Revision as of 2010-11-26 17:38:56
  Older version (diff) | current version (diff) | Newer version (diff)

Shadow Priest Guide (Updated for 4.0.3)  

Contents [hide]

Introduction

Welcome to ZAM's "How to Melt Faces: Shadowpriesting 101", written by the witty and devilishly handsome IDrownFish. So you decided to make a Shadow Priest, eh? Get tired lobbing fireballs, hiding behind pets, or swinging a sword? Do you want to bend the minds of your foes to your own ends, until they outlive their usefulness and are obliterated with the magical equivalent of a sledgehammer to the brain? Or do you just think that Shadowform looks really freaking cool?

All valid reasons to play a Shadow Priest!

Now, this guide isn't going to focus on leveling. It will assume you are already 85. Even if you aren't, much of the information here is still relevant. For example, spell priorities in a 75 dungeon will likely be the exact same as in an 85 heroic. So while this will be geared towards end-game, feel free to adapt any of this for your own uses.

Now, are you ready to delve into the finer points of Spriesting? Good. Let's get started.

History of the Class

This isn't something you "need to know", but I'm putting it here for posterity's sake.

The Shadow tree of the Priest class has always been a tree that was never as popular as its big brother Holy, or the awkward middle child Discipline. In Classic WoW, Shadow was a spec generally regarded as "for leveling". Very few guilds had a Priest whose goal in raids was to dps as Shadow. And for good reason. Back then, Shadow's damage was fairly low. The only reason someone would take them would be for the healing from Vampiric Embrace.

Then came BC, and with it the ability that turned Shadow Priests from that kid everyone picked last on the playground for baseball into an absolute requirement for the cutting edge of content. That spell? Vampiric Touch. Back then, VT worked differently than it does today. It was still a DoT, but as long as it was active, 5% of any Shadow damage dealt was refunded as mana to not just you, but everyone in your group. So if you cast a Mind Blast and it crit for 800, everyone in your party would gain 40 mana. It might not sound like a lot, but consider that you had DoTs out the wazzoo, Mind Flays going, Shadow Word: Deaths, and Mind Blasts, and it all added up quickly. As you can imagine, we became best friends with other spellcasters like the healers and nuke-happy mages.

When WotLK rolled around, Blizzard made a design change that went along with their "Bring the player, not the class" philosophy. Up until then, Shadow Priests' damage was limited in order to keep the mana gained limited. If they did competitive dps, and restored mana, then nobody would ever run out. So by keeping the dps under control, and thus sub-par to other casters, they were able to ensure that mana was always an issue.

But with WotLK, they brought Replenishment. Basically, instead of a percentage of damage gained as mana, when Mind Blast was cast on a target with Vampiric Touch active on it, up to 10 mana users in your party/raid would gain a buff called "Replenishment" which restored mana based on how much total mana they had, not how much damage you did. This allows Shadow Priest damage to be finally competitive, now that Damage =/= Mana.

As of now, Cataclysm brings a few changes, but nothing major like the past expansions have. So far, it looks like more of the same (which is, really, a good thing).

Your Role in Groups

The role of a Shadow Priest is damage. Your goal in a group is not to do the most dps, rather it is to deal as much damage as possible. There only real difference here is that you shouldn't be afraid to do things that will lower your dps on meters, such as use Shadow Word: Death and DoTs while moving.

World of Warcraft has three primary roles in a raid: Damage, Healer, and Tank. Tanks are to ensure that the boss attacks them, and not you or the healers. Healers are to ensure that when you and the tanks take damage (hopefully damage that couldn't be avoided), they heal you back up. And damage dealers, like yourself, are there to kill the thing.

An important thing to note is that staying alive always takes priority over damage dealing. If your options are "Stay in the fire and keep dpsing" or "Move out of the fire and survive", you better pick "Move" or I will personally hunt you down and punch your youngest living relative in the face right in front of you. The reason is that If you die from the damage, then your dps stops. You are of no further use tot he raid, and in many cases will actually harm them by dieing. But if you move out of the fire and live, you can continue to do damage later and do more damage in the long run.

Think of your family. Don't stand in the fire.

Talents

Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's talk what makes a Priest into the dark manipulative harbringers of chaos and destruction we all know and love: Talents!

Builds

With Cataclysm and 4.0, they have greatly reduced the amount of talents in a tree, and have removed many unnecessary/un-fun talents. You hear that, Shadow Weaving? I hope you're burning in the deepest pit of Hell where you belong right now.

The cookie-cutter PvE build at 85 is this: Linky.

For level 80, check out here.

There are a few free points floating around in there. Two, to be exact. Where you put them is all a matter of preference. I like to put them into Phantasm, for situational use in raids. However, they can go wherever you want. Some like to put them in Psychic Horror + 1/2 Imp. Psychic Scream for PvP, others like Paralysis. Whatever floats your boat, I'm not judging.

Prime Glyphs

The three Prime glyphs agreed upon are thus:

A note about Shadow Word: Death. When 4.0 first hit, as long as the target was under 25%, you could spam that thing till either you or the target died. And since it did a ridiculous amount of damage, chances are the target would die before you did. And you would be so high up on the dps meters, the others in your raid would likely murder you, too.

However, Blizzard doesn't like us having fun decided that that was overpowered (which it was), and nerfed it in a hotfix. Now, as long as the target is <25% health, you can, and should, cast SW:D twice before it triggers a cooldown .

Major and Minor Glyphs

These won't change your dps at all, or by so small an amount as to be insignificant. Use whatever the flip you want here.

No, really.

Personally, I like to use Fade, Inner Fire, and Mass Dispel for Major, and Fading, Fortitude, and Levitate for Minor.

Actually, forget what I said above. Levitate is required, just because the world needs more people casting Levitate.

Spell Priorities

Let me say this first and foremost: We do not have a rotation. We never have. We use a priority system.

What this means is that you have to make decisions on the fly about when to cast which spell based on what is happening, how much time is left on your DoTs, cooldowns, etc.

As a general rule, follow these priorities. Spells are listed as Most Important to keep active/on cooldown to Least Important.

  1. Shadow Word: Death (if target is above 25%)
  2. Shadowfiend
  3. Devouring Plague
  4. Vampiric Touch
  5. Shadow Word: Pain
  6. Mind Blast
  7. Mind Flay
  8. Shadow Word: Death (If target is above 25%)

This isn't as complex as it looks. Basically, keep Shadowfiend on cooldown. Keep DoTs up. Always. When those two are taken care of, keep Mind Blast on cooldown. And if you have nothing else to do, Mind Flay.

If you're moving, keep the instant DoTs up (SW:P and DP) and use Shadow Word: Death on cooldown. Oh, and enjoy your small army of clones.

Once the target drops below 25%, keep SW:D on cooldown. Always. Take care of other stuff between the cooldowns.

And that's pretty much it. If this is too much to remember, remember the simple rule of "ABC: Always Be Casting". It's the easiest thing I've found to help me out.

Gearing

NYI

Changelog


11/26/10 Added the Spell Priorities section.
11/26/10 Added Intro and Talents sections.
11/26/10 - Page created by IDrownFish. And so it begins...

Parts of this page were originally written by IDrownFish.

This page last modified 2010-11-26 17:38:56.