Shadow Priest
Best Professions
Welcome to the Shadow Priest DPS PvE guide for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King!
There are members of the clergy who show an affinity for a different, corrupting type of magic. These individuals may even occasionally reject the teachings of the Light and turn to its exact opposite — the Shadow — as their source of power. These Shadow Priests display the most warped and mind-bending magic seen anywhere in Azeroth, inducing extreme pain and insanity in their victims, shattering or melting their minds in the process.
Shadow Priests see a LOT of buffs in WotLK. We still retain the same DoT-centric playstyle, with a very strong suite of utility-based abilities, but our damage has been increased drastically. All Priests get a new version of Devouring Plague now, so we must manage this powerful DoT on top of our previous ones. Our DoTs scale with haste and crit now, so we have some genuinely good damage scaling — gone are the days of falling behind as the raid tiers progress. We even have actual AoE damage, with the brand-new Mind Sear, propelling us to the top of the DPS meters on many of these cleave and AoE type fights. Every raid wanted a Shadow Priest in TBC, and they’ll certainly want at least 1 in WotLK as well.
This guide will teach you how to properly play a Shadow Priest in PvE scenarios, battling through murky dungeons and horrifying raids. By the time you’re done reading our guide, you’ll know how to melt minds with elegance!
Shadow Priest Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Powerful cleave & AoE damage
Shadow Priests do an average amount of damage in single target. However, that’s not the entire story: their ability to DoT multiple targets, coupled with the newly added Mind Sear, allows them to do very competitive damage in cleave (2-4 targets) and AoE (5+ targets) situations. Gone are the days where you were just there as a mana battery and debuff bot – you’ll often see yourself “up there” on the damage meters!
- Outstanding utility
Shadow Priests have always been incredibly powerful in the utility department, arguably having the strongest utility in the game during TBC. We still have incredibly powerful utility in WotLK, with a plethora of spells that empower our allies, weaken our enemies, or allow us to deal with situations in a way that few other spec can.
- Fun, adaptable playstyle
Shadow Priests undergo a slight playstyle change in WotLK. All Priests get the formerly Undead-exclusive Devouring Plague, so there’s now 1 more DoT to manage. Several of our DoTs benefit from crit & haste now, so our playstyle becomes a lot quicker, with haste becoming a highly valuable stat for us. We rarely have mana issues to worry about anymore, so we can be very liberal with our mana usage. Finally, the addition of Dispersion allows you to be your raid’s superhero, saving the raid from specific “soak” mechanics.
Weaknesses
- Lack of burst damage
While our damage is a lot better than what it used to be, it is still entirely focused around DoTs — Mind Blast is unfortunately still our only real on-demand instant damage spell. This means that in fights where something needs to be killed ASAP, or where there’s adds that die too quickly, you won’t be of much help.
- High loot competition
Shadow Priests have the unfortunate issue of being yet another cloth caster DPS spec. Those are unfortunately incredibly popular in WotLK, with Mages and Warlocks being everywhere. As a result, this means you’ll have a good deal of competition for loot, and as crit & haste are useful stats for us now, you can’t compensate for this issue by going for the less popular spell power heavy items. Having said that, many raids will prioritize you for specific items, such as the incredibly powerful Phylactery of the Nameless Lich.
Shadow Priest Utility
Besides their damage, Shadow Priests bring in the following utility tools to their raid groups:
- 3% increased spell hit debuff (does not stack) – Misery
This debuff was incredibly powerful in TBC, and though it has been reworked in WotLK, it’s still very much an absolute must-have. It no longer stacks with a Balance Druid’s Improved Faerie Fire (also reworked in WotLK) but we apply it automatically, meaning our version is superior and we’re usually the ones responsible for keeping this up on enemies, particularly during cleave & AoE type fights.
- Replenishment (does not stack) – Vampiric Touch
Shadow is one of the many specs in the game that can offer the must-have Replenishment mana regeneration buff. This could be considered a nerf for us, as the mana regen mechanic was previously our exclusive domain, but we’re still very good at offering it, and most raids will want at least a few people that can apply this buff. In 10-man raids, you could end up being the exclusive provider of this.
- Vampiric Embrace
This spell was very strong in TBC and it gets turbo-charged in WotLK. It now becomes a buff on you, lasting 30 minutes, rather than a debuff on your target. This means you can apply your DoTs on multiple targets, and heal your party for absolutely ridiculous amounts — it won’t be uncommon for you to compete with actual healers on fights with heavy AoE damage, thanks to this little gem. Note that it doesn’t work with Mind Sear — it only works with single-target damage.
- Dispersion
We finally get a damage reduction cooldown in WotLK, and there’s great news: it’s REALLY good. In WotLK, there are many “soak” mechanics, where players must group up and share the damage of an ability. Instead of having multiple raid members soak those abilities, a single Shadow Priest can do it with Dispersion — which is a massive asset for any raid. This spell turns you into an actual superhero in many fights, allowing you to save the raid from a guaranteed wipe.
- Mass Dispel
Players who did the Sunwell raid in TBC know how incredibly powerful this ability is, where it’s absolutely crucial in fights like Felmyst and M’uru. Great news: it’s still exclusive to the Priest class in WotLK! Any fight where multiple players need to be dispelled quickly, or where there are enemies with invulnerability-type effects, and it will be up to you as a Priest to save the day with a well-aimed Mass Dispel.
- Stamina buff (does not stack) – Prayer of Fortitude
The stamina buff has been a Priest’s unique trait since the dawn of time. Every raid will want 1 Priest of any specialization for this buff alone, as it drastically increases your chances of surviving dangerous raid mechanics.
- Spirit buff (does not stack) – Prayer of Spirit
This buff was previously exclusive to Discipline Priests, but has now become available to Priests of any specialization. Furthermore, Spirit is now a very useful stat for many caster classes, rather than a strictly healer-specific stat, making this buff a must-have. Affliction Warlocks can now also offer this buff with their Felhunter pet (Fel Intelligence), but their version is straight-up weaker than ours, and since every raid will want at least 1 Priest for our other amazing utility spells, it will be your domain to apply this powerful buff.
- Hymn of Hope
Priests of all specializations have access to this incredible mana regeneration raid cooldown. This spell can very often make the difference between a kill and a wipe due to your healers going out of mana. It is impossible to underestimate how useful this ability can be in your raid — though as Shadow Priests we unfortunately take a DPS hit by having to channel it for 8 seconds.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has been able to help you decide if PvE Shadow Priest is the class / spec for you. Make sure to check out our other sections, such as talents, gear, gems etc., to get more information on how to improve your performance as a Shadow Priest in WotLK!
