Seems like I’ve not heard good things. Shadow priests, if you don’t think so tell me why you like your spec. I’m foolishly wanting a healer and thinking of rolling a priest. I just want to see how the dps spec is before I go forth.
I’ve played Shadow Priest since BC.
This is my main now.
That’s how good they are.
I’ll elaborate:
Basically, Shadow does midling single-target damage, midling AoE damage, is easily one of the least mobile specs in the game and now thanks to recent changes has minimal utility compared to other specs.
And despite all this, it remains in the upper tier of difficult specs with a rotation that’s twice as complex as some other specs.
It’s basically the perfect spec for those who’d like to work twice as hard to achieve 80% of the results of someone else while bringing nothing special to any group you’re in.
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The inconsistency with each patch giving us whiplash is kind of annoying …
- “Whoo we’re great!”
- “Ugh we got hammered with a nerf!”
- “Whoo we’re decent!”
- “Ugh we got overnerfed from decent!?”
- “Woo back to decent!”
- “Whoa they changed our whole rotation & playstyle?”
It gets kind of dizzy at times. 
lol
To a degree I suppose the same could be said about a lot of specs, however lately for spriests it feels to be more on the grim side than the positives … That being said, the spec is still playable & can still be viable — However it could still be better. 
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It’s fine. The issue with shadow priest is the gearing, but the buff we received has helped us in M+ and we’re doing fine in higher keys where our damage has time to tick. The set bonus is fun to use and is entirely raid / execution phase based.
That being said, it isn’t top tier like it was last season. If you enjoy the spec and play it well, you’ll enjoy it. If you don’t play it well, or if you’re concerned with being the absolute top, it’s not worth it.
It also feels incredibly gear dependent this time around, more so than previously, but that’s probably just anecdotal considering I had bad luck in the beginning of the season with drops.
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Shadow’s had its ups and downs, but I think that’s something that can be said about basically every spec throughout the game’s history. The downs can feel pretty bad though, especially if you’re primarily playing solo and/or doing group content as a pug where community perception often decides whether or not your applications to groups get accepted.
On a personal note, I miss Mind Sear and I feel like I’m the only one who does. 
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It is same as outlaw, spammy and proc heavy. I have no control over those 2 specs. Why am I doing well? Proc. Why am I doing no damage? No proc. Do blizzard know what fun is? Probably not.
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This many posts in and it’s not here?
Fine. I’ll take it.
it’s a shadow of its former self
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Disappointing lol. Would you recommend disc as a healing spec? Say I just forget about trying to dps and stick to healing how would it perform in keys in the 8-15 range? I don’t push high keys and doubt I’d ever try anything above a 15 or 16.
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That was a perfect gif response. You’re a funny one
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I used the wrong wording there. I meant to say it isn’t top tier like it was last season.
So, probably an unpopular opinion on this one. I actually love the disc rework, and have found healing much more fun this time around. Discipline feels less busy, the results are much more noticeable, the spec is more mana friendly, and it’s satisfying with this season’s tier set. So much so, I would recommend Blizzard make this tier set a perk of the new talents we’re getting next season because it is that fun. I’ve healed 20s-22s and had a blast, no issue.
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This is good to know. I’m sure any dps spec would be fine for solo purposes but if I’m going to dps “higher” (10-15 for me) keys I’d probably just dps as my demo lock. Once I figured out how to properly dps as demo I really enjoy it.
I do think any group content I do as a priest would be as a healer. The little bit I’ve done on resto druid felt stressful. I’ve healed on and off as a resto druid since wrath and DF is the most stressful it’s been for me. Not fun. I’m looking for a…“not as stressful” healer I can play in mid keys.
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So the thing I’m gonna point out on this one is this is mostly a climate issue, less of a spec issue. The game overall is more intense for healers due to the change Blizzard took with the direction of PvE.
People don’t like hearing it but this was born from the whole “I’m a healer, I shouldn’t have to do damage” nonsense that people kept vomiting everywhere without fully understanding how the game works.
I’ll say it again for anyone who comes by this thread for the people in the back. If you thought all you had to do was heal and never actually contribute otherwise, you did not know how to play the game in previous expansions, and you are the reason the game is much more stressful right now.
That being said, discipline is fun in the current climate because a lot of the healing is noticeable throughput. I’m a numbers guy. Seeing numbers and health bars get chunked all together is fun.
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Shadow Priest was the first toon I ever rolled way back in Vanilla (I was a dwarf back then). It remained my main up until Mists, when I rolled a Panda Monk and mained that into Draenor, when the Garrison system encouraged me to alt up and then Legion insured that I leveled one of every class I had any interest in playing (which turned out to be everything but Warlock). I originally chose Shadow Priest because I wanted a strong dps spec with an option for being a healer in group content later on. The face-melting power of SP in PVP was unrivaled back then, though, and up until Cata that was primarily how I played.
Shadow Priest goes through a lot of ups and downs. It’s generally a solid contender on the damage meters, but it rises and falls in the meta depending on where we are in the buff/nerf cycle. Currently, it feels weaker than it’s been in the past, but it’s not painfully weak. There are stronger dps classes for meta end game at the moment, but Discipline Priest is the top tier healer, so if healing is your end goal I think SP will go good enough for leveling. I also hope that we’ll get some buffs in the next xpac trilogy, what with Void-centric content on the horizon, so it’s probably a good time to get into it.
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So I mained Shadow for the first 2 patches of DF. I very much like the spec. I even played it in Shadowlands.
Here is the problem. Shadow had its Damage drastically nerfed, over and over last season, due to the M+ dungeon set being basically tailor made to Shadow’s utility. Shadow also Synergized too well with Augmentation. The issue remained that Shadow was played at the highest end due to its utility and synergy with the comp. Shadow also had a very good tier bonus in 10.2 and it allowed for some nice flexibility to its damage profile based on the need.
Then in 10.3 Shadow had it’s utility nerfed Drastically. Additionally the dungeon set doesnt line up nearly as much with Shadow’s utility as last season. Also Shadow’s damage still has not been buffed back enough to compensate for all the nerfs. Shadow didnt do top tier DPS either. It was upper middle. It just synergized too well with the comp of Guardian, Fire Mage, Holy Paladin and Augmentation. And in a raid Shadow was Middle pack to upper middle depending on the fight.
Now we add on the tier bonus of 10.3. Shadow has a tier bonus that pushes the spec into a singular build. Mindbender and Inescapable Torment. Which is very similar to the build in Shadowlands. And you now have a chunk of your AoE squeezed into 15 Seconds every minute, with a 5 target cap. And it forces Deathspeaker + Mastermind. Which combined makes Shadow Word Death a frequently cast spell. And it damages you. And with a heavy series of procs, it will deal a not insignificant amount of damage to you.
In short, they nerfed a spec to perform lower middle of the pack DPS wise. They Nerfed its utility. They gave it an unfun tier set that forces a specific talent build. Which is why mine is benched.
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Balance aside, I’m still annoyed that they reworked my SHADOW spec into a Void/Old God spec. I’m glad they at least gave us an alternative to Void Form with the new ability that flat buffs your damage and gives you shadow wings instead of wack tentacles. More of that, please.
Hope they rework it again for the Worldsoul Saga and get rid of the yucky void elements considering we are fighting the Void
I will honestly say, I have no idea how disc works but I do kind of want to give it a try. I’ve healed a bit in FFXIV and that required damage to be done.
I can run you through a crash course at some point if you want.
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Unfortunately when Shadow Priests were originally named I don’t think Blizzard really understood their own cosmology that well. The lore wasn’t well-established yet, and there was a lot of making it up as they went, which invited a lot of retcons. Shadow Priest origins were…well…shadowy and mysterious. As the spec developed, it became something of a misnomer. They could have stayed consistent by associating us with Shadow instead of Void, but I think they realized that wasn’t going in the direction they really intended to take it. If anything they should have named us Void Priests just for clarity, but I guess it’s too late now.
Personally I really enjoy the Void theme of Shadow Priest (I mean obviously, I’m a Void Elf), especially as it is the opposite of Light, and I think there’s some really interesting stuff yet to come for us in the next xpac just as there was in Legion. I find the conflict interesting, not prohibitive. I personally couldn’t stand Shadowlands and actually had the thought “if this is the realm of Shadow, I’m super glad I’m more a Void Priest than an actual Shadow Priest.”
Why would they do that? We fought the demons with demon hunters. People who literally ate demonic hearts. We fought N’zoth with current shadow priest void themes.
Just because we’re fighting a cosmic force doesn’t mean the players suddenly stop utilizing the toolkit they’ve been using for years.
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