Hey everyone!
Well, I for the first time have had a legitmately SLOW day at work, so I was bored and got to thinking about some spec ideas!
Here's my deal. Right now Im speccd to do both PvP and PvE (basically all that means is 3 of my talents pts go into reduced threat by shadow spells - 25%). I've been thinking lately about the raiding scene, and about how I might want to really PvP alot more (not to say I wouldn't raid, but after 2.5 years on and off of it, it gets a little tiresome
)
So anyway, here were some spec Ideas that I had that revolve around different approaches to using the shadow priest in pvp....both world (solo most likely), battleground, and arena situations considered. It's important to remember, gear can contribute alot to making some of these specs work (more stam / resil vs. more pure damage etc.)
I'll start off with my current spec, that I find very nice.
This spec allows for a very good balance between PvP and PvE. Allowing me to still do extremely well in PvE damage, as well as being able to both kick out some nice damage, and backup heal in PvP.
Pros:
- 3 Pts in shadow affinty allows for instancing and MUCH less worry of pulling aggro. I wouldn't be able to do nearly as much damage as I can without this talent.
- You get inner focus to activate with your trinket to hit a Mind blast followed by shadow death to knock someone out. Excellent burst damage
- You have the pts in Focused Mind in shadow to give you a "mana conservation"
- Full 5 pts in shadow weaving, shadow power, and misery, to completely maximize your damage
- 2 pts in holy, for the ability to have uninterruptable heals. In small scale PvP, I can't imagine not having this.
Cons:
- No pts in improved Mindblast, cutting its cooldown by up to 2.5 sec. In PvE there is a slight maximization of DPS that is lost (as a Shadow priest would need 4/5 to have it on a good rotation with SWD and mind flay) and in PvP, it means your nuke damage gets spacced out more.
....however, one can say that imp MB doesn't matter due to the 12 sec.
cooldown on SW:Death...that you'd want to use both as your burst
damage.
- No extra Pts. in the holy tree to allow for some "longevity" (more explanation on this in a later spec!)
FROM THIS POINT ON, SPECS WILL NOT USE SHADOW AFFINITY (-25% threat from shadow spells)
Now, I know what you're thinking..."No shadow form! your not a shadow Priest!" Well that might be true.
However, this spec centers around complementing a GROUP more. You get some survivability in the disc tree as well as a nice little "deal some melee back some damage" with reflective shield. In addition, you have the ability to PI (most likely your mage partner, not yourself...coughARATHILcough). On top of that, you get a fast "mass dispel" (.5 sec with talents....thats extremely awesome) to get rid of those pesky ice blocks and pally bubbles. And you still get the extended DoT, Vamp embrace, and even more importantly Silence from the Shadow tree.
This spec DOES NOT provide the priest with a very maximum amount of constant damage (missing +15% from shadowform, 10% from darkness, and 5% from misery).
Also, you lose Vamp Touch! byebye mana battery. This spell however, IS more PvE oriented as its cast time can be quite annoying in PvP.
However, the priest gains Imp. mana burn, a fast mass dispel, reflective shield, Power Infusion. This spec would most likely work in a 3v3 or 5v5 setting. Imp. Mana burn is AMAZING. You can take out ~1050 mana from a target every 2 sec. with it...that's devasting if you're not being focused on (key pt there...but does happen in larger group situations or depending on your teammates). However - this has not been tested by me and is simply some theorycraft!
A spec that allows the priest to do his near highest capable damage while still having improved mana burn for those caster fights and arena situations.
In order to get imp mana burn and still keep some necessary shadow talents...this spec looses 2 pts in Shadow Power (reducing overall crit bonus to Mindblast and Shadow Death to 9% from 15%). This reduces the priest's burst damage ability slightly.
Also, 2 pts. in healing focus are lost. This can casue problems in more solo PvP situations when the priest needs to heal himself through chain casted ice lances and frostbolts, melee classes like some shaman, rogue and warriors hacking at you etc. I personally have tried specs without healing focus...and they are ok as long as you have a good paladin backing you up that you can count on! You definitely lose some of your solo ability without it though.
This build is one that is very interesting to me. It is kind of related with the next 2 specs (with a slight twist). It uses pts. in the holy tree to allow the priest to "take more damage". Spell warding (10% spell damage reduction) and Blessed Resilence (when physically crit regens 25% of the crit back in 6sec.), this gives ALOT of buffer to keeping a priest alive.
To get this spec and still dish out good damge though, the priest looses improved fort in the disc tree. (30% bonus to the buff). The priest also looses inner focus for those nearly gauranteed free big crits.
In the shadow tree, the priest must sacrifice focused mind, which is INSANELY good for mana conservation when casting mindflays and mindblasts. This impacts PvE a bit more than PvP. He also must toy with having less pts in shadow weaving (the gauranteed debuff that stacks up to 10% more shadow damage on a target), misery, and/or focused power. I personally, go the route of losing pts in focused power.
My idea with this spec is basically be able to dot a target, and chain mindflay them (causing a continuous source of life for you and your party with vamp embrace, and being un interruptable at times if crit)...while still regenerating some health when melee classes are attacking you.
I will be trying this spec, or one of the next two soon to test them out first hand...
Similar to the one above, except Sacrifices more pts in shadow to be able to get Improved Mana Burn. I went with "focused mind" (mana conservation) in this build as to allow for longevity in fights, since the burst damage will be lacking due to having no misery, shadow power, and only 3 pts in darkness and shadow weaving.
Also, no mana battery here either :\
I think this can be a viable spec though. I've done alot of reading on the priest forums and everyone loves the whole imp mana burn idea. I even spoke with Aeacus the other night who mentioned getting focused mana burned really screws him up and can even force him to bubble early!
and lastly, and one that I think would be just fun to try and see peoples reactions....
lol at the title
. The idea here is very simple. You have pts in the disc tree that are basic PvP talents (resistance to CC, imp fort.), pts. in the shadow tree giving you shadowform. But also, points in holy building down to Spirit of redemption.
some Pros:
- you gain a lower casting time to gheal which "can" (and rarely) be useful in the right situation, as well as a lower casting time on smite for when your spelllocked out of your shadow tree.
- you gain holy nova which can be used at rank 1 to nab a rouge near you (when you know hes there in an arena).
- when killed, which as a shadowpriest tends to be a first target often I find, you can now go nuts healing your other teammates
Cons:
-You lose "some" damage in the Shadow Tree (misery and shadow power)
-You lose Vampiric Touch (byebye mana battery again)
The idea for this spec came from a bunch of arena fights I had one night with Dante, Arathil and Haniel, in which in the 3v3, I was continuously the first one focused fired and EXPLODED. With some of that damage alleviated in the holy tree, it would have helped. However, if taken out, i can then cast 3 renews, and pop off as many healing spells as I can.
I have seen SoR save arena fights when a priest is taken out. Some people (actually most) don't think to RUN AWAY FROM THE ANGEL and sit there dpsing targets while they get chainhealed for free with no interruption. 15 seconds can win an arena easy.
This spec would work well in an arena setting with 2 other dps classes, or a pure dps and dps hybrid.
For instance, a mage, shadowpriest, and druid. the druid and priest can heal and if the priest drops can still heal as the druid and mage dps down the others fast. Also useful with a melee team like a Retribution Pally/Elem or enchance shaman, Warrior and shadow priest.
Overall, a fun spec....if for nothing else, i want to see someone's reaction when the see a priest hitting for 2.4k+ crits suddenly turn into an angel when he dies healing his party
Well, that's all I have for ideas for now. Wish I didn't owe micmac 2.2k gold and could TRY alot of these....but in time I will.
If anyone else gives them a shot, let me know what you think!
thanks for the read guys!
Jon
EDIT: added another trispec and editing some spelling.
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