Cataclysm [Guide] Shadow Priest PvP

**Nazty** · April 7, 2016

Changelog:
Updated: March 03, 2015
1.0
Initial Draft
1.1
Corrected Errors.
Expanded on a few tips.
Added additional image titles for neatness.
Organized macro section as well as added a few more.
Added Keybinding section.
Added Addons section.
removed footnote.
1.1.1
Added How to Play section.
1.1.2
Added gems.. lol
fixed stat priority to show importance of mastery.. yes i said it.. mastery!
1.2
Expanded on item selection

So I saw a post in particular asking for Shadow Priest help, and it's the reason I decided to make this guide. I've been playing a Shadow Priest for 9 years now give or take a month as I cannot recall if I bought WoW on release date or shortly after although I did play beta for a few hours on a friend's PC. I've done both PvE and PvP in vanilla and every expansion.

As of Cata, my highest rating in 2v2 was 2330'ish as Spriest/Mage and 2750'ish as Shatterplay [Spriest, Frost Mage, Resto Shaman]. I believe I could have gotten higher, but I don't have the best pc :(

So let's begin.

I do not wish to provide a cookie cutter spec, so instead I will present options.

Mandatory These talents are generally considered mandatory which is why they are faded out, you should definitely grab all of them.

Optional After all mandatory talents are taken, you have 5 talent points you can distribute between these talents.

Improved Shadow Word: Pain - Plain and simple, this talent sucks. Shadow Word: Pain although it does respectable damage, and we glyph it, is still only used as an orb generator and of course an extra source of damage. 6% increased damage for 2 talent points is better spent elsewhere.

Improved Mind Blast - The first question you must ask yourself, is does my partner(s) have a healing reduction effect? If the answer is yes, you should probably skip this talent, more so if your partner is melee as they have a higher MS effect [MS=Mortal Strike. Common abbreviation for any reduced healing % effect].

Harnessed Shadows - Generally speaking, we usually put at least 1 point here. Getting shadow orbs gives us increased burst from mind blast, as well as helping us maintain pressure from the increased dot damage that follows the mind blast.

Pain and Suffering - I've never put more than 1 point in here personally. Ignore the SW: Death recoil reduction, the talent is only considered as a refreshment for sw: pain, saving mana and globals.

Paralysis - If you don't grab Improved Mind Blast, this is what you will be grabbing. Unreliable RNG with a normal mind blast, but when combined with mind spikes first, you get a nice little snare on your target.

As for me personally, I rotate between a 2/2 Harnessed Shadows, 2/2 Paralysis, 1/2 Pain and Suffering build, and a 1/2 Harnessed Shadows, 3/3 Improved Mind Blast, 1/2 Pain and Suffering build.

Glyphs -
Prime
Shadow Word: Death - Mandatory
Dispersion - Mandatory
Shadow Word: Pain - Mandatory

Major
Mass Dispel - Mandatory
Fade - Optional
Psychic Horror - Optional
Prayer of Mending - Optional

Minor
Shadowfiend - Mandatory
Shackle Undead- Recommended
Fortitude - Optional
Fading - Optional
Levitate - Although it has little use in Arena, we don't always only do arena, personally I use this as my 3rd minor glyph for BG's]

Gems:
Red- Intellect
Yellow - Intellect, or Int/Haste, or Int/resil. I use int/resil myself.
Blue - Intellect, or Int/spirit. I use Intellect myself. Never gem stamina, or hit [spirit gives hit + mana regen]

Stats
Int >= Resilience > 4% [410 hit rating] Spell hit > 240 Spell Penetration > Haste >= Mastery > Crit
Note on hit. We get hit from Spirit, do so. If you must reforge to get hit, reforge to spirit NOT hit.
Note on mastery, if you play with a good CC class, and they actually know how to snare well, you can pick up more mastery for a harder hitting mind blast with orbs.

Right now I'm playing with 1601 haste cap [technically I can't reforge less than 1602], then the rest into mastery. 1601 haste increases improved dp damage. the next time this occurs is 3202 which I won't be reaching lol.

Gear
You want the 4 piece mooncloth set bonus. For the 5th piece you can use Satin helm or shoulders. If the bug exists currently where you get hit from base spirit, I'd definitely suggest shoulders.

For your off pieces, get haste anywhere you can. If the piece has no option for haste, just follow the Stat priority listed above and choose accordingly.

Trinkets are as follows:
If non-human, you definitely want resil/remove movement impairing effects trinket. Example: Cataclysmic Gladiator's Medallion of Tenacity.

For damage trinkets, on-use trinkets are generally considered the best option to get the most out of your burst scenarios. Oddly enough, the top PvE dps caster trinkets are not on-use, but are great.

Cunning of the Cruel
PvP On-Use Trinket

PvP proc trinket, and the other top tier PvE dps trinkets excluding the one mentioned below, are all good too.

Will of Unbinding [best pve dps trinket, worst possible choice for spriest pvp! don't use it]

For weapons, use 1h/offhand, not a staff unless you're using a PvE staff. Lightning Rod, Legendary Staff, Ti'tahk, etc. I'm currently using Rathrak, but if you play with a mage for example, this is a horrible idea due to the proc breaking sheep.

Enchants -
Head - Arcanum of Vicious Intelligence
Shoulders - Greater Inscription of Vicious Intelligence/inscription enchant
Cloak - Greater Int
Chest - Peerless stats [recommended] or Resilience
Wrist - 50 int [or lw enchant]
Gloves - 50 haste, 65 mastery, synapse springs
Legs - int/spirit
Boots - lavawalker
weapon - power torrent
offhand - 40 int

Races
For Alliance, my top 2 choices would be
Human - Offensive pressure thx to 2x offensive trinkets
Nelf - Smeld is more gamebreaking than you think, elusiveness is great too.

Personally I prefer Human, I never did like how nelfs look [yes.. that includes the females, but if not for that I would probably choose Nelf]

For Horde, I like too many.
Undead - WotF although a shadow of it's former self, is still a great utility move. also the 2% shadow resistance helps vs the most dominant 3v3 comp of 4.3, RLS.

Belf - sure, we already have a silence, and we don't like the word DR [technically that's an abbreviation.. but shh], but using this after your silence is fine. 1 sec silence is not much different than a 2 sec silence. Just think of it as an aoe short ranged wind shear.

Goblin - i love little tiny goblins. 1% haste is amazing, the forward disengage is great especially in 2's where we're basically always the main target of the opposing team.

Personally, i prefer goblin.. but i'm a belf on pvt servers for the sexy transmogs, and undead on retail cuz i've been one since vanilla :)

Tip 1: Don't write a guide at 4am going on 3 days with less than 12 hours of sleep total. Okay, now onto actual tips.

-Don't save shadowfiend for mana. Use it for bursttttttttttttt. Though, not when you're at full mana :)
-Use SW: Death on cooldown. It gives us mana, and our mana fails. If you're anticipating a kill, save your sw:death til they're below 25%. Also when facing mage teams, and you're the cc target, use it at the end of their casted poly so the recoil breaks the poly.
-Fear will generally remove the target from combat at the end of it. If the enemy is a rogue, dot him or he may restealth, if your partner is a rogue, he can sdance/vanish/stealth into a sap on that target.
-Use your shackle. Use mouseover macros to shackle that stupid gargoyle/pet/lichborne'd DK that is too nub to /cancelaura. In fact, spam shackle on the Dk after you fear him if his lichborne isn't on cd.. He's probably too stupid to save lichborne for when he needs to heal and will use it to break the fear instead of sitting in it, or expects to kill one of you shortly after :)
-Mana burn. Yea, you're not disc, doesn't mean you can't use it.
-Mind Control. See above.
-Heal! Not just yourself, but your partner. Even PoM/Renew/PW:Shield can win you matches, but be prepared to flash/greater heal when necessary as well.
-Resurrect. You're now in a 1v1 scenario and you know you won't win? Bring them to the other end of the map, fear them, and pray you get off a res behind a pillar
-Your optimum dot damage comes from 5 stacks evangelism, empowered shadows buff, and procs/on-use trinkets. Also consider buffs from your teammates. Tricks of the Trade being a notable one.

Macros are fairly straightforward.

Focus Macro

/cast [target=focus] Spell Name

Focus macros should be made for all of you CC effects, and any other effects you wish. For CC effects you will also want to add /stopcasting to ensure you get the cc off when you want it, but only instant cast CC effects should have /stopcasting in them. An example of one of mine is:

Code:

#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/stopcasting
/cast [target=target,nomod] Silence
/cast [target=focus,mod:shift] Silence

Mouseover Macro

/cast [target=mouseover] Spell Name

Mouseover macros can be used for numerous things, I in particular love to use it with shackle. The following example will shackle your hostile mouseover target if you have one, and shackle your target otherwise.

Code:

#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover,harm,exists,nodead] Shackle Undead; Shackle Undead

Now let's try combining both of the above macro effects into one, still using Shackle as the example. In this macro, first it will try to shackle if your mouseover target, if you don't have one it will shackle your focus. If you don't have one it will shackle your target.

Code:

#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover,exists,harm,nodead] Shackle Undead; [target=focus,exists,harm,nodead] Shackle Undead; Shackle Undead

Assisting Macros

/cast [target=party1] Spell Name
OR
/cast [target=NAME] Spell Name

The above macros are intended for assisting your partners. The first one being best for 2's if you have multiple partners, and the 2nd one being best if you only play with 1 person, or are in a 3v3 team. An example using the latter of the 2 macros, which will life grip both of your 3v3 partners depending on shift or not, is as follows.

Code:

#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/stopcasting
/cast [nomod:shift,target=Girlirl] Leap of Faith
/cast [mod:shift,target=Trashcan] Leap of Faith

Stance Macros

/cast [nostance] SPELLNAME
/cast [stance:1] SPELLNAME

This kind of macro will cast a spell depending on if you are in shadowform ( stance:1 ) or not in shadowform ( nostance ). An example of which, will cast shadowform if you are not in shadowform, and will cast vampiric touch if you are in shadowform.

Code:

#showtooltip
/cast [nostance] Shadowform
/cast [stance:1] Vampiric Touch

Pet Macro

#showtooltip shadowfiend
/use 13
/cast [nopet] Shadowfiend
/petaggressive
/petattack
/cast [harm, pet] Shadowcrawl; [target=pettarget, pet] Shadowcrawl
/cast [target=pet,exists]Dispel Magic

For this macro I just pasted the one I use. Since I use Shadowfiend for my burst, I added my trinket in with it [13 is your top trinket, 14 is your bottom trinket. If you have herbalism, you can add lifeblood as well, you can use /use 10 if you're an engineer. Also, this macro will use your pet's shadowcrawl ability when clicked, and will dispel your pet. So if your pet was snared by a mage for example, you can dispel the pet and shadowcrawl to the mage or whoever was your main target assuming it's not on cooldown. Also, you can use /petautocastoff Shadowcrawl if you want complete control of when your pet uses shadowcrawl.

There are countless ways to make macros. And a lot more macro commands than I listed. A quick google search of slash commands wow, or macro commands wow, should provide you with links. I will provide some, source: wowwiki.com

Spoiler: Show

Oh, one last macro I like to use, not a PvP macro, just a convenient macro for using multiple mounts at random.

/castrandom [flyable,nomounted] FLYINGMOUNT,FLYINGMOUNT,FLYINGMOUNT
/castrandom [noflyable,nomounted] GROUNDMOUNT,GROUNDMOUNT,GROUNDMOUNT

Instead of writing a whole section on keybindings, I will just list one that I already made some years ago here on molten :) Sure, it could use some cleaning up, but it's good regardless.

Click here for my keybinding guide.

There are many addons you can use. Maybe in time I might provide links instead of just listing their names.

Tidyplates - Custom name plates allowing you to see where someone is behind a wall. Also provides a convenient way of tracking dots on your target by making them appear with their nameplates.

GladiatorLosSA - My sexy robot girlfriend that calls out all the important stuff being thrown around arena. Wish my irl gf was this useful.

Gladius - Perhaps the most famous PvP addon of them all. Tracks trinket usage, drinking, and more.

Losecontrol - It tells you...... dunt dunt dunnnnnnnnn.. when you lose control.

GTFO - Like the above, the name says it all. When you hear the annoying dinging sound, it means GTFO, you're standing in something you shouldn't be *cough* Ring of Frost *cough*

Quartz - Replacement cast bar. Also has a latency bar.

Spellalerter - Similar to gladiatorlossa except the sexy robot lady types to you instead of talks to you. Some of us just don't like when our gf is talking.

Tellmewhen - You can fill in the blank on this addon, and make it tell you when just about anything happens. Going with the girlfriend punchlines again, this addon did not tellmewhen our anniversary was, 2 week deserter status preventing me from entering her battleground sucked.

[PS: Don't you just love when us guide makers make stupid attempts to try to be funny? We know you're laughing, don't lie.]

OmniCC - Adds numbers to your spell icons to allow easier recognition of when they will be off cd. Tellmewhen does this as well in a way, but idc, me and tellmewhen had a bit of a falling out after that anniversary situation.

Dominos/Bartenderl - Both do roughly the same thing. They give you customizable action bars.

Afflicted3 - [totally stolen description] Afflicted is an enemy spell timer mod for PvP (mainly arenas). This is for people who just want useful information, such as an interrupt is on cool down and you're safe to cast a heal or that Blessing of Freedom is going to be back up for an enemy Paladin soon.

PowerAuras - Create your own custom auras for procs and such.

There are many many many addons. One thing I like to do [well don't like to, well.. maybe I do, not sure.] is google many different raiding and pvp players and see what addons they're using, only taking note of addons I am unfamiliar with.

2v2 comps
spriest/mage [best option]
others are:
spriest/rogue
spriest/ret [works good on molten lol]
spriest/feral
spriest/healer [ i prefer sham>druid>=pala>priest]
spriest/anyone who can peel for you.

3v3 comps
spriest/mage/resto shaman
never played shadowplay or others :P

The tips section will probably be worked into here in time as this become more organized.

The first step to improving, is admitting you need to improve. Even the best players in the world make mistakes that need to be improved. Declining help, ignoring advice, refusing to adapt or change, and other things will make you a worse player.

You should have keybindings, that's a must in PvP. Someone told you he made 2500 as a clicker? He's lying or played on private servers and mmr dropped. Macros are required as well. Add-ons are relatively essential but not required.

The best place to learn how to play your class is dueling. If you are having trouble vs. let's say death knights, duel them.. over, and over, and over. Try to figure out where you can improve your technique vs. them. If you think you will never win vs. a class, duel them anyway and focus on learning how to CC them, or bringing them as low as possible, or surviving as long as you can. You will have a partner in arena to compliment your weaknesses. In battlegrounds you should focus entirely on objectives, learning how to ignore that stray [enter opposing faction name here] or briefly chasing them down while not leaving the tower/flag area you're currently defending/capping will teach you the habitual basics of strategy and positioning.

You have 2 teammates in 2v2 arena excluding yourself and I don't mean you or your partner's pet. The pillars are your friend. Think of the pillar as a tank. It is preventing damage/cc from you. Use it well.

Mind Spike/Mind blast for burst. Dots for pressure. Empowered buffed dots on 1 target and shadowfiend/mind spike/aa'd mind blast on main target for great burst and pressure at the same time. Note we are a ramp up class, without mind flay/sw: pain creating orb generation as well as stacks of evangelism, our dots are hardly a threat. So we need a few moments to do our best offensive pressure which is 1 reason why a CC class is our best choice for partner.

A simple opener would consist of these 3 priorities in no particular order, followed by everything else you must do.
dispelling magicial buffs [particularly important against rets]
vampiric touch when you get the casting opportunity
early shadow word: pain to start rng shadow orb generation

Another thing to mention is misdirection. Similar to fake casting, misdirection [is also a hunter spell, i'm aware.. shut up :)] is an attempt to force a desired reaction from the enemy usually being a silence/interrupt. Say you're at 80% health, a rather safe health level for the most part and you're fighting an undead mage. You fear him, and want to vampiric touch but expect him to wotf>counterspell. so instead you can just cast flash heal. If he counters, you can vampiric touch him in 2 seconds [assuming imp. counterspell], effectively causing him to use wotf, and counterspell, at the cost of fear, and 2 seconds of your time. if he don't counter the heal.. then you got off a free heal in combat, and if you're not topped off.. u can try it a second time. if you are topped off, then just go back into shadow form and dot him, fake cast vampiric touch to finally try to get that stupid counterspell on cooldown. this is just an example of course to show what can be done. every situation will be different especially considering people do have partners in arena.

**Patheticc** · December 25, 2016

Hi, thanks for good Guide.

Do you have some tips hot to play 1v1 against Enha Shaman?

**waigla** · December 25, 2016

Nice guide, little tip you can use

Code:

@mouseover

instead of

Code:

 target=mouseover

**kanarie123** · February 9, 2017

How do you keep melees on a distance?

Elemental; frost shock / totem
Balance; root, mushrooms
Mage; blink, nova
Warlock; teleport, 3 fears, Curse
Priest; 1 fear with big cd?

Tools

Posting Permissions