I haven’t posted here in ages but I’m going to be mixing things up soon*, stay tuned.
*Soon(tm)
Apr 17
Shadow Priests Post-3.1
Posted on Friday, April 17, 2009 in Gaming
3.1 brought huge changes to the shadow priest class, and has brought us from complete non-viability in PVP to a much more respectable state.
Some notable changes:
- When our DOTs are dispelled, we regain mana: casting Shadow Word: Pain costs 25% of our base mana, and if it is dispelled when talented with Shadow Affinity, we will regain 15% of our base mana back.
- Vampiric Touch now deals damage to the afflicted target if it is dispelled. The damage is around the ballpark of 3000 (which is about 4k less than Unstable Affliction, but oh well!)
- Psychic Horror is a new talent that is reminiscent of Death Coil. It horrifies the target for 3 seconds and has a 2 minute cooldown, but that’s where the similarities end; Horror disarms the target for 10 seconds at the beginning of the effect (note this! if your target has a weapon chain or 50% disarm reduction talent like most, this means that there only is 2 seconds of disarm after the horror effect ends) and doesn’t do any damage or healing.
- Shadowform now grants magical damage reduction.
- Glyph of Inner Fire, combined with Shadowform, grants us plate-like physical damage reduction (mine is at 47% assuming the reductions are additive and not multiplicative.)
I can’t wait to try some season 6 arena; LF warlock and paladin, pst.
Apr 2
Mind Controlling Instructor Razuvious Encounter
Posted on Thursday, April 2, 2009 in Gaming
For the Instructor Razuvious encounter in heroic Naxxramas, you need two priests. Typically, one is shadow and one is a healer. Because you’re awesome and thus shadow, this is the guide for you.
The boss is, in most situations, untankable by a player character. Instead, you need to use the Death Knight Understudy adds in the location. In the standard version of Naxxramas, there are two Obedience Crystals present. Using one of these crystals grants the player control of the respective Understudy. However, in heroic Naxxramas, these crystals aren’t present, and the adds must be Mind Controlled.
Before the encounter, ensure each of these conditions are met.
- You have at least 6% hit. You gain 3% from Shadow Focus (but not Misery, as it won’t be on the target!) and must gain 3% from gear.
- No paladins have Shadow Resistance Aura active.
- No death knights have Frost Aura active.
- No shamans have a Tremor Totem placed.
Each of these is believed to increase the chance of Mind Control breaking early. Mind Control is subject to heartbeat resists, meaning resistances are checked on intervals while you channel the spell, and not only when it hits. When the target is Mind Controlled and becomes friendly, it will gain all of the auras mentioned above, which increases the chance for Mind Control to resist.
Both you and your other priest should place Mind Soothe on their assigned Understudy to reduce the chance of accidentally aggroing it based on their proximity. Begin casting Mind Control, and let the games begin:
- One priest will use the Understudy’s Bone Barrier ability. This is the sixth ability on your action bar and reduces incoming damage by 75%. It is necessary to use this ability to avoid getting killed by Razuvious.
- The same priest will Taunt Razuvious. This is the fifth button on the action bar and forces Razuvious to attack you for 20 seconds. The cooldown of this ability is 20 seconds as well, and should thus be kept up whenever possible to avoid your DPS pulling aggro.
- When the first priest’s Bone Barrier cooldown is half complete (that’s to say, has 15 seconds remaining) call out to the other priest to complete steps one and two. When their Bone Shield cooldown is half complete, they should call out for you to shield and taunt.
- When Mind Control is nearly finished channeling, call out for an offtank to pick up the mob and release Mind Control and recast it. Time this so that the other priest will have enough time on Bone Barrier for you to be ready for your turn again. Needing to recast just as the other priest’s Bone Barrier fades can easily wipe your raid.
When Razuvious has been killed, the Understudies will begin taking an increased 5000% damage from eachother. One priest can release their add and the other priest can attack the now-released add to speed up the killing.