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
