Do you find shadow priest fun?

Classes Priest
1

According to polls and some post I have read, it seems shadow priest is one of the most fun casters in the game but In my experience I don’t find it fun at all because the following:

  • Lack of burst compared to other classes. (Even affliction has better burst)
  • Inmobile
  • So many buttons that do not have synergy each other
  • Shadow has robably the worst AOE in the game
  • The rotation is a mess when you are in VF. Sometimes I am not sure which button to press for example there are situations when I am not sure if I should priorize void bolt over void torrent
  • The shield looks ugly and outdated as shadow
  • Devouring plague is not a fun spender to press. I do not feel excited like I do with chaos bolt or star surge for example

Why do you find shadow priest fun? I would like to read your opinions

1 Like
2

It is extremely fun. But it is also a dot heavy start up class with a slow leech so comparing it to say a fire mage or an elemental shaman and it’s clearly differences. It is also different playstyle to a lock in most ways too. It took me awhile to warm up to Shadow priest, but not having to rely completely on Void Blast was a nice change from its initial concept. To answer your question, yes I do find it fun. I love its night day difference from the Holy Fire + Smite spam playstyle of holy dps. 1) Shadow is not completely immobile until you flay. You still do dots and PW Death. 2) Shadow has plenty of bursts just between Void dps, SW:Pain initial burst, SW: D, and MB. 3) Shadow is the most synergetic, so I’m not sure I follow. 4) Rotation is buttery smooth to me, but I main Holy and lack the depth of what a true shadow rotation feels in a raid/dung environment. 5) Your opinion and I won’t argue it 6) DP is fun to see lots of burst heals and dps along with your other dots, but its also an opinion. Your big spender really should probably be Void abilities but they did that in BfA and we hated it.

3

It’s all about tradeoffs and whether you find those tradeoffs are a good fit for you, and if you like the general “theme” of the spec.

We have decent, but not amazing, burst. The tradeoff is that we actually do decent damage outside of cooldowns as well. For me, I like being able to deal damage more than 15-20 seconds every 2 or 3 minutes and then feeling like doggy doo every second in between. This is what really turns me off from, say, fire mage.

Spriest’s immobility is real, but a bit overexaggerated, and the workarounds aren’t readily apparent if you’re not too familiar with the spec. You’re right, we do not have great burst mobility, like mage blink or warlock gates (which require optimal positioning and a bit of luck), but we do have short mobility increases with Body and Soul on a near-zero cooldown. At least it’s not like Burning Rush, which deals 4% hp every tick. We also have numerous instant-cast abilities that allow us to stutter-step frequently. Learning when to pre-position well ahead of mechanics is key as shadow, so the more you prioritize a proactive mindset about positioning rather than a reactive mindset with burst mobility the better off you’ll be and the less you’ll feel mobility is an issue.

Protip: choose the Void Elf master race so you have a ghetto blink every 3 minutes to get around bad mechanics like Eye of the Jailer’s insta-kill beam.

As for buttons that don’t have synergy, I think we have something like that with every class. Or worse, a situation where over half of your talents that don’t have much application anywhere. About 75-80% of shadow talents find a use somewhere, whether in PVP, M+, or raiding. I really feel this when I switch over to mage, where it seems like half the talents are dead talents that you just never pick in any scenario.

The rotation in VF just takes some getting used to. After the first few casts it’s really just about spell priorities. It feels hectic at first, but trust me it’s nowhere near as hectic as it was in Legion with high voidform stacks. But some people don’t see it as hectic per se, and really just see it as fast-paced.

I agree the shield looks meh. A shadowy glyph to make it more purply would be much appreciated. I will tell you, though, that in terms of visuals priest has S-tier transmog. And again, if you are void elf master race you get a huge transmog discount, so it never feels like your bank is getting gut-punched while you try out all the cool armor sets.

Also regarding visuals: I really like the shadowy apparitions.

I think Devouring Plague was a bit over-nerfed, and yes it could feel better to press.

I agree shadow’s AOE is terrible. It’s clunky and requires too much of a GCD investment to do anything passing as decent. AOE is not their strength, though, which is single-target (especially with bosses in the execute range).

Here are some other things shadow really brings to the table in my perspective:

Excellent self-healing. To me, this is a major thing. I really dislike having to rely on a healer being competent to save me when my health starts getting low. I like being able to take care of myself sometimes if I need to. Also, shadow has excellent passive self-healing which helps offset the mobility issues somewhat.

I really like the dot playstyle. Especially the “dot and trot” playstyle in open world. Take druid for example. Yes, you hit for more with starsurges, but the druid dots are so meh.

I really like the whole void theme and the theme of messing with people’s heads. And I don’t really like pet classes (shadowfiend notwithstanding). If you like pets then of course me valuing non-pet classes won’t be relevant.

Shadow Word: Death in open world is also very satisfying and convenient to use.

So let’s say none of these qualitative statements sound appealing. Very well. Let’s look at the numbers.

Mythic raiding: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/statistics/28
In terms of all dps, shadow priest is the 6th most popular spec. This is especially relevant when you consider that most raids already have a disc priest - shadow is still finding a spot even when the raid already has the priest class buffs. Shadow is a more popular choice than any rogue, warlock, shaman, or DK DPS spec - and that’s saying a lot in shadow’s favor!

It looks even better when you get to Heroic raiding: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/statistics/28#difficulty=4

Shadow is the 4th most popular raiding dps spec.

Lots of people are finding it fun! But in the end, it’s all about if you find the tradeoffs and the spec’s theme to be a good fit for you. Only you can decide!

Cheers.

5 Likes
4

I don’t understand trade offs at moment cause it seems unless I pop everything once a war or dh or ret gap closes I die. Trade off seems trade everything defensive you have and then die.

5

I like it

I do agree the aoe rotation is trash tho. Searing Nightmare is hot garbage and needs to go away.

There’s also an issue with our aoe abilities not having synergy. For example if you’re running Shadowflame Prism and Searing Nightmare, using one will cause you to lose dps on the other.

This is rare obviously, but it’s still an issue. I’d love if our aoe was as smooth as frost mage. All of their aoe talents/conduits/legendaries play into each other and just work. Shadow really needs that

I also think shadow could have a better insanity spender for aoe. Searing nightmare is just so freaking clunky and boring. Half the time the animation doesn’t even work right and your character will “channel” mind sear but just be standing there. Why can’t void eruption be the spender? It looks cool, does good damage, and it’s not held back by a channel requirement

6

Well you aren’t wrong. Melee are pretty hard to kill in pvp in most situations, but that is really not new. This game has always been more melee sided in pvp situations, with few exceptions. I don’t really know how Shadow is performing in PvP right now tbh. I was talking from a PvE perspective.

7

It’s got several incredibly strong 3s comps and is acceptably good in 2s with a warlock, shadow has a pretty great defensive kit with swap, gfade, Prayer BM, and Dispersion available. Damage is also very solid just not bursty. It’s not sought after in RBGs but in random bgs it’s still pretty good if you’re good at it. Shadow in bgs has always been about keeping your distance / having good positioning because you lack the ability to reliably escape if you’re ever caught in the wrong spot.

As for 1v1s, yeah shadow isn’t great at them.

2 Likes
8

Shadow in bgs has always been about keeping your distance / having good positioning because you lack the ability to reliably escape if you’re ever caught in the wrong spot.

I had a lot of fun in BFA in random BGs with that speed potion that they nerfed into the ground…I forgot its name, but it increased your speed by an absolutely absurd amount. If I popped it right before dispersion and took off, (almost) no one could catch me, even if I was surrounded.

But then, fun detected and all that…

9

Having said that though, I have always subscribed to the theory that in BGs you don’t need to be able to run away from a fight the fastest. You just have to run away slightly faster than someone else.

Usually you can just use the fact that your teammates aren’t as situationally aware as you to get away and leave them for dead, even if they have better tools to disengage, just by being more prepared for the enemy to advance.

And of course the reverse of this. Do not respect melee dps who don’t have cooldowns. People are REALLY bad at doing sustain damage, embarrassingly so. Just cast in their face, drag them backwards and kill them.

10

ied argue spriest is actually one of the scariest 1v1s. Only things i truly hate fighting is wws and ferals. And even then its not a complete sweep.

11

it blows. it has been trash ever since legion.

12

It’s really fun. I like the steady damage profile with a mix of DOTS and standard spells.

13

We have it all. Feels great. Look great.

14

I hate shadow now. I miss BFA spriest. Was my favorite spec in the entire game

1 Like
15

I don’t really understand the playstyle appeal myself. I generally play melee with a caster or two mixed in. Ultimately, Shadow Priest feels chaotic, and not in a good way.

Lack of Burst:
I’m impartial to this. Monk is mostly burst and it’s kind of annoying.

Immobile:
Also impartial. Though, it’s aggravating clipping Void Torrent because of a mechanic.

No Synergy:
I agree. So many things feel unnatural.

AoE Rotation:
It’s incredibly tedious if you’re looking to max out damage.

VF Rotation:
I agree. Things get super chaotic with Void Bolt having a 4 second cooldown.

Shield GFX:
Doesn’t bother me. The entire game looks outdated.

Devouring Plague Spender:
I agree. Why aren’t there more things to spend insanity on? Having Devouring Plague on the GCD and interrupt channels feels so awkward.

I don’t understand the appeal. I get so lost in the rotation constantly. GCD’s feel wasted most of the time. I admit I’m terrible at the spec, but nothing about it seems ergonomic to pick up quickly.

Though, I didn’t necessarily start playing Priest for Shadow. I just need to use it any time I do solo content. It’s painful for me. I’ll end up wasting a GCD more often than not because Mind Flay does not feel like proper filler. I also dread entering Void Form – and what’s with Void Torrent doing so much damage? Everything outside of that feels like a wet noodle.

P.S. I do enjoy the overall aesthetic/design philosophy.

16

To me it’s really fun in PVP. If you are expecting it to have high burst that can instantly kill someone, spriest may not be the right class for you. The fun part of this spec is that you can provide a lot of support to your teammates. For example, you can MD, purge, heal, and grip. You can also have your own CC chain like stun, silence, and mind control, not to mention a bunch of defensive cooldowns.

When you burst on the right time it’s satisfying to see your opponent losing health bit by bit and die. In terms of M+ and raid, I would say it’s really not the best but still you can provide variety of supports to your team. I would say Spriest is like a support DPS that can wear different hats when certain situation happens. I know some people want to be super hero in which spriest might not be a ideal spec to play.