Dcm
idc
Greetings! As you guys may know, a fellow member of Twink Info has already created a welly detailed guide about priests, but his is more specifically about priest healing. A few things are mentioned about Shadow within the guide, but right now, the purpose of this thread is to go more in depth of the fully designated DPS spec. Please feel free to leave feedback regarding such things I should include in the guide. Constructive criticism is enforced, but please no flaming.
Also, if you are not looking for information on Shadow as much as Holy/Disc, I highly reccomend going to this guide instead: http://www.twinkinfo...wink-guide.html
*Last Updated for Patch 4.3*
~Table of Contents~
1. What DCM has to say about Shadow..
2. Upcomming Changes Regarding Shadow
3. Gear, Hit Rating, and Enchants
4. Talents
5. Races
6. Professions
7. Conclusion
1. What DCM has to say about Shadow..
Shadow is straight forward DPS. You do not see many Shadow Priests running around because not many people know how to play this spec, for which it is the most difficult of the 3. Personally, I enjoy playing Shadow more then any other spec a Priest has to offer. As many say, Shadow is infact "gimped", but if you know how to play, you can deal out some mean crits which can keep your enemys on their toes. Not to mention, you pick up a 50% constant slowing effect, which can be amazing for Premades. Also, I think this is a risky spec, because you are not nearly as superior as Disc or Holy Priests.
2. Upcomming Changes Regarding Shadow
No changes for 4.3. Atleast it's better then getting nerfed!
Also, if anyone has the beta, I would appreciate if they would give me a small rundown on anymore changes. Thanks!
As for Monks of Pandaria....
Unfortunately, we are not receiving a buff (or a huge one atleast). We keep SOME of our main DPS utilities, but unfortunatley as an overall priest, we lose Fortitude and Renew(for the time being), Mind Blast (Moved to a level 21 specialization. /sob) and we have to chose between Psycic Scream, Void Tendrils(sounds like a warlock ability o_0) and Psychfiend. \To check them out for yourself, go here: http://us.battle.net...t-calculator#Xb
3. Gear, Hit Rating, and Enchants
As Shadow, you will need to achieve hit cap of 7. There are many ways to obtain this, but listed below is what I think is the best way to get it. Just my opinion though, feel free to mix n' match all of the available options.
~Gear~ This is my idea of a BiS priest set up. Although there are many other options. The following link also shows reccomended enchants.
BiS Shadow
4. Talents
There are 2 talent trees I would like to go with.
This is if you are already hitcapped, offers a reduced CD to a useful CC. I feel this is the best pugging spec(I say this because having a shadow priest in a premade is extremely uncommon) : Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
This is if you have not obtained hitcap yet with any of the items provided for your faction: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
***Note- Improved Mind Blast would not be as viable as your 2 other choices. I will explain more of this later on in the guide.
5. Races
Horde-
Blood Elf- Best Offensive racial there is. If you are Shadow in a premade on offence, Arcane Torrent could make a huge game changing difference. 19 Arcane Resistence is also offered which is harsh against Arcane Mages and Hunters.
Troll- Another good Offensive Racial. Berserking offers 20% haste which helps with Mind Flays and Mind Blast casts. Also offers 15% reduced duratation with movement imparing effects. Somewhat useful against Hunters, Mages, and Warriors.
Alliance-
Human- Best offensive racial. 2 min PvP trinket along with a free trinket space for another Discerning Eye of the Beast or Arena Grand Master. Offers 3% spirit which can be useful. The only downfall to this race is there is no passive resistance.
Draenei- This race is one of my favorite as alliance because of their racials, Gift of the Naaru. Which heals you or another target for 20% of their maximum health. If you roll this class you can probably knock off about 1 or 2 hit rating from the requirement for the racial. Allowing you to stack other offensive stats such as crit, haste, and intellect. In my opinion, this is an excellent race to choose. Also offers 19 shadow resistence which helps against warlocks and other priests.
Gnome- This is also another excellent choice. They give escape artist, to get out of slows and roots. Also offers a 5% larger mana pool. Extra things that are given are 15 extra points in Engineering (gives you Jumper Cables for fun), and 19 Arcane resistance against mages and druids.
6. Professions
As Shadow, of course the 2 best professions you could get would be Skinning and Herbalism. Skinning gives 9 crit, while herbalism's proc grants 55 haste. This much haste can make a huge DPS difference.
Mining would not much much of a use as Shadow. For Defensive proffesions, Engineering and Herbalism would be the best choice. Bombs, dynamyte, Sheep ect. Although you won't see many Defensive Shadow Priests sitting around.
7. Conclusion
Since you have all of your gear and enchants sorted out, I would reccomend checking out my 2nd guide on how to play a shadow priest. Hopefully it will encourage people to try it out for a change.
http://www.twinkinfo...-shadow-priest/
Cheers, and have fun!!
-Dcm <33
Also, if you are not looking for information on Shadow as much as Holy/Disc, I highly reccomend going to this guide instead: http://www.twinkinfo...wink-guide.html
*Last Updated for Patch 4.3*
~Table of Contents~
1. What DCM has to say about Shadow..
2. Upcomming Changes Regarding Shadow
3. Gear, Hit Rating, and Enchants
4. Talents
5. Races
6. Professions
7. Conclusion
1. What DCM has to say about Shadow..
Shadow is straight forward DPS. You do not see many Shadow Priests running around because not many people know how to play this spec, for which it is the most difficult of the 3. Personally, I enjoy playing Shadow more then any other spec a Priest has to offer. As many say, Shadow is infact "gimped", but if you know how to play, you can deal out some mean crits which can keep your enemys on their toes. Not to mention, you pick up a 50% constant slowing effect, which can be amazing for Premades. Also, I think this is a risky spec, because you are not nearly as superior as Disc or Holy Priests.
2. Upcomming Changes Regarding Shadow
No changes for 4.3. Atleast it's better then getting nerfed!
Also, if anyone has the beta, I would appreciate if they would give me a small rundown on anymore changes. Thanks!
As for Monks of Pandaria....
Unfortunately, we are not receiving a buff (or a huge one atleast). We keep SOME of our main DPS utilities, but unfortunatley as an overall priest, we lose Fortitude and Renew(for the time being), Mind Blast (Moved to a level 21 specialization. /sob) and we have to chose between Psycic Scream, Void Tendrils(sounds like a warlock ability o_0) and Psychfiend. \To check them out for yourself, go here: http://us.battle.net...t-calculator#Xb
3. Gear, Hit Rating, and Enchants
As Shadow, you will need to achieve hit cap of 7. There are many ways to obtain this, but listed below is what I think is the best way to get it. Just my opinion though, feel free to mix n' match all of the available options.
~Gear~ This is my idea of a BiS priest set up. Although there are many other options. The following link also shows reccomended enchants.
BiS Shadow
4. Talents
There are 2 talent trees I would like to go with.
This is if you are already hitcapped, offers a reduced CD to a useful CC. I feel this is the best pugging spec(I say this because having a shadow priest in a premade is extremely uncommon) : Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
This is if you have not obtained hitcap yet with any of the items provided for your faction: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
***Note- Improved Mind Blast would not be as viable as your 2 other choices. I will explain more of this later on in the guide.
5. Races
Horde-
Blood Elf- Best Offensive racial there is. If you are Shadow in a premade on offence, Arcane Torrent could make a huge game changing difference. 19 Arcane Resistence is also offered which is harsh against Arcane Mages and Hunters.
Troll- Another good Offensive Racial. Berserking offers 20% haste which helps with Mind Flays and Mind Blast casts. Also offers 15% reduced duratation with movement imparing effects. Somewhat useful against Hunters, Mages, and Warriors.
Alliance-
Human- Best offensive racial. 2 min PvP trinket along with a free trinket space for another Discerning Eye of the Beast or Arena Grand Master. Offers 3% spirit which can be useful. The only downfall to this race is there is no passive resistance.
Draenei- This race is one of my favorite as alliance because of their racials, Gift of the Naaru. Which heals you or another target for 20% of their maximum health. If you roll this class you can probably knock off about 1 or 2 hit rating from the requirement for the racial. Allowing you to stack other offensive stats such as crit, haste, and intellect. In my opinion, this is an excellent race to choose. Also offers 19 shadow resistence which helps against warlocks and other priests.
Gnome- This is also another excellent choice. They give escape artist, to get out of slows and roots. Also offers a 5% larger mana pool. Extra things that are given are 15 extra points in Engineering (gives you Jumper Cables for fun), and 19 Arcane resistance against mages and druids.
6. Professions
As Shadow, of course the 2 best professions you could get would be Skinning and Herbalism. Skinning gives 9 crit, while herbalism's proc grants 55 haste. This much haste can make a huge DPS difference.
Mining would not much much of a use as Shadow. For Defensive proffesions, Engineering and Herbalism would be the best choice. Bombs, dynamyte, Sheep ect. Although you won't see many Defensive Shadow Priests sitting around.
7. Conclusion
Since you have all of your gear and enchants sorted out, I would reccomend checking out my 2nd guide on how to play a shadow priest. Hopefully it will encourage people to try it out for a change.
http://www.twinkinfo...-shadow-priest/
Cheers, and have fun!!
-Dcm <33
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