With the start of the Dragonflight Beta the priest talent trees got a massive overhaul. Due to size of the changes i’d like to start a new thread to focus discussion and feedback on the updated trees.
Beta Patchnotes:
Talent Calculator on Wowhead:
Links:
Previous thread: (BETA) Dragonflight Priest Talent Tree Feedback Thread - #1950 by Aneurysm-nerzhul
Beta Forum Thread: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/feedback-priests/1279512/1
Class Tree Feedback
Overall the new class tree is a huge improvement over the previous version, offering a lot of freedom in the selection of talents based on your want and needs.
First Gate Talents
My favorite part of the class tree. Each spec gets two free talents, with very few (maybe two) talent points that are required picks. That allows for a lot of freedom to pick between various utilities like dispels, movement, or crowd control. It’s just overall a very good start to the tree.
As a wish, i’d really like to see the Vault of Heavens legendary added to this tier.
Second Gate Talents
This area has a bit more mandatory talent picks with Power Infusion, Twins, Twist of Fate and Improved Mind Blast/Focused Will, but is still offers six talent points that can be spent freely on any selection of tier one or two talents.
Some pain points include talents that are still rather restrictive for some specs: Vampiric Embrace only works with Shadow spells, having limited use for the holy. Similarily, Unwaring Will has no effect for Shadow, locking out the leftmost part of the final talent tier for Shadowpriests.
Third Gate Talents
Overall a good selection of utility talents with Mindgames, Divine Star/Halo and Void Shift. My primary critique here would be that the left path in combination with Unwavering and Surge of Light feels rather bad for Shadowpriests. Some talent swaps (e.g. light’s inspiration in the place of surge of light) or an additiona link (e.g. from Inspiration to Angels Mercy to bypass unwavering will) could help a lot here.
Priest Class 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant
Priest Class 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant (Readable)
Moves some stuff around, combined some stuff, removed some stuff and adjusted pathing slightly.
Vampiric Embrace
San’layn
Light’s Inspiration
Leap of Faith (Add Vault of Heavens as a (Switch) Choice talent)
Vault of Heavens
Causes you to leap to your target.
Psychic Voice (Add Petrified as a (Switch) Choice talent)
Petrified
Targets of your Psychic Scream now tremble in place instead of fleeing in fear.
Translucent Image
Fade reduces damage you take by 10%.
Angelic Bulwark
When an attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 15% of your maximum health for 20 sec. Cannot occur more than once every 90 sec.
While you have Power Word: Shield on yourself, you take 10% less damage.
Silence
Silences the target, preventing them from casting spells for 4 sec. Against non-players, also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec.
Last Word
Reduces the cooldown of Silence by 15 sec.
Inner Focus
Instant 3 min cooldown
When activated, reduces the Mana cost of your next 3 spells by 100% and increases its critical effect chance by 25% if it is capable of a critical effect.
Spectral Guise
Instant 30 sec cooldown
Your shadow blurs into the darkness, leaving your true form behind. As a shadow you are stealthed, but remain in combat. Lasts 6 sec or until your true form is hit by 3 direct attacks.
Renewed Bulwark (Replaces Light’s Inspiration)
Your Power Word: Shield has a 50/100% chance to apply or extend renew by 6 sec to your target.
Notes…
Put Silence at Vampiric Embraces location.
Add Spectral Guise around that area.
Light’s Inspiration
Desperate Prayer heals you for an additional 5/10% of your maximum health over 5 sec.
Silence
An additional idea for this talent can bake in a cooldown reduction instead of an additional point in Last Words.
So something like this…
This will reward players if they actually interrupt instead of blanket silence by allowing the usage more often.
So after reading and watching and my own theory crafting on what would be “fun” to play Shadow as, I took the new current talent tree for Shadow and rearranged it a bit and removed/added things that I don’t think really mattered / made much of an impact.
Shadow Priest 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant
Shadow Priest 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant (Readable)
Vampiric Insight - Gave it back its +1 Mind Blast Charge. Combined it with Mind Melt as a (Choice) Swap talent since they both allow different ways to get an instant cast Mind Blast
Mind Melt - Added +20% damage since you cant reset it from Vampiric Insight. Now it will hit harder when you get the instant cast effect from Mind Melt +2 stacks.
OR
Mind Melt (Reduce the cooldown of Mind Blast from Mind Spike) (Prefer this one)
Mind Spike reduces cast time of your next Mind Blast by 50%, stacking up to 2 times.
Lasts 6 sec.
Your Mind Spikes reduce the cooldown on Mind Blast by 1.5 or 2 sec.
Void Torrent (Now a (Choice) talent with Damnation)
Channel a torrent of void energy into the target, dealing (306% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 3 sec and extending the duration of all your active Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch spells by 1 sec each time it deals damage.
During Dark Ascension or Voidform, extends the duration by 2 sec each time it deals damage.
Generates 60 Insanity over the duration.
Dark Ascension & Void Eruption are now a (Choice) Swap talent.
Mind Flay Insanity (Now a (Choice) talent with Shadow Crash)
Vampiric Embrace - Swapped with Silence.
Sanguine Teachings - Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague heals you and your group or raid for 25% of the damage dealt.
Living Shadow (Changed it activation trigger)
Mind Blast has a 20% chance to cause your shadow to animate after a moment. For 10 sec, whenever you cast a spell, your shadow will cast a similar spell.
Unstable Darkness (Changed name from Ancient Madness to more align with both Dark Ascension & Void Eruption Themes)
Dark Ascension
[Voidform]
increases your critical strike chance by 15/30% for 15 sec, reducing by 2% every sec.
Dark Ascension: Death (Replaced Surrender to Madness)
While under the effects of Dark Ascension, your Shadow Word: Deaths cooldown is reduced by 50% and does 100% additional damage to targets afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch & Devouring Plague.
OR Alternate Version
Notes…
Shadow Orbs (Potential Idea for how this can work)
Your Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Flay have 5% chance to generate a Shadow Orb each time they deal damage. Max 3.
Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike consume all Shadow Orbs and deal [15% of mastery] more damage per Shadow Orb consumed.
Harnessed Shadows (Potential Idea for how this can work)
During Dark Ascension or Voidform, Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike deal damage as though they consumed 3 Shadow Orbs.
Dark Ascension
Cata version…
Dark Archangel (Dark Evangelism) - Instantly restores 5% of your total mana and increases the damage done by your Mind Flay, Mind Spike, Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death by 4% for each stack. Lasts for 18sec. 90 sec cooldown.
Suggested new Dragonflight version…
Dark Ascension
Consumes Dark Evangelism to increases the damage done by your Mind Flay, Mind Spike, Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death by 4% for each stack consumed. Lasts 18 sec.
Mind Flay: Insanity (Would be nice if this applied “insanity” buff to Mind Sear as well) (See below)
Insanity
Casting Devouring Plague transforms your Mind Flay and Mind Sear spell into Insanity for 5 sec. Insanity deals 80% more damage.
Idol of Yogg-Saron & Idol of N’Zoth and to a lesser extent, Idol of C’thun Issues…
The problem with these talents is that they are “random” and out of the players control. Meaning for example when they might “proc” it can happen at the WORST time. Meaning they are unreliable. Something like procing on the last mob alive in a pack of mobs and thus wasting it completely.
A possible solution is to make them have a “trigger” button from a ability we already press. The best candidate for this is Devouring Plague. Example below…
Mind Spike & Voidbolt
Thinking Going into Voidform should instead just make Mind Spike do what Voidbolt does. Since it wont have a cooldown, it will be less effective or have an entire new effect. This “Void version” of Mind Spike would NOT strip dots.
Vampiric Embrace
VE should be ONLY in Shadows Tree
Another Version of the NEW Shadow Talent Tree…
This makes adjustment to the Voidform Playstyle
Shadow Priest 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant - 02
Shadow Priest 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant - 02 (Readable)
This version changes the way Voidform interacts with Hungering Void.
(Removed) Void Bolt
(New) Irrationality
Each application of Mind Spike on your target increases the critical strike chance of Mind Spike by 5%. Stacks up to 3 times.
Casting Mind Blast reduces the cast time on Mind Spike by 20% for 3 sec.
(Changed) Hungering Void
While under the effects of Voidform, Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike can cleave up to 3 targets and applies Void Vulnerability, increasing the damage of your Mind Spells by 10% stacking up to 3 for 10 sec.
Casting Mind Spike while in Voidform no longer extinguishes your dots.
TTM Export (Use link for application & code below for to import talent tree)
GitHub - TobiasM95/WoW-Talent-Tree-Manager: WoW Talent Tree Manager
Custom Icons (You may not need to download these but here if it gives you any trouble)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pnZAn1oExcEOPhhgjO8NiQjE2YOT_fa2
TTM Code Import
- 1.3.7:custom:1:Shadow Priest DF Variant:This is the preset for the Shadow Priest.__n__You can start editing the tree/loadout now.::41:1;0:Devouring Plague:Afflicts the target with a disease that instantly causes (49.036% of Spell power) Shadow damage plus an additional 4 Shadow damage over 6 sec. Heals you for 50% of damage dealt.__n____n__If this effect is reapplied__cm__ any remaining damage will be added to the new Devouring Plague.:0:1:7:1:0:0::4,2,3:devouringPlague.png,default.png;2:Shadowy Apparitions:When you use Mind Blast__cm__ Devouring Plague or Void Bolt you also create a shadowy version of yourself that floats towards all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch dealing (17% of Spell power)% Shadow damage.__n____n__Critical strikes will cause two Apparitions to be created.:1:3:7:1:0:0:0:43,7,6:shadowyApparitions.png,default.png;3:Mind Sear:Corrosive shadow energy radiates from the target__cm__ dealing [(29.484% of Spell power) * 4] Shadow damage over 4 sec to all enemies within 10 yards of the target.__n____n__Costs 25 Insanity every 1 sec while channeled.:0:3:9:1:0:0:0::mindSear.png,default.png;4:Psychic Horror:Terrifies the target in place__cm__ stunning them for 4 sec.:1:3:5:1:0:0:0::psychicHorror.png,lastWord.png;5:Misery:Vampiric Touch also applies Shadow Word__cl__ Pain to the target. Shadow Word__cl__ Pain lasts an additional 5 sec.:1:7:3:1:0:0:43:17,8:misery.png,darkVoid.png;6:Auspicious Spirits,Tormented Spirits:Your Shadowy Apparitions now deal 15% increased damage and generate 2 Insanity.,Your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain damage has a 5% chance to create a shadowy version of yourself that floats towards all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch. __n____n__Critical strikes increase the chance to 10%.:2:5:7:1:0:0:2::auspiciousSpirits.png,tormentedSpirits.png;7:Dispersion:Disperse into pure shadow energy__cm__ reducing all damage taken by 75% for 6 sec and healing you for __n____n__Intangibility__n__50__n____n__25% of your maximum health over its duration__cm__ but you are unable to attack or cast spells.__n____n__Increases movement speed by 50% and makes you immune to all movement impairing effects.__n____n__Castable while stunned__cm__ feared__cm__ or silenced.:0:5:9:1:0:0:2:10,12:dispersion.png,default.png;8:Shadow Orbs:Your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Mind Flay have 5% chance to generate a Shadow Orb each time they deal damage. Max 3.__n____n__Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike consume all Shadow Orbs and deal [15% of mastery] more damage per Shadow Orb consumed.:1:9:1:1:8:0:5:19:shadowOrbsNyi.png,default.png;9:Hallucinations,Tithe Evasion:Your successful Dispel Magic__cm__ Mass Dispel__cm__ Purify Disease__cm__ Vampiric Embrace__cm__ and Power Word__cl__ Shield casts generate 6 Insanity during combat.,Shadow Word__cl__ Death deals 75% less damage to the caster.:2:11:5:1:8:0:44:29,21,25:hallucinations.png,titheEvasion.png;10:Mind Spike:Blasts the target for (80% of Spell power) Shadowfrost damage__cm__ but extinguishes your shadow damage-over-time effects. Increases the critical strike chance of your next Mind Blast by 30%__cm__ stacking up to 3 times.__n____n__Generates 6 Insanity.:0:7:11:1:0:0:7:16,11:mindSpike.png,default.png;11:Vampiric Insight,Mind Melt:Vampiric Touch periodic damage has a chance to reset the remaining cooldown on Mind Blast and cause your next Mind Blast to be instant.__n____n__Mind Blast gains 1 additional charge.,Mind Spike reduces cast time of your next Mind Blast by 50%__cm__ stacking up to 2 times.__n____n__Lasts 6 sec.__n____n__Your instant cast Mind Blast deals 20% additional damage.:2:9:11:1:8:0:12,10:22:vampiricInsight.png,mindMelt.png;12:Intangibility,Mental Fortitude:Dispersion heals you for an additional 25% of your maximum health over its duration and its cooldown is reduced by 30 sec.,Healing from Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague when you are at maximum health will shield you for the same amount. Shield cannot exceed (Total health * 10 / 100) damage absorbed.:2:7:9:1:0:0:7:18,24,11:intangibility.png,mentalFortitude.png;13:Puppet Master NYI:Coming soon!,:1:17:3:2:20:0:28:40:puppetMasterNyi.png,default.png;14:Damnation,Void Torrent:Instantly afflicts the target with Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague.,Channel a torrent of void energy into the target__cm__ dealing (306% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 3 sec and extending the duration of all your active Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Vampiric Touch spells by 1 sec each time it deals damage. __n__During Dark Ascension or Voidform__cm__ extends the duration by 2 sec each time it deals damage.__n____n__Generates 60 Insanity over the duration.:2:11:3:1:8:0:17:25:damnation.png,voidTorrent.png;16:Surge of Darkness:Your Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague damage have a chance to cause your next Mind Spike to not consume your damage over time effects__cm__ be instant__cm__ and deal 50% additional damage. Stacks up to 3 times.:1:9:13:1:8:0:10:46:surgeOfDarkness.png,default.png;17:Mental Decay:The duration of your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Vampiric Touch is increased by 1 sec when enemies suffer Mind Flay or Mind Sear damage.:1:9:3:1:8:0:5:14:mentalDecay.png,default.png;18:Dark Evangelism:Your Mind Flay and Mind Sear damage increases the damage of your periodic Shadow effects by 2%__cm__ stacking up to 5 times.:1:9:7:1:8:0:12,44:23:darkEvangelism.png,default.png;19:Harnessed Shadows:During Dark Ascension or Voidform__cm__ Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike deal damage as though they consumed 3 Shadow Orbs.:1:11:1:1:8:0:8:28,25:harnessedShadowsNyi.png,default.png;21:Psychic Link:Mind Blast and Mind Spike deal 15% of its damage to all other targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards.,Mind Blast and Mind Spike deal 30% of its damage to all other targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards.:1:13:7:2:8:0:9,23,24:29,30:psychicLink.png,default.png;22:Mind Flay Insanity,Shadow Crash:Casting Devouring Plague transforms your Mind Flay spell into Mind Flay__cl__ Insanity for 5 sec. Mind Flay__cl__ Insanity deals 80% more damage than Mind Flay.,Hurl a bolt of slow-moving Shadow energy at the destination__cm__ dealing (191.25% of Spell power) Shadow damage to all targets within 8 yards and applying Vampiric Touch to 4 of them.__n____n__Generates 15 Insanity.:2:11:11:1:8:0:11:26:mindFlayInsanity.png,shadowCrash.png;23:Dark Ascension,Void Eruption:Consumes Dark Evangelism to increase the damage of your non-periodic Shadow spells by 4% per stack consumed. Lasts 18 sec.,Releases an explosive blast of pure void energy__cm__ activating Voidform and causing [(64.6% of Spell power) * 2] Shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yds of your target.:2:11:7:1:8:0:18:21:darkAscension.png,voidEruption.png;24:Unfurling Darkness:After casting Vampiric Touch on a target__cm__ your next Vampiric Touch within 8 sec is instant cast and deals (105.4% of Spell power) Shadow damage immediately.__n____n__This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 sec.:1:11:9:1:8:0:12:30,26,21:unfurlingDarkness.png,default.png;25:Maddening Touch:Vampiric Touch has a 50% chance to generate 1 Insanity each time it deals damage.,Vampiric Touch has a 100% chance to generate 1 Insanity each time it deals damage.:1:13:3:2:8:0:9,19,14:28,29:maddeningTouch.png,default.png;26:Whispers of the Damned:Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike critical strikes generate an additional 3 Insanity.,Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike critical strikes generate an additional 6 Insanity.:1:13:11:2:8:0:24,46,22:45,30:whispersOfTheDamned.png,default.png;28:Mindbender,Idol of Y'Shaarj:Summons a Mindbender to attack the target for 15 sec.__n____n__Generates 5 Insanity each time the Mindbender attacks.,Shadowfiend causes you to gain a benefit based on your target's current emotional state.:2:15:1:1:20:0:19,25:13,32:mindbender.png,idolOfYshaarj.png;29:Pain of Death:Increases the damage dealt by Shadow Word__cl__ Death by 25%.__n____n__Shadow Word__cl__ Death deals 20% of its damage to all targets affected by your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain within 40 yards.:1:15:5:1:20:0:9,21,25:33,35:painOfDeath.png,mindFlayInsanity.png;30:Derangement:Increases the initial damage of Devouring Plague by 75%.__n____n__Mind Sear deals damage 20% faster.:1:15:9:1:20:0:24,26,21:35,36,37:derangement.png,default.png;32:Fiending Dark:Your Mind Flay and Mind Spike critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 3 sec or Mindbender by 1 sec.,Your Mind Flay and Mind Spike critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 6 sec or Mindbender by 2 sec.:1:17:1:2:20:0:28:39:fiendingDark.png,default.png;33:Monomania:While channeling Mind Flay or Mind Sear__cm__ the tick rate of your Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word__cl__ Pain on your current target is increased by 25% and their crit chance is increased by 3%.,While channeling Mind Flay or Mind Sear__cm__ the tick rate of your Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word__cl__ Pain on your current target is increased by 50% and their crit chance is increased by 6%.:1:17:5:2:20:0:29:40:monomania.png,default.png;35:Mastermind:Increases the critical strike chance of Mind Spike and Mind Blast by 3% and increases their critical strike damage bonus by 15%.,Increases the critical strike chance of Mind Spike and Mind Blast by 6% and increases their critical strike damage bonus by 30%.:1:17:7:2:20:0:29,30:41:mastermind.png,default.png;36:Insidious Ire:While you have Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Devouring Plague__cm__ and Vampiric Touch active on the same target__cm__ your Mind Blast deals 20% more damage.,While you have Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Devouring Plague__cm__ and Vampiric Touch active on the same target__cm__ your Mind Blast deals 40% more damage.:1:17:9:2:20:0:30:41:insidiousIre.png,default.png;37:Mind Devourer:Mind Blast has a 8% chance to make your next Devouring Plague cost no insanity.,Mind Blast has a 16% chance to make your next Devouring Plague cost no insanity.:1:17:11:2:20:0:30,45:41:mindDevourer.png,default.png;38:Unstable Darkness:Voidform increases your critical strike chance by 15% for 15 sec__cm__ reducing by 1% every sec.,Voidform increases your critical strike chance by 30% for 15 sec__cm__ reducing by 1% every sec.:1:17:13:2:20:0:45:42:voidApparitions.png,default.png;39:Shadowflame Prism:Mind Blast and Shadow Word__cl__ Death cause your Shadowfiend or Mindbender to teleport behind your target__cm__ slashing up to 5 nearby enemies for __n____n__Mindbender__n__[.442 * (190% of Spell power)]__n____n__[.408 * (190% of Spell power)] Shadowflame damage. Each time a rift is triggered__cm__ the duration of Shadowfiend or Mindbender is increased by 1.0 sec.:1:19:1:1:20:0:32::shadowflamePrism.png,default.png;40:Idol of C'Thun,Idol of Yogg-Saron:Mind Flay and Mind Sear have a chance to spawn a Void Tendril or Void Lasher that channels at your target for 15 sec__cm__ generating 3 insanity every 1 sec.,After conjuring 50 Shadowy Apparitions__cm__ you summon a Thing from Beyond that serves you for 20 sec. The Thing from Beyond blasts enemies for (25.1% of Spell power) Shadow damage.:2:19:5:1:20:0:33,13::idolOfCthun.png,idolOfYoggsaron.png;41:Idol of N'Zoth,Lunacy:Damage dealt by Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Vampiric Touch__cm__ and Devouring Plague has a 20% chance to apply Echoing Void.__n____n__Each time Echoing Void is applied__cm__ it has a chance to collapse__cm__ dealing (50% of Attack power) Shadow damage to all nearby enemies until no stacks remain.,Reduces the Insanity cost of Devouring Plague by 10.__n____n__Reduces the Insanity drained when Mind Sear deals damage by 5.:2:19:9:1:20:0:36,35,37::idolOfNzoth.png,lunacy.png;42:Hungering Void,Dark Ascension__cl__ Death:While under the effects of Voidform__cm__ Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike can cleave up to 3 targets and applies Void Vulnerability__cm__ increasing the damage of your Mind Spells by 10% stacking up to 3 for 10 sec.__n____n__Casting Mind Spike while in Voidform no longer extinguishes your dots.,While under the effects of Dark Ascension__cm__ Your Shadow Word__cl__ Deaths critical strike damage bonus is increased by 30% and it cools down 100% faster.__n____n__Shadow Word__cl__ Death deals damage as though the target is below 20% health during this effect:2:19:13:1:20:0:38::hungeringVoid.png,Death.png;43:Vampiric Embrace:Fills you with the embrace of Shadow energy for 15 sec__cm__ causing you to heal a nearby ally for 50% of any single-target Shadow spell damage you deal.:0:5:5:1:0:0:2:5,44:vampiricEmbrace.png,default.png;44:San'layn,Sanguine Teachings:Reduces the cooldown of Vampiric Embrace by 45 sec and increases its healing done by 25%.,Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague heals you and your group or raid for 25% of the damage dealt.:2:7:5:1:0:0:43:18,9:sanlayn.png,sanguineTeachings.png;45:Living Shadow:Mind Blast has a 20% chance to cause your shadow to animate after a moment. For 10 sec__cm__ whenever you cast a spell__cm__ your shadow will cast a similar spell.:1:15:13:1:20:0:46,26:38,37:livingShadow.png,default.png;46:Irrationality:Each application of Mind Spike on your target increases the critical strike chance of Mind Spike by 5%. Stacks up to 3 times.__n____n__Casting Mind Blast reduces the cast time on Mind Spike by 20% for 3 sec.:1:11:13:1:8:0:16:45,26:Mind.png,default.png;New skillset,70,1:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0;
Potenial builds…
Another Version of the NEW Shadow Talent Tree…
This makes adjustment to the bottom section in an attempt to improve pathing
Shadow Priest 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant - 03
Another Version of the NEW Shadow Talent Tree…
This removes Mind Devourer and brings back Painbreaker’s Psalm as Both the damage and insanity of Devouring plague seems to be taking a backseat currently. So Painbreaker’s Psalm seems a better fit for playstyle
Also want to add that with the Talent Mental Decay, this makes the consuming VT and SW:P almost a non issue. So with that said, Painbreaker’s Psalm can actually work with the spec instead of working against it.
Shadow Priest 10.0 Tree - Altered Variant - 04
TTM Export
1.3.7:custom:1:Shadow Priest DF Variant - 05:This is the preset for the Shadow Priest.__n__You can start editing the tree/loadout now.:TTM Note__cl____n__Due to tree changes loadout has been revalidated and one or more skillset was invalidated!__n____n__:41:1;0:Devouring Plague:Afflicts the target with a disease that instantly causes (49.036% of Spell power) Shadow damage plus an additional 4 Shadow damage over 6 sec. Heals you for 50% of damage dealt.__n____n__If this effect is reapplied__cm__ any remaining damage will be added to the new Devouring Plague.:0:1:7:1:0:0::4,2,3:devouringPlague.png,default.png;2:Shadowy Apparitions:When you use Mind Blast__cm__ Devouring Plague or Void Bolt you also create a shadowy version of yourself that floats towards all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch dealing (17% of Spell power)% Shadow damage.__n____n__Critical strikes will cause two Apparitions to be created.:1:3:7:1:0:0:0:43,7,6:shadowyApparitions.png,default.png;3:Mind Sear:Corrosive shadow energy radiates from the target__cm__ dealing [(29.484% of Spell power) * 4] Shadow damage over 4 sec to all enemies within 10 yards of the target.__n____n__Costs 25 Insanity every 1 sec while channeled.:0:3:9:1:0:0:0::mindSear.png,default.png;4:Psychic Horror:Terrifies the target in place__cm__ stunning them for 4 sec.:1:3:5:1:0:0:0::psychicHorror.png,lastWord.png;5:Misery:Vampiric Touch also applies Shadow Word__cl__ Pain to the target. Shadow Word__cl__ Pain lasts an additional 5 sec.:1:7:7:1:0:0:43,7::misery.png,darkVoid.png;6:Auspicious Spirits,Tormented Spirits:Your Shadowy Apparitions now deal 15% increased damage and generate 2 Insanity.,Your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain damage has a 5% chance to create a shadowy version of yourself that floats towards all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch. __n____n__Critical strikes increase the chance to 10%.:2:5:7:1:0:0:2::auspiciousSpirits.png,tormentedSpirits.png;7:Dispersion:Disperse into pure shadow energy__cm__ reducing all damage taken by 75% for 6 sec and healing you for __n____n__Intangibility__n__50__n____n__25% of your maximum health over its duration__cm__ but you are unable to attack or cast spells.__n____n__Increases movement speed by 50% and makes you immune to all movement impairing effects.__n____n__Castable while stunned__cm__ feared__cm__ or silenced.:0:5:9:1:0:0:2:10,12,5:dispersion.png,default.png;8:Shadow Orbs:Your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Mind Flay have 5% chance to generate a Shadow Orb each time they deal damage. Max 3.__n____n__Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike consume all Shadow Orbs and deal [15% of mastery] more damage per Shadow Orb consumed.:1:7:3:1:0:0:43:13,17:shadowOrbsNyi.png,default.png;9:Hallucinations,Tithe Evasion:Your successful Dispel Magic__cm__ Mass Dispel__cm__ Purify Disease__cm__ Vampiric Embrace__cm__ and Power Word__cl__ Shield casts generate 6 Insanity during combat.,Shadow Word__cl__ Death deals 75% less damage to the caster.:2:11:5:1:8:0:44,18:29,21,25:hallucinations.png,titheEvasion.png;10:Mind Spike:Blasts the target for (80% of Spell power) Shadowfrost damage__cm__ but extinguishes your shadow damage-over-time effects. Increases the critical strike chance of your next Mind Blast by 30%__cm__ stacking up to 3 times.__n____n__Generates 6 Insanity.:0:7:11:1:0:0:7:16,11:mindSpike.png,default.png;11:Vampiric Insight,Mind Melt:Vampiric Touch periodic damage has a chance to reset the remaining cooldown on Mind Blast and cause your next Mind Blast to be instant.__n____n__Mind Blast gains 1 additional charge.,Mind Spike reduces cast time of your next Mind Blast by 50%__cm__ stacking up to 2 times.__n____n__Lasts 6 sec.__n____n__Your Mind Spikes reduces the cooldown on Mind Blast by 1.5 sec.:2:9:11:1:8:0:12,10:22:vampiricInsight.png,mindMelt.png;12:Intangibility,Mental Fortitude:Dispersion heals you for an additional 25% of your maximum health over its duration and its cooldown is reduced by 30 sec.,Healing from Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague when you are at maximum health will shield you for the same amount. Shield cannot exceed (Total health * 10 / 100) damage absorbed.:2:7:9:1:0:0:7:24,11,18:intangibility.png,mentalFortitude.png;13:Puppet Master NYI:Coming soon!:1:9:1:1:8:0:8:19:puppetMasterNyi.png,default.png;14:Damnation,Void Torrent:Instantly afflicts the target with Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague.,Channel a torrent of void energy into the target__cm__ dealing (306% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 3 sec and extending the duration of all your active Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Vampiric Touch spells by 1 sec each time it deals damage. __n__During Dark Ascension or Voidform__cm__ extends the duration by 2 sec each time it deals damage.__n____n__Generates 60 Insanity over the duration.:2:11:3:1:8:0:17:25:damnation.png,voidTorrent.png;16:Surge of Darkness:Your Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague damage have a chance to cause your next Mind Spike to not consume your damage over time effects__cm__ be instant__cm__ and deal 50% additional damage. Stacks up to 3 times.:1:9:13:1:8:0:10:46:surgeOfDarkness.png,default.png;17:Mental Decay:The duration of your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Vampiric Touch is increased by 1 sec when enemies suffer Mind Flay or Mind Sear damage.:1:9:3:1:8:0:8,44:14:mentalDecay.png,default.png;18:Dark Evangelism:Your Mind Flay and Mind Sear damage increases the damage of your periodic Shadow effects by 2%__cm__ stacking up to 5 times.:1:9:7:1:8:0:12,44:23,9,24:darkEvangelism.png,default.png;19:Harnessed Shadows:During Dark Ascension or Voidform__cm__ Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike deal damage as though they consumed 3 Shadow Orbs.:1:11:1:1:8:0:13:28,25:harnessedShadowsNyi.png,default.png;21:Psychic Link:Mind Blast and Mind Spike deal 15% of its damage to all other targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards.,Mind Blast and Mind Spike deal 30% of its damage to all other targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards.:1:13:7:2:8:0:9,23,24:29,30:psychicLink.png,default.png;22:Mind Flay Insanity,Shadow Crash:Casting Devouring Plague transforms both your Mind Flay and Mind Sear spell into Insanity for 5 sec. Insanity deals 80% more damage.,Hurl a bolt of slow-moving Shadow energy at the destination__cm__ dealing (191.25% of Spell power) Shadow damage to all targets within 8 yards and applying Vampiric Touch to 4 of them.__n____n__Generates 15 Insanity.:2:11:11:1:8:0:11:26:mindFlayInsanity.png,shadowCrash.png;23:Dark Ascension,Void Eruption:Consumes Dark Evangelism to increase the damage of your non-periodic Shadow spells by 4% per stack consumed. Lasts 18 sec.,Releases an explosive blast of pure void energy__cm__ activating Voidform and causing [(64.6% of Spell power) * 2] Shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yds of your target.:2:11:7:1:8:0:18:21:darkAscension.png,voidEruption.png;24:Unfurling Darkness:After casting Vampiric Touch on a target__cm__ your next Vampiric Touch within 8 sec is instant cast and deals (105.4% of Spell power) Shadow damage immediately.__n____n__This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 sec.:1:11:9:1:8:0:12,18:30,26,21:unfurlingDarkness.png,default.png;25:Maddening Touch:Vampiric Touch has a 50% chance to generate 1 Insanity each time it deals damage.,Vampiric Touch has a 100% chance to generate 1 Insanity each time it deals damage.:1:13:3:2:8:0:9,14,19:28,29:maddeningTouch.png,default.png;26:Whispers of the Damned:Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike critical strikes generate an additional 3 Insanity.,Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike critical strikes generate an additional 6 Insanity.:1:13:11:2:8:0:24,46,22:30,45:whispersOfTheDamned.png,default.png;28:Mindbender,Idol of Y'Shaarj:Summons a Mindbender to attack the target for 15 sec.__n____n__Generates 5 Insanity each time the Mindbender attacks.,Shadowfiend causes you to gain a benefit based on your target's current emotional state.:2:15:1:1:20:0:25,19:32:mindbender.png,idolOfYshaarj.png;29:Pain of Death:Increases the damage dealt by Shadow Word__cl__ Death by 25%.__n____n__Shadow Word__cl__ Death deals 20% of its damage to all targets affected by your Shadow Word__cl__ Pain within 40 yards.:1:15:5:1:20:0:9,21,25:33,47:painOfDeath.png,mindFlayInsanity.png;30:Derangement:Increases the initial damage of Devouring Plague by 75%.__n____n__Mind Sear deals damage 20% faster.:1:15:9:1:20:0:24,26,21:47,36:derangement.png,default.png;32:Fiending Dark:Your Mind Flay and Mind Spike critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 3 sec or Mindbender by 1 sec.,Your Mind Flay and Mind Spike critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 6 sec or Mindbender by 2 sec.:1:17:1:2:20:0:28:40,39:fiendingDark.png,default.png;33:Monomania:While channeling Mind Flay or Mind Sear__cm__ the tick rate of your Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word__cl__ Pain on your current target is increased by 25% and their crit chance is increased by 3%.,While channeling Mind Flay or Mind Sear__cm__ the tick rate of your Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word__cl__ Pain on your current target is increased by 50% and their crit chance is increased by 6%.:1:17:5:2:20:0:29:40,35:monomania.png,default.png;35:Mastermind:Increases the critical strike chance of Mind Spike and Mind Blast by 6% and increases their critical strike damage bonus by 30%.:1:19:7:1:20:0:33,36,47::mastermind.png,default.png;36:Insidious Ire:While you have Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Devouring Plague__cm__ and Vampiric Touch active on the same target__cm__ your Mind Blast deals 20% more damage.,While you have Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Devouring Plague__cm__ and Vampiric Touch active on the same target__cm__ your Mind Blast deals 40% more damage.:1:17:9:2:20:0:30:35,41:insidiousIre.png,default.png;38:Unstable Darkness:Dark Ascension Voidform increases your critical strike chance by 15% for 15 sec__cm__ reducing by 1% every sec.,Dark Ascension Voidform increases your critical strike chance by 30% for 15 sec__cm__ reducing by 1% every sec.:1:17:13:2:20:0:45:42,41:voidApparitions.png,default.png;39:Shadowflame Prism,Dying Light:Mind Blast and Shadow Word__cl__ Death cause your Shadowfiend or Mindbender to teleport behind your target__cm__ slashing up to 5 nearby enemies for __n____n__Mindbender__n__[.442 * (190% of Spell power)]__n____n__[.408 * (190% of Spell power)] Shadowflame damage. Each time a rift is triggered__cm__ the duration of Shadowfiend or Mindbender is increased by 1.0 sec.,Your Shadow Fiend generates 3 Shadow Orbs per hit and while your under the effects of Dark Ascension or Voidform__cm__ you generate 1 Shadow Orb every 3 sec.:2:19:1:1:20:0:32::shadowflamePrism.png,ShadowOrbPurple.png;40:Idol of C'Thun,Idol of Yogg-Saron:Mind Flay and Mind Sear have a chance to spawn a Void Tendril or Void Lasher that channels at your target for 15 sec__cm__ generating 3 insanity every 1 sec.,After conjuring 50 Shadowy Apparitions__cm__ you summon a Thing from Beyond that serves you for 20 sec. The Thing from Beyond blasts enemies for (25.1% of Spell power) Shadow damage.:2:19:3:1:20:0:33,32::idolOfCthun.png,idolOfYoggsaron.png;41:Idol of N'Zoth,Lunacy:Damage dealt by Shadow Word__cl__ Pain__cm__ Vampiric Touch__cm__ and Devouring Plague has a 20% chance to apply Echoing Void.__n____n__Each time Echoing Void is applied__cm__ it has a chance to collapse__cm__ dealing (50% of Attack power) Shadow damage to all nearby enemies until no stacks remain.,Reduces the Insanity cost of Devouring Plague by 10.__n____n__Reduces the Insanity drained when Mind Sear deals damage by 5.:2:19:11:1:20:0:36,38::idolOfNzoth.png,lunacy.png;42:Hungering Void,Dark Ascension__cl__ Death:While under the effects of Voidform__cm__ Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike can cleave up to 3 targets and applies Void Vulnerability__cm__ increasing the damage of your Mind Spells by 10% stacking up to 3 for 10 sec.__n____n__Casting Mind Spike while in Voidform no longer extinguishes your dots.,While under the effects of Dark Ascension__cm__ Your Shadow Word__cl__ Deaths critical strike damage bonus is increased by 30% and it cools down 100% faster.__n____n__Shadow Word__cl__ Death deals damage as though the target is below 20% health during this effect:2:19:13:1:20:0:38::hungeringVoid.png,Death.png;43:Vampiric Embrace:Fills you with the embrace of Shadow energy for 15 sec__cm__ causing you to heal a nearby ally for 50% of any single-target Shadow spell damage you deal.:0:5:5:1:0:0:2:44,5,8:vampiricEmbrace.png,default.png;44:San'layn,Sanguine Teachings:Reduces the cooldown of Vampiric Embrace by 45 sec and increases its healing done by 25%.,Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague heals you and your group or raid for 25% of the damage dealt.:2:7:5:1:0:0:43:9,17,18:sanlayn.png,sanguineTeachings.png;45:Living Shadow:Mind Blast has a 20% chance to cause your shadow to animate after a moment. For 10 sec__cm__ whenever you cast a spell__cm__ your shadow will cast a similar spell.:1:15:13:1:20:0:46,26:38:livingShadow.png,default.png;46:Irrationality:Each application of Mind Spike on your target increases the critical strike chance of Mind Spike by 5%. Stacks up to 3 times.__n____n__Casting Mind Blast reduces the cast time on Mind Spike by 20% for 3 sec.:1:11:13:1:8:0:16:26,45:Mind.png,default.png;47:Painbreaker's Psalm:Shadow Word__cl__ Death consumes 4 sec of Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Vampiric Touch__cm__ instantly dealing that damage to the target and generating up to 10 Insanity.,Shadow Word__cl__ Death consumes 4 sec of Shadow Word__cl__ Pain and Vampiric Touch__cm__ instantly dealing that damage to the target and generating up to 10 Insanity.:1:17:7:2:20:0:29,30:35:painbreakersPsalm.png,default.png;New skillset,70,1:1:1:1:0:1:2:1:1:2:0:1:2:1:0:0:1:1:1:2:2:1:0:0:2:0:1:1:0:0:1:2:2:0:0:0:2:1:0:1:0:0;
From what it appears, Devouring Plague and its insanity cost compared to the damage it deals is very funky. Seems like with the way the rest of the new talent tree is panning out, Devouring Plague seems like a button you don’t really want to press that often. So then the question becomes… If I am insanity capped, what do I do when I want to Mind Spike things down? That becomes an awkward dance around resource and dot management.
Remove Insanity entirely…
Make all abilities cost nothing or cost mana. With the Shadow Orb talents, THOSE can be made to act like Cata orbs in that they amp up Mind Blast, Mind Spike and Devouring Plagues damage. Each spell would consume all Shadow Orbs for amplified damage.
This would then feel good as you can focus on no dot burst window and then go back to dot window and weave back and forth without feeling like you are doing something wrong with capped insanity. Oh, This can work with Mind Sear as well in that Mind Sear consumed all orbs to do giga damage… Or consumes 1 orb per tick of damage.
Outside of Consuming Shadow Orbs… all abilities cost mana (or the ones that should cost mana) and we get mana back via Masochism from Shadow Word: Death feedback, popping Dark Ascension, Dispersion, Vampiric Touch mana battery buff again.
Perhaps not enough time for DF. But something to consider moving forward.
Another take on the Priest Class Talent Tree.
I have taken the last Bluepost into consideration and I have tried to modify things that I think would be a middle ground in regards to what Blizzard wants vs what the players want.
Priest Class Tree
Priest Class Tree (Readable)
Key takeaways…
Shadow Mend (Replaces Flash Heal)
Translucent Image / Phantasm: Moved them back into a choice talent
Shining Force / Silence (NOT A CHOICE NODE, THIS WOULD BE A MECHANICAL CHANGE LIKE THE WARRIORS WEAPON TALENT BASED ON SPEC)
Angelic Feather / Body and Soul: Moved them back into a choice talent
Shackle (Renamed from Shackle Undead): Shackles the target undead or Aberration enemy for 50 sec, preventing all actions and movement. Damage will cancel the effect. Limit 1.
The most well known are faceless ones, oozes, sludges, and void creatures.
Door of shadows / Spectral Guise
Added Door of Shadows for a Displacement ability. Added Spectral Guise as a (Choice). This allows PvP to be a real choice between more mobility OR more survival. Both have a 2 min Cooldown. So now they cant be used as often (since Spectral Guise was 30 sec CD) and blizzard don’t want them to be “loosing target frames” that often. So I think 2 min is a good middle ground.
Petrified: Targets of your Psychic Scream now tremble in place instead of fleeing in fear and is no longer capped to a maximum of 5 targets.
Twisted Faith (Added Twisted Faith as a (Choice) with Twins of the Sun Priestess to be an option to not be forced to be balanced around Twins. Haste and duration values can be adjusted as needed.
Inner Focus
Instant 3 min cooldown
When activated, reduces the Mana cost of your next 3 spells by 100% and increases its critical effect chance by 25% if it is capable of a critical effect.
Renewed Bulwark
Your Power Word: Shield has a 50/100% chance to apply a 6 sec renew to your target or extend the current renew by 6 sec and each tick of renew restores 20% of the Power Word: Shield absorb value while the shield holds.
Crystalline Reflection: Power Word: Shield absorb amount is increased by 10/20% and instantly heals the target for (42% of Spell power) and reflects 10/20% of damage absorbed.
Void Shield (Relocated and gave it a bit more power by doubling its effectiveness with it being a 2 point talent now): When cast on yourself, 30/60% of damage you deal refills your Power Word: Shield.
Angelic Bulwark (Buffed with self ONLY damage reduction from Power Word: Shield): When cast on yourself, Power Word: Shield grants 10% damage reduction and When an attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 15% of your maximum health for 20 sec. Cannot occur more than once every 90 sec.
Shadow Priest Talent Feedback
This post will be primarily focused on the first tier talents.
Generally, the selection of talents is a major improvement over the previous tier wind Mind Flay and Vampiric Touch becoming baseline. The major critique on the first tier though still remains.
There is too much tradeoff to pick the utility talents. In the most likely scenario, you’ll be picking 7 DPS talents in single-target. That makes picking up Silence and Dispersion or more likely Psychic Horror and Intangibility, still a hefty tradeoff that likely noone will ever make.
Imo, Silence should be in the class tree, as all other healer specs have an interrupt. Dispersion, like VT and MF, should be baseline, and Intangibility/Mental Fortitude can take it’s place. Given the available talent points, that seems like a good solution.
Unwanted talents and total points in the tree
The shadow priest tree currently has 55 potential talent points. The closest contender of other specs is elemental with 50 talent points. I’d think there are several talents that in my opinion can be removed as they don’t really fit or only generate button bloat (a topic for another post)
The following talent should imo be removed from the shadow tree:
Mind Spike
I never really was a fan of Mind Spike, even with it’s first addition during EDIT: Cataclysm, as it always has been kind of niche. Therefore my opinion could be slightly biased, but i’ll list the issues i have with the spell:
Mind Spike is followed by it’s dependent talents, but also by Mental Decay, a DoT extension triggered by Mind Flay reached by Mind Spike that removes that feels odd. Additional, the other two follow ups are two of the three entrance points to Psychic Link.
In what part of the gameplay loop should the spell fit?
A DPS cooldown with Dark Ascension?
A AoE alternativ to Mind Sear in combination with Psychic Link? (it seems pretty much comparable to Mind Sear up to 8 targets)
A spender for Surge of Darkness?
The position in the talent tree makes it very had to decide how the spell is supposed to be used. If it’s a potent alternative to Mind Sear, it can be a choice node with Mind Sear. If it’s ment to be used with Surge of Darkness, the talents should be merged. If it’s meant to be used with Dark Ascension, it should have a direct connection to it.
Mind Spike removes DoTs (outside of Surge of Darkness). That limits it’s interaction with Dark Ascensions, and the Psychic Link gameplay, making Mastery a very undesired stat. Mind Spike and Dark Ascension should work with Mastery, either by changing the spells, or the mastery.
It was first brought into the game as a level 81 ability you get in Cata leveling up.
The Dotting / Mind Spike Bursting weaving window with Dark Archangel back then worked just fine and was fun. Although, the Mastery with Shadow Orbs Buffing Mind Blast and Mind Spike helped during those burst windows. But the playstyle back then played out fine and was really fun.
From how the talents are now, it seems that playstyle is back in a more “modern” fashion as they have alluded to in the feedback post.
So from what I see, the “interaction” is not much of a problem. The only thing that might need adjusting is the “power” you get during those Mind Spike windows. This may be the reason for Shadow Orbs and Harnessed Shadow Talents.
But at any rate, I can clearly see that you would only Mind Spike / Mind Blast during short DPS windows or during Dark Ascension OR on 1 target while the rest of the targets have your dots on them and thus you are bursting damage psychically through VT and SW:P to the rest of the targets. The only concern then is building up too much Insanity and needing to spend it… but in that case, I just spend it on a different target that I am not Spiking into. And even then, the spiking problem goes away with Surge of Darkness procs. So I am not seeing the issue at hand.
This wouldn’t really work. Mind Sear is a spender now, so Mind Spike through Psychic Link is the only AoE filler the spec has available.
I have a handful of issues with this.
I don’t think it needs to be scrapped and I still prefer the general idea of the gameplay more than void form, but it should do something with our dots or our mastery.
Forgoing your dots on the main target to mind spike damage other targets that you want to maintain you dots on seems very backwards in terms of intuitive play.
I think there’s plenty of potential solutions to these issues, but I don’t think it’s all smooth yet.
I really don’t see it as a problem. Because it wasn’t a problem at all in Cata.
The fact is, you wont be using Mind Spike on single target without DA. But during DA, the damage bonus you get should be enough to be worth it.
Maybe During DA… Mind Blast & Mind Spike do not generate Insanity and instead just do extra damage? Or maybe all insanity is paused and do extra damage? I dunno, that part gets clunky.
I am really thinking that Shadow Orbs and Harnessed Shadows will be the “fix” for the problem you are seeing.
If Shadow Orbs and Harnessed Shadows and Maybe Puppet Master all give “Bonus” stuff to Mind Spike and Mind Blast during DA, that would solve this issue imo.
I mean isn’t another simple fix just… During DA Mind Spike doesn’t consume Dots?
Surge of Darkness will still grant a +50% boost, but it drops all the weird mastery frustrations. Also lets you pop it when you want to rather than waiting on triple Surge proc because otherwise you’ll cannibalize your own dots.
I was thinking this…
But then I think of Voidform and how that would work with Mind Spike.
I think Voidform Mind Spike should do as you suggest… and perhaps extend dots or something.
But I think Dark Ascension should really be a shift in playstyle for that window. Where you sacrifice your dot damage on 1 target to absolutely nuke it with your powerful casting spells. Just like in Cata. That way Mind Blast and Mind Spike can hit like trucks because you cant stack it with Dots (aside from procs from Surge of Darkness).
Then it’s not a cooldown. Gaining bonus damage on a single target is literally never worth losing your already 30% boost from your dots on that same single target. DA would need to be incredibly highly tuned for that to ever work, and at that point it would only be tuned that way to make up for actively harming yourself.
Removing the dot consumption doesn’t mean you’d be dotting in that window - you’d still be boosting your ST spells and you’d still be losing your DoT damage stacks from Dark Evangelism. You’d just not be losing the mastery bonus or DoT damage itself.
Then let me write my next post…
Why Mind Sear does not work as an AoE Spender
Devouring Plague currently deals 130% SP damage for 50 Insanity.
Mind Sear deals 30% per target for 25 Insanity.
In this basic state, Mind Sear is an upgrade to Devouring Plague on three targets. Yet, behold, Shadowy Apparition enter the picture.
Up to the target cap you will apply VT (currently 8), Devouring Plagues value is increased by roughly 20% per target. Mind Sear, when accounting for Devouring Plagues Apparition, now slightly pulls ahead on six targets.
At this step, you now can complete the picture with Psychic Link, Mind Spike, and DP as your Shadowy Apparition generator for <8 target AoE.
On 8 targets Mind 3 seconds of Mind Sear will deal 8 * 30% * 3 = 480% SP damage
On 8 targets, 1 Mind Spike cast, and 1 DP cast (with 25 Insanity left over), will deal 130%, plus 80%, plus 820%, plus 780%*0.3 = 538% SP damage.
A combination of Psychic Link, Devouring Plague, and Mind Spike, on anything below 8 target, currently outperforms Mind Sear significantly. As AoE packs tend to have a higher HP mob, the single-target damage of DP/MB can also be an easy advantage.
Mind Sear serves absolutely no purpose as an insanity spender on <8 targets.
If the speculated Shadow Orb line is further enhancing Mind Spike, Mind Sear becomes even worse. At some point, you can make a serious argument for DP’s DoT portion to be AoE by default.
Edit: Seems like Mind Sears tickrate is bugged, spelldata has it at 1.0 seconds, while ingame it’s slightly higher then it’s previous 0.75 seconds. The above assumes the spell data tickrate is the intended behavior.
Which is why I think Shadow Orbs and Harnessed Shadows might be the missing link to give that Bursting window without Dots that extra oomph.
The fact is, it worked just fine in Cata. I see no issue for this version either.
We had SW:P, VT and DP back in Cata as we just didn’t use them during DA window. It worked fine and we burst hard.
We didn’t have the current mastery back then. We had a mastery that worked off DoTs, but sacrificing those DoTs didn’t lower the damage of our ST spells. Right now, removing DoTs from a target reduces your ST damage to that target inherently. It is a very different situation.
Again… Shadow Orbs Talent and Harnessed Shadows Talent.
I think those will be the answer to the issue at hand.
I really think we really are missing that key piece of info that makes this a non issue.
They are completely irrelevant to the issue at hand because with or without shadow orbs, you’re still sacrificing your mastery.
Currently shadow does 50% less damage to targets with no dots on them compared to targets with 3. Two talents are not going to make that up. Spamming mind spike in DA is a dps loss until blizzard works out what to do with mastery or mind spike / DA.
Ill give you an example…
Shadow Orbs
Your Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Flay have 5% chance to generate a Shadow Orb each time they deal damage. Max 3.
Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike consume all Shadow Orbs and deal [15% of mastery] more damage per Shadow Orb consumed.
Harnessed Shadows
During Dark Ascension or Voidform, Your Mind Blast and Mind Spike do damage as though they consumed 3 Shadow Orbs.
Something like that will balance out the negative damage from dots/mastery AND I would suspect increase the damage of Mind Blast and Mind Spike to an incredible amount that having dots on the target you are Mind Blasting and Mind Spiking down would be downright OP.
Also, the “Damage” from the Shadow Orbs can scale up according to our Mastery. So it will not be flat, it will increase with our mastery. Just like in Cata.