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% [?]

Not much going on for Shadow Priests in this next mini patch. However, we will see the beginning of the next arena season and a new boss in VoA. So whether you are a PvPer going for your arena gear or a raider going for your tier 10, their will be something new tomorrow for you.

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In addition, the final wing of Icecrown Citadel will be opening up allowing players to finally face the Lich King. MMO-Champion has datamined the final cinematic if you wish to know how things turn out.

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Some quick notes in case you hadn’t read the patch notes yet-

• Quite a few heroic 5-mans are being nerfed.
• Warriors are getting nerfed.
• Locks are getting buffed across the board.
• Elemental Shaman and Balance druid are both getting slight buffs.
• And there is now a Strength ring rep reward from the Ashen Verdict.

Here are the full patch notes on MMO-Champion.com

Popularity: 2% [?]

Double Potting

-verb

1. The action of using more than one potion in an encounter.

2. Using a Potion immediately before entering combat allows a player to use another potion at sometime during that encounter.

Surprisingly few Shadow Priests seem to be using this method to increase their dps potential, but in the golden age of pugs and under-geared players in end game content I am not really that surprised. Double Potting is the action of using a potion such as Potion of Wild Magic right before a boss encounter begins allowing you all the benefits of that potion while in combat without locking yourself out of the use of a potion during the fight.

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This method is specifically very beneficial to Shadow Priests due to the fact that the effects of the potions can carry over in or SW:P throughout the entire encounter.

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Here is an example of how I begin a typical boss fight:  Potion of Wild Magic, combat begins, VT,DP,MB,MF, Nevermelting Ice Crystal(trinket), SW:P

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The breakdown of what this accomplishes is:

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Potion of Wild Magic- Increases critical rating by 200 (9.06% @ L70) and spell power by 200 for 15 sec. (1 Min Cooldown) Using this potion before the beginning of combat allows all of your first casts the Spellpower and Critical Strike benefits while you are applying Misery and Shadow Weaving debuffs to the boss. There should be plenty of time to cast all of these spells and use your trinket before the 15 second timer on the potion expires. The 200 Spellpower will roll off of your SW:P when it is refreshed the next time by your Mind Flay. However, the 200 Crit from the potion as well as the 920 Crit from your trinket will roll over for as long as you can keep your SW:P from falling off the boss.

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The action of using your potion before the encounter has begun allows you to use another potion during combat in case either your buffs have fallen off and you must renew SW:P or you need a burst of damage at a particular point in the encounter.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The other day I healed a pug 25 ICC, which was quite depressing since the raid lead would only allow main spec rolls on loot. I had missed my guild run that week so unfortunately pugging was my only option. But something happened in this raid that bothered me much more than the loot rules. The Shadow Priest of the raid, named Desecrate, was doing a respectable amount of dps, though not exceptional. In this particular raid he was regularly topping the damage meters but not necessarily the dps meter. Somehow this seemed to give him the idea that he was entitled special treatment. Treatment like not having to change to adds on Lady Deathwhisper like the other ranged dps had to do. He wasn’t even one of those guys that did it without saying anything. His preference was to let everyone know that the raid would be better off if he was on the boss the entire time. While I felt it would be inappropriate for me to call him out on it see as how I was not a raid lead or assistant, one person did say something to him about it at which point a barrage of lies and incorrect information spewed forth from Desecrates mouth like a tornado of bullshit. There was stuff in there about Shadow Priests only being single target dps. There was crap about really slow build up before our dps really kicks in, and my favorite of course was just the flat out fact that he was beating everyone in damage so we should all kiss his Icecrown Spire Sandals and thank our lucky stars that he was there. Luckily the raid leader rushed us to start before my heaving turned into a full on projectile vomit from the smell of all that bullshit.

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We easily one shot the boss, and by easily I mean I was the only healer left alive with 6 dps and two tanks remaining as the boss finally gave up from boredom and threw her loot at us. It was one of the sloppiest kills I have been a part of in a long time and what made it even better was the woots and hell yeahs as we took her down. My good friend Des was of course at the top of the meters and promptly pointed out to the raid how he basically carried us through the encounter. It was unbearably difficult to restrain my insults and arguments but I did hold my tongue for the remainder of the raid.

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Ok, so here is the point of me telling you this long drawn out story with which I even bored myself a bit.

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Being a good wow player, or thinking you are one, does not give you a right to anything above and beyond that of any other person playing this game. First off, this is a game and not a very challenging one at that. 12 million plus people play this game so there is always someone out there better than you. Do you know what the best players, in the best raiding guilds, in the world think of themselves? They know that the second they slack or stop trying they will be replaced faster than their $1500 dollar graphics card could process it and thats a fact. No one is above replacement.

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Second thing to remember is this, being the top dps in a pug raid is like being the best teller at the DMV. No one is going to like you better for it and at night you go home and cut yourself because you work at the DMV.  Also I’d like to point out as a realist that if a Shadow Priest is topping the meters its not because that player is so amazing, it is because the other players are not. Its important to know your classes limitations and as well as constantly trying to surpass them.

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Lastly but probably most important in this line of thinking is that the anonymity of the internet doesn’t give you the right to be a prick. And that brings me to the happy ending to this story. By the time we had reached Deathbringer Saurfang the raid lead was so fed up with Des that he was told to stop talking in vent….and in general. Des and his overinflated ego obviously took offense and decided to leave the raid while ranting in vent about how we would fail without his godliness. At this point I volunteered to change specs to Shadow and after finding a replacement we proceeded to one shot DS with no deaths. Whether I did better in damage was irrelevant to the encounter although it would have felt pretty good to tell Des how bad I made him look in front of everyone.

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Anyone can be replaced easily, especially in a pug so remember that when you start to feel a sense of entitlement or begin to say something you might regret. No one likes a conceded jerk.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Misery-

-noun

1. a 3 point talent

2. When all 3 talents are taken (and they always should be) this talent increases your chance to hit with harmful spells by 3% for 24 seconds.

3. Increases the the benefit from spellpower gained by your Mind Blast, Mind Flay, and Mind Sear spells by 15%

4. Misery can only be applied by casting either VT, SW:P, or MF

Misery is an important buff for not only yourself but for others in your raid because of the increased chance to hit that it gives. The hit cap for Shadow Priests is 289 if Misery has been applied otherwise you may miss with crucial spells in the beginning of a fight so I can not stress enough how important it is to get this buff up as quick as possible. Misery can only be applied by using Vampiric Touch, Mind Flay, or Shadow Word: Pain.

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Misery also gives a very nice damage buff to your Mind Blast, Mind Flay, and Mind Sear spells. You can use this knowledge to increase damage in some interesting places.

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One of my favorite ways to boost my damage is to throw SW:P on every target I can in an aoe group before starting up with Mind Sear. You get increased damage on every target done by the Mind Sear as well as chance to hit and not to mention the SW:P ticks themselves running simultaneously with the Mind Sear ticks. On average I do between 10 to 20% more damage on aoe mobs than Shadow Priests that do not use this technique.

Popularity: 3% [?]

In the last couple of weeks the popularity of this site has increased quite a bit and because of this I am looking to find some help with everything from data gathering to post writing. If you are a dedicated Shadow Priest that would like to help other players contact me at Brentdupont@gmail.com or my AIM screen name xenderx.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Shadow Weaving-

-noun

1. a 3 point talent

2. 3 points gives you a 100% chance to increase the shadow damage you deal by 2% for 15 seconds.

3. This effect stacks up to five times for a total of 10% extra damage done by all shadow spells.

This effect is often overlooked by many Priests I have talked to because it is automatically applied when using shadow spells. Understanding what you get with this talent can help you to increase your dps potential.

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The most important aspect of this spell is how it is used with SW:P. The damage done by SW:P is increased by 10% like other spells however if you do not have 5 stacks of the effect up when SW:P is cast your damage will be greatly reduced. You must recast SW:P manually to gain the effect of the 5 stacks if it was not done at the start.

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This is the reason that Shadow Priests have two different rotations, a starting rotation and then a combat rotation. The start up rotation is designed to apply Shadow Weaving efficiently and for the maximum dps potential.

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Starting rotation-

VT-DP-MB-MF-SW:P if standing still

SW:P-VT-DP-MB-MF-MF-SW:P if running in

Popularity: 3% [?]

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% [?]