Balance Shadow

[maverickmatt]

So.....

 

I leveled a Shadow over the weekend. I always intended to play Balance with it, even though I leveled to 45 as Infiltration (I figured Sever Force was essential in the rotation, and it didn't make sense to gimp myself with Balance before I had it).

 

I know it's not the cookie-cutter PvP spec, but it's just so much fun. My only problem is that I can't find a truly effective rotation. I tend to leave out the melee, and if I wanted to do that I should have rolled a sage. If anyone else plays Balance Shadow, pointers and tips would be appreciated.

 

While I'm at it, I'm not sure of the stat priorities for this class. I have a Vigilance Guardian, but the DoTs it has serve only to proc MS and Dispatch, so it's power heavy. Would I be better off gearing with higher crit?

 

Edit: What I meant to say was that I don't want to leave out melee altogether, I just can't seem to find an effective way to use it in a rotation (aside from double strike, which I have to force in there somewhere).

Edited July 2, 2013 by maverickmatt

[haksilence]

Idk about leaving out the melle, that bassicly makes a balance shadow useless.

 

If your not opposed to changing that Id try the

18/0/28 spec. Super simple, dot up everything you can see with force breech use FIB on CD and just spam double strike constantly till you get mind crush proce Super easy, super effective.

 

For full balance you need to keep force breech and sever force up at all times, use FIB on CD, use mind crush on proc (never hard cast this as a shadow. And them just fill with double strike.

 

If you simply don't want to do melle then a shadow isn't right for you since melle is essential in the balance rotation to get your mind crush procs

 

Never use project or TKT as a balance shadow

[Helig]

Not getting into the thick of melee actually makes sense for Balance shadows. They're just too squishy. Probably the squishiest melee spec in the game - that's why it has several 30-meter skills. I believe BW intended it to be played as mid-range caster instead of full melee.

 

Yes, you would need to use double strikes for procs to maximize damage. However PvP is about position and advantage. If you can kite a, say, Marauder, by dealing more damage at a distance than he can to you, then you are using your advantage. He catches on, you use Deflection and tangle with him a little, then disengage again when your advantage fades.

 

So on and so forth. I admit that I haven't played Balance/Madness a lot on Shadows/Sins - I haven't developed quirks and habits that would separate a player who knows what he's doing from an excellent player, but this sort of strategy bought be quite a few victories. Not to mention tons of fun I still prefer Deception/Infiltration though.

[mmerry]

If you dont melee as a balance shadow then you dont Mind Crush and that is bad... like real bad. Not to mention that double strike is about 25% of your damage output.

[haksilence]

You should not be a shadow. You will do virtually no damage beyond 4 meters and you have one 30m skill not including sever force since it is simply a root/dot and that's FIB. we won't consider TKT w/ force potency a 30m skill.

 

Basicly if your not in melle dealing damage with double strike your doing it wrong

 

The way you want to play a shadow is asanine and foolish, shadows are not casters

[npullan]

Getting back to the OP, here is what I do with my Shadow.

 

1. Force in Balance

2. Force Breach

3. Sever Force

4. Double Strike until Mind Crush Proc

5. Mind Crush

6. Double Strike

 

There are a few things to keep in mind when running Balance on your Shadow though.

 

The first is let your tank know that you are going to rip aggro as soon as you start DPSing. Even without Force Potency, Force in Balance hits like a train and will usually pull aggro at the beginning of the fight. The tank NEEDS to taunt or you're going to die.

 

The key to this spec is ensuring your DoTs are always up. Conveniently, Force in Balance's cooldown is 15 seconds to the 18 second duration of Force Breach and Sever Force. Every cooldown, throw Force in Balance and restack your DoTs.

 

Make sure to apply Mind Crush every single time it procs. This happens with less predictability so you just have to keep your eyes out for it.

 

The only other thing I try to do is time my Force Potency for when Force in Balance is off cooldown AND I have a Mind Crush proc. It's some sweet additional burst to throw Mind Crush and then Force in Balance. Combine with Surge Adrenal for maximum boom.

 

The thing with Balance Shadows is that you have about 6 - 9 seconds when all of your DoTs are ticking and your cooldowns haven't finished. During this time, the ONLY thing you should be doing is spamming Double Strike. Talents in our tree make it hit hard and it procs Mind Crush.

[maverickmatt]

You should not be a shadow. You will do virtually no damage beyond 4 meters and you have one 30m skill not including sever force since it is simply a root/dot and that's FIB. we won't consider TKT w/ force potency a 30m skill.

 

Basicly if your not in melle dealing damage with double strike your doing it wrong

 

The way you want to play a shadow is asanine and foolish, shadows are not casters

 

Thanks for the insults, and apparent lack of reading comprehension. I explicitly said that at the moment, that's what I've been doing until I could figure out the proper rotation. The whole point of this thread was to ask for advice on a proper rotation.... I knew I was doing it wrong, which is why I did the not-so-foolish thing of asking for help, instead of bashing my head against a brick wall and wiping everyone in Ops or dragging down my team in PvP. It's no wonder why so few players visit the forums, and why even fewer are willing to ask for help.

 

P.S. ... Your use of the word asinine was rhetorical, given that you followed with foolish. I would suggest that if you have nothing constructive to add, please refrain from commenting.

 

 

 

To All the other posters:

 

 

Thanks for the advice. It has been extremely helpful. One more question, if you don't mind answering:

 

As I understand it, Balance took a very hard hit with 2.0. Given that crit seems to be my lifeblood, should I stack crit over power for PvP?

[mmerry]

 

 

 

To All the other posters:

 

 

Thanks for the advice. It has been extremely helpful. One more question, if you don't mind answering:

 

As I understand it, Balance took a very hard hit with 2.0. Given that crit seems to be my lifeblood, should I stack crit over power for PvP?

 

For PVE the optimal crit is 285 rating. That being said Im not sure if that translates to PVP where the fights are generally much much shorter. I believe there is a thread in the shadow sub forum that outlines crit v power for PVP.