Shadow Priest Guide - Talents, Rotations, Races & More

Level 30 Talents (2,0,19)

1. Start with 2 points in Wand Specialization. Wands are simply too powerful early on to pass this up. After this put 3 points into Shadow Focus.
2. Next put 5 points into Spirit Tap, then 2 points in Improved Shadow Word: Pain.
3. Pickup Mind Flay and put 2 points into Improved Mind Flay. Then put 2 points in Shadow Reach.
4. Finally grab Vampiric Embrace and finish with 3 points in Shadow Weaving.

Level 60 Talents (14/2/35)

Here's a look at what we think the level 60 Shadow Priest Talent Tree will look like. As mentioned above, this guide will be updated as we go through the beta and during launch to include any other Endgame Shadow Priest Talent Trees, along with all the other information you need to excel in the endgame and Raids as a Priest.

Playable Races

Alliance - Human, Dwarf, Night Elf & Gnome

Horde - Troll & Undead

Check out all the Priest specific Racial abilities in our Priest Overview.

Recommended Races

Priest sometimes get unique abilities depending on what race they choose. Fear Ward is baseline for all Priests now, so we don't need to choose based around that anymore. Here's our suggestion based off just the base racial bonuses:

Gnome is quite possibly the best race in the game and a great choice as Alliance. Eureka! reduces the cost of your next 3 abilities and gives them 10% increased Damage & Healing. Expansive Mind gives you 5% more maximum mana. Escape Artist grants you immunity to Roots and Snares. Here are the two new Priest specific Gnome Racials as well: Confounding Flash & Contingency Plan

Troll is great since their Berserking buff grants you 10% casting speed for 10 seconds (this has been changed from original WoW). They also have Rapid Regeneration which allows you to restore 50% of your health every 3 minutes and Regeneration which allows 10% of your health regeneration to continue during combat. There are two Priest specific Troll Racials as well: Hex of Weakness & Shadowguard

See our full racial abilities guide for every other race's bonuses.

The primary Skills you’ll use are Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Devouring Plague, Vampiric Embrace and your wand! Between levels 5-15+ your wand is going to be your highest DPS. You can almost just Shadow Word: Pain and wand everything the whole way to 20.

1. Open up on enemies with a Mind Blast then get Shadow Word: Pain on them right away. Once you have Mind Flay you'll follow up with it until the enemy gets to you and starts interrupting your casts.
2. At this point you just use a wand to take them down and can hit them with another Mind Blast if necessary once it's off cooldown.
3. You can also get Devouring Plague up when you cast your Shadow Word: Pain, but keep in mind this ability costs a TON of mana and should only be used when you really need the healing form it.

You can pull multiple enemies and get your Shadow Word: Pain & Devouring Plague on them all, put Vampiric Embrace on the last mob you pull in a pack so it lasts as long as possible and can help heal you even more.

Then 1 by 1 Mind Flay or wand them down. This is a bit riskier playstyle, but you should be able to handle 2-3 mobs pretty well at a time. Devouring Plague Vampiric Embrace should help keep you alive when they are beating on you and you can always Power Word: Shield yourself before and during the pull as well. When things are getting risky just use Psychic Scream to fear 2 of them off of you. Then you can use Mind Flay uninterrupted to finish them off, or blast them with a Mind Blast

You're going to take some hits at times, you can use Power Word: Shield on yourself to prevent damage and just toss your self a Renew to get your health back between fights. Remember wand attacks aren't interrupted by taking damage so this is why it's key to switch over to wanding when enemies get close to keep your DPS going, uninterrupted.

Visit your Class Trainer often to get your new skills, levels 10, 20 & 30 specifically have some incredible new abilities and upgrades to your current ones.

Keep up your Inner Fire, Power Word: Fortitude and Divine Spirit on you and your allies.

Always upgrade your wand as soon as possible with this build! The Lesser and Greater Magic Wands from Tailoring are essential to this builds success early on.

A Priests Favorite Stats are Intellect and Spirit. Intellect increases your maximum Mana and increases your Spell Critical Strike Chance. Stacking as much Spirit as possible is incredible for a Shadow Priest since it increases your Health and Mana regeneration when you're out of combat and increases the effect of your Spirit Tap. Stamina is also great while leveling since you'll be taking damage regularly, just avoid Strength and Agility entirely.

In a group make sure to get your Shadow Word: Pain up on every mob you're fighting before you start using Mind Blast or Mind Flay. As you're used to, you can also Wand to save mana or when you do run out.

Vampiric Embrace is taken mostly for group play. It's a great ability that'll heal all your allies for 20% of the damage you deal. Once your Shadow Word: Pain is up on everyone put it on a target and start blasting with Mind Blast Mind Flay to heal everyone!

You also bring the normal Priest utility that may be missing from a group in the first place such as: Power Word: Shield, Power Word: Fortitude and the ability to Dispel Magic and Abolish Disease.

Wand

For all casters the #1 tip for leveling is to obtain wands early and upgrade them often. Tailors can make Lesser and Greater Magic wands that deal incredible DPS for their level range. Either get the Tailoring Profession and make your own, or head over to the auction house to buy one! Yes, even as a healer you should get a good wand. You can use it to help do some damage at the cost of no Mana! It brings your whole party much joy to see their healer helping do damage when they get the chance. Just make sure you're not letting people die or sit at low health while you're doing so.

Loot has changed in WoW forever and the location of great wands may be different from original Classic. Here's a quick rundown of wands that you can look out for to stay on top of it:

• Level 5 - Lesser Magic Wand, 11.3 DPS (Tailoring or Auction House)
• Level 13 - Greater Magic Wand, 17.5 DPS (Tailoring or Auction House)
• Level 18 - Gravestone Scepter, 29 DPS (Blackfathom Villainy Quest in Ashenvale)

While the Gravestone Scepter is technically available at level 18, the dungeon itself has enemies in the high level 20 range. You likely won't be able to obtain it this early unless you have a group of high level guildies or friends just carry you through the dungeon. Aside form new wands being available up to level 30 in WoW Forever this is likely the best wand you'll be able to obtain in the BETA.

Other

Don't forget to buff your teammates! Power Word: Fortitude is very helpful to you as well since people will have a greater health pool, don't forget to rebuff allies after they've been Resurrected.

Auto Shoot Wand Macro

#showtooltip Shoot
/cast !Shoot