On Cast + Passive Idols for Shadow Priests

Classes Priest
#1

SPs are losing Unholy Nova’s Unholy Transfusion DOT/HOT.
Also means SPs are losing

  1. Kevin’s Oozling- 6% Damage Debuff AND
  2. Rattling Mage’s Unholy Bolt casts.
    I think is a considerable % of damage loss, in addition to Living Shadow’s Dominate Mind damage.

I understand SPs are “getting-those-things-back” through our 4 capstones. Net loss 0… sort of.

  1. Idol of Y’shaarj - You and your MBender deal 5% additional damage. Every 1min, like the Kevin’s Debuff.
  2. Idol of Yogg-Saron - After 25 Shadowy Apparitions (from 25 SA generating spells), you summon a Thing from Beyond that serves you for 20secs. Kinda like the Rattling Mage

WHAT IF…
The 4 Idols had an On Cast in addition to the current passives.
Idol of Y’Shaarj
Replaces Mindbender - Summons Y’Shaarj for 15 secs. 1min cd. Follows current Mindbender rules with Inescapable Torment (SFP)

Idol of C’Thun
Summons C’Thun next to you with 4 Void Tendrils and 4 Void Lashers for 15 secs. 1min cd. (I think this would look pretty cool)

Idol of Yogg-Saron
Summons Yogg-Saron for 20 secs. 1min cd.

Idol of N’Zoth
Summons N’Zoth at cursor location, for 15 secs, immediately applying 5 stacks of Echoing Void collapses any current Echoing Voids in a 15 yard radius. 1min cd.

I understand there’s a segment of SPs that are anti-Old God or anti-pet or rotation bloat, but I’m ok with a 1-to-1 replacement for Unholy Nova.

Yes, you can talent into Mindbender and take C’Thun + Yogg-Saron, which would mean +1 button, but I’d like to think an On Cast C’Thun or N’Zoth button would be more situational like a Shadow Crash. Maybe Dark Ascension has some ties with Y’Shaarj and Yogg-Saron since they do non-period Shadow damage.

2 Likes
#2

I’d be fine with nerfing the damage and increasing the proc rate of C’Thun but actually summoning OGs just once again undermines how huge and terrifying these entities are supposed to be. That’d be like a mage summoning Aman’thul or a warlock summoning Sargeras every 1.5 minutes.

1 Like
#3

As a Priest I’m not a fan of summoning pets that are going to involve themselves directly in combat. I do like the idea of each Capstone summoning some form/avatar of an old god that would then provide a buff/new ability interactions/new insanity spender/new spell for X amount of time or until X conditions are met.

Our capstones being 4/5 based off random luck and withholding spell casts(looking at you Yogg) is just silly. It makes them useless in anything but the most drawn out fights where you have more chance for RNG to do its thing.

Hopefully someone listens and realizes we don’t want RNG to be the only defining feature as a specc.

3 Likes
#4

I’m in complete agreement. My suggestions are in a direction where they would use what we already have. I think reimaging the spec for sure is another 2 years, next-expansion-type-deal unfortunately.

That is definitely interesting, I just I’m just trying to imagine that rotationally. Yogg Mode versus like N’Zoth mode. Might be too dynamic.

Our capstones being 4/5 based off random luck and withholding spell casts(looking at you Yogg) is just silly. It makes them useless in anything but the most drawn out fights where you have more chance for RNG to do its thing.

Yup, more player agency would make sense with On Cast capstones especially when it comes to timing whether it’s PVP, M+, Raid Encounters.

1 Like
#5

We definitely don’t need another series of buttons to press and manage that is for sure.

Each capstone remains a passive but has a direct effect on our spells in some way. As Shaarj does for Mindbender the other capstones can do for our other spells. C’thun almost has the right idea it just needs a bit of the RNG taken out of it. So maybe instead C’thun modifies your mind flay/sear to always summon a tent/lash up to 2/3 at one time. Yogg could instead modify MB/DP with some type of unique CC interaction or AoE when using the two together on a target. You could even keep the summoning of the Thing and just make it part of the spell animation. N’Zoth could be the Idol that allows Sear to “pop” our dots on targets causing dmg and spreading dots to more targets.

To prevent bloating of abilities the first idol you select in your tree is marked as your “main” god. You gain his/her ability as written. If you select a second idol you do not gain that gods ability but gain a buff to whatever that god would have affected(either your mindbender, dots, nukes or channels).

#6

While I’m not keen for more button bloat, this is definitely a good idea. Adding an on-use for the capstone would definitely make them feel impactful. My only suggestion from an immersion pov would be summoning an avatar or echo, or “tapping into the idol’s power” or whatever since summoning actual old gods seems a bit extreme. :sweat_smile:

#7

Casual Player Perspective: On use would help the randomness but I’m for removing buttons, TBH. We have too many in our “rotation” to perform at minimum.

Example: C’Thun should honestly spawn a tendril on completion of fully channeled Mind Flays. They are nice when they proc but due to inconsistency they are unreliable when you need them. I was killing an elite out in the world and the minute or so I was fighting not a single one spawned until the very end when it was at like 5% health then 3 spawned. Neat-o, I guess.

Please no more buttons. There’s too many in our rotation as it is. These can be rolled into other effects.

2 Likes
#8

When I thought this through, it would be 0 button gain/loss.

If you were to choose Y’Shaarj, it would simply replace Mindbender, but have a “buffer” animation with an avatar/idol of Y’Shaarj. This would keep Mindbender as the Kevin’s Oozeling buff/debuff of 5-6%.

To REPLACE Unholy Nova, essentially you can pick Idol C’thun, Yogg’Saron, or N’Zoth.
So this is a net button bloat gain of 0.

You could also just go Y’Shaarj and no other Capstones with a -1 button loss.

If you chose Mindbender and Inescapable Tormet (SFP) and then let’s say C’Thun and Yogg-Saron for best Mind Sear damage, hypothetically, yes that would be +1 button gain.

The real culprit with button feeling is Mind Spike, which is why I still play current VF, 30-35 secs VF > 20 sec DA.