a Darkened Soul

5. Rolling a Deathknight starts you off 15 levels behind, so I will probably roll a DK as my second 80 allowing me to have a raider available while grinding through 25 levels.

4. Ever wanted to be more than a mana battery? Most of the talents and spells added in Wrath add to our pure face melting power. Unfortunately, the good folks at Blizzard decided this meant they needed to nerf our mana regen by lowering VT to 2% regen from 5%.

3. New mana regen talents such as Improved Spirit Tap and Pain and Suffering, will cure most of our own mana issues easing the pain of the 70-80 grind.

2. PVP Baby! Spriests as viable pvpers and arena partners is coming to a server near you. New spells like Dispersion, Improved Shadowform, and Psychic Horror look to be Spriest’s bread and butter moves for future pvping.

1. WTF OMFG WE GET AOE!!. And not a crap AoE either a Seed of Corruption-like spell that looks to make places like Hyjal, with all the glory going to the best AoEer, not seem like a small piece of personal hell. Mind Sear is also a channeled spell, which most likely means small amounts of damage ticking quickly. Unlike, SoC the damage caused should be spread out enough that combined with Fade we should be able to go nuts and keep our shadowy butts intact.

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Notice: all items listed here are still being beta tested and will most likely be changed in some way before release.

Spell Changes:

Improved Shadow Word: Pain – Now increases damage by 5/10% but no longer increases the duration

Mind Control- Has only 1 rank and costs 12% of base mana

Improved Spirit Tap- Gives you 50/100% chance to gain a 50% bonus to your spirit after gaining a critical chance effect from your Mind Blast or SWD spells. For the duration, your mana will regenerate at a 25% rate while casting. Lasts 8 sec.

Shadow Focus- Now a 3 point talent, down from 5. Now also reduces the mana cost of your shadow spells by 2/4/6%

Shadow Resilience- Now reduces physical damage taken by 2/4% but no longer reduces chance to be critically hit by spells.

Shadow Form- Now has an Innate 30% threat reduction. Now has a shapeshift UI.

Vampiric Touch- Mana returned from damage reduced from 5% to 2%

New Spells and Talents:

Pain and Suffering- Your Mind Flay has a 33% chance to refresh the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain on the target, and reduces the damage you take from your own Shadow Word: Death by 20/40/60%

Improved Shadowform- Your Fade ability now has a 50/100% chance to remove all movement impairing effects when used while in Shadowform, and gives you a 35/70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage when casting any Shadow spell while in Shadowform.

Psychic Horror- Causes your Psychic Scream spell to have a 50/100% chance to Fear the target in horror for 4 sec.

Twisted Faith- Increases your shadow spell power by 6/12/18/24/30% of your total Spirit, and your damage done by your Mind Flay and Mind Blast is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% for each of your Shadow damage over time effects on the target.

Dispersion- You disperse into pure shadow energy, reducing all damage taken by 90%. You are unable to attack or cast spells, but you regenerate 6% health and mana every 1 sec for 6 sec.
Instant, 3 min cooldown

Mind Sear- Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the enemy target, causing 183 to 197 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all enemies within 10 yards around the target.
2465 Mana, 30 yd range, Instant cast

More to come as testing progresses!

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So in case you’ve been living under a rock, the new profession in WotLK is Inscription and the info released so far has me very excited. Inscription is based on inks which you create using herbs in a process similar to prospecting. The inks are used in glyphs, scrolls and other items. Glyphs are a new system added to the game allowing players to adapt spells to their needs. A player can have 2 minor, 2 lesser, and 2 greater glyphs, each effecting different aspects of a players spells. Greater glyphs have direct and major effects on a large spell such as adding a stun effect to a mage’s fireball. Lesser is geared more towards things like adding range to an attack or length to a curse. The most notable minor glyph I have seen turns a mage’s sheep into a penguin. Inscriptionists also have the ability to unlock glyph mastery which allows them to have a 7th glyph.

Another amazing thing that Inscription is going to add to the game is the ability for enchanters to use scrolls the sell their enchants on the AH. The scrolls are enchanted and then used in the same way as an armor kit to enchant the purchasers gear or weapon.

A surprising addition that was found by Boubouille at MMO-Champion recently is the ability to create card for the Rogues Deck, a new Darkmoon Faire deck that is exchangeable for a nice chestpiece with a random enchant. The cards are also a world drop but can be created by inscribers and turned in to gypsies in major cities even when the Darkmoon Faire is not in town.

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First of all, if you haven’t leveled your cooking you fail. Cooking is one of the most valuable professions to level and is available to everyone. As a spellcaster, specifically a shadow priest, spell damage food is a great way to boost your damage easily in raids and instances. Blackened Basilisk is the easiest of the spell damage foods to farm the meat for. All you have to do is fly just over the wall of Shat and kill the basilisks crawling all over the rocks. You can circle the perimeter of Terrokar Forest once and get 2 stacks of meat. In addition to great stats for you, the food also sells for a bundle on the AH. Typically it goes for 30 to 40g on my server.

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Not all professions have benefits that are as specific to a class like tailoring does for a spriest. At some later time I will probably go over some of my other favorite professions, but for now ill start with the most beneficial. Tailoring, is a must have for all shadow priests for one reason alone: The Frozen Shadoweave Set. This set is craftable immediately after reaching 375 tailoring and will last you into tier 5 and some tier 6 territory. The reason this set is so amazing for shadow priests is our sheer reliance on spell damage. The Frozen Shadoweave Set has spell damage that beats some of the tier 6 quality gear. The only reason to even upgrade to tier 6 or equivalent gear is the other stats that later become important later on, such as intellect, stamina, and haste.

Compare the Frozen Shadoweave Chest to the Vestments of the Sea Witch that drop from Lady Vashj in Serpent Shrine Cavern.

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Frozen Shadoweave Robe
Binds when picked up
Chest	Cloth
178 Armor
+30 Stamina
+20 Intellect
Yellow Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 Spell Hit Rating
Durability 100 / 100
Requires Level 70
Requires Shadoweave Tailoring
Equip: Increases damage done by Shadow spells and effects by up to 72.
Equip: Increases damage done by Frost spells and effects by up to 72.
Set: Shadow’s Embrace (1/3)
Item Level 105

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Vestments of the Sea-Witch
Binds when picked up

231 Armor
+28 Stamina
+28 Intellect

Yellow Socket
Yellow Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +5 Spell Damage and Healing
Durability 100 / 100
Requires Level 70Equip: Improves spell hit rating by 27 (2.14% @ L70).
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 31 (1.4% @ L70).
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 57.

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You can see that while some of the stats are better than FSW its spell damage is still much higher. The Vestments of the Sea Witch is the first chest that is considered an upgrade although not a large one. Some pieces of the FSW set are not even upgradeable until reaching Sunwell Plateau. An example of this would be the FSW boots which are not really upgradeable until Felmyst drops the tier 6 boots.

Having the FSW set crafted when reaching 70 gives you a head start that other classes do not get. There are a few other really amazing pieces of craftable caster gear that add to the reason to take up tailoring, but none of it has the longevity of the FSW set.

Got something you would like to add? Leave me a comment or send me an email at Brentdupont@gmail.com

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Since the death of the affliction lock as a viable raiding or pvp spec, shadow priests have taken the top spot as “DoT King”. But with great dots comes great responsibility. How can you use your dots efficiently and to achieve maximum damage output?

Step 1. Get a DoT Timer- The most important thing about maximizing the dps of your dots is letting them do their job. You cant get the most of of dots that dont complete their full timer. There are many kinds of dot timers. Some, like Darkness, are built to keep you on a rotation. This kind of timer tells you to cast a dot or spell and when the dot or global cool down is over it moves to the next spell in the rotation. Most good players will tell you that spriests do not have a rotation, they have a priority list (more on this in step 2). Addons like Class Timer and DoT Timer are specifically for displaying dot length. My personal favorite is the dot timer built into Xperl.

Step2. Learn the List- Of all the intensely detailed classes and specs in WoW, spriests are the only caster class that does not use a spell rotation. Instead we employ the use of a priority list. There are many differing opinions on what ordering is best, but since this is my blog you get to hear mine. First priority is Vampiric Touch followed by Shadow Word: Pain. I choose to use VT before SWP to allow the tank to gain aggro during the VT cast time. The next priority depends on whether you are aiming for mana efficiency or a complete face melting. I almost always go for the face melting so I use Mind Blast then Shadow Word: Death then repeat Mind Flay until its time to renew dots. To preserve mana cut out MB and use SWD every time its up and then repeat Mind Flay until its time to renew dots. While this may sound similar to a rotation it is not. If VT runs out you renew it no matter what you are doing, then follow your priority list using each spell every time its available before the next one on the list.

Step 3. Understanding DoT Aggro- All classes do things that other classes cant understand because these things do not conform to their comfort zone. With spriests, our aggro gain is unfairly disproportionate to our damage output due to our mana and health regen abilities. Here are some tricks to spread out and mitigate aggro gain. First off never use MB or SWD when your aggro reaches the tank’s. These spells are the only ones that crit and depending on your talents have a base of 30% crit chance. Anytime your aggro gets to high is a good time to refresh dots, vamp embrace, and dot up other targets. Yes, thats right I said dot up other targets (warning this advice is not for players that are surprised by pulling aggro). Any Targets that are individually tanked should be dotted if you have time. Dots do not crit so even a half-assed tank should be able to hold aggro off you, especially if you let them have awhile to get a head start. DO NOT dot multiple targets if only one warrior or druid tank is on the job. I you have a good paladin tank you will probably be alright as long as you allow him to build some aggro.

Step 4. Think Evil- “Evil will always win because good is dumb”. Be smart, be observant, and most importantly never stop dotting even if you are told to. Others dont understand how how we work. Fade is a spriest’s best friend.

Have a different opinion or something to add? Leave me a comment or email me at brentdupont@gmail.com.

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One of the best resources available to players tuning or starting a shadow priest is shadowpriest.com. Some of the posts are invaluable in figuring out how to accomplish what you want with your spriest. I specifically would like to recommend the “Best Raiding Gear Guide” I live by it. The site features some of the best shadow priests playing today posting everything from advice to theorycrafting.

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Welcome to my blog about Shadow Priests and all of the face melting goodness that comes with them. I have a human shadow priest on the Windrunner-U.S. named Chuckenorris and for two years I have been tearing my server apart one opponent at a time in both pvp and pve. Now im going to divulge all of my evil secrets and tricks to the world. Get ready and stay tuned for whats to come.

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