PvE Shadow Priest

Shadow Priests in Mists of Pandaria are damage-over-time specialists capable of strong cleave damage on encounters that have multiple targets. As a hybrid class, they won’t always top the DPS charts, but they bring strong utility to any dungeon or raid group. This guide will cover all of the info you need to build, gear, and play your Shadow Priest through all of the endgame PvE content that is available in MoP Classic.

PvE Shadow Priest

Gems, Enchants & Consumables

Stat Priority & Reforging

Best Professions

Pre-Raid Gear

Rotation & Cooldowns

Talents, Builds & Glyphs

Best in Slot (BiS)

Addons & Macros

Changes in Mists of Pandaria

Class specializations have become more streamlined in Mists of Pandaria, with trimmed-down talent trees and the removal of Prime Glyphs. Some abilities have been made baseline and others have been removed or reworked. As a Shadow Priest, you’ll still be using most of the same spells, but there are a few changes to the ways they interact with each other.

The most significant change is the way that Shadow Orbs function. They are now a guaranteed proc from your Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death spells and are consumed by your Devouring Plague, which in turn will increase the damage of your Mind Flay thanks to the Solace and Insanity talent. This makes the rotation feel a lot smoother and gives you a bit more control.

On the utility side, you have some added mobility with Glyph of Mind Flay and your choice of Angelic Feather or Body and Soul. Shadow Priests can now cast Renew, Prayer of Mending, and Leap of Faith without dropping Shadowform. Vampiric Embrace is no longer a constant trickle of healing, but instead a cooldown that can be very helpful for countering heavy raid damage. Unfortunately you’re no longer a mana battery, however, as the mana regeneration from Vampiric Touch now only applies to your own character.

It’s worth remembering that WoW Classic expansions launch with class tuning that reflects the final patch of the original expansion. So even in Phase 1 of MoP Classic, the Shadow Priest’s talents and abilities will be in the same state they were in for Patch 5.4.8. Examples include Glyph of Mind Spike being nerfed and the Solace and Insanity talent being added in Patch 5.2, slightly altering the optimal rotation.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• Strong Cleave Damage:
  Shadow Priests shine when there are multiple targets to hit, since you can have DoTs rolling on all of them simultaneously. Those additional DoTs also mean more procs, which further ramps your damage on council fights and those with a lot of adds.

• Good Utility:
  The Shadow Priest brings 5% Spell Haste to their group through Shadowform. They also bring all of the other utility of a Priest with Power Word: Fortitude, Hymn of Hope, Leap of Faith, Mass Dispel, Void Shift, and the ability to throw out some healing in a pinch. Vampiric Embrace is now a solid raid healing cooldown and Prayer of Mending and Renew no longer break Shadowform.

• Durable:
  For a cloth wearer, Shadow Priests are surprisingly sturdy thanks to their strong defensive cooldowns and the armor provided by Shadowform and Inner Fire. Dispersion is one of the most powerful individual defensives in the game, allowing you to survive absolutely massive damage. You also have Void Shift and either Desperate Prayer or Angelic Bulwark, and you can shield and heal yourself if needed.

Weaknesses

• Weak Single-Target Damage:
  On fights where you can’t multi-DoT, Shadow Priests can struggle to compete with other damage dealers. Fewer targets means fewer DoTs ticking, which means fewer procs as well.

• Micromanagement Heavy:
  You have a lot to keep track of with all of your DoTs and procs. Using your defensive and utility spells also requires keeping an eye on your teammates. There is just a lot for you to keep track of and juggle during a fight.

• Not Enough Uniqueness:
  While Shadow Priests do have good utility, there’s not enough reason to bring them over other characters. There are other builds that can bring 5% Spell Haste, and healing Priests have most of the same spells. Other casters also do more damage. Vampiric Touch used to provide mana to the group, but now it’s self-only.

Best Races

In Mists of Pandaria, any race except Orc can be a Priest. Racial traits are less impactful in this expansion than they were in earlier versions of WoW, but they can still affect your gameplay as a Shadow Priest.

Alliance

The new Pandaren race offers a solid stat boost to Shadow Priests of either faction with their Epicurean trait, which doubles the amount of Intellect you can get from food buffs. Worgen are just as strong due to their 1% increased Critical Strike from Viciousness, which gains value as you gain more Crit.

Several Alliance races gain Hit Chance through their racial abilities, but some require you to wield a specific type of weapon in your Main Hand slot to benefit from its Expertise. These traits have decent value early on, but they drop off at higher gear levels when you will be swimming in Hit Chance from your gear. Of the four races with Hit Chance racials, Human offers the most due to The Human Spirit in addition to their 1% Expertise with Maces.

• Draenei: Gemcutting, Gift of the Naaru, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance
• Dwarf: Crack Shot, Explorer, Frost Resistance, Mace Specialization, Stoneform
• Gnome: Arcane Resistance, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Shortblade Specialization
• Human: Diplomacy, Every Man for Himself, Mace Specialization, Sword Specialization, The Human Spirit
• Night Elf: Nature Resistance, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm
• Worgen: Aberration, Darkflight, Flayer, Running Wild, Viciousness

Horde

The new Pandaren race offers a solid stat boost to Shadow Priests of either faction with their Epicurean trait, which doubles the amount of Intellect you can get from food buffs.

There are two very strong Haste buffs on the Horde side that start out a bit weaker than the Pandaren but gain a lot more power as your gear improves. Troll has Berserking, which gives you a massive 20% Haste for 10 seconds every 3 minutes. Goblin has Time is Money, a steady 1% Haste. Since these are both percentages, they gain value as your Haste increases.

• Blood Elf: Arcane Affinity, Arcane Resistance, Arcane Torrent
• Goblin: Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry, Pack Hobgoblin, Rocket Barrage, Rocket Jump, Time is Money
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm
• Tauren: Cultivation, Endurance, Nature Resistance, War Stomp
• Troll: Beast Slaying, Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle, Dead Eye, Regeneration
• Undead: Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Touch of the Grave, Will of the Forsaken