Summary of Offensive Spell Changes

[Twintop]

I've got a new blog post up talking about my first impressions of changes to Shadow's Offensive spells in the MoP Beta. Here's a quick summation:

Shadow Orbs aren't consumed by MB/MS anymore. MB generate them one at a time and Shadowy Apparitions (and Psychic Horror) consume them. SAs don't always consume them, though (this is intended).

Shadowy Apparitions don't spawn from MF and SWP ticks anymore, they are their own spell and use Shadow Orbs.

Devouring Plague has been rolled in to Vampiric Touch (sans the on-hit damage).

SWP is missing a glyph to let it be refreshed by MF.

Depending on what talents you take, how SWD and MSpike work changes for the better.

It looks like the priority casting of spells will be something like this:

Opener
Vampiric Touch, Shadow Word: Pain, Shadowfiend
Priority
Shadowfiend (if off CD)
Shadowy Apparitions (3 Shadow Orbs)
{Dark Archangel / Power Infusion, if you took them instead of From Darkness, Comes Light / Divine Light}
Mind Blast (with Mind Melt)
Shadow Word: Death (sub 20% OR with Divine Insight proc) / Mind Spike (with From Darkness, Comes Light proc) / Mind Blast (normal)
Vampiric Touch (recast)
Mind Flay

[Kaesebrezen]

SWP is missing a glyph to let it be refreshed by MF.

and from blog

Shadow Word: Pain – No changes. Can still be placed on multiple targets.

SW:P now generates 1 Shadow Orb (going from Priest streams only on cast), and it now has the instant damage component (how much does it currently hit for?) from Devouring Plague.

With that in mind, i don't think SW:P we'll ever see the auto-refresh for SW:P again.

Further, I read on MMO that the SW:D backlash is supposedly only the base damage value without the 4x multiplier (the wording of the spell also changed. now reads "deals X damage to enemy and to you" combined with "targets below 20% health take 4x damage", before it was "caster takes damage equal to damage inflected on the target"), could you test that?
Also, both wowdb and wowhead show SW:D at a 8 sec cooldown instead of a 10 sec cooldown, is that true?

Other then that, how do each spells damage values currently compare to their live versions?


For Priority i'd go like this:
(- Shadowfiend, but i don't know if it's better as a mana CD)
- 3 Orb Shadowy Apparition
- 4x Damage SW:D (that's under the assumption that MB hit's like a wet noodle)
- Mindblast (I need the damage values of MB and SW:Dx4 to decide that)
- SW:P
- VT

Also, since SW:P generates Orb, there could be the scenario where SW:P is gonna fall of, MB comes off CD, and you're at 2 Shadow Orbs.
Then it might be better to refresh SW:P early and use apparitions before the MB cds finishes.

[Drye]

The sa burst is insane, the cap on them is lifted. I was messing around with multi dotting, had like 10 up at once.

[Kaesebrezen]

The sa burst is insane, the cap on them is lifted. I was messing around with multi dotting, had like 10 up at once.

Does that mean that SW:P generates an Orb on each tick?

[Valiane]

You get a shadow orb for each swp and mind blast you cast atm, and you have a chance to refund when casting SA

[Mikedexter]

The sa burst is insane, the cap on them is lifted. I was messing around with multi dotting, had like 10 up at once.

I'm SO HAPPY with this. This was my #1 want for Spriests bar none.

[Twintop]

SWP is missing a glyph to let it be refreshed by MF.

and from blog

Shadow Word: Pain – No changes. Can still be placed on multiple targets.

SW:P now generates 1 Shadow Orb (going from Priest streams only on cast), and it now has the instant damage component (how much does it currently hit for?) from Devouring Plague.

With that in mind, i don't think SW:P we'll ever see the auto-refresh for SW:P again.

You're correct about SWP granting a Shadow Orb on hit (though it isn't specified anywhere in the Tooltips that I can find). The on-hit damage value is the same as one tick and can crit.

Further, I read on MMO that the SW:D backlash is supposedly only the base damage value without the 4x multiplier (the wording of the spell also changed. now reads "deals X damage to enemy and to you" combined with "targets below 20% health take 4x damage", before it was "caster takes damage equal to damage inflected on the target"), could you test that?
Also, both wowdb and wowhead show SW:D at a 8 sec cooldown instead of a 10 sec cooldown, is that true?

Yes, SWD is an 8sec CD, and if the target is below 20% health (or you have the proc), the CD is reset and can be reset every 6 sec. Right now you take the base damage (not the 4x) even if you have 2P T13 equipped. I'm guessing this is a bug and you should take 4x damage sub 20%.

For Priority i'd go like this:
(- Shadowfiend, but i don't know if it's better as a mana CD)
- 3 Orb Shadowy Apparition
- 4x Damage SW:D (that's under the assumption that MB hit's like a wet noodle)
- Mindblast (I need the damage values of MB and SW:Dx4 to decide that)
- SW:P
- VT

Also, since SW:P generates Orb, there could be the scenario where SW:P is gonna fall of, MB comes off CD, and you're at 2 Shadow Orbs.
Then it might be better to refresh SW:P early and use apparitions before the MB cds finishes.

Here's a breakdown of how much damage each spell is doing for me right now (range is from no procs to highest non-crit value I saw with procs):

Mind Blast ~= 22k - 26k damage
Mind Spike ~= 15k - 18k
Mind Flay ~= 8k - 11k per tick
Shadow Word: Pain ~= 5.8 - 7.2 per tick and on hit
Vampiric Touch ~= 8.5 - 10.5
Shadow Word: Death ~= 9k - 11k (4x: 37k - 45k)
Shadowy Apparition ~= 6.2 - 7k each
Shadow Fiend ~= 7k

Because of the on-hit component of SWP, it is going to lead to some interesting play scenarios. For instance, where in Cata we would spam DP on the move, now we're going to be spamming SWPx3 + SA + SWPx{3-leftover orbs} + SA {etc.}.

Our priority system is going to be very dependent on how long until things come off CD, what procs came up, how many Shadow Orbs we've got, and what % the target is at. The days of having a simple playstyle are definitely gone...

[Twintop]

Here's a stab at changing the priority with the SWP on-hit and orb:

Opener
Vampiric Touch, Shadow Word: Pain, Shadowfiend
Priority
Shadowfiend (if off CD)
Shadow Word: Death (sub 20% OR with Divine Insight proc)
Shadowy Apparitions (3 Shadow Orbs)
Shadow Word: Pain IF 2 Shadow Orbs AND more than 2 GCD CD on Mind Blast
{Dark Archangel / Power Infusion, if you took them instead of From Darkness, Comes Light / Divine Light}
Shadow Word: Pain (recast)
Vampiric Touch (recast)
Mind Blast (with Mind Melt)
Mind Spike (with From Darkness, Comes Light proc)
Mind Blast (normal)
Mind Flay

[Valiane]

Pretty much what I've done so far on the beta. Looking good as always!

[Kaesebrezen]

Yes, SWD is an 8sec CD, and if the target is below 20% health (or you have the proc), the CD is reset and can be reset every 6 sec. Right now you take the base damage (not the 4x) even if you have 2P T13 equipped. I'm guessing this is a bug and you should take 4x damage sub 20%.

I thought about something different here:

The Live tooltip explicitly states: "If the target is not killed, the caster takes damage equal to the damage done."

The MoP tooltip states: "You deal X damage to the target, and to the caster".
Then comes "If the target is below 20% health, the target takes 4x damage".
There is no link between the damage you take, and the damage the target takes (as in the live version), going after the tooltip both take the value X. Afterwards comes the if-clause, which only affects the target, not the priest.

And that's what we're seeing. While the target takes 4*X Damage, you only take X damage.

An interesting question that could be asked here is: What happens if the priest himself is below 20% health?

For the set-bonus i think is (with the part above) that they completely recoded how the backlash work, so breaking the set-bonus.
And if it works as i described, then there isn't really a need for the bonus anyways.