Glyphs

Deadjon · 11-24-2008

As I'll often note, I'm bad so take my words for what they are worth. Do your homework, know your class.

PvE Glyphs

PvE Major - In my humble shadow priest opinion, there are 4 major glyphs worth considering for PvE purposes

Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain - Increases the damage done by your Mind Flay spell by 10% when your target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.
Glyph of Shadow - While in Shadowform, your spell critical strikes increase your spell power by 10% of your Spirit for 10 sec.
Glyph of Mind Flay - Increases the range of your Mind Flay spell by 10 yards, but it no longer reduces the target's movement speed (brings MF range to 36 yards talented).
Glyph of Shadow Word: Death - Targets below 35% health take an additional 10% damage from your Shadow Word: Death spell

Personally I go with Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain, Glyph of Shadow & Glyph of Mind Flay. I find that Shadow Word: Death just doesn't do enough damage and is too situational to glyph into. SW

I just find my self using to stack Shadow Weaving, grabbing killing blows to proc Spirit Tap or as filler when there's 1.5 sec left on a Mind Blast cooldown. That's very rarely on SW

, and its so very nice being able to stand with hunters (hunter envy...) The extra range on flay allows all of your spells to be cast from a 36 yard range requiring you to move less and dps more. Glyph of Shadow current grants me 40 spell power unbuffed and it almost always up with 20% to crit. The SW:P glyph is a no brainier.

PvP Glyphs
The 5th season of arena has not stated yet, and I've been honor capped for quite some time, so my PvP experience in WotLK is limited to Wintersgrasp and World PvP. I've been PvE spec for all of this, so I'll just be listing the Glyphs and what I think would be most useful.

PvP Major -

Glyph of Shadow Word: Death - Targets below 35% health take an additional 10% damage from your Shadow Word: Death spell.
Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain - Increases the damage done by your Mind Flay spell by 10% when your target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.
Glyph of Shadow - While in Shadowform, your spell critical strikes increase your spell power by 10% of your Spirit for 10 sec.
Glyph of Psychic Scream - Increases the duration of your Psychic Scream by 1 sec.
Glyph of Power Word: Shield - Your Power Word: Shield also heals the target for 20% of the absorption amount.
Glyph of Mass Dispel - Reduces the mana cost of Mass Dispel by 20%.
Glyph of Inner Fire - Increases the charges on your Inner Fire spell by 20.
Glyph of Fear Ward - Reduces cooldown and duration of Fear Ward by 30 sec.
Glyph of Dispel Magic - Your Dispel Magic spell also heals your target for 6% of maximum health.

When looking these over, a lot of the decision of what's best will be determined by your play style and role on your pvp team. Personally I see Dispel and Shield being enormously useful as I use those two abilies all the time in PvP. The thrid slot could be Pain to boost dps, or mass dispel if that's your role. Heck, even Psychic Scream could be huge, 1 second can make or break a fight and throw off people's timing. Time will tell with these.

Minor Glyphs
Minor - The minor glyphs are all pretty "meh" and really none are "required".

Glyph of Shadow Fiend - Receive 5% of your maximum mana if your Shadowfiend dies from damage.
Glyph of Shadow Protection - Increases the duration of your Shadow Protection and Prayer of Shadow Protection spells by 10 min.
Glyph of Levitate - Your Levitate spell no longer requires a reagent.
Glyph of Fortitude - Reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Fortitude and Prayer of Fortitude spells by 50%.
Glyph of Shackle Undead - Increases the range of your Shackle Undead spell by 5 yards.
Glyph of Fading - Reduces the mana cost of your Fade spell by 30%.

Okay, like I said "Meh" right? Hey, they are minors and just add some cool little bonuses to your character. For raiding the only one that I could see as required are Glyph of Shadowfiend. No matter how careful you are, sometimes the little bugger dies, and you don't want to get nothing in return when he dies, do you? Personally I use Shadowfiend, levitate and Shadow Protection for PvE. In PvP I'd end up using Glyph of Fading (it removes snares if talented), Shadowfiend, and either levitate or shadow protection. Levitate if protecting our buffs remains important, and shadow protection if long matches are common.