Below is my initial reaction to changes on the 11.2 PTR for Shadow Priests.
Gameplay Changes
Overall this patch has lots of design changes of how we deal damage but realistically gameplay wise the changes are quite tame, which makes sense for a mid-expansion rework. The major gameplay changes you will notice are:
- Mind Spike has been removed
- Shadow Crash 15s CD 2 charges 6 targets baseline. Whispering Shadows functionality merged into the base spell.
- Void Volley new active
- Malediction has been removed and is now baseline into Void Torrent making Void Torrent a 30 second cooldown.
- Unfurling Darkness has been removed.
- Shadowy Apparitions can now critically strike independently of the spell that procced them.
- Base Mind Flay damage and Insanity has been buffed and Mind Flay: Insanity had its Insanity generation nerfed.
- Deathspeaker is now a fully passive talent instead of a proc.
Questions
Below is the list of questions the community has with unclear interactions or changes coming in 11.2.
- Proc chance for Tormented Spirits is unknown.
Problems Ignored
While the list of changes is overall pretty positive I was disappointed that a few of the issues the spec has went unaddressed this patch. Below are the big ones I feel still could use adjustments.
- Utility choice in top section
- Baseline Shadowfiend/Mindbender damage
- Dark Ascension vs. Void Eruption
- Movement/displacement improvements
Pathing Issues
Below is the list of current pathing issues I noticed with the talent tree redesign and where these nodes feel out of place in their current design and/or place on the tree in general. All of these options are also difficult to take/path into in their current state.
Tier Set
Overall the sets seem pretty powerful numbers wise but still need to play-test them to see how they feel. First reaction is fairly positive!
Archon
- 2pc: Halos generate an additional 10 Insanity over 5 sec and Resonant Energy additionally increases the damage of your Devouring Plague by 5.0%.
- 4pc: While Power Surge is active, every 2 casts of Devouring Plague adds another Halo to the effect at 100% effectiveness, up to 2 times.
Voidweaver
This tier set will likely eliminate the need to pool Mind Blasts before casting Void Torrent.
- 2pc: Void Blast damage is increased by 40% and Void Blast's cast time is reduced by 20%. Void Blast's cooldown is reduced by 50%.
- 4pc: Void Blast now also causes Entropic Rift to grow, Collapsing Void increases Entropic Rift's damage by an additional 20%, and the damage of your next Void Torrent is increased by up to 200% based on the size of Entropic Rift when it collapses.
Talent Changes
In this section I'm going to quickly touch on the changes and give my reaction to them.
- Dark Ascension
- This talent still existing feels extra out of place now that Mind Spike was removed since our only filler spell is now not buffed with this cooldown, particularly with Surge of Insanity procs.
- Subservient Shadows
- Most of the value comes from Idol of C'Thun/Idol of Yogg-Saron and not Shadowfiend or Mindbender. With this current identity it feels a bit misplaced on the tree.
- This talent does not work with Depth of Shadows (duration effect)
- Shadowfiend and Mindbender being weak baseline is likely contributing to it feeling underwhelming in this current spot.
- Madness Weaving
- Feels pretty lackluster given its place on the talent tree.
- Weird way to add damage to the spec
- The spec already likes mastery so its functionality feels misplaced and is not very clear to the average player.
- Death's Torment
- Pathing feels like a good spot off of Deathspeaker and the echoes stacking Idol of N'Zoth feels like a good pathing interaction
- Deathspeaker
- losing the movement global is a bit disappointing, wish we still had the proc version as a choice node
- Really begins to highlight how weak Shadow Word: Death is baseline
- While this talent on live does interact with Depth of Shadows this current iteration does not. Without adjusting that talent as well we have this weird zone between 35% and 20% health where we have different execute interactions which makes things feel confusing.
- Shadow Crash
- Cooldown/charges changes overall feel positive
- With the removal of Deathspeaker as a movement global getting this as a pathing node into Void Torrent can be a decent alternative with Descending Darkness. Unsure how it will feel weaving in Shadow Crash on single target.
- Descending Darkness
- while optimizing Shadow Crash damage does give us yet another form of AoE you now have a conflicted sense of using it solely for DoT spreading or Damage. I personally liked not feeling pressured to use it on cooldown but rather being able to mostly just save it for DoTing purposes, and now this is a bit conflicting.
- On fresh targets DoTs are applied after Shadow Crash deals damage so you lose out on the Mastery modifier here which feels bad, another reason why making this a damage spell is awkward.
- Void Volley
- not using its own keybind is awesome
- this spell is just super cool and I love it
- Idol of N'Zoth
- tooltip is very confusing
- insanity generation buffs are currently hidden from your buff bar and combat log
- Devouring Plague gives 12 stacks regardless of Mind's Eye vs. Distorted Reality, potentially an oversight?
- Idol of Y'Shaarj
- This really has nothing to do with pets and does feels out of place on the tree for what it was reworked into.
- The pathing talents are all pet related, and this talent proccing haste emphasizes a known issue with the game not updating pet melee-swing time in real-time after you get a haste proc. Pets update on a slower interval (roughly ~3 seconds) which makes this node feel even more out of place.
- feels very feast or famine gameplay which is not typical of this spec.