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Shadow Priest guide

Ranged DPSPriest · WoW Forever

Beta guide, level 30. The WoW Forever beta stops at level 30, so this guide and its build cover levels 1 to 30. We update it for level 60 after launch on November 4.

Shadow is the damage Priest: damage over time, Mind Blast and Mind Flay, plus Vampiric Embrace healing the party off your damage. Forever adds Improved Mind Flay (each tick hits 20% harder than the last, so finish your casts), Dark Inspiration for party Spirit, and Devouring Contagion, which spreads Devouring Plague when the target dies.

Strengths

  • Excellent mana thanks to Spirit Tap and Dark Inspiration
  • Vampiric Embrace heals your whole party
  • The best Priest to level

Weaknesses

  • Little movement: most damage comes from channels
  • Weak against big packs (more than about 4 enemies)
  • Takes time to ramp up its damage

Talent build (level 30) 0/0/21

Shadow 21 points

  • Shadow Focus2/5
  • Spirit Tap5/5
  • Improved Mind Blast3/5
  • Improved Shadow Word: Pain2/2
  • Mind Flay1/1
  • Improved Mind Flay2/2
  • Dark Inspiration1/5
  • Vampiric Embrace1/1
  • Shadow Weaving3/3
  • Silence1/1

21 points in Shadow: Spirit Tap for mana while leveling, Improved Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Flay with Improved Mind Flay, Vampiric Embrace, Shadow Weaving and Silence. Darkness and Shadowform come after launch.

Open this build in the talent calculator

Key talents

Mind Flay
Your main filler: channeled damage and a slow.
Improved Mind Flay
New in Forever: every tick hits 20% harder than the last. Let the channel finish.
Spirit Tap
Double Spirit after a kill: the reason Shadow rarely drinks while leveling.
Vampiric Embrace
Your party heals for 20% of your Shadow damage.
Shadow Weaving
Each Shadow spell makes the target take 2% more Shadow damage, up to 5 times.

New in Forever: Shadow talents

  • Improved Mind FlayEach instance of damage of Mind Flay deals 20% more damage than its previous instance of damage.
  • Dark InspirationYour Mind Blast and fully channeled Mind Flay causes Dark Inspiration, increasing yours and your party's Spirit by 15% for 10 sec.
  • Devouring ContagionReduces the mana cost of your Devouring Plague by 50%. Targets that die while Devouring Plague is active spreads it, jumping to 2 nearby enemies within 10 yds for the remaining duration.
  • Early DemiseIncreases Shadow Word: Death's critical strike chance on targets at or below 20% health by 30%.

Rotation

  1. Keep Shadow Word: Pain up.
  2. Keep Devouring Plague up when you have it.
  3. Mind Blast on cooldown.
  4. Shadow Word: Death on cooldown once you have it, best on targets with low health.
  5. Keep Vampiric Embrace on the target in groups.
  6. Fill with Mind Flay and let each channel finish.

Several enemies

  • Shadow Word: Pain on every enemy is the core of your area damage.
  • Devouring Plague on the main target; Devouring Contagion (after launch) spreads it when the target dies.
  • Mind Flay the main target in between.

Cooldowns

Silence
Silence and interrupt a caster.
Psychic Scream
Fear enemies off you.
Power Word: Shield
Shield yourself before pulls while leveling.

Stats

Hit first, then spell (shadow) power, then crit (worth more once Shadowform arrives), then Intellect. Spirit is mainly useful while leveling.

Best races

Alliance

Human
Ruthless: +1% crit with spells.
Dwarf
Big Game Hunter: +5% damage to Beasts.
Night Elf
Elune's Light: +10% crit for 15 sec.

Horde

Undead
Touch of the Grave drains health on 30% of your spells, Will of the Forsaken breaks fear.
Troll
Berserking (+10% casting speed) and +5% damage to Beasts.

Professions

Tailoring for cloth gear (Forever adds new spell power patterns), Enchanting to make your own wands, or Engineering.

Leveling

The best way to level a Priest. Shield yourself, Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Blast and Mind Flay, then let Spirit Tap refill your mana after each kill.