06-09-2006, 10:17 PM
If you do not have shadowform, yet, I would suggest using Holy Fire to pull with, instead of Mind Blast. It does comparable damage with the DoT component, but it is more mana efficient (though a longer cast time). Once you get shadowform, this doesn't work anymore. :)
My normal routine for taking things out, pre-shadowform, is to open with holy fire, then cast shadow word: pain and strafe backward until the cooldown is over. Then I mind flay and follow up with mind blast. Then I continue to wand until the target dies. At level 30ish, this works great and I can grind continuously on most things.
Sometimes things will be a bit tougher (more life) and I will start off by pre-shielding myself, then I go holy fire, SW:Pain, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, wand. This is a bit more mana-intensive, so if you don't have good spirit gear, you might not regenerate it all before you can pull the next mob (if you're chain pulling).
Keep in mind that all of this assumes that you don't have shadow reach (which I do not). If I had that talent, I would stick an extra mind flay in before the mind blast to end with (and sometimes not use mind blast, at all) because the mob would not reach me until after the second mind flay was done ticking.
The best thing that a shadow priest can do is get a good wand. I highly suggest doing the BFD questline for the 29 DPS wand, ASAP. This will significantly boost your damage output while you regenerate mana at the end of each battle. :)
My normal routine for taking things out, pre-shadowform, is to open with holy fire, then cast shadow word: pain and strafe backward until the cooldown is over. Then I mind flay and follow up with mind blast. Then I continue to wand until the target dies. At level 30ish, this works great and I can grind continuously on most things.
Sometimes things will be a bit tougher (more life) and I will start off by pre-shielding myself, then I go holy fire, SW:Pain, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, wand. This is a bit more mana-intensive, so if you don't have good spirit gear, you might not regenerate it all before you can pull the next mob (if you're chain pulling).
Keep in mind that all of this assumes that you don't have shadow reach (which I do not). If I had that talent, I would stick an extra mind flay in before the mind blast to end with (and sometimes not use mind blast, at all) because the mob would not reach me until after the second mind flay was done ticking.
The best thing that a shadow priest can do is get a good wand. I highly suggest doing the BFD questline for the 29 DPS wand, ASAP. This will significantly boost your damage output while you regenerate mana at the end of each battle. :)
-TheDragoon