Shadow Priest Guide — Class Guides · WoW Burning Crusade

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: Vampiric Touch
Popular builds: 1
Version: WoW Burning Crusade

How to play

Shadow in The Burning Crusade is a damage dealer and a mana battery: Vampiric Touch restores mana to your party as you deal Shadow damage, Misery makes the target take more spell damage, and Shadow Weaving raises the Shadow damage it takes. Raids want one Shadow priest for these alone.

Keep Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain on the target, Mind Blast when ready, Shadow Word: Death when moving or as an extra hit (it costs you health if it doesn't kill), and fill with Mind Flay. The Shadowfiend restores your own mana.

Leveling Shadow is strong with Spirit Tap and Vampiric Embrace, and in arenas Shadow brings Silence, Psychic Scream and Mass Dispel.

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 Burning Crusade.

Rotation and priorities

1Shadowform on.
2Vampiric Touch kept up.
3Shadow Word: Pain kept up.
4Mind Blast whenever it is ready.
5Shadow Word: Death when moving, if your health allows.
6Mind Flay as filler; Shadowfiend when mana runs low.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Vampiric Touch restores your party's mana.
Misery and Shadow Weaving boost the raid's spell damage.
Strong leveling.

Weaknesses

Low burst.
Personal damage trails mages and warlocks.
Mana-hungry without the Shadowfiend.

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
Spell damageshadow damage counts
2
Hitto 16%; Shadow Focus covers 10%
3
Spell haste
4
Critical strikeMind Blast and Shadow Word: Death
5
Intellect
6
Stamina

What to look for

Shadow or spell damage gear; Tailoring's shadow set is a strong pre-raid choice.
Spell hit to 16%, less Shadow Focus.
Spell damage gems.

Items worth chasing

Icon of the Silver CrescentSpell damage, and more on use.
Quagmirran's EyeA spell haste proc.
Frozen Shadoweave RobeCrafted robe with shadow and frost damage.

Builds

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

Discipline
Holy
Shadow

Vampiric Touch Battery
DamagePvELeveling
1447
14/0/47
Shadow for raids and questing: Vampiric Touch returns mana to your group, Misery and Shadow Weaving boost other casters, and Shadowform raises your damage.
- Vampiric Embrace 1/1
- Shadowform 1/1
- Shadow Power 5/5
- Misery 5/5
- Vampiric Touch 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Vampiric Touch · top talent, up to 1
Causes 450 Shadow damage over 15 sec to your target and causes all party members to gain mana equal to 5% of any Shadow spell damage you deal.
Mind Flay · tier 3, up to 1
Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 75 Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%.
Shadow Reach · tier 4, up to 2
Increases the range of your offensive Shadow spells by 20%.
Shadow Weaving · tier 4, up to 5
Your Shadow damage spells have a 100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Shadow damage. This vulnerability increases the Shadow damage dealt to your target by 2% and lasts 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.
Vampiric Embrace · tier 5, up to 1
Afflicts your target with Shadow energy that causes all party members to be healed for 15% of any Shadow spell damage you deal for 1 min.
Focused Mind · tier 5, up to 3
Reduces the mana cost of your Mind Blast, Mind Control and Mind Flay spells by 15%.
Darkness · tier 6, up to 5
Increases your Shadow spell damage by 10%.
Shadowform · tier 7, up to 1
Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15% and reducing Physical damage done to you by 15%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form.
Shadow Power · tier 7, up to 5
Increases the critical strike chance of your Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death spells by 15%.
Misery · tier 8, up to 5
Your Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Flay and Vampiric Touch spells also cause the target to take an additional 5% spell damage.

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.