Shadowfiend

From WoWWiki

Shadowfiend
Shadowfiend Instant cast 6% of base mana Creates a shadowy fiend to attack the target. Caster receives mana when the Shadowfiend deals damage. Lasts 15 seconds.
Usable by
Class	Priest
Properties
Type	Offensive
School	Shadow
Cooldown	5 min
Talents
Improvement talents	Mental Agility, Shadow Reach
Other information
Ranks	1

Shadowfiend is a Priest spell, attained at level 66 for 8 90 .

Notes

The mana gained from Shadowfiends' attack is 250% of the damage dealt by the fiend. (Making the formula [Dmg dealt*2.5])
Without shadow damage bonus, the Shadowfiends' hits deal an average of 110 damage to an equal level mob without shadow resistance. Its average damage per attack, however, is 100 due to melee damage mitigation.
The Shadowfiends' attacks are shadow damage and can be partially resisted but follow normal melee damage rules, therefore being capable of critical strikes, but also susceptible to misses, parries, dodges and glancing blows. This reduces the damage and mana ouput of Shadowfiends considerably on higher level mobs (especially in raid encounters) and in PvP versus classes with high melee mitigation or shadow resistance.
Shadowfiends deal shadow damage. Therefore, their mana return can be increased by debuffs on the shadowfiends' target that increase shadow damage taken (e.g. "Shadow Weaving","Misery","Curse of Elements") resulting in greater damage and more mana gained.
The Shadowfiend grants up to 11 hits per use, making its attack speed between 1.26 - 1.36 seconds per hit. It will often only produce 10 attacks because of relocation before the first attack or in between attacks.

with 10 hits, mana gain without additional shadow damage or debuffs is [(10*100)*2.5] = 2500 mana.

The Shadowfiend receives 60-66% of your shadow damage bonus over the 15 second duration depending on 10 to 11 attacks, or 6% per hit for 10 hits. This adds, in optimal conditions, an additional 1.5 mana for 1 shadow spell damage per use.

with 10 hits, [((10*100)+(SDmg*0.6))*2.5] = mana gained.

where SDmg stands for your bonus shadow spell damage.

In World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game.

Tips and Tactics

The patch 2.1 implemented a normal petbar for the priest to further help the priest control his/her shadowfiend. The bar functions as a normal petbar, with Attack/Stay/Follow and all three modes of Passive/Defensive/Aggressive. However, this has caused the pet sometimes to spawn on the target and do nothing due to being in Defensive or Passive Mode when spawning. To counter this issue, a mashable macro may be used: (Macro text within parentheses "( )" is optional)

(#show Shadowfiend) 
/cast Shadowfiend 
/petattack

When used during The Curator's Evocation vulnerability phase, the Shadowfiend deals triple damage and returns triple mana to the priest.

If the Shadowfiend's target dies, it may pick another target at random, including crowd-controlled mobs and mobs that haven't been aggroed. Try to use the Shadowfiend on targets that will not die before it despawns.

Shadowfiend takes on the buff of bloodlust, therefore hitting the mob faster and returning much more mana.

Bugs

(Update 2.1: These issues can be countered by ordering your pet to attack the target with either the "attack" button in your petbar, or a command /petattack.)

During the Moroes encounter, the Shadowfiend will sometimes turn and attack crowd-controlled targets for no reason, even when Moroes is NOT Vanishing.

The Shadowfiend will sometimes fail to attack mobs when directly summoned on them.

Mechanics

Shadowfiend has an attack speed of 1.5 and hits for an average of approximately 111 damage (74 dps). Observed damage with no gear ranged from 100 to 121 on non-crits. More testing could help pin down the precise damage the fiend does. Shadowfiend hits for shadow damage, so its damage is not reduced by armor. Its attacks are melee attacks and thus crit for double damage. The damage is susceptible to shadow damage resistance.

Similar to a warlock's minion, the shadowfiend gains attack power based on your shadow damage. It gains attack power equal to 57% of your shadow damage. Therefore, the shadowfiend's damage per second is:

74 + (Shadow Damage * 0.57) / 14

OR

74 + (Shadow Damage * 0.0407)

Actual damage dealt varies based on enemy resistances and level, and based on misses and crits. Total damage dealt by the shadowfiend over the 15 seconds, then, is:

1110 + (Shadow Damage * 0.61)

For every damage the shadowfiend inflicts you regain 2.5 mana. Thus, ignoring misses, crits and such, the amount of mana regained from shadowfiend over its duration is:

2775 + (Shadow Damage * 1.52)

Debuffs on the target that increase shadow damage, such a shadoweaving and curse of shadows, increase the damage dealt and thus the mana gained. A typical raid boss will have both of these debuffs, so shadowfiend will typically restore mana equal to:

3357 + (Shadow Damage * 1.85)

Buffing the fiend's attack power will also increase damage done and mana gained. For example, if a paladin casts Blessing of Might(Rank 5) on the fiend it will gain 220 attack power, or 15.7 dps, which equates to an additional 589 (713 with debuffs) for the priest. Casting shadowfiend when a mob has a special debuff that increases damage, such as curator's evocate, can result in large mana gains.

Patch changes

Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): Health scaling increased. Now receives 30% of the master's spell power. Mana return increased to 5%, up from 4%. The Shadowfiend now returns mana when its melee attacks land, rather than when it deals damage. Movement speed normalized to player movement speed. Tooltip revised.

External links

Wowhead

Thottbot

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