Shadow Priest 5-Man Viability in TBC

My other posts about shadow priests can be found here:

• Best damage geat for Shadow Priests (v2)
• Top spell damage gear for Shadow Priests
• Shadow Priest 5-Man Viability in TBC
• WoW Shadow Priest // Ultimate PvP gear (70)!
• WoW Shadow Priest // Ultimate PvP gear (60)!

I have been shadow-spec since I started my Undead priest, Snafzg, because it really fit into my solo-questing playstyle. In Azeroth, I rarely joined instance groups with the exception of Scarlet Monestary to upgrade my gear, bank some cash, and take advantage of accumulated rested XP. For some reason, I just couldn’t find many efficient pick-up groups and found a better time to XP ratio by keeping to myself.

Then the Burning Crusade expansion came out and I really liked the 5-man instance implementation and the quality of party-members increased as well. Horde priests are pretty rare on my server, so I’ve also noticed an increase in group invites. I tried a few groups out of shadow-form as the main healer and found things to be quite manageable in a balanced group (warrior/feral druid, mage, main healer (me), and two other hybrids). Sure it was my primary job to keep people healed up, but certain situations allowed me to go into DPS mode with vampiric embrace + vampiric touch up. Easy pulls mean you can employ the “the best defense is a good offense” strategy. I would stay out of shadow-form just to make sure I could easily drop a flash/greater heal when needed, but I’d say I had a 50/50 DPS to healing ratio.

A friend suggested that I go holy/disc spec because I was in so many instances and it would really increase my efficiency and desirability. Respecs are cheap enough so I took the plunge. My goal was to get Surge of Light in holy with the rest in disc because I wanted some sembelance of solo-viability. Unsurprisingly, my solo efficiency dropped… by a lot… but it would all be worth it if I could own up the 5-man instances. I got my chance to test things out as a “pure” healer and I have to say, “Yawn!” The mana-inefficiency of offensive holy spells prevented me from participating heavily in the DPS category, which meant I was relegated to buffing and healing if I wanted to keep my blue bar in the workable zone. But in TBC, they seem to have nerfed the different heals scalability and efficiency levels. For example, in the past with enough + healing, chain casting “rank 2 Heal” would be more efficient than less frequent greater heals (or so I’ve heard from my holy friends). I found that, at level 63, casting anything but my highest rank Greater Heal was very mana/cast-time inefficient. Maybe it’s better for priests with better +healing than my +540 (in healing suit). For me is was very boring. I had to rely on trinkets, other “use” items, or talents to do anything worthwhile.

I lasted one full level before respeccing back to 41 shadow. A different friend of mine thinks that shadow-priests in a 5-man instances are “a waste of space” but I heavily disagree. I can’t argue that a shadow-priest can be as helpful to a group if their main role is healing, but in an assistive role, they can definitely hold their own. We definitely have group utility if you put a heal-specced druid/shaman/paladin/priest as the main healer.

What utility do we bring?

• Stamina buff
• Instant shields
• HP regen with VE2 (insufficient as main heal source but is a great heal over time effect)
• Mana regen with VT
• Damage over time with SW: Pain
• Second resurrector if main healer wipes
• Extremely mana efficient DPS (mind flays with sufficient +damage aren’t to be trifled with)
• Instant AE Fear (though not always advisable)
• Dispel and Abolish poison
• Shackle (undead crowd control)
• Chance for stun with black-out / good mana regen with spirit tap (if we land deathblow)
• Relatively low threat since most of our damage or heals are over time rather than burst

What do we lack in comparison?

• Big burst damage
• Efficient crowd control (aside from ae fear and shackle)
• Big heals
• Healing ourselves in combat

In a standard group archetype of Prot Warrior, Holy Priest, Ice Mage, I think we’re definitely a good option to fill in one of the remaining two spots.

Good shadow-strategy in 5-man instances:

• VE
• VT
• Flay
• Re-VT if necessary
• Keep flaying until dead

Remember to Fade periodically or when necessary and if you find you’re drawing too much aggro, you can always put points into the shadow threat reduction talent. If you want to continue in shadow-form during level 70 raids, it’s definitely a good idea to invest in the threat-reduction talents. Some shadow-priests report their flays landing for roughly 500 per tick and Mindblasts for 3000+.

What are your thoughts?