Are the changes to shadow priest a buff?

[Mahouneko-stormrage]

@Qaccy-baelgun

Dispersion is a 6-second self-pacify that reduces damage taken by 75% and breaks/makes you immune to snares. As a spec-exclusive talent and Shadow’s only major defensive button, it falls short of other defensive CDs either by not reducing as much damage or by pacifying the user. Usually a defensive that removes the ability to attack and/or move includes full immunity. Look at Paladin, Mage, Hunter, and even Havoc Demon Hunter can talent into Netherwalk. Mage can additionally talent into Ice Cold to retain the ability to move/attack in exchange for Ice Block becoming a 90% DR instead of full immunity.

You have fade which is a 10% DR with talents (and a super short CD), and can cast flash heal on yourself for another 10% with no cooldown. You have a bubble you can cast on yourself for more mitigation. You passively take 3% less damage from everything.

So you basically have 25% DR against quite literally everything that hits you with almost no cooldown. And if that fails you have desperate prayer, angelic bulwark, dispersion…

Compare that to something like arms, they’ve only got die by the sword and that’s a long CD.

@Qaccy-baelgun

The only interrupt with a longer cooldown than Silence is Solar Beam on Balance Druid, but that’s a persistent aoe silence as opposed to a single-target cast that can be whiffed. But in practice, aside from the reality that you often can’t take Silence in the first place, Solar Beam ultimately has the same cooldown because the talent that reduces its cooldown is in the middle of the class tree while for Shadow it’s a dead-end choice node with Psychic Horror. Speaking of which…

You have mind control, you have silence, you have fear, you have a stun. You have plenty of ways to stop casts. Having a long interrupt CD is the tax you pay for having PI.

@Qaccy-baelgun

Psychic Horror is simply not able to be taken in virtually any scenario. It’s not a bad ability as a ranged stun, but its placement in the talent tree just isn’t feasible. Being a dead-end node at the top of the tree is a non-starter, even if it’s Shadow’s only option for stunning something.

I took it just fine. My build on my priest sims at like 96% and I have all sorts of non-meta stuff.