Riot Act Forum

Shadow Priest 101

2010-01-23T21:02:12Z

Brief overview of Shadow Priest basics:

Combat Ratings - Level 80:

1% hit = 26.23 hit rating
1% haste = 32.79 haste rating
1% crit = 45.91 crit rating

Gemming -

Based on a Value 1 Scale. Also note that once Hit Cap is achieved its value becomes nil.

Spell Power…..........1.00
Hit….......................1.41
Haste…...................1.00
Critical….................0.88
Spirit…....................0.58
Intelligence…..........0.27

Red gem slots:
Runed Cardinal - 23

Yellow gem slots:
Reckless Ametrine - 21.8

Blue gem slots: (if used for Metagem or using at least 6sp socketbonus)

Purified Dreadstone - 17.9 (needed to activate metagem)

Metagem:
Chaotic Skyflare Diamond

9000*0.35*(209%/200%-100%) = 11000*0.35*0.045 = 173.25 dps = 83.25 PP
10.2 PP penalty for using two blue gems instead of red gems -> 70 + 21*0.76 = 85.96
Math courtesy of Shadowpriest.com

Achieving Hit Cap -

Its a pretty simple feat to achieve.
Lets assume you take 3/3 Focus and 3/3 Misery which at this point, you should be or you probably need to rethink your spec choices.

289 hit is the cap with points between Shadow Focus and Misery

Hit cap is huge, make sure before you begin to raid that you have at least obtained the Hit cap, even if you are drastically lacking in other areas.

Glyphing -

Now depending on your play style you have the basic 2 Glyphs that you will always use. And then you have the 2 that can change depending on however you feel best fits you.

The Essentials:
Glyph of Mind Flay
Glyph of Shadow

The Variables:
Glyph of Dispersion
Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain

The variables can be used depending purely on your decision of how you like to deal with mana regen, i would recommend if your gear does not support infinite mana to go with the dispersion glyph. This also can help if you can’t seem to stay alive.

Enchants -

Weapon -
[Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower]
[Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower]
[Enchant Weapon - Black Magic]

Helm -
[Arcanum of Burning Mysteries]

Shoulders -
[Greater Inscription of the Storm]

Chest -
[Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats]

Cloak -
[Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed]

Bracers -
[Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower]

Gloves -
[Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower]

Legs -
[Brilliant Spellthread]

Boots -
[Enchant Boots - Tuskarr’s Vitality]

Belt -
[Eternal Belt Buckle]

Rotations -

Now will I’ve been asked about my rotation / opener before i have never really gone in depth as to *why* i do what i do. To start with, a Shadow Priest is less about Rotation and more about weighing priority’s. That being said, below is the highest weighted abilities to lowest.

1. Shadow Word: Pain *ignore this after the first application assuming you have full shadow weaving and Tap*

2. Vampiric Touch - This is your highest dps dot, maintaining it takes priority, if you have the option of a Mind Blast or reapplying your Touch. Then you best be spamming the Vamp Touch.

3. Devouring Plague - This still is favored higher priority then 4/5

4. Mind Blast - Use it and abuse it

5. Mind Flay - Whether you 2 tick clip or no:channel macro, this is your spam button when 1-4 are applied.

As far as openers are concerned, i will give a brief overview of how and why i do what i do. Lets for this instance assume the boss is about to be pulled and your tank is giving a countdown.

Prepot. I do. You should too if you want the most out of your class. When the tank calls 2 on that countdown, slam a Speed Potion and get ready. After the pull is made, i personally like to fade to ensure I’m not a *typical* dps and pull before a tank can make a good lead on aggro. After that i will go step by step into my rotation.

MB > SW:D > MF > VT > DP > MB > SW:P

Now the key to why i perform this rotation is to basically ensure a 5 stack of weaving, give me 2 chances at tap and to ideally at least proc one of my trinkets icd. Allowing me to put up a high spell power Shadow: Word Pain. After that, the rotation goes to the normal above stated one.

I will be adding a BIS list and other such odds and ends as i have a chance, feel free to ask questions or post comments aswell.

Holy How-to?

2010-03-21T01:08:41Z

Anyone know where I can find a good read on holy priest tips? I played it last night in the alt raid and went oom and was spamming the hell out of my abilities but I felt like I wasn’t doing much…

Discipline 101

2010-01-24T02:13:38Z

Introduction

Discipline Priests are extremely versatile healers, making them very enjoyable to play. A properly geared and spec’d Disc Priest is capable of putting out single target heals on par with a Holy Paladin, while also having the ability to perform an exotic form of raid healing, with throughput comparable to any other raid healing class. Exotic of course, due to the nature of Power Word: Shield, compared to all other heals in the game.

I like being unique. That was the major draw between myself and Disc in the first place, and on my very first real test of Discipline I was not dissapointed as my shields ate up nuke after nuke from the air by Razorscale. I could see the possibilities.

I think Disc is relatively undervalued due to the inability of the game to display how much is really being absorbed by shields. Not even sites like World of Logs can accurately display shields - although they at least try - and if you take shields out of the equation it certainly seems like a Disc Priest isn’t holding their weight on the healing meter. Hopefully Blizzard will fix this one day, but until then I’ll have to settle for last place on every fight in healing done.

Before you read the rest of this post, it’s important you read and understand a simple disclaimer.

**Some of the information in this post differs from some ‘common’ discipline theory-crafting. There are reasons for this, and I will attempt to explain any I encounter. That said, in this case I consider myself to be right, and anyone that disagrees with me to be wrong.**

What a Discipline Priest Brings to the Raid

Inspiration - Reduces physical damage taken by 10%. The only other class that brings this buff for your tank is a Resto Shaman.

Renewed Hope - 3% Percent damage reduction, raid wide. Blessing of Sanctuary is the only other buff that provides this damage reduction, however even with a Prot Paladin in the raid you might not see Sanc used, as it’s a lower priority than some other very powerful Paladin buffs.

Gear Selection and Glyphs

I use the following stat values when picking gear:

SP = 1.5
Haste = 0.8
Crit = 0.7
MP/5 = 1.0
Int = 0.75
Spirit = 0.4

And here no doubt, we come to our first differences among viewpoints. I change my stat values from time to time, but not by much (basically throughput stats sometimes go up, while mana regen goes down). While nobody doubts spirits value to Discipline, I have never seen any other rankings similar to my own in regards to MP/5 + Int and SP + Haste + Crit.

I’ll explain my reasoning:

Spell Power - Spell power rules. It is the only throughput stat that increases all of your abilities effectiveness. Stack it hard.

Haste - Haste rules too! As a healer, I measure my ability to heal when I have to, not how much I can do over a 6 minute fight. What matters is responding to quick burst damage, and haste is the only stat that in a set time frame can allow you to heal 2 targets instead of 1, etc. Yes, borrowed time will cap your haste if you are shield spamming, however if you are shield spamming your crit doesn’t really matter either. So unless you are stacking insane mana regeneration you might as well prioritize haste - after all, you won’t always have the borrowed time effect. Furthermore, only your 1.5s spells will be haste capped, PoH, Penance, and Gheal will all still gain its value.

Crit - I consider crit to be ‘okay’. First, shields can’t crit. Second, crits are often overheal. However crits do proc Inspiration and Divine Aegis. This is the primary reason they have any place at all, but it’s still below haste.

Mp/5 - You need mana regeneration in some form or another.

Int - Intellect is a very good mana regeneration stat for its stat value, however I do not consider it to be an effective throughput stat since I have very little value for Crit.

Spirit - At around 2000 intellect spirit is worth about ~.37 Mp/5 - That’s under the item budge of Mp/5. Avoid spirit.

Glyph of Power Word: Shield, Penance, and Flash Heal are your primary glyphs. I often sub flash heal out for Holy Nova and Prayer of Healing on fights where I find myself using those abilities.

Learn 2 Play

As a Disc Priest you will have the ability to raid heal or tank heal, or even do both at once. When I reached Algalon I very quickly realized that flash heal simply didn’t keep up. With that in mind I started focusing towards Gheal, and that decision effects my gear and my stat attributes as well as reinforcing my focus on haste.

Pure Raid Healing - When you are only raid healing, spam PW:S on as many people as you can, before and as they take damage. Penance anyone that dips, or cast a hasted Gheal/Flash. Keep PoM on CD at all times. Remember you can Shield -> Penance -> PoM -> Gheal and maintain your borrowed time haste from your shield for all of the chain since neither instants, nor Penance consumes the buff. You can use PoH’s in extreme situations, but never cast an unhasted PoH. Also, Glyphed Holy Nova + Borrowed Time can be a powerful combination if you can get your group members to stay close.

Hybrid Healing - Heal the tanks with Penance / Gheals, while shielding raid members for borrowed time procs. You should never be casting a non-hasted Penance or Gheal in this situation. PoM on CD.

Pure Tank Healing - Depending on the incoming damage, you can rely on flash heals or greater heals, but whenever you shield someone, be it a tank or someone else, never waste your borrowed time proc on a flash heal, and always use your PoM after a shield in combination with Penance and Gheal.

Talents

There is really no reason not to use this spec since it covers everything you could want to do. Removing points in Improved Flash heal for Improved Healing for cheaper Gheals is an option, but I like to stay versatile.