a Darkened Soul

Sorry I am late on this but my daughter has been very sick this week making sleep a rare commodity.

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Here are the images and stats for Priest Season 8 Arena Gear and Arena Weapons.

Season 8 Sets

Wrathful Gladiator’s Mooncloth Gloves	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Hands
Wrathful Gladiator’s Mooncloth Hood	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Head
Wrathful Gladiator’s Mooncloth Leggings	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Legs
Wrathful Gladiator’s Mooncloth Mantle	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Shoulder
Wrathful Gladiator’s Mooncloth Robe	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Chest
Wrathful Gladiator’s Satin Gloves	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Hands
Wrathful Gladiator’s Satin Hood	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Head
Wrathful Gladiator’s Satin Leggings	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Legs
Wrathful Gladiator’s Satin Mantle	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Shoulder
Wrathful Gladiator’s Satin Robe	270 (Req. 80)	Vendor	Cloth	Chest

Weapons

264

Mace

Main Hand

Wrathful Gladiator’s Gavel

264	Staff	Two-Hand	Wrathful Gladiator’s War Staff
264	Staff	Two-Hand	Wrathful Gladiator’s Focus Staff

264	Wand	Ranged	Wrathful Gladiator’s Touch of Defeat
264	Wand	Ranged	Wrathful Gladiator’s Wand of Alacrity
264	Wand	Ranged	Wrathful Gladiator’s Piercing Touch
264	Wand	Ranged	Wrathful Gladiator’s Baton of Light

264	Dagger	Main Hand	Wrathful Gladiator’s Spellblade
264	Dagger	Main Hand	Wrathful Gladiator’s Blade of Alacrity

Non Set Items

264	Cloth	Feet	Wrathful Gladiator’s Treads of Dominance
264	Cloth	Feet	Wrathful Gladiator’s Treads of Alacrity
264	Cloth	Feet	Wrathful Gladiator’s Treads of Salvation
264	Cloth	Waist	Wrathful Gladiator’s Cord of Dominance
264	Cloth	Waist	Wrathful Gladiator’s Cord of Alacrity
264	Cloth	Waist	Wrathful Gladiator’s Cord of Salvation
264	Cloth	Wrist	Wrathful Gladiator’s Cuffs of Dominance
264	Cloth	Wrist	Wrathful Gladiator’s Cuffs of Alacrity
264	Cloth	Wrist	Wrathful Gladiator’s Cuffs of Salvation

Wintergrasp Season 8

245

Miscellaneous

Neck

Titan-Forged Pendant of Ascendancy

245

Cloak

Back

Titan-Forged Cloak of Ascendancy

251	Cloth	Shoulder	Titan-Forged Shoulderpads of Salvation
251	Cloth	Shoulder	Titan-Forged Shoulderpads of Domination

Popularity: 1% [?]

After seeing my dps increase dramatically from the changes made in Patch 3.3, it was obvious to me that Blizzard made the right decision by keeping Haste off of SW:P.

Shadow Priests are at a really good place right now and don’t really have any reason to complain about much of anything. Buuut everyone should have an ace-in-the-hole so to speak. You know, something that almost seems like cheating if we didn’t already know that Blizzard knew we were doing it and didn’t say anything.

One of these little “secrets” that can be exploited is the bug with SW:P refreshing. You know, the one that Blizzard originally said was the reason that we couldn’t have the Haste buff added to the spell and then changed their minds saying that it was because they didn’t want classes to become too dependent on certain stats.

Basically the idea, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, is the ability to stack Crit with pots and trinkets before casting SW:P and being able to keep that Crit forever through Mind Flay refreshing.

Now a trinket has come into play that seems to be sort of a secret weapon that no one talks about. This trinket called Nevermelting Ice Crystal increases Spellpower by 111 but the real kicker come from the use on the item.

Use: Increases your Critical Strike Rating by 920 for 20 seconds. Each time one of your non-periodic spell does a critical strike the bonus is reduced by 184.

It has been tested by the user base at Shadowpriest.com and verified that using this item before casting SW:P will allow you to keep the 920 Crit Rating or about 20% Crit Chance through Mind Flay refreshes.

This is obviously an amazing thing to have around, especially in fights that are easy to keep the same SW:P up the entire time like Marrowgar.

This awesome guide over at Shadowpriest.com gives a great breakdown of what other things roll over in SW:P refreshing.

Popularity: 6% [?]

This is the 3.3.1 version of my Shadow Priest Cheat Sheet. A few updates have been made for accuracy and suggestions by users. I have added my Best Raiding Profession guide into this one for an easier experience finding valuable information. I have also decided to remove the downloadable version unless it is requested due to lack of interest over the last two versions.

Hit

* 263 hit is the cap with 6 points between Shadow Focus and Misery and with a Draenei in your group

* 289.55 hit is the cap with 6 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 314.78 hit before you can go to 5 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 341.02 hit before you can go to 4 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 367.25 hit before you can go to 3 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 393.48 hit before you can go to 2 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 419.71 hit before you can go to 1 point between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 445.94 hit before you can go to 0 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

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Stat Priority

1. Hit (until cap)

2. Spellpower

3. Haste

4. Crit

5. Spirit

6. Intellect

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Percent Values

1% hit = 26.23 hit

1% haste = 32.79 haste

1% crit = 45.91 crit

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Psuedo Point Values

* 1 spellhit = 1.88 PP

* 1 spellpower = 1 PP

* 1 spellhaste = .98 PP

* 1 spellcrit = 0.76 PP

* 1 spirit = 0.59 PP

* 1 intellect = 0.22 PP

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Casting Priority List

1. Shadow Word Pain (only with 5x weaving stack and crit buffs)

2. Vampiric Touch

3. Devouring Plague

4. Mind Blast

5.  Mind Flay

6. Shadow Word: Death (only when there is between 1 and 1.5 seconds before the next non-Mind Flay spell should be cast)

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Spell Coefficients

Devouring Plague- 18.49% (per tick)

Holy Nova- (Damage)16.06%

Mana Burn- 0.0%

Mind Blast- 42.80%

Mind Flay- 25.70% (per tick)

Mind Sear- 71.43%

Shadowfiend- 65.0%

Shadow Word: Death- 42.96%

Shadow Word: Pain- 18.29% (per tick), 110% (overall)

Smite- 71.40%

Vampiric Touch- 40.0% (per tick)

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Most Benefiting Professions for Raiding

1. Engineering- 52.22pp

PP is from Hyperspeed Accelerators, Springy Arcanoweave, and Nitro Boosts. (66.64 – 28 + 27 – 22.54+18.24-9.12 =52.22)

2. Tailoring-51.21pp

All pp is from Lightweave Embroidery. (295/4-22.54=51.21)

3. Jewelcrafting- 48pp

All pp is derived from Runed Dragon’s Eye. ((39-23)*3 = 48)

4. Inscription- 46pp

All pp is from the Master’s Inscription of the Storm shoulder enchant. (80.65-34.65=46)

4. Blacksmithing- 46pp

All pp is from Socket Gloves and Socket Bracer. (23+23=46)

4. Leatherworking- 46pp

All pp is from Fur Lining- Spellpower. (76-30=46)

4. Enchanting- 46pp

All pp is from Enchant Ring- Greater Spellpower. (23+23=46)

5. Skinning- 30.74pp

PP is derived from Master of Anatomy. (40*.76=30.74)

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Best Gems

1. Runed Cardinal Ruby(23pp)

2. Reckless Ametrine(21.8PP)

3. Purified Dreadstone(17.9PP)

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Best Meta

Chaotic Skyflare Diamond

“Jewelcrafter only” gems get top priority

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Best Glyphs

Major Glyphs:

1. Glyph of Shadow

2. Glyph of Mind Flay

3. Glyph of SWP

4. Glyph of SWD

Minor Glyphs:

1. Glyph of Shadowfiend

2. Glyph of Fading

3. Glyph of Levitate

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Talent Specs

14/0/57- Get Meditation and Inner Focus in the Disc tree.

13/0/58- Get Meditation but not Inner Focus.

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Best Enchants (non profession)

Head- Arcanum of Burning Mysteries

Shoulders- Greater Inscription of the Storm

Cloak- Greater Speed

Chest- Major Spirit

Wrists- Superior Spellpower

Gloves- Exceptional Spellpower

Waist- Eternal Belt Buckle

Legs- Brilliant Spellthread

Feet- Icewalker

2 Hander- Greater Spellpower

Main Hand- Mighty Spellpower

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Mana Regen

-Spirit is first because it increases spellpower as well as mana regen

-Intellect is second priority because both Dispersion and Shadowfiend return mana based on mana pool. It also increases crit chance.

-MP5 is third because it does nothing but supply mana regen.

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Popularity: 34% [?]

10. I have a personal affection for the Vengeful Gladiator set due to the fact that it was the set I used while I was at the peak of my arena and PvP playing. The set is similar to the Absolution set or Tier 6 except it is a bit tackier in the color choices.

9. Tier 9 was a major shift from many of the Priest sets that Blizzard has created. Personally I felt this set exemplified the feel of Patch 3.2 and the Argent Tournament by looking slightly more armored and battle hardy than other Wrath gear.

8. There is something deceivingly beautiful and pure looking about the Vestments of Prophecy. Much like the weapon in this photo they could be used for good or great evil. Prophecy was the last set Blizzard created before they began what I like to call over-design. The game still felt pure back then, before Blizzard started catering to the general populace.

7. While quite plain in its design when compared to almost every other set that Priest have dawned, the new Tier 10 gear has a elegance and raw power to it that says “Please underestimate me and see what happens to you.”

6. When BC came out I was a little iffy about the overall design many instances and surroundings due to the bright shiny sci fi feel that Blizzard pushed upon us. But after some time I grew to things BC had to offer, such as the Tier 4 Incarnate Raiment and its warm yet sophisticated design.

5. Tier 9 is a very powerful looking set with kind of a Mage thing going on. I never really made a decision on how I felt about the lack of a helm but the yellow eyes thing was kind of cool when not in Shadowform.

4. Absolution was a very dark set that I thought was perfect for Shadow and damage dealing. The aura around the head had was a great effect whether in Shadowform or not.

3. The Frozen Shadoweave set was not specifically a Priest set but because of the sheer awesomeness for raiding in BC and the vampiric and somewhat gothic look compared to other BC gear, this set ranks third in my list of all time favorites.

2. Number 2 on this list is the Vestments of Faith. The original Nax was designed to be for the hardest of the hardcore and because of that the gear from that instance was revered as special in a way that no set was before of since. The design is elegant and powerful looking with its glowing shoulders and halo.

1. Finally in our list is my all time favorite gear set for Priests. The Avatar set, in my opinion, was the perfect set for a class that is defined by its bipolar nature. The design is dark and mysterious yet bright and ethereal. This is a perfect combination for Priest that use the powers of the Light and Shadow.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I realized yesterday that I never updated the Tier 10 info to include the iLvL 277 gear. I went ahead and created a photo including all three levels for you uys since I couldn’t find one that anyone else had already done. Here is the blurb I wrote in the previous Priest Tier 10 post.

The set bonuses on this Tier are pretty awesome and are both going to be amplified by the haste changes, whatever they finally end up being. 5% Crit to DoTs is pretty sick and with faster DoT ticking (on everything but SWP) we should see a serious damage increase with this first bonus.

The 4 piece bonus is worded a little funny but the gist of it is that the original wording didn’t specify that while the channel duration was shortened the ticks would come faster. This wording is just saying that instead of a 3 second channel with a 1 second tick period you now have a 2.5 second channel with a .83 tick period. This is an obviously nice buff to MF’s haste and should give a nice jump in dps when players reach 4 set pieces.

An important thing to note about this Tier set is that Blizzard has already begun shifting towards Cataclysm stat allocations. Notice there is no Spirit on any of the damage gear for any of the classes. Blizzard announced that in Cataclysm that simplified stats would mean that each stat would have a more specific purpose (Spirit = healers, Intellect = caster dps, etc). Some people are upset that after giving us and upgraded Glyph of Shadow increasing our Spellpower gained from Spirit that Blizzard has immediately nerfed that change by lowering our Spirit. The fact is that Spirit with or without the glyph gives us no where near the PP that Spellpower, Haste, or Crit do. These sets are set up a damage sets with dps oriented stats. Adding Spirit to these items means they would have to take from somewhere else and that is something we don’t want.

Here is something you can be a bit upset about because I sure was. Where are all of our red sockets unless I am completely blind I only see 1 in the entire set. Ok, yellow sockets aren’t that bad because we can get the set bonus using SP/Haste gems but blue sockets? The only beneficial blue stat is Spirit and Blizzard basically just told us to stop stacking it by not putting it on the gear. I found this aggravating to say the least but I’m gonna roll with the punches and say at least we did get a boost to the Spellpower we get from Spirit.

Popularity: 11% [?]

For weeks now we have watched the PTR with bated breath to see what changes to Shadow will make it to Live and to what effect. Now we know that the patch is about a week from release and most changes have reached their finalized forms with ICC being the main reason for the remaining wait. So why is this haste change such a big deal and if it is such a big deal how will it effect me? Well the answers are here for you after weeks of repeated adjustments and tweeks. The tireless men and women of Shadowpriest.com and Elitistjerks.com have worked out pretty much all the details that we can before the patch actually goes live. This is of course assuming that no further changes are made to Priests on the PTR. There are several different topics that I am going to cover so just to warn you this will probably be a long read. Please feel free to jump around if you don’t feel like reading all of the sections in the order they are written. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 14% [?]

Priest Tier 10

Along with patch 3.3 comes the obligatory next tier of gear, I believe we are up to 10 now. MMO-Champion.com has done a great job digging up the images. The above photo is the final rendition and the photo below is without the hood but shows multiple races.    Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

I am not saying that this is a disaster because Shadow is still getting about a 15% damage increase in 3.3 but it still stings.

Quote from Blizzard staff Priest
Shadow Word: Pain and Haste in Patch 3.3
We removed Shadow Word: Pain from scaling with haste because we thought Shadow dps was too high with all 3 dots hasted.

There is a bug where you can get big SW:P dots and then keep them rolling at that magnitude forever since the spell gets constantly refreshed. It’s a nasty bug to fix. However, that isn’t why we removed SW:P from Shadowform.

It’s important for classes to want the stats that appear on their gear, but it’s not a goal that everyone requires all stats in the same 1:1 ratio. It’s a bit unfortunate in the best-in-slot-or-nothing mindset of some of our players that the second and third best stats sometimes get labeled as junk even if they still boost dps beyond a non-trivial degree.

Our stance on simulations remains that they can be good tools when used correctly. We will continue to not pay a lot of attention to posts that simply say “Sims say our dps is too low. Please buff.” You can’t just accept a simulation’s estimate of your dps as what you’ll actually see on an encounter. Sim output is fundamentally not empirical data — it is a model; an attempt to imitate what will really happen. Simulations can be really useful for predicting say an optimal talent or gear configuration for your character. Players have learned a lot of things about class mechanics from the better sims out there. “True dps” is not one of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

Just wanted to make a quick post about the new craftable cloth items in patch 3.3 that have data-mined. All of these item are created uses the new dropped crafting item called Primordial Saronite similar to Runed or Crusader orbs. The stats on the items like all PTR numbers could change at any time.

The stats on these items give you a good taste of what the gear dropping from ICC is going to look like. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

VERSION 3.3.1 OF THIS CHEAT SHEET IS NOW AVAILABLE!

This is not a major overhaul, just a few changes to aspects that were effected by the 3.2 patch. I will post both the full sheet and the link to the downloadable version.

Hit

* 263 hit is the cap with 6 points between Shadow Focus and Misery and with a Draenei in your group

* 289.55 hit is the cap with 6 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 314.78 hit before you can go to 5 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 341.02 hit before you can go to 4 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 367.25 hit before you can go to 3 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 393.48 hit before you can go to 2 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 419.71 hit before you can go to 1 point between Shadow Focus and Misery

* 445.94 hit before you can go to 0 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

- Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 29% [?]