PvE Shadow Priest Guide WOTLK Patch 3.3.5a - By Darkxss
Welcome to the Darkxss guide on how to play Shadow Priests. In this guide I hope to cover the A-Z of shadow priests and all the tricks I use to boost my DPS. This entire guide is written from a raiding perspective and I’ll try keeping everything as simple as possible.
(This guide is written for the patch 3.3.5a for Warmane Servers)
PvE – Player versus Environment
PvP – Player versus Player
DPS – Damage per second
DOT – Damage over time
VT – Vampiric Touch
DP – Devouring Plague
MB – Mindblast
MF – Mindflay
SW: P – Shadow word: pain
SW: D – Shadow Word Death
CD – Cooldown
SP – Spellpower
DMG – Damage
BIS – Best in Slot
ICC – Icecrown Citadel
RS – Ruby Sanctum
The three most important stats for any caster is Spellpower, crit and haste. Below is the equivalent SP given by each stat.
Spell power = 1 spell power
Critical strike rating = 0.76 spell power
Haste rating = 0.98 spell power
Hit rating = 1.88 spell power (when not hit capped)
Intellect = 0.22 spell power
Spirit = 0.59 spell power
The basic stat priority for a Shadow Priest is as follows:
Waist: Crushing Coldwraith Belt (Obtained from Lord Marrowgar in ICC25hc)
Legs: Plaguebringer's Stained Pants (Obtained from Festergut in ICC25hc)
Feet: Plague Scientist's Boots (Obtained from Festergut in ICC25hc)
Ring 1: Ring of Rapid Ascent (Obtained from Gunship in 25hc)
Ring 2: Ashen Band of Endless Destruction (Obtained by gaining exalted reputation with the Ashen Verdict)
Trinket 1: Phylactery of the Nameless Lich (Obtained from Sindragosa in ICC25hc)
Trinket 2: Charred Twilight Scale (Which is obtained from Halion in the RS25hc encounter.)
**Trinket 3: Dislodged Foreign Object is the next viable option. (Obtained from Rotface in ICC25hc)
Off-hand: Shadow Silk Spindle (Obtained from Blood-Prince Council in ICC25hc)
Wand: Corpse-Impaling Spike (Obtained from Rotface in ICC25hc)
Main-hand: Royal Scepter of Terenas II (Obtained from Lich-King 25hc encounter) however if hard to get, use **Frozen Bonespike (From Marrowgar in ICC25hc)
Gemming shadow priests is relatively straight forward. I like to gem my character for all socket bonuses but the general trend I see is that when a person is haste capped they gem +23 SP gems in items which give bonus of 5sp or less. I leave the choice up to you.
If you wish to fulfill your socket bonuses gem as per the following in all your slots:
* - If you plan to gem Runed Cardinal Rubies in all your slots make sure your meta gem is still active else would lead to a significant DPS loss. For the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond meta gem you need two blue gems to keep it active, so make sure you always have two blue gems to keep it on irrespective of the way you decide to gem.
** - If you are haste capped it is pointless for you to gem an additional 10 haste hence replace this gem with Potent Ametrine (+12 Spell Power, +10 crit).
Glyph of Shadow
Glyph of Mind Flay
Glyph of Dispersion/Glyph of Mind Sear
Glyph of Dispersion may be a better choice to increase survivability in HC raids. Raiding is also about surviving and not just about DPS. Help your heals out, blow some defensive CDs too every once in a while J.
If you are facing intensive mana issues you can use Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain.
Minor:
There are no fixed minor glyphs as they don’t help with your DPS so I’ll leave this bit up to you.
There are several openers for Shadow Priests that you can find online. I’m going to talk about the one which I find most efficient.
-----> For Normal/Cookie Cutter Spec:
Opener:
VT > DP > MB > MF > SW: D > SW: P
The reason I use SW: D in my opener is in order to achieve faster 5/5 Shadow Weaving stack. Apply SW: P only after you achieve 5/5 Shadow Weaving.
Additionally use MB after every CD and use MF as a filler spell when your all 3 dots are ticking and MB is in CD.
I would recommend using Shadowfiend at the start of the fight.
-----> For 4/5 T10 Set:
Opener:
VT > DP > MF > SW: D > MF > SW: P
Again SW: D is used in the opener to achieve faster 5/5 Shadow weaving.
Well all 3 dots are ticking use MF as your filler spell. You don’t need to use MB in this spec because MF does more damage at the same time and also we have dropped the MB Talents.
When is the best time for me to refresh my dots?
The best time to refresh your dots or MF is after it is done with it’s last tick. NEVER EVER clips your dots or MF spells until it is done with it’s last tick else will result in a major loss in DPS.
It is better to apply a dot late than to clip it. If VT and DP are about to get over at the same time then always cast VT first then DP.
In this section I am going to talk about the various professions bonuses and what is the best for a shadow Priest.
I am a little lazy to type the entire bit here so I’m copy pasting from another website with minor edits in the middle by me.
Source : **Link no longer active**
Jewelcrafting:
If you have JC you can make gems that only a JC can put in his armor. The gems have bigger stats then the normal epic gems. For example the normal gem is Runed Cardinal Ruby and the Jeweler's gem is Runed Dragon's Eye. The downside is that you can only use 3 of the Jeweler's gems in your armor.
So if you were to gem yourself with the bonus Spell Power gems you would get an additional 48 Spell Power from this profession, which is a lot.
Enchanting:
Enchanting gives you enchants for your rings. You can use 3 different enchants:
Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower + 23 spell power
You cant have these enchants if your not an Enchanter. Only the Enchanter's rings can be enchanted.
Since we have two rings we get an additional 46 Spell Power from this profession.
Inscription:
Inscription gives you powerful enchants for shoulders (only available with 400+ inscription skill). You can have 4 different enchants:
Inscription of the Storm +70 spell power and 15 critical strike rating
Inscription of the Crag +70 spell power and 8 mana every 5 sec
This gives an additional 40 Spell Power.
Tailoring:
This prof gives powerful cloak enchants (only available with +400 tailoring skill). You can Choose from:
Darkglow Embroidery chance to restore 400 mana when you cast a spell
Lightweave Embroidery chance to increase your spell power by 295 for 15 sec
Leg enchants a Tailor can make to sell:
Brilliant Spellthread +50 spell power and 20 spirit
Sapphire Spellthread +50 spell power and 30 stamina
I would call this the BIS profession for any cloth class. It gives maximum Spell Power throughput and should be a no brainer.
Blacksmithing:
You can make 1 extra socket on your belt, bracers and gloves. You can make Eternal Belt Buckle that can be sold and used by people that dont have BS. Then you have the sockets for only the BS: Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves.
Since we get two added gemming slots in hands and wrist we can put 2 red gems thus giving us +46 Spell Power bonus.
Engineering:
Engineers tend to get a bit shortchanged in this department because many of their gadgets for purely cosmetic such as a portable mailbox called Moll-E and a Field Repair Bot etc.
However, they do have the ability to create certain gadgets that attach to their gear (much like an enchant). These gadgets provide a variety of benefits of increased speed all the way to rockets that are fired for damage. Like Nitro Boosts (for on your belt) and the Parachute Cloak.
This is more of a PvP profession I’d say but it is useful for PvE helping people move around fast and the hands hyper accelerator tinker gives some added haste which is nice.
Alchemy:
You can make Alchemist's Stone this is a trinket with the effect: Increases the effect that healing and mana potions have on the wearer by 40%. This effect does not stack.
If you have Alchemy you also get Mixology this doubles the duration of any elixir or flask used.
Also you have Flask of the North this is an non-consumable item that doesn't provides bonuses comparable to those of other flasks or elixirs however it can be used in arenas.
Not that useful for PvE.
The 2 best professions for a Shadow Priest for PvE in my opinion would be Tailoring + Jewelcrafting followed by Tailoring + Engineering because the haste from hyperspeed accelerators makes your dots tick faster.
If you want to max out on the DPS your toon can do you should consider carrying the following consumables to raids with you –
1. Flask of the Frost Wyrm x 10 – A Spellpower Flask which gives added 125 Spell Power
2. Tender Shoveltusk Steak x 20 – Food gives +46 Spell Power or Fish Feast will also do the job. Can be learnt from cooking vendor in Dalaran. If you are low on haste you can get the recipe for +40 haste food as well.
3. Potion of Wild Magic x 40
4. Potion of Speed x 40
5. Intellect Scrolls – As they add to your crit.
Potion of Speed – Because of the added haste and haste is good for shadow priests. It was feels like a faked Heroism :P
But never use this potion along with Heroism because the effect wouldn’t be noticeable then.
Potion of Wild Magic – This potion provides us with Crit + SP. This potion is OP for us Shadow Priests in my opinion for the simple reason that our Shadow Word: Pain spell over utilizes this potion. If your talents are done right then for every MF spell you use , your SW: P spell automatically gets refreshed. So when this potion is used the SW: P spell keeps refreshing the crit on this spell as long as we don’t let this dot drop off. The spell power gets reset for this dot but not the crit.
Well in a fight normally you can use just one potion. But there is a way to overcome this shortcoming. If your tank can have a pull countdown. Somewhere 3 seconds before the pull if you can use Potion of Wild Magic and immediately fade to reset the potion CD to 1 min and you can proceed with your opener. After 1 min you can use another potion and most ideally you would want to use Potion of Speed to cause some faster damage. Again never use Potion of Speed with Heroism it’s pointless.
For any queries feel free to drop a comment below or whisper me in game at Darkxss or Xaphanius.
Also any feedback, suggestions or criticism from any of you is welcome.I hope this guide was of some help to you all.
- Darkxss
Note:
* - I wouldn't ever recommend this macro to anyone that didn't have near perfect latency. What this macro basically does is it prevents you from sending the signal to start a new cast to the server while your client still registers an ongoing cast on your end. What happens as a result is you end up inserting a gap between Mind Flay casts equivalent to your latency. Above 100ms or so, this gap is very noticeable.
Thank you DarkenedHue for bringing up this point.
Reasonably good guide that touches on a number of things I haven't seen other Spriest guides on here mention.
Couple of areas I'd have to disagree though.
-----> For 4/5 T10 Set:
Opener:
VT > DP > MF > SW: D > MF > SW: P
Using SW:D as opposed to simply letting your Mind Flay tick 3 times is a DPS loss on account of SW:D's much lower DPET. Where your Mind Flay bugs and ticks only twice, even using Mind Blast to get that last stack is the better option than using SW:D.
"#showtooltip Mind Flay
/cast [nochanneling:Mind Flay] Mind Flay"
I wouldn't ever recommend this macro to anyone that didn't have near perfect latency. What this macro basically does is it prevents you from sending the signal to start a new cast to the server while your client still registers an ongoing cast on your end. What happens as a result is you end up inserting a gap between Mind Flay casts equivalent to your latency. Above 100ms or so, this gap is very noticeable. This macro in WotLK was designed with the aim of eliminating one of the crucial aspects to Shadow Priest gameplay (maximizing Mind Flay casts while minimizing any lost 3rd ticks), but it comes with a steep DPS cost to anyone whose latency isn't near perfect.
Thanks for your positive feedback and comments. Those are two interested points you have made there.
Let me start of by with the comment you had about the opener. I too at times don't use SW:D in my opening rotation and just stick to yet another mind flay to get my 5 stack of shadow weaving. I've had a word with some one the other priests about the opener they tend to use for their opener. Most of them use Shadow Word: Death in their opener purely because it is an instant cast and gives them a quicker 5 stack rather than casting a spell which might take just a fraction of a second longer. But in longer fights the opener doesn't play that much of a big role since after a couple seconds into the fight the DPS tends to stabilize.
The second one about the Mind Flay macro. When I do my PvE I tend not to use this macro to be honest due to the above mentioned reason. I tend to have a 300ms latency on an average which isn't the best to raid with. I mentioned this macro purely for the reason that when you have a newbie playing a Shadow Priest then tend to spam away the Mind Flay button in impatience which usually results in them clipping the existing mind flay when not required leading to a massive DPS and mana loss.
But i'll probably make a note below the macro about what you just mentioned so that the more seasoned player's avoid using that macro.
Once again thanks for all your inputs bud and helping out the community. :)
I've only came back to WotLK after moltdown, having played affliction warlock on cataclysm before. So I'm kind of lost now on how exactly DoTs refresh on LK.
First question is about SW:P. I understand it needs to be applied after 5 stacks of weaving, but I'd like to know if this is a bug (and thus likely to change) or intended behaviour.
Second question is about VT and DP. I'm playing as a troll with on-use haste trinket, so I have two big haste cooldowns. Do these two DoTs take a screencap of stats before being cast (so that I should refresh immediately after using trinket/racial), or does every separate tick look at current stats?
Third question, is it worth overlapping Berserking and trinket for two seconds when spawning my shadowfiend? This is a huge boost of haste for the fiend while still keeping the overlap at the minimum so that I keep the haste buff for the longest possible time.
Firstly SW:P is working as intended and it should be applied only after 5 stacks of weaving cause that's when it gives maximum throughput damage and also if you've played a shadow priest before you'd know how mindflay would automatically refresh your SW:P spell if you've done your talents correctly. So in short we would always like to refresh a 5 stack of SW:P and would like to achieve the 5 stack as quickly as possible.
Over to your second question. The dots tick with the stats used during the time of cast and not the current stats. So let's take two scenarios one where my haste 1050 prior to the usage of a haste trinket, let's say my VT dot will tick for about 8 seconds. If I use my haste trinket when I already have a dot ticking and I dont refresh my dot although my haste might have gone upto 1250 , the ticking time is the same old 8 seconds and doesn't get trunketed.
The dots only tick after if the haste trinket was used prior to the application of the dot. I'd still not recommend you to clip your dots to reapply the haste trinket, but try timing your trinket earlier in your fight by the time most of your dots are already off and need to be reapplied.
The shadowfiend usually hits for around 1.4k. So while the the haste for the shadowfiend may increase the number of times the shadowfiend hits, the DPS increase is minimal though it does increase a touch. I see this more of a viewpoint of getting mana back due to the increase of number of hits, which may be useful in low gear owing to the fact your may oom in lower gear. So no harm releasing the Shadowfiend when you blow your haste trinkets.
I do a lot of end game raiding and try to keep track of as much information as possible to maximize efficiency but I still like my UI clean and minimal with the most important data being closer to the center of the screen
I just checked with the link again and the addon seems to be working completely fine for me. Ensure you are downloading the right version for 3.3.5 I am using version Needtoknow 3.1.7 and that runs perfectly.
Also ensure the addon is enabled when you are logging into the game. You can toggle the addon by typing /needtoknow in your chat box.
I just checked with the link again and the addon seems to be working completely fine for me. Ensure you are downloading the right version for 3.3.5 I am using version Needtoknow 3.1.7 and that runs perfectly.
Also ensure the addon is enabled when you are logging into the game. You can toggle the addon by typing /needtoknow in your chat box.
If you are still facing issues let me know.
-Darkxss
I cant even open the link you provided, this pops up when i click link