Shadow Priest 201: Melty end goes in the bad guy– Wrath of the Lich King Edition

[Docsamson]

I'll be assuming that anyone reading this has some base knowledge of playing an spriest from TBC, as well as an understanding of the way mana regeneration works.
Firstly,  +spelldam looks to remain the main stat for Shadow Priests.  Our gear also got revamped, and we now (more or less) share gear with other casters.  Hit is our largest priority, as always, but a bit less-so than before with the new and improved(higher) hitcap.  At L80, with 3/3 Shadow Focus and 3/3 Misery, the hitcap is 290.

Percentage Breakdowns(L80):

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1% hit = 26.23 hit rating at level 80.
1% haste = 32.79 haste rating at level 80.
1% crit = 45.91 crit rating at level 80.

Now, for some math here.  All results are taken from SimCraft using 100,000 iterations for accuracy.  SimCraft does take latency and reaction time into account as a semi-random value operating from a given seed  (in this case, 150ms +/- 50ms), and as such your PERSONAL value from Haste may be different from the scaling given(i.e. the lower your latency, the better haste is).  In addition, SW:D is left out, as the DPS gain is marginal (50DPS at lower gear levels, reducing further with haste).  Also, since our DoTs and Mind Flay now scale with crit as well as spellpower, your personal values from gear may differ mildly, but this should work just fine for general gear analysis.

An imaginary value called "pseudopower" will be used to equate our scalars, with 1 spellpower = 1pseudopower

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1 SP = 1
1 Crit = 0.76
1 Haste = 0.98
1 Spi = 0.59
1 Int = 0.22
1 Hit = 1.88 (when not hit-capped)

This does not take into account MP5/Stamina.  If you are having problems keeping your mana up during a bossfight, then the value of Spirit and Int goes up.  MP5 is now marginalized even further due to the VT changes, namely Replenishment.   Replenishment restores .25% of maximum mana every second for 15 seconds across 10 raid members.  Assuming a 10-man raid, your Mind Blast hits are enough to keep it up indefinitely.  In a 25-man raid, you will need 2 people with Replenishment to make sure the entire raid gets hit.  Now, our new spirit formula is as follows:

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5 * 0.005575 * Spirit * sqrrt ( Intellect ) = MP5

This is an approximate 40% reduction from our Burning Crusade levels.  With Replenishment being based upon maximum mana, as well as our Shadowfiend and Dispersion restoring based on the same, Intellect becomes superior to Spirit.  Shadowfiend regen: 4% max mana per hit from your shadowfiend for 15 seconds.  Swings ~1.5 seconds, can miss.   Dispersion gives 6% max mana for 6 seconds, restoring 36% total.  Your Fiend can miss, thereby giving you lost mana.  Your Fiend is also affected by Heroism.  Crits do not return extra mana, and Heroism is a special case in that it only affects your fiend if it is already out when Heroism is cast.  Since this gives it increased haste, it has more swings in the 15 seconds it lives, thereby giving you a higher mana return.  A new rule of thumb to go by is to fiend early and fiend often.
GEARING
SP > Haste > Crit > Everything else (if hitcapped).
Gems:

• Red:[item]40113[/item]
• Yellow:[item]40155[/item]
• Blue:[item]40133[/item](to activate meta OR  in a socket with a +9 or greater SP bonus)
• Meta:[item]41285[/item]

TALENTS:  THIS IS HOW BUILDS ROLL

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#bVcb0hZZGxfVRfzcfqfzAo:aqhzV

This build right here looks to be the best right now.  Spirit Tap is now useful for everyone, and crit is actually useful for us now!  Mind Flay is now a crittable spell, and Shadow Power now gives us a 100% increase to the crit bonus of MF, SW:D, and MB.  This is awesome, and you should love it.  In addition, there are 2 unallocated talent points in this build.  Put these wherever you choose, although there really aren't any more DPS talents to take.  The 13 points in Disc can be altered on the second tier, but Imp. Inner Fire and Imp. Fortitude are chosen as they're the most useful in a raid situation.  Martyrdom is the only other one that's remotely useful, but chances are if you're getting crit in a raid, you're dead already.  Twin Disciplines is a must, as it increases the damage of SW:P, DP, and SW:D.  Shadow Word: Death itself is rarely used in raids, but the 5% increase to SW:P and DP makes it a must.  Imp. IF is also a nice bonus to your spellpower as well as armor.  Imp. Fortitude is just handy for raid utility.
With 5/5 Imp. MB we have a 5.5 second cooldown on MB.  Base casting time is 1.5 seconds.  VT runs for 15 seconds.  So, we cast VT, cast MB, 5.5 second CD, cast MB, 5.5 second CD.  From start to finish, the MB rotation took  14 seconds, giving 1 second remaining.  While you could cast a third MB now, it would be a better option to recast VT, giving only .5 seconds where it's off the target.  You don't have to worry about reapplying Shadow Word:Pain thanks to Pain and Suffering, so it comes down to reapplying VT every 15 seconds, DP every 30, and VE every 60.  With Haste, the cast time on MF can be brought down further, allowing you to fit 3 in.  The only time I've been effectively able to do this is during a Heroism, but your mileage may vary depending on lag and haste.  When MB is on cooldown and your DoTs are up, you should always be casting Mind Flay.  Never stop unless you run into threat issues, which is a real possibility now.  I've had times already where I've nearly pulled from an equal-level tank when I'm performing single-target DPS.  Another thing to note is that Replenishment does generate threat.  Quite a bit of it, in fact, so keep Fade handy.  We also have an AoE now, so be prepared to mash that button to keep mobs off you and keep casting.

As far as Dispersion goes, it's a handy tool.  Most heroics haven't been long enough for me to really run into horrendous mana issues, the exception being the final boss of Ahn'kahet.  In a fight with frequent phases where the boss becomes unattackable, reapplying SW:P begins to drain mana fast.  In those cases, popping your fiend early and using Dispersion when he's unattackable and you're already regenning is enough to keep going. It's also a handy button to slam if you find yourself in a bunch of AE damage, or if Fade is on cooldown and you've just pulled AoE threat on adds.
You'll also note the points in "Veiled Shadows", the overhaul of our old Imp. Fade ability.  This has 2 uses.  Most importantly, it decreases the cooldown on our Fiend by 2 minutes, giving us (essentially) a potion every 2 minutes.  Combined with Dispersion, you get a large chunk of your mana restored every 90 seconds.  In a long boss fight, you could conceivably go through a mana potion, your fiend, dispersion, and another fiend before the fight is over.
Glyphs
We essentially have only 3 Major Glyphs that change our DPS output.

• [item]42407[/item]: While in Shadowform, your non-periodic spell critical strikes increase your spell power by 10% of your Spirit for 10 sec.
• [item]42415[/item]: Increases the damage done by your Mind Flay spell by 10% when your target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.
• [item]42406[/item]:The periodic damage ticks of your Shadow Word : Pain spell restore 1% of your base mana.
  • 
    
  These glyphs are now mandatory due to the changes in haste affecting VT/DP.  The Shadow and SW:P glyphs are a definite must for any serious raiding spriest.
  Minor Glyphs:
  There are a few raiding spriest glyphs that are useful.
  
  
  
  • [item]43374[/item] Receive 5% of your maximum mana if your Shadowfiend dies from damage.
  • [item]43372[/item]Increases the duration of your Shadow Protection and Prayer of Shadow Protection spells by 10 min.
  • [item]43373[/item] Increases the range of your Shackle Undead spell by 5 yards.
  Personally, I don't have any of these yet. I only have the one that removes the reagent cost of Levitate, making the spell infinitely more useful.  I plan on picking up Shadow Prot and Shadowfiend as well, leaving out Shackle Undead.
  
  In short, gear for hit, then spellpower, then haste, then crit.  Once at hitcap, leave out the hit.
  
  In addition, MF bug has now been fixed.  MF at will.
  
  However, SW:P is unaffected by %damage bonuses that are not included in your paper-doll character info.  As such, stack Shadow Weaving to 5 before casting it.  Also, abuse the heck out of raid modifiers like Thaddius's polarity and such.
  

[Trismus]

dude, good job, this will help me level Geist 

[Riddlerr]

Atm mind flay is bugged. It no longer ticks the beginning , middle and end.  There are now two quick hits toward the end, and another one after the spell is channaled. Because of this, you can now clip Mind Flay last tick, even with a no clipping macro. And quartz wont help either.  Hopefully this will be fixed soon becuase this is a major loss of dps.

[Docsamson]

Atm mind flay is bugged. It no longer ticks the beginning , middle and end.  There are now two quick hits toward the end, and another one after the spell is channaled. Because of this, you can now clip Mind Flay last tick, even with a no clipping macro. And quartz wont help either.  Hopefully this will be fixed soon becuase this is a major loss of dps.

Thanks, I forgot to add that in.  It's possible to get around it, you just have to have real good timing, namely waiting ~.5s after your last MF finished channeling before beginning the other one.  Any longer than 1s and you'd be better off clipping it, any less than .5s and you will clip it.