Setup wrote:Syphonize wrote:So following this logic, doesn't Shadow Word: Pain hit harder than Corruption?
That's a good point! I can't say for certain the free shadow bolts you get from corruption would make corruption average more damage than SWP.
Before we run off to do the math, there's a boring, pragmatic answer to consider: shadow priest mana problems. There's going to be tons of circumstances where the shadow priest isn't going to have the mana to keep up a max rank DOT for the entire duration of the fight. Often, shadow priests find themselves casting rank 1 SWP on bosses just to be able to keep up shadow vulnerability.
In the very limited circumstances where shadow priests can keep up SWP for the entire fight, it's plausible that SWP is slightly better than corruption for those fights. But those battles will be few and far between, and probably not worth making exceptions for, even if SWP ends up slightly better in those circumstances.
It is fairly easy for Shadow Priests to simply use Level 1 Mind Flay as a filler on fights where mana is an issue. The number of fights where Mana Pot + Demonic Rune spam doesn't solve most of your mana issues is very little. SW:P contributes a ton to Shadow Priest DPS and since I do believe it hits harder than Corruption, it would be the superior debuff. This is not taking into account instant shadow bolts since I'm way too lazy to calculate that.
Of course, this is assuming both characters are somewhat equally geared and all that.