Believe it or not, Mists of Pandaria finally delivers upon the promise of making minor glyphs…fun! That’s right, no more removing a reagent or adding some other utility function — you now get to pick your minor glyphs based upon what looks fun to you, not what makes the most sense for your pocketbook and bag space. But I am getting a little ahead of myself here.
First of all, there are no more Prime glyph slots. Just a total of 6 glyphs, split between major and minor. For major glyphs, shadowpriests can choose from these spec-specific glyphs:
- Glyph of Mind Spike — 50% reduction in cast time of your next Mind Blast for 6 sec (stacks up to 2x)
- Glyph of Mind Blast — 4 sec stun on target when Mindflay critically hits
- Glyph of Dark Binding — can cast Prayer of Mending, Renew and Leap of Faith without leaving shadowform
- Glyph of Shadow Word: Death — can cast SW:D at any time, but only does 25% damage on targets above 20% health, and casting SW:D now damages you for the amount it would for damaging a target above 20% health
- Glyph of Psychic Horror — reduces cooldown by 10 sec
- Glyph of Mind Flay — no longer slows target; instead every time it does damage your movement speed is increased 15%, stacking up to 3x
- Glyph of Vampiric Embrace — converts an additional 50% of the damage you do into healing but reduces the duration by 5 sec
For leveling, I’ve chosen to go with Glyph of Dark Binding, Glyph of Mind Flay and Glyph of Mind Blast. I have to say I am not super enamored with the Mind Flay so if I find need for dispersion at 90, I may swap to that instead. I will also swap out the dark binding for Mind Spike at 90. If none of the above shadow specific glyphs appeal to you, you can choose from a glyph that buffs one of your utility spells. See Wowhead’s full list of Priest Glyphs for details.
Minor glyphs of interest include:
- Glyph of Shadow — makes your shadowform less transparent
- Glyph of Dark Archangel — applying Devouring Plague to a target transforms you into an archangel form for 8 sec
- Glyph of Shackle Undead — changes the appearance of your shackle undead (see Wowhead’s screenshot)
- Glyph of Shadowy Friends — extends your shadowform to your non combat pets
- Glyph of Confession — teaches you the ability Confession which compels a friendly target to share a secret
- Glyph of the Heavens — your levitate targets appear to be riding on a cloud for the duration of the spell
- Glyph of Shadow Ravens — your shadow orbs now appear as shadow ravens
I will give you one guess as to which glyph I will equip first…Of course I have always wanted little shadowy friends! And then there’s the shadow ravens! How many times did I remark here and on twitter how shadow priests needed shadow ravens? TOO MANY TIMES! It’s like playtime for Anexxia with those two combined. Though I should not that the shadow ravens do not have as much visible time as I would like. And some of my noncombat pets are not as awesome in shadowform as regular form. Hmmmph. So, I am most likely looking at Glyph of Confession, Glyph of Shadow Ravens and glyph of dark archangel, with bouts of Glyph oh Shadowy friends.
What’s interesting to me, is none of these feel yet like “must take” glyphs, unlike previous go rounds with glyphs. It will be interesting to see if that is born out once the game hits live.