spriest gave me this advice: Use PW:Shield and then SW:Death whenever they are available. (and make sure SW:Pain is always up on the target)
I went to Netherstorm to practice on the mobs there (might as well gather rep stuff while I'm practicing *grin*). After working with my spell rotation, I found that my dps has improved a bunch....at least 100 per second, and more if I got more crits. And the damage I recieve from SW:Death isn't really huge either.
I hadn't used SW:Death much before, because I didn't want damage to myself if it wasn't a killing blow...thus, I had always used it only as a killing blow.
My spell rotation used to be PW:S, VT, SW:P, MB, MF until MB came up or the mob was around 1000hp left, and then I would use SW:D. Now, I use MB, SW:P, SW:D, MF or VT, and use MB or SW:D whenever they come up (also renewing SW:P). I'd shield and/or VE if the mobs hit hard. However, I still start off with VT and SW:P when in a group because I don't want to crit MB right off and steal aggro from the tank.
Anyways, that long block of text just to say that working with different spell rotations really does make a difference...and so does SW:Death. :)
*Edited for typo's
Edited, Jul 18th 2008 2:12pm by Similyn
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SW: Death makes a differenceFollow
Nifty. I haven't been using PW:Death much b/c I am leveling up solo and it always seems a waste to cast during the last 5 seconds of combat. Mostly I'll just use it to finish off one mob when I'm fighting 2 or 3. I just never put any thought into how to use it more effectively by shielding up rather than worrying about whether it'll kill the mob. Nice tip.
You know, it's one of those spells that lurk in my toolbar and rarely gets the chance to come out to play...
I'll need to play about and have some fun with it and let you know how it works for me...
:D
Eylise.
I'll need to play about and have some fun with it and let you know how it works for me...
:D
Eylise.
In a lot of cases you can drop PW:Shield from your rotation. Use your fear with mindflay instead. Less mana, less downtime. In a lot of cases you can get hit and just pop a renew, which is still cheaper than using a shield.
On my 70 priest I can easily solo non-stop with zero downtime.
Edited, Jul 14th 2008 11:32am by MentalFrog
On my 70 priest I can easily solo non-stop with zero downtime.
Edited, Jul 14th 2008 11:32am by MentalFrog
Not trying to be an ***, but... why is everybody going about "SW:S", "SW:F" and "PW:P"?
Quote:
Not trying to be an ***, but... why is everybody going about "SW:S", "SW:F" and "PW:P"?
The following are common priest abbreviations.
SW:P - Shadow word: Pain
PW:S - Power word: Shield
PW:F - Power word: Fortitude
SW:D - Shadow word: Death
VE - Vampiric embrace
VT - Vampiric touch
We priests are a lazy bunch and don't like typing long spell names, although I'll concede that the thread title may be as little confusing as the spell doesn't exist
Edited, Jul 15th 2008 4:47am by thegreatmothra
I knew the abbreviations... the latter was my point though... people seem to be mixing up shadow words and power words a lot. As a RP lore geek I cannot allow such blasphemy =P
:) It was a typo. I has used SW:D in my text, but didn't realize I had accidentally used 'P' instead of 'S' in the title. Fixed now, though. :)
To stick on topic...
As a disc priest I often find myself needing to 'dps' in a group since there is another pure healer spec player who wants to heal. Generally this results in taking a very supporting role; I throw Power Infusion on a caster, shield low life targets (if the main healer isn't a priest), keep my DOTs up and keep PoM bouncing. And that's where SW:D kicks in. PoM yourself and SW:D a random mob for some extra damage, making PoM heal up the damage you take (taking stress of the main healer) and leaving it to jump around between the melee classes.
As a disc priest I often find myself needing to 'dps' in a group since there is another pure healer spec player who wants to heal. Generally this results in taking a very supporting role; I throw Power Infusion on a caster, shield low life targets (if the main healer isn't a priest), keep my DOTs up and keep PoM bouncing. And that's where SW:D kicks in. PoM yourself and SW:D a random mob for some extra damage, making PoM heal up the damage you take (taking stress of the main healer) and leaving it to jump around between the melee classes.
If you're in a group, and you aren't worried about aggro, drop Shield from that. The 1.5 seconds you spent shielding yourself coudl better be spend getting a tick and a half of Mind Flay. Just watch your health closely.
Also, ALWAYS open with VT if you're going to use it. Might as well get the most mana back possible. VT->Blast->Flay->whatever you feel like doing. For me, it's VT->Balst->Flay->Flay/Death, depending on Blackout procs and if Blast crit or not.
Also, ALWAYS open with VT if you're going to use it. Might as well get the most mana back possible. VT->Blast->Flay->whatever you feel like doing. For me, it's VT->Balst->Flay->Flay/Death, depending on Blackout procs and if Blast crit or not.
I almost always have SW:P in my spell rotation unless it's a fight with a lot of AoE or a fight where there's random effects from mobs that when badly timed could get me killed if my hp aren't full.
I can't remember the last time a guild healer complained about me taking damage from using that spell in a group or raid. Just be smart about it. Do not use it when you are already low on health and especially if the healer is working hard already to keep the tank up. Often, VE is enough to keep me topped up before SW:D is up again. Although I can't use VE every fight either due to threat issues.
Use it whenever possible. More dps = more mana returned. That's really what our job is. The DPS is more of a bonus.
I can't remember the last time a guild healer complained about me taking damage from using that spell in a group or raid. Just be smart about it. Do not use it when you are already low on health and especially if the healer is working hard already to keep the tank up. Often, VE is enough to keep me topped up before SW:D is up again. Although I can't use VE every fight either due to threat issues.
Use it whenever possible. More dps = more mana returned. That's really what our job is. The DPS is more of a bonus.
i cant wait to get SW:D on my priest, long way to go though...only lvl 11 =D
slightly OT, sorry, but do we become more of a support class than a DPS class at 70?
iv heard the phrase "you only love me for my mana" and stuff like that, but iv seen a fair few SP's do some great dps.
Quote:
More dps = more mana returned.
slightly OT, sorry, but do we become more of a support class than a DPS class at 70?
iv heard the phrase "you only love me for my mana" and stuff like that, but iv seen a fair few SP's do some great dps.
redbarronthesecond wrote:
i cant wait to get SW:D on my priest, long way to go though...only lvl 11 =D
Haha.
I just picked up SW:D a few days ago (I'm level 63 now). And I must say, it's awesome. It does around 1k damage on average.
I use it on almost every mob while soloing. It kills so much faster than wanding them till death.
lol
my wand, starshards, SW:P is my armory atm.
my wand is faster and does more dmg than mind blast and smite atm
my wand, starshards, SW:P is my armory atm.
my wand is faster and does more dmg than mind blast and smite atm
Quote:
slightly OT, sorry, but do we become more of a support class than a DPS class at 70?
iv heard the phrase "you only love me for my mana" and stuff like that, but iv seen a fair few SP's do some great dps.
iv heard the phrase "you only love me for my mana" and stuff like that, but iv seen a fair few SP's do some great dps.
As far as I know shadow priests' damage will be topped by pretty much any DPS class post-Karazhan. The main reason they're brought to raids is for mana restoration.
For the theorycrafting around that, browse the forums a bit.
I am a holy priest, and I use SW:D all the time when soloing. I ran a heroic the other day with a healadin, Spreist, boomkin, and warrior tank. The warrior wanted me to dps. I was really suprised to see that the Spriest barely used SW:D or PW:S at all. The majority of her spell rotation was Mind Flay.
As for spriests being utility, put it this way; someone before said they were utility on Brutalis (the big guy on your SSO bombing missions if you arent familiar) at around 1700 dps. That number is higher than the majority of everyone DPSing on many servers; however in comparison to the people he is raiding with, he is hundreds, if not 1000 dps lower than them.
But toss that spriest with a few arcane mages (ok the only way mages can come close to those damn rogues) and you'll see what utility can do. Basically you increase his DPS that you "could" claim as your own for if you were not there, he would not have that high number.
But toss that spriest with a few arcane mages (ok the only way mages can come close to those damn rogues) and you'll see what utility can do. Basically you increase his DPS that you "could" claim as your own for if you were not there, he would not have that high number.
To add to that, with my gear on Brut I got 1300dps, no totem, bloodlust, and I got burned once, and I was chain-chugged destro pots. The other two spriests in my guild usually hit 1400-1450, but they tend to get shammies more than me too, since their gear is better right now.
Now compare that to the BM hunter, the rogues, the enhance shammy, the mage, and 2 of the warlocks. All over 2000dps our first kill.
Now compare that to the BM hunter, the rogues, the enhance shammy, the mage, and 2 of the warlocks. All over 2000dps our first kill.
SPs top out at 1500dps max. We stop topping the charts (or being close to the top) after TK/SSC. Which is probably a good thing. At 1250dps I'm pulling off the tanks unless I get a tranquil air totem to go with my salv. We generate a pretty unreal amount of threat.
Quote:
We generate a pretty unreal amount of threat.
For dealing far from the most damage in the raid.
Blue plz!
Mozared wrote:
Quote:
We generate a pretty unreal amount of threat.
For dealing far from the most damage in the raid.
Blue plz!
Of course, when you add in shadow weaving, misery, and VT, we pretty much outdamage every other player, except maybe an enhancement shammy.
i suppose when you see a SP soloing they do a lot of dmg because they always have misery/shadow waeving, but when you give that extra dmg to other spell casters it makes the SP dmg look not so high as 25% extra shadow dmg to a lock is awsome, and even 5% extra dmg for all others is a great buff.
The buffs the SP brings far outway the(i dnt wanan say lack of dps, cos it realy isnt a lack of dps)persnal lower dps.
The buffs the SP brings far outway the(i dnt wanan say lack of dps, cos it realy isnt a lack of dps)persnal lower dps.
Mozared wrote:
Quote:
We generate a pretty unreal amount of threat.
For dealing far from the most damage in the raid.
Blue plz!
That's why priests stop using Vampiric Embrace in raids and focus on Vampiric Touch.
Quote:
For dealing far from the most damage in the raid.
Blue plz!
Blue plz!
By playing a shadow priest, the whole intent is not for you to be at the top of the dps chart. You are a utility. Basically if you add up your total damage, healing, and mana regen for the party basically you are giving the raid more utility than a lock or mage, or any other caster.
I know SW: Death when tossing it into your rotation you will increase your dps largely. You need to keep an eye on life while using it. Some healers dont want to heal you from your own damage. I know when I group with shadow priests and Im healing. I generally tell them when not to use SW: Death in their rotation or it will end up killing them.
And that generally only happens when we are on a boss fight and I will only be able to heal the tank. Thus they will not get a heal. Rarely happens, but it does.
If you are grinding, SW: Death rotation isnt the best option. You should only use it as a killing blow, then you will have more effiency while grinding, less downtime from eating/drinking.
Also keep in mind, any other shadow user (warlocks), will get use out of your weakness to shadow buff helping their dps as well.
If you wanted to top the charts you should have went warlock or mage. Otherwise, keep in mind that your more of a utility than a top dps'er all of the time.
Edited, Aug 4th 2008 2:14pm by lauisifer
42 posts
Ok I just made the switch back to Shadow with my priest, I have to say the PW:S and SW:D technique has been quite useful. I have found though that if u have good healers in your raid u can skip the shield because either your VE or a healer will bring u back up to full health before SW:D is ready to go again. My healers don't mind too much cos I'm generally giving them some nice useful mana in return for my slightly increased DPS and they're need to cast a renew (or something similar) at me once in a while. This also saves the shield for those times when it's really needed like that orb is getting a little too close to you at void reaver etc.
But there again it does require confidence in your healers, if you don't have that switch straight back to PW:S and SW:D.
But there again it does require confidence in your healers, if you don't have that switch straight back to PW:S and SW:D.
Ok let me first start off saying my first preist I am leveling is only 63.... but I can tell you that I use Sw D a ton having just got it and I love it.
Heres the thing about taking damage... and of course its entirely situational...
When I am solo questing... My rotation is usually pull with MB then pop SWP then VE/VT then MF till MB is up. The reason I ALWAYS put SW P up before VT ( VE is long enough that it doesnt matter... is that with VT the effect of VT is so short that I dont want to miss a tick of SWP on the VT effect. Besides.. when I pull with MB... and sw pain and VT and start mind flaying... .the mob is usually near 60% or less by the time it even gets near me. If the area is clear... Ill fear it and immediately mind flay it...as it reduces its movement speed by 50%.... then a combo MB /SWD and its dead works every time. If its a tough mob or an elite... I will open up with MB/VE then SWD and devouring plague then start mind flaying. The reason is your bubble will absorb most of the damge youd take from the SWD and if you timed your bubble right You can simply bubble again and keep on blasting... while getting that additional damage out there.
I am still learning the class there is no question... howver for me... SW Death is EXTREMELY good and a big boost to my dps.
Obviously in an instance you have to watch your threat... fortunately for me I have a good pally freind I run with most of the time so I always have salvation on me which is a huge help. I am still amazed at how even with fade... I can generate so much threat! But if I have a hot on me from a druid healer or see the healer winding up on a holy light on me.. ill pop SWD if I am going to get hit for a large heal or have the heal over time ticking on me and will get the hp back anyway.
There is no question that SWdeath is in my rotation to stay!
Anything I am doing wrong or tips I would appreciate as I am still a SH preist nublet!
Xtinct 63 undead sh preist Khaz modan
70 pally
70 rogue
70 mage
70 warrior ( tauren )
70 warrior ( human )
Heres the thing about taking damage... and of course its entirely situational...
When I am solo questing... My rotation is usually pull with MB then pop SWP then VE/VT then MF till MB is up. The reason I ALWAYS put SW P up before VT ( VE is long enough that it doesnt matter... is that with VT the effect of VT is so short that I dont want to miss a tick of SWP on the VT effect. Besides.. when I pull with MB... and sw pain and VT and start mind flaying... .the mob is usually near 60% or less by the time it even gets near me. If the area is clear... Ill fear it and immediately mind flay it...as it reduces its movement speed by 50%.... then a combo MB /SWD and its dead works every time. If its a tough mob or an elite... I will open up with MB/VE then SWD and devouring plague then start mind flaying. The reason is your bubble will absorb most of the damge youd take from the SWD and if you timed your bubble right You can simply bubble again and keep on blasting... while getting that additional damage out there.
I am still learning the class there is no question... howver for me... SW Death is EXTREMELY good and a big boost to my dps.
Obviously in an instance you have to watch your threat... fortunately for me I have a good pally freind I run with most of the time so I always have salvation on me which is a huge help. I am still amazed at how even with fade... I can generate so much threat! But if I have a hot on me from a druid healer or see the healer winding up on a holy light on me.. ill pop SWD if I am going to get hit for a large heal or have the heal over time ticking on me and will get the hp back anyway.
There is no question that SWdeath is in my rotation to stay!
Anything I am doing wrong or tips I would appreciate as I am still a SH preist nublet!
Xtinct 63 undead sh preist Khaz modan
70 pally
70 rogue
70 mage
70 warrior ( tauren )
70 warrior ( human )
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