DISCLAIMER
This post is now outdated. We have posted updated guidance in IcyVeins and the Discord and the below information is mostly out of date. Keeping this only for historical purposes.
October 8th/9th Changes
Voidweaver has received lots of buffs to its kit which when using the right talent build and optimized gear can end up being better than Archon in certain situations. When comparing the best builds Voidweaver is up to 1% ahead of Archon, meaning they are very close.
THINGS ARE STILL BEING TESTED
It takes us a long time to sim talent builds, especially with rotational changes. Having only gotten this on Friday night we are still working on things and the below information should be treated as EARLY information.
List of Changes
- Mind Blast damage increased by 10%.
- Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 10%.
- Void Bolt damage increased by 10%.
- Shadowy Apparition damage increased by 10%.
- Voidweaver: Entropic Rift damage increased by 10%.
- Voidweaver: Void Blast damage increased by 20%.
- Voidweaver: Collapsing Void damage increased by 10%.
- Voidweaver: Voidwraith damage increased by 10%.
- Voidweaver: Inner Quietus now increases Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain damage by 25% (was 20%).
How big are these buffs?
- Archon Single: +2.8%
- Voidweaver Single: +5.2%
- Archon Triple Idol AoE: +2.2%
- Archon Hybrid AoE: +2.2%
- Voidweaver AoE: +3.9%
Overview
There are a few keys things to note:
- Unfurling Darkness is now strongly preferred for Voidweaver builds in non-dungeon environments. This supplements our DoT refreshing instead of relying on Mental Decay and also gives us an instant cast spell thats hits like a truck. This can still be used in dungeon environments depending on how much of your time is spent at lower target counts (5 or less).
- By default SimC will cause a certain percentage of ticks of Entropic Rift to miss, this is aimed at making it more realistic with boss and target movement. Chance is 5% on single target and up to 10% above 2 targets.
- Voidweaver will naturally struggle as you go into dungeons and start pulling massive packs together, anything more than 8 targets is rough. For this reason pushing keys will still prefer Archon most weeks, but any type of pug situation where you are pulling one pack a time will do great with Voidweaver, especially during Voidbound weeks.
When to pick Archon?
- Consistent single target damage, not contingent on targets staying in place.
- Prefers the Void Eruption playstyle
- Mythic+ Dungeons where you are pushing high key levels where packs are living 60+ seconds long or you are consistently pulling packs together and around your cooldowns.
When to pick Voidweaver?
- Top single target damage, particularly when bosses are not moving out of Entropic Rift. This is contingent on playing Unfurling Darkness. If you do not want to play with this talent than Archon will net more single target damage.
- Prefers the Dark Ascension playstyle
- Mythic+ Dungeons where you are pulling one pack at a time and not chain pulling massive pulls. Ideally stays at/under 8 targets as much as possible.
- Anytime you are fighting against absorb shields for Devour Matter (i.e. Voidbound affix, Queen Ansurek intermission, etc)
Rotation Changes
The following is a list of changes done to the APL compared to before these changes. This is not a full list of how to play Voidweaver.
- Pool Mind Blast for 1 GCD with Mind Flay or 2 GCDs with Mind Spike before Void Torrent comes off cooldown with Voidweaver
- As Voidweaver you should cast Vampiric Touch to proc Unfurling Darkness when facing less than 6 targets and Dark Ascension is not active. This falls just above normal Mind Blast in the priority list.
- You should cast Vampiric Touch to spend Unfurling Darkness as a top priority action when the buff is available. This means as soon as you proc this you immediately spend it.
- Removed unlocked Devouring Plague use during Dark Ascension and instead unlocked it while Entropic Rift is active specifically. You still use Devouring Plague at high priority if it is about to expire or you are capping on Insanity.
Example Voidweaver Opener
This is an example opener with the VW_VE_VW_DA_cthun_82852967308207_Spike_DR build.
- Cast Halo pre-pull for 10 Insanity
- Open with Vampiric Touch to proc Unfurling Darkness and apply our DoTs
- Cast Vampiric Touch again to consume Unfurling Darkness
- Mind Spike
- Voidwraith
- Dark Ascension
- Power Infusion + Potion
- Devouring Plague
- Void Torrent
- Void Blast
- Void Blast
- Devouring Plague
Full openers with a wider variety of talent builds will be posted to the guide soon.
WeakAuras
With all of the changes there are a few WeakAuras to list to help with the rotational parts of playing Voidweaver Shadow Priest.
- Pooling Mind Blast Helper
- Unfurling Darkness
- These are all baked into Publik's WeakAura Set
Breakdowns
The below charts include breakdowns in the various sim environments. Click each link to see the builds used. Note that this page will not be updated after the launch of the changes and you should check the guide for the most up to date builds at that point.
Single Target
| Actor | DPS | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| VW_VE_VW_DA_cthun_82852967308207_Spike_DR | 1474383 | 1.05% |
| VW_VE_VW_DA_yshaarj_cthun_81150852152239_Flay_DR | 1470867 | 0.87% |
| AR_SP_VF_cthun_80658376897455_Flay_ME | 1462020 | 0.00% |
Single Target + Shadow Crash
| Actor | DPS | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| VW_VE_VW_DA_cthun_82852967308207_Spike_DR (ST) | 1474383 | 5.6% |
| VW_VE_VW_DA_yshaarj_cthun_81150852152239_Flay_DR (ST) | 1470867 | 5.3% |
| VW_VE_VW_DA_yshaarj_cthun_81150817583023_Flay_DR (ST + Crash) | 1460556 | 4.5% |
| VW_VE_VW_DA_cthun_80603201142703_Spike_DR (ST + Crash) | 1396577 | 0.00% |
2 Target (Stacked)
| Actor | DPS | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| VW_VE_DoS_DA_cthun_82852967824303_Flay_DR | 1940053 | 2.60% |
| AR_SP_VF_cthun_82847494255535_Flay_ME | 1892048 | 0.00% |
Composite Raid
| Actor | DPS | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| VW_VE_VW_DA_yshaarj_cthun_81150852152239_Flay_ME | 1509902 | 0.61% |
| VW_VE_VW_DA_yshaarj_cthun_81150817583023_Flay_DR | 1508243 | 0.58% |
| VW_VE_VW_DA_cthun_82852967308207_Spike_DR | 1505940 | 0.42% |
| AR_SP_VF_cthun_80658376897455_Flay_ME | 1502299 | 0.00% |
8 Target 1 Minute Burst
| Actor | DPS | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| AR_EC_VF_nzoth_yogg_cthun_129962077501359_Flay_ME | 7087685 | 23.06% |
| AR_SP_VF_nzoth_yogg_cthun_129962077501359_Flay_ME | 7027585 | 22.08% |
| AR_EC_VF_nzoth_cthun_99313325094831_Flay_ME | 6514997 | 13.92% |
| VW_DH_DoS_VF_nzoth_cthun_98245891561391_Flay_ME | 6122240 | 6.39% |
| VW_DH_DoS_DA_nzoth_cthun_98245891561391_Flay_ME | 5757985 | 0.00% |
DungeonRoute Overall Average (+15)
| Actor | DPS | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| AR_SP_VF_nzoth_cthun_98241696217007_Flay_ME (Hybrid) | 1874853 | 1.06% |
| VW_VE_DoS_DA_nzoth_cthun_98245853822895_Flay_ME | 1871053 | 0.85% |
| AR_SP_VF_nzoth_yogg_cthun_129962177181615_Flay_ME (Triple Idol) | 1855268 | 0.00% |