3.1 Shadow Priest Spell Rotation

Claire · Post by **Claire** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 2:50 pm

With Mind Flay only stacking 1 Shadow Weaving and Devouring Plague doing up-front dmg, I've been looking into the possibility of changing my opening spell casts.

This is what I used last night in 10 man Ulduar:

MF (x3) > VT > DP > (Inner Focus) SW:P > MB

This sequence allows for all 5 stacks of Shadow Weaving for optimal dmg on SW:P and MB.

I noticed that my initial dmg output was rather slow compared to pre-3.1. However, over the course of the fight I saw my numbers jump dramatically.

I can't wait to use this opening cast sequence in a 25 man. I really want to see how it does.

As a side note, my 'spell rotation' has not changed. Once I open up with the above rotation I just go into MF (x2) > MB > MF (x2) > DP > MB > VT, rinse and repeat.

Any thoughts?

Post by **Elvenbane** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:01 am

Personally, I cast swp at the start and then refresh it (with inner focus) when I hit 5 stacks. That way I get the benefit of Twisted Faith and Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain from the beginning.

The rotation they're using on simcraft is...
shadow_word_pain,shadow_weaving_wait=1/speed_potion/vampiric_touch/devouring_plague/mind_blast/mind_flay

So according to that the opener would be, VT-DP-MB-MF-MF-SWP.
Personally I'd probably go, VT-DP-MB-MF-SWD-SWP, if I followed that sequence.

However I'm currently using: SWP-MB-DP-VT-MF-SWP

I'm also working on clipping my MF's to tighten my rotation. Basically there's only 2 MF casts you can do these days, MF(1) and MF(3). MF(1) you cast your next spell as soon as the GCD ends, giving you 1 tick of MF. MF(3) is the full duration (3 ticks).

I was pulling 3k sustained dps on a boss target dummy self buffed, no consumabled.

Also, I learned this while reading SP stuff the other day (which I should have already known):

Pain and Suffering refreshes the SP of SWP when it procs. The only stats that are locked in at cast are %dmg increases (like weaving) and crit chance. So if you're running an IDS you don't need to wait for it to stack to 10 (like I was) before setting up your main SWP.