StM - The Shadow Priest Dilema

[choco]

This is mainly for Anj and myself, but others may also be interested.

There is no doubt that the Shadow Priest's newest addition to the spell library is a DPS game changer, but without the requisite skill and practice, it's (literally) suicide. I use macros developed with GnomeSequencerExtended (GS-E), and there's heaps of info on this on the WoWLazyMacros site. I have one macro that I developed that is just for maintaining Voidform while in StM, and my other macros continue to do the damage. While in StM, a Shadow Priest's spells can all be done while moving, so there is an advantage with certain bosses.

Without StM, Shadow Priest DPS is rather ordinary until your get top level gear (well, duh!). I think that's unfair, because the Tier 9 talents should all be capable of good DPS depending on your play style and skill level. But that's a whinge for another day.

The big secret to using StM is to trigger it at the right moment. Ideally, we should be able to maintain Voidform during StM for at least 90 seconds, but every boss is different, and the TTD varies as the guild gains experience, so at any time, going into StM is a best guess approach.

There is a great post on using Weak Auras to set up TTD for StM. It counts down the time you should launch it. And other stuff.

www.howtopriest.com/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=8650

[treeline]

Has anyone tested Surrender yet? I imagine it very difficult to simultate and practice such usage outside of Raids and dieing.

My Priest is Shadow and 110 so i have an interest in this.

[choco]

Anj and I have been playing around with the timing, and the Weak Aura scripts seem to work OK after the boss has come close to going down. I now have a Time To Die countdown that I can use, and I'll launch StM around 20% - 30% depending on the boss. Once this has all happened a few times, the WA scripts "learn" the differences and you can more accurately gauge how long you can last in VoidForm for StM. It's only good in Raids (not dungeons) and it needs lots of Haste, so switching talents from one boss to another is a pretty big DPS loss. I've looked at the logs for the Shadow Priests that are on top of this, and the numbers are quite staggering. But you really need to know this class well before it gets effective enough to make a difference. I have raided Shadow on and off for years, but only as secondary, so I am still learning.

[treeline]

Yeh lots and lots of haste, voidform is amazing and when it all syncs in perfectly seems to go on and on. If i find the time to get the priest geared i would love a play.