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Shadow Priest Guide — Class Guides · WoW Forever

Damage with Shadow spells, damage over time and Mind Flay, and Shadowform. The usual leveling tree.

A cloth-wearing healer who also deals Shadow damage. Priests heal single targets and groups, shield allies with Power Word: Shield and fight with Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Blast. More about the priest

Class
Priest
Roles
Damage
Used for
Raids and dungeons, Leveling
Top talent
Shadowform
Popular builds
2
Version
WoW Forever

How to play

Shadow in WoW Forever is the priest's damage tree: Shadowform and Darkness raise your damage, Shadow Weaving builds as you cast, Improved Mind Flay makes each tick of Mind Flay hit harder than the last, and Devouring Contagion makes Devouring Plague cheaper and spreads it when the target dies.

Keep Shadow Word: Pain and Devouring Plague up, Mind Blast when ready and Mind Flay to fill; finish with Shadow Word: Death, which Early Demise makes likely to crit below 20% health. Dark Inspiration raises your party's Spirit after Mind Blast and full Mind Flays.

Spirit Tap still makes leveling efficient, and Vampiric Embrace heals your group.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Forever.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Shadowform on; Vampiric Embrace in groups.
  2. 2Shadow Word: Pain and Devouring Plague kept up.
  3. 3Mind Blast whenever it is ready.
  4. 4Mind Flay to fill, letting it channel fully.
  5. 5Shadow Word: Death below 20% health.
  6. 6Psychic Scream and Silence when something reaches you.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Devouring Contagion spreads damage through packs.
  • Dark Inspiration helps your party's mana.
  • Very efficient leveling.

Weaknesses

  • Mind Flay has to channel fully for its best damage.
  • Slow start on each target.
  • No healing in Shadowform.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

  1. 1

    Spell damageshadow damage counts

  2. 2

    Hitto the cap against bosses

  3. 3

    Critical strikeMind Blast and Shadow Word: Death

  4. 4

    Intellect

  5. 5

    Stamina

  6. 6

    SpiritSpirit Tap

What to look for

  • Spell damage first; shadow damage gear counts.
  • Hit up to the cap against bosses.
  • A good wand while leveling.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

  • Discipline
  • Holy
  • Shadow

  • Devouring Shadow

    DamagePvE
    17/0/34

    Shadow for groups: Shadowform and Darkness raise your damage, Shadow Weaving builds as you cast, and Devouring Contagion spreads Devouring Plague between mobs.

    • Vampiric Embrace 1/1
    • Silence 1/1
    • Early Demise 2/2
    • Darkness 5/5
    • Shadowform 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

  • Spirit Tap Wanderer

    DamageLeveling
    17/0/34

    Shadow leveling: Spirit Tap after each kill, Early Demise to finish with Shadow Word: Death, then Shadowform and Vampiric Embrace.

    • Vampiric Embrace 1/1
    • Devouring Contagion 2/2
    • Early Demise 2/2
    • Darkness 5/5
    • Shadowform 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

Key talents

  • Shadowform · top talent, up to 1

    Assume Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 10%, reducing the Mana cost of all Shadow spells by 50%, increasing the critical strike damage bonus of your Shadow spells by 100%, and reducing Physical damage taken by you by 15%. However, you may not cast healing spells while in this form.

  • Improved Psychic Scream · tier 3, up to 2

    Reduces the cooldown of your Psychic Scream spell by 4 sec.

  • Mind Flay · tier 3, up to 1

    Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 63 Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%.

  • Dark Inspiration · tier 4, up to 5

    Your Mind Blast and fully channeled Mind Flay causes Dark Inspiration, increasing yours and your party's Spirit by 15% for 10 sec.

  • Vampiric Embrace · tier 4, up to 1

    Afflicts your target with Shadow energy that causes all party members to be healed for 20% of any Shadow spell damage you deal for 30 sec.

  • Shadow Weaving · tier 4, up to 3

    Your Shadow damage spells have a 100% chance to increase the Shadow damage the target takes from you by 2% for 15 sec, stacking up to 5 times.

  • Silence · tier 5, up to 1

    Silences the target, preventing them from casting spells for 5 sec and interrupting their spellcasts for 3 sec.

  • Devouring Contagion · tier 5, up to 2

    Reduces the mana cost of your Devouring Plague by 50%. Targets that die while Devouring Plague is active spreads it, jumping to 2 nearby enemies within 10 yds for the remaining duration.

  • Early Demise · tier 6, up to 2

    Increases Shadow Word: Death's critical strike chance on targets at or below 20% health by 30%.

  • Darkness · tier 6, up to 5

    Increases your Shadow damage done by 10%.

Shadow Magic abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.

What WoW Forever changed

New talents in this tree

  • Improved Mind FlayEach instance of damage of Mind Flay deals 20% more damage than its previous instance of damage.
  • Dark InspirationYour Mind Blast and fully channeled Mind Flay causes Dark Inspiration, increasing yours and your party's Spirit by 15% for 10 sec.
  • Devouring ContagionReduces the mana cost of your Devouring Plague by 50%. Targets that die while Devouring Plague is active spreads it, jumping to 2 nearby enemies within 10 yds for the remaining duration.
  • Early DemiseIncreases Shadow Word: Death's critical strike chance on targets at or below 20% health by 30%.

Classic Era talents the class no longer has

  • Shadow Affinity
  • Improved Fade
  • Improved Vampiric Embrace

Spells

New: Devouring Plague, Shadow Word: Death. Changed: Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Silence, Vampiric Embrace, Shadowform.

Related

Other priest specs: Discipline, Holy