Endgame (PvE) Shadowpriest at Nostalrius

[Theloras]

What would be the best race allie/horde side for a Shadow priest?
Night elf Starshards seems pretty strong as a rotation filler?

It's actually a pretty mana-efficient spell, though everything else does better DPS but considering that rank 3, for example, is only 150 mana and does 288 dmg, it's not that bad.

Don't know if you tested, but Starshards as a racial spell must have the lowest priority on debuff list, thus being overwritten by almost everything as soon as target is capped on debuffs. This makes spell an absolute trash in PvE.

oh hai meledyne - u miss me?

[joshbpepper]

Shadow is worthless in raids until there are 16 slots and even then it would be better to just add another mage or lock to the group. The SPriest spell only heals and for a crap amount. They run out of mana very fast as well. People need to stop being dumbasses trying to run spriest, ret/prot pallys, and boomkins. None of those classes become viable until you are full AQ40 geared or have GM\HWL gear. Even with full AQ gear you WILL NOT be at the top of the DPS (or anywhere near it).

The way people talk about raiding it makes it seem like people are wiping on Lucifron and cant even fathom killing Garr. Are you guys all idiots? Are bosses not being one shotted on most guilds first runs?

On top of that, this games 10 years old. We aren't exploring space dude. Act like you've been there. Play what you want people.

[PriestInOurTime]

Once warlocks are geared enough to be really good and there are 16 debuff slots bringing a single hybridspec with 20 Points in shadow just keeping the debuff up makes sense, but having that priest do damage rather than healing for the remainder of the time wouldn't be optimal.

[sloasdaylight]

Once warlocks are geared enough to be really good and there are 16 debuff slots bringing a single hybridspec with 20 Points in shadow just keeping the debuff up makes sense, but having that priest do damage rather than healing for the remainder of the time wouldn't be optimal.

I would REALLY like to see that build, because you're either gimping yourself by forgoing meditation, or gimping yourself by forgoing +healing talents in the holy tree.

Also, as a priest who raided as shadow during retail vanilla, I can say pretty assuredly that you don't know what you're talking about. A shadow priest in the Warlock group has fantastic synergy thanks to VE, which keeps the warlocks supplied with health for lifetaps when necessary without a healer needing to be assigned or watching it. Or, you can try putting the priest in the Tank group, which gives the MT and OT a constant stream of heals that's roughly equivalent, if not greater than, a full strength renew on them at all times that basically never falls off. Or, if there's an encounter that has a lot of unavoidable melee damage, you can put the SP in the rogue group for the same reason.

While I agree with you on the debuff slots rationale, bringing a priest with a x/x/20 build just for shadow weaving is a ridiculous attempt at meeting half way.

[PriestInOurTime]

I would REALLY like to see that build, because you're either gimping yourself by forgoing meditation, or gimping yourself by forgoing +healing talents in the holy tree.

[snip]

While I agree with you on the debuff slots rationale, bringing a priest with a x/x/20 build just for shadow weaving is a ridiculous attempt at meeting half way.

http://rpgworld.altervista.org/classic_ ... 0100500000

+/- last Point in Imp. Heal vs Inner Focus. Choises in some of the lower talents are also up for individual small adjustments.

Losing Spiritual Healing is the big one. 10% straight up. Overall the loss should amount ~ 15-20% healing. That is what I'd weigh against the 15% debuff.

The the question is, 80% of a healer or a shadowpriest. In my extensive vanilla retail experience, that choice is easy, in favor of the healer. Perhaps not in MC, but in all other content. Certain individual fights, especially short ones, would be an exception.

Also, as a priest who raided as shadow during retail vanilla, I can say pretty assuredly that you don't know what you're talking about.

I raided a ton in vanilla, ended on 14/15 Naxx, and saw players try out many things. Few ever worked out. Shadow was one of those things that players kept trying to get to work and fail.

A shadow priest in the Warlock group has fantastic synergy thanks to VE, which keeps the warlocks supplied with health for lifetaps when necessary without a healer needing to be assigned or watching it. Or, you can try putting the priest in the Tank group, which gives the MT and OT a constant stream of heals that's roughly equivalent, if not greater than, a full strength renew on them at all times that basically never falls off. Or, if there's an encounter that has a lot of unavoidable melee damage, you can put the SP in the rogue group for the same reason.

Putting the spriest in a Group with the locks seems like the obvious choice, yes. If there is anywhere you'd get overall good results that is where you'd most often find it. The challenge would be in overcoming the mana issues of long fights with a class that lack tools in that department. It is a case of seeing is believing or some convincing math provided for me since noone managed to demonstrate it working in many attempts during vanilla times.

[sloasdaylight]

Putting the spriest in a Group with the locks seems like the obvious choice, yes. If there is anywhere you'd get overall good results that is where you'd most often find it. The challenge would be in overcoming the mana issues of long fights with a class that lack tools in that department. It is a case of seeing is believing or some convincing math provided for me since noone managed to demonstrate it working in many attempts during vanilla times.

I was a member and moderator of the now defunct shadowpriest.com for years, and I really wish it was still online so I could link you to the theorycrafting done on that site and the strategies shadowpriests had for overcoming the mana shortcomings of the spec. It took work, but the spec was much more viable than many people gave it credit for if you were willing to put in the time to farm for what you needed.

[varth]

If you plan on going shadow GET A BEASTS DECK, that thing will increase your dps so much due to having a lot more mana to work with

[Syphonize]

If you plan on going shadow GET A BEASTS DECK, that thing will increase your dps so much due to having a lot more mana to work with

Is this superior to stacking MP5 in your gear? Using Blue Dragon presumably pushes you to grabbing Spirit as well.

I guess I should ask, does Blue Dragon proc off the application of DoTs or Mind Flay? I was under the impression it only proc'd off Mind Blast. If I am wrong here, then increasing your Spirit seems like a great way to abuse the proc off Blue Dragon. The regen it gives you is probably insane because it will very rarely not be active.

I started work on a Shadow Priest spreadsheet but I underestimated how much time it would take and got busy with work. My initial impressions definitely showed that getting some form of mana regen is imperative to your DPS because you are often hindered by lack of mana more than anything else.

Does this stack with Meditation?

[PriestInOurTime]

I guess I should ask, does Blue Dragon proc off the application of DoTs or Mind Flay? I was under the impression it only proc'd off Mind Blast. If I am wrong here, then increasing your Spirit seems like a great way to abuse the proc off Blue Dragon. The regen it gives you is probably insane because it will very rarely not be active.

It is a 2% procrate, so if it does proc from Everything we can assume a chance to proc about once every 2 seconds, I'll use 2.0667 seconds to make the calculation as easy as possible. (Probably more seldom given more Mind Flays and some downtime due to movement but lets be really generous to begin with.)

With that assumption the chance of it being active at any moment except the first 15 seconds of the fight (where the chance is lower) is 1 - 0.98^7 = 13.2%. I'd hardly call 87% of the time rarely.

To calculate for any other time interval the calculation is 1 - 0.98^(15/interval)

As for it stacking with Meditation, in vanilla it did so for a while and then at some point they changed it to cap at 100% regen. I'm not privvy to what the case is on Nostalrius.

[sloasdaylight]

If you plan on going shadow GET A BEASTS DECK, that thing will increase your dps so much due to having a lot more mana to work with

Is this superior to stacking MP5 in your gear? Using Blue Dragon presumably pushes you to grabbing Spirit as well.

I guess I should ask, does Blue Dragon proc off the application of DoTs or Mind Flay? I was under the impression it only proc'd off Mind Blast. If I am wrong here, then increasing your Spirit seems like a great way to abuse the proc off Blue Dragon. The regen it gives you is probably insane because it will very rarely not be active.

I started work on a Shadow Priest spreadsheet but I underestimated how much time it would take and got busy with work. My initial impressions definitely showed that getting some form of mana regen is imperative to your DPS because you are often hindered by lack of mana more than anything else.

Does this stack with Meditation?

Simply put, no, because of your next sentence; spirit is rarely found on good +dmg/healing gear.

Stack Mp5 on your gear instead, and get a stack of mageblood potions for use on raid nights. And don't forget your mana potions and demonic runes!