Shadow Priest Spec Tree Review (Dragonflight Retrospective)

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[@REOlin-fh6tx]

I really want Shadowy Apparitions to be useful and good. I agree that this was the spell that made me fall in love with Shadow. I Also like shadow crash, but wish it would just drop on a targeted mob, the amount of times Ive had it miss because a tank moved or it hit a branch or rock and not hit the mob is the worst feeling.

[@VindGnyr]

As a midcore player, I really dislike spending a point (or two if I'm not confident in the group) on an interrupt. I wish silence was in the priest tree rather than in the shadow tree.

[@bmo14lax]

Yep, shaman hex etc. not cool

[@fernandogonzalez1556]

You’re on a roll putting out content. Good to see.

[@easterbunny2823]

Thanks for the video! Thinking of trying to gear my s.priest now

[@paradox3499]

I really dont get why people are complaining about "Inescapable Torment" this talent (ex legendary) is what gave a whole new interest to Mindbender and somehow saved this spell/talent from the most boring state, it simply got from "ok go on little creature, do your thing and let me forget about you" to a fun playstyle that in some sort evolve your core spells and make this creature relevant. I do agree on the fact that "Shadowy Apparitions" was one of the most cool things i saw when i first tried out SP and one of what made me love the spec, it's sad that it's not really a thing anymore.. we dont really notice them as much, i miss the time when it looked almost like a minigun

[@Publikwow]

I think the one problem with Inescapable Torment for me is that we are taking it all the time. Single Target, Council, Mythic+, etc all use it. Doesnt feel like it has a niche in that sense which I think is burning people out on the playstyle.

[@paradox3499]

@@Publikwow Yeah i agree on that point, it would be better if i was not that much an « all arround » talent. I just like the talent and would prefer it to not be deleted Thanks for your videos and all your work btw you help and save time of so much players

[@TheKabukimann]

I would love to get a deeper focus on the different playstyles. Having one side that focusses on Psychic link, Middle goes to apparitions and the other to empower Devouring plague (Maybe similar to Shadow orbs used to be) or have the psychic link be a choice node with shadow orbs. I think Shadow lacks in single target outside of execute range. I fully agree that Shadow Crash needs to have whispers build in. I would like to see Psychic link only spread while devouring plague is active maybe.

[@TinyTypo]

While I do want dots to feel better, I much prefer the playstyle of empowering my dots with passives like screams of the void, being rewarded for multi-dotting large packs just feels like im being rewarded for having good unit frames more than being good at shadow priest

[@jols7]

Shadow priest is like a frankenstein right now , with old spells from past expansions that don't have synergy each other and only do damage because they have to. Blizz have to make a choice whether getting rid of insanity to play like wolk/cata version with DA or the legion/bfa play style with VF, but not both. Unless they take that desicion sp will suck over and over again regardless the expansion. Thanks for the video as always Publik, hope you're doing great =)

[@voidgrim9465]

Hope they gonna stay with void priest... Fuck this darkness theme, we got aff locks already

[@mrdarkavocado]

agree 100%, i hope blizz takes your feedback to heart

[@psyonicpanda]

Idol of Yogg would be cool if it was a 2-3 charge system like Treants that you would manually spawn off the global. It would have like a 1 minute recharge and whenever an apparition hit a mob, it would lose 1 second off it's cooldown. Tweak the numbers ofc but something like that sounds really fun.

[@Althyrr]

This is probably the most fun way it's been described. It feels terrible having no control over your boii and him spawning at the end of a big pack and gone before the next

[@NiceKobis]

Good video. I agree with a lot of it. I personally find Ancient Madness very boring, like to the point I never ever think about it, it could be a talent that just said "move to next row" and be equally interesting to me. One thing I find kind of odd with the DA/voidform split is that DA is all non-periodic damage. Maybe this isn't how the choices actually work out, but for me voidform feels like the spell I use to actively deal damage - with getting a new spell I use often and trying to keep it up for as long as possible. Meanwhile DA is just fire and forget, I think it would be more interesting if DA was all damage, or maybe only dot damage + shadowy apparitions somehow. I get that DA increases my aoe through spirit link, it just feels odd having dots on 8-10 mobs and then using a CD to increase my "ST" damage. I do think they should keep both. Voidform is too cool to remove, but I think it's good for spec health and new people there is a CD that is easier to use. The DP empowering every other spell is so odd. I really like MF over MS and you're right it feels better there, I really like it. I think when changing from every DP to every other they should've went to every third but made it castable while moving too. Playing this raid it's really feels like I have to spend so much time casting stupid spells - or risk wasting procs/wasting CD time to have something up for when I need to move soon. Meanwhile BM hunters do everything while moving and most ranged specs have it better than us, evoker raid CD giving us a free charge of life grip really shows that too lol. (I'm 5/9 M atm with only a handful of pulls on Larodar for reference)

[@yolonah]

Thanks for the gold star. Still fingers crossed for the Voidweaver hero spec to be the old Legion voidform...

[@Ins0mn3sia]

God, I wish Shadowy Apparitions were more "involved" more stuff accent what they do, make them more interesting. I loved Shadow in Legion when I first picked it up. Hitting void eruption and just becoming this big fountain of spirits for as long as you could maintain. It looks cool, I just wish there was a tree spec that supported spirits.

[@briancates3576]

We need mind bomb back. That’s my number 1 gripe with the tree

[@VanGljuk]

I actually would like to have more powerful dots with manual application and yea apparitions are awesome ))), nice idea about Yogg, but now i think what if shadowpriest transforms into a lock, when can summon different pets like tendrills, yogg, shadowfiend.

[@nishiki2753]

Honestly, i would love for searing nightmare to come back as a choice node with psychic link. In some situations, i prefer the spammable aoe over the sustained one. BRH comes to mind with the spiders staircase and the bat gauntlet. Being the only spec with no on-demand aoe can feel so bad at times

[@Publikwow]

While I agree with the sentiment I'm not sure Searing Nightmare is the cleanest solution. CWC channeling spell was really awkward to play with.

[@nishiki2753]

yes i agree, but i rather have an awkward answer to a situation than none at all. I wish they had done that as a lazy solution and then eventually something better@@Publikwow

[@MichaelJCurl]

Great insight! In my opinion shadow is at it's best when Voidform is the meta. I've been playing Dark Ascension since it's been good and it really just doesn't do it for me. The legion shadow spec was amazing where we built insanity and then tried to keep voidform up as long as possible. This caused a lot of balance issues so when we got the dragonflight season 2 playstyle/tier set I thought we got it figured out but then the god comp nerfed us way too much.

[@Publikwow]

Yeah i totally agree. I think Dark Ascension was pitched as the easier alternative to Void Eruption but they missed out on giving Void Eruption a competitive reason to exist.

[@Evokasm]

I love the aoe shadowy apparition idea

[@Bluejackets019]

What about a talent that causes your dots to start on target but every second they duplicate onto a nearby target at a reduced duration. Would be a fun way to spread dots and also be uncapped.

[@azartrus]

Pretty good. I think blizz missed the ball when they mentioned giving "choice" for the specs and trees. For example, if shadow wants to do any AoE we are forced into taking psychic link as well as shadowcrash with the talent that makes it apply vampiric touch. You didnt mention it but damnation was another spell I missed loosing as it helped to apply dots fast if you missed your shadowcrash. Mind sear felt so good to press when it was in the tree as well.. Just my 2c here shadow was in a much better state a launch of df than where it is currently

[@Publikwow]

Damnation felt pretty lackluster though since it was just a single target

[@azartrus]

@@Publikwow it was single target however it did help when tank moved or i borked up shadowcrash. I was more looking at how blizzard took things away vs the beginning of the expansion. Choice is a good thing

[@ledoz]

@@Publikwow removing Damnation made SP feel incredibly clunky in PvP

[@ztormur6504]

how about making shadowcrash be targeted ability that makes like a wide oceanwave of shadows that covers a big area around your target ? like you mentioned ; that way it could remove the awkwardness of missing because of travel time towards a target location.

[@Althyrr]

Tbh i would take a black Flame Strike over the current version xD

[@bmo14lax]

Can't seem to get my stat weights good at 476 ilvl. Base is 22% Crit,33% haste, 19% mastery. Is the mastery too low and critical too high? Thanks

[@Publikwow]

stats look pretty good tbh

[@bmo14lax]

@@Publikwow Actually switched to mind spike from mind flay, droped some haste for some crit and that was it. Thanks bud

[@pabaug99]

I played SP in season 1, and stopped, came back to the game this days and damn, it feel so weird playing SP now.

[@Zulej112]

Make shadow crash apply 8 targets without extra talent and give silence as baseline

[@Dyske547]

Unfurling darkness is such a dead forgotten talent it didnt even get mentioned lol

[@Publikwow]

It did! Long video but I brought it up at some point :)

[@Dyske547]

​@Publikwow entirely possible I was just laughing in that final section. Everytime you moved to a new area I was waiting for you to just say move UD to the PvP tree. Great video, I'm one of the few the proud who really enjoyed the mind sear playstyle in 10.0-10.0.5 wouldn't hate to see them try that again

[@Althyrr]

@@Dyske547Just the amount of spirits popping out and not having to worry about crash because of sear extending dots was great. Yes it was a bit annoying on lower keys if you killed packs faster than 30s. But overall very fun with mind spike procs for movement to keep you active in case of movement.

[@Elbereth_TV]

dots should be easy to spread and powerful for sure, just look at other metaspecs, negative IQ required and they automatically do stupid dmg

[@Dwlsh]

I wish that at least one or two abilities spawned shadowy apparitions. At least when taking DA over VF.

[@Publikwow]

Only problem is that Void Bolt is one of the shining points of VF so wouldnt want to take anything from that and also give it to DA imo.

[@Dwlsh]

@@Publikwow yeah I understand that. I miss playing VF and seeing all the Shadows spawn. Wish it was more viable these days. Can’t wait to see the future of Shadow Priest in later patches/expansion. Enjoy your videos and SP knowledge. Thanks for everything. :)

[@ollebolle1620]

Wish there was a way to extend dots in an aoe situation. Like mind blast extends dots duration via psychic link. Just feels sad having to redot 3 times in higher keys

[@Publikwow]

Yeah if DoTs arent the core focus of the build I agree.

[@Althyrr]

I just kind of miss the way Shadow worked in 10.00 with mind sear. Yes it was clunky but god was it fun. Loved the movement globals with spike. Seeing all the spirits appear with sear. Tbh more spirit stuff is probably what I would like and not being forced to play spike. Just make faster or make it function like Flame Strike (feels more of a crash animation wise imo)

[@Publikwow]

Yeah there were lots of the 10.0 version that I think were appealing for sure

[@Proverb.]

Why do dot's need to be hard to spread if they are powerful? I mean I heard your theory, but it's not how the game works for the other specs. UH DH press 1 Instant cast and dot everything (no cd) Aff Lock cast 1 ability to spread Corruption to everything (no cd) Boomkin press 1 instant cast to apply Sunfire to everything (no cd) Spriest are the only dot class in the game that cannot apply dots without a CD to a group of enemies

[@psyonicpanda]

I think applying dots to everything manually is fun but I agree that if every class has it, we should probably have it. I think what Publik was saying is that to balance the manual spreading, you need to make dots do a lot of damage. The alternative is they can do less damage but be easier to spread.

[@Publikwow]

AFAIK all of those abilities are not dealing the majority of that specs damage, which is what I was advocating for. If the DoTs are mostly there to "activate" your damage via other things in the kit (i.e. Psychic Link) then they should be easy to spread.

[@Proverb.]

@@Publikwow I see. I still don't necessarily agree in principle though. It would depend how the rest of the kit interacted. I much prefered when we RNG spawned apparitions through SWP rather than from VT and if it functioned like this again I think it would be perfectly fine if we had a way to apply SWP to everything without hassle while making us still need to manually apply VTs. Maybe change Misery to make VT apply to 2 targets instead of applying both dots. Thing is even when dots are strong on something like a council fight, you still have to usually use more than 1 global. All of the specs I mentioned in the previous post have to do with aoe, and in that case does it really matter if your damage is dots or not? All the melee and hunters are easily doing full damage always with minimal hurdles why should dots be more difficult? Of course if you can just apply dots and press 0 other buttons and afk and keep up in damage it's no good, but I don't think that wpuld be or ever has been true. Can always reduce the duration as well if they are strong to force more upkeep with active gcds

[@RylanStorm]

I've just returned to WoW so I'm really rusty. The last time I played was in Lich King and, back then, my priest was a healer. I've never played ranged DPS. Right now, I feel awful. I regularly do less damage than the healer and tank. I'm so frustrated that my mobility is so low and I have nothing to offer when Crash is on CD or, as you say, if you miss. A lot of this will come down to "git gud" but the class isn't doing anything to help me.

[@Publikwow]

Yeah it's quite a steep learning curve in AoE especially that can be a lot of work for not that much output, especially early on when mobs arent living very long.

[@darthenx2585]

All I want them to do is lower the cd on Shadow Crash by like 3 sec. Also fix the bug of Shadow Crash and the z axis

[@Publikwow]

Only way to fix the z-axis thing is to make it not a ground targeted spell tbh

[@Althyrr]

@@PublikwowWouldnt making in hit above and below it for x range kind of solve it, like a cylinder

[@tamassari2905]

It's outrageous that our burst cds aren't instant. I loved s1 priest, s3 is annoying to play. I'm not talking about power just play style on its own.

[@Ins0mn3sia]

Would Shadow Crash feel better as a spell if it was targeted at x enemy and splashes to # enemies around said target? I know thats less of a crash and more a poof vibe. You could still have the big shadowy bolt visual. For me, the problem lies in the compounding effects of movement, travel time and player misplays. With the above, there's still travel time.. but it's also always meeting its target, granted that yes there is the chance that the target dies before the crash lands. Which you could rule as player misplays, I can't say how difficult it would be coding wise, but there could be a grace period wherein it reaches the recently deceased and still splashes to surrounding enemies. So it wouldn't be entirely wasted. It would rule out movement as a factor for your crash missing. I've grown to love shadow crash, I used to hate playing with it, and I love the visual of launching this big shadowy bolt. But theres nothing I hate more than those misses because I cant read the tank's mind.

[@Publikwow]

Definitely think that would solve a lot of problems but not everyone would like it. Would be a good choice node though

[@hargeysawii]

shadows burst aoe damage is very lack luster, it would be nice for shadow crash to hit harder and have a lower cd would help

[@TheKabukimann]

The Point of shadow crash is to Apply the dots. From that you get your psychic link Split damage. Also the New Tier set bonus gives us nice crash damage in aoe. Shadow has nice aoe burst on a 1 minute Intervall. Shadow is very Prone to screw up your rotation during those times which results in big loss.

[@Elbereth_TV]

they need to remove the double pointers and make a bunch of this baseline, and undo all nerfs they've done, or go to 7.0 shadow..

[@RngrDPS]

Bring back searing nightmare tbh

[@jayb1412]

As a new player who is playing Shadow, I never use mind spike or void torrent as it makes the rotation a bit too fast and too many buttons to press, the same goes with viod eruption. I believe that I will eventually start expanding to these once I get more comfortable with the rotation. Also, we seem to have a few too many cooldowns, like we gotta hit PI, DP/VE, Mind Bender and trinket. For me, thats too many and is 4 key binds alone. Let alone having to click someone woth PI too (I know I can macro it but still pretty new to the game).