Shadow Priests?

Classes Priest
1

Hey hey, im bored of tanking and never did a range dps class. . is it worth leveling up one? I’m sure everyone want’s a healer but in the end Shadow pretty good at dps?

2

Shadow for range DPS is pretty funny! Go Hunters or Mages.

4 Likes
3

shadow that bad? never played one, but Disc seems to be a fan favorite?

4

Shadow is actually a lot better than what people are saying about it.

The fundamental problem with shadow is that it plays fairly counter-intuitive. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but Blizzard haven’t made up their mind about whether you should stay in void form for as long as possible, or get into as many voidforms as possible during a single encounter (quality Vs quantity).

Otherwise their dps is quite good, they have great gameplay mechanics, they’re difficult with high reward, and they have a cool aesthetic.

Just don’t believe anyone if they try to say shadow has low dps, because it doesn’t. It’s not super high tier, but unless you’re raiding in the top 1%, the actual margins based on apex variety are slim. I out dps most people I group with.

16 Likes
5

It’s a very fun spec and was a blast to level. I does a huge amount of damage in the open world right now even outside of void form, then you can go void form for tougher mobs.For raiding it doesn’t actually do terrible damage. The community perception of shadow is quite bad, so expect to get a lot of really negative things to say. I mean yeah the spec does have issues, but I still think it’s worth playing if you enjoy it.

1 Like
6

Shadow is like a weak clunky affliction warlock without the survivability. Nearly everything that Shadow can do the affliction warlocks do better. Heck, their “niche” is done better by nearly half the DPS specs out there. The changes coming in 8.1 will likely fix some of the problems and will almost certainly fix their low DPS, but the class will still feel clunky (the changes that were necessary to mitigate the clunkiness haven’t been addressed as of yet).

On the other hand, if you don’t plan to use it in any competitive situation then just go with whatever you want. Shadow isn’t necessarily bad, it is just currently beaten at most PvE related situations by most other classes (again, this is changing in 8.1).

7 Likes
7

Shadow is BY FAR the worst ranged DPS class in the game. 8.1. changes nothing in this regard. The spec is F-tier. And no, I’m not just considering damage.

4 Likes
8

My warlock pulls equal damage to my spriest that has 10-15 ilelevs more, with better azerite level and 5 stacks reorigination buff vs 10.

2 Likes
9

Pretty sure I do more damage in Disc than I do in Shadow when I’m not in Voidform. Our damage is WAY too tied to Voidform.

3 Likes
10

IDK what other people are doing, but I’m hitting like a truck at a pretty low ilvl. Unless stats stop mattering all together after 344, I suggest giving it a go.

Damage feels strong, we have good survival options, and there are a lot of good situational talent options.

My favorite rdps by far.

2 Likes
11

Yeah our damage being tied to the fundamental ability our class is designed around is really surprising. I wonder if Fire mages realize yet that their damage outside using Hot Streak isn’t good either.

7 Likes
12

Shadow has been the least favorable pick for at least the last 4 years or so. Being underappreciated isn’t anything new.

I refuse to play a warlock tho, because I hate pet classes. And void form is such a powerful situational tool if used right.

13

Could you tell me what talent you’re using that apparently let’s you start fights in Voidform?

Also, I have no interest in playing a mage. Running in circles hoping the mob falls over before I do until I majorly outgear it isn’t much fun for me.

14

Hallucinations, the new baseline. Hello?

15

About 330 Ilvl I started to notice some big changes. But until then…

My Ilvl 295 Ret Paladin soloed a rare without using any cooldowns or heals and finished the fight with 70% health.

Same exact Rare 5 min later on my 305 SP I blew ALL my cooldowns, healed till I was OOM and still almost died to the rare. And I was more experienced on my SP than my Ret pally.

But like I said at 340 now and she rips it up pretty good

2 Likes
16

It’s just you, I promise rofl.

17

Dark Ascension.

2 Likes
18

I laughed when two people tried to mock you… I laughed even harder when it was suggested you were crazy… I completely lost it when you said “Dark Ascension”.

You’re awesome. I :heart_eyes:

2 Likes
19

That doesn’t make you start fights in Voidform, I have that passive obviously, and I was being sarcastic. My point was Shadow’s damage is too backloaded, by the time Voidform is ready the mob is half dead from multiple weak Mind Sears and/or the enemy player is kicking me in the grundle.

1 Like
20

What mob? You talking about mobs in the world? Heroic dungeon trash?

Voidform feels entirely optional while questing, because our base damage is pretty strong by itself. I usually save it for nuking AOE packs. It’s a monster when combined with Shadow Crash.

But even in a competitive environment we feel strong. This toon is rather new, gearing it for the next raid tier (cuz I honestly love this spec).

I downed M Taloc with our guild last night at like 351 ilvl and was top 6 DPS, then ran a +8 Motherload and was easily top 2.

I mean sure, it’s not a +14 key or Mythic G’huun or whatever, but it’s decently challenging content and I pulled more than my weight for my ilvl.

And this is without optimal azerite traits, trinkets, or stats. Up against folks who have been able to put more love into their character.

There are a lot of moving parts to this spec, but if you can play it well, it feels insanely powerful in all aspects of moderately challenging gameplay from what I’ve seen.