WotLK PvPing as a Shadow Priest- Extensive Details/Playstyle Tips

[Themoltenkid]

Hi all,

I'm beginning this thread as I have recently started very much trying to PvP with shadow priest and very much struggling with it.
Due to this, I've googled many times "shadow priest 3.3.5 pvp tips" etc, and have come to very few realistic/value reads that teach a priest how to win 1v1, 2v2 matchups (which I find very difficult...).
Because of this I have decided to begin a post myself.

This post is not final. Over time as I start to learn more about shadow in 1v1, 2v2, and BG's, I will add more... via replies? or edits.

LET US BEGIN
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Topic One: Success in PvP by Positioning Your Priest

I have garnered many things about PvPing with priest so far, and the first that comes to mind is Positioning.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/711762234

Positioning is extremely important for priests.. and I'm sure you can understand this when you think back on the good priests that you have versed. What exactly made them "good?"
In arena, it would be the fact that you struggled deeply to attack them.. always line of sighted-- always chasing them around a pillar.. unable to "get a grip" on them. The difference between good priests and bad priests is that you just death gripped the bad priest and he died like a dog in the middle of Nagrand Arena. The difference between good and bad priests is the fact that you can even begin to attack the bad priest without over-extending or over-committing in a way that harms you more than it harms them.

Priests have the worst mobility in the game. That should be said again.
Priests have the worst mobility in the game. If you find yourself in a bad position, you are going to die in that bad position.

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(Comparing positioning on priest vs other classes)
As a rogue main back in 2013-2016, I have always played with the failsafe of cloak/vanish/sprint to instantly remove myself from bad positions/bad situations. Warriors charge/intervene, Mages Blink/Nova, Paladin Bubble/HoF, Druid Shapeshift/Sprint/Charge, Warlock Teleport, Shaman Ghost Wolf/Earthbind, but priests have nothing to get away. If you set foot into a bad position, it is costing you a cooldown. The second time, it's costing you your life-- because you have essentially one reliable defensive cooldown that can save you from bad position... Dispersion.
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Application/Realism

Keys to success in Mastering Positioning: Don't be greedy.
The difference between living and dying begins the second you get death gripped from your pillar. It is tempting to step out and cast Shadow Word: Pain because you are literally at 100% hp and under no attack, but when you do this and get death gripped, it is NEVER worth it, because you lose much more in this exchange of spells. [/B] You may die 45 seconds later, but it was that moment when you got death gripped where you really died.

Don't get greedy!! --> you stay completely out of the line of sight of DK, healing your teammates or dotting others, until Death Grip has been used. You position yourself so that they have two options: 1. they overcommit to attack you, or 2. they attack someone else.

The difficulty of PvPing as a priest is you have to be patient.

You survive by not having spells cast on you.

Positional Success means you place yourself in a position where you are not under threat of certain spells, respecting the threat-- because if that threat does materialize, you have almost no options to fix it.

DO NOT BE GREEDY. You are a priest... and... Priests have the worst mobility in the game.


End Topic One: Success in PVP by Positioning Your Priest
15/08/2020

Thanks for reading
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use fade.





POST #7: my argument for satin: MOONCLOTH IS WRONG. DO NOT PLAY THE SPEC THIS WAY.

The spec needs to deal high damage. Like a poisonous animal- if you attack it, it attacks you: that is the self defense of the shadow priest. When a warrior is on you, he should be taking massive damage in dots/DP spam. A simple change from spirit to crit gear will allow you to defend yourself: it will force warrior to equip shield/spell reflect, shield wall, enraged regen, reducing his damage output on you, equalizing the fight.

Mooncloth: a warrior rushes you, killing you to 0% hp while he gets to maybe 60% hp from dot ticks.
Satin: a warrior rushes you, and is taking more damage than he is dealing. Now, things change.

The shadowpriest can best be understood through food chain in the wild examples:
This is prey. What does nature eat most? Safe things that have no chance of hurting it. Why do lions love gazelles, more than wildebeest? Because wildebeest can seriously harm them, cause injury and death, if a kick or horns land.

With mooncloth gear, you are a gazelle to most classes. Low damage output. Sitting prey.
With satin gear, suddenly, you threaten others.

Spoiler: Show

One key point I want to really drive home is shadowform.
in running satin gear you ARE NOT constantly pressured to leave shadowform. Shadowform is CRUCIAL in this spec, and when you leave, you lose the MAJOR buffs: your dots can't crit, your dots can't gain from haste, you take 15% more dmg, and you do 15% less dmg. Mooncloth always has to leave shadowform- a major vulnerability

This spec is built around having sufficient self heals from big dmg- allowing you to stay in your fighting form (shadowform). this is supplemented by high crit chance, making your offheals more powerful and needing less time offhealing.

A class with low defensive cd, low mobility, who are pressured on every cast, needs to produce high damage and counterpressure their opponents with this damage or else they are essentially the easiest target in the game

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This conventional acceptance of mooncloth gear is leaving the spec as it was NOT meant to be played, just look at these talents below:

Shadowform: grants dots ability to crit for 100% increased dmg. https://wotlk-twinhead.twinstar.cz/?spell=15473

Shadow Power: increases crit dmg from mind blast, mind flay, swd by 100%.https://wotlk-twinhead.twinstar.cz/?spell=33225

Misery- 15% increased spell power bonus to mindflay/blast https://wotlk-twinhead.twinstar.cz/?spell=33193

Twisted Faith- 10% bonus dmg to flat/blast https://wotlk-twinhead.twinstar.cz/?spell=51167

Shadow Weaving- 15% bonus to shadow spell dmg https://wotlk-twinhead.twinstar.cz/?spell=15332

Darkness- increase shadow spell dmg 10% https://wotlk-twinhead.twinstar.cz/?spell=15310[/ur

look at all these +dmg talents, all which are scaled 100% on critical strike.

the breaking point here is the mechanics of shadow spec: your damage becomes your heals
when you take talents to increase damage by 100%, you are also increasing self-heals by 100%.
//this is the way the spec was built to fight//
every increase in damage gives you 2x the value; it increases your pressure on opponent, and generates higher heals for yourself.
it is this efficiency that makes crit worth it on shadow priest--where your crits are built to hit much harder than other classes, and where those crits work both ways for you: doubling your damage, AND doubling your lifesteal.
ex. you crit your opponent for 4k instead of 2k, and get healed for 1k instead of 0.5k.
(resillience does not take away from this enough.)


This spec is NOT MEANT to do weak dmg. Its talent tree is BUILT AROUND high dmg, high burst, high threat, and its balanced around the dmg it can do because this dmg puts out pressure as well as relieves pressure with self-heals. this is the true nature of the shadowpriest-- a high burst and sustained pressure/dmg machine who crits you hard and is resillient to pressure because of their lifesteal mechanic!- with those long-fight mana problems as its balancing weakness!
mooncloth spriest is a half-baked hybrid with no role. if your plan is to play slow and spam offheals with dots rolling on your target, well you are playing at a huge disadvantage: your enemies put insane pressure on you that you cannot withstand, and you have no kill potential on anyone. most importantly, you are constantly leaving shadowform, which deletes those four massive buffs shadowform gives and that we talked about. a spriest out of shadowform is absolutely weak. by trying to master this hybrid mooncloth spriest, you become a bad support class who is MUCH better served by just playing disc.

This is my current talent tree to play as described above. I have been tinkering for months, but have landed here, and find it QUITE pleasant in pvp.
https://wotlkdb.com/?talent#bxIzzhZZ0efdRfkbfqfkAo

The way it looks to me, shadow (at least when its played with mooncloth gear) is a bad disc.

[Kungfu1]

Thank you.