Shadow Priest Raid Guide
Welcome to the Shadow Priest Raid guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Hero Talents
- Archon is better in most extended fights compared to Voidweaver, making it the choice for all high end content like push Mythic+ keys or most Mythic raid bosses. Voidweaver is great for lower key levels and also fights that have absorb shields.
- Halo is empowered by power surge, causing it to be recast twice every 5 seconds.
- You gain a Surge of Insanity every time you cast a Halo.
- You gain a total of 3 Surges of Insanity.
- Your enemies take 2% more damage every time they are hit by Halo, stacking up to 5.
- You can choose to have your Halo slow enemies by 5% every time they are hit by it, stacking up to 5.
- Your Halo now comes back after it reaches it maximum distance hitting enemies an additional time.
- You gain a Surge of Insanity every time you cast a Halo.
- Your cooldowns are empowered:
- Your Power Infusion gives you 10% additional haste.
- You deal more damage in Dark Ascension or Void Eruption.
- Your Mind Flay: Insanity and Mind Spike: Insanity do 60% more damage.
Whenever you use your Void Torrent you summon an Entropic Rift that does damage around your target, this rift explodes at the end of its duration doing damage to enemies in it and it has further synergies with some of the hero talents.
- Your Entropic Rift transforms your Mind Blast into Void Blast, making it do more damage and generate more insanity.
- Each Devouring Plague you cast empowers your rift's size and damage by 20%.
- You have a choice between Void Empowerment and Darkening Horizon.
- Darkening Horizon is currently undertuned and isn't picked in any scenario.
- Void Empowerment is the better option in every situation currently.
- Passive shadow damage increase with Voidheart.
Dark Energy is really useful for movement.Devour Matter is really strong against shielded mobs.
Talents
When to use this Spec
Use this spec in higher Mythic+ keys. Void Eruption performs better when enemies stay alive for longer periods of time.
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Void Torrent
- A good 30 second burst cooldown.
- Mind's Eye
- Synergizes very well with Surge of Insanity, giving you more procs for less Insanity.
- Void Eruption
- Your main damage cooldown, paired with Power Infusion.
- Psychic Link
- Makes your single target spells do damage to every other target affected with Vampiric Touch.
- Shadowy Insight
- Chance to grant a charge of Mind Blast and makes the next cast instant.
- Mental Decay
- Extends your Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain when you use Mind Flay or Mind Flay: Insanity.
- Surge of Insanity
- Currently this is one of your biggest damage sources, should always aim to not overcap on stacks.
Class Tree
- Halo
- One of the main damaging cooldowns of the spec and required for the hero talents to work.
- Twist of Fate
- Increases your execute damage.
- Phantom Reach
- Increases the range of most of your spells.
- Power Infusion
- One of your main damage cooldowns.
- Shadow Word: Death
- Your main damaging spell in execute.
- Also enhanced by Death and Madness and Tithe Evasion.
- Vampiric Embrace
- Strong utility cooldown for off healing, usually paired with Void Eruption.
Hero Talents
- Sustained Potency
- Default pick for Raid.
- Word of Supremacy
- Default pick since it increases your survivability all the time.
- Shock Pulse
- Makes no difference which one you pick in Raid.
When to use this Spec
This spec offers more mobility and more shield damage than the Archon builds. You can use this build for Heroic bosses for ease of play and better mobility or for any fight that contains an absorb.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Dark Ascension
- 1 minute cooldown that increases your non-DoT damage.
- Distorted Reality
- Enhances your Devouring Plague, making it longer but increasing the cost.
- Mastermind
- Passive damage increase.
- Mindbender
- 1 minute cooldown that is used in sync with your Dark Ascension.
- Inescapable Torment
- Enhances your Mindbender.
- Idol of Y'Shaarj
- Further enhances your Mindbender.
- Dark Ascension
- Removed
- Auspicious Spirits
- Void Eruption
- Mind's Eye
- Deathspeaker
- Screams of the Void
- Maddening Touch
Hero Talents
Changed Archon to Voidweaver for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.
- Dark Energy
- Your default pick because you don't have to stop channeling your Void Torrent if you have to move out of mechanics.
- Voidwraith
- Currently outperforms Depth of Shadows.
- Embrace the Shadow
- Good passive shield, Void Leech can be used when there's a lot of physical damage in the fight.
When to use this Spec
Use this spec whenever the boss encounter has adds. Shadow Crash helps you easily apply your Vampiric Touch to all of the spawns.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Mindbender
- 1 minute cooldown that you can sync with your Halo.
- Shadow Crash + Whispering Shadows
- Allows you to easily dot up to 8 enemies.
- Mindbender
- Removed
- Deathspeaker
- Screams of the Void
- Mind Devourer
When to use this Spec
This spec offers more mobility and more shield damage than the Archon builds. You can use this build for Heroic bosses for ease of play and better mobility or for any fight that contains an absorb.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Dark Ascension
- 1 minute cooldown that increases your non-DoT damage.
- Shadow Crash + Whispering Shadows
- Allows you to easily dot up to 8 enemies.
- Mindbender
- 1 minute cooldown that you can sync with your Halo.
- Inescapable Torment
- Enhances your Mindbender.
- Idol of Y'Shaarj
- Further enhances your Mindbender.
- Distorted Reality
- Enhances your Devouring Plague, making it longer but increasing the cost.
- Dark Ascension
- Removed
- Auspicious Spirits
- Screams of the Void
- Void Eruption
- Mind's Eye
Hero Talents
Changed Archon to Voidweaver for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.
- Dark Energy
- Your default pick because you don't have to stop channeling your Void Torrent if you have to move out of mechanics.
- Voidwraith
- Currently outperforms Depth of Shadows.
- Embrace the Shadow
- Good passive shield, Void Leech can be used when there's a lot of physical damage in the fight.
Rotation
Tier Set
- 2-Set: The duration ofDevouring Plague is increased by 1 second.
- 4-Set: Devouring Plague increases your damage done by 2% for 10 seconds, multiple applications may overlap.
Single-Target
Opener
- Your goal of your opener is to spend all charges and use all of your relevant abilities as efficiently as possible. Below you can find an example of how your opener should look like:
- Always cast Vampiric Touch unless it was already applied by Shadow Crash.
- Use your active trinkets, Tempered Potion, Power Infusion and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking after using Void Eruption.
- Make sure you are never overcapping on Mind Flay: Insanity.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Keep up Vampiric Touch on your target.
- You can keep it through Mental Decay, Void Bolt and Shadow Crash.
- Cast Halo.
- Cast Shadowfiend.
- Cast Void Eruption
- Cast Power Infusion
- Keep up Devouring Plague on the target.
- Cast Void Bolt.
- Cast Shadow Word: Death if you get a proc from Deathspeaker.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity if you are about to overcap on stacks.
- Cast Mind Blast.
- Cast Void Torrent.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity.
- Cast Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20%.
- Cast Mind Flay.
Opener
- Your goal of your opener is to spend all charges and use all of your relevant abilities as efficiently as possible. Below you can find an example of how your opener should look like:
- Always cast Vampiric Touch unless it was already applied by Shadow Crash.
- Use your active trinkets, Tempered Potion, Power Infusion and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking after using Void Eruption.
- With this build you always want to have 1 charge of Mind Blast ready and the 2nd one on 4-6 seconds remaining before you use your Void Torrent so you can get the most amount of Void Blasts possible.
- Deathspeaker gives you a lot of Shadow Word: Death procs, make sure to always use it and not waste a proc.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Keep up Vampiric Touch on your target.
- You can keep it through Mental Decay and Shadow Crash.
- Keep up Devouring Plague on the target.
- Cast Voidwraith.
- Dark Ascension.
- Power Infusion.
- Cast Void Blast.
- Cast Shadow Word: Death if you get a proc from Deathspeaker.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity if you are about to overcap on stacks.
- Cast Void Torrent.
- Shadow Word: Death procs from Deathspeaker.
- Cast Mind Blast. (if overcapping on charges)
- Cast Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20%.
- Cast Mind Blast.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity.
- Cast Mind Flay.
- Cast Divine Star. (Only used during movement and you have no other instant cast)
AoE
Opener
- Your goal of your opener is to spend all charges and use all of your relevant abilities as efficiently as possible. Below you can find an example of how your opener should look like:
- Always cast Vampiric Touch unless it was already applied by Shadow Crash.
- Use your active trinkets, Tempered Potion, Power Infusion and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking after using Void Eruption.
- Make sure you are never overcapping on Mind Flay: Insanity.
Priority List
- Keep up Vampiric Touch on your target.
- You can keep it through Mental Decay, Void Bolt and Shadow Crash.
- Keep up Devouring Plague on the target.
- Cast Void Bolt.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity if you are about to overcap on stacks.
- Cast Halo.
- Cast Mind Blast.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity.
- Cast Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20%.
- Cast Void Torrent.
- Cast Shadowfiend.
- Cast Mind Flay.
Opener
- Your goal of your opener is to spend all charges and use all of your relevant abilities as efficiently as possible. Below you can find an example of how your opener should look like:
- Always cast Vampiric Touch unless it was already applied by Shadow Crash.
- Use your active trinkets, Tempered Potion, Power Infusion and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking after using Void Eruption.
- With this build you always want to have 1 charge of Mind Blast ready and the 2nd one on 4-6 seconds remaining before you use your Void Torrent so you can get the most amount of Void Blasts possible.
- Deathspeaker gives you a lot of Shadow Word: Death procs, make sure to always use it and not waste a proc.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Keep up Vampiric Touch on your target.
- You can keep it through Mental Decay and Shadow Crash.
- Keep up Devouring Plague on the target.
- Cast Voidwraith.
- Dark Ascension.
- Power Infusion.
- Cast Void Blast.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity if you are about to overcap on stacks.
- Cast Void Torrent.
- Shadow Word: Death procs from Deathspeaker.
- Cast Mind Blast. (if overcapping on charges)
- Cast Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20%.
- Cast Mind Blast.
- Cast Mind Flay: Insanity.
- Cast Mind Flay.
- Cast Divine Star. (Only used during movement and you have no other instant cast)
Deep Dive
Min Maxing Void Torrent
When it comes to Void Torrent there are a couple of conditions you need to consider before pressing it:
- Having at least 1 Mind Blast on cooldown. (If you are playing Voidweaver you should have 1 Mind Blast ready and the second one should be on 4-6 seconds remaining.)
- Having Void Bolt on cooldown (if in Void Eruption).
- Having Devouring Plague up on the target for the increased mastery benefit.
- This can be ignored if inside of Void Eruption and you don't have Insidious Ire talented.
- If you have Insidious Ire talented you should have Devouring Plague up on the target no matter if inside Void Eruption or not.
Here is an example of how to maximize your damage with Void Torrent:
Mastery: Shadow Weaving and Devouring Plague
The Shadow Priest's mastery is very important to play around. It makes it so that every DoT you have on the target increases your damage done by your mastery %, which makes your mastery management vital. Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain are up on the target nearly 100% of the time, this leaves you with the task of maintaining Devouring Plague on the target. Having as high uptime as possible on Devouring Plague is crucial to dealing the highest possible damage. During your Void Eruption you gain the maximum effect of your mastery no matter the DoTs on the target.
Spreading Devouring Plague
With the current tier set it is no longer a DPS gain to Spread your Devouring Plagues.
Spymaster's Web
This trinket is very powerful so proper usage can greatly increase your damage on the boss fight. The trinket reaches it's maximum stacks (40) after around 4 minutes. This means that we can sync it with our first usage in execute when we have our: Twist of Fate and when the boss is under 20% hp for Shadow Word: Death. Using it at 40 stacks while having these other 2 conditions in place will let you do insane amounts of damage at an end of a boss fight.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Nerub-ar Palace
← Scroll for more Bosses →
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Make sure you have your Shadow Crash when the adds are spawning.
- You can use your Angelic Feathers to carry additional Chunky Viscera to the boss.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
If you're assigned to Group 1:
If you're assigned to Group 2:
- Do note that the length of the fight impacts your cooldown usage heavily. If your fight lasts shorter than 6 minutes you use your Void Eruption on pull followed by using it after every Goresplatter.
Defensive Cooldown Usage
If you're assigned to Group 1:
If you're assigned to Group 2:
Boss Tips
- Make sure you always have your Shadow Crash ready for the Gruesome Disgorge phase you are assigned to go in and use it on the biggest clump of enemies.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Desperate Prayer whenever you are targeted by Decimate or Decimates are about to hit Cosmic Simulacrums.
- Try to always pre-position yourself to walk less if you get targeted by the Phase Blades or Decimate.
- Additionally save some instant casts for when you are on the move.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Save your Angelic Feather for when you are targeted by the Spinneret's Strands so you can break the tether quickly.
- Use your Angelic Feather for when the boss moves away.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Use Fade to quickly cleanse yourself from Unstable Web.
- Interrupt Poison Burst with Silence.
- Make sure you have your Shadow Crash when the adds are spawning.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- UseDispersion as an emergency button. For example, if you get hit by multiple Twilight Massacres.
- Multiple stacks of Queensbane can be quite dangerous. Consider using a defensive!
- The main thing to keep an eye out for on this boss is the position of each Nether Rift. Their placement dictates how much you get pulled towards them. Try to position yourself in a way that each Nether Rift is at a similar distance to you.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Try asking an evoker in your raid for a Rescue on the pull in from Web Vortex.
- Alternatively, have at least one Angelic Feather ready so you can move out of the AoE quicker.
- Try to get some good distance from the adds that spawn from Call of the Swarm since they fixate the closest target.
- Make sure you have your Shadow Crash for when the scarabs are spawnin.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Make sure you have your Shadow Crash for the small spiderlings in p2 and p3.
- Dispersion clears the root from Silken Tomb.
- If you want to be able to remove every set of roots you will need the gnome racial Escape Artist and the talent Intangibility.
Stat Priority
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Raid as a Shadow Priest. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing. The damage of your pets does not heal you thus Leech is a great tertiary for you since most of your damage is coming from your own spells.
- Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. Makes playing certain mechanics a lot easier.
Gear
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Living Luster's Semblance | The Silken Court / Catalyst |
| Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia | Sikran, Captain of the Sureki |
| Shoulder | Living Luster's Dominion | Rasha'nan / Catalyst |
| Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow | Rasha'nan |
| Chest | Living Luster's Raiment | Broodtwister Ovi'nax /Catalyst |
| Wrist | Consecrated Cuffs | Craft |
| Gloves | Gory Surgeon's Gloves | The Necrotic Wake |
| Belt | Acrid Ascendant's Sash | Queen Ansurek |
| Legs | Living Luster's Trousers | Nexus-Princess Ky'veza / Catalyst |
| Boots | Assimilated Eggshell Slippers | Broodtwister Ovi'nax |
| Ring 1 | Key to the Unseeming | The Bloodbound Horror |
| Ring 2 | Ring of Earthen Craftsmanship | Craft |
| Trinket 1 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Trinket 2 | Spymaster's Web | The Silken Court |
| Weapon | Vagabond's Bounding Baton | Craft |
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Crown of Enfeebled Bodies | Grim Batol |
| Neck | "Emergency Stop" Keychain | The Stonevault |
| Shoulder | Reanimator's Mantle | The Necrotic Wake |
| Cloak | Anvilhide Cape | The Stonevault |
| Chest | Arachnofrost Vest | City of Threads |
| Wrist | Vitriolic Veinwoven Wraps | City of Threads |
| Gloves | Tricksprite Gloves | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Belt | Redhook's Cummerbund | Siege of Boralus |
| Legs | Curse-Tainted Leggings | Grim Batol |
| Boots | Membranous Slippers | The Dawnbreaker |
| Ring 1 | Circle of Bone | Grim Batol |
| Ring 2 | Devout Zealot's Ring | The Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket 1 | Unbound Changeling | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Trinket 2 | Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj | The Dawnbreaker |
| Weapon | Melodious Iron Songspire | The Stonevault |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the Raid boss.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Treacherous Transmitter
- Treat this as a 2 minute trinket, syncing it up with you cooldowns.
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- Good for nuking priority targets.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Gale of Shadows
- Very good option for a passive trinket, giving you passive intellect.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
- Good option if the fight/dungeon allows you to stack it up.
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- Decent option.
Embellishments
- Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension and Writhing Armor Banding are currently the best for the raid.
- Alternatively you can go for 2x Dawnthread Lining
- This is similar to Dragonflight's Blue Silken Lining, except it's 80% hp and it gives Critical Strike instead of Mastery.
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 639 on max item level, therefore, it's not beneficial to equip crafted items outside of your 2x embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Consumables
- Phials
- Flask of Alchemical Chaos -- maximum DPS.
- Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but more survivability.
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion -- a big burst of healing
- Weapon Oil
- Algari Mana Oil -- default
- Oil of Deep Toxins
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Quick Onyx
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem color to enhance your Culminating Blasphemite.
- Masterful Emerald
- Masterful Sapphire
- Masterful Ruby
- Do not use any of the Amber gems as the give you Stamina and will end in a DPS decrease if you do!
Enchantments
| Head | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Waist | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Legs | Sunset Spellthread |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Scout's March |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists & Waist.
Races
For min-maxing a Shadow Priest in raiding, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your character. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Stoneform -- Dwarf
- Dispels Magic and Bleed debuffs. Has been useful in the past on some bosses with Bleeds.
- Rocket Jump -- Goblin
- Do a small jump in the direction your character is facing.
- While you're in the Rocket Jump animation you are placed on a global cooldown until your character lands.
- Blood Fury -- Orc
- Strong racial for damage because of both Command and Blood Fury which lines up with Void Eruption.
- 20% reduced stun duration on you which can be useful in some situations.
- Spatial Rift -- Void Elf
- Spawn a shadow traveling into your facing direction, and activate it again to teleport to it.
- Maximum range of 100 yards.
Recommendation
In general, it's safe to say that if you care about min-maxing your DPS, you should go with the highest DPS racial. That being said, the story is a bit different if it's about progression raiding. Some help out massively to speed up the progression on certain bosses. Notably, Dwarf with their Stoneform helped out on Tindral Sageswift and Fyrakk the Blazing in the latest Race to World First by having easy access to dispelling yourself at crucial points of the fights mentioned.
Macros
Discover recommended macros for Shadow Priests during Raid encounters and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Cursor Macros
Shadow Crash -- Casts Shadow Crash on your cursor without confirmation.
#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Shadow Crash
Mass Dispel -- Casts Mass Dispel on your cursor without confirmation.
#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Mass DispelMouseover Macros
Utility Macros
Addons
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Shadow Priest, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Raids to make your life easier.
Addons
WeakAuras
Changes this Patch
Patch 11.0.5
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0
FAQ
Why do I keep dying?
Credits
Written By: Stove
Reviewed By: Swag