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    <title>Riot Act Forum</title>
    <link>http://riotactguild.com/forum/</link>
    <description>Riot Act Forum</description>
    <dc:language>en</dc:language>
    <dc:rights>Copyright 2010</dc:rights>
    <dc:date>2010-05-03T10:26:22-05:00</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Shadow Priest 101</title>
      <link>http://riotactguild.com/forum/viewthread/26/</link>
      <guid>http://riotactguild.com/forum/viewthread/26/#When:21:02:12Z</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Brief overview of Shadow Priest basics:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Combat Ratings &#45; Level 80:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;1% hit = &lt;em&gt;26.23 hit rating&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
1% haste = &lt;em&gt;32.79 haste rating&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
1% crit = &lt;em&gt;45.91 crit rating&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gemming &#45;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Based on a Value 1 Scale. Also note that once Hit Cap is achieved its value becomes &lt;em&gt;nil&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Spell Power&#8230;..........1.00&lt;br /&gt;
Hit&#8230;.......................1.41&lt;br /&gt;
Haste&#8230;...................1.00&lt;br /&gt;
Critical&#8230;.................0.88&lt;br /&gt;
Spirit&#8230;....................0.58&lt;br /&gt;
Intelligence&#8230;..........0.27&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Red gem slots:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40113&quot; class=&quot;purple&quot;&gt;Runed Cardinal&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &#45; 23&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Yellow gem slots: &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40155&quot; class=&quot;purple&quot;&gt;Reckless Ametrine&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &#45; 21.8&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Blue gem slots: (if used for Metagem or using at least 6sp socketbonus)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40133&quot; class=&quot;purple&quot;&gt;Purified Dreadstone&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &#45; 17.9 (needed to activate metagem)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Metagem:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41285&quot; class=&quot;blue&quot;&gt;Chaotic Skyflare Diamond&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;9000*0.35*(209%/200%&#45;100%) = 11000*0.35*0.045 = 173.25 dps = 83.25 PP&lt;br /&gt;
10.2 PP penalty for using two blue gems instead of red gems &#45;&amp;gt; 70 + 21*0.76 = 85.96&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Math courtesy of Shadowpriest.com&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Achieving Hit Cap &#45;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Its a pretty simple feat to achieve. &lt;br /&gt;
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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;289 hit is the cap with points between Shadow Focus and Misery&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Glyphing &#45;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The Essentials:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42415&quot; class=&quot;white&quot;&gt;Glyph of Mind Flay&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42407&quot; class=&quot;white&quot;&gt;Glyph of Shadow&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The Variables:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45753&quot; class=&quot;white&quot;&gt;Glyph of Dispersion&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42406&quot; class=&quot;white&quot;&gt;Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;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&#8217;t seem to stay alive.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enchants &#45;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Weapon &#45; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=60714&quot; target=&quot;Blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Weapon &#45; Mighty Spellpower]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=62948&quot; target=&quot;Blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Staff &#45; Greater Spellpower]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=59625&quot; target=&quot;Blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Weapon &#45; Black Magic]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Helm &#45;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44159&quot; class=&quot;Blue&quot;&gt;[Arcanum of Burning Mysteries]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Shoulders &#45;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44135&quot; target=&quot;Blue&quot;&gt;[Greater Inscription of the Storm]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Chest &#45;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=60692&quot; target=&quot;Blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Chest &#45; Powerful Stats]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Cloak &#45;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=47898&quot; target=&quot;blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Cloak &#45; Greater Speed]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Bracers &#45;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=60767&quot; target=&quot;blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Bracers &#45; Superior Spellpower]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Gloves &#45; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=44592&quot; target=&quot;blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Gloves &#45; Exceptional Spellpower]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Legs &#45; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41602&quot; target=&quot;purple&quot;&gt;[Brilliant Spellthread]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Boots &#45; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=47901&quot; target=&quot;blue&quot;&gt;[Enchant Boots &#45; Tuskarr&#8217;s Vitality]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Belt &#45;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41611&quot; target=&quot;blue&quot;&gt;[Eternal Belt Buckle]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rotations &#45;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Now will I&#8217;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&#8217;s. That being said, below is the highest weighted abilities to lowest.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;1. &lt;strong&gt;Shadow Word: Pain&lt;/strong&gt; *ignore this after the first application assuming you have full shadow weaving and Tap*&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;2. &lt;strong&gt;Vampiric Touch&lt;/strong&gt; &#45; 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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;3. &lt;strong&gt;Devouring Plague&lt;/strong&gt; &#45; This still is favored higher priority then 4/5&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;4. &lt;strong&gt;Mind Blast&lt;/strong&gt; &#45; Use it and abuse it&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;5. &lt;strong&gt;Mind Flay&lt;/strong&gt; &#45; Whether you 2 tick clip or no:channel macro, this is your spam button when 1&#45;4 are applied.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;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&#8217;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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;MB &amp;gt; SW:D &amp;gt; MF &amp;gt; VT &amp;gt; DP &amp;gt; MB &amp;gt; SW:P&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;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.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

</description>
      <dc:date>2010-01-23T21:02:12-05:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Holy How&#45;to&#63;</title>
      <link>http://riotactguild.com/forum/viewthread/202/</link>
      <guid>http://riotactguild.com/forum/viewthread/202/#When:01:08:41Z</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;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&#8217;t doing much&#8230;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:date>2010-03-21T01:08:41-05:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Discipline 101</title>
      <link>http://riotactguild.com/forum/viewthread/38/</link>
      <guid>http://riotactguild.com/forum/viewthread/38/#When:02:13:38Z</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font&#45;size:18px;&quot;&gt;Introduction&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Discipline Priests are extremely versatile healers, making them very enjoyable to play.&amp;nbsp; A properly geared and spec&#8217;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.&amp;nbsp; Exotic of course, due to the nature of Power Word: Shield, compared to all other heals in the game.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I like being unique.&amp;nbsp; 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.&amp;nbsp; I could see the possibilities. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I think Disc is relatively undervalued due to the inability of the game to display how much is really being absorbed by shields.&amp;nbsp; Not even sites like World of Logs can accurately display shields &#45; although they at least try &#45; and if you take shields out of the equation it certainly seems like a Disc Priest isn&#8217;t holding their weight on the healing meter.&amp;nbsp; Hopefully Blizzard will fix this one day, but until then I&#8217;ll have to settle for last place on every fight in healing done.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Before you read the rest of this post, it&#8217;s important you read and understand a simple disclaimer.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;**Some of the information in this post differs from some &#8216;common&#8217; discipline theory&#45;crafting.&amp;nbsp; There are reasons for this, and I will attempt to explain any I encounter.&amp;nbsp; That said, in this case I consider myself to be right, and anyone that disagrees with me to be wrong.**&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font&#45;size:18px;&quot;&gt;What a Discipline Priest Brings to the Raid&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Inspiration &#45; Reduces physical damage taken by 10%.&amp;nbsp; The only other class that brings this buff for your tank is a Resto Shaman.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Renewed Hope &#45; 3% Percent damage reduction, raid wide.&amp;nbsp; 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&#8217;s a lower priority than some other very powerful Paladin buffs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font&#45;size:18px;&quot;&gt;Gear Selection and Glyphs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I use the following stat values when picking gear:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SP = 1.5&lt;br /&gt;
Haste = 0.8&lt;br /&gt;
Crit = 0.7&lt;br /&gt;
MP/5 = 1.0&lt;br /&gt;
Int = 0.75&lt;br /&gt;
Spirit = 0.4&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And here no doubt, we come to our first differences among viewpoints.&amp;nbsp; I change my stat values from time to time, but not by much (basically throughput stats sometimes go up, while mana regen goes down).&amp;nbsp; 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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I&#8217;ll explain my reasoning: &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Spell Power &#45; Spell power rules.&amp;nbsp; It is the only throughput stat that increases all of your abilities effectiveness.&amp;nbsp; Stack it hard.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Haste &#45; Haste rules too!&amp;nbsp; As a healer, I measure my ability to heal when I have to, not how much I can do over a 6 minute fight.&amp;nbsp; 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.&amp;nbsp; Yes, borrowed time will cap your haste if you are shield spamming, however if you are shield spamming your crit doesn&#8217;t really matter either.&amp;nbsp; So unless you are stacking insane mana regeneration you might as well prioritize haste &#45; after all, you won&#8217;t always have the borrowed time effect.&amp;nbsp; Furthermore, only your 1.5s spells will be haste capped, PoH, Penance, and Gheal will all still gain its value.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Crit &#45; I consider crit to be &#8216;okay&#8217;.&amp;nbsp; First, shields can&#8217;t crit.&amp;nbsp; Second, crits are often overheal.&amp;nbsp; However crits do proc Inspiration and Divine Aegis.&amp;nbsp; This is the primary reason they have any place at all, but it&#8217;s still below haste.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Mp/5 &#45; You need mana regeneration in some form or another.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Int &#45; 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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Spirit &#45; At around 2000 intellect spirit is worth about ~.37 Mp/5 &#45; That&#8217;s under the item budge of Mp/5.&amp;nbsp; Avoid spirit.&lt;/p&gt;

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

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font&#45;size:18px;&quot;&gt;Learn 2 Play&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As a Disc Priest you will have the ability to raid heal or tank heal, or even do both at once.&amp;nbsp; When I reached Algalon I very quickly realized that flash heal simply didn&#8217;t keep up.&amp;nbsp; 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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Pure Raid Healing &#45; When you are only raid healing, spam PW:S on as many people as you can, before and as they take damage.&amp;nbsp; Penance anyone that dips, or cast a hasted Gheal/Flash.&amp;nbsp; Keep PoM on CD at all times.&amp;nbsp; Remember you can Shield &#45;&amp;gt; Penance &#45;&amp;gt; PoM &#45;&amp;gt; Gheal and maintain your borrowed time haste from your shield for all of the chain since neither instants, nor Penance consumes the buff.&amp;nbsp; You can use PoH&#8217;s in extreme situations, but never cast an unhasted PoH.&amp;nbsp; Also, Glyphed Holy Nova + Borrowed Time can be a powerful combination if you can get your group members to stay close.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Hybrid Healing &#45; Heal the tanks with Penance / Gheals, while shielding raid members for borrowed time procs.&amp;nbsp; You should never be casting a non&#45;hasted Penance or Gheal in this situation.&amp;nbsp; PoM on CD.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Pure Tank Healing &#45; 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.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font&#45;size:18px;&quot;&gt;Talents&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There is really no reason not to use this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#bVcbuhhVRIsffRtbhtc&quot;&gt;spec&lt;/a&gt; since it covers everything you could want to do.&amp;nbsp; Removing points in Improved Flash heal for Improved Healing for cheaper Gheals is an option, but I like to stay versatile.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:date>2010-01-24T02:13:38-05:00</dc:date>
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