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World of Warcraft’s shadow priests have it pretty good. They’re the easiest healer spec to level as in the whole game, for starters. But the real kicker is how awesome they are in groups. I know, you can level from 1 to 80 without ever setting foot in an instance or grouping up at all, especially if you’re following a priest leveling guide to the letter. If you’re really looking to see what your shadow priest can do, you want to start hitting up some instances in Outland or Northrend.
When compared to other DPS classes or DPS specs of hybrids, versatility is the biggest strength of the shadow priest. Even before considering dual spec, a shadow priest can easily drop form and start acting as a backup healer. If the priest is geared decently, they may even be able to main heal effectively.
Other healer classes playing DPS specs often can’t do this. The reasoning behind this is simple. Healing as holy or discipline requires very similar stats to DPSing as shadow. As such, the priest doesn’t have to worry about an alternate gear loadout, which make jumping into a healing role much easier. Most other hybrids are dependent on melee stats for their DPS specs. With bag space at a premium, healing gear gets left in the bank if it’s even collected in the first place, so there’s much less chance of these other classes healing effectively on short notice. I don’t understand that mindset since you don’t have to stop collecting DPS gear from quests either, you can easily compile a nice set of healing gear from the wow auction house without spending much in the way of coin. Oh well, I guess that’s what separates the power gamers from the casuals.
Utility is another area in which priests surpass other DPSers. Using talents and abilities like Vampiric Touch and Vampiric Embrace, the Shadow Priest passively replenishes the mana and health of his groupmates while dealing substantial damage. Unfortunately for the other DPS classes, priests are the only class that offers that kind of utility without sacrificing any damage in the process. Granted, a mage, rogue, or warlock will outdamage a shadow priest in many situations, but they don’t provide the safety net offered by the priest. Most classes in the game are forced to choose between group viability or optimal solo questing. Shadow priests get the best of both worlds. If you ever find yourself wanting to have your cake and eat it too, you know which class to pick.
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