I know I grumbled about this talent in my last post, but on second thoughts I think it deserves a whiny post all of its own.
For two talent points you get to boost the spell's damage by a whopping six per cent.
Shadow word: pain accounts for about 15 per cent of my damage on bosses, which puts the value of each 'improving' talent point at less than half a percentage point increase to overall dps. I remember reading one WoW Insider columnist say he considered one per cent per point to be a benchmark for worthwhile talents. It ticks nearly 1k less than vampiric touch, and with the introduction of improved devouring plague it will even be doing less damage than that.
Could this be the worst "improved" talent of all time?
I'm seriously thinking of taking my points out of this. Someone talk me out of it.
A better parrot, or why there isn't a Tobold.AI
18 hours ago
8 comments:
I agree that the spell is "low" nowadays with the spell co-efficient for VT being a whole lot higher. But having a DOT with endless uptime is pretty amazing, even in a fight where you have to run from A-->B and end up not DPSing the boss (like on Heigan) you can clip a MF and still be doing some nice damage.
Just remember that the initial SWP is affected by all crit related bonuses but does not retain +spell power bonuses. So apply it when imp scorch, totem of wrath, CoE, elemental oath and any +crit based trinket procs and of course your 5 stacks. You will retain the higher percentage power of the SWP then throughout the fight. Similarly on Malygos or Thaddius or Loatheb when your crit/overall damage is superbuffed reapply it!!!
Here is the breakdown from one of my last raids from a WWS parse on boss fights only (Construct, Plague and Frost incl one death on KT):
MF - 34%
VT - 19%
MB - 15%
SWP - 13%
DP - 10%
Rest is split between SWD, MS and Lightweave Bolts!!
I know myself that i MF too much and my MB damage should be a lot higher but meh still done average of 4.1K dmg over the bosses. Our guild has no elemental shammy also so that's two of the above mentioned buffs missing.
What is interesting though is:
Average tick for VT - 2778
Average tick for SWP - 1918
Average tick for DP - 1530
Per average tick, SWP is doing 388 damage more. Because i wait about 20 seconds for all possible buffs and often apply VT a second time before I apply my initial SWP the numbers are consequently higher.
Downgrade that kind of damage by 6% and while it's not exactly sizeable over a 5 minute fight and a lot of ticks you are going to see the difference
Talking about bad talents, imp. spirit tap is basically giving you <10 spellpower for five talentpoints. Sure, it helps a bit with regen but spirit regen is by far the smallest mana sources for me :)
"Talking about bad talents, imp. spirit tap is basically giving you <10 spellpower for five talentpoints."
That's very interesting. I wonder if people will be dropping spirit tap when we have shadow power in tier 1 to move up the tree?
True, but imp spirit tap will be buffed then too.
They're not buffing improved spirit tap (or spirit tap for that matter) - they're just increasing the numbers to compensate for the general nerf to base mana regeneration. You will see no difference to while-casting regen rates, sadly. Same for meditation.
I'll still pick up Imp SW:P. 6% is better than nothing and there are no other talents to choose from that will yield a better dps increase.
Hi all, By testing my SW:P on target dummy, I see that my base damage (before any shadow weaving or so) is higher when I wear an item with crit rating. I gain 9 dps more with "azur cloth bindings" than "resurgent phantom bindings" even with 4 spell power less but 1.12% crit more. SO i was wondering what other stats then spell power have effectively an effect of the damage of SW:P. Anyone of you have an idea? Thanks Natthida
Natthida, from your comment, it looks like you swapped 4 spelldamage out for about 50+ crit. Yes, that's a good trade! Spellpower is still the more important stat, but on a 1-to-1 basis. So if you had to choose between, say, 4 spelldamage and 4 crit rating, spelldamage would win. I think importance goes roughly - hit (to cap), spelldamage, (big gap to) crit, (closely followed by) haste, (big gap to) spirit, intellect. I'm at work so can't look it up right now sorry. Check out shadowpriest.com for the exact priority.
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