Shadow Priest Leveling Guide

11.0.5 - The War Within

Last Updated:November 12, 2024|Changelog

Welcome to the Shadow Priest leveling guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! In this guide, you find a small overview of good talents to pick, a simplified rotation as well as a shopping list to prepare you for your leveling journey!
If you are already level 80, don't hesitate to check out the Mythic+ or Raid guide instead!

Talents

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Shadow Priest
Archon Level 70
Archon Shadow Priest leveling talents

You can also remove Twins of the Sun Priestess for Void Shield if you are leveling alone.

Spec Tree

  • Shadow Crash
    • Makes it easier for you to apply Vampiric Touch on up to 8 mobs.
  • Mindbender
    • Short 1 minute cooldown.
  • Void Eruption
    • Is your main cooldown every 2 minutes.
  • Psychic Link
    • To cleave all targets that have Vampiric Touch.
  • Unfurling Darkness
    • Allows you to apply your Vampiric Touch easier.
  • Void Torrent
    • 30 second burst cooldown.

Class Tree

  • Halo
    • Enables all of your hero talents and does good damage to every mob around you.
  • Vampiric Embrace
    • For self sustain.
  • Void Tendrils
    • Mass root enemies.

Hero Talents

  • Both hero talents aren't amazing while leveling, however I recommend Archon because of the burst damage you can do with Halo, hitting all of the mobs, no matter if they are stacked or not.
  • Your Halo is recast every 5 seconds for 10 seconds. It also returns to you once you have Divine Halo talented.
  • You gain Surge of Insanity every time you create a Halo.

Leveling Talent Points

  • Talent point allocation
    • 1. Level 71
    • 2. Level 72
    • 3. Level 73
    • 4. Level 74
    • 5. Level 75
    • 6. Level 76
    • 7. Level 77
    • 8. Level 78
    • 9. Level 79
    • 10. Level 80
Milestones: 0 / 10
1. Level 71
  • Choose Archon as your Hero Talent.
  • Pick Power Surge.
2. Level 72
  • Pick Manifested Power.
3. Level 73
  • Pick Empowered Surges.
4. Level 74
  • Pick Energy Cycle.
5. Level 75
  • Pick Divine Halo.
6. Level 76
  • Pick Perfected Form.
7. Level 77
  • Pick Shock Pulse.
8. Level 78
  • Pick Energy Compression
9. Level 79
  • Pick Resonant Energy
10. Level 80
  • Pick Concentrated Infusion

Rotation

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Shadow Priest

Single-Target

  • You want to use all of your relevant spells in the correct order so you don't waste any resources.
Shadow Priest Single-Target leveling opener
  • Always keep up Vampiric Touch.
  • Don't overcap on Insanity.
  • Try to keep up Devouring Plague on the target.
  • Use your Mind Blast on cooldown.

AoE

  • In general, you should use Shadow Crash to apply Vampiric Touch, if a target is missing it just manually cast it. After that you want to use your cooldowns like Mindbender, Halo and Void Eruption and burst the pull down.
Shadow Priest AoE leveling opener
  • Always cast Vampiric Touch unless applied by your Shadow Crash.
  • Don't overcap on Insanity.
  • Try to keep up Devouring Plague on the target you are hitting.
  • Use your Mind Blast on cooldown.

Shopping List

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Shadow Priest
  • Consumables
    • 1. Phial
    • 2. Food
    • 3. DPS Potion
    • 4. Heal Potion
    • 5. Weapon Rune
    • 6. Augment Rune
  • Utility
    • 7. Goblin Glider Kit
    • 8. Gunshoes
    • 9. Mount Equipment
  • Experience Gains
    • 10. Banner of Cooperation
    • 11. Standard of Unity
    • 12. Battle Standard of Coordination
Milestones: 0 / 12
1. Phial
  • 20x Phial of Tepid Versatility
2. Food
  • 40x Fried Bonefish
3. DPS Potion
  • 40x Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power
4. Heal Potion
  • 80x Potion of Withering Dreams
5. Weapon Rune
  • 4x Howling Rune
6. Augment Rune
  • Dreambound Augment Rune -- Requires Reputation
    or
  • 10x Draconic Augment Rune
7. Goblin Glider Kit
  • 20x Goblin Glider Kit
    • Nice to either prevent yourself from dying to fall damage or to fly over small gaps without mounting up.
8. Gunshoes
  • 20x Gunshoes
    • Use to gain a 200% movement speed & water walking buff for 25 seconds.
    • Use the "walk" toggle to slow down if you want to hand in quests.
9. Mount Equipment
  • Buy 1x Light-Step Hoofplates and use it as your mount equipment.
10. Banner of Cooperation

Buy this Banner on your faction's Guild Vendor.

  • Horde/Orgrimmar: Banner of Cooperation
  • Alliance/Stormwind: Banner of Cooperation
11. Standard of Unity

Buy this Banner on your faction's Guild Vendor.

  • Horde/Orgrimmar: Standard of Unity
  • Alliance/Stormwind: Standard of Unity
12. Battle Standard of Coordination

Buy this Banner on your faction's Guild Vendor.

  • Horde/Orgrimmar: Battle Standard of Coordination
  • Alliance/Stormwind: Battle Standard of Coordination

Credits

Written by: Stove

Reviewed by: Swag

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