Post by Rawhide on May 18, 2006 11:46:35 GMT -5
When the Priest patch came out much deliberation took place on how we priests should re-spec. I waited, confired with fellow priesties, pondered every which way and decided to go full-bore Shadow with Discipline.
The first Shadow spec included 3 pts in the Power Word Shield, but adding up the extra shield absorbtion - it only absorbs an extra +-140 damage. This wasted 3 talent pts to have this. ALso, in the Shadow tree, I used 5 pts in Shadow Focus (reduces your target's chance to resist your shadow spells).
This was fine and all for pure pvp and can kick some major butt, but I found that my abilities in 5, 10, and 20 man instances was lacking. "Of course", you say - you are Shadow NOT Holy specced. This is true, but a Shadow priest can still be a very useful Healer up to the 10 man raids without a second healer.
With this deficiency noted above, I respecced to change 2 KEY places in the talent tree for instances (AGGRO Reduction). Instead of the 3 talent pts in Shield, I moved those 3 pts into Silent Resolve to reduce my threat with ALL spells by 12%. Then I took out the 5 pts in Shadow focus, and added 3 pts into Shadow Affinity which reduces threat generated by my Shadow spells by 25%. I moved the remaining 2 pts into the Improved Renew in the Holy tree so that my Renew HOT heals for an additional 15%.
Here is the spec - www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/priests2/talents.html?50320113020000003000000000000000532023100511251
As you can see, my Shadow is lean without any fluff so I can devote as many talent pts into Discipline as possible. The Discipline tree helps a Priest last longer!! - hint, hint
I have run 2 5-man instances with this new build and I saw a dramatic difference with my aggro.
Since I use Vampiric Embrace (heals the party for 30% of shadow damage I deal), it is key to shell out SOME damage (which aids in DPS), and let the Shadow Weaving ability stack 5 times on the mob (this vulnerability increases shadow damage on the mob by 15%). This is great because Warlocks benefit from this effect as well when they deal shadow damage.
Most of the fights with this new build has allowed me to cast rank 1 Word Pain 2 times to stack the Vulnerability, Vampiric Embrace, Big Word Pain, cast Renews on 1 or 2 party members, and Mind Flay about 2 times. Of course, this is all relative to the situation. There are times I only cast Pain, and Vampiric Embrace then shell out Heals and wand away.
I know that Blessing of Salvation works well, but I have out aggroed this buff on a few key occassions with JUST HEALING so this was my attempt to help myself even more with threat reduction. This just makes me even more subtle!! (grin)
Anyways, the point of this was to give hope to those that want to go Shadow and still be useful in the lower man raids (up to 20 man - as long as those said 20 man raids have at least 2 other healers other than yourself).
Please post your thoughts.
Raw is fighting to get His board back --
The first Shadow spec included 3 pts in the Power Word Shield, but adding up the extra shield absorbtion - it only absorbs an extra +-140 damage. This wasted 3 talent pts to have this. ALso, in the Shadow tree, I used 5 pts in Shadow Focus (reduces your target's chance to resist your shadow spells).
This was fine and all for pure pvp and can kick some major butt, but I found that my abilities in 5, 10, and 20 man instances was lacking. "Of course", you say - you are Shadow NOT Holy specced. This is true, but a Shadow priest can still be a very useful Healer up to the 10 man raids without a second healer.
With this deficiency noted above, I respecced to change 2 KEY places in the talent tree for instances (AGGRO Reduction). Instead of the 3 talent pts in Shield, I moved those 3 pts into Silent Resolve to reduce my threat with ALL spells by 12%. Then I took out the 5 pts in Shadow focus, and added 3 pts into Shadow Affinity which reduces threat generated by my Shadow spells by 25%. I moved the remaining 2 pts into the Improved Renew in the Holy tree so that my Renew HOT heals for an additional 15%.
Here is the spec - www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/priests2/talents.html?50320113020000003000000000000000532023100511251
As you can see, my Shadow is lean without any fluff so I can devote as many talent pts into Discipline as possible. The Discipline tree helps a Priest last longer!! - hint, hint
I have run 2 5-man instances with this new build and I saw a dramatic difference with my aggro.
Since I use Vampiric Embrace (heals the party for 30% of shadow damage I deal), it is key to shell out SOME damage (which aids in DPS), and let the Shadow Weaving ability stack 5 times on the mob (this vulnerability increases shadow damage on the mob by 15%). This is great because Warlocks benefit from this effect as well when they deal shadow damage.
Most of the fights with this new build has allowed me to cast rank 1 Word Pain 2 times to stack the Vulnerability, Vampiric Embrace, Big Word Pain, cast Renews on 1 or 2 party members, and Mind Flay about 2 times. Of course, this is all relative to the situation. There are times I only cast Pain, and Vampiric Embrace then shell out Heals and wand away.
I know that Blessing of Salvation works well, but I have out aggroed this buff on a few key occassions with JUST HEALING so this was my attempt to help myself even more with threat reduction. This just makes me even more subtle!! (grin)
Anyways, the point of this was to give hope to those that want to go Shadow and still be useful in the lower man raids (up to 20 man - as long as those said 20 man raids have at least 2 other healers other than yourself).
Please post your thoughts.
Raw is fighting to get His board back --
