Compiled Priest Changes for Patch 3.1

This is going to be my on-going list of Priest changes for patch 3.1. All of these patch notes are subject to or may already have changed. Notes are listed in the order that they have been posted. The newest notes are closest to the top. These patch notes are compiled from MMO-Champion’s full patch note listing. I have done my best to label the build that each set of notes is from but some were not listed.

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Shadow

* Psychic Horror: Has been redesigned and is now a 1-point talent. You terrify the target, causing them to tremble in horror for 3 seconds and drop all weapons (disarm effect: including bows) for 10 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. (Up from 1 minute) Instant cast. The horror effect can be dispelled, but the disarm cannot.

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Patch 3.1.0 – PTR Build 9733
Glyph of Hymn of Hope – Your Hymn of Hope lasts an additional 2 sec.

Psychic Horror cooldown
We were worried about the short cooldown in combination with Psychic Horror not sharing the Psychic Scream diminishing returns. We imagined every fight starting with the priest just chain CC-ing someone. It was intended as a defensive tool, to use when you’re having trouble with a melee class or hunter. The longer duration should make you think about when you use it instead of just firing it off as part of your rotation.

Having said that, cooldowns are a relatively easy thing to mess with, so we can always tune it up or down depending on how it plays out. (Source)

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Patch 3.1 – PTR Build 9722
Priest T8 Shadow 4P Bonus (Class: Priest) — Your Mind Blast also grants you 240 haste rating for 4 sec. (Old – 15 Haste, bugged)
Priest T8 Healer 4P Bonus (Class: Priest) — Casting Power Word: Shield also grants you 250 spell power for 5 sec. (Old – 15 spell power, bugged)

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Holy
Divine Hymn mana costs has been increased from 35% of base mana to 63% of base mana. Cooldown increased from 6 min to 10 min. Now Heals 3 nearby lowest health friendly party or raid targets for 4320 to 4774 every 2 sec for 8 sec, and increases healing done to them by 15% for 8 sec.

Shadow
Psychic Horror cooldown has been increased from 1 minute to 2 minutes.
Patch 3.1.0 – PTR Build 9704

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Holy
Hymn of Hope – You recite a Holy hymn, restoring hope to those in despair. Restores 3% mana to 3 nearby low mana friendly party or raid targets every 2 sec for 8 sec, and increases their total maximum mana by 20% for 8 sec. Maximum of 12 mana restores. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. 40 yd range, Channeled, 6 min cooldown
Divine Hymn – You recite a Holy hymn, summoning the power of the Divine to assist you in your time of need. Heals 3 nearby lowest health friendly party or raid targets for 1 to 6 every 2 sec for 8 sec, and increases healing done to them by 15% for 8 sec. Maximum of 12 heals. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. 35% of base mana, 40 yd range, Channeled, 6 min cooldown
Body and Soul now increases the target’s movement speed by 30% (down from 60%). (Not a change, clarified by Ghostcrawler)

Shadow
Shadowfiend doesn’t have a reduced chance to be hit by spells and melee attacks anymore But they gained a healthy hp boost for PvP and the standard pet avoidance for AE damage in PvE. (Source)
Misery now increases the benefit from spell power gained by your Mind Blast, Mind Flay and Mind Sear spells by 5/10/15%.

Divine Hymn redesigned: You recite a Holy hymn, summoning the power of the Divine to assist you in your time of need. Heals 3 nearby lowest-health friendly party or raid targets for 4960-5208 every 2 seconds for 8 seconds, and increases healing done to them by 15% for 8 seconds. Maximum of 12 heals. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. Cooldown increased to 6 minutes, up from 5.

Hymn of Hope redesigned: You recite a Holy hymn, restoring hope to those in despair. Restores 3% mana to 3 nearby low mana friendly party or raid targets every 2 seconds for 8 seconds, and temporarily increases their total maximum mana by 20% for 8 seconds. After the effect expires, the mana is lost. Maximum of 12 mana restorations. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. Cooldown increased to 6 minutes, up from 5.
Mental Agility, Inner Focus, Shadow Reach, Shadow Focus and Shadow Affinity now all affect Psychic Horror.

Discipline
Improved Divine Spirit: This talent has been removed.
New Talent: Improved Flash Heal: Reduces the mana cost of your Flash Heal by 5/10/15%, and increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal by 4/7/10% on friendly targets at or below 50% health.

Shadow
Shadow Affinity: Now also causes you to receive 5/10/15% of your base mana when your Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch spells are dispelled.
Vampiric Touch: When dispelled, Vampiric Touch will deal damage to the afflicted target.

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Glyph of Fear Ward: Now reduces duration and cooldown by 1 minute.
Glyph of Inner Fire: Increases bonus armor by 50%.
Glyph of Mind Control: Increases duration by 30 seconds.
Glyph of Psychic Scream: Increases duration by 2 seconds, but increases cooldown by 8 seconds.
Discipline

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Grace description has been modified to add – Grace can only be active on one target at a time.

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Discipline
Mental Agility changed from 5 to 3 Ranks. Now Reduces the mana cost of your instant cast spells by 4/7/10%. (Old – 2/4/6/8/10%)
Holy
Serendipity now reduces the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell by 4/8/12%. (Down from 6/12/20%)
Body and Soul *New Talent* – When you cast Power Word: Shield, you increase the target’s movement speed by 30/60% for 4 sec, and you have a 50% chance when you cast Abolish Disease on yourself to also cleanse 1 poison effect in addition to diseases.

Shadow
Shadowform now gives the the periodic damage from your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells the ability to critically hit for 100% increased damage.
Mind Melt now also increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Vampiric Touch, Devouring Plague and Shadow Word: Pain spells by 3/6%.

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Discipline
Mental Agility: Reduced to 3 points (4/7/10%), down from 5.

Shadow
Mind Melt: Now also increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch spells by 3/6%.

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Power Word: Barrier (Power Word: Shield for the whole group) and Hymns revamp
We’d still like to do Barrier, but some of the revamps ended up more extensive than we planned. At this point we’d rather make what we have taste good instead of throwing new ingredients into the stew, but it’s an idea we still like.

Believe it or not, hymns are still being worked on. Now that the squid works a little better, Hymn of Hope has even less of a role. (Source)

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Holy
Hymn of Hope has been re-added to the game.

Shadow
Psychic Horror (New Skill) – You terrify the target, causing them to tremble in horror for 3 sec and drop all weapons for 10 sec. (16% of base mana, 30 yd range, Instant cast, 1 min cooldown)
Vampiric Touch now cause 680 damage (at Rank 5) if the effect is dispelled.
Shadow Affinity now gives the priest 5% of his base mana when his Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch spells are dispelled.

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Warrior rage generation while Power Word: Shield is active in 3.1
This is a buff to warriors versus priests. However, warriors also received a pretty hefty nerf versus priests that not many players are talking about. Specifically, you will no longer be at zero armor in PvP situations. (Source)

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Discipline
Meditation and Improved Power: Word shield have changed locations with each other.
Meditation: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting
Renewed Hope: This talent also now allows you to proc the Renewed Hope buff on all party/raid members every time you cast Power Word: Shield, reducing damage taken by 3%. Lasts 20 sec.

Shadow
Psychic Horror: Has been redesigned and is now a 1-pt talent. You terrify the target, causing them to tremble in horror for 3 sec. and drop all weapons (disarm effect: including bows) for 10 sec. 1 minute cooldown. Instant cast. The horror effect can be dispelled, but the disarm cannot.
Improved Spirit Tap: Now grants 17/33% of mana regeneration while casting.
Spirit Tap: Now grants 83% of mana regeneration while casting.
Priest

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Glyph of Dispersion: Reduces the cooldown on Dispersion by 45 sec.
Glyph of Fade: Now reduces cooldown by 9 sec.
Glyph of Guardian Spirit: If you Guardian Spirit lasts its entire duration without being triggered, your Guardian Spirit cooldown is reset to 60 sec.
Glyph of Holy Light: Can no longer crit and has had its range updated.
Glyph of Hymn of Hope: Your Hymn of hope provides 2 times the normal amount of mana per time, but its duration is 50% shorter.
Glyph of Mind Sear: Increases the radius of effect on Mind Sear by 5 yards.
Glyph of Pain Suppression: Allows Pain Suppression to be cast while stunned.
Glyph of Penance: Reduces the cooldown of Penance by 2 sec.

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Viper Sting
Viper Sting vs. priests is something we plan to address. (Source)

Reflective Shield and Hymn of Hope removal
There is a good chance we will just keep this spell. The jury is still out. As I am sure most of you know, the original intent was to let you gain the functionality on any target. When we had to limit it to the priest for technical reasons (that is to say the tech didn’t exist to cast it on others) then we became less enamored with the spell, as did many of you.

However it turns out there are plenty of players who still like Reflective Shield exactly as it is, so it may get a stay of execution. Both these spells will probably be rescued from the cutting room floor. (Source)

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Shadow Priests
I think Shadow priests will be in a good place. For PvP they got a much-needed tweak to Psychic Horror, but I won’t spoil it here.

For PvE, I think the changes will help their scaling in the long run. I suggested in another thread that we might need to make their Shadow spells crit at 200% in order for the Shadowform change to actually be a buff. But we are fully committed to having the dots crit. The game just works better that way.

The Shadow Ulduar 4 piece set bonus is pretty sweet too. (Source)

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Healing as a Discipline priest
I believe there are 1 or 2 more Disc talent changes you don’t have yet that boost healing a little more. We’re not worried about Disc mana generation, because it was really good before, but let us know if you get on the PTR how it feels. (Source)

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Glyph of Fade – Reduces the cooldown of your Fade spell by 9 sec. (Down from 15 sec)
Glyph of Mass Dispel — Reduces the mana cost of Mass Dispel by 50%. (Up from 20%)
Glyph of Mind Control — Reduces the chance targets will resist or break your Mind Control spell by an additional 17%. (Old – Increases the duration of your Mind Control spell by 30 sec.)
Glyph of Smite — Your Smite spell inflicts an additional 20% damage against targets afflicted by Holy Fire. (Old – Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Smite by 100%.)
Glyph of Scourge Imprisonment — Reduces the cast time of your Shackle Undead by 0.5 sec. (Old – Increases the chance of success for your Shackle Undead spell by 8%.)

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Discipline
Grace doesn’t reduce damage dealt to the target anymore but now increases the healing received from the Priest by 3% (Up from 2%)
Renewed Hope now also give you a 100% chance to reduce all damage taken by 3% for 20 sec to all friendly party and raid targets when you Power Word: Shield a friendly target.

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Glyph of Psychic Scream — Increases the duration of your Psychic Scream by 2 sec. and increases its cooldown by 8 sec. (Old: Increases the duration of your Psychic Scream by 1 sec.)
Glyph of Fear Ward — Reduces cooldown and duration of Fear Ward by 60 sec. (Old: 30 sec.)
Glyph of Fade — Reduces the cooldown of your Fade spell by 15 sec. (Old: Increases the duration and cooldown of your Fade spell by 50%.)
Glyph of Inner Fire — Increases the armor from your Inner Fire spell by 50%. (Old: Increases the charges on your Inner Fire spell by 20.)
Glyph of Mind Control — Increases the duration of your Mind Control spell by 30 sec. (Old: 12 sec.)
Glyph of Smite — Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Smite by 100%. (Old: 50%)
Glyph of Dispersion — Your Dispersion ability now also clears movement impairing effects and makes you immune to them for its duration.
Glyph of Guardian Spirit *new* — If you Guardian Spirit lasts its entire duration without being triggered, your Guardian Spirit cooldown is reset to 60 sec.
Glyph of Penance *new* — Reduces the cooldown of Penance by 2 sec.
Glyph of Mind Sear *new* — Increases the radius of effect on Mind Sear by 5 yards.
Glyph of Hymn of Hope *new* — Your Hymn of hope provides 3 times the normal amount of mana per time, but its duration is 50% shorter.
Glyph of Pain Suppression *new* — Allows Pain Suppression to be cast while stunned.

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Discipline
Skills
Divine Spirit is now a baseline spell.
Talents
Penance (Tier 11) Damage increased slightly across all ranks.
Grace (Tier 9) now lasts 15 sec. (Previously lasted 8 sec)
Rapture (Tier 8 ) revamped. Now a 3 point talent. When your Power Word: Shield is completely absorbed or dispelled you are instantly energized with 1.5% of your total mana, and you have a 33% chance to energize your shielded target with 2% total mana, 8 rage, 16 energy or 32 runic power. This effect cannot occur once every 12 seconds.
Focused Will (Tier 7) now increases spell critical strike chance by 1/2/3% in addition to its previous effect.
Reflective Shield has been moved from Tier 7 to Tier 5. It is now a 2 point talent and causes 22/45% of the damage you absorb with Power Word: Shield to reflect back at the attacker.
Enlightenment (Tier 6) is now a 3 point talent and now increases your total Spirit by 2/4/6% and increases your spell haste by 2/4/6%. (Previously a 5 point talent)
Meditation (Tier 3) now increases mana regeneration by 17/33/50%. (Previously 10/20/30%)
Improved Power Word: Fortitude (Tier 2) now also increases your personal stamina by 2/4%.
Unbreakable Will (Tier 1) now reduces the duration of Stun, Fear, and Silence effects done to you by an additional 6/12/18/24/30%. (Previously 3/6/9/12/15%)
*New Talent* Improved Flash Heal, Tier 7, 3 point talent – Reduces the mana cost of your Flash Heal by 5/10/15%, and increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal by 4/7/10% on friendly targets at or below 50% health.
*New Talent* Soul Warding, Tier 5, 1 point talent – Reduces the cooldown of your Power Word: Shield ability by 4 sec, and reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Shield by 30%.

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Holy
Skills
Prayer of Healing is now a targeted spell that heals the target’s party.
Holy Nova mana cost reduced from 27% base mana to 22% base mana.
Talents
Circle of Healing (Tier 9) healing increased across all ranks.
Test of Faith (Tier 9) now increases healing by 4/8/12% on friendly targets at or below 50% health.
Serendipity (Tier 8 ) changed to: When you heal with Binding Heal or Flash Heal, the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell is reduced by 6/12/20%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 20 sec.
Holy Concentration (Tier 7) changed to: Your mana regeneration is increased by 16/32/50% for 8 sec after you critically heal with Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal or Renew. (Previously had a chance to grant clearcasting effect)
Blessed Resilience (Tier 7) increases the effectiveness of your healing spells by 1/2/3% along with its previous effect.
Improved Holy Concentration (Tier 9) removed from the game.
*New Talent* Empowered Renew, Tier 9, 3 point talent – Your Renew spell gains an additional 5/10/15% of your bonus healing effects, and your Renew will instantly heal the target for 5/10/15% of the total periodic effect.

Shadow
Skills
Shadowfiend now creates a shadowy fiend to attack the target. Caster receives 5% mana when the Shadowfiend attacks. Damage taken by area of effect attacks is reduced, and the Shadowfiend has a reduced chance to be hit by spells and melee attacks. Lasts 15 sec.
Talents
Dispersion (Tier 11) now clears all snare and movement impairing effects when cast, and makes you immune to them while dispersed.
Shadowform (Tier 7) now gives your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells the ability to critically hit.
Darkness moved from Tier 6 to Tier 1.
Silence (Tier 5) range increased to 30 yards. (Previously was 20 yards)
Vampiric Embrace (Tier 5) now lasts 5 mins. (Previously lasted 1 min)
Spirit Tap (Tier 1) now increases mana regeneration while casting by 87%. (Previously 50%)
Improved Spirit Tap (Tier 1) increases mana regeneration while casting by 17/33%. (Previously 10/20%)
*New Talent* Improved Devouring Plague, Tier 6, 3 point talent – Increases the periodic damage done by your Devouring Plague by 5/10/15%, and when you cast Devouring Plague you instantly deal damage equal to 5/10/15% of its total periodic effect.

Abolish Disease: Now cleanses a disease every 3 sec, down from 5. Duration reduced from 20 seconds, down to 12 sec.

Devouring Plague: This spell now has a new icon.

Divine Spirit is now trainable at level 31.

Holy Nova: Mana cost reduced approximately 20%.

Hymn of Hope: This spell has been removed.

Improved Holy Concentration removed.
Prayer of Healing: This spell now heals the target’s party, rather than being limited to just your direct party.

Shadowfiend: Health scaling increased. Now receives 30% of the master’s spell power. Mana return increased to 5%, up from 4%. The Shadowfiend now receives mana when its melee attacks land, rather than when it deals damage. Movement speed normalized to player movement speed. Tooltip revised.

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Talents
Discipline
Divine Aegis – Divine Aegis effects will now stack, however the amount absorbed cannot exceed 125*level (of the target).
Grace: Duration increased to 15 seconds, but now is only limited to one target.
Improved Power: Word Fortitude – Now also increases your total Stamina by 2/4%.
New Talent: Soul Warding: Reduces the cooldown of your Power Word: Shield ability by 4 sec., and reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Shield by 30%.
Penance: Damage increased approximately 30%.This spell can now be cast on yourself.
Power Infusion: This effect now has a new spell effect and sound.
Reflective Shield:This talent has been removed.
Unbreakable Will:Increased from 3/6/9/12/15% to 6/12/18/24/30%.

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Holy
Circle of Healing: Healing increased by approximately 40%.
Holy Concentration re-designed: Mana regeneration is increased by 16/32/50% for 8 sec after you critically heal with Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal or Renew.
New Talent: Empowered Renew: Your Renew spell gains an additional 5/10/15% of your bonus healing effects, and your Renew will instantly heal the target for 5/10/15% of the total periodic effect.
Serendipity re-designed: When you heal with Binding Heal or Flash Heal, the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell is reduced by 6/12/20%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 20 sec.
Test of Faith: No longer increases critical effect chance of your heals, but healing done on targets lower than 50% health is increased from 2/4/6 to 4/8/12%.

Shadow
Blackout: This talent has been removed.
Darkness: This talent is now in tier-1, moved up from tier-6.
Dispersion: Now clears all snare and movement impairing effects and makes you immune to them while dispersed.
New Talent: Improved Devouring Plague (Shadow): Increases the periodic damage done by your Devouring Plague by 5/10/15%, and when you cast Devouring Plague you instantly deal damage equal to 5/10/15% of its total periodic effect.
Shadowform: Bonus damage from critical strike chance removed and replaced by the ability of those periodic damage spells to generate critical strikes.
Silence: Range increased to 30 yards.
Vampiric Embrace duration increased to 5 minutes, up from 1 minute. PvP duration is now 60 seconds. Cooldown removed.

To Be or Not To Be…Shadow

Ever since hearing about duel specs the thought keeps racing through my mind that Chuck is no longer a shadow priest, he is now just a “priest”.

Despite the fact that I could choose to go shadow PvE and shadow PvP spec, most pugs and even guilds will expect one of your specs to be…….dun dun dun, not shadow! I know, damnit damnit, is what I was thinking too. However, since finding out about duel specs I have started collecting a very respectable healing set including several pieces of the Valorous set. In addition, though it is not my first attempt at healing, I have been throwing myself out there for heroics and what not as a Disc priest. (Not quite ready to commit to Holy just yet)

Healing just isnt the same game it used to be guys and gals. It seems that while Blizz decided to give all classes to AoE to kill the concept of crowd control, they also gave healers unlimited mana to kill the ideas of mana conservation and not overhealing. Now some of this will change when the new mana regen changes take place in patch 3.1, but in the mean time I suggest getting out there and getting some practice.

Trust me when I say, putting your name in LFG means at least half the time you are going to be expected to heal whether you want to or not. I mean what excuse will you really have when your healing spec is but a mere button click away.

Are Shadow Priests Being Nerfed?

Long before there was beta, when alpha still reigned supreme, there was a foretelling of great magnitude that shook the foundations of everything we hold true. It was written that in WotLK, Vampiric Touch would be nerfed to 2.5% of damage done converts to mana for party members, down from 5% in TBC. For the longest time I wondered why? Was it something I did to upset the shadow gods? But just as I had given up all hope for retaining my raid spot over mages and warlocks, we find out that Blizzard’s testing shows that the increased damage output along with abilities to conserve and restore your own mana, gives more overall mana to party members. Could this be true? Possibly, but we have been lied to before. The only thing that could redeem Blizzard in the eyes of the people would be some kind of miracle. And behold, from behind the third wall comes a glimmer of hope. A recent blue post states the very real possibility of raid wide mana regen! While this has not been implemented in the beta as of yet, it does conform to many of Blizzards major class overhauls already in the beta: raid wide pally auras, raid wide hunter aspects, and many more. Blizzard goes on to say that they want to make it so different specs of the same class are not required for a raid, i.e.- CoH Priest and Shadow Priest or Resto Druid and Feral Tank.

So as a breakdown from what we know so far about Spriests in Wrath-

-We now have AoE, although it is way overpriced in mana

-Our dps is supposed to be increased to compete with mage and warlock classes through talents like Pain and Suffering and Twisted Faith

-Our ability to regen mana for ourselves is no longer reliant on VT. Instead we have Improve Spirit Tap and the ability to convert Spirit to spellpower, making stacking Spirit applicable again.

-VT was nerfed to 2.5% from 5% but could be adapted to be a raid wide buff before Wrath is released.

-We were given some great PvP abilities like Dispersion, Imp Shadow Form, and Psychic Horror.

Let’s not forget we have months of the beta still to come for things to change for better or worse. The important thing is that I believe Blizzard is moving in the right direction with our class and spec, although they don’t have it all down yet.

Talent Spotlight: Twisted Faith

This is the first of a series of posts I will be doing about the new talents and spells in WotLK. Today I will be focusing on Twisted Faith in the 10th tier of the shadow tree.

Twisted Faith- Increases your shadow spell power by 6/12/18/24/30% of your total Spirit, and your damage done by your Mind Flay and Mind Blast is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% for each of your Shadow damage over time effects on the target.

Lets break down this talent into its two parts.

The first part states: Increases spell power by 6/12/18/24/30% of your total spirit. Up to this point spirit has been very important to holy and disc priests but not as much to shadow priests. In the Burning Crusade, the addition of mp5 made stacking spirit for mana regen pretty useless. Now spriests are going to have to go back to the old ways, stacking spirit not only for regen but also for increasing spell damage. If you combine this with the regen from Improved Spirit Tap, which is based off spirit, then you have spirit standing right behind spell power as the stat spriests will be building around in Wrath.

The second part of this talent states: Increases the damage done by your Mind Flay and Mind Blast by 1/2/3/4/5% for each of your shadow over time effects on the target. This is pretty self explanatory. Keeping up your dots at all times just became even more important than before. Mind Blast is also going to be more important in the priority list now that it and Mind Flay are amplified by dot stacking.

The effects of this talent on the overall game play of a spriest wont blow anyones socks off. However, I can see this as being a major contributer to my theory that shadow priests are looking at a much better dps standing in Wrath. Its seems that Blizzard is working on a synergy between mana regen talents based off damage done and damage done being amplified by mana regen stats. I personally am really excited about this talent and its applications towards PVE.

Top 5 Reasons to Stay Spriest in Wrath

5. Rolling a Deathknight starts you off 15 levels behind, so I will probably roll a DK as my second 80 allowing me to have a raider available while grinding through 25 levels.

4. Ever wanted to be more than a mana battery? Most of the talents and spells added in Wrath add to our pure face melting power. Unfortunately, the good folks at Blizzard decided this meant they needed to nerf our mana regen by lowering VT to 2% regen from 5%.

3. New mana regen talents such as Improved Spirit Tap and Pain and Suffering, will cure most of our own mana issues easing the pain of the 70-80 grind.

2. PVP Baby! Spriests as viable pvpers and arena partners is coming to a server near you. New spells like Dispersion, Improved Shadowform, and Psychic Horror look to be Spriest’s bread and butter moves for future pvping.

1. WTF OMFG WE GET AOE!!. And not a crap AoE either a Seed of Corruption-like spell that looks to make places like Hyjal, with all the glory going to the best AoEer, not seem like a small piece of personal hell. Mind Sear is also a channeled spell, which most likely means small amounts of damage ticking quickly. Unlike, SoC the damage caused should be spread out enough that combined with Fade we should be able to go nuts and keep our shadowy butts intact.

New spriest talents and spells for WotLK

Notice: all items listed here are still being beta tested and will most likely be changed in some way before release.

Spell Changes:

Improved Shadow Word: Pain – Now increases damage by 5/10% but no longer increases the duration

Mind Control- Has only 1 rank and costs 12% of base mana

Improved Spirit Tap- Gives you 50/100% chance to gain a 50% bonus to your spirit after gaining a critical chance effect from your Mind Blast or SWD spells. For the duration, your mana will regenerate at a 25% rate while casting. Lasts 8 sec.

Shadow Focus- Now a 3 point talent, down from 5. Now also reduces the mana cost of your shadow spells by 2/4/6%

Shadow Resilience- Now reduces physical damage taken by 2/4% but no longer reduces chance to be critically hit by spells.

Shadow Form- Now has an Innate 30% threat reduction. Now has a shapeshift UI.

Vampiric Touch- Mana returned from damage reduced from 5% to 2%

New Spells and Talents:

Pain and Suffering- Your Mind Flay has a 33% chance to refresh the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain on the target, and reduces the damage you take from your own Shadow Word: Death by 20/40/60%

Improved Shadowform- Your Fade ability now has a 50/100% chance to remove all movement impairing effects when used while in Shadowform, and gives you a 35/70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage when casting any Shadow spell while in Shadowform.

Psychic Horror- Causes your Psychic Scream spell to have a 50/100% chance to Fear the target in horror for 4 sec.

Twisted Faith- Increases your shadow spell power by 6/12/18/24/30% of your total Spirit, and your damage done by your Mind Flay and Mind Blast is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% for each of your Shadow damage over time effects on the target.

Dispersion- You disperse into pure shadow energy, reducing all damage taken by 90%. You are unable to attack or cast spells, but you regenerate 6% health and mana every 1 sec for 6 sec.
Instant, 3 min cooldown

Mind Sear- Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the enemy target, causing 183 to 197 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all enemies within 10 yards around the target.
2465 Mana, 30 yd range, Instant cast

More to come as testing progresses!

The Last Real Dot Class

Since the death of the affliction lock as a viable raiding or pvp spec, shadow priests have taken the top spot as “DoT King”. But with great dots comes great responsibility. How can you use your dots efficiently and to achieve maximum damage output?

Step 1. Get a DoT Timer- The most important thing about maximizing the dps of your dots is letting them do their job. You cant get the most of of dots that dont complete their full timer. There are many kinds of dot timers. Some, like Darkness, are built to keep you on a rotation. This kind of timer tells you to cast a dot or spell and when the dot or global cool down is over it moves to the next spell in the rotation. Most good players will tell you that spriests do not have a rotation, they have a priority list (more on this in step 2). Addons like Class Timer and DoT Timer are specifically for displaying dot length. My personal favorite is the dot timer built into Xperl.

Step2. Learn the List- Of all the intensely detailed classes and specs in WoW, spriests are the only caster class that does not use a spell rotation. Instead we employ the use of a priority list. There are many differing opinions on what ordering is best, but since this is my blog you get to hear mine. First priority is Vampiric Touch followed by Shadow Word: Pain. I choose to use VT before SWP to allow the tank to gain aggro during the VT cast time. The next priority depends on whether you are aiming for mana efficiency or a complete face melting. I almost always go for the face melting so I use Mind Blast then Shadow Word: Death then repeat Mind Flay until its time to renew dots. To preserve mana cut out MB and use SWD every time its up and then repeat Mind Flay until its time to renew dots. While this may sound similar to a rotation it is not. If VT runs out you renew it no matter what you are doing, then follow your priority list using each spell every time its available before the next one on the list.

Step 3. Understanding DoT Aggro- All classes do things that other classes cant understand because these things do not conform to their comfort zone. With spriests, our aggro gain is unfairly disproportionate to our damage output due to our mana and health regen abilities. Here are some tricks to spread out and mitigate aggro gain. First off never use MB or SWD when your aggro reaches the tank’s. These spells are the only ones that crit and depending on your talents have a base of 30% crit chance. Anytime your aggro gets to high is a good time to refresh dots, vamp embrace, and dot up other targets. Yes, thats right I said dot up other targets (warning this advice is not for players that are surprised by pulling aggro). Any Targets that are individually tanked should be dotted if you have time. Dots do not crit so even a half-assed tank should be able to hold aggro off you, especially if you let them have awhile to get a head start. DO NOT dot multiple targets if only one warrior or druid tank is on the job. I you have a good paladin tank you will probably be alright as long as you allow him to build some aggro.

Step 4. Think Evil- “Evil will always win because good is dumb”. Be smart, be observant, and most importantly never stop dotting even if you are told to. Others dont understand how how we work. Fade is a spriest’s best friend.

Have a different opinion or something to add? Leave me a comment or email me at brentdupont@gmail.com.