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Comment by 91278

Because of the terrible itemisation of this set, it isn't actually worth getting four pieces, even if (or maybe especially if, depending on the nature of drops within 25-player Trial of the Grand Crusader yet to be seen) you are able to access the iLvl258 set of the gear.

The failures in itemisation can be seen without even looking at 25-player Trial of the Grand Crusader non-set epics. It can be summed up with two examples: The helm and the chest. (You could also look at the ~~shoulders~~ if you wished, or the leggings, assuming that you follow similar lines of argument and assuming equivalents can be found).

NB: In my stat weightings, which are up-to-date courtesy of Shadowpriest.com, I do not take into account Hit Rating. At this tier of progression, hit rating is so abundant on gear that it is impossible not to be capped in ways far more efficient, as shown below.

Firstly, to look at the chest, which is a "close call", as it were. A comparison between the "Totally Triumphant" chest and Merlin's Robe, the perfectly-itemised iLvl245 BoE tailoring epic of this tier of gear, shows that the latter only loses out by a fraction to the former; if you were to take into account the extra socket, Merlin's Robe comes out better.

Similarly, let's look at the helm ... as if we really need to. Spirit/Hit has always been an awful combination of stats on any piece of gear -- the one is lacklustre, the other is only required up to a point -- i.e., as I have said previously, you're better off finding it on items that spend their item points more wisely. There are many examples of comparative gear items where the only difference between them is that all the points devoted to Spirit have been converted into Hit rating, with some other minor adjustments.
But let's compare this helm to something anyway, shall we? How about the helm which every Shadow Priest loves: The Tier 8 one. Despite being a whopping thirty two item levels below the highest level of Tier 9, Sanctification doesn't even have to try hard at all to beat its supposedly "bigger" brother.

But it is not just the itemisation of individual pieces which is the problem here: It is the set bonus. 5% Crit on Mind Flay doesn't sound too bad. But, Mind Flay only accounts for 40% of our total damage, and that is being very generous. Thus, the equivalent value of this set bonus in terms of crit rating is about 2%. Note one key continuity within the four pieces I chose to compare: The Tier pieces have no crit; the alternatives have crit in great abundance. By ignoring the lacklustre Tier 9 pieces, you stand to gain almost 3% crit from rating. This, of course, will apply to all of your spells, not being limited to Mind Flay alone.

Because of the lack of Spirit present on the gloves and legs, and the hit rating on them (Remember what I said about Spirit/Hit conversions?), it's still worth picking them up for the two-piece set bonus if you would like the extra Vampiric Touch time. Shadowpriest.com works out the two-piece set bonus as being worth roughly 84 PP -- 42 PP per item. That's fairly solid. The four-piece, though? There are far better items, some of them not even from Trial of the (Grand) Crusader.

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Item - Priest T9 Shadow 4P Bonus (Mind Flay)

Item - Priest T9 Shadow 4P Bonus (Mind Flay)

Increases the critical strike chance of your Mind Flay spell by 5%.

Spell Details

Duration

n/a

School

Physical

Mechanic

n/a

Dispel type

n/a

GCD category

n/a

Cost

None

Range

0 yards (Self)

Cast time

Instant

Cooldown

n/a

GCD

0 seconds

Effect

Apply Aura: Modifies Critical Strike Chance (7)
Value: 6
PVP Multiplier: 1
Affected Spells:

Holy Word: Serenity	Pain and Suffering	Sunwell Torrent
Fury of the Dreghood Elders	The Seer's Presence	Energize Headpiece
Disrupt Dark Conclave Ritual

Flags

Item - Priest T9 Shadow 4P Bonus (Mind Flay)

Buff

Spell Details

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