OBSOLETE WHEN 3.3 GOES LIVE.
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UPDATED SINCE PATCH 3.2

Use the UPDATED 3.1 macros listed below untill you have the T9 2piece set bonus, then use the 3.2 macros.

UPDATED 3.1 SPELL ROTARION MACROS:

START MACRO (only use START MACRO with MAIN ROTATION MACRO on BOSS fights)
[Use the Red Question Mark for the macro icon, so the next spell being cast will appear on the macro button]

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=combat vampiric embrace, vampiric touch, mind blast, devouring plague, mind flay, shadow word: pain, mind blast, shadowfiend, mind flay, shadow word: death

Ok, I started with VE, but hey, it lasts for 5 minutes now; and I can start the macro while I am moving into position; and it negates any AOE boss damage; and heals my party … so I say, why not.

Notice that I use Shadowfiend ... and in fights that last longer than 3 minutes I will get to use it again. The fiend does great damage now ... and I have no mana issues so, again I say, why not use it as often as you can to up your dps.

And my start macro applies SWP at the proper time, after I have 5 stacks of Shadow Weaving.

When Shadow Word: Death is cast, I switch to my main rotation macro:

MAIN ROTATION MACRO (use anytime by itself, trash, multiple bossess. Manually apply SWP at 5 stacks and manually apply DP)
[Use the Red Question Mark for the macro icon, so the next spell being cast will appear on the macro button]

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

The macro factors in RAID HASTE: the Shammy 5% haste totem and Ret pally 3% haste talent, i.e., 262.4 haste.

Finally, when a Shammy pops Blood Lust, I switch to this macro during the Bloodlust, since BL increases casting speed by 30%:

BLOODLUST MACRO

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target mind flay, mind flay, vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, shadow word: death, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

Yea, I know, there is an extra MF at the end of the macro to fill time so I don't step on the last tick of VT. It does delay my next MB just a tad but there is no way around that.

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UPDATED MACROS FOR HAVING RAID HASTE, AND 450+ BASE HASTE, AND THE 4 PIECE T8/8.5 SET BONUS

START MACRO:

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=165 vampiric embrace, vampiric touch, mind blast, devouring plague, mind flay, shadow word: pain, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, shadowfiend, shadowfiend

I code it this way (reset=165) so it does not reset until Shadowfiend comes off cooldown and it has 2 shadowfiend, shadowfiend at the end so it does not start over, thus reminding me that it is time to move to the MAIN ROTATION MACRO.

MAIN ROTATION MACRO: Use anytime, manually apply DP and SWP.

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

I have inserted an extra Mind Flay to compensate for the normal 262 Raid Haste (Totem and Ret Pally Talent); for having higher Base Haste (450+); and for having the 4 piece set bonus (240 haste for 4 seconds after a Mind Blast).

NOTE: Depending on your server lag, you can replace the third Mind Flay with a Shadow Word: Death to shorten your macro by 1 GCD.

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HOW TO TWEAK YOUR MACRO:

To test your rotation, put on haste gear ... greens, blues, eat haste food, use haste elixirs etc. It doesn't matter what your damage, hit, or crit is ... just try to get your haste to, as close to, YOUR BASE HASTE PLUS 262.4.

713 is the haste I have in a raid, which is my base haste (450) +262.4 additional haste from raid buffs: shammy totem and the ret pally talent.

I save old gear with haste and put haste gems in it. I have the two heirloom badge trinkets with 64 haste each, etc., and I swap gear out till I have a set that says (as close as I can) 713 Haste with food etc. So I now have a set of gear that simulates my cast speed in a raid. NOTE: I keep 4 pieces of my T8 gear equiped (I dont swap out those pieces)

Target a level 60 target dummy, so hit isn't a factor, and then do the following:

SPAM your main rotation sequence !!!

Watch Recount, watch your VT ticks. Your aim is to start casting VT just before it drops off ... but not to early, as you DON'T want to clip the last tick of VT. If there is a gap between VT's, replace the 3rd of the 3 Mind Flays in the Haste Macro with a Shadow Word: Death. You just shortened your macro by ONE GCD. Eat and attack the dummy again. If you are now clipping the last tick of VT, you have to put the Mind Flay back in. If there is still a gap between VT's, remove the Shadow Word: Death. You have shortened you macro by a 2nd GCD. Eat and attack the dummy again. If you are clipping the last tick of VT, put the Shadow Word: Death back in.

In this way you can find the tightest rotation that keeps the Gap between VT's as close as possible without clipping the last tick.

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NEW 3.2 SPELL ROTATION MACROS:

For those who are using my 3.1 spell rotation macros:

Here are my new 3.2 Start and Main Rotation macros.

Note: Until I have the 2 piece T9 set bonus, I will be using the Start and Main Rotation haste macros posted above (since I have 450 Haste and the 4 piece T8 set bonus).

When I have the 2 piece T9 set bonus, I will be using the following:

Woot! Just got my 2 piece T9 set bonus. Macro is super tight. Enjoy.

START MACRO

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target devouring plague, vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, shadow word: pain, shadow word: death, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, shadowfiend

MAIN ROTATION MACRO

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target devouring plague, vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, shadow word: death

NOTE: I upped my crit by 4% and dropped my haste to 323 (585 with raid haste, which still allows me to fit 2 MF in between MB casts) and have removed the shadow word: death from the main rotation. Works like a charm.

This macro will clip the last tick of DP and reapply DP, milliseconds after the 7th tick. VT will be back up milliseconds after it comes off cooldown. The macro is very tight with almost no down time.

Blood Lust Macro

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, devouring plague, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, shadow word: death, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay

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DO NOT USE THE FOLLOWING MACROS UNTIL 3.3 GOES LIVE.

NEW 3.3 SPELL ROTATION MACROS:

Assumes 2 piece T9 (VT increased by 6 seconds).

I have tried various Haste levels and 394 Base Haste (12% Haste) or better, depending on your latency, is optimum. With 262.4 additional Raid Haste -- 5% Haste from Totem and 3% from Ret Pally Talents, your Raid Haste will be 656 (20% Haste)

I use this Lag Fix from Leatrix on my comp, really drops latency alot:
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/i ... cyFix.html

START MACRO

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=165 devouring plague, vampiric touch, mind blast, shadow word: death, mind flay, shadow word: pain, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, shadow word: death, shadowfiend, shadowfiend

Double Shadowfiend at end so I am reminded to switch to the Main Rotation Macro.

Reset=165 ... This keeps my start macro unusable until shadowfiend is off cooldown, I have talents in fade to bring cooldown to 3 minutes.

MAIN ROTATION MACRO

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target/10 devouring plague, vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay

BLOODLUST MACRO

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=combat devouring plague, vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, shadow word: death, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay

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SUPER DUPER MACRO

If you wish to make your rotation even tighter, you will need to download this Addon from wowinterface, which allows more than 255 characters in a macro. It is what I will be using:
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/i ... Macro.html

When you open your normal macro window, you simply click on Super Duper Macro at the top.

MAIN ROTATION SUPER DUPER MACRO

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target/10 devouring plague, vampiric touch, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, devouring plague, vampiric touch, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, mind flay, mind blast, mind flay, shadow word: death

<3<3<3<3

nice macro w8ting here that server get up to test it out

the previous one was also imba thx

Shadowpriest is not the right class / specc for spellrotationmacros. You might only have a slide disadvantage on static fights like Patchwerk,
but most of the Ulduar Encounters will not work with these macros. Those fights with many adds oder the fights where you have to switch between targets often (e.g: Razorscale, Mimiron P3, YaggSaron P1/2) will force you to dump them.
Also to mention the missing possibility to recast SW:P and what about a drastic change of haste rating?

Melcor, thanks for that objective report.

Hey, are you the Melcor from Gorgonnash? The one with 1235 bonus damage ... in blues?

Yea, these macros won't work for you in Ulduar.

Hey, I am the Mêlcor from Anetheron (EU)! The one with 2130 bonus damage (gearwise) ... in epics.

Well, I don't expect you to believe me, but someone with the same gear who is playing without spell rotation macros will always perform better than you do.
As you have downed Razorscale already you might have noticed that you have to switch between mindsearspam and singletarget permanently in order to keep your dps at top level.

At the Vezax encounter you will have to move alot, at least the way we downed him, so you wont be able to run through the whole spell rotation. There will be situations where you get in range again and and SWP has expired. What will your macros be good for then?


=> a loss of dps you wont experience without your macros

=> a loss of dps you wont experience without your macros

Thanks Melcor for clearing that up.

Have you made and tried the macro or are you just offering an untested opinion?

We have killed Razor and I was 2nd on DPS behind a DK.

Yea, the macro is for when I am on the boss, I use other macros for the trash. I even write specific macros for unique encounters and special situations. I have macros for my Druid, and Mage, and Lock, and Rogue, and DK, and Hunter, and Paladin for every conceivable situation. I can't tell you how many times, for example, on my Feral DPS Druid, that I have 5 mobs on me and I switch to a macro that warstomps to stun everyone, throws a couple hots one me, pops barkskin, casts a major heal, innervates me, pops me back into cat form, and then continues with a dps rotation by just spamming one key.

In 3 years of WoW, two Grand Marshals, a High Warlord, 40 man raids, BC, Naxx, and now Ulduar, I have played with many other (just as well geared) Shadow Priests, who use dot timers; cast when quartz hits the red; have their spells all hot keyed, etc., etc., etc. and I still smoke them in every raid and on every Boss.

I pull 3.7 to 3.8k on the dummies - self buffed. Was pulling 5.5k on Patch pre 3.1 with flasks and damage pots. My ticks of SWP, VT, and DP are the same #'s on most boss fights, so dots are always up. I seldom die, since I can focus on the fight and my surroundings instead of on dot timmers, and cast bars, and cooldowns counters. Oh yea, I am even capable of applying a SWP, Fiend, Fade, etc., any time I wish and then continue with my macro.

Here are my WWS numbers for a Naxx wing and final bosses.

Dps food buff but NO flask NO Pots, as we only use those for new content and 3 Drakes.

#1 All Bossess 4937 dps
#3 Patchwerk 5060 dps
#1 Grobbulus 5122 dps
#1 Gluth 5176 dps
#5 Thaddius 7490 dps
#2 Sapphiron 3615 dps (509 FR gear)
#1 Kel'Thuzad 4061 dps (including all the trash)

Believe me, I have tried manual rotations, hot keyed everything, watched the cast bars, used the dot timers, and cooldown counters, yada, yada, yada. I still find that a well designed macro, calculated for my haste, cooldowns, etc., out performs the manual rotations.

I do appreciate your and anyone's opinion, but like I said earlier, as long as I keep topping the WWS charts, I'm sticking with the macros.

Thanks again for your post.

This is Az....this site required a name longer than 2 letters, hehe, hence Sneeky.

Thanks for posting the macros as I must have copied them down wrong. You think you could post more of your macros? I'd appreciate it!

Az

Macro's make baby Jesus tinkle.

Good to know that if I ever decide my DPS is crap that I can come back here though!

BEAT THE MACRO

Here is a good way to compare your manually, applied, spell rotation ... against my START and MAIN rotation macro's.

To test your rotation, put on haste gear ... greens, blues, eat haste food, use haste pots, etc. It doesn't matter what your damage, hit, or crit is ... just try to get your haste to, as close to, 714 as you can.

714 is the haste I have in a raid, which is my base haste +262.4 additional haste from raid buffs: shammy totem and the ret pally talent.

Find a level 60 target dummy. so hit isn't a factor. and then do the following:

You will need Recount, damage meter, addon; and a stopwatch.

I have a stopwatch that is built into my game clock (not sure if that is a Cartogropher thing or a Blizz thing) but you will need a stop watch.

Start the timer and then begin your rotation. To keep it objective, start with a VE and Shadowfiend, since my START macro begins with a VE and casts Fiend in the rotation, and then do whatever you do, in whatever order you do it, and try to do it as fast, and as perfectly as you can for 2 minutes.

Jump at exactly 2 minutes (to immediately stop casting and to leave combat). Watch your recount log when you jump and see how many ticks of VT, SWP, and DP there were at that moment. Dots that may tick after you jump do not count.

After the dots, which were in process, finish ticking, select from the recount option to show "Current Fight". Your recount should show exactly 2 minutes for the current fight. Left click on your name in the recount window to open your log and see how many casts you achieved in those 120 seconds; and also record the # of ticks you observed when you jumped.

Here is what I get, I can do it over and over and the numbers are always the same for 2 minutes of spell casting:

TICKS
78 MF
38 VT
39 DP
38 SWP

CASTS
15 MB
5 DP
1 SWD
and the 1 VE, which doesn't show on recount.
and the 1 Shadowfiend, which also doesn't show on recount.

If you can beat these numbers every time, keep using your manually, applied, spell rotation. If you fall short of these numbers, try the macros.

Nuff said.

P.S. Don't post a report with more than 38 SWP ticks and say you have beaten the macro. Casting SWP, after 5 stacks, means 5gcd's at 1.2 seconds = 6 seconds before applying SWP; and 38 ticks of SWP, at 3 seconds per tick, = 114 seconds. 6 + 114 = 120 seconds.

What you are shooting for is 38 ticks for all dots, which means VT and DP were always up (sometimes I get 39 DP ticks).

I found one of your macro's in another post and wanted to try it of. Admitted mostly so I could post that it didnt work. But I does. It doesnt improve my dps it is pretty much the same as I can do manually.

While I am somewhat impressed that you managed to get a macro to handle our somewhat complex casting rotation I am still casting spells manually. That much I will give you. But I just feel like a complete idiot spamming one key senseless. Is that just me?

I use it for testing dps on the training dummy, as it gives me consistant dps and removes my own ability to miss a cooldown or slack. If I didnt have to spam it like a mad man. But only hit the key again after casting my last spell. Then I would consider using it in raids. But I dont suppose that is possible.

Yes sir, I was a manual caster for years. Then I discovered macros. I used to die because I was watching a cooldown counter or Quartz cast bar to get that next spell cast as soon as it went into the red, etc., and I didn't notice, soon enough, that something spawned under my feet or that the mob had targeted me.

That doesn't happen anymore. I kind of like being able to watch the battle, have greater spacial awareness; and as an officer, I often have to call out things to the raid, which is alot easer now, since I am no longer watching my cast bars and counters nor have to make the, at the moment, decisions of what I should cast next.

Not to mention that I can now be aware of all that and still top the damage meters.

But, play the game to have fun. If it is more fun to choose every spell and watch timers, do that.

I am not trying to change anyone's game play. I am just sharing some macros that I have discovered work pretty well in this macro section of this super web site.

My post was by no means ment to put down your macro's. They work. Its a fact. Just sharing my personal view on the matter. If you ever manage to make macro that doesnt need to be spammed. Be sure to post it

Thanks Nurgle,

I did not read you post as a negative reply, but as one of intelligence.

You can take the [nochanneling] out and hit your key or click the macro just once, when you want the next spell that is in the sequence to cast, and you can cast them when quarts goes into the red.

Almost the same as having 7 spells hotkeyed to seven different keys, 1-7, and instead of hitting: 1, 2, 6, 3, 7, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, etc. The macro says hit those keys in that order by just hitting one key that is programmed to reproduce that order: 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8.

But again, thanks for your input. May all your drops be Epic.

I've been using your macros for a long time now, love em bro. My personal thanks to you
Keep em comin!

First off, just wanted to say that your macros are awesome. Complete increase in my personal DPS- in raids and also in easysauce Heroics.

While using your "Start sequence" macro as I named it on my macro list, it seems like when I switch targets or even sometimes while targetting a boss or mob, it's not casting for some reason. I copied it correctly because I've checked over and over. Now, it could be that I am switching between mobs and I'm not sure if you're just using your start up macro on a boss, or during trash pulls, etc.

Now your second macro for the "Main sequence" casting, I tweaked it a bit because I was having trouble with the "Start sequence", so I threw a SW:P in the rotation in case I am switching off targets, etc.

But, when I'm single targetting on a single encounter(Bosses, etc), both macros work perfectly and I'm fine with that. I just have a question about what you use while switching targets. Do you start all over? Because if you do, it kinda seems( could be just me) that since Shadowfiend is on CD it isn't going to the SW:D sequence, and I use that as an indicator to switch to the "Main sequence" macro.

And, by the way, my main was a combat rogue and as such, I am use to spamming SS so I constantly spam the "Main sequence" macro- is this the proper way of handling your macros?

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or something, but yeah- any information or tips regarding what you personally do while switching between mobs would be amazing.

Thanks for your time and for your macros.