A little background: I have been playing Shadow Priest as my main class since P2 of SOD. I have seen the class go through many changes, the majority of which have reduced the viability of Shadow in PvP. Ironically we are in a very strong spot in PvE due to some of these changes. I have also been a PvP focused player in WoW since 2005 and while I am quite a bit older and slower than I used to be I did achieve Gladiator rank back in TBC and consider PvP to be my favorite part of the game.
Shadow Priests suffer from a number of design weaknesses that make them less capable than other classes and other casters in the current extremely bursty PvP meta. They lack the mobility/CC and defensives of mages. They lack the sustainability, pets or CC of warlocks. Shadow Priests are forced to face tank a lot of their opponents due to their limited CC and don’t have the mitigation and survivability, or self healing to succeed in this way. In no particular order Shadow Priests struggle due to the following problems:
Insufficient mitigation against incoming damage, particularly melee damage. A lot of melee classes now have damage which ignores armor entirely i.e. rogues sebaceous poison, druid bleeds, ret holy damage etc.
-Insufficient CC kit - AoE fear is incredibly useful but can be broken by any class with a PvP trinket or negated with fear ward. A priest that has used fear is incapable of getting away from a melee opponent outside of lucky RNG blackout procs. This forces the priest to face tank their opponent which is typically a losing situation.
-Spriests lack the ability to balance both offense and defense in the way that other classes do. Forcing shadow to choose between void plague and dispersion made sense a few phases ago when that kit was overpowering, and offered little counterplay. With the amount of damage that classes can output at 60 this is no longer the case and forcing shadow priests to choose between their best dot and a 6 second shield wall is unfair considering the amount of damage other classes can output while also using defensive abilities.
-Spriest vampiric healing is effectively nonexistent in PvP. The PvP damage and healing reduction aura doubly affects vampiric healing. VE/VT were also nerfed to make raid healing reasonable but the combination of these changes have made both abilities almost wasted globals in PvP.
-Shadow priests lack any instant burst damage (outside of Cassandra’s Tome + SWD) meaning they are forced to rely on a dot and rot playstyle. Without any sort of dispel protection or the survivability to last long enough to kill their opponents this playstyle is not viable.
Some suggestions that might help improve shadow priest viability in PvP without breaking their performance in PvE:
Make dispersion a baseline ability like shamanistic rage or hunter’s heart of the lion etc
Grant shadowform a flat % based reduction to ALL incoming damage allowing shadow priests some of the kind of mitigation that soul link warlocks enjoy - if we have to face tank at least make it somewhat feasible to do so
Change VE/VT so that the healing % is divided among the number of people in the shadow priest’s group - this would allow shadow priests to have strong self healing in 1v1 or world pvp scenarios but not in raid or group settings
Give shadow priests any kind of improved CC, a horrify, a root - I am less knowledgeable about what abilities might be appropriate for this
I made a very similar post about spriests shortly into phase 4. The issues are less about shadow being weak, I actually think it’s well balanced in pvp, and more about how absurdly broken some abilities are for some classes.
Having consistently ran BGs on my Spriest for the last 6 months, my feelings on this has changed to a degree. Until you get to HW, and Tier 2.5 bonuses, Spriest is miserable in PVP. Much better after that.
As a “clothy”, we should not be forced to basically run into meathook range or well within hunter/boomi range just to cast our dots. If I were making changes, I would change the following.
1.) Increase SWP, VE, and VP range to that of our Mind Spike.
2.) Make Shadowguard useful. (e.g. either increased dmg or increased blackout proc %)
3.) Fix DISPERSION…or at least change the tooltip. Currently, while dispersed you are NOT immune to movement impairing effects as the tooltip states. Also, decreasing the cooldown would help for survivability. Or they could just make us like pallys and allow us to cast spells while dispersed.
I don’t think those issues in themselves will fix shadow, the range increase would be nice but wouldn’t change much.
Dispersion being baseline, Vampiric touch being instant, perhaps with a short cd, a scream cd reduction or psychic horror being added would address most of the issues with spriest being a ramp up damage class in a burst damage meta.
I would not say it is insane. It comes in handy at times, but the range is too short so we have to run through a trove of melee to try to get to the casters in the rear. Does help in the 1v1 confrontations against casters though.
I do like the idea of Vampiric Touch being instant. I would probably like an increase proc % in blackout as opposed to a shorter cd on scream. Even if they don’t want to make Dispersion baseline, I would prefer that it be moved to the head slot as pain and suffering is mostly useless in PVP and when I’m running pain and suffering in a raid, I’m usually not running dispersion.
I have always been a chart topper in previous phases and still am now. Nothing really feels significantly different when compared to last phase (other than the broken hunter killshot).
As fun as a buff would be, we absolutely don’t need one. I’d say it’s the 3rd or 4th best spec in all of PVP when played well. On top of that you have 2 main powerful gear set options (T3+2.5 or T2), one of which is fairly easy to get so the barrier to entry is like 1-2 BWL lockouts.
Spriest is a HIGHLY mobile burst AND dot-burn class. We’re really pretty incredible for a cloth class in survivability (you’re a priest, you don’t face-tank & 1v1 LOL), just use your tools. All but 2 of our moves are instant cast so quit standing still you goofballs!
If you want to post to complain about PVP, it should be directed towards nerfing the current broken class/classes (hunter mainly now, used to be boomkin).
In summary, Spriest is super easy to play and do well in raids, but PvPriest actually takes skill and experience to do well in BGs. It’s a totally different (very active) playstyle. I’d be glad to give you tips, gear recommendations, and a basic run down on positioning/rotation.
I agree with dispersion, the problem is that SoD has pushed damage so high, while nerfing stam on T3 gear, so the 90% reduction isn’t nearly what it used to be. These days I find that I can often kill the SPriest during dispersion if they cast at <30% hp. This definitely had not been the case before. PVP gear reduces this, but the dmg tradeoff is huge. At least they could apply the mana regen to health while dispersed.
Crazy to gaslight and act like us players with hundreds of hours in SoD shadow prist pvp have no clue what we are talking about.
How in the world is shadow priest “HIGHLY mobile” like you suggest when there are no speed boosts or mobility spells on the class? Our “dot-burn” is also the weakest and slowest dps of any of the “dot-burn” classes like boomkin and warlock.
Also suggesting using t3 in pvp outs you as having zero clue what you are talking about when it comes to shadow priest pvp.
Anyways congratz on being a “chart topper” in bgs where people are afking for honor, but stay out of class pvp balance discussion if you are as clueless about it as you obviously are.
3rd or 4th best spec? Priests aren’t even the 3rd or 4th best class lmao.
Shadow Priests have literally zero mobility spells, rely on the worst CC (fear) and unreliable blackout stun procs, have zero slow / snares for a class that requires kiting, their only effective defensive spell is tied to their highest damaging DoT.
When was the last time you saw a PVE dad come to the forums to complain about PVP Shadow Priests? If PVE dads aren’t complaining about it, its that terrible of a class kek.
As of now, Shadow Priest PVP is run backwards and spam Mind Spike, but if you enjoy that go off, sis.
I would agree with killshot , but I would also add the pally burst damage. Given most ABs I run have a minimum of 5 pallies, dispels drain my mana.
I would disagree. Our burst is relegated to using a trinket to SWD or MB. Other classes have much better burst. Also, given I run dispersion, I’m losing my most powerful DOT. I’m usually only running Void plague if the other team is terrible.
Mobility isn’t my issue, although it was prior to T2.5 set bonuses. I would go as far as to say trying to PVP as a spriest without the T2.5 6-piece bonus is pointless. The insta-cast Mind spike was a night/day difference to me.
I would add paladin burst damage with the shoulder rune to this list.
1- I agree with Dispersion need to be in baseline.
2- Shadow Priest need Psychic Horror from retail. Is a good combo and defensive move, and Disc Priest need Mass Dispel.
3- Shadow Form was good in classic but more 15% physical damage now is almost nothing. Shadow Form need to reduce all damage by 15%.
Item 1 and 3 are easy to fix. Item 2 should come in Phase 8 as new runes.
I have to respectfully disagree with this post. Spriest are extremely good in pvp right now the problem you having is the same as most people. News flash you not the only class dying in 1-2 hits. Right now imo every class feels op in there own way. Shamans might be the only class without a hard counter like most classes have but then again even a op class can look bad in the wrong hands.
In a 2 global meta Shadow is the only class incapable of 2 shotting anyone. Self sustain was gutted. Fear is near worthless due to immunities and gap closers.
Instant MS is the only thing keeping the spec playable in pvp.
