Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

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paladecosmin
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Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#1 » Post by paladecosmin » 13 Jan 2015 12:35

PLAYLIST LINK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8e13kM ... 2eE5WpiQW5

Hello and Welcome to my Shadow Priest guide for patch 3.3.5. This guide is intended to help new players and those who already play a shadow priest, this is just the way I play it and I wanted to share. The guide will pritty much cover most of the basic things you need to know about priest as a damage dealer. I divided the guide in to five parts:

Shadow Priest 3.3.5 PvE GUIDE - Talents and Glyphs (PART1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8e13kMkJvE

TALENTS

I recommend you to spend 3 talent points in Shadow Affinity (0:52) instead of Improved Mind Blast (0:55).

GLYPHS

Major Glyphs

Glyph of Shadow, Glyph of Mind Flay, Glyph of Shadow Ward: Death. I recommend you to use Glyph of Shadow Ward: Pain for manna regeneration.

Minor Glyphs

Use whatever fits your play style.


Shadow Priest 3.3.5 PvE GUIDE - Gems, Enchants and Stats (PART2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B5AnQ7EfMk

GEMS

META (head) - Chaotic Skyflare Dyamon (+21 Critical Strike and 3% Increased Critical Effect) - I forgot to mention about it in the clip.
RED - Runed Cardinal Ruby - 23 Spell Power
YELLOW - Reckless Amterine - 12 Spell Power + 10 Haste Rating
BLUE - Purified Dreadstone - 12 Spell Power + 10 Spirit

ENCHANTS

Head - Arcanum of Burning Mysteries - requires Kirin Tor - Revered
Shoulder - Greater Inscription of the Storm - requires Sons of Hodir - Exalted
Back - Lightweave Embroidery if you have Tailoring otherwise use Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed
Chest - Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats (i also forgot about this in the clip)
Wrist - Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower
Hands - Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower
Waist - Eternal Belt Buckle made by Blacksmith profession, it adds an extra gem slot on your waist
Legs - Tailoring: Sanctified Spellthread if you have Tailoring otherwise use Brilliant Spellthread made by Tailoring profession
Feet - Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality and only if you need hit rating use Enchant Boots - Icewalker
Finger - Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower if you have Enchanting profession
Weapon 2H - Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower
Weapon 1H - Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower

STATS

Hit Rating - most important stat, i use 9%, 1% = 32.7 hit rating Don't stack more than 295 hit rating.
Spellpower - you will get it along with gear and gems
Haste - don't stack haste and neglect critical, there is no cap for haste, you will get around 1300 with Best in Slot gear.
Critcal Strike - don't stack critical and neglect haste, it also comes along with gear.


Shadow Priest 3.3.5 PvE GUIDE - Basic Spells (PART3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyVH3cB8ZT8

BUFFS

Shadowform, Vampiric Embrace, Inner Fire, Prayer of Fortitude, Prayer of Spirit, Prayer of Shadow Protection, Fear Ward (occasionally) plus consumables (flask, food, potions)

DAMAGE DEALING SPELLS

Vampiric Touch, Shadow Ward: Pain, Devouring Plague, Mind Flay, Mind Blast, Shadow Ward: Death

MANA REGENERATION SPELLS

Shadow Fiend, Hymn of Hope, Dispersion

Shadow Fiend used along with Hymn of Hope will regenerate more mana, Hymn of Hope also increases your base mana by 20% for 8 seconds while Shadow Fiend restores 5% of your total base mana.
Dispersion is situational, better to keep it for critical moments due to its capability to reduce all damage taken by 90%, however if you don't have any possibility to gain mana use this spell to replenish 36% of your base mana.

SPELLS WHICH SUSTAIN SURVIVABILITY

Dispersion, Fade, Psychic Scream, Shackle Undead, Divine Hymn

First four are more for your own survivability though Psychic Scream and Shackle Undead can be also used to save others as for Divine Hymn it may save an entire raid in some situations. Shackle Undead may become very useful when you need to intrerupt the casting of an undead target.

DISPELS

Dispel Magic, Mass Dispel, Abolish Disease, Cure Disease,

Priest can dispel beneficial magic effects from aggressive targets and harmful magic effects from himself and any other friendly targets, you can do that with Dispel Magic. They are also capable to cure a disease instantly with Cure Disease or Abolish Disease with an over time effect useful for targets with diseases constantly applied on themselves.


Shadow Priest 3.3.5 PvE GUIDE - Spell Management (Rotation - DPS) - Single Target (PART4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aybm8n-G274

SINGLE TARGET DPS

Open with VAMPIRIC TOUCH, SHADOW WARD: PAIN, DEVOURING PLAGUE use MIND FLAY as a filler until you have to refresh Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague. (is the fastest way to burst your dps in my opinion)

Use Mind Blast only if you DON'T have 4pcs of Tier10 or for Replenishment if needed (buff gained from Mind Blast while target has Vampiric Touch applied which gives you 1% of your base mana each 5 seconds for 15 seconds).

THERE IS NO ROTATION!!!! The title contains this word because that's what people search for. You only have to refresh Vampiric Touch (take into consideration the cast time), Devouring Plague and be careful not to end your Mind Flay channeling before last tick, as you noticed Shadow Ward: Pain is automatically refreshed by Mind Flay. Keep in mind that Mind Flay does 10% more damage while Shadow Ward: Pain is applied on target.

I've tested like 5 openers, including the one with Inner Focus, there is no difference in DPS, even worse, if you struggle to use a opener to get 5 stacks of shadow weaving (talent) like lets say VT, MB, DP, SWD, MF and Inner Focus followed by SW:P you will lose a very big amount of DPS. Secret is to maintain your dots 100% of the time on target without overwriting them!


Shadow Priest 3.3.5 PvE GUIDE - Spell Management (Rotation - DPS) - Multiple Targets (AOE) (PART5)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8evfMxYbzuc

MULTIPLE TARGET DPS (AoE)

For 2 or 3 targets. Use Vampiric Touch and Shadow Ward: Pain on each one of them, Devouring Plague always on the target with the highest HP and Mind Flay on each target to refresh Shadow Ward: Pain while also maintaining a perfect uptime of Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague. (1:28)

For 4 or more targets. Use Vampiric Touch on each one of them and keep using Mind Seer without bothering to refresh Vampiric Touch. If there are more then 15 targets, depending on the HP pool they have you may use only Mind Sear if they have small HP pool or try to use Vampiric Touch atleast on 8 up to 10 targets if they have significant HP pool followed by Mind Seer without bothering to refresh Vampiric Touch.
Last edited by paladecosmin on 14 Jan 2015 05:59, edited 6 times in total.

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Blacklustersoldier
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Re: Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#2 » Post by Blacklustersoldier » 13 Jan 2015 14:38

I only watched the first part of it and noticed couple of mistakes...

Now if this is a beginner guide, for people who are not so good geared yet, then stop reading here.

If this is intended for endgame and actual hardcore play of priest read bellow

[hide]OKAY, YOU WERE WARNED!

First of all, you don't want Improved Mind Blast talent, because Mind Blast gets pushed out of your rotation once you obtain t10 set.

Secondly you spend 2 talent points into Shadow Affinity, reduces your threat generated by 16%, and you restore 10% of your base mana when SWP and VT get dispelled. I know this is mostly a pvp talent, but the less threat generated is very welcome, especially since if you are a hardcore priest, you will find yourself generating a ton of threat during your BURST, yes burst, when you proc all trinkets, and procs, and you do massive amount of dmg with your spells. Yes, I am aware priests have fade, to drop agro for 10 seconds, but after 10 seconds, all the agro you had will be restored to you, and you risk pulling from the tank, especially if the tank is not that good.

Third, you spend the last talent point into Inner Focus, to increase the crit chance of one spell. This may look like a bad trade for you, but if you look at shadow word pain mechanics, it's supposed to keep the crit from when it was applied. That means that you pop inner focus, then apply shadow word pain to your target, and your SWP will have a 25% increased crit chance.

Fourth, glyph of shadow word: death it's not a bad glyph, but it's not that great, the amount of dmg it provides when target is under 35% hp, is too low to actually make it worth while. Not to mention that SWD is also removed from your rotation, and you only cast IF you can't stand still. Otherwise it's not so great + your mind flay is going to do more dmg than shadow word death, even though it's channeled, you still use up a global CD, so be smart about it ;)
My suggestion is to use glyph of shadow word: pain as your 3rd glyph, for the mana it generates whenever it ticks. I know it gives base mana, and that's about 32 or so, I can't recall how much I get. Either 32 or 48... But in the long run, that mana generated means you get to cast couple more spells before you oom, or before you are forced to use dispersion. And as you know dispersion is best used as a defensive CD rather than a mana restore. Ofc you also have the shadow fiend, but it's best to use the shadow fiend during heroism, for extra dmg, since the lil bastard is hitting quite hard, and with hero he will hit even stronger. Just make sure you pop shadow fiend 2 seconds before heroism, so that he gets the buff too.[/hide]
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Koriach
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Re: Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#3 » Post by Koriach » 13 Jan 2015 15:31

Blacklustersoldier wrote:I only watched the first part of it and noticed couple of mistakes...

Now if this is a beginner guide, for people who are not so good geared yet, then stop reading here.

If this is intended for endgame and actual hardcore play of priest read bellow

[hide]OKAY, YOU WERE WARNED!

First of all, you don't want Improved Mind Blast talent, because Mind Blast gets pushed out of your rotation once you obtain t10 set.

Secondly you spend 2 talent points into Shadow Affinity, reduces your threat generated by 16%, and you restore 10% of your base mana when SWP and VT get dispelled. I know this is mostly a pvp talent, but the less threat generated is very welcome, especially since if you are a hardcore priest, you will find yourself generating a ton of threat during your BURST, yes burst, when you proc all trinkets, and procs, and you do massive amount of dmg with your spells. Yes, I am aware priests have fade, to drop agro for 10 seconds, but after 10 seconds, all the agro you had will be restored to you, and you risk pulling from the tank, especially if the tank is not that good.

Third, you spend the last talent point into Inner Focus, to increase the crit chance of one spell. This may look like a bad trade for you, but if you look at shadow word pain mechanics, it's supposed to keep the crit from when it was applied. That means that you pop inner focus, then apply shadow word pain to your target, and your SWP will have a 25% increased crit chance.

Fourth, glyph of shadow word: death it's not a bad glyph, but it's not that great, the amount of dmg it provides when target is under 35% hp, is too low to actually make it worth while. Not to mention that SWD is also removed from your rotation, and you only cast IF you can't stand still. Otherwise it's not so great + your mind flay is going to do more dmg than shadow word death, even though it's channeled, you still use up a global CD, so be smart about it ;)
My suggestion is to use glyph of shadow word: pain as your 3rd glyph, for the mana it generates whenever it ticks. I know it gives base mana, and that's about 32 or so, I can't recall how much I get. Either 32 or 48... But in the long run, that mana generated means you get to cast couple more spells before you oom, or before you are forced to use dispersion. And as you know dispersion is best used as a defensive CD rather than a mana restore. Ofc you also have the shadow fiend, but it's best to use the shadow fiend during heroism, for extra dmg, since the lil bastard is hitting quite hard, and with hero he will hit even stronger. Just make sure you pop shadow fiend 2 seconds before heroism, so that he gets the buff too.[/hide]
If you would watch all videos he did say to use MB only if you DO NOT have 4x T10. Instead of those 3 points in Improved MB you can just move them to 2/3 Shadow affinity for the reduced threat but as I see him in raids he doesn't have the aggro issue problem and the last point to Inner focus.

As for Glyphs it's a matter of preference some people want SWP some want SWD none of them are bad...

As for mana regen keep in mind that you got fiend, replenishment, buffs, dispersion and I really don't get why priests barely use Hymn of hope it's such a great spell to help the raid but ooh wait you may not be top recount anymore I get it.

Tbh I don't see it as a bad guide he is doing good dps and damage in the raids so I doubt he came here to misguide people. Like he said it's his own guide and his own way of playing and it works out well for him in raids so if people want to give this guide a shot I don't see why not try it out compare with what spec you wanted see what is better then stick to it. :P

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paladecosmin
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Re: Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#4 » Post by paladecosmin » 13 Jan 2015 19:24

I worte in the description of each clip what you are saying and I recommend you to watch all. Anyway I've tested like 5 openers, including the one with Inner Focus, there is no difference in DPS, even more, if you struggle to use a opener to get 5 stacks of shadow weaving (talent) like lets say VT, MB, DP, SWD, MF and Inner Focus followed by SW:P you will lose a very big amount of DPS. I'll stick to a opener that I found on shadowpriest.com (R.I.P) four years ago and it was something like VT, SW:P, DP and spam MF while refreshing dots, anyway the secret is not in Inner Focus or the mechanic of SW:P, the secret is to maintain your dots 100% of the time on target without overwriting your VT and DP or clipping your MF before last tick. I use the spec for raids, dungeons and solo mobs even solo dungeons, same for glyph, my SW:D crits for 12k it saved me from bad tanks many times in dungeons. So blackluster, that is a spec I play and I use for my own play style. I rely on our tanks I feel sorry for those priests who lose talent points in Shadow Affinity when they have heroic 25 geared tanks.

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Relina
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Re: Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#5 » Post by Relina » 14 Jan 2015 03:49

Truewow: Retired for now.
Peace - Lvl: 80 Paladin

Primalwow: Retired for now.
Relina - Lvl: 70 Paladin

I'm willing to become a stone bridge.
Just...
to catch a glimpse of you passing by.

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testeromir
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Re: Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#6 » Post by testeromir » 14 Jan 2015 10:25

I think Inner Focus benefits SW:P. Dots should keep crit and dmg modifiers.
Truewow:
Proghaan
Testera
Woden
Taman
Mudu
Testeram
Gemark
Frithell
Nibghaan

Primalwow:
Proghaan

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Cocopuffs
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Re: Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#7 » Post by Cocopuffs » 14 Jan 2015 10:53

people still need guides to play this patch in 2k15? lool

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testeromir
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Re: Shadow Priest Guide 3.3.5

#8 » Post by testeromir » 14 Jan 2015 11:00

You still read guide that you think people should not need in 2015 :D
Truewow:
Proghaan
Testera
Woden
Taman
Mudu
Testeram
Gemark
Frithell
Nibghaan

Primalwow:
Proghaan

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