Everything I read about shadow priest rotations says you get 2 GCDs between Void Bolts, but I don’t think I get even 1.5. Often if I cast Shadow Word: Void right after a Void Bolt, I have the briefest moment before Void Bolt is ready again. My internet connection is fine, but I was wondering if my video card might be lagging enough to make this happen? But even if I spam keys I can’t get 2 GCDs of spells off.
It’s only 2 GCDs if it’s 2 instant cast spells
Shadow Word: Void has a cast time that is longer than the GCD. So when you cast it, the cast time is clipping into the second GCD, which is why you can only get 1 spell off between.
Most of the time you’ll be able to cast say, Shadow Crash, then get 1 GCD worth of mindlfay off before the next voidbolt, but otherwise, Shadow Word: Void will clip the GCD
Incorrect. Both SWV and VT cast times are the same are your GCD, same with mass dispel and even shadow mend. The only spells that don’t have a 1 GCD cast time are void eruption and dark void.
No. This is also not the case. We don’t use SWV twice in a row because it’s significantly more likely to waste the insanity generation of the second SWV, especially when you have a whispers trait and aren’t entirely clear on how much insanity you’re going to generate per SWV.
It’s sort of a problem on blizzard’s end moreso than yours. Your haste is also painfully low which may be a factor, though I’ve not experienced haste levels that low for a very long time. But the reason that affects most people is that void bolt is a very short cooldown that is affected by your constantly changing amount of haste, because of all of this the best blizzard’s netcode can do with regards to showing you the cooldown is guess, it’s very often off by a small amount, but a small amount is enough for you to feel like you can’t get another spell in before it’s back up.
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/7Ymx9TLwXvzMZWky#fight=155&type=casts&source=2325&view=timeline
Looking at a cast timeline of one of your most recent logs, we can see the issue you’re having much more clearly, with not only gaps between void bolts but long periods of time without void bolt being cast, the key to doing good damage is strong rotational consistency (And azerite traits). Trust the rotation more than what you see on the screen.
There is also an additional phenomenon which occurs, often with geared characters, that there is a haste breakpoint at which the number of GCDs of casting between each bolt does become 1. This occurs at or above 142-147% haste (Depends a little on your Ms), this is either when overwhelming power azerite traits proc during bloodlust, or on the zaqul encounter in the delirium realm.
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/rXZz2VDdcvwARyqY#fight=36&type=casts&view=timeline&source=10
Here’s a cast timeline of one of my more recent fights, here you can see how the consistent rotation should look, as well as an example of that 142-147+ haste rotation change between seconds 34 and 39.
I hope this has cleared everything up.
Ellipsis…
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There’s also a visual reason why you might feel you’re only getting 1 GCD between casts (when you’re really getting 2) because if your current cooldown is <= the GCD then it will sync up with the GCD spin on the icons. That can lead to it looking there’s only 1 GCD between casts when really there isn’t. Putting numbers on your cooldowns either via OmniCC (it’s better than the Blizzard method, especially with how it handles charges) or some other method can help alleviate this feelycraft.
Bottom line, VB has a cooldown of 4.5s (3 GCDs) that scales with haste in the same fashion as the GCD. The VB cast itself eats 1 of those GCDs leaving you with 2. Until your haste is high enough that your cast times are lower than the minimum GCD there will always be 2 GCDs between VBs.
Thanks so much! I have a lot to chew through here.
If you want some help working through it then you can add and message me on discord
Ellipsis - Ice Bear#7667
You can also find me on the priest discord server https://discord.gg/warcraftpriests